According to European and National studies Information and Communication Technologies in Public Administrations are mature enough to offer e-government services to citizens, business and other Public Administrations. Nevertheless a different perception is evident if e-government effectiveness, i.e. real usage by citizens, is considered. It seems to us that in the development of e-government solutions the focus has been put too much on technological aspects often forgetting to involve relevant stakeholders and domain-dependent requirements. Starting from a quality framework for Business Processes Management, which permits to assess a software system implementation with respect to a set of quality attributes related to cooperation and sharing that we had previously defined, we conducted a systematic survey considering eight case studies from different Italian administrative regions. The survey and the obtained results show the importance of putting in place a systematic analysis and assessment approach within Public Administrations to enable informed e-government development via a plan-do-check-act paradigm.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
To assess the safety and efficacy of salmeterol xinafoate as an adjunct to conventional therapy for the in-hospital management of acute asthma.

DESIGN
A prospective, double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial.

SETTING
Medical wards of a large university-based hospital.

PATIENTS
Forty-three patients admitted for an acute exacerbation of asthma.

INTERVENTIONS
Salmeterol (42 microg) or two puffs of placebo every 12 h in addition to standard therapy (short-acting beta-agonists, corticosteroids, and anticholinergic agents).

RESULTS
No clinically adverse effects were seen with the addition of salmeterol to conventional therapy. After salmeterol, there was no difference in pulse, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry, severity of symptoms, or dyspnea score. Patients receiving salmeterol had greater FEV(1) percent improvements than the placebo group at 12, 24, 36, and 48 h. These findings were not statistically significant. By paired Student's t tests, there were significant improvements in FEV(1) (p = 0.03) and FVC (p = 0.03) in the salmeterol group after 48 h of treatment with no comparable improvement in the placebo group. In a subgroup analysis of patients with an initial FEV(1) < or = 1.5 L, the absolute FEV(1) percent improvement for salmeterol vs placebo was 51% vs 16% at 24 h and 54% vs 40% at 48 h. The relative FEV(1) percent improvement for salmeterol vs placebo was 17% vs 8% at 24 h and 18% vs 14% at 48 h.

CONCLUSION
The addition of salmeterol to conventional therapy is safe and may benefit hospitalized patients with asthma. Further studies are needed to clarify its role in the treatment of acute exacerbation of asthma.


Nuclear astrophysics aims to answer the fundamental question of the origins of the elements in the
universe, and relatedly to address the role of nuclear reactions as engines of stellar evolution, dynamics,
and explosion. Nuclear astrophysics is thus a true interdisciplinary field combining astrophysics with
nuclear physics.
In this thesis we focus on the r-process, which is considered to form about half of the elements with
nucleon numbers A>70. In order to perform simulations of the r-process, different astrophysical and
nuclear physics input is needed. One of the crucial inputs on the nuclear physics side are cross sections
for radiative neutron capture and induced fission reactions. Most of the r-process isotopes are very
neutron-rich and could not yet be produced experimentally. Therefore we have to employ theoretical
predictions for the cross sections. These cross sections are generally calculated with the Hauser-Feshbach
model.
To employ the statistical model to the determination of radiative capture reactions, one needs radiative
strength functions. Generally E1 and M1 transitions dominate in r-process reactions. The strength
functions are needed on a global scale and one has used a Lorentzian parametrisation for the strength
functions motivated by the success of describing the electric giant dipole resonance by such a form. This
turned out to be successful for nuclei close to stability. However, it has been observed that neutron-rich
nuclei show enhanced E1 strength at energies far below the giant resonance, which is not correctly
described by the Lorentzian ansatz. We will study the influence of such low-lying strength on cross
sections relevant for r-process nucleosynthesis. Moreover, the Hauser-Feshbach model needs the strength
functions also for excited states. Here one usually makes the bold approximation that the strength
for all excited states is the same as for the ground state. This assumption goes with the name of
Brink's hypothesis. It was originally formulated for giant collective resonances and has been verified
experimentally for these collective modes. It is an open question if it is also valid for the aforementioned
additional strength.
In this thesis we utilise two microscopic nuclear structure models to obtain the strength functions for
selected nuclei. For the electric dipole strength function we adopt the relativistic-quasi-time-blocking
approximation (RQTBA) and for the magnetic dipole strength the nuclear shell model. We calculated
radiative neutron capture cross sections with the Hauser-Feshbach model using the results of the RQTBA
model for chains of tin and nickel isotopes. The results show that additional low-energy strength from a
pygmy resonance can affect the radiative neutron capture cross section. However, the impact of such
low-lying E1 strength on radiative neutron capture cross sections turns up to be very sensitive to the interplay of the neutron
separation energy and the nuclear level density. Generally, the RQTBA strength functions predict smaller
radiative neutron capture cross sections than those obtained from a Lorentzian parametrisation.
In a second approach, we calculated magnetic dipole strength functions from the interacting shell model
for iron nuclei. The shell model allows us to obtain the strength functions also for excited states, thus
enabling us to discuss Brink's hypothesis for the M1 strength function. This hypothesis is theoretically
confirmed by our results for the large collective spin-flip resonance. However, the hypothesis fails for
the low-energy strength, in particular the scissors mode. We find noticeable differences to cross section
calculations where often used parametrisations of the M1 strength are employed, indicating that an
improved description of M1 strength functions is needed.
The r-process can also reach the region of the nuclear chart, where fission becomes important. Hence,
the various fission processes must be included in r-process simulations. To describe such processes, fission
barriers are essential. We calculated fission barriers for even-even nuclei within the Skyrme-Hartree-functional and the role of reflection asymmetric shapes in nuclei. The results show a strong dependence
on the used Skyrme functional regarding the barrier heights. Hence we expect noticeable differences in
the rates of the various fission processes, if calculated with the different fission barriers. This will in turn
affect r-process network simulations as fission can interrupt the r-process flow and move matter from the
actinide or super-heavy regions to intermediate mass regions. Fock-BCS model. A particular focus is put on the sensitivity of these quantities to the used Skyrme
functional and the role of reflection asymmetric shapes in nuclei. The results show a strong dependence
on the used Skyrme functional regarding the barrier heights. Hence we expect noticeable differences in
the rates of the various fission processes, if calculated with the different fission barriers. This will in turn
affect r-process network simulations as fission can interrupt the r-process flow and move matter from the
actinide or super-heavy regions to intermediate mass regions. Therefore also the formation of long-lived
super-heavy elements in the r-process is very sensitive to the interaction used to calculate the fission
barriers.


ABSTRACT Youth unemployment is often presented as a security risk in post-conflict countries, yet the relationship between labour market exclusion and engagement in violence remains little understood. This paper opens up one aspect of this relationship, analysing how the employment aspirations of Sierra Leone's marginal youth relate to their decisions to take part in political unrest. Telling the stories of urban youth involved to varying degrees in violent episodes shows how violence is used as a tactic to signal loyalty to political strongmen. Such loyalty is hoped to result in the establishment of relations of reciprocity that will offer a road to socially valued employment. Comparing the experiences of two groups of young people, similar in their socio-economic background and experience of violence but different in their collocation in political networks, reveals two things. Firstly, availability for violence was insufficient to achieve durable incorporation, as pre-existing social ties determined the nature of recruitment. Secondly, as even those embedded in politicians' networks of reciprocity appeared ultimately unable to escape marginality, their experiences cast doubt on the expediency of using violence as a way into the labour market, making the exploitative nature of these relations starkly evident.


Background The goal of this study was to assess the effect of a controlled adverse environment (CAE) challenge on subjects with both allergic conjunctivitis and dry eye. Methods Thirty-three subjects were screened and 17 completed this institutional review board-approved study. Subjects underwent baseline ocular assessments and conjunctival allergen challenge (CAC) on days 0 and 3. Those who met the ocular redness and itching criteria were randomized to receive either the controlled adverse environment (CAE) challenge (group A, n = 9) or no challenge (group B, n = 8) at day 6. Thirty minutes after CAE/no-CAE, subjects were challenged with allergen and their signs and symptoms graded. Exploratory confocal microscopy was carried out in a subset of subjects at hourly intervals for 5 hours post-CAC on days 3 and 6. Results Seven minutes post-CAC, subjects exposed to the CAE had significantly greater itching (difference between groups, 0.55 ± 0.25, P = 0.028), conjunctival redness (0.59 ± 0.19, P = 0.002), episcleral redness (0.56 ± 0.19, P = 0.003) and mean overall redness (mean of conjunctival, episcleral, and ciliary redness, 0.59 ± 0.14, P < 0.001). The mean score at 7, 15, and 20 minutes post-CAC for conjunctival redness (0.43 ± 0.17, P = 0.012), episcleral redness (0.49 ± 0.15, P = 0.001), mean overall redness in all regions (0.43 ± 0.15, P = 0.005), and mean chemosis (0.20 ± 0.08, P = 0.017) were also all significantly greater in CAE-treated subjects. Confocal microscopic images of conjunctival vessels after CAC showed more inflammation in CAE-treated subjects. Conclusion In subjects with both dry eye and allergic conjunctivitis, exposure to adverse environmental conditions causes an ocular surface perturbation that can intensify allergic reactions.


From 2003 to 2008, the Sunni Arab insurgency in Iraq posed a key challenge to political stability in the country and to Coalition objectives there. This paper explains the onset, composition and evolution of this insurgency. It begins by addressing both its immediate and deeper sociopolitical origins, and goes on to examine the multiple ideological strands within the insurgency and their often conflicting methods and goals. Despite organisational incoherence due to the existence of a large number of competing groups, the insurgency in Iraq sustained a particularly high tempo of operations between 2004 and 2006, causing considerable military and civilian casualties. Some insurgent groups focused on attempting to foment civil war between two of Iraq's major communities, the Sunni and Shia Arabs and, by late 2006, they had come close to unraveling Iraq and presenting the Coalition with a major defeat. The adoption of a new approach by the US in 2007 helped reduce the level of violence in Iraq. In addition, deep fissures within the insurgency itself, between those fighting for more practical, immediate goals and the transnational Islamists and their local allies fighting for wider-reaching goals – including the promotion of sectarian strife – contributed to the insurgency's diminution. It remains to be seen whether there will be a widespread recognition among Sunni Iraqis of the need to work with the Coalition to facilitate their community's reintegration into the new Iraqi body politic.


In "Debating Brain Drain", Brock and Blake (2015) discuss the pros and cons of high-skill mobility prevention to curb the brain drain from developing countries from a legal and political perspective. I complement this discussion with the insights from recent economic research on brain drain, globalization and development. Two main results are emphasized: the fact that educational investments are higher when high-skill migration is not constrained, and the role of skilled diasporas in promoting the integration of migrants' home countries into the global economy. Both results strengthen the rationale for letting skilled people go.


CAREFULLY validated long-range sound propagation measurements with extensive meteorological instrumentation were continued for 612 days without interruption, around the clock, resulting in a database with millions of files, terabytes of sound and environmental data, and hundreds of pages of documentation. More than 100 environmental variables were analysed by statistical means, and many statistically highly significant dependencies linked to excess attenuation were found. At a distance of 3 km from the source, excess attenuation was spread over a dynamic range of 80 dB, with differences of 10 dB between individual quarters of the year; also, negative excess attenuation at frequencies below 400 Hz existed. The low frequencies were affected mainly by the stability characteristics of the atmosphere and the lapse rate. Humidity; lapse rate; sensible heat flux; and longitudinal, transverse, and vertical turbulence intensities explain excess attenuation at higher frequencies to a statistically highly significant extent. Through application of a wide range of regression analyses, a set of criteria for frequency-dependent uncertainty in sound propagation was created. These criteria were incorporated into a software module, which, together with a state-of-the-art physical sound propagation calculation module, makes it possible to perform environmental noise assessments with known uncertainty. This approach can be applied to the shortterm measurements too and it was shown that some of the most complex meteorological variables, among them atmospheric turbulence, can be taken into account. Comparison with two standardised noise modelling methods showed that the statistical model covers well a range of uncertainty not matched with the standardised methods and the measured excess attenuation fit within the limits of predicted uncertainty.


This document discusses procedural issues related to the extensibility
of IETF protocols, including when it is reasonable to extend IETF
protocols with little or no review, and when extensions or variations
need to be reviewed by the IETF community. Experience has shown that
extension of protocols without early IETF review can carry risk. The
document also recommends that major extensions to or variations of
IETF protocols only take place through normal IETF processes or in
coordination with the IETF. This document is directed principally at
other Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) and vendors
considering requirements for extensions to IETF protocols. It does not
modify formal IETF processes. This document specifies an Internet Best
Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion
and suggestions for improvements.


The aim of this paper is to investigate the conditions under which public investment can be allocated to the infrastructure in material and non-material capital so as to have a positive effect on regional development and interregional inequality. To investigate this issue, the paper focuses on the externalities created by investing in infrastructure for the transfer of information, know-how or technical knowledge.


Photorealistic images created using physical simulations of light have become a ubiquitous element of our everyday lives. The most successful techniques for producing such images replicate the key physical phenomena in a detailed software simulation, including the emission of light by sources, transport through space, and scattering in the atmosphere and at the surfaces of objects. Mathematically, this computation involves the approximation of many high-dimensional integrals, one for each pixel of the image, usually using Monte Carlo methods. Although a great deal of progress has been made on rendering algorithms, so that physically based rendering is now routinely used in many applications, commonly occurring situations can still cause these algorithms to become impractically slow, forcing users to make unrealistic scene modifications to obtain satisfactory results. Light transport is complex because light can flow along a great variety of different paths through a scene, though only a subset of these makes relevant contributes to the final image. The simulation becomes ineffective when it is difficult to find the important paths. Commonly occurring materials like smooth metal or glass surfaces can easily lead to such situations, where only very few lighting paths participate, leading to spiky integrands and poor convergence. How to efficiently handle such cases in general has been a long-standing problem. In this paper, we provide a geometric solution to this problem by representing light paths as points in an abstract high-dimensional configuration space that is defined by a system of constraint equations. This configuration space is a differentiable manifold, which can be locally parameterized in the neighborhood of an existing path. Building on this framework, we propose Manifold Exploration, a rendering technique that efficiently explores the integration domain by taking geometrically informed steps on the manifold of light paths.


The Much Wenlock Limestone Formation (Silurian: Wenlock, Homerian) of England and Wales contains a diverse invertebrate fauna including many rare and problematical taxa. This study investigates the palaeobiology and palaeoecology of five such groups: asteroids (starfish), the crinoid Calyptocymba mariae gen. et sp. nov., rostroconch molluscs, machaeridians and cornulitids. Six species of asteroids are recognized, including three new forms (Palasterina orchilocalia sp. nov., Hudsonaster? carectum sp. nov., and Doliaster brachyactis gen. et sp. nov.), that show a diverse range of morphologies. Most distinctive is the 13-rayed Lepidaster grayi Forbes, 1850, the oldest known multiradiate starfish. The variety of asteroid body shapes indicates a diversification of behaviour, particularly feeding strategies. By functional convergence, L. grayi is interpreted as an active predator. C. mariae is an unusual species of camerate crinoid, with a small, thinly plated calyx. This, combined with its slender body morphology, is interpreted as an adaptation to life in a low energy environment. Four rostroconch taxa [Mulceodens aedicula sp. nov., M? aequicostatus (Phillips, 1848), M. latus sp. nov., and Redstonia sima sp. nov.] occur, and are interpreted as mobile, semi-infaunal, deposit feeders. Differences between Mulceodens and Redstonia probably reflect adaptations by closely related taxa to specific environments, with Mulceodens living in higher energy conditions, rather than indicating that they belong to separate families as has been suggested previously. Machaeridians are problematical taxa having elongate bodies covered with serially repeated calcitic sclerites, and three species – Turrilepas wrightiana (de Koninck, 1857), Lepidocoleus ketleyanus (Reed, 1901) and L? extraplax sp. nov. – are recognized in the Much Wenlock Limestone Formation. By analysis of their body morphology, skeletal structure and growth pattern, machaeridians are interpreted here as molluscs, probably the sister group of Polyplacophora + Conchifera. Using a similar approach, Cornulites is interpreted as a stem group anthozoan. Cornulites species show various life positions: C. scalariformis Vine, 1882, attached itself to live brachiopods, with its aperture positioned close to the host's feeding currents, C. gremialis formed clusters growing upon one another, and C. cellulosus was solitary and unattached.


A real-time software GPS receiver for the L1 C/A and L2 C codes has been implemented on a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and tested in both scintillating and nonscintillating environments. This receiver is being developed as a low-cost space weather instrument with improved tracking robustness in comparison to a traditional semi-codeless dual-frequency receiver and with flexibility in its choices of signal tracking algorithms and data outputs. The receiver is capable of continuous background signal acquisition and utilizes the L1 C/A code to assist in acquisition of the L2 C signal. Efficient on-the-fly generation of oversampled PRN code replicas for the L2 CM and CL codes, which are required for real-time software radio signal processing, has been implemented to ensure a manageable requirement for memory. Bit-wise parallel correlation techniques have been implemented to reduce the number of operations needed for correlation. The receiver currently tracks both the L2 CL and CM codes for the purpose of calculating TEC. Results are presented based on data generated by a signal simulator, on real data taken in Ithaca, NY (42.44 N, 76.48W), and on real data taken during ionospheric scintillation in Natal, Brazil (5.8S, 35.2W) in January 2009. Position and velocity solution accuracy is evaluated using both real and simulated data.


Records on pollution by metals of minor economic importance (e.g. silver and thallium) but which prove to be toxic are rarely documented in river sediment. This study used two sediment cores collected downstream of the Seine River to describe the temporal evolution of Ag and Tl concentrations in an urban catchment. Radionuclide analysis (i.e. Cs-137 and Pb-210) allowed dating sediment deposition within the cores (1933-2003). Ag concentration reached maximum values of 14.3-24.6 mg kg(-1) in the 1960s and 1970s, before gradually decreasing up to values which approximated 4 mg kg(-1) in 2003. In contrast, Tl concentrations remained roughly constant throughout the core (median value of 0.86 mg kg(-1)). Suspended solids was collected at upstream locations in the catchment to derive the background concentrations in Ag and Tl. Very high Ag concentrations were measured in the upstream Seine River sites (0.33-0.59 mg kg(-1)), compared to the values reported in the literature (0.055 mg kg(-1)). This suggests the presence of a widespread and ancient Ag pollution in the Seine River basin, as demonstrated by the very high Ag enrichment ratios recorded in the cores. Annual flux of particulate Ag in the Seine River was estimated at 1.7 t yr(-1) in 2003. In contrast, Tl concentrations remained in the same order of magnitude as the natural background signal (0.3-0.5 mg kg(-1)). This study suggests that the Seine River basin is free of Tl contamination. Future concerns should hence mostly rely on Ag contamination, in a context of increasing Ag uses and possible releases to the environment.


Objectives This study was aimed to assess the diversity of the meconium microbiome and determine if the bacterial community is affected by maternal diabetes status. Methods The first intestinal discharge (meconium) was collected from 23 newborns stratified by maternal diabetes status: 4 mothers had pre-gestational type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) including one mother with dizygotic twins, 5 developed gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and 13 had no diabetes. The meconium microbiome was profiled using multi-barcode 16S rRNA sequencing followed by taxonomic assignment and diversity analysis. Results All meconium samples were not sterile and contained diversified microbiota. Compared with adult feces, the meconium showed a lower species diversity, higher sample-to-sample variation, and enrichment of Proteobacteria and reduction of Bacteroidetes. Among the meconium samples, the taxonomy analyses suggested that the overall bacterial content significantly differed by maternal diabetes status, with the microbiome of the DM group showing higher alpha-diversity than that of no-diabetes or GDM groups. No global difference was found between babies delivered vaginally versus via Cesarean-section. Regression analysis showed that the most robust predictor for the meconium microbiota composition was the maternal diabetes status that preceded pregnancy. Specifically, Bacteroidetes (phyla) and Parabacteriodes (genus) were enriched in the meconium in the DM group compared to the no-diabetes group. Conclusions Our study provides evidence that meconium contains diversified microbiota and is not affected by the mode of delivery. It also suggests that the meconium microbiome of infants born to mothers with DM is enriched for the same bacterial taxa as those reported in the fecal microbiome of adult DM patients.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the manner by which students enrolled in an integrated Calculus/ Physics course use their understanding of physics to inform their conceptualizations of calculus concepts. This study utilized a multiple case study design with analysis by and across cases. The cases represent eight first year students in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of New Hampshire who enrolled in an integrated calculus/physics program. Data was gathered in a three-part process: (1) Semistructured task-based interviews, (2) Participant-observation in the calculus/physics course, and (3) Obtaining copies of students' in-class notes, in-class activities, homework assignments, and examinations. A series of tasks designed to elicit information about students' conceptualizations of average rate of change, derivative, integral, and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus were developed and pilot-tested by the researcher. To further corroborate the information gathered through the interview tasks, the students' examination, homework assignments, and in-class activities were reviewed. A description of each students' concept image was developed by analyzing the students' responses to interview tasks and triangulated with student-produced concept maps, observation of students in class, and students' homework, performance on examinations, and class work. A second layer of analysis resulted in the emergence of a classification scheme that describes how the students use physics to inform their conceptualization of calculus concepts, if at all. Finally, by searching individual student descriptions for patterns and similarities, a general description for the interactions between concept image and classification was proposed. The results from this research investigation suggest that students frequently use physics concepts to construct meaningful conceptualizations of average rate of change. However, the students less frequently draw upon physics concepts to inform their conceptualizations of derivative and integral. The results from this research investigation also suggest that the students participating in this study possess richer conceptualizations of calculus concepts that what has previously been reported in the literature. Hypotheses and questions for further investigation of students' uses of physics concepts to inform their conceptualizations of calculus concepts are generated. Implications for teaching practice and curriculum development are suggested and discussed.


Until recently, Croatian scientific journals were accessible only in print form and only to a relatively small audience. A national online journals platform was therefore planned to offer publishers a simple tool for building online versions of their journals and to make them open access. The platform, named Hrčak, was launched in 2006, supported by governmental funds. It currently includes 170 open access (OA) journals. Most journals include backfiles from 2006 onwards; the average archived period is 6.3 years. 56.5% of the journals come from the fields of social sciences and humanities. Metadata from the Hrčak platform are regularly harvested by OA repositories. To increase the number of Croatian journals covered by relevant bibliographic and full‐text databases, Hrčak has forged links with Elsevier, Thomson Reuters and EBSCO. So far, the main achievements include assisting publishers in the process of electronic publishing, and improving accessibility to Croatian scientific output.


Recent politics has been characterized by politicians' harsh anti-immigration appeals and backlash against immigrants. I present a novel explanation for this backlash that hinges on politicians' ability to make such appeals credible. The starting point is a cheap talk model in which a politician (sender) is aligned with one of two opposed groups (receivers) and seeks to communicate her preferences to win support. Importantly, an increase in the weaker group's capacity may enable credible communication by the opposed type of politician, ironically making the weaker group worse-o . Illustrating the model, I discuss how Donald Trump credibly communicated alignment with anti-immigration groups in 2016 through harsh messaging against immigrants, whose power was increasing. More broadly, the model and case show how the behavior of strategic actors can underpin realignments, with shifts in relative group power proving crucial in enabling politicians to assemble novel political coalitions.


This paper explores the relationship between humor and argumentation in everyday talk at three different levels: first, theoretically, by examining argumentation approaches in relationship to conversational humor; second, methodologically, by asking for the potential projection of the classical operational background (deduction, analogy, causality and so on) into the analysis of comical moves; and third, empirically, by showing the plausibility of finding argumentative traces in everyday, spontaneous comical utterances. As a central point of our exposition, we went back to the work of Olbrechts-Tyteca (1974) as a conceptual support for a common operational background both of humor and argumentation. We state that the discussion of those three levels is relevant for understanding how arguments work in everyday, humorous talk.


Introduction: The diagnosis of malignant small bowel tumors is difficult due to the rarity of these lesions and the lack of presenting signs and symptoms. This fact may delay the treatment and therefore worsen the outcome.
Material and methods: This article describes 6 cases of this rare disease, reviewing the literature on its clinic, pathological and treatment aspects.
Discussion: Malignancies involving the small intestine are rare and account for less than 3% of the gastrointestinal tract cancers. When the different regions of the intestine are considered, adenocarcinomas are mostly found in the duodenum while stromal tumors are usually spread throughout the entire small bowel. Adenocarcinoma represents 33% of MSBT and is best managed with wide segmental surgical resection and primary and regional node lymphadenectomy. Sarcomas represent 17% of MSBT and are treated with en bloc segmental resection with tumor-free margins, with preservation of the tumor's pseudocapsule. Secondary neoplastic involvement of the small intestine is more common than primary small neoplasia and its treatment is palliative.
Conclusion: MSBT have a rare incidence, however attention and investigation of persistent symptoms may lead to an early diagnosis and treatment.


By using the closed orbit theory, the photodetachment cross section of H- near a metal surface is derived and calculated. The results show that the metal surface has great influence on the photodetachment process. As the ion-surface distance is very large, the influence of the electrostatic image potential caused by the metal surface becomes small and can be neglected. The period, action, and length of the detached electron's closed orbit are nearly the same as the case of the photodetachment of H- near an elastic interface. However, with the decrease of the ion-surface distance, the influence of the metal surface becomes significant. The amplitude of the oscillation in the photodetachment cross section becomes complicated. Each resonance peak in the Fourier transformed cross section is associated with one electron's closed orbit. Unlike the case of the photodetachment of H- near an elastic interface, the length of the closed orbit does not equal the twice distance between the ion and the surface. But with the increase of the ion-surface distance, the length of the closed orbit approaches the case of the closed orbit near an elastic interface, which suggests the correctness of our method. This study provides a new understanding on the photodetachment process of H- in the presence of a metal surface.


Why character, confidence, and curiosity are more important to your child's success than academic results. The New York Times bestseller. For all fans of Oliver James or Steve Biddulph's Raising Boys, Raising Girls, and The Complete Secrets of Happy Children. In a world where academic success can seem all-important in deciding our children's success in adult life, Paul Tough sees things very differently. Instead of fixating on grades and exams, he argues that we, as parents, should be paying more attention to our children's characters. Inner resilience, a sense of curiosity, the hidden power of confidence - these are the most important things we can teach our children, because it is these qualities that will enable them to live happy, fulfilled and successful lives. In this personal, thought-provoking and timely book, Paul Tough offers a clarion call to parents who are seeking to unlock their child's true potential - and ensure they really succeed.


Since the 1990s, political apathy among young people has been a recurrent
issue in political science. This article examines, on the basis of a survey of the
current debate about political apathy in Germany and an analysis of civic education
textbooks for the lower secondary level in Baden-Württemberg, how contemporary
German textbooks reflect young people's interest in politics. This article will show
that, while political apathy in textbooks can be explained as the result of either an
individual deficit on the part of the reader or a structuralist deficit of the political
system, the latter explanation is more likely to encourage critical political thinking
among young people in Germany.


For in vitro propagation of cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) explants were properly disinfected in order to obtain noncontaminated cultures. All the steps in standardization of micro propagation protocol was carried out in such a way as there was no chance of any contamination throughout in-vitro culture process. The explants taken from field were sterilized before their inoculation in sterile growth medium to remove dirt and dust adhering to the explants. Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), was tested for sterilization of nodal segments with varying times of exposure. Immersion of explants in sodium hypochlorite solution (1%) for 5minutes showed maximum survival (83.00%). Maximum mortality (46.00%) was observed when sodium hypochlorite (1%) was used for 8 minutes.


A stylised fact in the real estate portfolio diversification literature is that sector (property-type) effects are relatively more important than regional (geographical) factors in determining property returns. Thus, for those portfolio managers who follow a top-down approach to portfolio management, they should first choose in which sectors to invest and then select the best properties in each market. However, the question arises as to whether the dominance of the sector effects relative to regional effects is constant. If not property fund managers will need to take account of regional effects in developing their portfolio strategy. Using monthly data over the period 1987:1 to 2002:12 for a sample of over 1000 properties the results show that the sector-specific factors dominate the regional-specific factors for the vast majority of the time. Nonetheless, there are periods when the regional factors are of equal or greater importance than the sector effects. In particular, the sector effects tend to dominate during volatile periods of the real estate cycle; however, during calmer periods the sector and regional effects are of equal importance. These findings suggest that the sector effects are still the most important aspect in the development of an active portfolio strategy.


State-of-the-art subspace clustering methods are based on convex formulations whose theoretical guarantees require the subspaces to be low-dimensional. Dual Principal Component Pursuit (DPCP) is a non-convex method that is specifically designed for learning highdimensional subspaces, such as hyperplanes. However, existing analyses of DPCP in the multi-hyperplane case lack a precise characterization of the distribution of the data and involve quantities that are difficult to interpret. Moreover, the provable algorithm based on recursive linear programming is not efficient. In this paper, we introduce a new notion of geometric dominance, which explicitly captures the distribution of the data, and derive both geometric and probabilistic conditions under which a global solution to DPCP is a normal vector to a geometrically dominant hyperplane. We then prove that the DPCP problem for a union of hyperplanes satisfies a Riemannian regularity condition, and use this result to show that a scalable Riemannian subgradient method exhibits (local) linear convergence to the normal vector of the geometrically dominant hyperplane. Finally, we show that integrating DPCP into popular subspace clustering schemes, such as K-ensembles, leads to superior or competitive performance over the state-of-the-art in clustering hyperplanes.


Background: Chemoprevention with anti-estrogens, such as tamoxifen, raloxifene, and aromatase inhibitors, has been shown to reduce breast cancer incidence in high-risk women; however, uptake remains low ( Methods: We enrolled high-risk women and those with newly diagnosed ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), who were seen for an initial consultation by medical oncology at Columbia University Medical Center. Women eligible for chemoprevention with anti-estrogens had a 5-year breast cancer risk ≥1.67% or lifetime risk ≥20% according to the Gail or Tyrer-Cuzick models, lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS), DCIS, or BRCA mutation. Patients completed a baseline questionnaire collecting information on health literacy, numeracy, breast cancer knowledge, perceived breast cancer risk, reasons for taking preventive actions, and attitudes toward chemoprevention using validated measures. Demographic and clinical data, including chemoprevention uptake and type of anti-estrogen, were collected from medical chart review. Results: From August 2012 to July 2014, 69 women were enrolled and 45 were evaluable. Among evaluable women, median age was 51.5 years (range, 31.8-76.4); 51% were pre-menopausal; race/ethnicity, white/Hispanic/black/Asian/other (%): 49/24/16/9/2; risk category, elevated breast cancer risk/LCIS/DCIS/BRCA mutation (%): 49/18/29/4. Mean health literacy score was 0.74 (score range 0-4, lower scores indicate higher literacy) and 31% met criteria for low numeracy. At baseline, only 49% demonstrated good breast cancer knowledge and 45% perceived themselves to be at higher risk for breast cancer than the general population. Excluding women with DCIS, median lifetime breast cancer risk according to the Gail or Tyrer-Cuzick models was 29.2% (range, 10.3-92) and 42% had accurate risk perceptions (perceived risk within 10% of estimated lifetime risk). The most common reasons for wanting to take preventive action to lower breast cancer risk included to live longer (98%), to improve health (91%), and to do it for family (87%). Twenty-nine (64%) women had previously heard of a prescription medicine to prevent breast cancer, but only 34% had ever thought about taking an anti-estrogen for prevention. The most common concerns about side effects with tamoxifen were blood clots (47%) and uterine cancer (40%); with raloxifene, blood clots (77%); and with aromatase inhibitors, osteoporosis (59%) and arthritis symptoms (36%). Thirty (68%) women felt like they had enough information following the initial visit with the medical oncologist to decide whether or not to take chemoprevention. Overall, 22 (49%) started an anti-estrogen: 54% tamoxifen, 14% raloxifene, and 32% an aromatase inhibitor. The chemoprevention uptake rate was 69% for DCIS and 41% for the other risk categories combined. Conclusions: In a multi-ethnic cohort of high-risk women, less than half demonstrated sufficient breast cancer knowledge and had accurate breast cancer risk perceptions. After consultation with a medical oncologist, over two-thirds felt they had sufficient information for chemoprevention decision-making. Our chemoprevention uptake rate was relatively high compared to the published literature, which may reflect the highly select women referred to a breast center and the comfort level of medical oncologists in prescribing anti-estrogens. Citation Format: Meghna S. Trivedi, Laura Reimers, Katherine Infante, Dawn L. Hershman, Matthew Maurer, Kevin Kalinsky, Stephanie Aguilar, Rossy Sandoval, Maria C. Alvarez, Rita Kukafka, Katherine D. Crew. Knowledge, attitudes, and uptake of breast cancer chemoprevention in a multi-ethnic cohort of high-risk women. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2014 Sep 27-Oct 1; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2015;8(10 Suppl): Abstract nr PR01.


Recent research has provided evidence that, in the industrial context, developing video games diverges from developing software systems in other domains, such as office suites and system utilities. In this paper, we consider video game development in the open source system (OSS) context. Specifically, we investigate how developers contribute to video games vs. non-games by working on different kinds of artifacts, how they handle malfunctions, and how they perceive the development process of their projects. To this purpose, we conducted a mixed, qualitative and quantitative study on a broad suite of 60 OSS projects. Our results confirm the existence of significant differences between game and non-game development, in terms of how project resources are organized and in the diversity of developers' specializations. Moreover, game developers responding to our survey perceive more difficulties than other developers when reusing code as well as performing automated testing, and they lack a clear overview of their system's requirements.


The purpose of this study was to examine pharmacists' participation in health
promotion activities, particularly those activities undertaken outside the pharmacy.
Facilitators and barriers to this participation were determined.
The great majority (80.2%) of Australia's 12 000 pharmacists practise in retail
community pharmacies in a profession which is in demand, particularly in rural
areas. Traditionally dispensing medications and selling over-the-counter medicines,
pharmacists are one of the most accessible groups of health professionals, but the
literature suggests that most community pharmacists do not generally participate in
health promotion activities outside the pharmacy itself. Health promotion principles
should underpin all facets of pharmacy practice but nomenclature confusion and
limited definitions of health promotion restrict practice.
Tasmanian and Victorian pharmacists with Tasmanian undergraduate and graduate
students were surveyed by anonymous questionnaires. Demographic data,
participation in health promotion activities and facilitators and barriers to
participation were determined. Quantitative analysis of results was obtained using
SPSS-12.1 ©while qualitative data were extracted by themes. From a total of 458 responses, significant differences in practice were identified
between pharmacists in rural and urban practice. Although 42.4% of respondent
Tasmania pharmacists and 46.2% of respondent Victorian pharmacists gave
community talks in the previous two years, three-quarters of these respondents gave
only one to three talks. Fewer (20%) respondents were involved in writing newsletters, with only 5% involved in media presentations. In Tasmania, rural
pharmacists gave more community talks while urban pharmacists tended to write
newsletters. Victorian urban female practitioners engaged in community activities
contributed more than their male colleagues, but for all respondents, age or hours
worked did not restrict participation. Facilitators included interest, specific requests
and community service. Significant barriers included time constraints for Tasmanian
rural pharmacists but also the results revealed that urban pharmacists were not asked
to participate. Despite providing more community talks, rural pharmacists were less
confident public speakers. All respondents indicated there was lack of understanding
of the knowledge and skills a pharmacist could offer and that they were left out of
community activities, however most believed that, despite difficulties participating in
these activities, it was important for the profession to contribute. Lack of relevant literature examples and limited opportunities for professional
development currently restricts pharmacists' understanding of the extent of health
promotion practice. Widening community pharmacists' scope of practice in health
promotion outside the four walls of the pharmacy may have important implications
for the pharmacy workforce in its continued need to meet future demands.


Henry Precht, Country Director for Iran in the State Department, 1978-80, held a key position during the Iranian Revolution. Previously, he had served in Embassy Tehran, 1972-76, as political-military officer. Here follow relevant excerpts from his interview with Charles Stuart Kennedy, Oral Historian of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. The full text of Precht's oral history is available from the Association. Used with permission of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project. Q. Henry, you took over the Iran desk in June 1978. Will you explain the situation you found at that time? PRECHT: Iran's troubles (we didn't call it a revolution until it was over) had started in January when the Shah's people and newspapers insulted Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and religious students demonstrated in Qum at the seminary. A number were shot, touching off a series of mourning demonstrations. They began in January and at intervals of three or forty days there would be mourning marches, in Tehran, Tabriz, and other cities. Each time the troops would crack down and there would be more commemorations for those who were killed. The country was getting out of hand, and the Shah was getting nervous. He began promising a more liberalized regime. Unfortunately, people weren't buying that. I had been concerned about what was happening in Iran. The Embassy indicated some worry, but the press, which was not represented in Tehran by American reporters, downplayed the incidents. US papers had stringers who we always thought had dual employment, the other employer being SAVAK, the secret police. So, the level of concern was muted at best. In June when I came on board, things had, in fact, quieted down. The mourning ceremonies had come to an end. There was tension but not recurring violence. Q: At that time was it the perception that you were getting from other people and your own view that the problem was that the Shah either had to liberalize or become more conservative and religious? PRECHT: Basically, Washington didn't believe the Shah, who had been through a lot of trouble at different times since 1941, was in any real danger. Some people thought liberalization was the answer. That is, to lighten up. No one suggested that he join the church or start contributing to the building fund, because religious people weren't so prominent in American thinking at that stage. Q: Was it also because we couldn't talk to mullahs, and also Americans, particularly in those days, didn't think in terms of Islam or church in any place? We are secular people and have secular solutions. PRECHT: Don't forget we are looking at this in retrospect. There had never been an Islamic revolution. There had been political demonstrations led by clerics, the last one 25 years earlier led by Khomeini, at which time he was jailed and sent off in exile in Turkey, then Iraq. The religious aspect wasn't the main focus in the spring of 1978; it was a popular uprising. It wasn't even viewed as being a long-term thing. After all, the Shah had a pretty tough secret police apparatus and an army deemed to be loyal. The presumption was that it might be messy and might take a little while, but they could do the job. I recall a cable coming in from the Embassy in May 1978 which identified Khomeini, who figured in the troubles but wasn't revered yet as leader of the stature he later acquired. That the Embassy had to identify him in a cable to the Washington audience tells you something about how much we knew about Iranian internal politics and Khomeini's role in it. One of my first visitors on the desk was the Israeli Embassy officer who handled the Middle East. He had been born in Iran. He told me, "We are already in the post-Shah era." I had not heard that before. He felt the Shah was in deep trouble. The officer was basing that view, I guess, on what he knew of Iran and was getting from the unofficial Israeli Embassy in Tehran. …


This paper proposes a novel binary image descriptor, namely the Adaptive Hierarchical Density Histogram, that can be utilized for complex binary image retrieval. This novel descriptor exploits the distribution of the image points on a two-dimensional area. To reflect effectively this distribution, we propose an adaptive pyramidal decomposition of the image into non-overlapping rectangular regions and the extraction of the density histogram of each region. This hierarchical decomposition algorithm is based on the recursive calculation of geometric centroids. The presented technique is experimentally shown to combine efficient performance, low computational cost and scalability. Comparison with other prevailing approaches demonstrates its high potential.


ABSTRACT The cellulase and hemicellulase genes of the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei have been shown to be under carbon catabolite repression mediated by the regulatory gene cre1. In this study, strains were constructed in which the cre1 gene was either completely removed or replaced by a truncated mutant variant, cre1-1, found previously in the Rut-C30 mutant strain with enhanced enzyme production capability. The T. reesei transformants with either deletion or truncation of cre1 had clearly altered colony morphology compared with the parental strains, forming smaller colonies and fewer aerial hyphae and spores. Liquid cultures in a medium with glucose as a carbon source showed that the transformants were derepressed in cellulase and hemicellulase production. Interestingly, they also produced significantly elevated levels of these hydrolytic enzymes in fermentations carried out in a medium inducing the hydrolase genes. This suggests that cre1 acts as a modulator of cellulase and hemicellulase gene expression under both noninducing and inducing conditions. There was no phenotypic difference between the Δcre1 and cre1-1 mutant strains in any of the experiments done, indicating that the cre1-1 gene is practically a null allele. The results of this work indicate that cre1 is a valid target gene in strain engineering for improved enzyme production in T. reesei.


An up-to-date edition of the authoritative text on the physics of medical imaging, written in an accessible format The extensively revised fifth edition of Hendee's Medical Imaging Physics, offers a guide to the principles, technologies, and procedures of medical imaging. Comprehensive in scope, the text contains coverage of all aspects of image formation in modern medical imaging modalities including radiography, fluoroscopy, computed tomography, nuclear imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasound. Since the publication of the fourth edition, there have been major advances in the techniques and instrumentation used in the ever-changing field of medical imaging. The fifth edition offers a comprehensive reflection of these advances including digital projection imaging techniques, nuclear imaging technologies, new CT and MR imaging methods, and ultrasound applications. The new edition also takes a radical strategy in organization of the content, offering the fundamentals common to most imaging methods in Part I of the book, and application of those fundamentals in specific imaging modalities in Part II. These fundamentals also include notable updates and new content including radiobiology, anatomy and physiology relevant to medical imaging, imaging science, image processing, image display, and information technologies. The book makes an attempt to make complex content in accessible format with limited mathematical formulation. The book is aimed to be accessible by most professionals with lay readers interested in the subject. The book is also designed to be of utility for imaging physicians and residents, medical physics students, and medical physicists and radiologic technologists perpetrating for certification examinations. The revised fifth edition of Hendee's Medical Imaging Physics continues to offer the essential information and insights needed to understand the principles, the technologies, and procedures used in medical imaging.


This article details aspects of a new, generic approach to the selection, scale-up and process
simulation of filtration and separation equipment. An interactive computer software package
capable of identifying a likely separation device is outlined. Choosing the example of cake filters,
the beneficial use of computer software and automated data acquisition in laboratory apparatus is
illustrated. It is shown how the typical experimental data generated can be analysed in a
consistent manner by computer software to generate scale-up data. The article also indicates how
this information can subsequently be used within a family of dedicated process modelling software
packages to simulate detailed filter cycle operations on batch and continuous cake filters.
The approach has general application within process and related industries and offers integration
with manufacturers data via the internet and the world wide web.


The Vice Presidency "isn't worth a pitcher of warm spit." -Vice President John Nance Garner1 Twenty years ago I wouldn't have advised my worst enemy to take the Vice-Presidency. It was God's way of punishing bad campaigners, a sort of political purgatory for the also-rans. Now you'd be crazy not to take the job. -Aide to President Ronald Reagan2 Many a true word is spoken in jest, we are told. More surprisingly, sometimes the truth even emerges, unsought, from the mouths of politicians and their flacks. This may be the case with regard to recent claims by Vice President Dick Cheney's office that he is, properly speaking, a "legislative officer" rather than a member of the executive branch.3 The consequences of this argument, however, may prove unpalatable to the Bush Administration on closer examination. Indeed, an activist vice presidency, in the Cheney model, might be considered unconstitutional if the Vice President is regarded as a legislative official. And, regardless of whether that characterization controls, there may be prudential reasons for keeping the Vice President at a greater remove from executive affairs than has recently been the case. The Cheney-as-legislator kerfuffle appeared as part of an interbranch struggle over the declassification of documents. Representative Henry Waxman argued that Cheney was avoiding legally required scrutiny by the National Archives and Records Administration, while Cheney's office argued that Cheney, as President of the Senate, was not part of the executive branch and hence not subject to such regulation.4 The political backlash engendered by this position5 led Cheney's office to withdraw to the more defensible position that the office of the Vice President, like the office of the President, was not an "agency" for purposes of the statute. Nevertheless, Cheney's spokesmen did not repudiate the earlier position.6 And, in fact, I believe that the positioning of the vice presidency within the legislative branch-or, at any rate, outside the executive-may be appropriate. Such a reading, however, would render Cheney's role7 within the Bush Administration, as well as the modern notion of Vice Presidents as junior versions of the commander-in-chief, unconstitutional. Despite the unfriendly political response, the argument that the Vice President is a legislative official is not inherently absurd. The Constitution gives the Vice President no executive powers; the Vice President's only duties are to preside over the Senate8 and to become President if the serving President dies or leaves office.9 Traditionally, what staff, office, and perquisites the Vice President enjoyed came via the Senate; it was not until Spiro Agnew mounted a legislative push that the Vice President got his own budget line.10 The Vice President really is not an executive official. He or she executes no laws-and is not part of the President's administration the way that other officials are. The Vice President cannot be fired by the President; as an independently elected officeholder, he can be removed only by Congress via impeachment. (In various separation of powers cases, as noted below, the Supreme Court has placed a lot of weight on this who-can-fire-you test.) Traditionally, Vice Presidents have not done much, which is why the position was famously characterized by Vice President John Nance Garner as "[not] worth a pitcher of warm spit."11 That changed when Jimmy Carter gave Fritz Mondale an unusual degree of responsibility,12 a move replicated in subsequent administrations, particularly under Clinton/Gore and Bush/Cheney.13 The expansion of vice presidential power, however, obscures a key point. Whatever executive power a Vice President exercises is exercised because it is delegated by the President, not because the Vice President possesses any executive power already. The Vesting Clause of Article II vests all the executive power in the President, with no residuum left over for anyone else. …


Background: In this study we aimed to examine the discrimination and calibration of a severity characterization of trauma (ASCOT) in our setting to determine whether its usage is appropriate to predict outcome of our trauma patients. Methods: This study was conducted in three hospitals. All patients admitted in studied hospitals were divided randomly into two equal subgroups. In each group, new coefficients for ASCOT were derived from the first subgroup of patients. Then the newly developed model was validated in the second subgroup and the measures of discrimination and calibration were calculated. Results: 78% of our patients were male and 27% were children. The study mortality rate was 6%, and 20% of patients had penetrating trauma. The average age of our patients was 28 ± 19 (Mean ± Standard Deviation).The area under ROC for ASCOT was 0.96 and Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit p value was 0.81. Conclusion: In spite of many differences of the trauma care systems between our country and western countries, current survival probability models can be used in our country after customization and development of new coefficients derived from regional databases.


The purpose of this article is to describe the process and the methods of cost-effectiveness analysis for clinicians interested in joining or leading aspects of this branch of evidence-based research. Cost-effectiveness is a useful tool for policymakers and is considered a starting point for discussions of fair pricing. Clinicians are important members of teams conducting cost-effectiveness analyses, particularly as it relates to integrating their clinical expertise into the decisions around the design and conduct of the analysis. Their input is essential in assuring that models adequately reflect clinical practice and are informed by expert judgments of how existing data can best be interpreted to build a comprehensive analysis of the clinical and economic outcomes of different treatment options. We illustrate specific contributions that clinicians are well positioned to make in these teams using a recent cost-effectiveness analysis of aducanumab that was conducted to support fair drug pricing. While discussing these contributions, we explain key components of a cost-effectiveness analysis, such as time horizon, health states, and perspective, to support understanding of the methods of cost-effectiveness by the clinical researchers and to promote a common dialogue among these multidisciplinary teams.


Abstract The records of 95 consecutive people older than 65 years and admitted to a community hospital were retrospectively reviewed to determine the prevalence of undiagnosed delirium in hospitalized elderly patients. Chart review focused on identification of patients with documented diagnosed delirium according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition, revised (DSM-III-R) criteria and patients with unrecognized delirium. Unrecognized delirium was considered present when information contained in a patient's chart met some or all criteria for delirium as described in DSM-III-R, but the physician's progress notes failed to indicate delirium as a diagnosed clinical entity. The prevalence of diagnosed delirium was 2%. Thirty-six percent of the patients were suspected of having unrecognized delirium. The mean length of hospital stay and the rate of mortality were significantly higher for patients with suspected delirium than for nondelirious patients. The findings of this study suggest that unrecognized delirium in the hospitalized elderly may occur frequently and is associated with an increased length of hospital stay and increased mortality.


Structural genomics of proteins of unknown function most straightforwardly assists with assignment of biochemical activity when the new structure resembles that of proteins whose functions are known. When a new fold is revealed, the universe of known folds is enriched, and once the function is determined by other means, novel structure‐function relationships are established. The previously unannotated protein HI1434 from H. influenzae provides a hybrid example of these two paradigms. It is a member of a microbial protein family, labeled in SwissProt as YbaK and ebsC. The crystal structure at 1.8 Å resolution reported here reveals a fold that is only remotely related to the C‐lectin fold, in particular to endostatin, and thus is not sufficiently similar to imply that YbaK proteins are saccharide binding proteins. However, a crevice that may accommodate a small ligand is evident. The putative binding site contains only one invariant residue, Lys46, which carries a functional group that could play a role in catalysis, indicating that YbaK is probably not an enzyme. Detailed sequence analysis, including a number of newly sequenced microbial organisms, highlights sequence homology to an insertion domain in prolyl‐tRNA synthetases (proRS) from prokaryote, a domain whose function is unknown. A HI1434‐based model of the insertion domain shows that it should also contain the putative binding site. Being part of a tRNA synthetases, the insertion domain is likely to be involved in oligonucleotide binding, with possible roles in recognition/discrimination or editing of prolyl‐tRNA. By analogy, YbaK may also play a role in nucleotide or oligonucleotide binding, the nature of which is yet to be determined. Proteins 2000;40:86–97. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Over 90 percent of patients with Parkinson's disease experience speech‐motor impairment, namely, hypokinetic dysarthria characterized by reduced pitch and loudness. Resting‐state functional connectivity analysis of blood oxygen level‐dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging is a useful measure of intrinsic neural functioning. We utilized resting‐state functional connectivity modeling to analyze the intrinsic connectivity in patients with Parkinson's disease within a vocalization network defined by a previous meta‐analysis of speech (Brown et al., 2009). Functional connectivity of this network was assessed in 56 patients with Parkinson's disease and 56 gender‐, age‐, and movement‐matched healthy controls. We also had item 5 and 18 of the UPDRS, and the PDQ‐39 Communication subscale available for correlation with the voice network connectivity strength in patients. The within‐group analyses of connectivity patterns demonstrated a lack of subcortical–cortical connectivity in patients with Parkinson's disease. At the cortical level, we found robust (homotopic) interhemispheric connectivity but only inconsistent evidence for many intrahemispheric connections. When directly contrasted to the control group, we found a significant reduction of connections between the left thalamus and putamen, and cortical motor areas, as well as reduced right superior temporal gyrus connectivity. Furthermore, most symptom measures correlated with right putamen, left cerebellum, left superior temporal gyrus, right premotor, and left Rolandic operculum connectivity in the voice network. The results reflect the importance of (right) subcortical nodes and the superior temporal gyrus in Parkinson's disease, enhancing our understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of vocalization impairment in Parkinson's disease. Hum Brain Mapp 36:1951–1962, 2015. © 2015 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The "N-word" has been a pop-culture topic of interest which has fueled many heated discussions within the African American community. Given the history of the word nigger in America, the use of the word nigga among some African Americans may cause confusion among those who do not understand the phenomenon of African Americans" perceptions of the "Nword." The present research was conducted to explore the phenomenon of African Americans" perceptions of both the words nigger and nigga in the context of racial identity attitudes. A primarily qualitative embedded mixed method model was utilized to gather information about feelings of group membership and African Americans" perceptions of the words nigger and nigga. The Cross Racial Identity Scale (CRIS) was used to identify participant"s racial identity attitudes, and all of the participants in this study strongly agreed with attitudes associated with internalized identities. A qualitative analysis resulted in three themes including: (a) nigger is a universally negative and unacceptable term, (b) nigga is acceptable when used by African Americans, and (c) the public use of nigga is inappropriate. An overall profile interpretation of each identity type resulted in the finding that several of the attitudes associated with Cross"s Nigrescence Theory, specifically assimilation, racial self hatred, anti-White, Afrocentric, and multiculturalist inclusive, were reflected in the qualitative themes. Implications for theory, research, and practice are addressed.


Widely regarded as one of the most promising emerging technologies for driving the future development of wireless communications, cognitive radio has the potential to mitigate the problem of increasing radio spectrum scarcity through dynamic spectrum allocation. Drawing on fundamental elements of information theory, network theory, propagation, optimization, and signal processing, a team of leading experts present a systematic treatment of the core physical and networking principles of cognitive radio, and explore key design considerations for the development of new cognitive radio systems. Containing all the underlying principles you need to develop practical applications in cognitive radio, this book is an essential reference for students, researchers, and practitioners alike in the field of wireless communications and signal processing.


A series of novel quinones was synthesized by reacting tetrabromo-p-benzoquinone with amino oligo(ethylene glycol) dendrons of generation numbers g = 0-2. According to the performed shake-flask experiments, their aqueous solubility (S = 18 mg l-1-1.6 g ml-1) and partition coefficients (log Poct/wat = 2.53-0.21) can be tuned in a wide range as a function of g. In vitro cytotoxicity assays of tetrabromo-p-benzoquinone and its derivatives against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells showed a concentration- and generation-specific biological activity with IC50-values as low as 0.8 μM. Further investigations revealed a considerable selectivity against cancer cells, as indicated by a weak cytotoxicity against human skin fibroblast cells (>80% survival) within the studied range of concentrations. The results demonstrate that these novel amino oligo(ethylene glycol) dendrons depict versatile tools to ameliorate physical and pharmacological characteristics of extremely hydrophobic molecules and make them susceptible to biological applications.


Multiple recent publications on RNA-Seq have demonstrated the power of next generation sequencing technologies in whole transcriptome analysis. The vendor specific protocols used for RNA library construction typically require at least 100ng of total RNA. However, under certain conditions such as single cells, stem cells, difficult to isolate cell types, or fractionated cancer cells, only a small amount of material is available. In these cases, effective transcriptome profiling requires amplification of subnanogram amounts of RNA. Several RNA amplification kits are available for amplification prior to library construction and next generation sequencing but these kits have not been comprehensively field evaluated for accuracy and performance of RNA-Seq for picogram amounts of RNA.

This study conducted by the DNA Sequencing Research Group (DSRG) focuses on the evaluation of amplification kits for RNA-Seq. Four commercial amplification kits were chosen: Ovation v2 (NuGEN Technologies), SMARTer (Clontech), Seqplex (Sigma Aldrich), and Super-AMP (Miltenyi Biotech). Starting material was 5ng, 500pg and 50pg of human total reference RNA (Clontech) spiked with Ambion ERCC control mix (Life Technologies) following the manufacturer's protocol. Each kit was tested at 3 different sites to assess reproducibility. Total RNA and ERCC RNA spike-in control mixes from the same lots were sent to 12 ABRF lab sites for amplification and cDNA generation. Ideally, this would have resulted in 36 different amplified samples, 3 from each input RNA. Libraries were constructed at one site from the amplified cDNAs using the TruSeq RNA library preparation kit on the Tecan Freedom EVO Liquid Handling Robot. As an unamplified control, ribosomal depletion and PolyA selection were performed separately using 5ng, 100ng and 1ug of total RNA prior to library construction. All libraries were pooled and sequenced using the Illumina HiSeq platform. An overview of the study and the results will be presented.


Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of the iron-binding molecule lactoferrin on reducing gut populations and fecal shedding of Salmonella Typhimurium in experimentally-infected weaned pigs. For each experiment, crossbred barrows and gilts were purchased locally and transported to our laboratory facilities. All pigs were fed a ground starter diet available for ad libitum consumption and randomly assigned to pen (2 pigs/pen) and treatment (10 pigs/treatment; 5 pens/treatment): Control [1.25 g whey protein concentrate (WPC)/kg BW (body weight)/d); 1X lactoferrin [0.25 g lactoferrin (LF) + 1.0 g WPC/kg BW/d]; and 5X LF (1.25 g LF/kg BW/d). Experimental treatments were fed prior to inoculation via oral gavage with Salmonella Typhimurium. Rectal swabs (collected daily for 4 days) for quantification of the challenge Salmonella strain and scour and activity scores, and body temperatures recorded daily following inoculation. Five days post-challenge, pigs were euthanized and tissue and luminal content samples aseptically collected from the stomach, ileum, cecum, spiral colon and rectum. Additional tissue samples were collected from the ileo-cecal lymph nodes, spleen, tonsil, and liver. Quantitative and qualitative bacterial culture was conducted for the challenge strain of Salmonella. No treatment differences (P > 0.10) were observed for daily fecal shedding or luminal concentrations of Salmonella in either experiment. The percentage of tissue samples Salmonella positive was not significantly different among treatments with the exception of liver tissue in Experiment I, which was lower (P < 0.05) in the 1X and 5X treatments compared to control pigs. Body weights and BW change were not affected (P > 0.10) by treatment. Following inoculation, body temperatures, scour and activity scores were not different when examined by day or when data was combined across days. Future research should evaluate increasing the duration of feeding and/or the levels of lactoferrin fed in conjunction with a more subtle Salmonella challenge.


The purpose of this paper is to make an argument for utilizing the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as a method to resolve conflicting goals in service performance management systems. Service businesses are faced with two particular challenges that introduce the need to trade-off metrics against each other. First, their rather intangible and perishable properties require incorporating nonfinancial performance indicators such as perceived quality or resource utilization into the calculus. Second, the nature of service systems as open systems makes performance calculations subject to different perspectives on value creation. Traditional approaches to resolve these conflicts are mostly based on weighting the metrics a priori based translating management strategies into action, which might lead to biased performance calculations. With a comparative example, we demonstrate to what extend the DEA is able to resolve these trade-offs without specifying a priori weights which offers the chance to compare unbiased data with current strategic objectives.


Background: The automotive industry is characterised by a network of long term collaborative agreements between component suppliers and assemblers. For collaboration to be successful trust between the supply chain partners is vital. Although many variables influence the efficiency of collaborative relationships, the human behaviour issues related to culture and trust are often much more difficult to solve. Trust is singled out in this article as a contributor to value in the supply chain relationships. Increased trust leads to more confidence resulting in better collaboration. Objectives: The purpose of the study was to explore collaborative relationships between first and second tier suppliers (component manufacturers) in automotive supply chains in South Africa and the role of trust in the relationship value. Method: This quantitative study had been conducted amongst members of the National Association for Automobile Component and Allied Manufacturers of South Africa (NAACAM), who are suppliers to the large automotive assemblers. The research utilised closed ended questions to obtain the perceptions of managers in automotive component manufacture regarding trust and relationship value with their best suppliers. Results: With a linear regression model it was found that there is a high degree of trust in the collaborative relationships between first and second tier suppliers of components in the automotive industry in South Africa. Conclusion: The automotive industry is one of the most successful industries in South Africa. They compete globally and apply best practices, particularly those in supply chain management. The industry is characterised by networks of collaborative relationships on different levels. These relationships seem to be successful as they are based on trust.


This volume, which is a follow-up to BIS Policy Paper No. 3 (January 1998), analyses the major changes in monetary policy transmission in the emerging market economies (EMEs) over the past decade and highlights a number of implications. It is based on two days of discussions among senior central bankers at a meeting at the BIS in December 2006. Fiscal dominance has been largely overcome and monetary policy frameworks are now more credible. The overview paper finds that central banks have become more flexible in their operations. The interest rate channels of monetary policy have become much stronger, and the relative importance of some of the traditional channels such as the credit channel has declined, at least in normal times. Better monetary policies have resulted in lower and less volatile inflation in most EMEs. An analysis of the transmission of monetary policy to long-term interest rates notes that the impact of the policy rates on long-term rates has been moderated by more stable inflation expectations, which has allowed central banks to be less aggressive in adjusting policies. External factors appear to be exerting an increasing influence on domestic long-term rates. A related analysis finds that greater globalisation has resulted in domestic short-term rates being significantly affected by foreign interest rates, particularly in countries with high capital mobility and with managed exchange rates. Finally, the pass-through from exchange rate changes to domestic inflation has fallen since 2001, while the sensitivity of inflation to foreign price changes has increased.


The effect of scheduled use of high-protein and low-protein diets on body weight and fry production of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.), was determined. A preliminary feeding trial was first conducted on fingerlings. These were fed a high-protein diet (H, 25% protein) or a low-protein diet (L, 18% protein) daily, or diet H for 1–3 days followed by diet L for 1–4 days. Final body weight was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in fish fed diet H daily and in fish fed diet H for 2–3 days followed by diet L for 1 day (2H−1L and 3H−1L). Fingerlings on 1H−1L and 3H−2L had slightly lower growth. Based on the response of the fingerlings, five feeding schedules were tested with the broodstock. A high-protein diet (HP, 40%) and a low-protein diet (LP, 25%; same as H for fingerlings) were used. Feeding schedules significantly influenced body weight of female but not the male fish. Fry production was not significantly affected by the feeding schedule for broodstock. When growth, fry production and saving in feed cost were all considered, the broodstock on 1HP−1LP and 3HP−2LP feeding schedules both gave the highest overall performance. These findings give fish farmers an option in the management of feeding of tilapia broodstock.


Morinda officinalis F. C. How is a precious medicinal plant, which has been widely used for enhancing immune system and especially increasing men's physiological health. Because of various tremendous effects, the demand of M. officinalis has increased, recently. In addition, the dwindling of living environments directly resulted in the decline of M. officinalis populations in the nature. Consequently, this caused the significant decrease of M. officinalis' genetic diversity. In this research, 10 ISSR primers were used to evaluate the genetic diversity of 39 samples gathered at Quang Ninh. The results showed that six among 10 primers could be use for evaluation the diversity of Morinda officinalis population. Forty five fragments of 46 amplified fragments were polymorphism. The phylogenic tree constructed by NTSYS PC 2.1 based on the Jaccard's genetic coefficient using the algorithm UPGMA showed two major groups ranged from 0.31 to 0.88. The result revealed the value of Nei's genetic differentiation index (G ST ) and the estimated gene flow (Nm), which were about 0,3281and 1.0240, respectively. These results demonstrated the diversity at the molecular level of M. officinali F. C. How population distributing in Quang Ninh. These achievements can contribute to the properly sample collection for conservation, breeding or further research on Morinda officinalis F. C. How.


This thesis, portfolio of published original performances and texts examines the extent to which one can create an equitable and convincing 'live' performance presence when creating performances that incorporate mediatised performers. The experimental process forefronts the dialogic relationship of the onstage to the on-screen performer, as such the devising methodology has primarily been focused on experimentation with the scripted narrative. The research illustrates significant technological and formal transitions during the research period, which has also seen the development from analogue to digital formats. In a systematic series of test-bed performances the author has created work exploring the qualitative interface between the onstage and digitally produced performer. Each new undertaking has articulated a different sub-set of research questions, but these have all been explored within the overarching framework. The argument presented here is that this research has contributed new knowledge to interpretations of our understanding of liveness and performer presence in contemporary performance. The critical contextual analysis examines twelve selected outputs. These are a combination of original performances and selected publications, where the author has reflexively discussed the findings of her practice. The critical contextual study is presented in four sections: Liveness revisited; The impact of the digital performer on our understanding of performer presence; Experiments with narrative; The actor slave and the diabolical digital performer.


This paper has studied rural employment diversification in India and across major states using NSSO data at household level for the period 1983 and 2009-10. Factors affecting rural employment diversification towards non-farm sector have also been studied. Analysis has shown that the non-farm sector has consistently grown over time and employed nearly one-third of the rural workforce in 2009-10, as compared to merely one-fifth in 1983 at all-India level. The similar trend is seen across major states as well, though the pace and pattern varied widely. In providing employment to rural workforce, increasing dominance of crop production, followed by animal husbandry was observed across major states during 2009-10. The share of fishery and forestry was negligible in providing employment to the rural workforce. The study has revealed that the increasing rural non-farm employment has positive and significant effect on reducing rural poverty at all-India level. A positive link between income and employment has also been observed in diversifying towards horticultural activities. A well designed area-specific programme should be evolved to help improve skill of rural workforce, which in turn would benefit in getting employment in the non-farm sector.


We discuss theoretical issues pertaining to baryonic matter in the combined heavy-quark and large $N_c$ limits of QCD. Witten's classic argument that baryons and interacting systems of baryons can be described in a mean-field approximation with each of the quarks moving in an average potential due to the remaining quarks is heuristic. It is important to justify this heuristic description for the case of baryonic matter since systems of interacting baryons are intrinsically more complicated than single baryons due to the possibility of hidden color states---states in which the subsystems making up the entire baryon crystal are not color-singlet nucleons but rather colorful states coupled together to make a color-singlet state. In this work, we provide a formal justification of this heuristic prescription. In order to do this, we start by taking the heavy quark limit, thus effectively reducing the problem to a many-body quantum mechanical system. This problem can be formulated in terms of integrals over coherent states, which for this problem are simple Slater determinants. We show that for the many-body problem, the support region for these integrals becomes narrow at large $N_c$, yielding an energy which is well-approximated by a single coherent state---that is a mean-field description. Corrections to the energy are of relative order $1/N_c$. While hidden color states are present in the exact state of the heavy quark system, they only influence the interaction energy at sub-leading order in $1/N_{c}$.


The article deals with the concepts of ownership and property from the point of civil and criminal law. The necessity to disclose the content of these notions in criminal law appears explaining the property crimes and penalties. Entire chapter of Criminal code is called "Crimes against ownership", while "property" is used in many definitions as one of the most important legal sign of crime. Up till now the dominating legal concept in criminal law regards the ownership as a law of estate, strictly identifying property with material substance. Such a point of view groundlessly gets narrow the legal protection of property sphere by means of criminal law. The new civil code of Republic of Lithuania has legitimated the broader concept of ownership defining its objects as "things and other property" (art. 4. 38). Trying to disclose what "other property" means, the author overviews different property theories: material, legal and economical those. The broadest economical property theory recognises that this notion accords all material and immaterial goods, which have pecuniary value and are able to become a part of person's possession. In the light of the new civil code it is possible to say that some kinds of immaterial property may be the objects of ownership of a person (for example, property rights). At the same time the concept of ownership is still helpless to explain the belonging to a person such property goods as commercial information, prestigious place of trade, qualification of a personal of enterprise, great demand of production, good business reputation and so on. The main statement of the article is the conclusion that property sphere is much broader than the legal ownership relation, so in criminal law the protection must be given to entire property sphere, including ownership, other property rights and interests. The article also deals with the question of economical content as the essential trait of the notion of property. The author expressed the opinion that economical content of property means its importance to commodity circulation and possibility to estimate it with universal value index - money. The only subjective value given to the good by his owner cannot serve the criterion of regarding one or another thing as property. Such things (for example, personal letter) can be regarded as ownership, nevertheless it cannot pretend be called "property".


Despite a growing empirical literature on the relationship between immigrant concentration in schools and student achievement, few studies address longer-run outcomes. Using Norwegian registry data, this study addresses the causal impact of immigrant classmates on educational attainment in young adulthood, as well as academic track enrollment and educational achievement in school, within six entire student cohorts in their final tenth grade of compulsory education (310,742 students, 751 schools). Controlling for school fixed effects, native peer characteristics, and observed characteristics of students and their families, we find that students in cohorts with more immigrant peers within the same school have slightly higher propensities to complete upper-secondary education by their early twenties. The effects are about three times stronger among students from immigrant families compared to students with native-born parents, and are also robust to adjustment for average grade achievement. Moreover, these peer effects seem to mainly reflect the presence of immigrant classmates from high-achieving origin regions, while we do not find corresponding negative effects of exposure to immigrant classmates from low-achieving origin regions. In conclusion, these results indicate a modest positive influence of exposure to immigrant classmates on, primarily, immigrant students' educational attainment several years later.


Ozone profiles from balloon soundings as well as SAGE II ozone profiles were used to detect anomalous large ozone concentrations of ozone in the lower stratosphere. These secondary ozone maxima are found to be the result of differential advection of ozone-poor and ozone-rich air associated with Rossby wave breaking events. The frequency and intensity of secondary ozone maxima and their geographical distribution is presented. The occurrence and amplitude of ozone secondary maxima is connected to ozone variability and trend at Uccle and account for a large part of the total ozone and lower stratospheric ozone variability.


Jay R. Galbraith passed away on April 8, 2014. Jay was a leading authority on organization design, a founding member of the Organizational Design Community, and a valued contributor to the Journal of Organization Design. We invited Jay's colleagues from around the world to offer their comments on his work. The specific question we asked was: What ideas or insights regarding organization design have you obtained from the work of Jay Galbraith? As you will see from the comments below, Jay provided many valuable contributions to the field of organization design, and he was a caring, generous colleague. He will be greatly missed.


Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possible links between macroeconomic factors and financial distress in Turkey. Design/methodology/approach Based on the 2009/1-2016/2 quarterly data of macroeconomic factors and the number of filings for bankruptcy postponement, econometric models are developed using forward stepwise regression and classical regression methods to determine the factors influencing financial distress. A vector error correction model is also developed using macroeconomic factors found significant in both methods to investigate the interactions of financial distress with them. Findings In the stepwise regression implementation, performed with 16 independent variables, statistically significant variables entered into the model are industrial production index with negative sign as expected and the unemployment rate with negative sign against the expectations. In the classical regression implementation, performed with 7 independent variables, statistically significant variables are ex ante real interest rate with positive sign and gross domestic product with negative sign as expected and money supply with negative sign against the expectations. The impulse response graphics of a vector error correction model involving bankruptcy postponement, industrial production index and nominal interest rate indicates that bankruptcy postponement is influenced by the shocks both in itself and in industrial production index. Originality/value This is the first study in Turkey investigates macroeconomic determinants of financial distress.


"Winter is by far the oldest of the seasons and it confers age upon our memories. In the outside world, snow covers all tracks, blurs the road, muff1es every sound, conceals all colours. As a result of this universal whiteness we feel a form of cosmic negation in action". - Gaston Bachelard (1958).¹ Polar regions on Earth are renowned for their dizzying spatial disorientation and extreme distortion of time.² This project sets out to examine cold space by highlighting the peculiarities and eccentricity surrounding cold geographical locations and to further examine linkages between time and place through a new series of studio work. With the advent of Arctic exploration in the early twentieth-century, artists, writers and film makers of the time began to utilise the Arctic as a space to canvas their neo-romantic ideas surrounding the themes of nature, beauty, the mysterious and the supernatural. This research project aims to examine cold space as a metaphor for day-dreaming and will visually document this process through the production of a number of diminutive-scale works on paper which reflect present day thinking surrounding cold space, including the imagined, the experienced and the dreamt. It draws comparisons between the transformative qualities of cold landscape environments and contemporary philosophical thinking.


The 2008 financial crisis and recent volatility in global markets have provided important motivations to better understand the functioning of equity markets, since stock market crashes can trigger severe recessions through wealth and balance-sheet effects. Against efficient market theory, the literature has found much evidence that stock price movements seem unrelated to expected future movements in corporate fundamentals. This thesis investigates the impact of earnings announcement surprise on stock prices and contributes to the existing literature by examining the impact's dependency on various factors (the P/E ratio, the output gap, whether the forecast error is positive or negative, and the distribution of forecasts). The thesis measures earnings surprise with Bloomberg quarterly forecasts for three companies (Hewlett Packard, IBM, and Walt Disney) from 1984 to 2015. Regression results indicate that positive surprise tends to raise stock prices around announcement days, with the exception of IBM. Other factors affect each company with different significances and magnitudes. Positive surprise has a smaller impact than negative surprise under a lower P/E ratio or a decreasing output gap. When the standard deviation of forecasts is high, investors may respond more or less to earnings surprise.