We study a general approach to solving conservation laws of the form qt+f(q,x)x=0, where the flux function f(q,x) has explicit spatial variation. Finite-volume methods are used in which the flux is discretized spatially, giving a function fi(q) over the ith grid cell and leading to a generalized Riemann problem between neighboring grid cells. A high-resolution wave-propagation algorithm is defined in which waves are based directly on a decomposition of flux differences fi(Qi)-f-1(Qi-1) into eigenvectors of an approximate Jacobian matrix. This method is shown to be second-order accurate for smooth problems and allows the application of wave limiters to obtain sharp results on discontinuities. Balance laws $q_t+f(q,x)_x=\psi(q,x)$ are also considered, in which case the source term is used to modify the flux difference before performing the wave decomposition, and an additional term is derived that must also be included to obtain full accuracy. This method is particularly useful for quasi-steady problems close to steady state.


Medical blogs are a very popular way of communicating health-related information. They can be written by medical professionals or laypeople, and topics include diseases, procedures, health policies, and personal topics such as everyday experiences. In this article, we provide examples of medical blogs that illustrate the language used, which can be technical, semi-technical, or informal. Medical blogs need to be accurate and well written because they provide precious information about health-related issues.


The face of public health is changing in response to local and global trends of rapid technological development, worsening inequities, and the prominent role of the COVID-19 pandemic (Mays et al., 2012; Dahlgren et al., 2015; Schleicher, 2020). Public health jobs reflect these shifts, emphasizing a need for greater online collaboration and project design, complex problem-solving, and more fluid work patterns. Concurrently, education globally is in a process of transformation reflecting similar concerns to that of the public health industry. This change is paradigmatic and evolving from that of factory model education (traditional Campus 101 in the university or higher education setting) to something which must now reflect 21st century employability (Trilling & Fadel, 2009; Bolstad et al, 2012; Robinson, 2020).
In 2020, COVID-19 brought rapid and significant change to the teaching of public health education in the Aotearoa New Zealand university setting. In this presentation we reflect on the short-term change that took place across higher education as delivery of existing curricula shifted from classroom to online; including in our own practice of public health education. Moreover, we consider the greater agenda of a transformative educational paradigm, broadly conceptualized as a shift from a factory model education to one of 21st century learning, with an emphasis on fostering creativity; heutagogical (student-driven) models underpinned by technology (Bolstad et al., 2012; Robinson, 2020); and real-world application of this involving problem and project-based learning in a changing health industry (Topol, 2015; Mesko, 2015). Such change has stemmed both from the impact of COVID-19 on the education system, and in response to a momentous transformation in public health careers and societal expectations of a public health workforce.
Prior to COVID-19, public health education primarily consisted of classroom based learning, online resources, and standardized assessment. These methods fulfilled the criteria of giving students much needed 'knowledge'. However, the standardized nature of delivery and assessments (and indeed the non-digital nature of public health education) was also reflective of graduates being trained to enter an industrial workforce, which has complied with uniform 20th century organizational processes and norms. COVID-19 has demanded a complete change to delivery of education to encompass online methods. It also offers opportunities for the move towards creative, flexible and personalized learning that emphasizes student choice, personal identity and strengths, in a time where the nature of organisation and work is transforming. It is not yet clear whether Aotearoa New Zealand higher education will make the most of such opportunities. As society becomes more diffuse and complex with many different players joining in a complex multisectoral and interdisciplinary workforce that is bounded by the digital era; public health higher education, in partnership with community and industry, must undergo change to respond accordingly.


Abstract:Japanese Internment inflicted a grave injustice on Japanese immigrants and Japanese American citizens. At the same time, it resulted in the sudden loss of ethnic Japanese farmers, triggering a serious labor shortage in California, where vegetable production was an integral part of wartime food security. This article examines the economic impact of Japanese Internment on California agriculture as well as political debates over food security versus military necessity. Using state and federal government documents, records of congressional hearings, and the Japanese immigrant press in Los Angeles, this article demonstrates that Japanese Internment prompted voices sympathetic to ethnic Japanese farmers to question the necessity of the full-scale implementation of mass evacuation and also led to a growing demand for Mexican farmworkers who would come through the Bracero Program. Consideration of these processes helps us to better understand the Japanese Internment as not solely about race but about economics in wartime, multiethnic California.


Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Lonely Planet The Italian Lakes is your passport to all the most relevant and up-to-date advice on what to see, what to skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Tour elegant lakeshore villas, climb a peak for dizzying lake views, or browse the fashion houses of Milan; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of The Italian Lakes and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's The Italian Lakes Travel Guide: *Colour maps and images throughout *Highlights and itineraries show you the simplest way to tailor your trip to your own personal needs and interests *Insider tips save you time and money, and help you get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots *Essential info at your fingertips - including hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, and prices *Honest reviews for all budgets - including eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, and hidden gems that most guidebooks miss *Cultural insights give you a richer and more rewarding travel experience - including history, art, literature, cinema, music, architecture, politics, landscapes, cuisine, wine and customs and etiquette. *Over 42 colour maps *Useful features - Walking & Driving Tours, Eat & Drink Like a Local, and First Time *Coverage of Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, Lake Garda, Lake Lugano, Lake d'Iseo, Lake Orta, Milan, Bergamo, Brescia, Verona, Cremona, Mantua, Bellagio and more The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet The Italian Lakes, our most comprehensive guide to the Italian Lakes, is perfect for those planning to both explore the top sights and take the road less travelled. * Looking for a guide focused on Milan? Check out Lonely Planet's Pocket Milan & the Lakes, a handy-sized guide focused on the can't-miss sights for a quick trip. * Looking for more extensive coverage? Check out Lonely Planet's Italy guide for a comprehensive look at all the country has to offer, or Discover Italy, a photo-rich guide to the country's most popular attractions. Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet, Paula Hardy and Anthony Ham. About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in.


Photon diffusion theory was used to model photobleaching and tissue necrosis resulting from broad-beam therapeutic light irradiation of tissue containing a photosensitizer. The photosensitizer fluorescence signal at the tissue surface was simulated with both broad-beam and pencil-beam excitation. The relationship between the decreasing fluorescence signal and the increasing depth of tissue photodynamic damage during treatment was examined. By analyzing spatially resolved fluorescence measured at the tissue surface in terms of an equivalent virtual point or planar source of fluorescence within the tissue, predictions of necrosis depth that are insensitive to a range of initial treatment parameters were shown to be possible. Preliminary measurements in tissue-simulating phantoms supported the main theoretical findings. The potential value and feasibility of this technique for photodynamic therapy dosimetry are discussed.


The Center for Complex Network Research (CCNR), directed by Professor Barabasi, has a simple objective: think networks. The center's research focuses on how networks emerge, what they look like, and how they evolve; and how networks impact on understanding of complex systems. To understand networks, CCNR's research has developed to rather unexpected areas. Certain studies include the topology of the www - showing that webpages are on average 19 clicks form each other; complex cellular network inside the cell-looking at both metabolic and genetic networks; the Internet's Achilles' Heel. The center's researchers have even ventured to study how actors are connected in Hollywood.


Experiments in which evolution takes place in real time can help us establish cause–effect relationships that are difficult to infer from the analysis of natural populations. The simplicity, rapid evolution and biomedical relevance of viruses make them a particularly interesting model system for experimental evolution. Bacterial, animal and plant viruses can be passaged under a variety of conditions, either in simple cell culture systems or in vivo to test population biology hypotheses, study the genetic basis of evolution, or predict evolutionary change in nature. Experimental evolution is a conceptually simple and flexible tool which allows us to address issues ranging from the molecular to the ecosystem level. In addition to studying basic processes such as mutation, adaptation, or random genetic drift, viruses can be experimentally evolved to better understand the emergence of drug resistance, explore new antiviral strategies such as lethal mutagenesis, create better attenuated vaccines, or target cancerous cells.

Key Concepts:

Experimental evolution can be done with many different model organisms, but microorganisms and viruses offer a series of advantages including their easy manipulation, storability and biomedical relevance.

The setup of an evolutionary experiment is conceptually simple and essentially consists of serially transferring viruses from flask to flask or, in vivo, from host to host. However, a careful experimental design is needed to be able to demonstrate which factors are responsible for the evolutionary changes observed in the laboratory.

Molecular biology is a powerful tool in virus experimental evolution because it allows us to manipulate viral genomes and to study the molecular basis of evolution.

Viruses can adapt to many different laboratory environments, but these adaptations often come at the cost of decreased performance in alternative environments, demonstrating the existence of certain limits to adaptation, or fitness tradeoffs.

Viral experimental evolution has both stochastic and deterministic components. Therefore, although viral evolution is not easy to predict, it shows some regular patterns.

The role played by population–genetic factors such as the population size or the mutation rate have been extensively studied in viruses, and several important generalisations have been established.

Experimental evolution has inspired new strategies to combat viral disease, including the use of selective mutagens to damage viral genomes or the use of less evolvable strains to create more effective and safer vaccines.

Keywords:

virology;
evolutionary biology;
population genetics;
biomedicine;
molecular biology


The objectives of this study were to evaluate morphogenetic characteristics and tillering dynamics in Tanzania grass fertilized and non-fertilized with nitrogen, under intermittent grazing, in the spring and the summer. The main plots were composed of four nitrogen rates (0, 100, 200 and 300 kg/ha) and the subplots were growth seasons: spring (October, November and December) and summer (January, February and March). The experimental design was of randomized block with plots subdivided by time (seasons of the year) and four replications. Urea was used as nitrogen supply and was divided into two applications: one in the spring and another in the summer. The experimental units fertilized with N rates of 200 and 300 kg/ha showed six cycles of pasture, with an average of 27 days of pasture interval, while the treatments with no fertilization and 100 kg/ha of N showed only four and five cycles of pasture, respectively. Leaf elongation rate (LER) and the leaf appearance rate (LAR) increased linearly with increasing of N rates. The greatest population density occurred in summer with the higher nitrogen rates. The treatment without N fertilization showed the lowest growth of tiller population, while the other treatments exhibited growth rates above 50% when compared with non-fertilized samples. Nitrogen rates significantly affect the leaf appearance rate and the leaf elongation rate, as well as the number of live leaves in plants of Tanzania grass in both spring and summer.


Abstract This article is about the work of German Surrealist Unica Zürn (1916-1970), known for her autobiographical text about madness, Der Mann im Jasmin: Eindrücke einer Geisteskrankheit (1977). The problem with Zürn's text, as this article demonstrates, is that it becomes nearly impossible to be distinguished from the author's life. Unlike conventional autobiographies, this text raises doubt oyer the sanity of the author who was not only diagnosed with schizophrenia but also made madness the subject of her writing. Zürn's companion, the artist Hans Bellmer, accused her of indulging in madness for the sake of being able to write about it; she herself wrote that it was the act of writing that drove her insane. Looking closely at the text, which plays with the differentiation between author, narrator, and character, and with the reader's expectations about the difference between reality and representation, it is not a symptom of mental illness but rather a carefully constructed work of art. Designed to convey the impression that its author is mentally ill, it explores the connection between madness and artistic production to raise questions of interpretation: How true to life is the work of art? How does art mediate or even create our understanding of life?— As this article concludes, Zürn contradicts the postmodern assumption that everything is a text by making extra-textual reality part of her writing, yet she also suggests that texts may become disturbingly real.


RATIONALE
CARD-recruited membrane-associated protein 3 (CARMA3) is a novel scaffold protein that regulates nuclear factor (NF)-κB activation; however, the underlying mechanism of CARMA3 in lung cancer stemness and metastasis remains largely unknown.

OBJECTIVES
To investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the involvement of CARMA3 in non-small cell lung cancer progression.

METHODS
The expression levels of CARMA3 and NME2 in a cohort of patients with lung cancer (n = 91) were examined by immunohistochemistry staining and assessed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The effects of CARMA3, microRNA-182 (miR-182), and NME2 on cancer stemness and metastasis were measured in vitro and in vivo. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter assays were performed to determine the mechanisms of NF-κB-driven miR-182 expression and NME2 regulation.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
We observed that CARMA3 inversely correlated with NME2 expression in patients with lung cancer (Pearson correlation coefficient: R = -0.24; P = 0.022). NME2 levels were significantly decreased in tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal lung tissues (P < 0.001), and patients with lung cancer with higher levels of NME2 had longer survival outcomes (overall survival, P < 0.01; disease-free survival, P < 0.01). Mechanistically, CARMA3 promoted cell motility by reducing the level of NME2 through the NF-κB/miR-182 pathway and by increasing cancer stem cell properties and metastasis in lung cancer.

CONCLUSIONS
We identified a novel mechanism of CARMA3 in lung cancer stemness and metastasis through the negative regulation of NME2 by NF-κB-dependent induction of miR-182. Our findings provide an attractive strategy for targeting the CARMA3/NF-κB/miR-182 pathway as a potential treatment for lung cancer.


Visual grounding is a ubiquitous building block in many vision-language tasks and yet remains challenging due to large variations in visual and linguistic features of grounding entities, strong context effect and the resulting semantic ambiguities. Prior works typically focus on learning representations of individual phrases with limited context information. To address their limitations, this paper proposes a language-guided graph representation to capture the global context of grounding entities and their relations, and develop a cross-modal graph matching strategy for the multiple-phrase visual grounding task. In particular, we introduce a modular graph neural network to compute context-aware representations of phrases and object proposals respectively via message propagation, followed by a graph-based matching module to generate globally consistent localization of grounding phrases. We train the entire graph neural network jointly in a two-stage strategy and evaluate it on the Flickr30K Entities benchmark. Extensive experiments show that our method outperforms the prior state of the arts by a sizable margin, evidencing the efficacy of our grounding framework. Code is available at https://github.com/youngfly11/LCMCG-PyTorch.


We demonstrate lasing in liquid pendant droplets through a chemiluminescence process, which uniquely provides spatially uniform pumping throughout the sample. Pendant droplets of 2-mm equatorial radius are formed at the tip of a capillary tube through which the chemiluminescence material is injected. The chemiluminescence spectra along the highlighted rim of the droplet show redshifted intensity enhancement in the wavelength region where the absorption is low. The lasing threshold is found by addition of different amounts of absorbers. The observed nonuniform laser-emission intensity distribution along the droplet rim is caused by a spatially varying rate of diffractive-light leakage related to the droplet surface curvature. Using WKB approximation, we express the diffractive-light leakage rate on a curved surface as an exponentially decreasing function of angle of incidence. The standard laser rate equation with distributed leakage loss is employed to express the laser-emission output intensity from the pendant droplet. The light leakage from the surface was further investigated by localized perturbations formed by poking of the surface with a sharply tipped fiber. The Q of cavity modes as high as 3.5×108 in the pendant droplet was determined from the cavity-lifetime measurement.


Mixed Race Hollywood is a collection of essays that could not be timelier. As popular media, journalists, and citizen bloggers actively dispute the impact of President Barack Obama's election on attitudes toward race, editors Mary Beltran and Camilla Fojas have compiled a series of essays that explore ways popular media and celebrity have presented miscegenation and racial identity for Americans. These historical and critical essays analyze specific films, television programs, Internet sites, and the appearance of celebrity image to help explain the ways popular media presentations of race correspond with the development of social behaviors and attitudes. Though some might credit "liberal Hollywood" for ushering America into the "mulatto millennium," it is obvious from the collection of essays in this book that Hollywood is not always the leader of public opinion but often takes the more conservative approach, lagging behind fairly widespread social attitudes.


In a screening program to study the antimicrobial activities of desert actinomycetes as potential producers of active metabolites, 75 actinomycete strains were isolated from the Egyptian desert habitats and tested. Out of the isolated 75 organisms, 32 (42.67%) showed activity against the used test organisms. The antimicrobial activities of the active desert actinomycete strains were classified into four groups according to their spectrum of activity on different groups of test organisms and it was found that 43.75% of the active isolates have activity against Gram-positive bacteria only, 28.13% have activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, 15.63% have activity against Gram-positive bacteria and yeast, 12.50% have activity against Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria and yeast. The most potent actinomycete strain, designated D332, was selected for further studies including its identification and isolation of its active compound. Strain D332 was identified by studying its morphology, chemotaxonomy, biochemical characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence. All phenotypic and genotypic characteristics were consistent with the classification of strain D332 to genus Streptomyces where it formed a distinct phyletic line in the Streptomyces 16S rRNA gene tree. On the other hand, the culture broth of strain D332 was extracted with ethyl acetate after fermentation for the production of the active compound then, the crude extract was partially purified by thin layer chromatography using a solvent system composed of heptane: ethyl acetate (3: 2). The results revealed that strain D332 produced one major compound active against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and yeasts. Key words: Desert actinomycetes, antimicrobial activities, new Streptomyces strain, production of the active metabolite.


Best practices and invaluable advice from world-renowned data warehouse expertsIn this book, leading data warehouse experts from the Kimball Group share best practices for using the upcoming Business Intelligence release of SQL Server, referred to as SQL Server 2008 R2.In this new edition, the authors explain how SQL Server 2008 R2 provides a collection of powerful new tools that extend the power of its BI toolset to Excel and SharePoint users and they show how to use SQL Server to build a successful data warehouse that supports the business intelligence requirements that are common to most organizations. Covering the complete suite of data warehousing and BI tools that are part of SQL Server 2008 R2, as well as Microsoft Office, the authors walk you through a full project lifecycle, including design, development, deployment and maintenance.Features more than 50 percent new and revised material that covers the rich new feature set of the SQL Server 2008 R2 release, as well as the Office 2010 releaseIncludes brand new content that focuses on PowerPivot for Excel and SharePoint, Master Data Services, anddiscusses updated capabilities of SQL Server Analysis, Integration, and Reporting ServicesShares detailed case examples that clearly illustrate how to best apply the techniques described in the bookThe accompanying Web site contains all code samples as well as the sample database used throughout the case studiesThe Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit, Second Edition provides you with the knowledge of how and when to use BI tools such as Analysis Services and Integration Services to accomplish your most essential data warehousing tasks.


The market trend of secure products is to offer more users' services and security. Thus, electronic devices must be flexible and reconfigurable in the way they permit executing further algorithms than those designed for. In this paper, in order to encrypt/decrypt data blocks, a Reconfigurable Cryptography Coprocessor (RCC) for Advanced Encryption Standard (AES/Rijndael) is developed. The AES offers a good combination of security, performance, efficiency, implementability and flexibility. We propose a RCC by using a Systolic Processor (SP) based on: i) Processing Element (PE) array, and ii) Controller with a Finite State Machine (FSM) and a memory. The advantages are: i) provide a solution to compute all matrix format data and ii) the PE array's data path is reconfigurable via the FSM. Finally, the conception and implementation were carried out by using Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description (VHDL) language and Xilinx ISE 7.1 simulator.


Ice sheet mass balance estimates have improved substantially in recent years using a variety of techniques, over different time periods, and at various levels of spatial detail. Considerable disparity remains between these estimates due to the inherent uncertainties of each method, the lack of detailed comparison between independent estimates, and the effect of temporal modulations in ice sheet surface mass balance. Here, we present a consistent record of mass balance for the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets over the past two decades, validated by the comparison of two independent techniques over the last 8 years: one differencing perimeter loss from net accumulation, and one using a dense time series of time‐variable gravity. We find excellent agreement between the two techniques for absolute mass loss and acceleration of mass loss. In 2006, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets experienced a combined mass loss of 475 ± 158 Gt/yr, equivalent to 1.3 ± 0.4 mm/yr sea level rise. Notably, the acceleration in ice sheet loss over the last 18 years was 21.9 ± 1 Gt/yr2 for Greenland and 14.5 ± 2 Gt/yr2 for Antarctica, for a combined total of 36.3 ± 2 Gt/yr2. This acceleration is 3 times larger than for mountain glaciers and ice caps (12 ± 6 Gt/yr2). If this trend continues, ice sheets will be the dominant contributor to sea level rise in the 21st century.


Often, it is very difficult to pose a model for a system even after the system is conceptually understood. The reason is the mathematical languages we employ have few forms of expression. We define more expressive languages, first for dynamical discrete-continuous systems, and then more rigorously for mathematical programs (MP). Our approach provides theoretical basis for designing MP software.
The first framework we define is called linear coupled component automata (LCCA). It supports finite domain constraints, explicitly handles dynamics, and enforces modular modeling. We show how LCCA models can be mechanically converted into mathematical programming (MP) constraints. Currently, chemical process systems are usually modeled directly with MP constraints. We show with an example that it is much easier to model hybrid systems in our LCCA framework.
We then pursue a more rigorous approach for the MP part of our work, for the purposes of providing a computer implementation of an MP framework. There are two main results: a rich computer language for declaring MPs and automation of certain model transformations. Mathematically, these correspond to defining a set p of MPs and defining a binary relation on p.
The set p contains programs as one would want to write in practice, not just canonical matrix forms. Complex index sets can be defined in intuitive ways, and they are first-class entities in our theory, not mere notational conveniences eliminated at parse time. This has many benefits: it retains knowledge of the problem structure, keeps the program size to a minimum, and speeds up certain operations. Our definition of the semantics elucidates the nature of MP algorithms and explains the information sought from a solution.
The binary relation on programs p can be defined because a logical formulation allows treating constraints and programs as mathematical objects. Principally, our definition includes: a procedure for putting Boolean expressions into conjunctive normal form, and a procedure for converting disjunctive constraints into mixed-integer inequalities. Neither has been defined previously for a language as expressive as ours, and the latter has not been defined as a formal mapping on constraint spaces. Overall this leads to a procedure for converting general MPs to pure mixed-integer programs (MIPs).
Sets and set relations are defined using the methods of type theory, which espouses a close relation between mathematics and computation. As a result, the set p can be viewed simultaneously as a novel definition of MP and as the software architecture for implementing an MP language. Similarly, the binary relation on p can be directly implemented on a computer. Several examples of our software's input and output are provided.


In this paper, we analyze the SIP-based mobility management behavior between IEEE 802.11-based wireless local area network (WLAN) and IEEE 802.16-based wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN). Our work focuses on signaling processes, during handoff between 802.11 and 802.16 networks. Particularly, the MAC layer technologies of 802.11 and 802.16 are examined in great detail. The SIP-based handoff procedure consists of the following sub-procedures: (1) Mobile Host (MH) initialization at MAC layer, (2) Acquisition of a new IP address using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) in a newly connected network, (3) SIP terminal mobility management process, and the session re-establishment. Our analytical results and experimental results show the signaling delay and overhead of handoff between 802.11 and 802.16 networks.


The Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of hemicyanine dyes were prepared by LB technique. The films showed pyroelectric effect. The pyroelectric coefficient measured by the method of integrated charges was 12 'mu'C/(m2K) at room temperature, and the relationship between the orientation of DAEP dye in the films and temperature was studied by polarized Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectroscopy and second harmonic generation (SHG). It was indicated that the observed pyroelectricity can be ascribed preliminarily to the structure modification of the polar head groups and the deterioration of the film framework (the first-order phase transition) resulted in the change of spontaneous polarization with temperature.


Nanoparticles provide great advantages but also great risks. Risks associating with nanoparticles are the problem of all technologies, but they increase in many times in nanotechnologies. Adequate methods of outgoing production inspection are necessary to solve the problem of risks, and the inspection must be based on the safety standard. Existing safety standard results from a principle of "maximum permissible concentrations or MPC". This principle is not applicable to nanoparticles, but a safety standard reflecting risks inherent in nanoparticles doesn't exist. Essence of the risks is illustrated by the example from pharmacology, since its safety assurance is conceptually based on MPC and it has already come against this problem. Possible formula of safety standard for nanoparticles is reflected in many publications, but conventional inspection methods cannot provide its realization, and this gap is an obstacle to assumption of similar formulas. Therefore the development of nanoparticle industry as a whole (also development of the pharmacology in particular) is impossible without the creation of an adequate inspection method. There are suggested new inspection methods founded on the new physical principle and satisfying to the adequate safety standard for nanoparticles. These methods demonstrate that creation of the adequate safety standard and the outgoing production inspection in a large-scale manufacturing of nanoparticles are the solvable problems. However there is a great distance between the physical principle and its hardware realization, and a transition from the principle to the hardware demands great intellectual and material costs. Therefore it is desirable to call attention of the public at large to the necessity of urgent expansions of investigations associated with outgoing inspections in nanoparticles technologies. It is necessary also to attract attention, first, of representatives of state structures controlling approvals of the adequate safety standard to this problem, since it is impossible to compel producers providing the safety without the similar standard, and, second, of leaders of pharmacological industry, since their industry already entered into the nanotechnology era, and they have taken an interest in a forthcoming development of inspection methods.


The extent to which peripheral vision is used in the control of gait is not well understood. PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of impairing peripheral vision on gait characteristics and running economy. METHODS: Twelve college students (20.3±1.2yrs, 73.5±13.1kg, 177.6±13cm) able to complete a 5K in 31 min or faster were asked to participate in this study. After providing informed consent, participants ran on a treadmill at 6 mph until steady state VO2 was achieved for a minimum of two minutes. During the final minute of running, VO2, heart rate and heel contact times were recorded. This test was completed under two vision conditions, no impairment and impaired peripheral vision (through the use of modified eyewear). During a subsequent session, participants completed a 600 m run at preferred speed on a 200m track under both visual conditions during which lap times were recorded. Paired t-tests were used to compare data between vision conditions. RESULTS: Steady state VO2 decreased by 2% (t(11)= -1.81, p =.097) when peripheral vision was impaired (32.6 ±2.2 ml/kg/min) compared to no vision impairment (33.2 ±2.5 ml/kg/min). This difference was characterized by a moderate effect size. Vision impairment had little effect on heart rate or stride rate variability. Furthermore, when participants were allowed to run at their preferred speed, vision impairment had little effect. CONCLUSION: Impairing peripheral vision minimally altered running gait suggesting that motor control of running gait must rely more on focal vision and other proprioceptive input.


Choosing a health insurance plan is difficult for many people, and patient-centered decision support may help consumers make these choices. We tested whether providing a patient-centered decision-support tool-with or without machine-based, personalized expert recommendations-influenced decision outcomes for Medicare Part D enrollees. We found that providing an online patient-centered decision-support tool increased older adults' satisfaction with the process of choosing a prescription drug plan and the amount of time they spent choosing a plan. Providing personalized expert recommendations as well increased rates of plan switching. Many people who could have accessed the tool chose not to, and the characteristics of people who used the tool differed from those who did not. We conclude that a patient-centered decision-support tool providing personalized expert recommendations can help people choose a plan, but different approaches may be necessary to encourage more people to periodically reevaluate their options.


Courts around the world have been confronted with bewilderingly complex challenges in protecting the public interest through copyright law. This article proposes a public interest principle that would guide courts to settle fair use cases with better-informed decisions. I argue that the proposed principle would legally upgrade fair use from serving as an engine of free expression to serving as an engine of public interest protection.

Based on comparative study of the conflicting rulings handed down by the U.S. and Chinese courts on Google Library, the article first considers the necessity of adopting the public interest principle in guiding the judicial settlement of fair use cases substantively and procedurally. The article then canvasses the two substantive legal standards to be embodied in the public interest principle. First, the principle would create a public interest use standard for courts to utilize in weighing the first fair use factor without applying the dichotomy of transformative and non-transformative use. At the same time, it would also require courts to employ the significant market harm standard when considering the fourth fair use factor. Second, the public interest principle would also modify the procedural rules concerning the assignment of burden of proof in fair use cases. It would place only the burden of proving a public interest use under the first factor on the user of a work who is the defendant in the judicial proceedings at hand.

Moreover, the article also demonstrates how the public interest principle could be used to develop a meaningful alternative that bridges the gaps between the fair use and fair dealing doctrines. By largely preserving the existing attributes of both, the principle would serve as a commonly shared principle for adjudicating cases and developing further legislative reforms in both fair use and fair dealing jurisdictions.


Background: Antipsychotic medication is currently the treatment of choice for psychosis, but few studies directly survey the first-hand experience of recipients. Objective: To ascertain the experiences and opinions of an international sample of users of antipsychotic drugs, regarding positive and negative effects. Methods: An online direct-to-consumer questionnaire was completed by 832 users of antipsychotics, from 30 countries – predominantly USA, UK and Australia. This is the largest such sample to date. Results: Over half (56%) thought, the drugs reduced the problems they were prescribed for, but 27% thought they made them worse. Slightly less people found the drugs generally 'helpful' (41%) than found them 'unhelpful' (43%). While 35% reported that their 'quality of life' was 'improved', 54% reported that it was made 'worse'. The average number of adverse effects reported was 11, with an average of five at the 'severe' level. Fourteen effects were reported by 57% or more participants, most commonly: 'Drowsiness, feeling tired, sedation' (92%), 'Loss of motivation' (86%), 'Slowed thoughts' (86%), and 'Emotional numbing' (85%). Suicidality was reported to be a side effect by 58%. Older people reported particularly poor outcomes and high levels of adverse effects. Duration of treatment was unrelated to positive outcomes but significantly related to negative outcomes. Most respondents (70%) had tried to stop taking the drugs. The most common reasons people wanted to stop were the side effects (64%) and worries about long-term physical health (52%). Most (70%) did not recall being told anything at all about side effects. Conclusion: Clinical implications are discussed, with a particular focus on the principles of informed consent, and involving patients in decision making about their own lives.


Nitinol, a shape-memory alloy (SMA), is gaining popularity for use in various applications. Machining of these SMAs poses a challenge during conventional machining. Henceforth, in the current study, the wire-electric discharge process has been attempted to machine nickel-titanium (Ni55.8Ti) super-elastic SMA. Furthermore, to render the process viable for industry, a systematic approach comprising response surface methodology (RSM) and a heat-transfer search (HTS) algorithm has been strategized for optimization of process parameters. Pulse-on time, pulse-off time and current were considered as input process parameters, whereas material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness, and micro-hardness were considered as output responses. Residual plots were generated to check the robustness of analysis of variance (ANOVA) results and generated mathematical models. A multi-objective HTS algorithm was executed for generating 2-D and 3-D Pareto optimal points indicating the non-dominant feasible solutions. The proposed combined approach proved to be highly effective in predicting and optimizing the wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process parameters. Validation trials were carried out and the error between measured and predicted values was negligible. To ensure the existence of a shape-memory effect even after machining, a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) test was carried out. The optimized parameters were found to machine the alloy appropriately with the intact shape memory effect.


The cyclic oligosaccharide 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin facilitates atheroprotective mechanisms through oxysterol-mediated reprogramming of macrophages. Dissolving away cholesterol Cardiovascular disease resulting from atherosclerosis is one of the most common causes of death worldwide, and additional therapies for this disease are greatly needed because not all patients can be effectively treated with existing approaches. Cyclodextrin is a common FDA-approved substance that is already used as a solubilizing agent to improve delivery of various drugs. Now, Zimmer et al. have discovered that cyclodextrin can also solubilize cholesterol, removing it from plaques, dissolving cholesterol crystals, and successfully treating atherosclerosis in a mouse model. Because cyclodextrin is already known to be safe in humans, this drug is now a potential candidate for testing in human patients for the treatment of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease linked to elevated blood cholesterol concentrations. Despite ongoing advances in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide. Continuous retention of apolipoprotein B–containing lipoproteins in the subendothelial space causes a local overabundance of free cholesterol. Because cholesterol accumulation and deposition of cholesterol crystals (CCs) trigger a complex inflammatory response, we tested the efficacy of the cyclic oligosaccharide 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (CD), a compound that increases cholesterol solubility in preventing and reversing atherosclerosis. We showed that CD treatment of murine atherosclerosis reduced atherosclerotic plaque size and CC load and promoted plaque regression even with a continued cholesterol-rich diet. Mechanistically, CD increased oxysterol production in both macrophages and human atherosclerotic plaques and promoted liver X receptor (LXR)–mediated transcriptional reprogramming to improve cholesterol efflux and exert anti-inflammatory effects. In vivo, this CD-mediated LXR agonism was required for the antiatherosclerotic and anti-inflammatory effects of CD as well as for augmented reverse cholesterol transport. Because CD treatment in humans is safe and CD beneficially affects key mechanisms of atherogenesis, it may therefore be used clinically to prevent or treat human atherosclerosis.


Qucs (Quite Universal Circuit Simulator) is cross-platform EDA CAD circuit simulation system. Current release is Qucs-0.0.18. Qucs is free and open-source and licensed by GPLv2+. It allows to simulate different circuits from RF to beyond. It has also open XML-based document format. All these factors make Qucs ideal candidate fro academic usage. Qucs usage aspects in electronic engineering education are considered. Active filters are widely used in communication hardware design. New Qucs-0.0.19 release will include a new active filter design tool. The details of implementation of this tool and used filter design algorithms are considered.


Musical repertory of great importance and quality was performed on viols in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England. This is reported by Thomas Mace (1676) who says that 'Your Best Provision' for playing such music is a chest of old English viols, and he names five early English viol makers than which 'there are no Better in the World'. Enlightened scholars and performers (both professional and amateur) who aim to understand and play this music require reliable historical information and need suitable viols, but so little is known about the instruments and their makers that we cannot specify appropriate instruments with much precision. Our ignorance cannot be remedied exclusively by the scrutiny or use of surviving antique viols because they are extremely rare, they are not accessible to performers and the information they embody is crucially compromised by degradation and alteration. Drawing on a wide variety of evidence including the surviving instruments, music composed for those instruments, and the documentary evidence surrounding the trade of instrument making, Fleming and Bryan draw significant conclusions about the changing nature and varieties of viol in early modern England.


We examined the relation between area measurements of residential magnetic fields and personal dosimetry measurements among 64 control children age 2–14 years from the National Cancer Institute-Children's Cancer Group's nine-state case-control study of childhood leukemia. During a typical weekday, an activity diary was completed, and a 24-hour measurement was obtained in each child's bedroom. According to the activity diaries, children spent more than 40% of the 24 hours in their bedrooms, and 68% of their time at home. We found that at-home personal dosimetry levels were highly correlated with total personal dosimetry levels in children under 9 years (Spearman correlation coefficient, R = 0.94), whereas the correlation was lower in older children (R = 0.59). For all children combined, bedroom 24–hour measurements correlated well with at-home personal dosimetry levels (R = 0.76). The 24-hour bedroom measurement was a useful predictor of both at-home and total personal dosimetry measurements. Particularly for younger children, our data suggest that in-home area measurements predict both current residential and current total magnetic field exposures. This information will be valuable for assessing the validity of exposure assessment in previous and ongoing studies and for developing measurement protocols for future studies.


High-latitude environments show extreme seasonal variation in physical and biological variables. The classic paradigm of Arctic marine ecosystems holds that most biological processes slow down or cease during the polar night. One key process that is generally assumed to cease during winter is diel vertical migration (DVM) of zooplankton. DVM constitutes the largest synchronized movement of biomass on the planet, and is of paramount importance for marine ecosystem function and carbon cycling. Here we present acoustic data that demonstrate a synchronized DVM behaviour of zooplankton that continues throughout the Arctic winter, in both open and ice-covered waters. We argue that even during the polar night, DVM is regulated by diel variations in solar and lunar illumination, which are at intensities far below the threshold of human perception. We also demonstrate that winter DVM is stronger in open waters compared with ice-covered waters. This suggests that the biologically mediated vertical flux of carbon will increase if there is a continued retreat of the Arctic winter sea ice cover.


This analytical paper assesses the BP Deepwater Horizon 2010 oil well explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in the context of ethical theory in the field of emergency management. It reviews the relevant literature that pertains to the ethical dimensions of decision making in relation to industrial disasters. Once the theoretical framework is established, a descriptive presentation of features common to Deepwater Horizon and past oil disasters is presented. The analysis suggests that the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was, as much as anything else, the product of a systemic ethical failure on the part of both the oil industry and public officials. In addressing this failure, principles consistent with the theory presented are identified along with some preliminary action steps to stimulate and guide ongoing discussion and evaluation pertaining to the application of ethical theory to the important tasks of risk reduction and safety.


The distinct and robust structure of the greater Agulhas Current regime southeast of southern Africa was depicted in the spatial pattern of the absolute dynamic topography. As a part of Work Package 3: Environmental driver, indicators, interactions and variability, and under Key Question 7: What are the physical drivers of annual cycles and seasonal events affecting marine ecosystems in the oceans of southern Africa?, this thesis investigated the variability of the Agulhas Current system through altimetry data from Aviso and model simulation data from HYCOM. The seasonal absolute dynamic topography anomalies are slightly higher and the seasonal geostrophic velocities are slightly stronger in the austral summer and fall compared to the winter and spring seasons. In the Agulhas Return Current the along-track altimetry data (track 96) showed clear interannual variability. Spectral analysis indicated that the dominating variability have periods of 1.8 and 4.3 years. In comparison, no interannual variability was detected for the Agulhas Current, except for the occasional negative anomalies indicating the passages of meanders, known as Natal Pulses. The Agulhas Current simulated by HYCOM corresponded well to that observed by the gridded altimetry data. The mean position of the Agulhas Return Current, however, was about two degrees too far south and lacked the characteristic meanders that were well displayed by the gridded altimetry data. Moreover, also the mean position of the Agulhas Retroflection simulated by HYCOM differed from that observed by the altimetry data. The position of the Agulhas Retroflection represented by HYCOM data varied more than 18 degrees in east-west direction, with its westernmost position at 5◦E . In contrast, the gridded altimetry data depicted an east-west variation of about seven degrees, with its westernmost position at 14◦E .No reliable indicator of the retroflection position was found, most likely due to the high non-linear and complex dynamics that are present in this region.


This paper reports ongoing work in the "Networks of Texts and People" project, which is developing methods to visualize the social and epistemological contexts of information contained in blogs. Here, we propose an approach to visualize information diffusion and polarization in the blogosphere, with two novel characteristics. Firstly, we demonstrate how text content can be analyzed and visualized as key statements, rather than as keywords. Secondly, we sketch and discuss ideas for a visual analytic tool that integrates data about blog networks with data about the occurrence of related key statements in blog posts.


Can technological misallocation generate financial frictions? We build a theoretical model with testable implications, in which the misallocation between R&D and production activities generates borrowing constraints. The investor offers the innovator a rent that is contingent to the success of its project in order to make them exert an incentive-compatible effort level. However, this rent distorts the allocation of effort between activities. Specifically, it leads to a suboptimal level of effort impulsing a reallocation of resources from production to R&D. Consequently, the investor cannot appropriate the surplus resulting from innovation. This distortion increases the cost of external financing for firms that have large amount of intangible assets. Using Compustat data for manufacturing firms in the United States between 1982 and 2007, we show that cash-flow sensitivities are positive and increasing in firms with high R&D intensities


This thesis presents the results of an investigation to establish methods to improve the performance of area radio based communication systems for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. The considerable scale on which an area radio network is used as a telecommunication network is quite unique to South Africa due to a lack of high bandwidth telecommunication systems in rural areas. Research was done to establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure the performance of the area radio telecommunication systems. Two KPIs were chosen, namely Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) availability and Control Success Rate (CSR). These KPIs were trended over a three-year period to measure the effectiveness of measures taken to improve the systems. Two measures were implemented, namely to change the RTU radios, antennas and coaxial feeder cables and to redesign the communication systems in such a way to restrict multiple RTU protocols on the same area radio telecommunication network. The installation of new digital radios together with low loss coaxial cable and specific antennas improved the RTU availability from 96.87 % for the year 2002 to 99.17 % for the year 2004, which realised in an increase of 2.83 % for 432 installed RTUs. This measure, however, did not influence the CSR. The implementation of the newly designed communication networks had a significant influence on the control success rate of the SCADA systems and the KPI increased from 77.65 % for the year 2002 to 78.76 % for the year 2003 and 80.88 % for the year 2004. A drastic increase in performance was observed after the restriction of multiple RTU protocols on the same network during May 2004, where the value for twelve months prior to September 2005 was measured at 84.38 %. The utilisation of area radio telecommunication networks was measured for two operational networks and it was found to be well within the specifications of international accepted standards. One of these networks comprised of three repeaters and 84 installed RTUs and an average utilisation of 17 % and a peak utilisation of 25 % was measured. The other network had an installed base of 4 repeaters and 15 installed RTUs's and an average utilisation of 3 % and a peak utilisation of 8 % was


This paper extends the theory of optimal taxation and government production to open economies. Appropriate rules for project evaluation and the determination of consumption, production, and trade taxes under a variety of restrictions (e.g., less than 100 percent profit taxes, government budget constraint, foreign exchange constraint) are derived. Among the results are (a) international prices should be used for evaluating public projects, unless there is a government budgetary constraint or there is a quota (this result does not require that tariff rates be optimally chosen); (b) no tariff should be levied on intermediates and only consumption taxes should be employed if there are 100 percent profit taxes. If profits are not taxed at 100 percent, both consumption and trade taxes should be employed.


As civil discourse increasingly takes place online, misinformation and the polarization of news shared in online communities have become ever more relevant concerns with real world harms across our society. Studying online news sharing at scale is challenging due to the massive volume of content which is shared by millions of users across thousands of communities. Therefore, existing research has largely focused on specific communities or specific interventions, such as bans. However, understanding the prevalence and spread of misinformation and polarization more broadly, across thousands of online communities, is critical for the development of governance strategies, interventions, and community design. Here, we conduct the largest study of news sharing on reddit to date, analyzing more than 550 million links spanning 4 years. We use non-partisan news source ratings from Media Bias/Fact Check to annotate links to news sources with their political bias and factualness. We find that, compared to left-leaning communities, right-leaning communities have 105% more variance in the political bias of their news sources, and more links to relatively-more biased sources, on average. We observe that reddit users' voting and re-sharing behaviors generally decrease the visibility of extremely biased and low factual content, which receives 20% fewer upvotes and 30% fewer exposures from crossposts than more neutral or more factual content. This suggests that reddit is more resilient to low factual content than Twitter. We show that extremely biased and low factual content is very concentrated, with 99% of such content being shared in only 0.5% of communities, giving credence to the recent strategy of community-wide bans and quarantines.


Advances in biochemistry, protein chemistry and molecular biology over the last twenty-five years have spurred the increased use and development of proteins as injectable therapeutic agents. Introduction of proteins into the circulation exposes them to numerous different cells, enzymes and routes of extravasation that contribute to their clearance and their catabolism. Overly rapid clearance, particularly of small proteins, can limit therapeutic efficacy. Many strategies have been devised to retard the clearance of therapeutic or potentially therapeutic proteins, but relatively few proteins with clearance-retarding modifications are in clinical use. Proteins have been chemically modified towards this end by covalent attachment of polyethylene glycol or dextran chains or by protein-protein cross-linking. Genetic modification has also been employed to fuse proteins of interest to long-lived plasma proteins like albumin or immunoglobulins, or portions of these proteins. While all modifications may reduce the biological activity of the protein of interest or elicit antibody formation in recipient animals or patients, there now exists sufficient experience in this area that an optimal clearance-extending strategy can often be designed and successfully executed. With the explosive growth of genomic and proteomic information, an exponentially increasing number of engineered proteins are likely to be developed, with a probable need for clearance-related modification.


Ammonia borane has attracted significant interest in the field of hydrogen storage due to its high gravimetric hydrogen content. In this study the reaction of NH\(_3\)BH\(_3\) with various metal hydrides was investigated. The reactions with hydrides of lithium and sodium required a molar ratio of 1:2 in favour of NH\(_3\)BH\(_3\) and the reaction products were characterised as [Li(NH\(_3\))]\(^+\)[BH\(_3\)NH\(_2\)BH\(_3\)]\(^−\) and [Na]\(^+\)[BH\(_3\)NH\(_2\)BH\(_3\)]\(^−\), respectively, through solid state \(^1\)\(^1\)B and \(^2\)\(^3\)Na MAS NMR and Raman spectroscopy. The reaction of CaH\(_2\) with NH\(_3\)BH\(_3\) required a reaction stoichiometry of 1:4 and this reaction proceeded through a different reaction mechanism, forming Ca(BH\(_4\))\(_2\)•2NH\(_3\). The crystal structures of Ca(BH\(_4\))\(_2\)•2NH\(_3\) and Ca(BH\(_4\))\(_2\)•NH\(_3\) were determined by powder diffraction methods and the reaction pathway investigated through solid state \(^1\)\(^1\)B MAS NMR spectroscopy. The thermal desorption properties of these hydrogen rich materials were investigated and hydrogen was released from all the materials. However, under certain conditions ammonia was the major gaseous desorption product from Ca(BH\(_4\))\(_2\)•2NH\(_3\) and was observed as a minor product from the decomposition of [Li(NH\(_3\))]\(^+\)[BH\(_3\)NH\(_2\)BH\(_3\)]\(^−\). Ammonia was also released during the synthesis of [Na]\(^+\)[BH\(_3\)NH\(_2\)BH\(_3\)]\(^−\), but the decomposition of this material was free from ammonia release. Ramped thermal desorption studies of [Na]\(^+\)[BH\(_3\)NH\(_2\)BH\(_3\)]\(^−\) and [Li(NH\(_3\))]\(^+\)[BH\(_3\)NH\(_2\)BH\(_3\)]\(^−\) to 350°C resulted in weight losses due to hydrogen desorption of 7.5 wt% and 12.5 wt%, respectively. Heating Ca(BH\(_4\))\(_2\)•2NH\(_3\) to 350°C resulted in a total weight loss of 27.5 wt%, which was predominantly due to NH\(_3\) desorption. Powder XRD and solid state \(^1\)\(^1\)B MAS NMR spectroscopy were employed to identify the solid decomposition products and decomposition pathways were proposed. Metal borohydrides were identified in all cases as well as polymeric products possessing B–N chains.


Objectives: Verbal self-instruction strategy is one of the useful techniques for treating individual with learning disability. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of Verbal Selfinstructional Package on the social competence of students with learning disability. Methods: The study was done in a quasi-experimental research and pre-test, post-test design with control group. The population included all male students with learning disability who were studying in two learning disability centers of Hamedan City from 3rd grade to 5th grade. The participants included of 40 male students diagnosed with learning disability who were selected through convenience sampling method and were placed in control group and experimental group (20 students in each group). The verbal Self-instructional Package was held for 8 sessions in a month (2 sessions per week) for experimental group. To collect data, the pre-test and post-test scores of Social Competence Questionnaire were used. Results: The findings of multivariate analysis of covariance showed that Verbal Self-instructional Package significantly affects social competence and it's components; cognitive skills and abilities, behavioral skills, emotional competence and set of motivations and expectations in students with learning disability.


The first chapter of this thesis with the biosynthesis of terpenoids, formation of isopentene unit, biosynthesis of diterpene and triterpene. Saponins and sapogenins have been reviewed in the second chapter. Biological and medicinal importances of saponins as well as structure determination of aglycone and suger moieties are also described.

An upto-date literature survey and results of present photochemical investigations on Mangifera indica have been included in the third chapter. This chapter deals with the isolation of triterpenes, saponins, chromones and other phenolic compounds. The compounds isolated and identified from root bark of Mangifera indica, are indicanine are new cycloartane type triterpenes, which have not so far been reported in the literature. The dried stem bark of this yielded two new saponins mangifericine-A mangifericine-B.

The flowers of Maginera indica afforded constituents of steroidal and non-steroidal nature while the phenolic constituents are chromones and alkyl gallates, basides a veriety of amino acids and sugars. A brief account of this work is shown in table 1-5. An epimer of taraxerol has also been isolated.

The structures of these natural products were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data together with comparison with published data of authentic samples (wherever possible).

A list of the new and known compounds isolated as a result of present research work from root bark, stem bark and flowers of Mangifera indica is given below.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the orthodox use of 5 days crystalline penicillin and an alternate regime of single intramuscular injection of long acting oily chloramphenicol during the 1999 cerebrospinal meningitis epidemic that occurred in Abu Jubeha, South Kordofan, Sudan.

METHODS
All 793 patients with meningococcal meningitis admitted to Abu Jubeha hospital in the eastern parts of South Kordofan State, were investigated. Through a quasi-experimental design some 140 patients were treated with crystalline penicillin for 5 days while the remaining majority, after the exhaustion of penicillin stocks, were put on single-dose intramuscular injections of oily long-acting chloramphenicol.

RESULTS
Males were slightly more affected than females (1.3:1), mean age affected was 17.2 years, the majority being below 20 years of age (68%) while 27.3% were below 10 years. The peak of the epidemic was during late March and early April namely 9th and 10th epidemic weeks. In the penicillin group 87.1% recovered uneventfully, 6.4% died, 2.1% developed blindness and 1.5% partial deafness. In the chloramphenicol group, full recovery was reported in 92.8%, 5% fatalities, blindness in 0.5%, partial deafness in 0.3% and skin necrosis in 0.1%.

CONCLUSION
The study suggests the use of single-dose intramuscular injections of oily chloramphenicol as a nationwide antibiotic of choice for future meningitis epidemics in view of not only its efficacy, but also its low cost, easiness of use, stability and safety.


Andreas Huyssen writes, 'Remembrance as a vital human activity shapes our links to the past, and the ways we remember define us in the present. As individuals and societies, we need the past to construct and to anchor our identities and to nurture a vision of the future.' Memory is continually affected by a complex spectrum of states such as forgetting, denial, repression, trauma, recounting and reconsidering, stimulated by equally complex changes in context and changes over time. The apprehension and reflective comprehension of landscape is similarly beset by such complexities. Just as the nature and qualities of memory comprise inherently fading, shifting and fleeting impressions of things which are themselves ever-changing, an understanding of a landscape, as well as the landscape itself, is a constantly evolving, emerging response to both immense and intimate influences. There is an incongruity between the inherent changeability of both landscapes and memories, and the conventional, formal strategies of commemoration that typify the constructed landscape memorial. The design work presented in this paper brings together such explorations of memory and landscape by examining the 'memorial'. This article examines two projects. One concerns the fate of illegal refugees travelling to Australia: The SIEVX Memorial Project. The other, An Anti-Memorial to Heroin Overdose Victims, was designed by the author as part of the 2001 Melbourne Festival.


The transcription factors that regulate follicular T helper cell differentiation are identified. When B cells respond to an infection, they often require help from CD4+ T cells to mount a proper response. It is thought that a subset of CD4+ effector T cells, called T follicular helper cells (TFH), performs this function. Several subsets of effector CD4+ T cells arise, depending on the type of infection, which have distinct transcriptional programs driving their differentiation. Whether this is also the case for TFH cells has not been clear (see the Perspective by Awasthi and Kuchroo). Nurieva et al. and Johnston et al. now demonstrate that the transcription factor Bcl6 is both necessary and sufficient for TFH differentiation and subsequent B cell–mediated immunity, suggesting that it is a master regulator of this lineage. Johnston et al. also show that expression of Bcl6 and the transcription factor Blimp-1 is reciprocally regulated in TFH cells and that, when ectopically expressed, Blimp-1 inhibits TFH development. R. I. Nurieva, Y. Chung, G. J. Martinez, X. O. Yang, S. Tanaka, T. D. Matskevitch, Y.-H. Wang, C. Dong, Bcl6 mediates the development of T follicular helper cells. Science 325, 1001–1005 (2009). [Abstract] [Full Text] R. J. Johnston, A. C. Poholek, D. DiToro, I. Yusuf, D. Eto, B. Barnett, A. L. Dent, J. Craft, S. Crotty, Bcl6 and Blimp-1 are reciprocal and antagonistic regulators of T follicular helper cell differentiation. Science 325, 1006–1010 (2009). [Abstract] [Full Text] A. Awasthi, V. K. Kuchroo, The yin and yang of follicular helper T cells. Science 325, 953–955 (2009). [Summary] [Full Text]


Title of Dissertation: SECONDARY TRANSITION EXPERIENCES: ANALYZING PERCEPTIONS, ACADEMIC SELFEFFICACY, ACADEMIC ADJUSTMENT AND OVERALL IMPACT ON COLLEGE STUDENTS' WITH LD SUCCESS IN POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION Allison Lynette Butler, Doctor of Philosophy, 2011 Dissertation directed by: Dr. Ellen S. Fabian Department of Counseling and Personnel Services The National Center for Special Education Research at the Institute of Education Sciences under the United States Department of Education funded the National Longitudinal Transition Study – 2 to provide the first national overview of the characteristics and experiences of youth with disabilities which includes selfrepresentations of themselves, their schooling, their personal relationships, and their future aspirations. The study was initiated in 2001 and data collection ended in 2010. The NLTS2 provided insight to youth's perceptions of secondary experiences and expectations for the future which was an area with limited research. The current study draws from college students with learning disabilities in an attempt to analyze their perceptions through experience. Exploratory and descriptive, this investigation examines the relationship between students' perceptions of their secondary transition experiences, academic self-efficacy, academic adjustment, and cumulative semester grade point average (GPA). The purpose of this study was to analyze participants' experiences to generate information regarding how students perceive the effectiveness of their secondary transition programs in pursuit of postsecondary success. In addition, this study examined self-efficacy issues and academic adjustment. Through online survey administration the following instruments were used: a demographic questionnaire, National Longitudinal Transition Study – 2 (NLTS2) Youth Continuation Interview (YCI) containing questions asking participants to rate their perceptions, the Academic Self-Efficacy scale (CASES; Owen and Froman, 1988), and the academic adjustment subscale of the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ; Baker & Siryk, 1989). Data was analyzed using a one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Pearson's product moment correlations. In addition a step-wise multiple regression was performed in order to identify the most influential factors associated with postsecondary academic success (GPA). Academic self-efficacy was the primary determinant of student success. Variables found to have significant relationships with academic self-efficacy were perceptions of secondary transition experiences, academic adjustment, self-reported cumulative grade point average, and number of semesters completed. An inverse relationship was discovered to exist between academic self-efficacy and type of institution as well as being African American and Latino students. SECONDARY TRANSITION EXPERIENCES: ANALYZING PERCEPTIONS, ACADEMIC SELF-EFFICACY, ACADEMIC ADJUSTMENT AND GPA FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES PURSUING POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION By Allison Lynette Butler Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2011 Advisory Committee: Dr. Ellen Fabian, Chair Dr. Jo Ann Hutchinson Dr. Courtland Lee Dr. William Sedlacek Dr. Steven Selden © Copyright by Allison Lynette Butler 2011


Over the last decade, systems development professionals have recognised the need to use agile systems development methodologies (ASDMs) in the telecommunication industry. This is partly due to the barriers identified by Mansurov (2000) which suggest that the use of agile methodologies in the telecommunication industry would reduce the ratio of time-to-market. In the South African context, the industry has cemented its position as a major driving force of the economy as a whole. The in~ustry' s level of competitiveness is in part informed by the information technology practices that it follows, and hence systems development is deemed to be a crucial and value-adding component ofthe environment This research therefore aims to investigate the systems development practices currently being used in the telecommunication industry of South Africa, as well as the perceived sentiments towards the use of ASDMs. The investigation into the level of applicability of ASDMs in the industry is largely informed by literature from agile proponents which suggest that ASDMs are highly suitable to projects where the user requirements continuously change. In order to identify the current SD practices followed and the sentiments towards ASDMs in the telecommunication industry, the interpretive paradigm was used. Three prominent organisations were identified and case studies were conducted at each of these companies. The data collection method used was a combination of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, and the data analysis tools were ATLAS.ti for the semi-structured interviews and SPSS for the questionnaires. Thereafter, the data collected was analysed by using the cross-case analysis method. The results indicated that the incumbent companies in the telecommunication industry used an SDM that followed the waterfall approach, and the use of ASDMs was informed by a multitude offactors.


We propose to meta-learn causal structures based on how fast a learner adapts to new distributions arising from sparse distributional changes, e.g. due to interventions, actions of agents and other sources of non-stationarities. We show that under this assumption, the correct causal structural choices lead to faster adaptation to modified distributions because the changes are concentrated in one or just a few mechanisms when the learned knowledge is modularized appropriately. This leads to sparse expected gradients and a lower effective number of degrees of freedom needing to be relearned while adapting to the change. It motivates using the speed of adaptation to a modified distribution as a meta-learning objective. We demonstrate how this can be used to determine the cause-effect relationship between two observed variables. The distributional changes do not need to correspond to standard interventions (clamping a variable), and the learner has no direct knowledge of these interventions. We show that causal structures can be parameterized via continuous variables and learned end-to-end. We then explore how these ideas could be used to also learn an encoder that would map low-level observed variables to unobserved causal variables leading to faster adaptation out-of-distribution, learning a representation space where one can satisfy the assumptions of independent mechanisms and of small and sparse changes in these mechanisms due to actions and non-stationarities.


In this thesis we study and develop iterative methods for solving the linear systems arising from discretisations of the Helmholtz equation. The Helmholtz equation is the simplest model used to describe high frequency wave scattering, and hence arises in many applications. Therefore it is of practical importance for there to be robust numerical methods for the solution of the Helmholtz equation, which is the focus of this thesis. Throughout this thesis we consider as our model problem the Helmholtz equation in a bounded domain subject to an impedance boundary condition which is an approximation of the so called Sommerfeld radiation condition. Once the PDE problem is then discretised with, say, low order finite elements the resulting system matrix is complex, symmetric and non-Hermitian. However for large values of the wavenumber k the solution of the Helmholtz equation is highly oscillatory and therefore a number of grid points growing at least as fast as O(k) must be chosen to ensure an accurate solution. The consequence of this is that for large k, or equivalently large domains, the system matrix will be very large. Therefore direct solvers are no longer a viable choice, and hence we turn instead to \textit{cheaper} iterative solvers. In this thesis we consider the Schwarz domain decomposition as our choice of iterative method and preconditioner. Throughout we shall prove theoretical results which show that this algorithm converges with a number of iterations which grows like k with a fractional exponent. This exponent differs depending on the interface condition and overlap. A new theory is developed for the optimised non-overlapping Schwarz method for the Helmholtz equation with an absorbing term. The optimised method works by first replacing the multiplier in the standard impedance condition with a general complex number determined by minimising the convergence rate of the Schwarz method. The interface condition is known as an optimised interface condition. The consequence of this is that we can improve upon the previous methods with Dirichlet and standard impedance conditions. This is verified theoretically and then numerically by testing the Dirichlet, impedance and optimised interface conditions using the Schwarz method on some model problems. There are however situations where we cannot solve the optimisation problem resulting from the Schwarz method exactly. This situation arises when we consider higher order approximations for the interface condition, and when we use overlap in the optimised method. Instead of solving the problem theoretically we solve it numerically to obtain the multiplier required for the optimised interface condition. What we observe in the numerical experiments is that we can improve the convergence of the Schwarz algorithm further. Finally in this thesis we develop a new preconditioner which combines the ideas of the optimised Schwarz domain decomposition method with the sweeping precondtioner of Engquist and Ying to form a hybrid preconditioner. This hybrid preconditioner is used within GMRES, and tested in numerical computations on large scale geological problems, including some 3D examples. What we find is that this new preconditioner can converge very quickly. However, we also highlight areas which could be improved using other techniques which we outline as further work to be considered.


Learning to classify unseen class samples at test time is popularly referred to as zero-shot learning (ZSL). If test samples can be from training (seen) as well as unseen classes, it is a more challenging problem due to the existence of strong bias towards seen classes. This problem is generally known as generalized zero-shot learning (GZSL). Thanks to the recent advances in generative models such as VAEs and GANs, sample synthesis based approaches have gained considerable attention for solving this problem. These approaches are able to handle the problem of class bias by synthesizing unseen class samples. However, these ZSL/GZSL models suffer due to the following key limitations: (i) Their training stage learns a class-conditioned generator using only seen class data and the training stage does not explicitly learn to generate the unseen class samples; (ii) They do not learn a generic optimal parameter which can easily generalize for both seen and unseen class generation; and (iii) If we only have access to a very few samples per seen class, these models tend to perform poorly. In this paper, we propose a meta-learning based generative model that naturally handles these limitations. The proposed model is based on integrating model-agnostic meta learning with a Wasserstein GAN (WGAN) to handle (i) and (iii), and uses a novel task distribution to handle (ii). Our proposed model yields significant improvements on standard ZSL as well as more challenging GZSL setting. In ZSL setting, our model yields 4.5%, 6.0%, 9.8%, and 27.9% relative improvements over the current state-of-the-art on CUB, AWA1, AWA2, and aPY datasets, respectively.


ABSTRACT Overall, productivity growth may be underestimated in the U.S.; despite continued progress, measurement and conceptual barriers remain. The concerns about underestimation of productivity growth have been focused on data for the business sector, especially its service components. Services, broadly defined, include all producing activities outside the goods sector. Productivity in the service sector has not grown as rapidly as productivity in the manufacturing sector. Anecdotal accounts of improvements in technology due to the method of measurement for the two different areas have been similar, which is why the measurement is incorrect. The productivity data does not fully reflect changes in the quality of goods and services due to the new concepts and considerations that must be taken into account in order to evaluate the accomplishments of the service industries, as opposed to the simple manufacturing industries. Economists have to determine if the best techniques are used to introduce new, advanced products into the data series. Current techniques do not capture the impact of new information technology on economic performance. This is why statistics may help to clear up ambiguities and start provide a fresh outlook to properly analyze successes of the service industries as a result of information technology. INTRODUCTION Economics, like every social science, is incomplete and therefore constantly evolving. A central concern of economics has to do with productivity--the ability to grow wealthier by extracting more value from the same amount of labor. Productivity is the measure of economics, which is the study of how a society uses its limited resources to produce, trade, and consume goods and services. In other words, the world has to satisfy unlimited wants with limited resources. Looking at the constantly growing amount of new products and technological improvements at the end of the twentieth century, people are tremendously impressed. It seems logical that these inventions and improvements are increasing consumer welfare, and the technical innovations are contributing to output. Then why is the question of whether or not these new products and technological improvements are increasing at a noticeable rate? Logical reasoning supposes one thing, but officially, reported numbers do not support this assumption of productivity growth. Economic statistics provided by the government demonstrate a modest rise in productivity numbers, which are not consistent with the highly increasing technological advances occurring across the economy. Economists, along with the rest of the world, see more new products, more changes in consumer service, more technical changes, and other innovations. The only problem is that these observations, while promising in terms of growth, are also consistent with the relatively minor increase in government productivity numbers. Many economists go as far to proclaim that society has been experiencing a productivity slowdown despite the apparent growth. PRODUCTIVITY RELATIONSHIPS Even though computers are not the only factor that affects an economy, the world will utilize computer technology as the center of improvement. Since the development of the first computers, society has not only changed in the way people conduct business, but also in the growing efficiency of aspects of daily life. One example is the ability to visually see a person several hundred miles away instead of simply being able to communicate by voice alone. This is achieved with the invention of the computer along with the voice transmission and visual images brought about using programs such as the Netmeeting software. The relationship between information technology (IT) and productivity is widely discussed but little understood (Brynjolfsson, 1993). Delivered computing power in the U.S. economy has increased by more than two orders of magnitude since 1970, yet productivity in the service sector has stagnated. …


Having multiple secondary users (SUs) can be exploited to achieve multiuser diversity and improve the throughput of the underlay secondary network. In the cognitive setting, satisfying the interference constraint is essential, and thus, a scheduling scheme is considered where some SUs are preselected based on the low interference power. From this subset, the SU that yields the highest throughput is selected for transmission. This scheduling scheme helps to lower the interference power while giving good throughput. For an independent but not identically distributed Nakagami-m fading channel, we obtain exact closed-form expressions of the capacity of this scheduling scheme. Furthermore, the scheduling time of SUs is characterized and closed-form expressions for the mean time after which a SU is selected for transmission are obtained. Numerical simulations are performed to corroborate the derived analytical results. Our results show that at low interference threshold, increasing transmit power of the SUs is not beneficial and results in reduced capacity. Furthermore, the channel idle time (i.e. time that no user is utilizing the channel) reduces with increasing the number of SUs.


The INK4A tumour suppressor gene is negatively regulated by the Polycomb Group
(PcG) complexes, which plays an important role in stem cell- and cancer biology.
Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1) members posterior sex comb protein BMI1
and polycomb proteins CBX7 and CBX8 have been shown to be directly involved in
repression of INK4A and delay of senescence, whereas evidence from mouse genetics
suggests that polyhomeotic protein Ph2 is also required. However, it is still unknown
why the mammalian PRC1 complex has so many possible permutations compared to the
basic system in Drosphila and how this relates to the regulation of a single target gene.
The aim was therefore to define the requirement and function of the three human
polyhomeotic members, HPH1, -2 and -3, for INK4A repression. It was found that
depletion of all HPH proteins by shRNA-mediated knockdown in primary human
fibroblasts results in derepression of INK4A and premature senescence. In contrast,
overexpression of HPH proteins leads to activation of INK4A accompanied by loss of
PRC1 binding and PcG-associated histone H3K27 trimethylation at the locus. These
diametrically opposite findings suggest that a fine balance in HPH protein levels is
required for PcG repression. Furthermore, biochemical investigation of the interaction
between CBX and HPH proteins did not demonstrate any level of specificity, but
emphasised the RNA binding capacity of both proteins, which was further investigated.
In addition, by tandem affinity purification and mass spectrometry analysis it was found
that HPH2 interacts with both PRC1 components and novel proteins, which were
studied for involvement in INK4A repression. In summary, this thesis demonstrates an
essential role for the HPH proteins in the regulation of INK4A and provides novel
insights into their functional contribution to PcG repression.


E-Government can be defined as the use of information and communication technologies by the government in order to work more effectively share information and deliver better services to the public. It is known that e-government applications strengthen accountability, increase transparency and efficiency of the government. Corruption is a highly complex phenomenon which rooted in bureaucratic and political institutions and their effects vary from country to country. Given the socio-economic conditions, political and institutional infrastructure and other factors, it is difficult to make a generally accepted definition of corruption, but in its narrowest definition, abuse of public power for private interests. It is known that corruption creates negative effects on the economic growth of the countries, tax structure, quality of public services, and the rule of law.In this context, the paper tests the effects of e-government on corruption via panel data analysis by using a large data set consisting of 193 countries belonging to the period 2003-2017. While examining the relationship between e-government and corruption, many control variables that may affect this relationship were taken into consideration. The empirical findings of the study show that e-government has a statistically significant and negative effect on corruption. Consistent with the common literature, the findings of the study emphasize that the increase in e-government applications reduces corruption.


This beautiful and definitive guide brings together the world's lead leading expert on North American trout and salmon, Robert Behnke, and the foremost illustrator in the field, Joseph Tomelleri. North America is graced with the greatest diversity of trout and salmon on earth. From tiny brook trout in mountain streams of the Northeast, to cutthroat trout in the rivers of the Rockies, to Chinook salmon of the Pacific, the continent is home to more than 70 types of trout and salmon. How this came to be, how they are related, and what makes them unique -- and so breathtaking -- is the story of "Trout and Salmon of North America." The more than 100 illustrations of trout and salmon by Joseph Tomelleri showcased here exhibit a genius for detail, coloration, and proportion. Each portrait is made from field notes, streamside observations, photographs, and specimens collected by the artist. The result is a set of the most accurate and stunning illustrations of fish ever created. Robert Behnke has distilled 50 years of his research and writing about trout and salmon in completing this book. No one understands better than Behnke the diversity and conservation issues concerning these fishes or communicates so lucidly the biological wonders and complexities of their particular beauty. Also included are more than 40 richly detailed maps that clearly show the ranges of populations of trout and salmon throughout North America. An irresistible delight for anyone who appreciates natural history, "Trout and Salmon of North America" is a master guide to the natural elegance of our native fishes.


Network operators are facing the problem of dimensioning their networks for the expected huge IP traffic volumes while keeping constant or even reducing the connectivity prices. Therefore, new architectural solutions able to cope with the expected traffic increase in a more cost-effective way are needed. In this work, we study the survivable IP/multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) over wavelength switched optical network (WSON) multilayer network problem as a capital expenditure (CAPEX) minimization problem. Two network approaches providing survivability against optical links, IP/MPLS nodes, and opto-electronic port failures are compared: the classical overlay approach where two redundant IP/MPLS networks are deployed, and the new joint multilayer approach which provides the requested survivability through an orchestrated interlayer recovery scheme which minimizes the over-dimensioning of IP/MPLS nodes. Mathematical programming models are developed for both approaches. Solving these models, however, becomes impractical for realistic networks. In view of this, evolutionary heuristics based on the biased random-key genetic algorithm framework are also proposed. Exhaustive experiments on several reference network scenarios illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in minimizing network CAPEX.


In clinical trials and other applications, we often see regions of the feature space that appear to exhibit interesting behaviour, but it is unclear whether these observed phenomena are reflected at the population level. Focusing on a regression setting, we consider the subgroup selection challenge of identifying a region of the feature space on which the regression function exceeds a pre-determined threshold. We formulate the problem as one of constrained optimisation, where we seek a low-complexity, datadependent selection set on which, with a guaranteed probability, the regression function is uniformly at least as large as the threshold; subject to this constraint, we would like the region to contain as much mass under the marginal feature distribution as possible. This leads to a natural notion of regret, and our main contribution is to determine the minimax optimal rate for this regret in both the sample size and the Type I error probability. The rate involves a delicate interplay between parameters that control the smoothness of the regression function, as well as exponents that quantify the extent to which the optimal selection set at the population level can be approximated by families of well-behaved subsets. Finally, we expand the scope of our previous results by illustrating how they may be generalised to a treatment and control setting, where interest lies in the heterogeneous treatment effect.


After the accession of Romania, scheduled for 2007, the European Union will directly border Moldova. As a result, the EU–Moldova relations, which Brussels has rather neglected so far, will gain increased importance. The assumption behind the EU's policy is that Moldova is not going to join the Union, though theoretically, such a development is not precluded. Chisinau does indeed aspire to join the European Union. The EU is interested in Moldova chiefly because of the threat this country may pose to the security of the Union's future south-eastern outskirts. This concern about security stems from M o l d o v a ' s serious instability, and especially from the existence of the separatist Transnistrian Moldovan Republic, which is involved in various illegal or semi-legal businesses and provides a stronghold to crime. This paper deals with the EU policy towards Moldova and the multiple facets of this policy, the most important of which seems to be the preclusion of Moldova's accession in the foreseeable future. It also discusses Moldova's political responses to the EU policy and the country's own initiatives. Finally, this paper also covers the legal framework of the co-operation between Brussels and Chisinau, the Community's assistance to Moldova and its implementation, the EU policy towards the conflict in Transnistria and the Union's (current and projected) role in its settlement as well as the plans for future co-operation between the two sides.


In this book Jeremi Suri puts the tumultuous 1960s into a truly international perspective in the first study to examine the connections between great power diplomacy and global social protest. Profoundly disturbed by increasing social and political discontent, Cold War powers united on the international front, in the policy of d?tente. Though reflecting traditional balance of power considerations, d?tente thus also developed from a common urge for stability among leaders who by the late 1960s were worried about increasingly threatening domestic social activism. In the early part of the decade, Cold War pressures simultaneously inspired activists and constrained leaders; within a few years activism turned revolutionary on a global scale. Suri examines the decade through leaders and protesters on three continents, including Mao Zedong, Charles de Gaulle, Martin Luther Kung Jr., Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. He describes connections between policy and protest from the Berkeley riots to the Prague Spring, from the Paris strikes to massive unrest in Wuhan, China. Designed to protect the existing political order and repress movements for change, d?tente gradually isolated politics from the public. The growth of distrust and disillusion in nearly every society left a lasting legacy of global unrest, fragmentation and unprecedented public skepticism toward authority.


Sufficient evidence exists in relation to the association in clinical practice between disorders in the metabolism of glucose, lipoproteins, insulin action, arterial hypertension and centrally-distributed obesity. This association is named Metabolic Syndrome. Despite the existence thereof had been questioned by the ADA and EASD, it is a useful tool affording the possibility of identifying individuals at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Metabolic syndrome and/or its individual components are associated with a high incidence rate of cardiovascular disease. Obesity and a sedentary lifestyle are underlying risk factors along this syndrome's pathway to disease, changes in living habits therefore being a first-line intervention in the prevention and treatment of insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, aterogenic dyslipemia and arterial hypertension. Weight loss and exercise are the keys to the overall plan, one of the most important non-pharmacological cardiovascular risk reduction strategies however still being diet. Epidemiological studies have found a high intake of simple sugars, of foods having a glycemic index and of diets with a high glycemic load to be associated to insulin resistance, type II diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL-cholesterol figures. Los saturated fat intake in favor of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids has been implied in a reduction of the incidence of type II diabetes mellitus and dyslipemia, although the debate is ongoing. Unrefined grain fiber in the diet has been beneficial in reducing the risk of diabetes. Among the diet patterns, the Mediterranean diet has been related to a lower incidence of diabetes and a reduction in the risk of death. Studies for intervention in the prevention of type II diabetes have suggested low-fat diets (reducing saturated and trans-fats), with a high degree of fiber and low glycemic index. Clinical trials have shown diets with small amounts of carbohydrates, low glycemic index and the Mediterranean and DASH diets to be beneficial in reducing aterogenic dyslipemia. There is currently no good evidence for choosing diets with restricted carbohydrates. On the other hand, different guides recommend low-calorie diets with a low content in saturated fats, trans-fats, cholesterol and sugars in favor the eating fruits, green vegetables, unrefined grains and fish.