Escherichia coli, a gram-negative gamma proteobacterium, is presently the best-understood organism. It is a paradigm organism in bacterial physiology and genetics as well as a key tool in molecular genetics in that many genetic manipulations throughout biology involve E. coli. Molecular cloning into one of many E. coli vector plasmids is a standard procedure in most molecular biology and biotechnology laboratories. E. coli is also the workhorse of recombinant protein production since conditions have been found that allow proteins from across biology to be efficiently expressed in and purified from E. coli. Indeed, the bulk of x-ray crystal structures are performed on proteins that were produced in this bacterium. Finally, a collection of mutant E. coli strains each deleted for a gene nonessential for growth in a rich medium provides a resource to test the functions of genes from other organisms by assaying their ability to replace the function of an E. coli gene.

Key Concepts:

E. coli is a preferred host for gene cloning due to the high efficiency of introduction of DNA molecules into cells.

E. coli is a preferred host for protein production due to its rapid growth and the ability to express proteins at very high levels.

Bacterial conjugation can be used to transfer large DNA fragments from one bacterium to another.

E. coli is a preferred host for the study of phage biology due to the detailed knowledge of its nucleic acid and protein biosynthetic pathways.

The ability of E. coli to grow on chemically defined media coupled with its extensive genetic toolbox make it a key system in study of bacterial metabolic pathways.

Keywords:

conjugation;
growth curve;
envelope structure;
transduction;
plasmids;
phage;
genetics


Vitamin C is essential for many enzymatic reactions and also acts as a free radical scavenger. Specific non-overlapping transport proteins mediate the transport of the oxidized form of vitamin C, dehydroascorbic acid, and the reduced form, Lascorbic acid, across biological membranes. Dehydroascorbic acid uptake is via the facilitated-diffusion glucose transporters, GLUT 1, 3 and 4, but under physiological conditions these transporters are unlikely to play a major role in the uptake of vitamin C due to the high concentrations of glucose that will effectively block influx. L-ascorbic acid enters cells via Na+-dependent systems, and two isoforms of these transporters (SVCT1 and SVCT2) have recently been cloned from humans and rats. Transport by both isoforms is stereospecific, with a pH optimum of ~ 7.5 and a Na+: ascorbic acid stoichiometry of 2 : 1. SVCT2 may exhibit a higher affinity for ascorbic acid than SVCT1 but with a lower maximum velocity. SVCT1 and SVCT2 are predicted to have 12 transmembrane domains, but they share no structural homology with other Na+ co-transporters. Potential sites for phosphorylation by protein kinase C exist on the cytoplasmic surface of both proteins, with an additional protein kinase A site in SVCT1. The two isoforms also differ in their tissue distribution: SVCT1 is present in epithelial tissues, whereas SVCT2 is present in most tissues with the exception of lung and skeletal muscle.


Ionic transport in metal oxides is crucial for the functioning of a broad range of different components, such as heat resistant alloys designed for high temperature applications and oxide electrolytes in solid oxide fuel cells. This thesis presents results from in situ electrochemical studies of properties related to ionic transport in metal oxides that are important for their applications as protective oxides and ionic conductors. Heat resistant alloys of alumina-former type are known to form an adherent, slowly growing and protective aluminium oxide (Al2O3) scale that protects metals from chemical degradation at high temperature. In situ impedance spectroscopy was used to study highly pure and dense samples of a-alumina in the temperature range 400 – 1000 °C. It was shown that surface conduction on the sample could severely distort the measurement below 700 °C. The magnitude of the distortions appeared to be sensitive to the type of electrodes used. The use of a so-called guard electrode was shown to effectively block the surface conduction in the measurements. By varying the grain size of the sintered alpha-alumina samples, the influence of grain size on the overall conductivity of the a-alumina was studied. It was shown that the activation energy for conductivity increased as the grain size decreased. Molecular dynamics calculations were performed in order to elucidate whether Al- or O ions are dominant in the ionic conductivity of the alpha-alumina. Comparing the calculation and experimental results, the dominating charge carrier was suggested to be oxygen ions. Moreover, the ionic transport in thermally grown alumina-like oxide scales formed on a FeCrAl alloy was studied in situ by impedance spectroscopy between 600 and 1000 °C. It was shown that the properties of these scales differ largely from those of pure and dense alpha-alumina. Furthermore, the conductivity is mainly electronic, due to the multiphase/multilayer microstructure and substantial incorporation of species from the base metal. However, the diffusivity obtained from the ionic conductivity was in line with diffusion data in literature obtained by other methods such as thermogravimetry. Besides, the initial stage of oxidation of a number of Fe-, Ni- and Co-based alloys at temperatures between 500 and 800 °C was studied in situ by high temperature cyclic voltammetry, in which the oxygen activity was changed over a wide range. From the resulting voltammograms the redox reactions occurring on the alloy surface could be identified. It was concluded that the base metal oxidized readily on these alloys before a protective chromia- or alumina-like scale is formed. The base metal oxide is most likely incorporated into the more protective oxide. Further, the oxygen ionic conductivity of highly pure and fully dense yttria-stabilized zirconia produced by spark plasma sintering was studied by impedance spectroscopy. The aim was to evaluate intrinsic blocking effects on the ionic conduction associated with the space charge layer in the grain boundary region. It was observed that the ionic conductivity of the spark plasma sintered oxides is equal or slightly higher than what has been achieved by conventional sintering methods. In addition, it was shown that the specific grain boundary conductivity increases with decreasing grain size, which can be explained by a decreasing Schottky barrier height (i.e., decreasing blocking effect). The quantitative results from this work verify the space charge model describing the influence of grain size on the ionic conductivity of yttria-stabilized zirconia through dopant segregation and oxygen vacancy depletion along the grain boundaries.


Voice is a salient category in our contemporary lives. We speak of marginalised groups 'lacking voice' and celebrate their efforts at 'raising their voices'; we are advised to listen to our 'inner voice' and be 'vocal' in our opinions. Such idioms closely associate voice with individuality, agency, and authority. Anthropologists have sought to denaturalise these associations, showing them to be the product of a particular ideology of voice that is neither universal nor inevitable. At the same time, they have also studied the effects that such associations have on imaginations of subjectivity as well as public and political life. As an explicit category of conceptual and ethnographic focus, voice has entered the anthropological literature relatively recently. This entry charts out some of the principal ways in which anthropologists have approached voice, and the kind of literatures they have drawn upon to do so. It identifies the move to study sonic voices in tandem with metaphorical figures of voice as central to anthropological investigations of voice. It considers how doing so allows investigating the role of voice in the making of subjects, publics, and ideologies, as well as the impacts that sound technologies have on these processes. This entry suggests that voice is central to many key concepts in anthropology and social theory and that an explicit focus on voice is therefore of broader relevance for the discipline and beyond.


Shock veins in the Sixiangkou (L6) chondrite contain two high-pressure assemblages: (i) majorite-pyrope solid solution plus magnesiowüstite that crystallized at high pressures and temperatures from a shock-induced silicate melt of bulk Sixiangkou composition and (ii) ringwoodite plus low-calcium majorite that were produced by solid-state transformation of olivine and low-calcium pyroxene. The morphology and chemistry of the majorite-pyrope garnet and the size of the magnesiowüstite crystals indicate a longer duration at high pressure and temperature than predicted by impact scenarios. This pressure-temperature regime is constrained by the olivine-ringwoodite and orthopyroxene-majorite phase transformations, fusion of the meteorite constituents, and crystallization of majorite-pyrope solid solution plus magnesiowüstite from that melt under high pressure.


The paper discusses the names indicating the elements of the man-made environment established after 1848 in the coal-mining district neighbouring the town of Pécs. Names for shafts, galleries and mine premises are analysed in a functional-semantic framework. With respect to the three types of names, names for shafts should be considered as the most characteristic type, as names for galleries and mine premises are often derived from shaft names. Direct motivation is common in all three name types: names for shafts often refer to a person, whilst galleries and mine premises usually take their names from an establishment. The lack of direct relationship between the specific name constituent and the designated denotatum can mostly be observed in the case of shaft names. One third of the names for galleries are of uncertain origin, and only a single name for a mine premise has a blurred function. Names of commemorating function are frequent in case of names for shafts and mine premises, but are lacking in case of names for galleries (as galleries are usually used for a short period of time). Mine premises, often functioning up to the present day, long after the mines were closed down, were not named after their characteristics at all, and do not bear names of conventional function either. Names indicating the type of the denotatum are extremely rare: in the observed name corpus this function can only be exemplified by a single name for a gallery.


State misinterpretation has been identified as a causal factor in several accidents where humans were operating complex systems in dynamic domains. The concept of state misinterpretation, although undefined, is characterised by its unobservability, and its relative infrequency. These features make gathering data about state misinterpretation difficult. It was therefore decided to use archive incident report data; the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System database was used. A definition of state misinterpretation was formulated and translated into database queries to retrieve relevant incident reports for a homogeneous set of expert pilots over a fixed time period. These reports were encoded using the Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method suitably adapted to analysis of aviation incidents. Each report was categorised by the type of state misinterpretation, and a taxonomy of these types was developed. Those types which occurred more than 20 times were analysed at three levels of abstraction. First, a concordance of individual actions showed that communication failures, missed observations and distractions were the most common causal factors. Second, the sequences of possible causal actions showed that some sequences are common across different types of error and state misinterpretation. Third, the causal trees for each state misinterpretation type were quantitatively compared. The lack of measured similarity between the trees suggests that the types in the taxonomy are distinct. Most of the analysed incidents were preventable by better management of flight crew actions. Two particular sequences of actions dominated the results. The first is where the flight crew missed an observation when they were distracted by a competing task. The second is where a communication failure between the flight crew and air traffic control occurred. Some suggestions are offered about how flight crews can better manage their actions to prevent the occurrence of some types of state misinterpretation, thereby reducing incident numbers.


We investigated morphological alterations induced by s.c. injection of 2.5 microg of Bothrops jararaca venom in rats. Intense disorganisation of collagen fibres was observed 1 min after the venom injection, particularly at regions near vessels and nerves. Mast cells were degranulated, and erythrocytes were seen leaving venules throughout the endothelial junctions. At this time, damaged endothelial cells were not observed. In rats envenomed as above, but immediately after cardiorespiratory failure induced by deep ether anaesthesia, alterations in the connective tissue structures, as previously described, were not observed. The mediation of this haemorrhage was investigated by injecting the venom into the foot pad of mice and compared to the mediation of oedema. Local haemorrhage was significantly reduced in mice pre-treated with capsaicin or guanethidine or submitted to a surgical section of sciatic and saphenous nerves. In these animals, oedema was not affected. Groups treated with methysergide or morphine showed both haemorrhage and oedema significantly reduced. Indomethacin or dexamethasone pre-treatments significantly reduced the oedema, but not the haemorrhage. Moreover, in animals treated with promethazine or mepyramine, oedema and haemorrhage were not affected. These data suggest that local haemorrhage induced by Bothrops jararaca venom is partially controlled by serotonin and neurohumoral mediators. Furthermore, results indicate that haemorrhage and oedema are mediated by different pharmacological systems.


Excerpt] Surely the bleeding of Philadelphia-area jobs — 140,000 fewer manufacturing jobs in 1980 than in 1970 — set the climate. Yet the plant closing ordinance could not have been passed without the skillful organizing efforts of the Delaware Valley Coalition for Jobs (DVCJ). Virtually all of the pro-ordinance testimony presented in City Council hearings was orchestrated by DVCJ. At the hearings, DVCJ arranged for statements from dozens of witnesses unionists, unemployed activists, families of laid-off workers, community leaders, clergy, lawyers, and academics (like myself). The victory in the Philadelphia City Council was a major accomplishment for DVCJ and the plant closing fight in general. But the new law is not being enforced by the city, and the anti-plant-closing movement is stalled. Partly, this situation arose because DVCJ is a defensively-oriented direct action group and not primarily a legislative lobbying group. The coalition paid less attention to the details of legislative processes and enforcement mechanisms than to rallying support for the idea of a law. DVCJ's strength has been in mobilizing mass actions against plant closings and in agitating for full employment policies. Jobs coalitions such as DVCJ have great potential for changing the public agenda on job loss and unemployment, but they also have some inherent stumbling blocks. The example of DVCJ, one of the more successful jobs coalitions, illustrates some of the strengths and weaknesses of the movement against plant closings in general.


The study of wireless and mobile networks is mainly based on simulations. According to recent publications 76% of the studies in this area are based on simulations. Although simulation environments offer a convenient combination of flexibility and controllability, their largest disadvantage is that the results gained by using them are difficult to transfer into reality. This is due to the complex environment of mobile and wireless networks. In this paper we introduce a hybrid testbed approach, which consists of real mesh nodes and a virtualization environment. This combination provides on the one hand a flexible development environment for distributed network protocols and applications, and on the other hand a high degree of realism. Therefore, it allows the design and evaluation of large scale networks where the results are easily transferred to the real world.


When
starch granules are gelatinized, many complex structural changes occur as a
result of large quantity of water being absorbed. The enlargement of granule
sizes and the leaching out water-soluble macromolecules contribute to the
viscoelasticity. Starch pasting behavior greatly influences the texture of a
variety of food products such as canned soup, sauces, baby foods, batter mixes
etc. It is important to characterize the relationship between the structure,
composition and architecture of the starch granules with its pasting behavior
in order to arrive at a rational methodology to design modified starch of
desirable digestion rate and texture. Five types of starch used in this study
were waxy maize starch (WMS), normal maize starch (NMS), waxy rice starch (WRS),
normal rice starch (NRS) and STMP cross linked normal maize starch. Evolution
of volume fraction φ and
pasting of 8% w/w starch suspension when heated at 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85 and
90 °C were characterized by particle size distribution and G', G" in the
frequency range of 0.01 to 10 Hz respectively. As expected, granule swelling
was more pronounced at higher temperatures. At a fixed temperature, most of the
swelling occurred within the first 5 min of heating. The pastes exhibited
elastic behavior with G' being much greater than G". G' increased with time for
waxy maize and rice starch at all times. G' and G'' were found to correlated
only to the temperature of pasting and not change much with the rate of
heating. For WMS, WRS and STMP crosslinked NMS, G' approached a limiting value
for long heating times (30 min and above) especially at heating temperatures of
85°C and
above. This behavior is believed to be due to the predominant effect of swelling
at small times. For normal maize and rice starch, however, G' reached a maximum
and decreased at longer times for temperatures above 80 °C due to softening of granules
as evidenced by peak force measurements. For each starch sample, the
experimental data of G' at different heating temperatures and times could be
collapsed into a single curve. The limiting value of G' at high volume fraction
was related to granule size and granule interfacial energy using a foam
rheology model. The interfacial free energy of granules were obtained from
contact angle measurements and was employed to evaluate the limiting G'. The
experimental data of G' for all starches when subjected to different heating
temperatures and times were normalized with respect to the limiting value at
high volume fractions. The master curve for normalized G' was employed to
predict the evolution of G' with time for different starches which was found to
agree well with experimental data of storage modulus. A mechanistic model for
starch swelling that is based on Flory Huggins polymer swelling theory was
employed to predict the evolution of volume fraction of swollen granules. The
model accounts for the structure and composition of different types of starches
through starch-solvent interaction as quantified by static light scattering, gelatinization
temperature and enthalpy of gelatinization, porosity and its variation with
swelling and crosslinking of starch molecules within the granule from
equilibrium swelling. Consequently, one could predict the evolution of texture
of these starch suspension from the knowledge of their swelling behavior.
Expressing the limiting storage modulus of complete swelling (volume fraction
approaching unity) of starch suspension in terms of foam rheology, we were able
to normalize the storage modulus of different types of starches with respect to
its limiting value which is found to fall into a master curve. This master
curve when employed along with the swelling model resulted in the successful
prediction of development of texture for different types of starches. The above
methodology can quantify the effects of structure and composition of starch on
its pasting behavior and would therefore provide a rational guideline for
modification and processing of starch-based material to obtain desirable
texture and rheological properties.


New Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations of small‐scale (~7 ion inertial length radius) flux transfer events (FTEs) at the dayside magnetopause are reported. The 10 km MMS tetrahedron size enables their structure and properties to be calculated using a variety of multispacecraft techniques, allowing them to be identified as flux ropes, whose flux content is small (~22 kWb). The current density, calculated using plasma and magnetic field measurements independently, is found to be filamentary. Intercomparison of the plasma moments with electric and magnetic field measurements reveals structured non‐frozen‐in ion behavior. The data are further compared with a particle‐in‐cell simulation. It is concluded that these small‐scale flux ropes, which are not seen to be growing, represent a distinct class of FTE which is generated on the magnetopause by secondary reconnection.


Clustering is commonly exploited in engineering, management, and science fields with the objective of revealing structure in pattern data sets. In this article, through clustering we construct meaningful collections of information granules (clusters). Although the underlying goal is obvious, its realization is fully challenging. Given their nature, clustering is a well-known NP-complete problem. The existing algorithms commonly produce some suboptimal solutions. As a vehicle of pattern clustering, we discuss in this article how to use a DNA-based algorithm. We also discuss the details of encoding being used here with statistical methods combined with the DNA-based algorithm for pattern clustering.


Introduction: Pneumonia is a major mortality and morbidity reason among elderly. Age limit is commonly accepted as 65 years, but actually age definition varies by country. Objective: In the present study we aimed to evaluate the course of pneumonia in patients age 75 and older as "75-84 years" and "85 and older" patients. Materials and Method: This is a retrospective cohort study in a chest disease clinic between January 2009 and May 2013. Pneumonia patients aged 75 and older followed in chest disease ward were included in the study. The patients were evaluated in two groups: "75-84 years" and "85 and older". Demographics, CURB65 score, hospital and short term mortality (mortality within 30 days after discharge) were recorded. Results: A total number of 116 pneumonia patients, 54% male were enrolled. The mean age was 83±5 years. There were 76 patients in "75-84 years" group and 40 in "85 and older" group. The incidence of congestive heart failure/coronary artery disease was significantly higher in "85 and older" patients (P = 0.002). Penicillins and cephalosporins were the most commonly used antibiotics. In both age groups in-hospital and short-term mortalities were similar. The length of hospital stay was similar in both age groups, but "75-84 years" patients were more likely to transfer to intensive care unit than "85 and older" patients (11% vs. 3%, p = 0.13) Conclusion: The course of pneumonia, LOS, and in-hospital and short-term mortality are analogous among "75-84 years" and "85 and older" patients. Close clinical follow-up, good compliance to guidelines and a good management to comorbidities is required. As multidisciplinary approach and close follow-up is vital for elderly patients, a focus on hospital workforce conditions while planning and organizing is essential.


This Article investigates South African courts' treatment of discriminatory testamentary bequests in the preand post-constitutional eras. It shows a change in judicial attitude towards such bequests from an accommodating, tolerant stance, purportedly founded on South Africa's RomanDutch common law, during the pre-constitutional era to a firm normative approach with a focus on equality and non-discrimination during the post-constitutional years. The Article assesses critically this post-constitutional approach against precedent and scholarship from Common Law and Civil Law jurisdictions and asks whether, given the mixed nature of its legal system, the current South African position in regard to such bequests achieves a good fit between the Common Law and Civil Law.


This discussion paper by a group of scholars across the fields of health, economics and labour relations argues that COVID-19 is an unprecedented humanitarian crisis from which there can be no return to the 'old normal'. The pandemic's disastrous worldwide health impacts have been exacerbated by, and have compounded, the unsustainability of economic globalisation based on the neoliberal dismantling of state capabilities in favour of markets. Flow-on economic impacts have simultaneously created major supply and demand disruptions, and highlighted the growing within-country inequalities and precarity generated by neoliberal regimes of labour market regulation. Taking an Australian and international perspective, we examine these economic and labour market impacts, paying particular attention to differential impacts on First Nations people, developing countries, women, immigrants and young people. Evaluating policy responses in a political climate of national and international leadership very different from those in which major twentieth century crises were addressed, we argue the need for a national and international conversation to develop a new pathway out of crisis. JEL Codes: E18, HO, I1, J64, J88


Tyler Burge has produced groundbreaking work on the semantics of proper names and indexicals, de re belief, formal truth theories, semantic and epistemic paradoxes, the philosophy of Gottlob Frege, and other areas of the philosophy of language and of mind. But he is best known for his arguments for anti-individualism, or externalism about mental content. Burge's aim in pursuing anti-individualism is nothing less than the solution to some of the most trenchant metaphysical and epistemological problems, including the nature of objectivity and norms, the force of skeptical arguments, apriority, and the nature of the self. Central to all of these is an account of intentional content that includes a penetrating critique of the empiricist notion of a concept.This book focuses mainly on Burge's work on anti-individualism. In it, various philosophers either comment on Burge's work or relate it to their own. An unusual feature is the generosity--both in volume and content--of Burge's contribution to this philosophical conversation. The section containing his responses comprises the most sustained, detailed, and interconnected body of writing that he has published in one place.


Developing world concept of sustainable development implies multi-aspect directions of its implementation one of which is sustainable energy. International practice accumulated successful experience in this area, and understanding of the world tendencies must be a foundation for improving energy efficiency of the Russian economy. Recently one of the most topical issues is development of energy management systems in companies and their ISO 50001 Certification. Comparative analysis of certification activity of companies in different countries showed a growing interest to establishing and certification of energy management systems. Some contradictions between the structure of gross domestic product, industry structure of energy management system certification and world tendencies in improving energy efficiency have been observed. The authors analysed the level of energy efficiency in certain countries and depicted a significant potential of development in this area in Russia. In this paper the authors also explored strategic and normative prerequisites for introducing energy management systems in Russian enterprises. Objective and subjective factors having an impact on decreasing energy efficiency in Russian economic were structured and their relations were shown. Evaluating maturity level of energy management systems in Russian companies, the authors proposed key areas for improvement and the ways to make them comply with ISO 50001. The authors depicted financial, organizational and image effects resulting from introduction of energy management systems in Russian companies and suggested specific ways to obtain these effects.


Abstract: Medical doctors frequently get patients with Raynaud's phenomenon (RP), a frequent symptom in the general population, referred. The importance of distinguishing normal capillaroscopic findings from (pathognomonic) abnormal (pathological) findings (scleroderma pattern), lies in the fact that this distinction allows the differentiation between a primary RP (not connected to any connective tissue disease [CTD]) from a secondary RP due to systemic sclerosis (SSc) and diseases of the scleroderma spectrum. What is normal in primary RP? A normal capillaroscopic pattern, by qualitative assessment, is characterized by a homogeneous distribution of hairpin shaped capillaries as a "comb-like structure", with a density of >7capillaries per mm, with a normal dimension and absence of large hemorrhages Yet, there exists a wide intra- and inter- individual variety in a normal population which will be discussed in this session. What is pathognomonic abnormal in patients with RP due to SSc? Patients with the RP who have an underlying clinically recognizable (= with skin involvement) SSc show a very characteristic combination of capillary abnormalities in the nailfold, which can easily be assessed through qualitative assessment (= pattern recognition). Maricq et al. described last century, with the widefield technique (magnification X12–14) the scleroderma pattern. This pathognomonic combination contains the following: a striking widening of all three segments of the capillary loop (arterial, venous and intermediate), loss of capillaries and disorganization of the nailfold capillary bed. Many branched "bushy" capillaries may also be observed. In 2000, Cutolo et al. qualitatively assessed the nailfolds of an SSc cohort with patients fulfilling the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for SSc with the nailfold videocapillaroscopic (NVC) technique (magnification X200). According to the different proportions of the hallmark parameters of the scleroderma pattern (giants, capillary loss, hemorrhages and abnormal shapes: (neo)angiogenesis, Cutolo et al. defined three patterns "early", "active" and "late". The central role of capillaroscopy in distinction between a primary and secondary RP due to SSc is reflected by the fact that capillaroscopy is one of the new ACR/EULAR criteria for classifying a patient as having SSc. In this lecture the standard "FAST TRACK" recognition system of the EULAR Study Group on Microcirculation in Rheumatic Diseases to discern scleroderma patterns from non-scleroderma patterns will be taught to the attendees. Suggested further reading: Smith V, et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2016;55(5):883-90. Cutolo M, et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2018;57(4):757-759. Cutolo M, et al. Autoimmun Rev. 2018;17(4):344-352. Disclosure of Interests: None declared


The substrate specificity of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase-activated protein kinase-2 (MAPKAP kinase-2) was investigated by using synthetic peptides related to the N-terminus of glycogen synthase. The minimum sequence required for efficient phosphorylation was found to be Xaa-Xaa-Hyd-Xaa-Arg-Xaa-Xaa-Ser-Xaa-Xaa, where Hyd is a bulky hydrophobic residue (Phe > Leu > Val >> Ala), and the peptide Lys-Lys-Phe-Asn-Arg-Thr-Leu-Ser-Val-Ala was phosphorylated with a Km of 9.3 microM and Vmax. of 10 mumol/min per mg. MAPKAP kinase-1 (a homologue of ribosomal protein S6 kinase) also requires an arginine three residues N-terminal to the serine (position n-3), but not a hydrophobic residue at position n-5. Neither MAPKAP kinase-1 nor MAPKAP kinase-2 could tolerate a proline residue at position n + 1, indicating that their specificities do not overlap with that of MAP kinase. The specificity of calmodulin-dependent protein kinase-II resembled that of MAPKAP kinase-2, except that it could tolerate replacement of the arginine by a lysine and the phosphorylation-site serine by a threonine residue. Partial cDNAs encoding MAPKAP kinase-2 were isolated from rabbit and human skeletal muscle and human teratocarcinoma libraries, and Northern-blotting experiments revealed a single 3.3 kb mRNA transcript present at similar levels in six human tissues examined. The catalytic domain was most similar (35-40% identity) to calmodulin-dependent protein kinases II and IV, phosphorylase kinase, putative serine kinase H1 and the C-terminal domain of MAPKAP kinase-1, which form one branch of the protein kinase phylogenetic tree. The sequence N-terminal to the catalytic domain is proline-rich and contains two putative SH3-binding sites. The threonine residue phosphorylated by MAP kinase lies immediately C-terminal to the catalytic domain and is followed by a nuclear localization signal, Lys-Lys-(Xaa)10-Lys-Arg-Arg-Lys-Lys, near the C-terminus.


In this paper, we draw on network analysis and a sample of derivatives data from a trade repository to demonstrate how the systemic importance of derivatives market participants may be measured. As trade repository data become more comprehensively available to authorities, the same measures could be applied more broadly. We consider the importance of market participants both to the smooth functioning of derivatives markets and in terms of their potential contribution to financial distress. In relation to market functioning, we study some measures that take into account only immediate counterparty positions and others that consider the whole counterparty network of positions. In some cases, the network of positions beyond immediate counterparties makes a significant difference to the rank ordering of the systemic importance of institutions. This means it is important for authorities responsible for financial stability to have access to data beyond the counterparty positions of institutions in their own jurisdictions. In relation to financial distress, we highlight the importance of identifying institutions which may contribute to liquidity strains, as increasing collateralisation of counterparty exposures will diminish credit risk but could at times sharply raise demand for liquid assets to post as collateral.


We report on the detection of excess hard X-ray emission from the TeV BL Lac object Mrk 421 during the historical low-flux state of the source in 2013 January. Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array observations were conducted four times between MJD 56294 and MJD 56312 with a total exposure of 80.9 ks. The source flux in the 3–40 keV range was nearly constant, except for MJD 56307 when the average flux level increased by a factor of three. Throughout the exposure, the X-ray spectra of Mrk 421 were well represented by a steep power-law model with a photon index of Γ ≃ 3.1, although a significant excess was noted above 20 keV in the MJD 56302 data when the source was in its faintest state. Moreover, Mrk 421 was detected at more than the 4σ level in the 40–79 keV count maps for both MJD 56307 and MJD 56302 but not during the remaining two observations. The detected excess hard X-ray emission connects smoothly with the extrapolation of the high-energy γ-ray continuum of the blazar constrained by Fermi-LAT during source quiescence. These findings indicate that while the overall X-ray spectrum of Mrk 421 is dominated by the highest-energy tail of the synchrotron continuum, the variable excess hard X-ray emission above 20 keV (on the timescale of a week) is related to the inverse Compton emission component. We discuss the resulting constraints on the variability and spectral properties of the low-energy segment of the electron energy distribution in the source.


Abstract Phylogenetic relationships within the neogastropod family Nassariidae are poorly understood as are relationships between the Nassariidae and other fossil and extant buccinid taxa. The poor resolution of nassariid and buccinoidean relationships is due to: 1) the complex distribution among these gastropods of characters commonly used in classification; 2) a number of Mesozoic and Paleogene genera whose relationships to extant buccinoidean lineages are poorly constrained; and 3) a lack of previous efforts to address these problems on a rigorous, phylogenetic basis. The results of a phylogenetic analysis of nassariid genera did not decisively support the monophyly of the family. The buccinid subfamily Photinae was an extant sister group to the Nassariinae in a phylogenetic analysis of extant taxa and on many cladograms from an analysis combining fossil and extant taxa. In addition, Buccitriton (representing the Paleogene Tritiaria group) was a sister taxon to the Nassariinae in all analyses in which it was included, regardless of the identity of the extant nassariine sister group. This suggests that the photines, which likely arose from a Tritiaria ancestor, are the closest living relatives to the Nassariinae. Many Paleogene fossil "buccinoid" taxa appear to be more distantly related to the Nassariinae and possibly to the rest of the nassariids as well. Stratigraphic range data combined with the results of this study suggest that the Nassariinae diversified rapidly in the early Miocene and achieved a cosmopolitan distribution early in their history. A largely Indo-Pacific subclade was consistently deeply-nested within the Nassariinae, suggesting that nassariines invaded the Indo-Pacific region most recently. The timing of this invasion is difficult to estimate but had occurred by the end of the Miocene. Further analyses using molecular sequence data, relative stratigraphic position, or focusing in more detail on the Paleogene taxa are required to resolve the identity of the sister group to the Nassariinae with greater confidence.


There is no abundance in the quantity and quality of research realized in the area of suicide terrorism. Although suicide terrorism is as old a phenomenon as terrorism, the scope of research investigating the latter outweighs and usually encloses the former as a subtopic. The increasing trend in suicide terrorism and the high rate of casualties it inflicts on its target enemy raises significant questions such as what accounts for the rise in suicide terrorism, what kind of people and groups are involved in it, and what kind of measures should governments take to prevent its future occurrences. In order to provide answers to some of these questions a small number of studies attempt to explore what kind of motivations lie at the source which feeds suicide terrorism. The available studies investigating the motives of suicide terrorism generally limit themselves to approaching the phenomenon from a particular angle, such as one that of organizational or individual motivations. The hypothesis of this study is that there need not be an exclusive angle to explaining the motives of suicide terrorism. In order to test this hypothesis, this study has explored two movements, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Islamic Resistance Movement, which have intensely utilized suicide attacks. To this end, these two cases were investigated with the aim of understanding the existing motives among these groups as well as their activists' for carrying out suicide attacks. Indeed the findings of this survey showed that factors of both organizational and individual motivations are applicable and significant in understanding suicide terrorism. The findings of this research suggest that suicide terrorism should be studied in a framework that regards this issue as an act which is fed both by organizational and individual motives. Moreover, both organizational and individual motives also seem to interact among each other. While organizations base their logic on strategic goals, they are obliged to employ individuals and therefore individual motives, which they have learned to exploit in a very efficient manner. On the other hand, although feelings of relative deprivation, humiliation, and revenge can impel a person to sacrifice his life for the good of the whole, encouragement, training, and planning provided to him or her by the organization are essential for the mission.


Background: Opium is a new source of lead and considered as a cause of lead poisoning. As anemia and lead poisoning affect growth and behavior negatively, their timely prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are essential. The aim of thi study is evaluation of the prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency anemia, and lead poisoning in children with opioid toxicity. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 150 children admitted to the pediatric poisoning unit of Imam Reza hospital, Mashhad, Iran from May 2015-2016 were divided into two groups of methadone/tramadol and raw opium toxicity. For each child hematocrit, hemoglobin, RDW (red blood cell distribution width ), MCV (mean corpuscular volume), CRP(C-reactive protein), and blood lead level (BLL) were tested. One hundred children without opioid toxicity from a simultaneous study were considered as control group and compared with our patients regarding BLL. Results: The patients' mean age was 33.08±33.35 months. The prevalence of anemia and lead poisoning was 40% and 83.3%, respectively; neither indicating a significant difference between the M/T and opium groups (p=0.241, 0.227). On the other hand, 125(83.3%) and 63(63%) cases and controls had lead poisoning (BLL>5μg/dl), respectively, showing a significant difference (p<0.001). Lead poisoning was not significantly different between the controls and the cases under 2 years of age (p=0.085). Conclusion: A single episode of opioid toxicity does not result in anemia. However, a significant difference was observed between the cases and controls regarding lead poisoning. Although the BLL in the cases under two years of age was higher than the controls, the difference was not significant.


After three decades of research and hydrocarbon exploration in the Nordkapp Basin (Norwegian Barents Sea), the dynamics of Mesozoic salt mobilization is still poorly understood. Both progradational loading and basement-involved extension have been proposed as triggers of salt mobilization, where the latter is most accepted. This study combines two-dimensional and three-dimensional seismic reflection data, borehole data, isochore maps, and structural restorations to (1) provide a tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Nordkapp Basin, (2) indicate which triggering mechanisms fit the observed structural styles, and (3) determine the geological controls that influenced the along-strike distribution of salt structures in the basin. Our results indicate that a combination of Early–Middle Triassic thick-skinned extension and sediment loading induced the differential loading and mobilization of the underlying salt, generating a series of northwest-shifting minibasins bounded by salt walls, ridges, and stocks. Sediment loading and the distribution of salt structures were strongly conditioned by rheology variations within the salt layer and subsalt fault activity, which (1) created tectonically induced depressions that became preferential areas of infill and differential loading; (2) caused faulting and extension of the overburden, allowing the preferential growth of reactive diapirs, which later on evolved into passive diapirs; and (3) acted as effective barriers of salt expulsion, enhancing salt inflation and growth of salt above the subsalt faults. Early Triassic differential loading occurred diachronically along strike, causing early passive diapirism, salt welding, and salt depletion in the eastern and central subbasins because of the diachronous subsalt activity and the closer proximity of these basins with respect to the sediment source, the Uralides. Although most of the salt was depleted by the end of the Middle Triassic, the ongoing extension created across-fault thickness variations and sagging of some of the west-northwest–east-southeast salt walls in the central subbasin. The rest of the structures in the Nordkapp Basin continued growing until the end of the Mesozoic by minor evacuation of the remaining salt and thin-skinned gliding and subsequent shortening triggered by subsalt fault activity. Finally, salt structures were rejuvenated and eroded during Cenozoic contraction and uplift. These results have implications for the four-dimensional understanding of the Nordkapp Basin and its petroleum system, and they can be used as an analog to decipher other confined salt-bearing basins alike.


We will address several issues, old and new, in the computational complexity of comparison based problems, focusing on the long term development of techniques. Most notably, we will look at the comparison minimization problems of placing a set of n values into an arbitrary given partial order, and of completing the sort from this stage. The parallel development of the algorithmics and of graph entropy will be discussed in this context.


Recent years have seen the development of wind energy conversion systems that can exploit the superior wind resource that exists at altitudes above current wind turbine technology. One class of these systems incorporates a flying wing tethered to the ground which drives a winch at ground level. The wings often resemble sports kites, being composed of a combination of fabric and stiffening elements. Such wings are subject to load dependent deformation which makes them particularly difficult to model and control.

Here we apply the techniques of evolutionary robotics i.e. evolution of neural network controllers using genetic algorithms, to the task of controlling a steerable kite. We introduce a multibody kite simulation that is used in an evolutionary process in which the kite is subject to deformation. We demonstrate how discrete time recurrent neural networks that are evolved to maximise line tension fly the kite in repeated looping trajectories similar to those seen using other methods. We show that these controllers are robust to limited environmental variation but show poor generalisation and occasional failure even after extended evolution. We show that continuous time recurrent neural networks (CTRNNs) can be evolved that are capable of flying appropriate repeated trajectories even when the length of the flying lines are changing. We also show that CTRNNs can be evolved that stabilise kites with a wide range of physical attributes at a given position in the sky, and systematically add noise to the simulated task in order to maximise the transferability of the behaviour to a real world system. We demonstrate how the difficulty of the task must be increased during the evolutionary process to deal with this extreme variability in small increments. We describe the development of a real world testing platform on which the evolved neurocontrollers can be tested.


Background Given the prevalence of chronic nonspecific neck pain (CNSNP) internationally, attention has increasingly been paid in recent years to evaluating the efficacy of therapeutic exercise (TE) in the management of this condition. Purpose The purpose of this study was to conduct a current review of randomized controlled trials concerning the effect of TE on pain and disability among people with CNSNP, perform a meta-analysis, and summarize current understanding. Data Sources Data were obtained from MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), EMBASE, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) databases from their inception to August 2012. Reference lists of relevant literature reviews also were tracked. Study Selection All published randomized trials without any restriction regarding time of publication or language were considered for inclusion. Study participants had to be symptomatic adults with only CNSNP. Data Extraction Two reviewers independently selected the studies, conducted the quality assessment, and extracted the results. Data were pooled in a meta-analysis using a random-effects model. Data Synthesis Seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Therapeutic exercise proved to have medium and significant short-term and intermediate-term effects on pain (g=−0.53, 95% confidence interval [CI]=−0.86 to −0.20, and g=−0.45, 95% CI=−0.82 to −0.07, respectively) and medium but not significant short-term and intermediate-term effects on disability (g=−0.39, 95% CI=−0.86 to 0.07, and g=−0.46, 95% CI=−1.00 to −0.08, respectively). Limitations Only one study investigated the effect of TE on pain and disability at follow-up longer than 6 months after intervention. Conclusions Consistent with other reviews, the results support the use of TE in the management of CNSNP. In particular, a significant overall effect size was found supporting TE for its effect on pain in both the short and intermediate terms.


The tensile mechanical behavior of the cement-bone interface where there was a large process (plastic) zone at the interface was modeled using a nonlinear fracture mechanics approach. A finite element method was employed, which included a piecewise nonlinear interface, to investigate the behavior of experimental cement-bone test specimens and an idealized stem-cement-bone (SCB) structure. The interface model consisted of a linear elastic region with high stiffness until the yield strength was reached, followed by an exponential softening region, until zero stress. The yield strength and rate of exponential softening after yielding at the cement-bone interface were shown to have a marked effect on the structural stiffness of the SCB model. The results indicate that both yield strength and postyield behavior should be included to characterize the mechanics of the cement-bone interface fully.


The purpose of this article is to analyze the application of the State secret privilege in litigations concerning cases of extraordinary renditions in Italy and the United States (US). The article addresses the decision of the Italian Constitutional Court in the Abu Omar case and compares it with the case law of US federal courts in the El-Masri case. It is argued, with several caveats, that a common pattern emerges in both Italy and the US, whenever a case of extraordinary rendition is ither investigated in a criminal proceeding or claimed in a civil suit for the purpose of civil liability: if the government invokes the existence of a State secret privilege, the judiciary shows utmost deference to the determination of the executive branch, making it impossible for the individuals allegedly subjected to extraordinary renditions to obtain justice before domestic courts. The article therefore examines what role legislatures and supranational human rights institutions could play to reverse this troubling trend, by assessing the differences and the similarities existing between Italy and the US. Even though legislatures, both in parliamentary and separation of powers systems, have proved either unwilling or unable to check the invocation of the privilege by the executive branch, the article suggests that the existence of judicial fora beyond the States, where individuals can bring their human rights claims, can be a valuable mechanism to ensure that allegations of extraordinary renditions are effectively adjudicated and redressed.


Contemporary discussions of egalitarian justice have often focused on the issue of expensive taste. G.A. Cohen has recently abandoned the view that all chosen disadvantages are non-compensable, now maintaining that chosen expensive judgmental tastes—those endorsed by valuational judgment—are compensable as it is unreasonable to expect persons not to develop them. But chosen expensive brute taste—the main type of non-compensable expensive taste on the new scheme—cannot be described in such a way that there is a normative difference between it and chosen expensive judgmental taste. As there are related problems with denying compensation for the other kind of expensive taste that might remain non-compensable, Cohen's position on taste appears to be either implausible or virtually indistinguishable from that of equality of welfare. However, compensation for valuational judgment-based expensive taste might be justified on grounds of responsibility.


Data integration has been studied extensively for decades and approached from different angles. However, this domain still remains largely rule-driven and lacks universal automation. Recent developments in machine learning and in particular deep learning have opened the way to more general and efficient solutions to data-integration tasks. In this paper, we demonstrate an approach that allows modeling and integrating entities by leveraging their relations and contextual information. This is achieved by combining siamese and graph neural networks to effectively propagate information between connected entities and support high scalability. We evaluated our approach on the task of integrating data about business entities, demonstrating that it outperforms both traditional rule-based systems and other deep learning approaches.


Comparison of stratigraphic, faunal, and paleomagnetic characteristics of the Stikine terrane of British Columbia with other terranes in the Cordilleran collage reveals broad similarities with a group of terranes that formed a volcanic belt marginal to North America in Paleozoic and early Mesozoic time. Unlike Stikine, these terranes lie inboard of another belt of terranes that represents an early Mesozoic subduction complex or melange belt. Thus, in British Columbia the marginal volcanic belt is apparently doubled. In the Columbia embayment region, the marginal volcanic and melange belts are missing, and rocks of the outermost major component of the collage, the Wrangellia superterrane, are juxtaposed directly against cratonic rocks. We propose that Stikine is the missing fragment from the Columbia embayment; its northward "tectonic escape" was driven by the early stages of collision of the Wrangefia superterrane with North America in Middle to Late Jurassic time. The escaped fragment was then trapped between melange and more northerly, later arriving parts of the Wrangellia superterrane in Early to mid-Cretaceous time.


One of the essential cognitive abilities of the human brain is the ability to recognize 3D objects. However, the exact neural mechanism is still unclear. In this study, a model of the inferior temporal cortex for object recognition is proposed. The architecture of the model is based on the modular network SOM. The model has been trained to perform object recognition and classification tasks that have been reported to occur in the TE area in the brain of macaque monkeys. We show by simulation that the model is not only capable of classifying artificial 3D objects according to their structural similarity, but also capable of achieving view-invariant recognition of the objects by incorporating a mental-rotation type mechanism.


Background: Problem-based learning (PBL) was introduced into the Occupational Therapy (OT) curriculum at the University of Witwatersrand in 1993 as a hybrid course which included PBL as well as traditional teaching methods.  There is a collective opinion in the department, that PBL is the best teaching method if OT students are to become independent, critical practitioners. But how do the students really feel about PBL?  Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd and 4 th year occupational therapy students on PBL. This study formed the qualitative part of a larger study, which was mainly quantitative, descriptive and longitudinal in design. Methodology: Secondary analysis was performed on the occupational therapy departmental records collected during 2011 and 2012 for 290 students.  This study focussed on the qualitative analysis of data from two open-ended questions.  Five categories were derived from the quantitative part of the larger study and included Group Work, Facilitator, Learning Objectives, Self-directed Learning and The OT Course.  These categories were used as categories and the data were analysed according to a categorisation matrix.    Results: The qualitative analysis of the results identified that students had mixed feelings about PBL as a teaching and learning method.  In this study students felt that group work, self-directed learning and fieldwork contributed to their learning while objectives, feedback and workload were aspects of PBL students felt needed to be changed as these aspects impeded their learning. Key words: Group work, Facilitator, Self-directed leaning, Adult learning, Learning styles, Learning objectives


The common view of plant domestication is that it is a utilitarian phenomenon accomplished long ago. However, this view is false. The overwhelming majority of domesticated species are grown only for their aesthetic qualities and entered cultivation after 1500. The author suggests that the diversity of ornamental plants is due to the diversity of our aesthetic interests and that the biophilia hypothesis may help explain the proliferation of ornamentals in recent centuries.


This paper analyzes price, production and trade consequences of changing consumer preferences regarding the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food production. The analytical framework used is an empirical global general equilibrium model, in which the entire food processing chain - from primary crops through livestock feed to processed foods - is segregated into genetically modified (GM) and non-GM lines of production. This model is used to analyze the implications of widespread use of genetically engineered crops in some regions whilst consumers in Western Europe and High- income Asia adopt a critical attitude toward GM foods. Two different representations of consumer preference changes are illustrated: (1) a change in price sensitivity: i.e. consumer demand is less sensitive to a decline in the price of GM foods relative to non-GM varieties, and (2) a structural demand shift: for a given price ratio consumers simply demand less of the GM variety relative to the non-GM variety. This analysis finds that developing countries adjust their trade patterns in response to preference changes in important trading partner countries. Non-GM varieties are diverted to GM-critical regions while GM varieties are sold to countries in which consumers are not sensitive to GM content. Furthermore, the development of segregated GM and non-GM food creates a potential niche market for producers if the non-GM characteristic can in fact be preserved and verified throughout the marketing system at reasonable costs.


Many complex real-world problems which are difficult to understand can be solved by discrete or continuous simulation techniques, such as Discrete-Event-Simulation, Agent-Based-Simulation or System Dynamics. In recently published literature, various multilevel and large-scale hybrid simulation examples have been presented that combine different approaches in common environments. Many studies using this technique in interdisciplinary projects have the problem of a different model understanding. In this case, paradigm hiding can help in domain-oriented communication with non-technical experts avoiding unnecessary paradigm discussions. Another problem is that already solved problems are often not reusable in future scenarios and have to be modeled and validated in similar studies from the scratch. This paper presents selected concepts that can help to build domain specific frameworks with reusable components in AnyLogic 7 and depicts two examples; HealthDS for prospective healthcare decision support and i7-AnyEnergy that can be used for building innovative energy scenarios.


Abstract This paper attempts to explain the tectonic history and possible reasons for the change of trend of the northwestern part of the Internal Dinarides in a transitional area between the Southeastern Alps, central Dinarides and Tisia, north of Zagreb. Structural and palaeomagnetic data collected in pre-Neogene rocks at Medvednica Mountains, combined with palaeomagnetic data available from Neogene rocks in the surrounding area, point to the following conclusions: (1) The reason for dramatic deflection in structural trend of the Internal Dinarides in the area north of Zagreb is a 130° clockwise rotation and eastward escape of a tectonic block comprising Medvednica Mountains and the surrounding inselbergs, bounded to the north by the easternmost tip of the Periadratic Lineament. In Medvednica Mountains, the main period of tectonic escape and associated clockwise rotation occurred in the Late Palaeogene, possibly in the Oligocene–earliest Miocene. (2) When rotated into the original position, the trend of observed pre-Neogene structures of Medvednica Mountains becomes parallel to the major structural trend of the central Dinarides. In view of their original orientation, these structures are interpreted in the following way: (a) The first D1 deformational event is attributed to the Aptian–Albian nappe stacking in the central–northern Dinarides that was accommodated by a top-to-the-north directed shearing and northward propagation of already obducted ophiolites of the Central Dinaridic ophiolite zone. This nappe stacking, which resulted in a weak regional metamorphism in tectonic units underlying the ophiolites, was orogen-parallel or at a very acute angle to known structural (and possibly palaeogeographic) trends. This implies a major left-lateral shear component along the former Adriatic margin and obducted Dinaridic ophiolite zone. (b) This was followed by Early Albian orogen-perpendicular shortening (D2) that was accommodated by folding and top-to-the-west thrusting. This deformation resulted in gradual cooling of the metamorphic stack and also in uplift and erosion of the higher structural units. (c) The D3 deformational event was driven by renewed E–W shortening that took place after the Paleocene, most probably during the Middle Eocene–Oligocene, i.e. synchronous with the main Dinaridic tectonic phase of the External Dinarides. This shortening was probably triggered by collision and thrusting of Tisia over the northern segment of the Internal Dinarides. (d) This was finally followed by D4 pervasive, right-lateral N–S shearing that is tentatively interpreted as being related to the right-lateral shearing of the Sava zone during the Eocene–Oligocene. (e) Following the main period of tectonic escape and induced clockwise rotation along the Periadriatic fault, possibly in the Oligocene–earliest Miocene, the Medvednica Mountains and the surrounding area were affected by repeated extensions and inversions since the Early Miocene to recent times. Palaeomagnetic data suggest that in the Early Miocene (but probably before the Karpatian) this area was part of a regional block that shifted northwards and rotated in a counter-clockwise sense. A second episode of counter-clockwise rotation occurred at the present latitude in post-Pontian times (since c. 5 Ma), driven by the counter-clockwise rotating Adriatic Plate.


For decades, hundreds of photographs chronicling some of the greatest moments in West Virginia University football history have been hidden away beneath piles of dusty media guides, tattered game programs, and yellowed newspaper clippings. Within the annals of the WVU athletic department, these archival treasures have been overlooked and forgotten over the years. That is until now. With nearly twenty-five years of experience in intercollegiate athletics at West Virginia University, John Antonik brings these long-lost photographs to life with a narrative that highlights the key players, coaches, and the greatest moments in Mountaineer football history. Saturday Snapshots spotlights the dirt and grime, the sweat and tears, and the pageantry and tradition behind a team that has captivated the Mountain State from its inception. With stunning pictures, exclusive stories, and fascinating facts and statistics, it is the ultimate resource for the faithful West Virginia University football fan. By spanning WVU football's entire history-from that first game in snowy Morgantown on Saturday, November 28, 1891, to West Virginia's appearance in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 29, 2014-these snapshots will keep you turning the pages until the clock runs out.


Background Oxaliplatin-related neurotoxicity is the main limitation for its continuation in adjuvant and palliative chemotherapy. Purpose To evaluate oxaliplatin-related neurotoxicity in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents or radiation in the Department of Medical Oncology in our hospital. Materials and methods Retrospective observational study of patients treated with oxaliplatin from January 2011–January 2013. Variables: demographics, cancer type, oxaliplatin-related neurotoxicity and its grade, chemotherapy regimens, dose, oxaliplatin dose reduction or discontinuation, initial and final ECOG and specific treatment. Results Of the 243 patients studied 65.02% were male with an average age of 66.21 years (SD: 9.46). The 3 most commonly diagnosed types of cancer were: colon adenocarcinoma (45.27%), rectal adenocarcinoma (24.69%) and gastric adenocarcinoma (13.99%). Oxaliplatin caused neurotoxicity in 67.49% (164/243) of patients, being 16.05% (39/243) and 31.68% (77/243) grade 3 and 4, respectively. In the group of patients older than 70 years, 39.22% (40/102) presented neurotoxicity grade 4 (p = 0.01). 31.7% discontinued oxaliplatin treatment and 60.90% reduced the dose due to neurotoxicity. Of the 164 patients with neurotoxicity, performance status worsened by at least one point in 72.52%, using the ECOG scale. The percentage with a worse ECOG status increased to 76.8% and 87.01% in patients with neurotoxicity grade 3 and 4, respectively (p < 0.001). Only 10.28% (25/243) received Ca/Mg infusions to prevent the neurotoxicity, which was effective in 92% of them. Another preventive measure was to reduce the oxaliplatin infusion rate, applied in 5.34%, which was effective in all the cases. In no case was specific drug treatment prescribed to prevent or treat neurotoxicity. Conclusions Oxaliplatin-related neurotoxicity may worsen the performance status and cause reduction or discontinuation of chemotherapy. This could be a limitation of its use. In the absence of additional studies, Ca/Mg infusions could decrease the incidence of oxaliplatin-related neurotoxicity. Abstract PS-067 Table 1 Chemotherapy regimens and neurotoxicity grade (p < 0.001) Chemotherapy regimen Neurotoxicity grades 0 1 2 3 4 EOX (n = 34) 58.82% (20/34) 23.53% (8/34) 11.76% (4/34) 0% (0/34) 5.88% (2/34) FOLFOX (n = 42) 23.80% (10/42) 0% (0/42) 11.90% (5/42) 11.90% (5/42) 52.38% (22/42) XELOX (n = 136) 30.88% (42/136) 1.47% (2/136) 12.50% (17/136) 17.65% (24/136) 37.50% (51/136) No conflict of interest.


The stoniness index of forest soil describes the stone content in the upper soil layer at depths of 20–30 centimeters. This index is not available in any existing map databases, and traditional measurements for the stoniness of the soil have always necessitated laborious soil-penetration methods. Knowledge of the stone content of a forest site could be of use in a variety of forestry operations. This paper presents a novel approach to obtaining automatic measurements of soil stoniness during an excavator-based mounding operation. The excavator was equipped with only a low-cost inertial measurement unit and a satellite navigation receiver. Using the data from these sensors and manually conducted soil stoniness measurements, supervised machine learning methods were utilized to build a model that is capable of predicting the stoniness class of a given mounding location. This study compares different classifiers and feature selection methods to find the most promising solution for this learning problem. The discussion includes a proposition for a meaningful measurement resolution of the soil's stoniness, and a practical method for evaluating the variability of the stone content of the soil. The results indicate that it is possible to predict the soil stoniness class with 70% accuracy using only the inertial and location measurements.


Abstract : This paper examines whether changes in Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition policies and processes and the boom-bust funding cycle had a discernible effect on the rate of cancellations of major defense acquisition programs (MDAPs). Two different frames for viewing cancellations are explored: (1) the cancellation rates for the cohort of MDAPs that entered System Design and Development during successive periods; and (2) the average number of cancellations over a span of years. The evidence is found to support two main conclusions. First, most changes in acquisition regimes have not been significantly associated with changes in either cohort cancellation rates or annual cancellation rates. This suggests that further adjustments of acquisition policies and processes, of the same general sort as those made in the past, will not have a significant influence on cancellations. Second, funding climate is strongly associated with annual cancellation rates, although it has little or no association with cohort cancellation rates. These conclusions primarily are useful because they direct attention to changes in funding levels and the resource allocation process, whose centrality has not been recognized in discussions of acquisition reform.


In 2009, the Government of India asked all Indian states and Union Territories to prepare State Action Plans on Climate Change, making it one of the largest efforts at sub-national climate planning globally. Through an examination of state climate plans in five Indian states, the paper explores the implications of sub-national climate measures by examining two questions: First, how do state action plans on climate change link with India's national and international climate efforts in the context of multi-level governance of climate change? Second, do these plans serve as laboratories of experimentation in addressing climate change? Through an empirically driven inductive analysis, the paper argues that because state climate plans, at least in the initial stages, followed a centrally driven, and sometimes ambiguous agenda, their scope and room to experiment was circumscribed. While they did initiate a process and a conversation, the scope and impact of the plans was limited because they tended to follow conventional bureaucratic planning processes and were limited by a central mandate. The plan process did create some space for local innovation, particularly by enterprising bureaucrats, but this was limited by both restricted space and time for innovation. As a result, the plans made only initial steps toward bringing climate-resilient sustainability to the forefront of state development planning. There is however scope for improvement as states and stakeholders begin examining the plans with a view to implement recommendations, finance projects and even consider fresh iterations.


ABSTRACT: Infertility is a life crisis that affects all aspects of a couple's life. When they enter an in-vitro fertilization program the trauma and emotional stress becomes intensified. The first section of this paper will review the psychological components of infertility. The second section shall focus on the psychological issues which apply specifically to in-vitro patients. In the last section, suggestions for primary care physicians who are directly involved in IVF programs will be made. INFERTILITY: A LIFE CRISIS A life crisis is a stressful event or situation that poses a problem that is insolvable in the immediate future. The problem over-taxes an individual's inner reserves because its resolution goes beyond traditional ways of solving problems. Infertility is a life crisis, not merely a transitory state of stress and anxiety. One's body has betrayed one, and throughout the diagnosis and treatment profound feelings of despair, hopelessness and self-hatred are experienced. One woman described it this way (Menning, 1977, p. 122): It is more than I can bear to think of myself as barren. It's like having leprosy. I feel . . . "unclean" and defective . . . empty, less than dead. Men often feel robbed of their masculinity and sexual identity. One husband described his feelings in these words (Menning, 1977, p. 120): I feel emasculated, I can make love to my wife 10 times a week, but she and I both know I'm only shooting blanks. I'm sterile and that makes me feel impotent. In addition to feelings of being damaged, infertility is viewed as a threat to one of life's most important goals, parenthood. Infertility profoundly affects a couple's relationship in the bedroom. Temperature charts, recording moments of intimacy for the doctor's scrutiny affects a couple's sexual spontaneity and pleasure. Even outside the bedroom a couple's ability to communicate is often severely impaired. Infertility affects them differently. Men are usually more optimistic about the outcome and cope with their pain by keeping it to themselves and focusing on practical, daily activities. Women, on the other hand, frequently cope with their anguish by constantly talking about it to their husbands. The men feel powerless to take away the pain and stop listening. The stress escalates and they retreat further from each other. Now in addition to their despondency over their inability to conceive they have lost their friendship and compassion for each other. Infertility affects a couple's peer relationships. In the initial stages, baby showers and birth announcements become painful reminders of their failures. Whether or not to go visit a friend who has just had a baby becomes a major trauma for an infertile couple. They must constantly juggle the loss of their social relationships vis a vis their anguish and jealousy. As the infertility progresses into years couples find themselves increasingly isolated from their friends who are busy with Little League games and Brownies. Infertility raises concerns about how their own families perceive them. One couple felt that their parents were angry because they robbed them of the privilege of becoming grandparents. They even felt their neighborhood was angry at them because their home was childless and didn't provide kids for the other children on the block to play with. Years of infertility places a couple's life on hold. Job security and advancements are affected by infertility treatments. Promotions are turned down because it might mean moving to another city and leaving their specialist. Women, in particular, experience stressful relations with their employers as they leave repeatedly for medical appointments. Financial burdens escalate as the costs for repeated appointments, inseminations, surgeries and medications soar. Future plans for trips and remodeling are put aside as couples save for further infertility work. …


While computer networks have been of low capacity or poor reliability, their use for real-time communications for human interaction was considered infeasible on any large scale, since audio and video data consumed vast amounts of memory and processing capacity. However, recent and forthcoming enhancements to network quality, along with advanced compression algorithms, falling costs of memory and fast processors, have allowed such applications to develop, as well as protocols to support them. On top of this, global interconnectivity of local networks has improved, giving scope to expand human communications applications to wide areas, and with many participants. Such group communication applications have various networking Quality of Service (QoS) demands, such as lower bandwidth but high reliability. The mahor challenge in multimedia group communications is therefore about developing network services to support group communications with varying QoS, in order to allow groups of people, potentially very widely distributed around the world, to interact through computers of varying abilities, using combinations of media such as video, audio, and shared editing of documents. The Media Channel (MC) model is an attempt to unify the control and management of applications of different media types. It provides common group management facilities for all types of application, and allows participation in an application to be expressed simply as contribution (using a source) and/or observation (using a sink). This further allows a multimedia group application to be built up from several 'unimedia' group applications (the 'channels') through the use of a user agent which manages and simplifies a user's participation in several applications. Participation in multimedia group applications (or 'sessions') can then be configured automatically for several users by describing the channels of the session to each involved user agent. The description itself can be supplied through a channel, with the agents acting as sinks. The user can control participation in all the channels of the session by (de)activating the agent's session sink, and while joined, session administrators can inform all session participants of new channels to which they are invited. The MC model's main shortfall is its use of a central manager — an architecture which does not scale well to many participants, and which may lead to uneven management for widely distributed participants, particularly as group populations migrate. This thesis considers the issues of multimedia group communication, and attempts to realise the MC model. Some earlier definitions of the MC model are refined in the present thesis, and alternative architectures are designed, implemented and evaluated. These new architectures allow the management components of a media channel to be placed near to the participants, and then to migrate as participants leave the components' areas, and as new ones join in others. At the same time, management information to evaluate policies is compressed and distributed among components. The model is also extended to allow sources to describe their data arbitrarily, enabling sinks to accept or reject them individually depending on availability of local resources.


Common compass sensors used in outdoor environments are highly disturbed by unpredictable magnetic fields. This paper proposes to get inspiration from the insect navigational strategies to design a celestial compass based on the linear polarization of ultraviolet (UV) skylight. This bio- inspired compass uses only two pixels to determine the solar meridian direction angle. It consists of two UV-light photo-sensors topped with linear polarizers arranged orthogonally to each other as it was observed in insects' Dorsal Rim Area. The compass is embedded on our ant-inspired hexapod walking robot called Hexabot. The performances of the celestial compass under various weather and UV conditions have been investigated. Once embedded onto the robot, the sensor was first used to compensate for yaw random disturbances. We then used the compass to maintain Hexabot's heading direction constant in a straight-forward walking task over a flat terrain while being perturbated in yaw by its walking behaviour. Experiments under various meteorological conditions provided steady state heading direction errors from 0.3° (clear sky) to 1.9° (overcast sky). These results suggest interesting precision and reliability to make this new optical compass suitable for autonomous field robotics navigation tasks.


Despite successive codes of best practice of France, Germany and the UK highlighting the importance of the independence of non-executive directors, the codes tend to ignore the links that directors of family firms might have with the controlling shareholders. This is of particular concern for firms with concentrated family control as the risk of minority shareholder expropriation is greater for such firms. This paper proposes a new measure of board independence for family firms. Using a sample of listed French, German and UK family firms with an incumbent family CEO due for re-appointment or replacement over 2001-2010, we show that our measure of board independence is significantly lower than reported board independence. In contrast to reported board independence, our measure is a good predictor of the type of new CEO succeeding the incumbent CEO. Our results suggest that conventionally defined, or reported, board independence is biased and fails to provide investors, including minority shareholders, with an accurate measure of board independence. This conclusion has important policy implications for regulators and best practice in corporate governance.


Abstract Brucellosis and Q fever, two zoonoses, are important causes of abortion in ruminants, as well as economically significant diseases caused by a gram-negative bacterium. Determination of these diseases is therefore of great importance. In this study, the organs of 35 naturally infected and aborted ovine fetuses were examined for the presence of changes resulting from infections by Brucella melitensis and Coxiella burnetii, according to macroscopic, bacteriological, histopathological and immunohistochemical methods. B. melitensis was observed in 21 cases, and C. burnetii was observed in 8 cases of the aborted ovine fetuses, and these were determined with immunohistochemical methods. Brucellosis was observed in 18 of the aborted ovine fetuses, and this was determined by microbiological methods. Negative (-) results were found for all of the other fetuses. The Brucella antigen was determined to be localized as intracytoplasmic in mainly alveolar macrophages, bronchi, bronchioles, glandular epithelial cells around bronchial glands, neutrophils, hepatocytes and Kupffer cells. The Coxiella antigen was found to be localized in the alveolar macrophages in the lungs, bronchi, bronchioles and alveolus, and in the cytoplasms of bronchial gland epithelial cells, and in the cytoplasms of hepatocytes and Kupffer cells in the liver. Immunohistochemical and microbiological diagnoses of brucellosis and coxiellosis were compared; it was concluded that immunohistochemical methods were more safely applied than microbiological methods.


How economic necessity advanced the civil rights agenda; Renewing Birmingham is the first book-length study of how federal funding helped transform a twentieth-century southern city. Christopher MacGregor Scribner shows that such funding not only aided Birmingham's transition from an industrial to a service economy but also led to redrawn avenues of power, influence, and justice in the city. By the 1960s Alabama's largest city faced wrenching changes brought on by economic decline, suburbanization, and racial tension. Decades in the making, these problems pitted oldguard politicians, manufacturing elites, and working-class whites against an alternative vision, kindled by federal dollars, of Birmingham's future. Scribner uses the Birmingham experience to trace the evolution of federal grants from extensions of Depression-erafiscal policy to instruments of social change. As he discusses federal backing of projects ranging from low-income housing to the University of Alabama Medical College, Scribner also shows how control of the grant purse, which once belonged exclusively to politicians, came to be shared with bureaucrats and activists, local and federal participants, and blacks and whites. Most important in Birmingham's case, debates over spending drew in entrepreneurs in fields as diverse as biomedicine and education, real estate and construction. This complicated bargaining and coalition-building sparked a "quiet revolution" that had begun hollowing out the core of Birmingham's old order even as the 1963 bus boycott cemented the city's segregationist reputation. Scribner stresses that the social benefits of Birmingham's economic rebirth reflected not so much a change of heart for the city as an admission that segregation was simply bad for business. As a new Birmingham ascended - and became less distinguishable from other American cities - aspects of its racist, elitist past persisted. In learning the particulars of Birmingham we come closer to understanding how the South can be at odds with the rest of the country even as it participates in national trends.


Most recent available evidence points to the scarce efficacy of grade retention for levelling the performance of students. Yet, the fact that many countries persist in applying this measure reflects longstanding traditions, cultural factors and social beliefs as well, it would seem, the lack of robust empirical evidence to do otherwise. We contribute to the literature by analysing the impact of grade retention on the reading competencies of lower secondary school students in Spain, a country where almost one out of every three students will repeat at least one grade by age 16. We overcome the absence of longitudinal data by creating a pseudo-panel that combines microdata from two international assessments, PIRLS and PISA. Having controlled for reverse causality, our study confirms the negative and heterogeneous impact of grade retention. This paper provides new evidence of the pressing need to rethink this educational policy, and our results highlight the importance of early intervention as opposed to only employing remedial measures.


The car is the most popular travel mode in the UK, but reliance on the car has numerous negative effects on health, the economy, and the environment. Encouraging sustainable travel mode choices (modal choice) can minimise these problems. To promote behaviour change, psychologists have an interest in understanding modal choice. Historically, modal choice has been understood as a reasoned and rational decision that requires a conscious assessment of thoughts and attitudes: but evidence suggests this approach has limitations when promoting behaviour change. Alternatively, processes that are automatically enacted, without conscious effort, can have an influence on thought and behaviour. Two automatic processes in particular have been proposed as useful factors when considering modal choice: habit and affect. Habits are behaviours that are learned over time in stable contexts, have become automatic, and moderate the link between intentions and behaviour. Affect is an automatically positive or negative sensation, which can influence consciously accessed attitudes and perceptions. This thesis explores these two automatic concepts in travel mode choice, with the aim of applying the concepts to promote sustainable travel. Using a mixed-methods approach, initial exploratory work used qualitative and quantitative methods to define how people construct affective responses to modal choice, and whether certain travel modes are more automatic than others. The exploratory work inspired three investigations: modelling the influence of automatic and reasoned decisions to use a travel mode, measuring automatic and implicit environmental preferences, and illustrating how changing the context of routines can increase use of available information. Exploratory and investigative results are then applied in the creation of the UK's first Walking Network, a series of walking routes designed to deliver targeted information and knowledge to promote walking. This thesis concludes that automatic influences are beneficial factors when considering modal change interventions.


Ultra-violet photons and non-equilibrium plasmas have been used as modification methods to treat polymer surfaces. The photoreactivity of polystyrene with oxygen and nitrous oxide was found to be linked to the photochemistry occurring at the polymer/gas interface. In situ mass spectrometry studies of the photolysis and photo- oxidation of polystyrene enabled possible mechanisms of these reactions to be determined, and perhaps proved for the first time the presence of intermediate phenyl radicals. Photo-oxidised and plasma oxidised polystyrene surfaces were compared using valence band and core level XPS, and provided another insight into polystyrene surface oxidation processes. The more reactive experimental conditions during plasma treatment were found to produce a less oxidised surface than during photo-oxidation. These observations were attributed to the sputtering characteristics of a plasma environment. Polyethylene and polystyrene were oxidised by plasma treatment and the aging of the resulting surfaces in air was studied by core level XPS, which showed a gradual loss of surface oxidation after treatment. Valence band XPS of the aged polyethylene surface revealed a uniquely selective surface structure. Oxidised polyethylene rearranged upon aging to give a polypropylene-type structure. The relative importance of substrate/gaseous molecule photo- reactivity was again highlighted by comparing chromophoric (polystyrene)/nonchromophoric (polyethylene) polymers with chromophoric (hexamethyldisilane)/nonchromophoric (tetramethylsilane) species. Greatest reaction occured when both chromophoric alternatives were used. Dehydrochlorination of polyvinylchloride was found to depend upon the surrounding atmosphere, vacuum conditions giving the greatest degree of modification. This reaction was monitored by in situ mass spectrometry, and indicated that the rate of dehydrochlorination depended upon the initiation mechanism of dehydrochlorination.


Summary Idarucizumab, a Fab fragment directed against dabigatran, produced rapid and complete reversal of the anticoagulation effect of dabigatran in animals and in healthy volunteers. The Study of the REVERS al E ffects of Idarucizumab in Patients on A ctive D abigatran (RE-VERSE AD™) is a global phase 3 prospective cohort study aimed at investigating idarucizumab in dabigatran-treated patients who present with uncontrollable or life-threatening bleeding, and in those requiring urgent surgery or intervention. We describe the rationale for, and design of the trial (clinicaltrials.gov NCT02104947).


Objective: A number of therapeutic agents possessing potent in vitro action against trophozoites of E. histolytica have been used to combat this disease but so far, these have been found to be too toxic or providing only symptomatic relief. Therefore it was planned to search the molecules from natural sources. Material andmethods: Fruits of the Xylocarpus granatummangrove were selected for the study and were collected from South Andaman Coast. Ethanol extract as well as four fractions (hexane, chloroform, n-butanol soluble and n-butanol insoluble fractions) were prepared and active principle gedunin was isolated from the active fraction. Results and discussion: The ethanol extract showed MIC 125 ig /ml in our in-vitro studies, and in vivo showed 80% inhibition of trophozoites at the dose of 900 mg/kg body weight against Entamoeba histolytica. Only chloroformsoluble fraction showed 80%inhibition of trophozoites at 900 mg/kg dose. The active principle from active fraction showed 100%inhibition at 300mg/kg dose. Conclusion: Structuralmodification of the Gedunin is required for further enhace the antiamoebic activity.


Process integrated mechanisms (PIM) offer a new approach to the problem of coordinating the activity of physically distributed systems or devices. Current approaches to coordination all have well-recognized strengths and weaknesses. We propose a novel architecture to add to the mix, called the Process Integrated Mechanism (PIM), which enjoys the advantages of having a single controlling authority while avoiding the structural difficulties that have traditionally led to its rejection in many complex settings. In many situations, PIMs improve on previous models with regard to coordination, security, ease of software development, robustness and communication overhead. In the PIM architecture, the components are conceived as parts of a single mechanism, even when they are physically separated and operate asynchronously. The PIM models offers promise as an effective infrastructure for handling tasks that require a high degree of time-sensitive coordination between the components, as well as a clean mechanism for coordinating the high-level goals of loosely coupled systems. PIM models enable coordination without the fragility and high communication overhead of centralized control, but also without the uncertainty associated with the system-level behavior of a MAS.The PIM model provides an ease of programming with advantages over both multi-agent sys-tems and centralized architectures. It has the robustness of a multi-agent system without the significant complexity and overhead required for inter-agent communication and negotiation. In contrast to centralized approaches, it does not require managing the large amounts of data that the coordinating process needs to compute a global view. In a PIM, the process moves to the data and may perform computations on the components where the data is locally available, sharing only the information needed for coordination of the other components. While there are many remaining research issues to be addressed, we believe that PIMs offer an important and novel tech-nique for the control of distributed systems.


Abstract The regularity of solutions to optimal transportation problems has become a hot topic in current research. It is well known by now that the optimal measure may not be concentrated on the graph of a continuous mapping unless both the transportation cost and the masses transported satisfy very restrictive hypotheses (including sign conditions on the mixed fourth-order derivatives of the cost function). The purpose of this note is to show that in spite of this, the optimal measure is supported on a Lipschitz manifold, provided only that the cost is ${{C}^{2}}$ with non-singular mixed second derivative. We use this result to provide a simple proof that solutions to Monge's optimal transportation problem satisfy a change of variables equation almost everywhere.


Both a tribute to the unique experiences of individual Native Americans and a celebration of the values that draw American Indians together, All Indians Do Not Live in Teepees (or Casinos) explores contemporary Native life. Based on personal experience and grounded in journalism, this story begins with the repatriation of ancestral remains to the Pueblo peoples of New Mexico. The 1999 return to Pecos of the skeletal remains of two thousand bodies excavated during an archaeological expedition nearly a century earlier was the largest repatriation in American history. In a united, purposeful, and energizing quest, the Pecos and Jemez Indians brought their ancestors home. This event, along with subsequent repatriations, has accelerated similar momentum across much of Native America. In All Indians Do Not Live in Teepees (or Casinos), Catherine C. Robbins traces this restorative effect in areas such as economic development, urbanization, the arts, science, and health care. Through dozens of interviews, Robbins draws out the voices of Indian people, some well-known and many at the grassroots level, working quietly to advance their communities. These voices speak against the background of the narrative's historical context. The result is a rich account of Native American life in contemporary America, revealing not a monolithic "Indian" experience of teepees or casinos, but rather a mosaic of diverse peoples existing on a continuum that marks both their distinctions and their shared realities.


Metastasis to the gallbladder from other malignancies is extremely rare and is related with a very poor prognosis. Malignant melanoma has been reported to be the most common origin of gallbladder metastasis. Although only eight cases of gallbladder metastasis originating from gastric cancer have been documented in the literature based on small series, of these cases, only one case with signet ring cell carcinoma histology has been reported previously. We report the case of a 58-year-old male with early-stage signet ring cell carcinoma of the stomach who presented with acute cholecystitis previously treated with curative gastrectomy. After laparoscopic cholecystectomy, the diagnosis of gallbladder metastasis with signet ring cell histology secondary to gastric cancer was made. To our knowledge, this is only the second case of signet ring cell carcinoma of the stomach metastasized to the gallbladder as a first site of recurrence. We suggest that for patients with gastric cancer who complain of the findings of acute cholecystitis or cholecystolithiasis, gallbladder metastasis from gastric cancer should be considered in the differential diagnosis.


SELECTED AS A 2008 BEST BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST. . The Net Generation Has Arrived. . Are you ready for it?. . Chances are you know a person between the ages of 11 and 30. You've seen them doing five things at once: texting friends, downloading music, uploading videos, watching a movie on a two-inch screen, and doing who-knows-what on Facebook or MySpace. They're the first generation to have literally grown up digital--and they're part of a global cultural phenomenon that's here to stay.. . The bottom line is this: If you understand the Net Generation, you will understand the future. . . If you're a Baby Boomer or Gen-Xer: This is your field guide.. . A fascinating inside look at the Net Generation, Grown Up Digital is inspired by a $4 million private research study. New York Times bestselling author Don Tapscott has surveyed more than 11,000 young people. Instead of a bunch of spoiled screenagers with short attention spans and zero social skills, he discovered a remarkably bright community which has developed revolutionary new ways of thinking, interacting, working, and socializing.. . Grown Up Digital reveals:. . How the brain of the Net Generation processes information . Seven ways to attract and engage young talent in the workforce. Seven guidelines for educators to tap the Net Gen potential. Parenting 2.0: There's no place like the new home . Citizen Net: How young people and the Internet are transforming democracy. . Today's young people are using technology in ways you could never imagine. Instead of passively watching television, the Net Geners are actively participating in the distribution of entertainment and information. For the first time in history, youth are the authorities on something really important. And they're changing every aspect of our society-from the workplace to the marketplace, from the classroom to the living room, from the voting booth to the Oval Office.. . The Digital Age is here. The Net Generation has arrived. Meet the future..