Introduction Medical knowledge regarding preservation of fertility and pregnancy in patients with breast cancer (BC) is of interest. We, therefore, decided to conduct a survey on this issue among professionals involved in the treatment of BC in Argentina. Materials and methods A survey was conducted and sent by email to 3,412 contacts in the Argentine Mastology Society (Sociedad Argentina de Mastología, or SAM) database, with responses from 396 physicians. The survey design was based on the Lambertini 2017 survey. To the author's knowledge, it is the first Argentine survey to address this issue. Results The frequency with which the impact of cancer treatment on the fertility of young patients was addressed by the respondent and referred to a fertility specialist was 'always' and 'almost always' in 86.8% and 78.5% of cases, respectively. Conclusions The level of knowledge is comparable to the data presented by other surveys. Membership in a Mastology Unit was associated with more current treatment. Continued work on the training of professionals is necessary to facilitate communication, information and guidance of patients of childbearing age who are going to have cancer treatment in order to advise them on fertility preservation, as well as the possibility of pregnancy after diagnosis of BC, and to be able to provide better care to those with BC associated with pregnancy.


Despite a large amount of effort in dealing with heavy-tailed error in machine learning, little is known when moments of the error can become non-existential: the random noise $\eta$ satisfies Pr$\left[|\eta|>|y|\right] \le 1/|y|^{\alpha}$ for some $\alpha>0$. We make the first attempt to actively handle such super heavy-tailed noise in bandit learning problems: We propose a novel robust statistical estimator, mean of medians, which estimates a random variable by computing the empirical mean of a sequence of empirical medians. We then present a generic reductionist algorithmic framework for solving bandit learning problems (including multi-armed and linear bandit problem): the mean of medians estimator can be applied to nearly any bandit learning algorithm as a black-box filtering for its reward signals and obtain similar regret bound as if the reward is sub-Gaussian. We show that the regret bound is near-optimal even with very heavy-tailed noise. We also empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, which further corroborates our theoretical results.


"The Blair Years" is the most compelling and revealing account of contemporary politics you will ever read. Taken from Alastair Campbell's daily diaries, it charts the rise of New Labour and the tumultuous years of Tony Blair's leadership, providing the first important record of a remarkable decade in our national life. Here are the defining events of our time, from Labour's new dawn to the war on terror, from the death of Diana to negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland, from Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, through to the Hutton Inquiry of 2003, the year Campbell resigned his position at No 10. But above all here is Tony Blair up close and personal, taking the decisions that affected the lives of millions, under relentless and often hostile pressure. Often described as the second most powerful figure in Britain, Alastair Campbell is no stranger to controversy.Feared and admired in equal measure, hated by some, he was pivotal to the founding of New Labour and the sensational election victory of 1997. As Blair's press secretary, strategist and trusted confidant, Campbell spent more waking hours alongside the Prime Minister than anyone. His diaires - at times brutally frank, often funny, always compelling - take the reader right to the heart of government. "The Blair Years" is a story of politics in the raw, of progress and setback, of reputations made and destroyed, under the relentless scrutiny of a 24-hour media. Unflinchingly told, it covers the crises and scandals, the rows and resignations, the ups and downs of Britain's hothouse politics. But amid the big events are insights and observations that make this a remarkably human portrayal of some of the most powerful people in the world. There has never been so riveting a book about life at the very top, nor a more human book about politics, told by a man who saw it all.


This paper describes the standard version of the MRC Social Performance Schedule, which covers 21 behaviour areas such as hygiene, initiating conversations, etc. and was designed to be used with long-stay populations, within a hospital or the community. Data on the schedule's consistency over raters, informants, time, and situation showed that the reliability was reasonable over all four areas. The schedule is recommended as a standard instrument to describe the behavioural difficulties of patients likely to be dependent on psychiatric services for some time. Recent data are provided on the levels of problem behaviours found within both long-stay hospitals and community settings, together with references for more detailed behaviour profiles of such groups.


Nevanlinna Theory is a powerful quantitative tool used to study the growth and behaviour of meromorphic functions on the complex plane. It plays an important role in value distribution theory, including generalising Picard's theorem that an entire function which omits two finite values is constant. The Nevanlinna Characteristic T(r,f) is a measure of a function's growth, and its associated counting function estimates how often certain values are taken. Using these tools, as well as other forms of modern complex analysis, we investigate several problems relating to differential polynomials in meromorphic functions. We also present a result relating to integer-valued meromorphic functions.


A perplexing, contemporary issue in libel law is whether online service providers (OSPs) should be held responsible for defamatory content published by Internet users using their services. The English courts have previously wrestled with this issue in the context of weblogs (Tamiz v. Google [2013] EWCA Civ 68; [2013] 1 W.L.R. 2151; Davison v. Habeeb [2011] EWHC 3031 (QB); [2012] 3 C.M.L.R. 6), newsgroups (Godfrey v. Demon Internet Ltd [2001] Q.B. 201), search engines (Metropolitan International Schools Ltd v. Designtechnica Corp [2009] EWHC 1765; [2011] 1 W.L.R. 1743), and mere conduits (Bunt v. Tilley [2006] EWHC 407 (QB); [2007] 1 W.L.R. 1243). In Oriental Press Group Ltd v. Fevaworks Solutions Ltd [2013] HKEC 1025, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (HKCFA), perhaps for the first time in the common law world, addressed this question in the setting of online discussion forums. This paper critically analyses the reasoning of the HKCFA in Oriental Press Group.


Zinc phosphide (Zn3P2) and cuprous oxide (Cu2O) are promising and earth-abundant alternatives to traditional thin film photovoltaics materials such as CIGS, CdTe, and a-Si. We have prepared high purity substrates of Zn3P2 from elemental zinc and phosphorus, and Cu2O by the thermal oxidation of copper foils, to investigate their fundamental material properties and potential for solar energy conversion. Photoluminescence-based measurements of Zn3P2 substrates have revealed a fundamental indirect band gap at 1.38 eV and a direct band gap at 1.50 eV, with time-resolved data indicating minority carrier diusion lengths of ≥7 μm. Solar cells based on Mg/Zn3P2 junctions with solar energy conversion efficiency reaching 4.5% were examined by composition profiling to elucidate the passivation reaction between Mg metal and Zn3P2 surfaces. Semiconductor/liquid junctions incorporating Cu2O substrates exhibited open-circuit voltage, Voc, values in excess of 800 mV and internal quantum yields approaching 100% in the 400–500 nm spectral range.


As a consequence of increased outsourcing, companies become more and more virtual organisations and dependent upon external sources to reach their strategic objectives. Here, lacking supplier performance or commitment can result in failure of the outsourcing programme that significantly risks the financial results of the outsourcing company. Consequently, when outsourcing it is important to assure that the supplier performs as expected. This study uses a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) perspective for investigating performance measurements in outsourcing. The results illustrate the importance of a process perspective when outsourcing (securing volume, high quality at the right time). Formulating a BSC for a supplier, an outsourcing company could better control/steer the supplier on an output/performance level.


This paper examines the Filth's transgression of documentary modes in its counter-historical retelling of the Sex Pistols' career. Filth's subversion of conventional film documentary narrative and formal patterns are examined, with specific attention to the transgression of Nicholls's modal theory of 'nonfiction' cinema. Filth is proposed as a key text in the development of new approaches to documentary film-making, by interrogating its wayward, counter-cultural style. Filth would perhaps be more aptly described as counter-history than documentary. Its relationship to history and facticity will be explored by uncovering its playfulness with form and convention, as well as its use of Shakespeare's Richard III as a mischievous subversion of the common documentary gambit of narrative parallelism. Rather than inventing new modes of representation, counter-hegemonic cinema often subverts existing conventions. Mixing familiar conventional genre signifiers with counter-hegemonic, marginal or transgressive forms highlights differences, destabilises expectations and communicates more effectively with a broader audience. Filth's bricolage of disparate elements consists of what its director, Julien Temple, refers to as "scattershot use of archive" footage interspersed with new interviews. The result is problematic for documentary film theory; Filth transgresses and even parodies established documentary forms. While in some superficial aspects Filth follows the 'rockumentary' format, the film formally and structurally deviates from the conventions of this style. We could instead try to categorise Filth as an independent example of rhetorical form, with its emotive and argumentative elements. Yet, despite its rhetorical tone, the plethora of opposing viewpoints transgresses and even parodies the persuasive purpose of rhetorical documentary-making. Narrators disagree, images clash and, while the audience may feel the pressure to be persuaded, the anarchic mix of viewpoints makes it difficult to extrapolate a clear rhetorical line of argument. One means by which to clarify Filth's transgressions is to apply Nichols's modes of documentary film. While the possibility of a single text combining more than one mode is not directly denied, nevertheless Nichols tends to explain each mode in terms of its difference from the others, implying mutual exclusivity. Yet Filth transgresses every one of these modes. If the modes are viewed as more dynamic and flexible than Nichols originally proposed, however, they remain invaluable as a tool for understanding this example of late postmodern documentary. Just as an early modern history play might present a politically manipulated counter-historical chronicle, postmodern oppositional documentary can retell the past through a perspective of resistance or taking an openly biased socio-political viewpoint. This parallel function clarifies the apparently incongruous appropriation of Olivier's Richard III in Filth, notwithstanding the obvious deliberate punk impudence of brutally splicing Olivier's treasured 'classic'. The figure of Shakespeare's Richard, through Olivier's film, binds Filth's narrative in every major plot development: such as when Johnny Rotten joins the band, when 'God Save the Queen' is released and when the band self-destructs. An audience's desire for realism in terms of causality, is key to creating a conventionally satisfying narrative, and in a documentary one could assume that this desire is easily satisfied given the 'reality' of the subject. Yet the other aspect of narrative an audience desires most is likely to be resolution and structure: a beginning, middle and end to the 'story', which may be harder for a feature documentary to deliver. Many documentaries avoid the challenge of actual resolution by providing some "new light" on their subjects, just as Filth openly claims to do. However, the recoding of Richard III in Filth also props up the narrative by transposing a parallel 'reality' that has been ready-fashioned into a plot. What this film represents in its style and its form is an attempt to capture on film the bricolage, the anarchy and the fun of punk. Yet it is ironic that only via technologies unavailable to the rebels of the 70s can the quick-fire, scattershot style can be achieved. A last grasp towards the visceral rebellion of the early days of punk may, in Filth, ironically become a herald of the coming communicative strategies of 21st Century New Media – the short clip or home made montage of YouTube replacing the painstaking physical processes of film editing. Yet Filth, riding roughshod over every attempt to compartmentalise documentary, legitimises instead the power of retelling – and epitomises the plurality of counterhistories.


Chitin is one the most abundant polymers in nature and interacts with both carbon and nitrogen cycles. Processes controlling chitin degradation are summarized in reviews published some 20 years ago, but the recent use of culture-independent molecular methods has led to a revised understanding of the ecology and biochemistry of this process and the organisms involved. This review summarizes different mechanisms and the principal steps involved in chitin degradation at a molecular level while also discussing the coupling of community composition to measured chitin hydrolysis activities and substrate uptake. Ecological consequences are then highlighted and discussed with a focus on the cross feeding associated with the different habitats that arise because of the need for extracellular hydrolysis of the chitin polymer prior to metabolic use. Principal environmental drivers of chitin degradation are identified which are likely to influence both community composition of chitin degrading bacteria and measured chitin hydrolysis activities.


ABSTRACT At present, there is no comprehensive soil quality assessment practice for soil stockpiles in the South African coal mining industry. Soil microorganisms and enzymes are suitable indicators for soil quality monitoring. Therefore, this study investigated the microbial community and enzyme (beta-glucosidase and urease) activities in soil stockpiles of opencast coal mines in the coal-rich region of South Africa. Soil stockpiles of three opencast coal mines were sampled at depths of 0–20 cm ('topsoil') and >20 cm ('subsoil') across three seasons. Beta-glucosidase and urease activities were mostly higher in soil stockpiles than in unmined soils and were significantly influenced (P < 0.05) by the interaction of site and seasonal factors. However, analyses of PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) profiles of partial 16S rRNA gene and internally transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) sequences revealed higher microbial diversity in unmined (reference) soils compared to soil stockpiles across all seasons. Redundancy analysis further revealed that microbial communities of topsoil were not significantly (P > 0.05) influenced by soil properties, whereas microbial communities of subsoils were significantly (P < 0.05) influenced by pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen and phosphorus contents. Furthermore, operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging to genera of known phytobeneficial species such as Azomonas, Aureobasidium, Phialocephala, Phoma and Sordariomycetes were detected in these soils. Overall, results suggest that the microbial community structure and diversity observed in stockpiles is impaired (compared to the unmined site), although variations in the microbial community structure of soil stockpiles across seasons are site-specific. The impaired microbial community of stockpiles may have negative implications on soil biological processes driven by microbes; especially those that are critical for nutrient cycling and ecosystem sustainability. More importantly, such alteration in soil biodiversity may impair post-mining land use capability of stockpile soils.


People are enjoying longer retirement periods, and population growth is slowing and, in some countries, falling. In this article, we determine the implications of these demographic changes for the needed amount of government debt. If tax rates and the transfer share of gross national income (GNI) are both high, the needed debt is near zero. With such a system, however, huge deadweight losses are incurred as a result of the high tax rate on labor income. With a savings system, a large government debt to annual GNI ratio is needed. In a country with early retirement and no population growth, the needed government debt is as large as five times GNI, and welfare is as much as 24 percent higher in terms of lifetime consumption equivalents in the savings system relative to the tax-and-transfer system.


This essay situates Chilean poet and artist Cecilia Vicuña's 2010 film Kon Kon within its postdictatorship context in order to explore the relationship between performance, cultural memory, and neoliberal erasure. Returning to the coastal landscape of Concón, where she created her first precarios, or fragile installations, Vicuña documents how the privatization and deregulation of Chile's natural resources—as a result of policies initiated under the Pinochet dictatorship but pursued into the present—has negatively impacted "the way of feeling for the land that is a memory of place." Vicuña's formally innovative film refigures precarity, as the fragility of life and culture under conditions of neoliberal globalization, into planetarity. Composed of both ritualized re-enactments of the artist's oeuvre and documentary footage of the disappearing culture of the dunes, the film presents the dissonant flute-playing orchestras of the local indigenous fishermen as both threatened by, and performing an alternative to, the destructive forces of globalization. In turning to the bailes chinos of the fisherman, Vicuña—like Gayatri Spivak, whose theorization of planetarity is mobilized to elucidate this conjuncture—looks to precapitalist cultures to imagine a planetary future that collapses the distinction between nature and culture. At stake in both the bailes chinos and site-specific installations the film documents is the transmission of planetary forms of cultural memory that predate the neoliberal turn.


Are there Buddhist conceptions of the unconscious? If so, are they more Freudian, Jungian, or something else? If not, can Buddhist conceptions be reconciled with the Freudian, Jungian, or other models? These are some of the questions that have motivated modern scholarship to approach a _ layavijña _ na, the storehouse consciousness, formulated in Yoga _ ca _ ra Buddhism as a subliminal reservoir of tendencies, habits, and future possibilities. Tao Jiang argues convincingly that such questions are inherently problematic because they frame their interpretations of the Buddhist notion largely in terms of responses to modern psychology. He proposes that, if we are to understand a _ layavijña _ na properly and compare it with the unconscious responsibly, we need to change the way the questions are posed so that a _ layavijña _ na and the unconscious can first be understood within their own contexts and then recontextualized within a dialogical setting. In so doing, certain paradigmatic assumptions embedded in the original frameworks of Buddhist and modern psychological theories are exposed. Jiang brings together Xuan Zang's a _ layavijña _ na and Freud's and Jung's unconscious to focus on what the diVerences are in the thematic concerns of the three theories, why such diVerences exist in terms of their objectives, and how their methods of theorization contribute to these diVerences. Contexts and Dialogue puts forth a fascinating, erudite, and carefully argued presentation of the subliminal mind. It proposes a new paradigm in comparative philosophy that examines the what, why, and how in navigating the similarities and diVerences of philosophical systems through contextualization and recontextualization.


This essay is a response to Paul Horwitz, "Freedom of the Church without Romance," published as part of a symposium on "The Freedom of the Church." The essay endorses Horwitz's central thesis that advocates of a contemporary "freedom of the Church" have overlooked historical complexities in marking the 11th-century investiture conflict between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII, often simply referred to "Canossa" after the small Emilian village where Henry sought absolution from Gregory, as the birth of that freedom. The essay goes beyond Horwitz to argue that the historical account of "Canossa" presupposed by freedom-of-the-Church advocates is literally false. "Canossa," instead, is a myth. More salient, nonmythical analogies for a "freedom of the Church" exist in U.S. constitutional history: genuine state sovereignty and dual-sovereignty federalism from the 19th century, and state dignity and native American domestic dependency from the contemporary era. These more historically accessible analogies all suggest that any "freedom of the Church" in U.S. constitutional doctrine is greatly diminished from the robust freedom argued for by those who invoke "Canossa" as that freedom's defining moment. But even the mythical "Canossa" remains important. Myths are stories that a society tells about itself, stories that preserve and clarify its deepest values and commitments. Like the "myth of Magna Carta" that has exerted so much influence on English and American constitutional law, "Canossa" emphasizes the dangers to liberty from a government that sees no bounds on its jurisdiction and authority. Though historically false, "Canossa" might be mythically true.


Indonesian National Committee for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has reported the significant increase of HIV infected individual in Indonesia. A sensitive accurate diagnostics are urgently needed to prevent the dissemination of HIV and also to provide a suitable therapy. For this reason, we have developed HIV diagnostic method based on PCR to elucidate this problem. For this research, samples were collected from hospitals and Indonesian Red Cross that consist of samples possesing HIV serological test positive and indeterminate. Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) were isolated from blood plasma. These RNA then were amplified after Reverse transcriptase reaction by using primers which have been designed using env (C2V3C3), Long Terminal Repeats (LTR) (U3) and Capsid gag (p24) as target regions. The obtained results shown 26/34 (76.5%) positive in LTR, 10/33 (36.4%) positive in Env and 11/33 (33.3%) positive in p24. These results showed that LTR primers detect HIV more than other primers. It suggests that LTR could be used as detection target as complement of env and p24 These results need to be explored further by using sequencing method.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to formulate extended enterprise-oriented structure and process map for technical skill building for firms belonging to emerging economies.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors identify technical skill building (lies at the intersection of product, process and people) as a key enabler for furthering organizational competitiveness. The authors employ define measure explore develop implement- and supplier, input, process, output, and customer (SIPOC-) based framework for arriving at a technical skill building framework.

Findings

By utilizing the SIPOC-based framework, the authors identify the supplier(s), input(s), process(s), output(s) and customer(s) in the value chain of technical skill building as far as the extended enterprise is concerned.

Originality/value

The paper uses pragmatic and user-friendly conceptualization for technical skill building framework.


Exact Bayesian network inference exists for Gaussian and multinomial distributions. For other kinds of distributions, approximations or restrictions on the kind of inference done are needed. In this paper we present generalized networks of Dirichlet distributions, and show how, using the two-parameter Poisson-Dirichlet distribution and Gibbs sampling, one can do approximate inference over them. This involves integrating out the probability vectors but leaving auxiliary discrete count vectors in their place. We illustrate the technique by extending standard topic models to "structured" documents, where the document structure is given by a Bayesian network of Dirichlets.


We demonstrate a hybridly mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser. It combines saturable absorption and nonlinear polarization evolution to produce stable and purified femtosecond pulses with a high repetition rate of 212 MHz. The average output power is larger than 65 mW, and the single-pulse energy is 0.31 nJ at a pump power of 750 mW. A wide spectrum with FWHM of 61.4 nm is obtained. The dechirped pulse duration is 41.9 fs, which is near the transform-limited range.


The metatheory of Scala's core type system— the Dependent Object Types (DOT) calculus— is hard to extend, like the metatheory of other type systems combining subtyping and dependent types. Soundness of important Scala features therefore remains an open problem in theory and in practice. To address some of these problems, we use a semantics-first approach to develop a logical relations model for a new version of DOT, called guarded DOT (gDOT). Our logical relations model makes use of an abstract form of step-indexing, as supported by the Iris framework, to model various forms of recursion in gDOT. To demonstrate the expressiveness of gDOT, we show that it handles Scala examples that could not be handled by previous versions of DOT, and prove using our logical relations model that gDOT provides the desired data abstraction. The gDOT type system, its semantic model, its soundness proofs, and all examples in the paper have been mechanized in Coq.1


Aminoglycosides are an important class of antimicrobial agents for the treatment of life-threatening bacterial infections. Several mechanisms for aminoglycoside resistance have been described previously (5). Among these mechanisms, 16S rRNA methyltransferases are especially troublesome due to their wide target range and their ability to confer high levels of resistance.

In the United States, antimicrobial resistance among enteric pathogens in humans is monitored by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) at the CDC. From 1996 to 2006, 18,281 non-Typhi Salmonella isolates were submitted to the CDC. MICs of 14 to 17 antimicrobial agents were determined by broth microdilution using the Sensititre system (Trek Diagnostics, Westlake, OH). Two isolates displayed resistance to three aminoglycosides, with resistance defined by a MIC of ≥64 μg/ml for amikacin, ≥16 μg/ml for gentamicin, and ≥64 μg/ml for kanamycin (Table (Table1).1). Isolate AM04864 was Salmonella enterica serotype Stanley, submitted in 1999. Additional information from the patient was not available. AM23818 was S. enterica serotype Virchow, submitted in 2005. The patient was an 11-month-old Asian male from Hartford, CT. Prior to the onset of illness, he visited a farm in India and had exposure to farm animals. The patient became ill with nonbloody diarrhea in India. Upon returning to the United States, he was taken for medical care. Oral antibiotics were prescribed following specimen collection; the antibiotic name could not be recalled. The patient was ill with diarrhea for 6 weeks, during which he was presented for medical care two additional times.

TABLE 1.

Antimicrobial susceptibilities and characteristics of NARMS non-Typhi Salmonella isolates resistant to amikacin, gentamicin, and kanamycina

Screening for methyltransferase genes was performed by PCR using previously described primers for six genes: armA, rmtA, rmtB, rmtC, rmtD, and npmA (2). AM04864 was positive for armA, while AM23818 was positive for rmtC. Sequence analysis confirmed that the armA gene was identical to that observed in Acinetobacter baumannii (GenBank accession number {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU014811","term_id":"156105450","term_text":"EU014811"}}EU014811) and S. enterica serotype Oranienburg (GenBank accession number {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"DQ177329","term_id":"74273694","term_text":"DQ177329"}}DQ177329). Sequence analysis also confirmed that armA was located between tnpU and tnpD, genes associated with the Tn1548 transposon (3, 4). Tn1548 typically carries additional genes which confer resistance to azithromycin, streptomycin-spectinomycin, sulfonamides, and trimethoprim. This may explain the additional resistance phenotype of AM04864 (Table (Table1).1). Sequence analysis of the rmtC gene confirmed that the gene was identical to that observed in Proteus mirabilis (GenBank accession number {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU144360","term_id":"160425359","term_text":"EU144360"}}EU144360) (7). To our knowledge, rmtC has not been identified outside of P. mirabilis. Upstream of the rmtC sequence, we identified the 3′ end of the ISEcp1 element, along with one of the inverted repeat regions. ISEcp1 has been shown previously to promote the expression and transposition of rmtC (6).

Although ArmA is one of the most widespread methyltransferases in the world, it has been identified only in A. baumannii in the United States (1). RmtC has not previously been observed in the United States. All of the rmtC-positive isolates reported up to now have been P. mirabilis isolates from patients in Japan, with the exception of a single isolate from Australia (8). The patient infected with the Salmonella strain carrying the rmtC gene had recently traveled to India, suggesting that the infection originated in India. Identification of methyltransferase genes among non-Typhi Salmonella isolates from humans in the United States suggests the existence of a potential reservoir for these resistance mechanisms.


The thesis seeks to examine current evaluations of events or projects delivered by artists within the educational function of the museum. The hybrid nature of the practice, situated as it is amongst several disciplines and their associated evaluative models, tends to be written about from one position or disciplinary 'mind-set'. Texts written out of an educational context tend to emphasise participants' experience and the perceived educational and/or social benefits rather than the aesthetic or political. It appears that the hybridity of the practice, counter-intuitively, tends toward a conservative approach when it comes to reflection and evaluation, as if those engaged in this relatively new way of working were using evaluation to argue a case rather than open up the field to enquiry.

Critiquing the tendency of such evaluation to reinforce the institution and others' agendas, the thesis seeks to gain some critical purchase on the artist's own understandings of practice using a 'quadri-hermeneutic' methodology inspired by data-oriented research and current and historic debates in hermeneutics and critical theory.

The main body of the thesis consists of an analysis of three artist-led projects. The methodology is applied to three types of data, each relevant to a particular project: a series of photographs documenting an event for older people, a transcript of a discussion with postgraduate students (both which took place at Tate Modern) and a transcript of an interview with a project curator at the Serpentine Gallery. The application of the methodology aims to disturb the artist's a-priori understandings by provoking doubt through the production of multiple (sometimes contradictory) interpretations of the data.

Rather than a conclusion, the final chapter of the thesis indicates how the partial resolution of the doubts and conflicts which emerge from the evaluative process provokes a shift in emphasis in the positioning of more recent projects. The thesis argues for self-evaluation as a form of continuous research capable of resisting the artist's conscious and unconscious accommodation of others' agendas, and offering new possibilities for


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We consider the long-standing problem of the automatic generation of regular expressions for text extraction, based solely on examples of the desired behavior. We investigate several active learning approaches in which the user annotates only one desired extraction and then merely answers extraction queries generated by the system.
 The resulting framework is attractive because it is the system, not the user, which digs out the data in search of the samples most suitable to the specific learning task. We tailor our proposals to a state-of-the-art learner based on Genetic Programming and we assess them experimentally on a number of challenging tasks of realistic complexity. The results indicate that active learning is indeed a viable framework in this application domain and may thus significantly decrease the amount of costly annotation effort required.
 We consider the long-standing problem of the automatic generation of regular expressions for text extraction, based solely on examples of the desired behavior. We investigate several active learning approaches in which the user anno- tates only one desired extraction and then merely answers extraction queries generated by the system.
 The resulting framework is attractive because it is the sys- tem, not the user, which digs out the data in search of the samples most suitable to the specific learning task. We tailor our proposals to a state-of-the-art learner based on Genetic Programming and we assess them experimentally on a num- ber of challenging tasks of realistic complexity. The results indicate that active learning is indeed a viable framework in this application domain and may thus significantly decrease the amount of costly annotation effort required.


This research investigates how resistance to change can trigger organizational learning. In order to structure the elusive concept of organizational learning, a framework is proposed that integrates processes of learning and memory at three levels of analysis. The framework identifies learning as cognition at the individual level, communication at the group level, and formalization at the organizational level. The concept of resistance is introduced by delineating its development from a mere nuisance to the change effort towards a more recent functional understanding. Focusing on the diagnostic qualities of resistance, a functional analysis is employed that concentrates on the effects of resistance, namely its potential function as a source of learning. Informed by an analogy to acute pain, the process is then defined as a sequence of resistance, awareness, and organizational learning across three levels of analysis. This process is examined in an empirical case study of a software implementation at the British subsidiary of a global manufacturing company headquartered in Germany. Methods and data used include personal interviews, repertory grids, and project documentation. Results indicate limited resistance at the individual level, confined awareness at the individual and group level, and no organizational learning from this source. Resistance was suppressed due to a prevalent dysfunctional understanding of the concept among project participants and strong contextual factors, such as a success imperative, the inflexibility of the new technology, and a general disinterest in learning and bottom-up feedback. It is concluded that organizational learning by resistance depends on the understanding of resistance and on the culture of learning in the organization. The results suggest that not heeding resistance will have opportunity costs in the long run. The thesis concludes with hypotheses about the relationship between resistance and learning and its contextual influences.


Explanations of unethical behavior often neglect the role of competition, as opposed to greed, in assuring its spread. Using the examples of child labor, corruption, "excessive" executive pay, corporate earnings manipulation, and commercial activities by universities, this paper clarifies the role of competition in promoting censured conduct. When unethical behavior cuts costs, competition drives down prices and entrepreneurs' incomes, and thereby reduces their willingness to pay for ethical conduct. Nonetheless, I suggest that competition might be good for ethical behavior in the long run, because it promotes growth and raises incomes. Higher incomes raise the willingness to pay for ethical behavior, but may also change what people believe to be ethical for the better.


Ronald Davis, MD, aged 52, passed away on 6 November 2008 after a courageous 10-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Ron's star shone very brightly, albeit too briefly in the medical community. He graduated medical school from the University of Chicago, where he also received a Master of Arts in Public Policy Studies. He trained at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) both as a field epidemiologist and as a preventive medicine resident. Following his training, he served as the first director of the Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) when CDC assumed responsibility for OSH in 1987. During his tenure, he worked closely with Surgeon-General C Everett Koop and oversaw publication of three landmark Surgeon-General's reports: Nicotine Addiction , 25 Years of Progress and Smoking Cessation . Subsequently, he served as chief medical officer for the Michigan Department of Public Health, until assuming his most recent position as director, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention for the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan.

At the world conference in Perth in April 1990, Ron convened a meeting of 25 leaders in tobacco control, from a variety of countries, where the concept for a new scientific journal devoted solely to tobacco control was hatched.1 Ron and others helped pitch the idea to the British Medical Journal Publishing Group which accepted the concept idea and later appointed Ron as the founding editor of Tobacco Control: an International Journal . Ron served as the editor of Tobacco …


BACKGROUND
Atrial fibrillation is the commonest cardiac dysrhythmia. It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. There are two approaches to the management of atrial fibrillation: controlling the ventricular rate or converting to sinus rhythm in the expectation that this would abolish its adverse effects.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effects of pharmacological cardioversion of atrial fibrillation in adults on the annual risk of stroke, peripheral embolism, and mortality.

SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (Issue 3, 2002), MEDLINE (2000 to 2002), EMBASE (1998 to 2002), CINAHL (1982 to 2002), Web of Science (1981 to 2002). We hand searched the following journals: Circulation (1997 to 2002), Heart (1997 to 2002), European Heart Journal (1997-2002), Journal of the American College of Cardiology (1997-2002) and selected abstracts published on the web site of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology (2001, 2002).

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials or controlled clinical trials of pharmacological cardioversion versus rate control in adults (>18 years) with acute, paroxysmal or sustained atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter, of any duration and of any aetiology.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
One reviewer applied the inclusion criteria and extracted the data. Trial quality was assessed and the data were entered into RevMan.

MAIN RESULTS
We identified two completed studies AFFIRM (n=4060) and PIAF (n=252). We found no difference in mortality between rhythm control and rate control relative risk 1.14 (95% confidence interval 1.00 to 1.31). Both studies show significantly higher rates of hospitalisation and adverse events in the rhythm control group and no difference in quality of life between the two treatment groups. In AFFIRM there was a similar incidence of ischaemic stroke, bleeding and systemic embolism in the two groups. Certain malignant dysrhythmias were significantly more likely to occur in the rhythm control group. There were similar scores of cognitive assessment. In PIAF, cardioverted patients enjoyed an improved exercise tolerance but there was no overall benefit in terms of symptom control or quality of life.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
There is no evidence that pharmacological cardioversion of atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm is superior to rate control. Rhythm control is associated with more adverse effects and increased hospitalisation. It does not reduce the risk of stroke. The conclusions cannot be generalised to all people with atrial fibrillation. Most of the patients included in these studies were relatively older (>60 years) with significant cardiovascular risk factors.


BACKGROUND: Dexmedetomidine (DEX) is increasingly being used as a sedative for monitored anesthesia care (MAC) because of its analgesic properties, "cooperative sedation," and lack of respiratory depression. In this randomized, multicenter, double-blind, Phase III Food and Drug Administration study, we evaluated the safety and efficacy of two doses of DEX for sedation of patients undergoing a broad range of surgical or diagnostic procedures requiring MAC. METHODS: Three hundred twenty-six patients were randomized 2:2:1 to DEX 0.5 &mgr;g/kg, DEX 1 &mgr;g/kg, or saline placebo initial loading dose, followed by a maintenance infusion of 0.2–1.0 &mgr;g · kg−1 · h−1 of DEX (or equivalent volume of saline) titrated to a targeted level of sedation (≤4 on the Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation Scale [OAA/S]). Study drug was started at least 15 min before placement of regional or local anesthetic block. Midazolam was given for OAA/S >4 and fentanyl for pain. The primary end-point was the percentage of patients not requiring rescue midazolam. RESULTS: Significantly fewer patients in the 0.5- and 1-&mgr;g/kg DEX groups required supplemental midazolam compared with placebo (59.7% [80/134], 45.7% [59/129] vs 96.8% [61/63], respectively; P < 0.001) and at lower doses to achieve an OAA/S ≤4 before and during surgery compared with the saline group (1.4 and 0.9 mg vs 4.1 mg, respectively; P < 0.001, each group compared with placebo). Both DEX groups required significantly less fentanyl (84.8 and 83.6 &mgr;g vs 144.4 &mgr;g, respectively; P < 0.001, for both DEX groups versus placebo) for all surgical subtypes. Anesthesiologists indicated significantly increased ease of achieving and maintaining targeted sedation in both DEX groups compared with placebo with midazolam (P < 0.001). Patient satisfaction was significantly higher with DEX (P ≤ 0.009, both groups versus placebo). Common adverse events with DEX were protocol-defined bradycardia and hypotension that were predominately mild to moderate in severity. The incidence of clinically significant respiratory depression (defined as a respiratory rate of <8 or an oxygen saturation of <90%) was lower in DEX-treated patients (P = 0.018, for both groups versus placebo). CONCLUSIONS: DEX is an effective baseline sedative for patients undergoing MAC for a broad range of surgical procedures providing better patient satisfaction, less opioid requirements, and less respiratory depression than placebo rescued with midazolam and fentanyl.


Although there is no shortage of supply of fossil fuels at the moment, the necessity to reduce green house gas emission and growing difficulties in fossil fuel recovery raise great challenges for the scientific community to develop efficient, low cost alternative energy sources. Hydrogen is sought by many as a way to store and transport energy produced from renewable sources and as a fuel hydrogen produces only water on burning and is not toxic in any way. The main pathways to produce hydrogen can be classified as thermal, electrolytic, and photolytic processes. Most of the hydrogen is currently produced via thermal processes, which use the energy from fossil fuels stored in natural gas, coal or biomass to release hydrogen. Although photolytic processes are very attractive due to the zero greenhouse gas emissions, they can be used for commercial hydrogen production only if limitations related to low efficiency and poor stability can be resolved. State-of-the-art hydrogen producing photoelectrochemical cells have 12.4% efficiency under visible light irradiation and combine several semiconducting materials in a monolithic device. Although efficient, this cell is able to split water only for a few days, making the possibility of commercial application daunting. Thus, the general aim of the project is to develop a novel structure for a stable photo-electrochemical device for water splitting applications. Having high efficiencies for photo electrochemical energy conversion, metal sulfides are promising candidates for use in commercial water splitting systems if their long-term stability can be improved. Cadmium sulfide was chosen for our investigations as a representative of the metal sulfide family, due to its well known properties. In the photo-electrochemical cell developed in this work the light harvester is separated from the electrooxidation and reduction processes that occur in the water splitting cell. The quantum confinement effect observed for semiconducting nanoparticles significantly alters electrical properties of materials that allow for engineering of the desired electrical properties. A range of nanoparticles and nanostructures were prepared in this work in order to investigate the influence of dopant and quantum size effects innanoparticles on the energy structure of the material and their potential to be utilized in the water splitting and electroluminescent applications. In order to address the high costs of production of thin film semiconductors, in this work we have developed a novel method for low cost, efficient deposition of high quality metal sulfide semiconductors and their alloys utilizing electrodeposition from ionic liquids at high temperatures. The structure of the proposed photoelectrochemical cell was created using electrochemical deposition as well as photo-driven electrochemical deposition, which allows in situ deposition of catalyst for water oxidation. It was shown that a multilayered structure of the device based on metal sulfides provides high corrosion resistance of the cell during photo-electrochemical water splitting leading to significant extension of the cell lifetime.


Proteinases have the potential to effect partial solubilization of the proteinaceous gum sericin involved in binding the silk strands together in cocoon, an essential step in the silk cocoon cooking and reeling. Therefore, pineapple extract rich in cysteine proteinases was enzymologically characterized for its potential application in oak tasar ( Antheraea proylei J.) silk cocoon cooking and reeling. Optimum sodium carbonate concentration (9.8 mM) and optimum temperature (60oC) for the proteinase activity were determined. Though relatively thermostable, an enhanced activity loss was observed when the extract was incubated in the temperature range 70-90oC with sodium carbonate. Bulk of the activity (80-83%) remained after 1 hr of time-dependent inactivation at 60oC. The tasar cocoon extract neither caused inhibition of the activity nor enhanced its time-dependent loss by incubation at 60oC. However, it caused an enhanced time-dependent loss of the activity by incubation at 60oC with sodium carbonate. Considering these enzymological characteristics, experimental cocoon-cooking media were constituted by taking the pineapple extract with or without sodium carbonate at room temperature or 60oC. The results of the cocoon cooking and subsequent single silk filament reeling indicated for an applicability of pineapple extract as an effective agent for the oak tasar cocoon cooking and reeling.


Written by photography experts--including a Pulitzer-Prize winning National Geographic photographer--this full-color book is a must-have for amateur photographers serious about improving both the quality of their photographs and their proficiency in the digital darkroom. The book is the perfect combination of a technical treatise on digital imaging and an artistic exploration of light, composition, and form, allowing you to glean the essential techniques needed for digital photography without losing sight of the artistic and aesthetic aspects of the craft. Using an easy-to-follow approach, the authors explain the image conceptualization process through shooting, editing, and image correction to finished print. In addition, top photographers from a variety of disciplines offer real-world advice on how they use digital photography to create compelling images for high-profile magazine articles, advertising campaigns, and fine art prints.


Testing has been found to be a powerful learning tool, but educators might be reluctant to make full use of its benefits for fear that any errors made would be harmful to learning. We asked whether testing could be beneficial to memory even during novel learning, when nearly all responses were errors, and where errors were unlikely to be related to either cues or targets. In 4 experiments, participants learned definitions for unfamiliar English words, or translations for foreign vocabulary, by generating a response and being given corrective feedback, by reading the word and its definition or translation, or by selecting from a choice of definitions or translations followed by feedback. In a final test of all words, generating errors followed by feedback led to significantly better memory for the correct definition or translation than either reading or making incorrect choices, suggesting that the benefits of generation are not restricted to correctly generated items. Even when information to be learned is novel, errorful generation may play a powerful role in potentiating encoding of corrective feedback. Experiments 2A, 2B, and 3 revealed, via metacognitive judgments of learning, that participants are strikingly unaware of this benefit, judging errorful generation to be a less effective encoding method than reading or incorrect choosing, when in fact it was better. Predictions reflected participants' subjective experience during learning. If subjective difficulty leads to more effort at encoding, this could at least partly explain the errorful generation advantage.


-The amount of tire wastes, an unwanted urban-industry surplus, has been increasing every year throughout the world. Soil stabilization techniques improve of the stability or bearing capacity of soil by the means of controlled compaction, proportioning and or addition of suitable stabilizers. Now a day's increase in construction there is always a need of material low in cost and environment friendly which can impart desired strength with effectiveness in construction. Constructions of Highways are such an intricate part of connectivity in India that there is always a need of highway construction or maintenance of existing highway. This experimental work briefly describes the use of locally available crumb rubber tire in soil stabilization. Waste crumb rubber tire helps in improving the desired properties of soil and minimizes the amount of waste to be deposited in environment causing environmental pollution. Crumb rubber tire is quite easily available and is very low in cost, due to day by day increase in cost of stabilizers like cement, lime and other ad mixers use of crumb rubber tire can result in project completion optimally. The soil sample used is clay which requires to be strengthened due to presence of high plasticity; this soil sample is strengthened by using varying proportion of crumb rubber tire. Various tests were conducted to analyze the effect of crumb rubber tire on optimum moisture content, maximum dry density and California bearing ratio. Results shows decrease in optimum moisture content but decrease in maximum dry density, Along with increase in California bearing ratio, from the observations it can be seen that 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% results in maximum improvement in desired soil properties. The One of chances to dispose of this waste material is to use these refuses, as a stabilizer in soils, in order to increase the strength properties and the bearing capacity of the soil-stabilizer mixture Discarded tire are becoming globally problematic because recycling them may cause environment related problem. Thus, making use of them needs to be considered and solution must be sustainable. Crumb rubber should cover social, environmental, and economic sustainability. Now days the waste tire are increasingly being considered as construction material. The study was shown clay soil-crumb rubber of 10% stabilization Can be used as fill material in sub grade of highway


When in-store display influences consumer choices, shelf space allocation can be strategically used by retailers to extract payments from manufacturers. The paper finds that manufacturers with more popular brands have higher willingness-to-pay for the premium shelf spaces of supermarkets. Shelf space fees soften inter-brand competition and result in higher sale-weighted average retail price as well as inter-brand price differences. The fees increase the industry profit but lower the upstream profit. Both the aggregate consumer surplus and social welfare are negatively affected. This paper suggests that even when the fees do not drive small manufacturers out of retail stores, they might still be anti-competitive.


We present a simple method for calculating the binary collision rate between atoms in near-resonant optical lattices. The method is based on Monte Carlo wave-function simulations, and the collision rate is obtained by monitoring the quantum flux beyond the average distance between the atoms. To illustrate the usefulness of the method, we calculate the collision rates for a wide range of occupation densities and various modulation depths of the lattice. The method presented here, combined with the semiclassical calculations accounting for intrawell collisions, can simplify the study of the effects of binary collisions on the dynamics of atomic clouds trapped in near-resonant optical lattices.


In periods of accelerating technological change, incumbent workers must continuously update their skills to remain productive. In contrast, high school or college graduates recently entering the labor market often have the most up-to-date skills. We investigate how incumbent workers' careers respond to the increasing labor supply of graduates with more technologically advanced IT skills during a period of accelerating technological change. We identify a supply shock of more technologically advanced IT-skilled graduates by exploiting a reform of a German training regulation, a reform mandating all new apprentices in a large manufacturing occupation to acquire in-depth IT skills. We use a difference-in-differences approach to analyze how this supply shock of IT-skilled workers affected the careers of incumbent workers. The results show that even young incumbents experienced long-lasting earnings losses in the form of lower wage growth after the IT-skilled graduates entered the labor market. A detailed analysis of the mechanisms suggests that incumbents on average forwent promotions and technologically advanced IT-skilled graduates crowded incumbents out of their occupation. However, despite losing their occupation, incumbents experienced relatively little unemployment during the transition period following the supply shock and on average resumed stable careers in other occupations and sectors.


Following the European regulation for paediatric formulations, the demand for the production of paediatric dosage forms has escalated. Managing the clinical needs of children is challenging, especially as this must often be accomplished using adult medicine formulations. For this reason, further paediatric dosage forms need to be developed to address their clinical needs. There are various formulations which can be administered via the oral route including tablets, capsules, liquids and chewable tablets. It is essential to mention orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs) which have been a popular area of research for scientists in the last decade. The overarching aim of this thesis was to develop novel oral dosage forms for children and young adults aged 6 to 18 years. The principal theme of this thesis is sub divided into two main areas of research: the first area evaluated dosage form preferences in children and young adults and assessed the key pragmatic dosage form characteristics that would enable formulation of patient centred ODTs; the second area focused on a wide range of laboratory-based investigations for development of low dose blends and pre-blends of ODT formulations using various blending techniques. The results of clinical investigations revealed that ODTs are a preferred dosage form among children because they combine the advantages of both solid and liquid dosage forms, without incorporating their disadvantages such as difficulty in swallowing and lack of stability respectively. Healthcare professionals indicated that taste and disintegration time were the most important factors to provide both suitable dose units and acceptable medicines for paediatric patients. Results from powder blending indicated that the dry particle coater provided a robust platform for obtaining content uniformities at 1% and 0.5%w/w API using non-sieved carriers. Micro crystalline cellulose as a carrier showed superior flow properties and better drug content uniformity for both geometric and ordered blending techniques. Furthermore, the co-processed excipients containing 86.5% w/w of milled-mannitol, 12% w/w pregelatinised starch and 1.5% w/w silica using Aston Particle Technology (APT's) new coating technique can be utilised as a potential multifunctional directly compressible ODT pre-blend. An investigation into the role of moisture content on micro/macro properties of ODTs illustrated that moisture considerably affects the consolidation characteristics of blended powders; and the extent of consolidation and the bonding of particles depend, not exclusively on moisture content, but also on the powder processing conditions. In conclusion this work supports the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s claim for a paradigm shift from liquid towards ODT dosage forms for drug administration to young children older than 6 years. Data from this study will equip formulators to prioritise development of key physical/performance attributes within the delivery system.


Research on activity recognition has traditionally focused on discriminating between different activities, i.e. to predict which activity was performed at a specific point in time. The quality of executing an activity, the how (well), has only received little attention so far, even though it potentially provides useful information for a large variety of applications. In this work we define quality of execution and investigate three aspects that pertain to qualitative activity recognition: specifying correct execution, detecting execution mistakes, providing feedback on the to the user. We illustrate our approach on the example problem of qualitatively assessing and providing feedback on weight lifting exercises. In two user studies we try out a sensor- and a model-based approach to qualitative activity recognition. Our results underline the potential of model-based assessment and the positive impact of real-time user feedback on the quality of execution.


This study assessed agreement between two measures of medicine use, self-report by mail and pharmaceutical claims data, for a national sample (N = 4687) of older women aged 79 to84 in2005, from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Medicines used for common chronic diseases in older people were selected, with pharmaceutical claims data retrieval periods of three and six months. For six month retrieval, Kappa's ranged between 0.44 (nervous system medicines) and 0.94 (glucose lowering medicines). For three month retrieval, aspirin (Kappa: 0.35) and folic acid (Kappa = 0.48) had lowest agreement. Women were least able to accurately report use of nervous system medicines (sensitivity 80%). Specificity was consistently high across all classes, suggesting women could accurately report using a medicine. Pharmaceutical claims data can assist evaluation of judicious medicines use, changes to availability and uptake of medicines, and track medicine expenditure for chronic conditions. Over-the-counter medicines, medicines not covered by pharmaceutical subsidies and those used on an as needed basis may be best measured by self-report, as use may be underestimated using pharmaceutical claims data.


were present in North America ( The lungfish Sagenodus is a widespread Permo-Carboniferous genus found in Europe and North America. Important localities in the U.S.A. include Middle Pennsylvanian coals near Linton, Ohio, Upper Pennsylvanian deposits near Robinson and Hamilton, Kansas, and Peoria, Illinois; Lower Permian sediments near Cameron, Ohio; and Lower Permian "Red Beds" of Texas and Oklahoma. At least three species of Sagenodus S. copeanus, S. periprion, S. serratus). S. ohiensis is represented solely by one skull.
Knowledge of the osteology of Sagenodus is enhanced by the study of well-preserved but disassociated elements from Robinson, Kansas ( S. copeanus) and Little Bitter Creek, Texas (S. serratus). The orbital series is now known to be comprised of six elements and the sensory canal system is more complex than previously realized. The only known articulated skeleton of this genus, from Hamilton Quarry, Kansas, permits a restoration of the entire animal including the median fins. The dorsal and anal fins are not separate; there is instead, a continuous fin around the caudal end of the body, as found in other post-Devonian lungfishes.
Sagenodus is structurally intermediate between more primitive Devonian dipnoans and post-Paleozoic lungfishes. Evident trends can be seen in the reduction of bone (both number of bones and degree of ossification), the loss of cosmine, the nature of the scales, the structure and histology of tooth plates, and the configuration of the median fins. Sagenodus is a member of a euryhaline faunal assemblage that can be found from shallow marine to freshwater deposits.


A central problem for the European Union is said to be that of the "politics of identity". Within this, the concept of the EU's international identity requires exploration in terms of how it is both constructed and represented globally. To address this issue, this book identifies measures and compares public awareness and perceptions of the EU within the Asia-Pacific region. It deals with the under-researched issue of the public perception of the EU outside the Union and the role of the media in shaping such perceptions. It builds on what has been described as the EU's 'communication deficit', a phenomenon which has typically been explored as an internal EU dynamic but has yet to be applied to the EU's external relations. The volume presents findings from a systematic research project designed to measure the EU's external 'communication deficit' and to raise the level of its awareness in other regions through three perception levels: The study of EU images in news mass media production A survey of general public perceptions and attitudes on the EU A survey of the elite perceptions of the EU. Drawing on research from New Zealand, Australia, South Korea and Thailand, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of politics, communication studies, European studies and Asian studies


Attention is called to the analogy between linear optical systems and linear two-port electrical networks. For both, the transformation of a pair of oscillating quantities between input and output is of interest. The mapping of polarization by an optical system and of impedance (admittance) by a two-port network is described by a bilinear transformation. Therefore for each transfer property of a system of one type, there is a similar property for the system of the other type. Two-port electrical networks are synthesized whose impedance-(or admittance-) mapping properties are the same as the polarization-mapping properties of a given optical system. The opposite problem of finding the optical analogs of two-port networks is also considered. Besides unifying the methods of handling these two different kinds of systems, the analogy appears fruitful if used reciprocally to simulate electrical networks by optical systems, and vice versa. Linear mechanoacoustic systems have optical analogs besides their well-known electrical analogs.


Background: Hyperphosphatemia has become one of the main causes of death in CKD patients on HD. Thus, correction and prevention of hyperphospatemia is a major component in the management of HD patients. High protein diet in HD patients may lead to increased serum phosphate level due to mineral metabolism disorder associated with decreased glomerular filtration rate. In addition, high protein intake often followed by high phosphate intake as high protein foods also contains high phosphate and may cause hyperphosphatemia. Meanwhile, reduction of protein intake to control phosphate level was associated with decreased health and nutritional status in CKD patients. Therefore, appropriate phosphate-protein ratio is essential to provide adequate protein intake and avoid hyperphosphatemia. Objective: To investigate the association between protein and phosphate intake, phosphate-protein ratio and blood phosphate level in CKD patients on routine HD. Method: The study used an analytic observational method with cross sectional design. There were 100 subjects involved in this study. Subject characteristics, protein and phosphate intake, phosphate-protein ratio and intake of phosphate binders were obtained through interview and 3 x24 hour food record. Serum phosphate level was analyzed by inorganic phosphorus quantification method. Food processor was used to analyze the intake of protein and phosphate. Bivariate and multivariate tests with 95% confidence interval were used to analyze the data. Results: Adequate protein intake was observed among 38% subjects, while 46% of them have excess phosphate intake.High phosphate-protein ratio was found in 20% subjects. Most subjects did not take phosphate binders regularly (61%) and have hyperphosphatemia (66%). The average protein intake, phosphate intake, phosphate-protein ratio, and blood phosphate level were 1.1 g/kg/d, 13.5 mg/kg/d, 12.8 mg/g, and 5.6 mg/dl, respectively. Bivariate test showed that there was a significant association between protein intake (p=0.037; RP=2.78), phosphate intake (p=0.005; RP=3.54), phosphate-protein ratio (p=0.045; RP=3.85), and blood phosphate level in CKD patients on routine HD. Multivariate analysis revealed that high phosphate intake and did not consume phosphate binders regularly  were risk factors of hyperphosphatemia (p=0.000; OR=6.543; CI 95%:2.357-18.164 dan p=0.024; OR=3.413; CI 95%:1.179; R 2 =0.42). Conclusion: Consumtion of low phosphate foods and phosphate binders may reduce the risk of hyperphosphatemia in CKD patients on routine HD.


Effects of increasing cadmium (Cd) application rates on shoot and root growth, uptake and accumulation of Cd, and activity of antioxidative defense enzymes were studied in two durum wheat (Triticum durum) cultivars (cvs. Balcah-2000 and Balcah-85) differing in Cd tolerance. These durum wheat cultivars have been selected from a screening study including 10 bread and 6 durum wheat cultivars. The selected cultivars were grown in nutrient solution under controlled environmental conditions and subjected to increasing Cd concentrations (e.g., 0, 0.5, 2, 10, and 30 uM Cd). Genotypic variation in tolerance to increasing Cd stress was observed based on the development of necrotic patches on the base of the oldest leaves and reduction in dry matter production. Based on these parameters Balcah-85 was ranked as the Cd-tolerant and Balcah-2000 the Cd-sensitive genotype. The results of the root uptake and accumulation of Cd in root and shoot showed that the distinct genotypic difference in tolerance to Cd toxicity between two durum wheat cultivars was very closely related to the differential partitioning of Cd between roots and shoots. Both cultivars responded in a very similar way in total uptake of Cd by roots, but differed greatly in root accumulation and root-to-shoot transport of Cd. Compared to Balcah-2000, Balcah-85 had higher capacity to retain Cd in roots and reduce Cd transport into shoots. Consequently, in Balcah-2000 the shoot concentration and content of Cd were nearly 2-fold higher than that of Balcah-85, indicating a possible detoxification mechanism existing in Balcah 85 to retain of Cd in roots and prevent photosynthetic tissues from Cd toxicity. Genotypic variation was also studied in terms of antioxidative enzymes including ascorbate peroxidase (AP), glutathione reductase (GR), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT). The results obtained did not show any consistent relationship between Cd tolerance and activities of the antioxidative enzymes. At the highest level of Cd applications there was a clear decrease in 02-(superoxide)-generating NADPH oxidase activity in both cultivars, possibly due to inactivation of the enzyme by binding of Cd to NADPH. The results obtained in the study clearly demonstrated that differential tolerance to Cd toxicity between durum wheat cultivars is related very closely to detoxification mechanism of the absorbed Cd in roots (e.g. binding to cell wall and/or compartmentalization in vacuole).


Biologically inspired design is an important emerging movement in engineering design. Finding relevant biological sources of inspiration from existing biology literature is one of the important challenges of this activity. We conjecture that annotating biology articles with lightweight Structure-Behavior-Function (SBF) models is one way to address this challenge. We present Biologue, a social citation cataloging system that allows its users to gather, organize, share, and most importantly, annotate scholarly articles with SBF models. This feature not only allows the implementation of search mechanism that is more targeted to the needs of designers seeking bio-inspiration, but also helps designers make sense of the articles returned by the search mechanism.


Time series measurements at a mooring site on the deep slope of the NW Mediterranean from October 2003 to July 2005 revealed the sequence of effects of the anomalously dry, markedly cold, and very windy winter of 2005 in deep water thermohaline properties. At the end of January, a dense water mass that was warmer and saltier than usual reached the deep slope mooring site. Almost simultaneously, the start of deep dense shelf water cascading episodes was observed in the Gulf of Lions' submarine canyons. 30 days later, colder, fresher and even denser waters reached the mooring, with a 5-day delay from an intensification of the Gulf of Lions' cascading. The signature of these waters was detected for 35 days, and by late spring 2005 a new stable water mass situation was reached, with higher thermohaline values than those that characterised the deep layer from October 2003 to January 2005.


This selected bibliography on the migration of women in Latin America and the Caribbean in search of work forms part of the activities of the ECLAC/GTZ project "Gender oriented labour market policy", whose main objective is to promote the implementation of measures in favour of equality in employment and labour market policies. In recent decades, a large number of the region's inhabitants have emigrated to more economically developed countries. More recently still, we have seen the phenomenon of intraregional migration flows, which, from the 1980s onwards, have increasingly come to be dominated by women. This selected bibliography on the international migration of the region's women in search of work focuses on the labour market, which is one of the spheres where inequality and discrimination affecting women is most starkly on display. Women's migration differs from that of men in terms of its features and implications; for instance, women find themselves confined to precarious jobs characterized by a high degree of exploitation, such as sex work and domestic service, and are more vulnerable during the migration process, especially where trafficking in persons is involved. The increasing feminization of migration processes and the ensuing policy challenges for both countries of origin and destination make analysis from a gender perspective imperative, and call for it to be considered in public-policy making. This bibliography seeks to set out methodically the information available on the subject and facilitate access to it. The documents selected, their methodical arrangement and analysis reveal the current state of the literature, their contributions and subjects of interest; however, they also point to gaps and challenges for future research projects and, crucially, for the adoption of public policies that respect the women migrants' rights. Three indexes are included to make consultation easier: an alphabetical index of authors, a subject index and a geographical index. In addition, three lists are provided giving access to new sources of information on related international agreements, central national instruments and web sites of interest.


Are you alive? What makes you so sure? Most people believe this question has a clear answer--that some law defines our status as living (or not) for all purposes. But they are dead wrong. In this pioneering study, Elizabeth Price Foley examines the many, and surprisingly ambiguous, legal definitions of what counts as human life and death. Foley reveals that "not being dead" is not necessarily the same as being alive, in the eyes of the law. People, pre-viable fetuses, and post-viable fetuses have different sets of legal rights, which explains the law's seemingly inconsistent approach to stem cell research, in vitro fertilization, frozen embryos, in utero embryos, contraception, abortion, homicide, and wrongful death. In a detailed analysis that is sure to be controversial, Foley shows how the need for more organ transplants and the need to conserve health care resources are exerting steady pressure to expand the legal definition of death. As a result, death is being declared faster than ever before. The "right to die," Foley worries, may be morphing slowly into an obligation to die. Foley's balanced, accessible chapters explore the most contentious legal issues of our time--including cryogenics, feticide, abortion, physician-assisted suicide, brain death, vegetative and minimally conscious states, informed consent, and advance directives--across constitutional, contract, tort, property, and criminal law. Ultimately, she suggests, the inconsistencies and ambiguities in U.S. laws governing life and death may be culturally, and perhaps even psychologically, necessary for an enormous and diverse country like ours.


Mobile vision services are a type of mobile ITS applications that emerge with increased miniaturization of sensor and computing devices, such as in camera equipped mobile phones, and appropriate adoption of advanced computer vision methodologies. The interpretation of mobile imagery with reference to geo-coded information from augmented city maps offers new applications. In this paper we describe a central component in mobile geo-service application, the Mobile Mapping Data Warehouse (MOMA) as developed by Tele Atlas, and associated prototypical mobile vision services that make use of MOMA features and cognitive vision technology, such as, (i) vision based geo-indexed object recognition, (ii) image based localization, and (iii) hyperlinking reality via camera phones. We demonstrate the applicability of the state-of-the-art mobile vision technology and outline a roadmap towards the realization of future mobile ITS applications.


Visible Economies presents the work of artists and photographers Sutapa Biswas, Emma Charles, Anna Fox, Immo Klink, Thorsten Knaub and Corinne Silva with texts by Eugenie Shinkle, Martin Newth and Fergus Heron. Visible Economies explores a selection of photographic works that involve established and emerging forms of urban landscape, documentary, and artists' moving image as creative representational strategies. The aim of this collection of works and texts is to propose a series of observations and conversations about the visibility of cities and economies, with a shifting focus between the two, revealing aspects of works that are political and those that are more poetic in describing public urban environments. Together, these works and texts offer suggestions as much as descriptions of how we congregate within and use such spaces as modern citizens.


Article available online in January 2019. Click here to order a printed copy of the full issue through the University of Ottawa Press.


Objective. To determine the contribution of school lunchboxes to the daily food intake of adolescent girls in a school in an informal settlement in Durban, South Africa. Methods. The study was conducted among a group of 61 secondary schoolgirls aged 13 - 18 years. Two 24-hour recall questionnaires were completed during an interview with participants to gather data on dietary patterns over a period of two consecutive days. The researcher weighed and recorded the contents of randomly selected lunchboxes. Results. The lunchboxes contributed one-third of the daily nutrient intake of the children. The 24-hour recall and lunchbox content data revealed an energy-dense, carbohydrate-based diet. The contribution of total fat (34.04%) to the total energy intake of the girls was higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation of 15 - 30%. The daily fruit and vegetable intake (87.95 g and 83.97 g according to 24-hour recall and lunchbox analysis, respectively) was insufficient compared with the WHO-recommended intake of >400 g/day. Although the mean intake of most of the nutrients was sufficient, a large number of the girls did not receive the daily requirements for this age group. Conclusion. The results of the study indicated a high-fat diet low in fruits and vegetables. The majority of respondents consumed carbohydrate-based food items and their lunchbox contents did not meet the basic requirements of a balanced diet. Although increased dietary needs are seldom met in adolescents, overweight is an emerging problem among young people in both low- and high-income countries. Nutrition education in this age group should concentrate on healthy food choices in school lunchboxes, as school children can spend up to 8 hours a day at school.


This paper deals with application of simple synthetic inductor with series resistance (non-ideal gyrator). Those inductors are seldom used. However, if we use this inductor in the arm of bridge, the circuit is able to achieve high performance. In this way we can get band stop filter with good performance. In the paper we solve influence of real OPA properties. Theoretical considerations are verified by means of simulations (MicroCap) and experiments. Based on theoretical considerations, simulations and experiments are finally determined by criteria that must meet real operational amplifier to make the circuit performed well.


Background: Triggering receptors expressed on myeloid cells i.e soluble triggering expressed on myeloid cells-1 (STREM-1) is inducible on monocyte/macrophages and neutrophils and accelerates tissue destruction by propagating inflammatory responses in disease related to bacterial infections. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of STREM-1 in the synovial fluid to identify septic arthritis from aseptic ones. Methods: A cross sectional study (2007-2009) was conducted in the Pediatric & Orthopedic wards of Hazrat-e-Rasool Akram hospital, Tehran . Synovial fluid was aspirated in 53 cases with arthitis and searched for diagnosis of bacterial arthritis by conventional diagnostic tests. About 0.5-3cc of synovial fluid was stored at -70 °C, and quantification of STREM-1 was done in 53 synovial fluid samples (Quantikine, R&D systems, USA ) by EIA; results were compared between septic and aseptic arthritis. Results: Septic arthritis was detected in 49% (26/53) and aseptic arthritis in 51% (27/53). Positive synovial fluid culture was detected in 20.3%, and positive latex particle agglutination for bacteria was found in 8.5%. Positve direct smear was obtained in 10.5% of the cases. Cut off level 825 pg/ml for SF-STREM-1 yielded 50% sensitivity, 70% specificity, 64% Positive Predictive Value (PPV), and 64%, Negative Predictive Value (NPV). Poor agreement was seen between SF -STREM-1 levels and positive culture (p value: 0.037; Kappa=0.28). The area under the ROC curve for discriminating between septic and aseptic arthitis was 0.603 (95% CI; 0.757–0.448, p = 0.1). Conclusion: SF-STREM-1 level with cutoff 825pg/ml had 50% sensitivity, and 70% specifity in discriminating between proved cases with septic arthitis from aseptic ones. Searching for bacterial antigens in synovial fluid (Latex Particle Aagglutination test) and synovial fluid -STREM-1 level could potentially assist clinicians in better diagnosis of septic arthitis if added to the conventional tests including smear and routine analysis of synovial fluid. It might prevent unnecessary empiric antibiotic theray in children with arthritis. In clinical decision making; randomized studies on the potential synovial fluid - STREM-1 -level guided antimicrobial therapy in bacterial arthritis would be useful.


In a large scale screen for genetic defects in zebrafish embryogenesis we identified mutations affecting several aspects of ear development, including: specification of the otic placode, growth of the otic vesicle (otocyst), otolith formation, morphogenesis of the semicircular canals and differentiation of the otic capsule. Here we report initial phenotypic and genetic characterization of 20 of these mutations defining 13 independent loci. Embryos mutant at the quadro locus display abnormal specification of the otic placode. As revealed by dlx-3 expression, the otic field in the mutant embryos is smaller or split into two fields. At later stages of development the ear of quadro mutants is frequently divided into two smaller, incomplete units. Four loci affect ear shape shortly after formation of the otic vesicle. All of them also display abnormal brain morphology. Mutations in five loci result in the absence of otolith formation; two of these also produce changes of ear morphology. Two loci, little richard and golas, affect morphology of the otic vesicle shortly before formation of the semicircular canals. In both cases the morphogenesis of the semicircular canals is disrupted. Finally, the antytalent locus is involved in late expansion of the ear structure. Analysis of mutations presented here will strengthen our understanding of vertebrate ear morphogenesis and provide novel entry points to its genetic analysis.


The law governing the funding of private-sector defined benefit pension plans is in need of both long-term reform and short-term adjustment. After replacing the obsolete 30-year Treasury bond as the basis for the statutory discount rate used to measure plan liabilities, Congress should turn to more comprehensive and permanent reforms. The requirement that employers accelerate their contributions to underfunded plans must be made more timely and less volatile, and exceptions currently permitting inappropriate funding holidays for underfunded plans must be eliminated. Congress can protect the security of workers' pensions by providing for adequate funding, without discouraging employers from continuing to sponsor employer-funded plans. [© Brookings Institution]


The relationship between information technology (IT) governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) and organisation business values continues to interest academics and practitioners (IT Governance Institute, 2003). Like governance, risk management and compliance generally, IT GRC is about the decision rights and accountabilities that encourage desirable behaviour in the use of IT (IT Governance Institute, 2003). A case study approach was used in an organisation with many business units. The organisation selected is a mining company, RioZim, situated in Zimbabwe. Data was collected from business units on IT issues and business values. The interviews centred on the IT GRC practices based on responsibility and authority for IT decision-making. The results suggest that IT GRC does not adequately support business values. The study revealed that business values should drive IT GRC and IT GRC should be the responsibility of executives and all business units. JEL L20, L86


Flow–structure–seabed interaction in coastal and marine environments is a rapidly growing area of research and applications. In this vision paper, this area is discussed with a view of identifying its state of the art and current research challenges. The discussion draws attention to key issues related to structures such as marine pipelines, offshore windfarms, and multiuse offshore platforms. Tsunamis, which received considerable attention after two recent extreme events (2004 Indonesia tsunami and 2011 Japan tsunami) are also included in the discussion. Marine hydro-geomechanics is highlighted, among other areas, as an emerging branch of Marine Civil Engineering. Predictions of the field development for the forthcoming years are also briefly outlined.


The safe operation of both thermal and nuclear power plant is increasingly dependent upon structural integrity assessment of pressure vessels and piping. Furthermore, structural failures most commonly occur at welds so the accurate design and remnant life assessment of welded plant is critical. The residual stress distribution assumed in defect assessments often has a deciding influence on the analysis outcome, and in the absence of accurate and reliable knowledge of the weld residual stresses, the design codes and procedures use assumptions that yield very conservative assessments that can severely limit the economic life of some plant. However, recent advances in both the modeling and measurement of residual stresses in welded structures and components open up the possibility of characterising weld residual stresses in operating plant using state-of–the–art fully validated Finite Element simulations. This paper describes research undertaken to predict residual stresses in stainless steel welds in order to provide validated reliable, accurate Structural Integrity assessment of nuclear power plant components


This Article investigates the tax bases of local jurisdictions that have imposed bans on horizontal slickwater fracturing, colloquially known as fracking. Local governments that draw little additional revenue from fracking are more likely to ban the practice because of environmental concerns. The correlation between the issuance of local fracking bans and the relative absence of additional local revenue from fracking suggests the importance of taxation in the determination of the proper balance between federal, state, and local governments in the process of making environmental policy.


Children who live in households with smokers are involuntarily exposed to sidestream and secondhand cigarette smoke. The health hazards that result from passive smoking will be reviewed. This statement updates a 1982 American Academy of Pediatrics statement on the environmental consequences of tobacco smoking.1
 COMPOSITION OF SIDESTREAM AND SECONDHAND SMOKE
 Sidestream smoke arises from the burning end of a cigarette.2,3 Secondhand or exhaled mainstream smoke is drawn into the respiratory tract of the smoker and then is exhaled. Both sidestream and secondhand smoke contain measurable quantities of such toxins as carbon monoxide (CO), ammonia, nicotine, and hydrogen cyanide. They also contain carcinogens, including benzo[a] pyrene, dimethylnitrosamine, tar, formaldehyde, and β-naphthylamine.2 Concentrations of most of these materials are higher in sidestream than in mainstream smoke.2 Air-sampling surveys have documented the involuntary exposure of nonsmokers to the products of cigarette combustion.2,3 These studies have shown that smoking in enclosed rooms can produce CO levels greater than the national ambient air quality standard of 9 ppm.4 Similarly, elevated concentrations of airborne nicotine, benzo[a] pyrene, and suspended particulates have been documented.4
 Biologic evaluations of nonsmokers involuntarily exposed to cigarette smoke have demonstrated elevations of 1% to 3% in carboxyhemoglobin concentration.5 Biologic evaluations of involuntary smokers have also found increased levels of nicotine and of cotinine,6,7 the major metabolite of nicotine, in the urine and saliva. In addition, studies have demonstrated increased activity of enzymes that metabolize benzo[a]pyrene in the placentas of women who smoke8 and, possibly, in the placentas of women involuntarily exposed to cigarette smoke.9


This research has been done with synthesizing graphene oxide (GO) using Hummer method as a working electrode in a part of alkaline water electrolysis. The aim of this research is to know the optimum composition between GO and paraffin as an adhesive material, and so on to be used for electrolyzing the alkaline water. The sample that will be analyze is a water that has pH value 8; 8.5; and 9. Composition for working electrode that will be tested by cyclic voltammetry are 5:5, 6:4, 7:3, 7.5:2.5, 8:2. Cyclic voltammetry test is run by scan rate at 100 mV/s and deposition time at 10 s. The result of cyclic voltammetry test described that 8:2 has the optimum composition and optimum pH was given to pH 9. This result later used for working electrode of alkaline water electrolysis that reached decreasing value 0.01 for each 20 minute gradually from pH 9.00 to 8.40.


BACKGROUND
Ingestion of ketone supplements, caffeine and medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) may all be effective strategies to increase blood levels of the ketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate (D-BHB). However, acute ingestion of a bolus of lipids may increase oxidative stress (OS). The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of adding varying amounts of MCTs to coffee on blood levels of D-BHB and markers of OS.

METHODS
Ten college-aged men ingested coffee with 0g, 28g, and 42g of MCT in a randomized order. Blood samples were collected pre, as well as two and four hours postprandial and analyzed for D-BHB, total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), glucose, triglycerides (TAG), insulin, as well as OS markers: advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).

RESULTS
All three treatments resulted in a significant increase in D-BHB, HDL-c, and TC, as well as a significant decrease in TAG, MDA, H2O2, and insulin. The 42g treatment was associated with significantly higher levels of AOPP and MDA.

CONCLUSIONS
Acute ingestion of coffee results in favorable changes to markers of cardiometabolic health that were not impacted by the addition of 28g MCT. However, 42g MCT caused significantly greater OS.


The prevailing model for working memory proposes the existence of a "central executive" responsible for coordinating and prioritizing incoming information from sensory and association cortices. The Digit Span task is commonly used by clinicians to parse attentional and executive components of working memory; however, the interrelatedness of these constructs in the context of advanced age and neurodegenerative disease remains an area of active investigation. The current study details a procedure and rationale for the use of latent class analysis, a data-driven, person-centered method, in the investigation of older adults and dementia. Class analysis of digit span performance in older adults (n = 874) drawn from a specialty clinic revealed four classes with distinct performance across task subcomponents. In three of the classes, attentional and executive elements demonstrated similar performance. The fourth class and implications of class structure are discussed in the context of aging.


ABSTRACT This case study is based on a research through design project (RTD) that focuses on a technical communication video of the live-action format. It investigates the usability and design-implications of a live-action how-to video, by means of analyzing user-centered data such as YouTube analytics data, usability, and comprehension assessments. In the study, four key live-action video affordances are identified: verifiability, comparability, recordability, and visibility. The identification of these affordances when related to the users' assessments resulted in several design implementations that would warrant sought-for communication efficacies. Findings show that some assumed efficacies appear to be mitigated by the complexity and the density of the video information. One implication of this is that the implementation of conventional video editing techniques and the addition of on-screen text that serve to make content briefer and more concise into instructional live-action videos requires the technical communicator's careful consideration.


Blood transfusion is a life-saving intervention and refers to the use of blood and its components for therapy. Transfusion supports various forms of medical care and hence, there is an ever-increasing need and demand for blood. The main principles of transfusion lie in safe and effective blood supply. In order to ensure sufficient quality of blood transfused and to prevent wastage, component therapy was introduced. It involves the transfusion of specific component(s) rather than whole blood.
This review explores the history of storage; changes occurring during storage and the current developments in storage techniques of blood and its components. Blood and its components can be stored under various conditions with the addition of additive solutions. Whole blood can be stored up to 35 days, while erythrocytes can be stored up to 42 days at 4°C. Platelets are stored at 22-24°C for 5-7 days. Plasma can be stored at -18◦C for 1 year, or at -65◦C for 7 years. The storage solutions vary for each component and efficient storage solutions are under development.
The storage of blood and its components in ex vivo conditions causes the formation of storage lesions. These storage lesions, in turn cause decreases in the functioning and efficacy of the transfusion. Oxidative stress plays a key role in the formation of the storage lesion. The effects of oxidative stress can be combated to a certain degree by the inherent antioxidant defense system. However, further stress leads to severe irreversible damage to blood and its components, deeming them unfit for transfusion. The prospects of antioxidants as additives in storage needs to be explored.
There is still a dire necessity to develop better management techniques of blood storage and hence, improve the efficacy and shelf life of stored blood.


This study will research a modern design of acoustic guitar by analysis of the vibrational modes. The guitar that will undergo testing has been provided by Emerald Guitars and is solely constructed using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP). With the use of COMSOL Multiphysics© the soundboard of the guitar will be simulated and analysis will be carried out to determine the first 10 eigenfrequencies and the modal shapes these create. This paper will detail the preliminary results obtained using the physical data collected through experimental testing in a previous study. The paper will demonstrate an application of the finite element method in the field of musical acoustics.


A second gamma-decaying high-spin isomeric state, with a half-life of 197(22) ns, has been identified in the N = Z + 2 nuclide Pd-94 as part of a stopped-beam Rare Isotope Spectroscopic INvestigation at GSI (RISING) experiment. Weisskopf estimates were used to establish a tentative spin/parity of 19(-), corresponding to the maximum possible spin of a negative parity state in the restricted (p(1/2), g(9/2)) model space of empirical shell model calculations. The reproduction of the E3 decay properties of the isomer required an extension of the model space to include the f (5/2) and p(3/2) orbitals using the CD-Bonn potential. This is the first time that such an extension has been required for a high-spin isomer in the vicinity of Sn-100 and reveals the importance of such orbits for understanding the decay properties of high-spin isomers in this region. However, despite the need for the extended model space for the E3 decay, the dominant configuration for the 19(-) state remains (p p(1/2)(-1)g(9/2)(-3))(11)circle times(nu g(9/2)(-2))(8). The half-life of the known, 14(+), isomer was remeasured and yielded a value of 499(13) ns.


Abstract The contamination of water bodies in urban areas is a serious problem, which may increase when wastewater is discharged without complete remediation. Due to their high adsorption capacity and ion-exchange properties, zeolites, such as clinoptilolite, can be used successfully to detoxify the wastewater before discharging it into the water body. In this study, experimental use of clinoptilolite is presented for water remediation. A static flow (A) and a laminar flow (B) method were applied in order to evaluate the efficiency of clinoptilolite for reducing different contaminants in the outflow wastewater of an old municipal treatment plant in Bologna District (Northern Italy). Mesocosm experiments were performed in order to achieve reduction of the microbial faecal indicators and of the excess nutrients and heavy metals in the effluent. During the experiments, pathogenic microorganisms, ammonium and heavy metals were reduced by as much as between 78 and 95% within 24 h, highlighting the great efficiency of this low-cost material for water remediation.