We present "Diagrams of States", a way to graphically represent and analyze how quantum information is elaborated during the execution of quantum circuits. This introductory tutorial illustrates the basics, providing useful examples of quantum computations: elementary operations in single-qubit, two-qubit and three-qubit systems, immersions of gates on higher dimensional spaces, generation of single and multi-qubit states, procedures to synthesize unitary, controlled and diagonal matrices. To perform the analysis of quantum processes, we directly derive diagrams of states from physical implementations of quantum circuits associated to the processes. Complete diagrams are then rearranged into simplified diagrams, to visualize the overall effects of computations. Conversely, diagrams of states help to conceive new quantum algorithms, by schematically describing desired manipulations of quantum information with intuitive diagrams and then by guessing the equivalent complete diagrams, from which the corresponding quantum circuit is obtained effortlessly. Related examples and analysis of complex algorithms will be provided in future works, for whose comprehension this first tutorial offers the necessary introduction.


The study of a magnetic recording media dispersion has been carried out using hindered settling analysis, the purpose of which was to probe the equilibrium state structure in zero applied magnetic field. The system chosen for the main study was based on a commercial formulation of a y-Fe 203 suspension of 0.3 j.tm length acicular particles, with aspect ratio 5: 1, that was used to manufacture a back-up/archive tape.
From the sedimentation analysis, a large fraction of fluid (- 86 % by volume of the settling unit) was estimated to be trapped within the clusters of particles that make-up the overall dispersion structure. Confidence in the result was given by correction of the classical hindered settling models to account for the trapped fluid. In this manner, the range of Steinour and Kozeny-Carman parameters evaluated reduced near to, or agreed with, the fundamental values found by the original authors on simple model systems that contained little to no trapped fluid.
Near- Newtonian fluid measurements resulted in an equivalent Stokes particle diameter of - 6.7 Jim.
A computer simulation of hindered settling has been developed, based on a laminae concept and the Kozeny-Carman equation, in order to complement the experimental investigation. The concentration profiles over columii height compared well with those obtained using a scanning column magnetometer to give an enhanced description of the hindered settling phenomena.
This showed that the descending 'plug' of constant solids concentration falls down into, and is continually subsumed by, the rising layers of the lower compression region. The plug effectively contracts about its mid-point and the initial constant rate of fall is only maintained up to the point where the plug is destroyed. It was also found that the model only gave a reasonable comparison with experiment when the effective ratio of trapped fluid was large; giving further confidence in the trapped fluid estimate.
The theory of the scanning column magnetometer technique has been developed beyond that already known. This resulted in good agreement between theory and experiment in characterising the main detection coil response, or 'form factor' and means that future design work will be enhanced.
The effects of magnetic interaction in the magnetic media dispersion have been investigated by varying the magnetic y-Fe 203 content by dilution with cz-Fe 203 (produced from the same particles) whilst holding the total particle concentration constant. The resultant increase in sedimentation with magnetic interactions has been interpreted in terms of hindered settling theory as being due to the formation of clusters by magnetostatic attraction. Extension of the experiment should give a strong indication of the extent that magnetic particles trap fluid in comparison to their non-magnetic depletion flocculated precursor. This could be significant in the context of the drying stage of the magnetic recording media production process.


Business Process Management (BPM) has been identified as the number one business priority and building Business Process Capability is seen as a major challenge for senior executives within the coming years (Gartner, 2005). The focus of BPM in practice and related research has been its application in large organisation. The general value proposition of BPM, however, is also of significance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs within the wine industry have only recently begun to apply BPM principles to their business. The main motivating factor for this business improvement effort is a need to cope with consolidation trends and the global grape glut, which is forcing wine businesses to increase operational efficiency. The wine industry has been selected as a case study for this research not only due to its local significance, its growth driven by globalisation and its contribution to the economy, but also the relative immaturity in terms of establishing concepts of a process-oriented organisation. This study aims to explore and structure the major issues of BPM adoption and implementation as the first research initiative for SMEs in the wine industry.


Drive Powerful Business Value by Extending MDM to Social, Mobile, Local, and Transactional Data Enterprises have long relied on Master Data Management (MDM) to improve customer-related processes. But MDM was designed primarily for structured data. Today, crucial information is increasingly captured in unstructured, transactional, and social formats: from tweets and Facebook posts to call center transcripts. Even with tools like Hadoop, extracting usable insight is difficultoften, because its so difficult to integrate new and legacy data sources. In Beyond Big Data, five of IBMs leading data management experts introduce powerful new ways to integrate social, mobile, location, and traditional data. Drawing on pioneering experience with IBMs enterprise customers, they show how Social MDM can help you deepen relationships, improve prospect targeting, and fully engage customers through mobile channels. Business leaders and practitioners will discover powerful new ways to combine social and master data to improve performance and uncover new opportunities. Architects and other technical leaders will find a complete reference architecture, in-depth coverage of relevant technologies and use cases, and domain-specific best practices for their own projects. Coverage Includes How Social MDM extends fundamental MDM concepts and techniques Architecting Social MDM: components, functions, layers, and interactions Identifying high value relationships: person to product and person to organization Mapping Social MDM architecture to specific products and technologies Using Social MDM to create more compelling customer experiences Accelerating your transition to highly-targeted, contextual marketing Incorporating mobile data to improve employee productivity Avoiding privacy and ethical pitfalls throughout your ecosystem Previewing Semantic MDM and other emerging trends


Purpose: The Pythagorean Comma refers to an ancient Greek musical, mathematical tuning method that defines an integer ratio of exponential coupling constant harmonic law of two frequencies and a virtual frequency. A Comma represents a physical harmonic system that is readily observable and can be mathematically simulated. The virtual harmonic is essential and indirectly measurable. The Pythagorean Comma relates to two discrete frequencies but can be generalized to any including infinite harmonics of a fundamental frequency, vF. These power laws encode the physical and mathematical properties of their coupling constant ratio, natural resonance, the maximal resonance of the powers of the frequencies, wave interference, and the beat. The hypothesis is that the Pythagorean power fractions of a fundamental frequency, vF are structured by the same harmonic fraction system seen with standing waves. Methods: The Pythagorean Comma refers to the ratio of (3/2)12 and 27 that is nearly equal to 1. A Comma is related to the physical setting of the maximum resonance of the powers of two frequencies. The powers and the virtual frequency are derived simulating the physical environment utilizing the Buckingham Π theorem, array analysis, and dimensional analysis. The powers and the virtual frequency can be generalized to any two frequencies. The maximum resonance occurs when their dimensionless ratio closest to 1 and the virtual harmonic closest to 1 Hz. The Pythagorean possible power arrays for a vF system or any two different frequencies are evaluated. Results: The generalized Pythagorean harmonic power law for any two different frequencies coupling constant are derived with a form of an infinite number of powers defining a constant power ratio and a single virtual harmonic frequency. This power system has periodic and fractal properties. The Pythagorean power law also encodes the ratio of logs of the frequencies. These must equal or nearly equal the power ratio. When all of the harmonics are powers of a vF the Pythagorean powers are defined by a consecutive integer series structured in the identical form as standard harmonic fractions. The ratio of the powers is rational, and all of the virtual harmonics are 1 Hz. Conclusion: The Pythagorean Comma power law method can be generalized. This is a new isomorphic wave perspective that encompasses all harmonic systems, but with an infinite number of possible powers. It is important since there is new information: powers, power ratio, and a virtual frequency. The Pythagorean relationships are different, yet an isomorphic perspective where the powers demonstrate harmonic patterns. The coupling constants of a vF Pythagorean power law system are related to the vFs raised to the harmonic fraction series which accounts for the parallel organization to the standing wave system. This new perspective accurately defines an alternate valid physical harmonic system.


Copyright ownership tends not to be an issue in closed-source, software development.  In that model an individual or business owns - or in-licenses - the copyright in all of the code used in the software application, licenses it to end-users under a binary-only license, and relies on a combination of copyright and trade secret law to enforce contractual rights in the code.  By contrast, when software is developed in an open source model, copyright issues abound, and many of these copyright issues are not well understood by software developers.  This lack of understanding can undermine the intent of the developers and can potentially lead to unattractive outcomes.  As early as the launch of conceptual design in open source software , issues can arise as to ownership of the work and its progeny.  When a wide range of hands can touch the open source code, ownership and rights in the code can become blurred.  Moreover, n ot all code contributions to an open source project will be protected by copyright.  This paper seeks to explore the application of U.S. copyright law to software, and particularly software that is developed and licensed under an open source model.  We address the boundaries of copyright protection and ownership , the importance of intent, timing and creative expression in determining these boundaries, and provide guidance to those looking to launch open source projects.


Kinesiology is an academic discipline with a body of content that can be drawn on to support professions and to solve important public health problems. The Kansas State Physical Activity Systems Framework defines a new approach to structure the discipline. Central to the framework is the rejection of a kinesiology subdisciplinary approach and the adoption of an integrated "cell-to-society" systems approach. Each level of physical activity systems is addressed in undergraduate and graduate education and research. Supporting the framework are two research and education teams: exercise physiology and exercise behavioral science. These teams provide core integrated academic discipline content expertise and expertise for integrating professional application areas, such as public health. The framework has evolved over 20 years at Kansas State University, where today the Department of Kinesiology delivers high-quality extramurally-funded research; BS, MS, MPH, and PhD programs; and outreach in a cost-effective m...


Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is an inexpensive and safe substitute of recombinant growth factors in vitro and in vivo. Due to its putative effect on tissue repair, the use of autologous PRP has become largely popular. Recently, a jellified PRP derivative obtained from umbilical cord blood (CB) has been utilized in vivo to treat mucosal and cutaneous lesions. Nevertheless, whether PRP derived from CB and adult blood display different potency in promoting cell growth in vitro has been rarely investigated. In this study, we compared cytokine profile and mesenchymal cell growth supporting the ability of platelet lysate obtained from adult and cord blood. Our in vitro results strongly back the utilization of CB platelet lysate in vivo, as an efficacious, safe and inexpensive alternative to promote damaged tissue healing when the autologous PRP is contraindicated. Moreover, the policy of manufacturing CB platelet lysate can limit the current disposal of many collected CB units not suitable for transplant due to their low nucleated cell count.


The rights of a holder of a Community Trade Mark may be divided into a few groups: rights for protection of a registered trade mark and rights related to a registered trade mark as an object of property. Rights for protection of a registered trade mark confer on the holder certain exclusive rights with regard to third parties and are defined in the negative terms and include the following list of prohibited actions for the third persons: the use of identical or misleadingly similar sign to a registered trade mark on products or packaging (services), the importation or exportation of products under that sign and the use of the sign in business papers and advertising. The wider protection is granted to Community trade marks which are well-known or having reputation in the Community. The scope of rights for protection of Community trade mark is clearly defined in the EC Regulation. Different situation exists with the property rights of a holder of a Community Trade Mark. The principal rule is that property questions are dealt with according to the laws of the Member State in which the holder has his seat or domicile and, where there is no such seat or domicile, where he has an establishment.


Aim  Propagule size and output are critical for the ability of a plant species to colonize new environments. If invasive species have a greater reproductive output than native species (via more and/or larger seeds), then they will have a greater dispersal and establishment ability. Previous comparisons within plant genera, families or environments have conflicted over the differences in reproductive traits between native and invasive species. We went beyond a genus-, family- or habitat-specific approach and analysed data for plant reproductive traits from the global literature, to investigate whether: (1) seed mass and production differ between the original and introduced ranges of invasive species; (2) seed mass and production differ between invasives and natives; and (3) invasives produce more seeds per unit seed mass than natives.

Location Global.

Methods  We combined an existing data set of native plant reproductive data with a new data compilation for invasive species. We used t-tests to compare original and introduced range populations, two-way ANOVAs to compare natives and invasives, and an ANCOVA to examine the relationship between seed mass and production for natives and invasives. The ANCOVA was performed again incorporating phylogenetically independent contrasts to overcome any phylogenetic bias in the data sets.

Results  Neither seed mass nor seed production of invasive species differed between their introduced and original ranges. We found no significant difference in seed mass between invasives and natives after growth form had been accounted for. Seed production was greater for invasive species overall and within herb and woody growth forms. For a given seed mass, invasive species produced 6.7-fold (all species), 6.9-fold (herbs only) and 26.1-fold (woody species only) more seeds per individual per year than native species. The phylogenetic ANCOVA verified that this trend did not appear to be influenced by phylogenetic bias within either data set.

Main conclusions  This study provides the first global examination of both seed mass and production traits in native and invasive species. Invasive species express a strategy of greater seed production both overall and per unit seed mass compared with natives. The consequent increased likelihood of establishment from long-distance seed dispersal may significantly contribute to the invasiveness of many exotic species.


Introduction: Increasingly, universities are allocating substantial resources and efforts towards developing their own student-led clinical services (SLCS) within university health clinics (UHCs). For that reason, under the umbrella of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Health Professional Educators (ANZAPHE), clinical educationalists from 12 Australian universities have come together as a hot topic action group (HTAG) to collaboratively explore and enhance learning outcomes from this setting.  Context: SLCS within UHCs increase placement capacity to meet growing demand. Moreover, SLCS within UHCs have the potential to provide an outstanding learning opportunity through high-quality supervision and activities designed to develop clinical competencies. However, the benefits of providing clinical education experiences for health and medical students in this setting has not been formally assessed.  Typically, SLCS within UHCs are developed through consultation between universities and local health providers and are purposefully designed clinical placements with a focus on clinical educational activities for pre-registration students. UHCs may be located on or off campus and offer SLCS or other services to university staff, students and/or the wider community. In SLCS, students' delivery of health services is supervised by university employed health professionals.  Scope: The work of the HTAG to date is presented in this paper, which defines the setting and outlines assumptions, aspirations, challenges and enablers. The next phase of work for the HTAG is to formally explore the educational value for health professional students' of SLCS delivered in UHCs and to develop resources and a quality assurance framework to guide the evaluation of these services.


Small-scale probe permeability measurements on differently oriented faces of highly compacted and quartz-cemented Viking Formation sandstones yield detailed permeability distributions that appear to be diagnostic of the grain- and lamina-scale fabric of the samples. Permeability anisotropy of a single 'structureless'-appearing sample is low, reflected by a kV / kH-ratio of 0.7; corresponding k-distributions are homogeneous. Permeability anisotropy of a strongly laminated sample is variable, with kV / kH-ratios of 0.1 and 2.8, thought to be a function of the variability of the pore network connectivity for any given lamina. Significantly, the pore network anisotropy established during deposition has been maintained after several kilometres of burial, and cementation and dissolution processes. Lamina-perpendicular permeability distributions are very homogeneous relative to those of kH, which is taken to imply that fluid-fluid displacement processes are potentially more efficient in that orientation. In comparison to the dataset presented herein, industry-standard core analyses of kMAX, k90, and kV, do not appear to yield relevant kV / kH-ratios that may be linked to the evolution of permeability anisotropy with depth. In future work, quantitative measures of pore network anisotropy will be compared to multi-directional probe permeability data to test causal relationships between permeability and pore network evolution.


We present a multi-cue fusion method for tracking with particle filters which relies on a novel hierarchical sampling strategy. Similarly to previous works, it tackles the problem of tracking in a relatively high-dimensional state space by dividing such a space into partitions, each one corresponding to a single cue, and sampling from them in a hierarchical manner. However, unlike other approaches, the order of partitions is not fixed a priori but changes dynamically depending on the reliability of each cue, i.e. more reliable cues are sampled first. We call this approach Dynamic Partitioned Sampling (DPS). The reliability of each cue is measured in terms of its ability to discriminate the object with respect to the background, where the background is not described by a fixed model or by random patches but is represented by a set of informative "background particles" which are tracked in order to be as similar as possible to the object. The effectiveness of this general framework is demonstrated on the specific problem of head tracking with three different cues: colour, edge and contours. Experimental results prove the robustness of our algorithm in several challenging video sequences.


Being able to accommodate multiple simultaneous transmissions on a single channel, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) appears as an attractive solution to support massive machine type communication (mMTC) that faces a massive number of devices competing to access the limited number of shared radio resources. In this paper, we first analytically study the throughput performance of NOMA-based random access (RA), namely NOMA-RA. We show that while increasing the number of power levels in NOMA-RA leads to a further gain in maximum throughput, the growth of throughput gain is slower than linear. This is due to the higher-power dominance characteristic in power-domain NOMA known in the literature. We explicitly quantify the throughput gain for the very first time in this paper. With our analytical model, we verify the performance advantage of NOMA-RA scheme by comparing with the baseline multi-channel slotted ALOHA (MS-ALOHA), with and without capture effect. Despite the higher-power dominance effect, the maximum throughput of NOMA-RA with four power levels achieves over three times that of the MS-ALOHA. However, our analytical results also reveal the sensitivity of load on the throughput of NOMA-RA. To cope with the potential bursty traffic in mMTC scenarios, we propose adaptive load regulation through a practical user barring algorithm. By estimating the current load based on the observable channel feedback, the algorithm adaptively controls user access to maintain the optimal loading of channels to achieve maximum throughput. When the proposed user barring algorithm is applied, simulations demonstrate that the instantaneous throughput of NOMA-RA always remains close to the maximum throughput confirming the effectiveness of our load regulation.


Recent drilling of the midcontinent rift system in northeastern Kansas reveals a transposed Keweenawan stratigraphy of mafic volcanic rocks overlying thick clastic sedimentary rocks. A reprocessed version of COCORP Kansas Line 1 indicates that the drillhole penetrated a series of west-dipping reflectors associated with a reverse fault bounding the east side of the rift basin. Reanalysis of the original COCORP line also reveals a west-bounding reverse fault and evidence of crustal thickening. This information is integrated with gravity and magnetic data to define a model of the rift in northeastern Kansas. The model, consisting of an asymmetric basin bounded by reverse faults with thickened crust beaneath the rift, is similar to models proposed for northern segments of the rift system, and argues for homogeneity in the structural style and tectonic evolution along the length of the rift.


Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE; EC 22.214.171.124; Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) number 177400) is an enzyme found in many human tissues and encoded by the BCHE gene, of which 65 variants have been identified. In a recent study we found that the -116A variant of exon 1 of the BCHE gene was associated with lower mean BChE activity. The present study analyzed the -116 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in 253 Guarani Amerindian Brazilians from the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (148 Guarani-Kaiowá, 83 Guarani-Ñandeva and 22 Kaiowá-Ñandeva descendants) and verified that they were all homozygotic for the -116G variant. A comparative analysis of the -116 site in nine vertebrate species indicated the -116A variant as the ancestral type. This is the first study of the -116 SNP in Amerindians and it is therefore difficult to infer whether or not the -116A variant was always absent from southern paleo-Amerindians or was present and then subsequently lost due to evolutionary factors.


Studio-based teaching is a method commonly used in arts and design that emphasizes a physical "home" for students, problem-based and peer-based learning, and mentoring by academic staff rather than formal lectures. There have been some attempts to transfer studio-based teaching to software engineering education. In many ways, this is natural as software engineering has significant practical elements. However, attempts at software studios have usually ignored experiences and theory from arts and design studio teaching. There is therefore a lack of understanding of what "studio" really means, how well the concepts transfer to software engineering, and how effective studios are in practice. Without a clear definition of "studio", software studios cannot be properly evaluated for their impact on student learning nor can best and worst practices be shared between those who run studios. In this paper, we address this problem head-on by conducting a qualitative analysis of what "studio" really means in both arts and design. We carried out 15 interviews with a range of people with studio experiences and present an analysis and model for evaluation here. Our results suggest that there are many intertwined aspects that define studio education, but it is primarily the people and the culture that make a studio. Digital technology on the other hand can have an adverse effect on studios, unless properly recognised.


In this paper, we explore the electric field gradients (EFGs) at 238U sites for antiferromagnetic UX2 (X = P, As, Sb, Bi) using LDA, LDA + U, GGA, GGA + U, and the exact exchange for correlated electrons schemes by considering the diagonalization of the spin–orbit coupling Hamiltonian in the space of the scalar relativistic eigenstates using the second-order variational procedure. The electronic structures and magnetic properties of the compounds are also investigated. It is found that the density functional theory approaches except exact exchange for correlated electrons are not successful in reproducing the experimental zero electric field gradient value in UBi2, even LDA + U and GGA + U within their default 4f density matrices by varying the U parameter in an energy interval of [0; 4 eV], though these techniques with no need to manually adopt their initial conditions (elements of the occupation matrix) are effective in the calculation of the nonzero electric field gradients for the other compounds. The exact exchange for correlated electrons has efficiently provided a null electric field gradient in UBi2 and nonzero electric field gradients for the other compounds by adjusting its dimensionless parameter α to 0.4. The physics of the null electric field gradient in UBi2 is revealed in this article and it is discussed that the source of the ignorable electric field gradient originates from the antiferromagnetic ordering of ↑↓ as compared to the long-range antiferromagnetic ordering of ↑↑↓↓ in the other compounds. Furthermore, our calculated magnetic moments for the uranium atoms in these compounds are consistent with the available experimentally measured values as compared to the severely underestimated theoretical results.


The Britain of the Roman Occupation is, in a way, an age that is dark to us. While the main events from 55 BC to AD 410 are little disputed, and the archaeological remains of villas, forts, walls, and cities explain a great deal, we lack a clear sense of individual lives. This book is the first to infuse the story of Britannia with a beating heart, the first to describe in detail who its inhabitants were and their place in our history. A lifelong specialist in Romano-British history, Guy de la Bedoyere is the first to recover the period exclusively as a human experience. He focuses not on military campaigns and imperial politics but on individual, personal stories. Roman Britain is revealed as a place where the ambitious scramble for power and prestige, the devout seek solace and security through religion, men and women eke out existences in a provincial frontier land. De la Bedoyere introduces Fortunata the slave girl, Emeritus the frustrated centurion, the grieving father Quintus Corellius Fortis, and the brilliant metal worker Boduogenus, among numerous others. Through a wide array of records and artifacts, the author introduces the colorful cast of immigrants who arrived during the Roman era while offering an unusual glimpse of indigenous Britons, until now nearly invisible in histories of Roman Britain.


Litigators confronting a new area of law must come quickly up to speed on the pertinent substantive and procedural issues. The purpose of this article is to give practitioners a jump-start in the context of constitutional challenges to restrictions on the speech of candidates for judicial office. For ease of reference, an appendix to this article lists, and very briefly summarizes, most, if not all, of the published decisions on the subject. (1) I. CATEGORIES OF CAMPAIGN SPEECH LIMITATIONS Restrictions on what a candidate for judicial office may or may not say vary from state to state. Nevertheless, the most frequently litigated restrictions tend to fall into several main categories. A. "Announce" Clauses An "announce" clause typically directs a candidate for judicial office not to "announce his views on disputed legal or political issues." (2) The Supreme Court has held the Minnesota version of this clause unconstitutional. (3) B. "Commit" Clauses A "commit" clause typically directs a candidate for judicial office not to "make statements that commit or appear to commit the candidate with respect to cases, controversies or issues that are likely to come before the court." (4) C. "Pledge or Promise" Clauses A "pledge or promise" clause typically directs a candidate for judicial office not to "make pledges or promises of conduct in office other than the faithful and impartial performance of the duties of the office." (5) D. "Misrepresent" Clauses A "misrepresent" clause typically directs a candidate for judicial office not to "misrepresent his identity, qualifications, present position, or other fact." (6) E. "Mislead" Clauses Several states proscribe speech by judicial candidates that would be "misleading," though the scope and elements of this restriction vary. (7) II. POSTURE OF CHALLENGES TO CAMPAIGN SPEECH LIMITATIONS Constitutional challenges to state restrictions on the speech of candidates for judicial office arise in one of two postures: as affirmative challenges, (8) or as defenses to disciplinary proceedings. (9) An affirmative challenge would be brought by a candidate who fears speaking because of the potential of disciplinary consequences. (10) Such an affirmative challenge could be brought in either state or federal court. A candidate's defense to ongoing disciplinary proceedings, by contrast, would necessarily take place in the state forum (either an administrative agency or a court) assigned the responsibility to hear such proceedings. As noted below, the posture of the challenge can affect what strategic options are available to the challenger--the candidate--and to the defender--the state disciplinary authority. The challenger whose speech may run afoul of state restrictions often has the capacity to select the posture and the forum (state or federal) by making a decision: either speak and await the initiation of disciplinary action, or refrain from speaking and instead bring an affirmative challenge. Of course, this choice may not be conscious. For example, if the initiation of disciplinary action was unforeseen, the candidate may be taken by surprise and forced into a defensive posture. Conversely, the disciplinary authority may decline to "take the bait" offered by a candidate who presses to or beyond the facial boundaries of a speech restriction, preferring instead to await a more egregious or strategically attractive incident. III. TECHNICAL DEFENSES In theory, the constitutionality of a restriction on speech is independent of the posture and forum of the challenge. Thus, for example, a limitation on campaign speech that is constitutionally overbroad is equally invalid whether the overbreadth objection is raised in a challenger's complaint or a challenger's answer. Nevertheless, there are technical issues that may create obstacles to a court ever reaching the merits of a constitutional challenge. …


Data quality analysis in health care is a large and ongoing problem. Because the scope oj health care information systems is extremely broad and because most such systems have either a direct or indirect impact on the provision of health care, their quality is a topic of critical importance for information management professionals. Of vital concern is the data flow from the point of patient service delivery to an end point of decision support and analysis of the data derived from the encounter. The historical use of these data, their current uses and how industry dynamics have created a need for improved l^ata quality provides the context for a discussion of health care data quality. We address the definition of health care data, assessing data quality, and the need for ejfective data quality management. Next, the paper reviews some popular methods employed in the health care industry. We then propose an integrated framework to improve data quality in health care, and finally summarize the conclusions of this study.


This study determined the gender issues on poverty alleviation programmes; the case of the National Fadama 1 Development Programme in Abia State, Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used in the selection of the local government areas, communities and sample size of 150 respondents (75 men and 75 females). The instrument for data collection was via well structured and protested questionnaires. The result of the poverty profiles indicated that the poverty incidence of the male and female fadama1 farmers was 0.67 and 0.56 respectively. The result on the poverty gap (measures income shortfall) showed that the men required 46.0 percent and the women 48.0 percent of the poverty line to get out of poverty. The result also posted the Gini-coefficient (measures the extent of inequalities in income distribution) of the male and female fadama farmers to be 0.233 and 0.347 respectively. The result of the paired t-test revealed that the farm size and annual fadama farm income were statistically significant at 99.0% and 95.0%. Confidence level respectively. Policy aimed at annulling the land tenure system and replacing it with a gender sensitive system that will redistributive the fadama land equitably. The land tenure system which causes fragmentation of land should be abolished and a policy aimed at redistributing fadama land equitably put in place.


Teacher attrition and retention has become a major issue facing education policymakers and practioners as our nation's school age population continues to grow, but the teaching workforce does not. This study seeks to examine the impact of certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) on burnout levels in educators. The potential benefits to teachers who pursue NBPTS certification include a sense of professional pride, new leadership roles and responsibilities for teachers, recognition of outstanding teaching practice, and higher salaries (Shapiro, 1995). Some of these potential rewards seem to address a number of the factors that are related to the onset burnout, and therefore may reduce teacher attrition. The study utilized the Maslach-Leiter conceptual framework to examine burnout, which breaks the burnout construct into three separate dimensions; emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. The research questions sought to determine if there was a difference between National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) and their non-certified peers in each of these dimensions of burnout. The research sample consisted of the NBCTs and a comparable random sample of their non-certified peers from a large urban school district in the Central Florida area. The Maslach Burnout Inventory Educators Survey was used a basis of comparison of the burnout levels. The two groups were compared utilizing an independent samples t-test. The instrument utilized in this study also included demographic questions, as well as questions that were designed to measure the various elements of the Maslach-Leiter theoretical model of burnout. These questions and the independent variable NBPTS iii certification were included in a multiple regression analysis in order to determine if the differences noted between the groups using the independent samples t-tests were in fact a result of NBPTS certification, and not the theoretical model itself. The instruments were mailed in the fall of 2006, and were returned to the researcher anonymously. A total of 476 surveys were returned, for a response rate of 52%. The independent samples t-tests revealed significant differences between NBCTs and their non-certified peers on all three dimensions of burnout. An examination of the individual scores for each group revealed that in each of the dimensions showed that the NBCTs demonstrated lower levels of experienced burnout in each dimension. The multiple regression analyses that were conducted to confirm that NBPTS certification was in fact a significant factor in the development of each burnout dimension revealed mixed results. Emotional exhaustion and reduced personal accomplishment were both found to have a significant negative relationship with NBPTS certification, which indicates that the NBCTs are significantly less burned out then their non-certified peers. Despite the initial finding of significance in the independent samples t-test, NBPTS certification was not found to be a significant factor in the onset of the depersonalization dimension of burnout. This relationship needs further exploration in future studies. The significant difference between the research and control groups in this study suggests that NBPTS certification may reduce burnout levels in at least two dimensions. Legislators and policymakers at the state and federal levels have provided millions of dollars to support NBPTS certification. These findings seem to indicate that this financial support has impacted burnout levels in educators, and may therefore warrant examination as a strategy to address the issue of teacher attrition.


We study the demand by organic farmers for technical advice using a quantile regression for the demand of organic farmers for consultations with private information providers. There is substantial heterogeneity in the impact of critical explanatory variables on consultations of organic farmer. Larger farm size has a positive effect on contacts, but the effect is absent for the highest number of consultations. Internet use has a positive marginal effect on visits to private information providers across each quantile, suggesting that expanded efforts to deliver programs through web-based resources are a useful investment for information providers.


Dear Editor,

It was with great sadness that we learnt of the death of Prof Barrie Jones on 19 August 2009 in Tauranga, New Zealand, aged 88.

He was admired worldwide for his work in developing the concept of prevention of blindness and for establishing the International Centre for Eye Health (publishers of the Community Eye Health Journal) in 1981. He was in fact responsible for encouraging the launch of the first issues of this journal. However, your readers may not be aware of his major contributions, earlier in his career as first clinical professor of ophthalmology in the University of London, to the science and management of corneal and external eye disease.

Barrie first addressed the range of virus infections of the eye seen in London, writing about adenovirus infection and corneal involvement by the vaccinia virus. He conducted much laboratory research on herpes simplex infection, and randomised trials of interferon, idoxuridine, trifluorothymidine, adenine arabinoside, and ultimately acyclovir. A rational approach was developed to the management of different stages of herpetic keratitis, including mechanical debridement, when to use corticosteroids, and the role of corneal grafting.1

Barrie Jones, after his retirement, discussing the progress of the clinical trial of ivermectin with Prof Adenike Abiose. NIGERIA

Although a much less common cause of keratitis than in tropical countries, fungi nonetheless caused serious corneal infections in London. Barrie and his colleagues cultivated and tested the sensitivity of every fungus isolate to many different potential new drugs. He emphasized that the variations in sensitivity within each species were so great that it was necessary to base rational therapy on the results of sensitivity testing of each patient's own fungus.2

Barrie Jones was widely known as an authority on many aspects of trachoma. He developed methods of isolation, culture, and laboratory diagnosis. In extensive field studies in Tunisia, Iraq, and Iran he elucidated the seasonal dynamics of transmission of blinding hyperendemic trachoma, recognising the importance of multicyclic re-infection and the role of flies in transmission in these countries. He carried out trials of early potential vaccines and of chemotherapy.3

He investigated and wrote about an astonishing range of other corneal conditions, including infections by amoebae, vernal and other allergic types of keratoconjuntivitis, Thygeson's superficial punctate keratitis, pemphigoid, and dry eye syndromes. In the operating theatre, he pioneered new surgery of the lacrimal canaliculi and duct and improved the techniques, postoperative management, and outcomes of corneal grafting.

When, around 1980, he turned the full energy of his thinking to the questions of blindness prevention, it was informed by this rich background of laboratory and clinical experience.


The authors critically examine the paper by Samiee (2019, this issue) "International marketing and the Internet: A research overview and the path forward" and offer an appraisal of its merits as well as thoughts for further development of research on advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs) in international marketing.,This paper approaches its purpose via a reflexive review of Samiee's paper and continues by offering a content analysis of a broader body of literature which includes internationally oriented papers in international business (IB), international marketing (IM), general management, marketing and strategy (GMS) as well as information systems (IS). The underpinning question is whether and which particular ICT concepts have successfully been adopted in the IM literature and what the inclusion or exclusion of these phenomena may imply for future research.,The Internet and internationalization implications of the technology have been studied excessively in the domain; however, newer developments such as dimensions of Industry 4.0 or advanced manufacturing, have not yet been widely considered in IB and marketing work. The ramifications for future research are significant in that the understudied modern industrial organization of the contemporary firm in the digital world needs much concerted research focus to be adequately understood.,This paper and the literature review is limited to "international" studies. While this is an appropriate limitation for the purposes of this IM-oriented review, some work in the GMS domain as well as the IS domain will have significant ramification for international firms and IM thinking, despite these papers limited to noninternational firms.,The notion of advanced ICTs, builds on the underpinning Internet technology, and has transformative effects on the way in which (international) firms are organized, studied and performed. The pervasive shifts triggered by advanced ICTs and the reconfiguration of firms to platform providers and system integrators need to be well understood, in order to stay legitimate and as performant in contemporary markets.,Rather than looking at only IM papers, this paper reviews Internet/advanced ICT papers in multiple related fields. Significant novelty in this area comes from IS, by including this discipline in the review, the authors see real diffusion of novel thinking and potential research areas for IM scholars at the interface of ICT and IM.


Hepatitis refers to the inflammation of the liver. A major cause of hepatitis is the hepatotropic virus, hepatitis B virus (HBV). Annually, more than 786,000 people die as a result of the clinical manifestations of HBV infection, which include cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Sequence heterogeneity is a feature of HBV, because the viralencoded polymerase lacks proof-reading ability. HBV has been classified into nine genotypes, A to I, with a putative 10th genotype, "J," isolated from a single individual. Comparative analysis of HBV strains from various geographic regions of the world and from different eras can shed light on the origin, evolution, transmission and response to anti-HBV preventative, and treatment measures. Bioinformatics tools and databases have been used to better understand HBV mutations and how they develop, especially in response to antiviral therapy and vaccination. Despite its small genome size of ~3.2 kb, HBV presents several bioinformatic challenges, which include the circular genome, the overlapping open reading frames, and the different genome lengths of the genotypes. Thus, bioinformatics tools and databases have been developed to facilitate the study of HBV.


Probabilistically Checkable Proofs (PCPs) [Babai et al. FOCS 90; Arora et al. JACM 98] can be used to construct asymptotically efficient cryptographic zero knowledge arguments of membership in any language L ∈ NEXP, with minimal communication complexity and computational effort on behalf of both prover and verifier [Babai et al. STOC 91; Kilian STOC '92; Micali SICOMP '00]. Though PCP constructions are asymptotically efficient, it is still far from clear how well they perform in practice on concrete input sizes. One of the most important parameters to study in this context is PCP soundness, defined as the probability of rejecting false statements; this parameter determines to a large extent the communication complexity of PCP based protocols, as well as prover and verifier running time. Of particular importance is studying soundness for concrete, non-asymptotic, input sizes. This underlies the definition of the concrete efficiency threshold of PCP (and related systems) [Ben-Sasson et. al. STOC '13], defined informally as the smallest instance size for which using a PCP verifier is more efficient than naive verification via re-execution. To further advance the study of concrete PCP efficiency we initiate a security analysis of PCPs and two related systems: PCPs of Proximity (PCPP) [Dinur and Reingold, FOCS 2004; Ben-Sasson et al., SICOMP 2006] and Interactive Oracle Proofs of Proximity (IOPP) [Reingold et al., STOC 2016; Ben-Sasson et al., TCC-A+B 2016]. Security analysis means measuring soundness only with respect to the set of known attacks; an attack is a randomized efficient algorithm that produces a pseudo-proof for false statements. In the context of proximity testing (PCPP/IOPP), an attack receives as input a specification of an error correcting code C and a word w that is very far from C and outputs a pseudo-proof of proximity for the (false) statement "w ∈ C". To jumpstart security analysis one needs a set of attacks. We define one non-trivial attack, called the rational attack, on the quasilinear PCP of [Ben-Sasson and Sudan, SICOMP 2008], and two basic attacks — rowand column-compliant attacks — on the specific PCPP system for Reed-Solomon codes (RS-PCPP) that underlies that PCP as well as mixed strategies combining the two attacks. Our main results are: • Rational attacks force the attacker to prove proximity of a rational function (like 1/x) to low-degree polynomials. Rational functions are maximally far from low-degree so this suggests that PCP security may be significantly higher than soundness; • rowand column-compliant attacks on rational functions have very large security (i.e., large probability of being rejected by the verifier); the same holds for most (random) functions. This gives additional (preliminary) support to the view that PCPP security may be higher than predicted by soundness. We also give an improved unconditional soundness analysis for the aforementioned RS-PCPP, reducing its concrete efficiency threshold from the previous state of the art of 2 [Ben-Sasson et al., STOC '13] to 2. Using this measure of concrete efficiency threshold as our gauge, we reduce it further to 2 by applying security analysis; and finally reduce it to 2 for IOPP systems. An earlier version of this report appeared as Technical Report TR16-073 on the Electronic Colloquium on Computational Complexity [BBGR16]; this report subsumes and replaces that version. Research supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant 1501/14) and the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (grant 2021036).


As governments plan nationwide, interoperable broadband networks for their public safety services, the challenge arises of determining how and where to invest limited resources to meet demanding requirements. The United States is in the early stages of planning a nationwide 700-MHz long-term evolution (LTE) network for use by public safety officials at the local, state, and federal levels. This article presents a framework for the modeling and planning of a public safety broadband network on a nationwide scale. This framework addresses the challenges of modeling and planning for a country that is diverse in terms of terrain, user density, and public safety needs. It does so while managing computational complexity so that alternate scenarios (e.g., target areas, user requirements, and site assumptions) can be readily assessed in a timely fashion. The approach utilizes a clustering algorithm to classify areas by their terrain characteristics and user population, an iterative process for sampling and analyzing areas within each cluster, and extrapolation of the results to generate nationwide statistics such as site count, coverage percentage, and network load. Examples are given that illustrate the implications of stringent coverage reliability requirements as well as the impact of high traffic density resulting from an incident response.


Can banks maintain their advantage as liquidity providers when they are heavily exposed to a financial crisis? The standard argument - that banks can - hinges on deposit inflows that are seeking a safe haven and provide banks with a natural hedge to fund drawn credit lines and other commitments. We shed new light on this issue by studying the behavior of bank deposit rates and inflows during the 2007-09 crisis. Our results indicate that the role of the banking system as a stabilizing liquidity insurer is not one of the passive recipient, but of an active seeker, of deposits. We find that banks facing a funding squeeze sought to attract deposits by offering higher rates. Banks offering higher rates were also those most exposed to liquidity demand shocks (as measured by their unused commitments, wholesale funding dependence, and limited liquid assets), as well as with fundamentally weak balance-sheets (as measured by their non-performing loans or by subsequent failure). Such rate increases have a competitive effect in that they lead other banks to offer higher rates as well. Overall, the results present a nuanced view of deposit rates and flows to banks in a crisis, one that reflects banks not just as safety havens but also as stressed entities scrambling for deposits.


Cooperation is defined as any adaptation that has evolved, at least in part, to increase the reproductive success of the actor's social partners. Inclusive fitness theory reveals that cooperation can be favoured by natural selection owing to either direct fitness benefits (mutually beneficial cooperation) or indirect fitness benefits (altruistic cooperation). Direct fitness benefits can arise as a simple byproduct of cooperation, or else owing to the existence of enforcement mechanisms, which may be fixed or conditioned according to the individual's cooperative behaviour. Indirect fitness benefits can arise when cooperation occurs between genetically similar individuals, as a consequence of limited dispersal, kin discrimination or greenbeard mechanisms. These theoretical mechanisms are illustrated with empirical examples, from laboratory experiments to field studies.

Key concepts:

The function of Darwinian adaptation is to maximize the organism's inclusive fitness.

Inclusive fitness describes how well an organism transmits copies of its genes to future generations.

Direct fitness is the part of inclusive fitness that comes from the organism's own reproductive success.

Indirect fitness is the part of inclusive fitness that comes from the reproductive success of the organism's genetic relatives.

Cooperation is any adaptation whose function is, at least in part, to increase the reproductive success of a social partner.

Cooperation is mutually beneficial if the actor also benefits and altruistic if the actor suffers a net loss of reproductive success.

Mutually beneficial cooperation is favoured by direct fitness benefits.

Direct fitness benefits can arise as a byproduct or owing to enforcement mechanisms.

Altruistic cooperation is favoured by indirect fitness benefits.

Indirect fitness benefits can arise as a consequence of limited dispersal, kin discrimination or greenbeard mechanisms.

Keywords:

altruism;
Hamilton's rule;
inclusive fitness;
kin selection;
social evolution


This dissertation is a presentation of methods for the design of geometric shapes that mimic many forms found in a natural environment. It is argued that a skeleton provides an intuitive and interactive specification for these geometric shapes, and that these shapes are well represented mathematically as implicit surfaces. Substantial portions of the dissertation are devoted to the development of techniques that relate the skeleton to the implicit surface, providing for a geometrically smooth result.
New techniques and presentations are given concerning convolution surfaces and conditions under which they are seamless and bulge-free. New techniques are also given to embed a volume within a surface. Models for the human hand and the botanical leaf illustrate the techniques.


Question
To what extent does the movement of animals between fragmented habitat patches provide functional connectivity via endozoochorous seed dispersal?

Location
The Stockholm archipelago, Sweden.

Methods
We followed all movements of livestock between islands during one grazing season. After each movement, manure was collected and its seed content assessed through seedling emergence. Seedling data were then compared to vegetation surveys from the grazed islands with regard to functional traits.

Results
Light- and nitrogen-demanding locally abundant species, and those with relatively small and persistent seeds were more likely to be moved between islands. For quantitative traits, only a subset of the available trait ranges were dispersed, with extreme values left behind. Species apparently specialized to other means of dispersal emerged from the manure samples. Neither dispersed traits nor seed density changed with timing of movement, but seed richness and diversity both increased throughout the season. The subsets of endozoochorously-dispersed species in the established vegetation were more similar than non-dispersed subsets between islands linked by livestock.

Conclusions
Grazing networks contribute to the connectivity of the core species in the system, and could provide useful tools for grassland management in fragmented landscapes.


On 12th December 2014 the Supreme Court of India established its Social Justice Bench (SJB). The Supreme Court is no stranger to the terms 'social justice' and 'human rights' as this paper demonstrates. In the 1980's the Supreme Court created a unique procedure entitled Public Interest Litigation, (PIL) to promote, in the widest manner, access to the courts. Paradoxically, the very success of PIL constitutes a reason for the creation of the SJB. This paper traces the genesis of this novel bench.

This article shows how the Indian judiciary, working within a common law system, has applied a human rights lens to analyse and address social justice issues. The constitutionally protected 'right to life' under Article 21 of the Constitution of India is examined in this context. The question of what is social justice has been vigorously debated over centuries. A generally accepted definition of social justice is hard to achieve and harder to implement. Implementing social justice requires the creation of a geographical, sociological, political and cultural network thereby building a platform upon which relations between individuals and groups can be understood, assessed, and characterized as just or unjust. Social justice in contemporary context is treated as synonymous with distributive justice requiring the promotion of "social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom" and of "the economic and social advancement of all peoples". Putting it succinctly, we consider social justice in India, based upon dicta taken from Supreme Court judgments, to be a dynamic term that seeks to remove social imbalances through processes, including the law, that harmonise rival claims or interests of different groups, sectional interests or individuals in order to build a welfare state.


ABSTRACT Involuntary psychiatric commitment procedures are being reconsidered across the United States in highly contentious debates as policymakers, consumers, families, and mental health professionals struggle to balance competing values. Social workers are well-positioned to inform this debate, but to do so must be knowledgeable of the issues and perspectives. This study analyzed legislative testimony regarding proposed changes to Maryland standards (N = 42) together with data from a statewide survey of mental health care professionals conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness–Maryland in order to inform their stance on the debate (N = 208). Although we found disagreement on how to balance paternalism and care for safety with the autonomy and dignity of the individual, there was widespread consensus regarding the lack of appropriate treatment options as a source of crisis. Our data also indicate a need for training, irrespective of any legislative changes. On the whole, our findings indicate that a narrow focus on the standard for involuntary civil commitment should not divert attention from the larger issues that frame and contribute to what has been called a crisis in mental health services by proponents as well as opponents of changes to the standards for involuntary psychiatric commitment.


The effect of phosphodiesterase-inhibiting anti-inflammatory drug pentoxifylline (PTX) on LPS-induced IL-18 synthesis and IL-18-mediated IFN-gamma-induction were investigated. In a dose-dependent manner PTX inhibited production of IL-18 in LPS-treated cultures of murine spleen cells and bone marrow-derived macrophages. Similarly, PTX treatment significantly reduced blood IL-18 levels and expression of spleen IL-18 mRNA in LPS-challenged mice. The inhibitory effect of PTX was specific for IL-18, since LPS-induced IL-12 p40 release was not suppressed either in splenocyte cultures or blood of LPS-injected animals. Synergistic induction of IFN-gamma by combined IL-12/IL-18 treatment was also inhibited by PTX in vitro and in vivo. Experiments with IL-12 pretreatment of splenocytes, followed by IL-18 stimulation, revealed that PTX suppressed both IL-12 and IL-18 signals responsible for IFN-gamma induction. These results suggest that interference with IL-18 synthesis and IFN-gamma-inducing activity might contribute to anti-inflammatory actions of PTX.


In the quest towards coarse-grained potentials and new water models, we present an extension of the force matching technique to parameterize an all-atom force field for rigid water. The methodology presented here allows to improve the matching procedure by first optimizing the weighting exponents present in the objective function. A new gauge for unambiguously evaluating the quality of the fit has been introduced; it is based on the root mean square difference of the distributions of target properties between reference data and fitted potentials. Four rigid water models have been parameterized; the matching procedure has been used to assess the role of the ghost atom in TIP4P-like models and of electrostatic damping. In the former case, burying the negative charge inside the molecule allows to fit better the torques. In the latter, since short-range interactions are damped, a better fit of the forces is obtained. Overall, the best performing model is the one with a ghost atom and with electrostatic damping. The approach shown in this paper is of general validity and could be applied to any matching algorithm and to any level of coarse graining, also for non-rigid molecules.


We examine the causes of anoxia in regions such as the Eastern Mediterranean, which have exchange over sills with adjacent basins. Box models show that the concentration of the limiting nutrient is the major determinant of deep oxygen levels. The most effective way of increasing nutrient concentrations to the point where anoxia occurs is to change the flow pattern across the sills ventilating the basins. With a sill exchange pattern such as that in the present Strait of Sicily, it is difficult to obtain anoxia in the Eastern Mediterranean without also driving the Western Mediterranean to low oxygen and high nutrient levels. Episodes of anoxia in the Eastern Mediterranean are associated with a freshening of surface waters. A reversal in flow directions, presumably resulting from the observed freshening, will inevitably lead to anoxia associated with increased sediment burial rates of the limiting nutrient and will leave the Western Mediterranean largely unaffected, in keeping with the observational evidence.


"Pharmacology in Drug Discovery: Understanding Drug Response" is designed for all students, recent graduates, and new researchers in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries who need to interpret change in physiology induced by a chemical substance. Physiological systems customize chemical signal input to their own needs; therefore, the same drug can have different effects in different physiological systems. The field of pharmacology is unique in that it furnishes the tools to analyze these different behaviors and traces them to their root cause. This enables predictions of drug behavior to be made in all systems, an invaluable tool for drug discovery because almost all drugs are developed in test systems far removed from the therapeutic one. This valuable resource provides simple explanations of the ways in which biological systems use basic biochemical mechanisms to produce fine chemical control of physiology, allowing for more informed predictions of drug effects in all systems and forming the basis of the drug-discovery process. Chapters follow a logical progression on how to characterize the pharmacology of any given molecule and include important terminology, chapter summaries, references, and review questions to aid the reader in understanding and retention of the material. It enables the reader to interpret drug dose-response data and make mechanistic inferences at the molecular level. It bridges the gap between biochemistry and therapeutic medicine. Chapters include key topics such as drug affinity and efficacy, enzymes as drug targets, in vivo pharmacology, safety pharmacology, and more.


New tables in this edition cover lasers, radiation, cryogenics, ultra-sonics, semi-conductors, high-vacuum techniques, eutectic alloys, and organic and inorganic surface coating. Another major addition is expansion of the sections on engineering materials and compos-ites, with detailed indexing by name, class and usage. The special Index of Properties allows ready comparisons with respect to single property, whether physical, chemical, electrical, radiant, mechani-cal, or thermal. The user of this book is assisted by a comprehensive index, by cross references and by numerically keyed subject headings at the top of each page. Each table is self-explanatory, with units, abbreviations, and symbols clearly defined and tabular material subdivided for easy reading.


BACKGROUND
Use of the neoadjuvant approach to treat breast cancer patients has increased since the early 2000s, but the overall pathway of care for such patients can be highly variable. The aim of our project was to establish a multidisciplinary consensus among clinicians with expertise in neoadjuvant therapy (nat) for breast cancer and to determine if that consensus reflects published methods used in randomized controlled trials (rcts) in this area.

METHODS
A modified Delphi protocol, which used iterative surveys administered to 85 experts across Canada, was established to obtain expert consensus concerning all aspects of the care pathway for patients undergoing nat for breast cancer. All rcts published between January 1, 1967, and December 1, 2012, were systematically reviewed. Data extracted from the rcts were analyzed to determine if the methods used matched the expert consensus for specific areas of nat management. A scoring system determined the strength of the agreement between the literature and the expert consensus.

RESULTS
Consensus was achieved for all areas of the pathway of care for patients undergoing nat for breast cancer, with the exception of the role of magnetic resonance imaging in the pre-treatment or preoperative setting. The levels of agreement between the consensus statements and the published rcts varied, primarily because specific aspects of the pathway of care were not well described in the reviewed literature.

CONCLUSIONS
A true consensus of expert opinion concerning the pathway of care appropriate for patients receiving nat for breast cancer has been achieved. A review of the literature illuminated gaps in the evidence about some elements of nat management. Where evidence is available, agreement with expert opinion is strong overall. Our study is unique in its approach to establishing consensus among medical experts in this field and has established a pathway of care that can be applied in practice for patients receiving nat.


Antitrust enforcement in digital and high-tech markets is not disconnected from traditional antitrust theory or practice. Yet, unique features of firms operating in digital and other high-tech markets can necessitate modification of doctrine. For example, modern antitrust enforcement in digital markets needs to take seriously the presence of network effects in two-sided markets and the procompetitive justifications for various kinds of product design decisions that may otherwise appear to harm competitors under older models of antitrust enforcement. The goal, however, remains enforcement of the consumer welfare standard, even if enforcers and courts must be sensitive to features particular to digital markets.

This chapter takes the 2001 D.C. Circuit opinion in Microsoft as an inflection point in digital antitrust enforcement. With that case we can first clearly see all of the various threads pulled together that run through modern antitrust enforcement in high tech cases. This chapter begins with a brief overview of the precursor cases that informed enforcement up until the late 1990s before devoting attention to Microsoft and the subsequent cases that shape modern antitrust enforcement in digital markets.


We compare the short- to medium-term accuracy of five variants or extensions of the Lee-Carter method for mortality forecasting. These include the original Lee-Carter, the Lee-Miller and Booth-Maindonald-Smith variants, and the more flexible Hyndman-Ullah and De Jong-Tickle extensions. These methods are compared by applying them to sex-specific populations of 10 developed countries using data for 1986-2000 for evaluation. All variants and extensions are more accurate than the original Lee-Carter method for forecasting log death rates, by up to 61%. However, accuracy in log death rates does not necessarily translate into accuracy in life expectancy. There are no significant differences among the five methods in forecast accuracy for life expectancy.


Recent advances in cancer research have shed new light on the complex processes of how therapeutic radiation initiates changes at cellular, tissue, and system levels that may lead to clinical effects. These new advances may transform the way we use radiation to combat certain types of cancers. For the past two decades many technological advancements in radiation therapy have been largely based on the hypothesis that direct radiation-induced DNA double strand breaks cause cell death and thus tumor control and normal tissue damage. However, new insights have elucidated that in addition to causing cellular DNA damage, localized therapeutic radiation also initiates cascades of complex downstream biological responses in tissue that extend far beyond where therapeutic radiation
dose is directly deposited. For instance, studies show that irradiated dying tumor
cells release tumor antigens that can lead the immune system to a systemic anti-cancer attack throughout the body of cancer patient; targeted irradiation to solid tumor also increases the migration of tumor
cells already in bloodstream, the seeds of potential metastasis. Some of the new insights may explain the long ago discovered but still unexplained non-localized radiation effects (bystander effect and abscopal effect) and the efficacy of spatially fractionated radiation therapy (microbeam radiation therapy and GRID therapy) where many "hot" and "cold" spots are intentionally created throughout the treatment volume. Better understanding of the mechanisms behind the non-localized radiation effects creates tremendous opportunities to develop new and integrated cancer
treatment strategies that are based on radiotherapy, immunology, and chemotherapy. However, in the multidisciplinary effort to advance new radiobiology, there are also tremendous challenges including a lack of multidisciplinary researchers and imaging technologies for the microscopic radiation-induced responses.
A better grasp of the essence of these advances in cancer biology research will give medical physicists a new perspective in daily clinical physics practice and in future radiation therapy technological development. Furthermore, academic medical physics should continue to be an integral part of the multidisciplinary cancer research community, harnessing our newly acquired understanding of radiation effects, and developing novel cost-effective treatment strategies to better combat cancer.
Learning Objectives:
1.
Understand that localized radiation can lead to non-localized secondary effects such as radiation-induced immune response, bystander effect, and abscopal effect.
2.
Understand that the non-localized radiation effects may be harnessed to improve cancer
treatment.
3.
Learn examples of physics participation in multidisciplinary research to advance cancer biology.
4.
Recognize the challenges and possibilities of physics applications in cancer research.
Chang: NIH 5RC2CA148487-02 and 1U54CA151652-01
Graves: IDEA award (19IB-0106) from the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP), and by NIH P01 CA67166


Solids undergo phase transformations where the crystal structure changes with temperature, chemical potential, stress, applied electric fields, or other external parameters. These occur by either long-range diffusion of atoms (diffusional phase transformation) or by some form of cooperative, homogeneous movement of many atoms that results in changes in crystal structure (displacive phase transformation). In the latter case, these movements are usually less than the interatomic distances, and the atoms maintain their coordination. The most common example of displacive phase transformations is martensitic transformation. The martensitic transformation in steel is economically very important and can result in very different behavior in the product. Other examples of martensitic transformations are shape memory alloys which are lightweight, solid-state alternatives to conventional actuators such as hydraulic, pneumatic, and motor-based systems. The martensitic transformation usually only depends on temperature and stress and, in contrast to diffusion-based transformations, is not time dependent. In shape memory alloys the transformation is reversible. On the other hand in steel, the martensite formation from austenite by rapidly cooling carbon-steel is not reversible; so steel does not have shape memory properties. In Chapters 2 and 3, we study the interesting yet very complicated behavior of martensitic transformation interactions with plastic deformations. A good example here is steel, which has been known for thousands of years but still is believed to be a very complicated material. Steel can show different behavior depending on its complex microstructure. Thus understanding the formation mechanisms is crucial for the interpretation and optimization of its properties. As an example, low alloyed steels with transformation induced plasticity (TRIP), metastable austenite steels, are known for strong hardening and excellent elongation and strength. It is suggested that the strain-induced transformation of small amounts of untransformed (retained) austenite into martensite during plastic deformation is a key to this excellent behavior. In Chapters 4 and 5, we study the interactions of solid-solid phase transformations with electrochemical processes. It is suggested that electronic and ionic structures depends on lattice parameters, thus it is expected that structural transformations can lead to dramatic changes in material properties. These transformations can also change the energy barrier and hysteresis. It is known that compatible interfaces can reduce elastic energy and hysteresis, thus may extend the life of the system. Solid-solid transformations change the crystalline structure. These geometry changes can have long range effects and cause stresses in the whole material. The generated stress field itself changes the total free energy, due to the change in elastic energy, and thus, the electrochemical potential and processes are affected. An example is olivine phosphates which are candidates for cathode material in Li-ion batteries. These materials undergo an orthorhombic to orthorhombic phase transition. Experiments in the literature have suggested that elastic compatibility can affect rates of charge/discharge in the battery. Our theory provides some insight into this observation.


Target specific delivery of anticancer drugs to the effected site without showing systematic toxicity to normal tissues is important. Multifunctional biodegradable delivery systems reduce systematic toxicity in an efficient manner. These drug carriers should provide controlled release, be directed towards desired site, track payloads via contrast imaging, heat the effected sites and trigger drug release. In this context, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles based drug delivery systems are highly desirable. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles upon exposure of alternate magnetic field could be directed and provide heat to localised areas. Moreover, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles also have image contrast ability for magnetic resonance imaging.
This study aimed to develop biocompatible superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were coated by bioinspired materials such as peptides (diphenylalanine) to achieve monodispersed dual efficient such as drug carriers and hyperthermia. Thermally responsive core-shell materials with tubular and spherical morphologies without compromising the inner cores properties such as superparamagnetism is highly desirable.
Two shapes of iron oxide (spherical and tubular) were prepared using co-precipitation of iron (II) and (III) ion and oxidative hydrolysis of ferrous sulphate in alkaline solutions, respectively. Spherical peptide shells were synthesised using tert-Butyloxycarbonyl modified diphenylalanine peptide in ethanol-water (1:1) mixture. Tubular peptide shells were prepared using similar diphenylalanine non-modified peptide. The iron oxide nanoparticles (spherical and tubular) were encapsulated via template-mediated synthesis using ultra-sonication and vortex-mixing methods.
These materials were characterised using variety of techniques such as, zetasizer, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDAX), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) and magnetic field induced hyperthermia. The diameter of spherical superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles were measured to be ranges from 10 to 35 nm and rod-shaped core materials showed nearly 10 nm width and several hundred nanometres in length. Spherical peptide were approximately 1 µm in diameter. Tubular-shaped peptide were between 100-300 nm in width and several micrometres in length. These peptides were used as shells for the preparation of core-shell composites. Both spherical and rod-shaped core-shell composites were similar in dimensions to the pure peptide particles. Observational analysis confirmed the presence core-shell composition. Spherical iron oxide core materials were crystalline magnetite (Fe3O4) structures confirmed by powder XRD. These magnetite nanocrystals were further modified with a biocompatible silica shell. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis revealed a mesoporous shell structure. Spherical peptide shells were found to be amorphous and tubular peptide shells were crystalline in nature. VSM of core-shell composite materials depicted superparamagnetic nature, hence these materials have ability to heat over the exposure of applied external magnetic field for hyperthermia ablation.
Anticancer drug (doxorubicin, DOX) loading and release profile of bare spherical and rod-shaped iron oxide nanoparticle and peptide, silica and peptide-capped silica coated spheres were studied for potential therapeutic application. The doxorubicin loading efficiency was observed to be ranging from 12 % to 90 % depending on the type materials. The in vitro drug release profiles were measured at 37 °C without the exposure of magnetic field in incubation and with applied magnetic field. Time-dependent studies showed sustained release of DOX in silica coated and peptide- capped silica coated spherical superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles were ranging from 0 to 30 % over 72 hours of incubation. Concentration dependent studies revealed that the ratio of 1:100 (doxorubicin:superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles) had the maximum loading efficiency with minimum release capability. Exposure to Alternate Current (AC) magnetic field (200 G; 406 kHz) the spherical materials generated hyperthermia in a time dependent manner reaching 50 °C in 3 minutes. Tubular peptide coated iron oxide materials did not induce heat even after 25 minutes of exposure indicating weak superparamagnetism. Magnetic field triggered drug release was seen only in spherical core-shell nanocomposites with 6X higher compared at 37 °C without exposure.


Many genes are regulated as an innate part of the eukaryotic cell cycle, and a complex transcriptional network helps enable the cyclic behavior of dividing cells. This transcriptional network has been studied in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (budding yeast) and elsewhere. To provide more perspective on these regulatory mechanisms, we have used microarrays to measure gene expression through the cell cycle of Schizosaccharomyces pombe (fission yeast). The 750 genes with the most significant oscillations were identified and analyzed. There were two broad waves of cell cycle transcription, one in early/mid G2 phase, and the other near the G2/M transition. The early/mid G2 wave included many genes involved in ribosome biogenesis, possibly explaining the cell cycle oscillation in protein synthesis in S. pombe. The G2/M wave included at least three distinctly regulated clusters of genes: one large cluster including mitosis, mitotic exit, and cell separation functions, one small cluster dedicated to DNA replication, and another small cluster dedicated to cytokinesis and division. S. pombe cell cycle genes have relatively long, complex promoters containing groups of multiple DNA sequence motifs, often of two, three, or more different kinds. Many of the genes, transcription factors, and regulatory mechanisms are conserved between S. pombe and S. cerevisiae. Finally, we found preliminary evidence for a nearly genome-wide oscillation in gene expression: 2,000 or more genes undergo slight oscillations in expression as a function of the cell cycle, although whether this is adaptive, or incidental to other events in the cell, such as chromatin condensation, we do not know.


The two-stage 6-8 multi-anvil (MA8) apparatus is an important large-volume, high-pressure technique that has been widely used in the high pressure mineralogy and material synthesis, mainly at room temperature or above. Recently, we have successfully developed a two-stage MA8 apparatus for low-temperature physical property measurements. The first-stage anvils at top and bottom sides are fabricated as a single piece in order to reduce the total size of the cylindrical module, which is put in a top-loading high pressure cryostat and compressed by a 1000 ton hydraulic press. A castable, split octahedral gasket with integrated fin was specifically designed in order to introduce the electrical leads from the inside sample container filled with a liquid pressure transmitting medium. By using tungsten carbide (WC) second-stage cubes with a truncated edge length of 3 mm and an octahedral gasket with an edge length of 6 mm, we have successfully generated pressure over 20 GPa at room temperature. Since the high pressure limit can be pushed to nearly 100 GPa by using the sintered diamond second-stage cubes, our MA8 apparatus has a great potential to expand the current pressure capacity for precise low-temperature measurements with a large sample volume.
Edited by: A. Goñi, A. Cantarero, J. S. Reparaz


Research Findings: This study examined the stability of preschoolers' peer play behavior across the school year and the relations between emotion regulation, receptive vocabulary, and the trajectory of social competence deficits. Participants were 331 preschool children attending Head Start; they were primarily African American and from a low-SES background. Peer play behavior was moderately stable from fall to spring. Analyses revealed that emotional lability in the fall was associated with consistently maladaptive and declining social competence. Furthermore, children who exhibited stable maladaptive behavior had lower receptive language skills and emotion regulation in the fall than children who exhibited consistently adaptive behavior. Preschool children with comorbid externalizing and internalizing behaviors during peer play were at the greatest risk for consistent peer play difficulties or declining social competence over the course of the year compared to their peers. Practice: The present study informs practices for identifying at-risk preschoolers shortly after entry into an early education experience. Moreover, the findings suggest that without effective interventions, those at-risk children are likely to exhibit consistently poor social competence over time. Implications for the use of early intervention and prevention targeting specific behavioral and peer problems are discussed.


This thesis examines how optics can be used in general purpose parallel computing systems. Two basic assumptions are made. First, optical waveguide communications technology will continue to mature and become more and more prevalent in smaller and smaller scale environments. Second, electronic computational capabilities will continue to increase for at least the next decade. Thus, this research explores ways in which optical waveguide communications can be combined with traditional electronic computing elements to support general purpose parallel computing. The specific question asked is, "How can the properties of optical waveguides give rise to architectural features useful for general purpose parallel computing?" The answers to this question are developed in the context of a distributed shared memory computing design called OBee. This work defines the OBee design, a specific implementation, based on optical waveguides, of a previously developed, more abstract architecture named Beehive. The basic building block of OBee's physical optical architecture is an Optical Broadcast Ring (OBR). The thesis defines how one or more waveguides (or wavelengths) are arranged in varying topologies; it also defines several different access protocols. Together, a particular combination of topology and access protocol define a given OBR's properties. The OBee design employs a particular OBR to define a specific implementation of Beehive's reader initiated cache coherency protocol. The OBee design uses two different OBRs to define two distinct implementations of Beehive's sole synchronization primitive, locks. As improvements to Beehive, OBee adds two more synchronization primitives, barriers and Fetch-and-OP. The OBee design uses two different OBRs to define two distinct implementations of barriers; similarly, it uses two different OBRs to define two distinct implementations of Fetch-and-OP. Analytical evaluations of the performance of the raw architectural primitives are presented which show the primitives can be executed in reasonable amounts of time. The thesis concludes that optical waveguides can provide more than just high speed data transmission since the OBee design demonstrates that command primitives can be directly built from OBRs' properties. Several questions for future research pertinent specifically to OBee and generally to optics in computing are enumerated.


Phosphorous has been implicated as the primary cause of the deterioration of surface water quality in Ireland. Extensive water quality surveys revealed that diffuse sources (runoff and subsurface flows) from agricultural land are the major contributors of phosphorus to surface waters. The mechanism of phosphorus movement from land to water can be described by a number of mathematical models that vary in modelling approaches and scales (plot, field and catchment). In this work three efficient mathematical models of diffuse source pollution in general and of phosphorus in particular have been applied, for the first time, to three Irish catchments (Clarianna (Co. Tipperary), Dripsey (Co. Cork) and Oona (Co. Tyrone)) in order to explore the suitability of these models in Irish conditions for future use in implementing the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). The models are: (i) Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), (ii) Hydrological Simulation Programme FORTRAN (HSPF) and (iii) Systeme Hydrologique Europeen TRAnsport (SHETRAN). The first two can model phosphorus production directly while the third can calculate fields of various hydrological variables relevant to phosphorous modelling. For the latter, a generic phosphorus modelling component called Grid Oriented Phosphorus Component (GOPC) has been developed here to model the phosphorus detachment and transport by taking as inputs the hydrological fields produced by any physically-based distributed catchment model such as SHETRAN.
The three models have been successfully transferred to Irish conditions and this required the build up of a database consisting of topographic, land use and soil maps, water quality and weather data. The models application involved two stages. In the first stage, hydrological variables (evaporation, runoff, etc.) within the catchment domains were simulated by each of the three models. The second stage uses the outputs of the first in order to estimate the amount of phosphorus loss from the catchments.
The SWAT, HSPF, and SHETRAN/GOPC models have been calibrated and then compared and assessed on the basis of their ability to fit and reproduce the flow discharges and phosphorus loads and concentrations for the three test catchments. The findings from the flow and phosphorus calibrations of SWAT and HSPF models were generally consistence with what have been found from previous studies outside Ireland. However, the simple structure of the first order kinetics method used for phosphorus modelling in HSPF has generally impeded the freedom of the phosphorus calibration which was noticeably difficult. Application of the SHETRAN model to the study catchments has illustrated the importance of carefully assigning the parameters related to the soil water modelling, particularly the parameters of the van Genuchten soil-hydraulic function, in order to obtain the best results. The GOPC performance has been found to depend significantly on the SHETRAN model which provided the required hydrological variables.
The flow comparison has showed that in the three catchments, the HSPF model was the best in simulating the mean daily discharges. Moreover discharge simulation from an independent validation run of the three models in the Oona catchment have also demonstrated the superiority of the hydrological component of HSPF. However, the best calibration results for daily total phosphorus loads in the study catchments has been achieved by the SWAT model. However from the validation in the Oona catchment the HSPF has been found better than the other two models, SWAT and GOPC, in simulating the total phosphorus loads. Generally the results of total phosphorus loads from the GOPC in the three catchments were quite good and this model has reproduced some observed values better than the best model, SWAT. Simulation of the daily dissolved reactive phosphorus loads by the three models in the study catchments have showed big differences between the simulated and the observed data in most of the cases. Results for mean daily total and dissolved reactive phosphorus concentrations from the three models were not as good as the results for the loads in the three catchments.


When it became evident that the People's Republic of China (PRC) was on the verge of banning the Falun Gong movement, Li Hongzhi, the movement's founder, and his family escaped China, relocating permanently in the United States. Subsequently, the dramatic crackdown on Falun Gong in 1999 made international headlines. From the safety of his new home, Master Li encouraged his followers left behind in the PRC to vigorously demonstrate against the Chinese government, even if it meant imprisonment or even death. Further, Master Li actively discourages his followers from telling outsiders about his esoteric teachings; rather, he explicitly directs them to say that Falun Gong is just a peaceful spiritual exercise group being persecuted by the PRC. Not only has Falun Gong succeeded in propagating their side of the story in the media but the group will vigorously protest any news story that disagrees with their point of view. In more recent years, Falun Gong has attempted to silence critical scholars, including two of the contributors to the present volume. Enlightened Martyrdom: The Hidden Side of Falun Gong provides a comprehensive overview of Falun Gong: the movement's background, history, beliefs and practices. But whereas prior treatments have generally tended to downplay Falun Gong's 'dark side,' in Enlightened Martyrdom, we have made an effort to include treatments of the less palatable aspects of this movement.


Background : While the reduction of bone collagen content has been suggested to occur in bone loss during aging, the effects of weightlifting exercises on femoral neck strength and collagen content are not completely understood.
Research question : This study tested the effects of weightlifting exercise training on femoral neck mechanical and structural properties in maturing rats.
Type of study : Randomised controlled study.
Methods : Twelve-week-old male Wistar rats (initial body mass, 252 ± 14 g) were randomly divided into Control (CO, n = 7) and Trained (TR, n = 7) groups. Animals from the TR group were subjected to a resistance-training regime [five sessions·wk-1; four sets of 12 repetitions, 80% of one repetition maximum (1 RM), 90 s resting interval] for eight weeks. The femoral neck maximum load, stiffness and tenacity were measured. Bone mineral density (BMD) and mineral content (BMC), as well as the femoral neck bone volume (BV/TV) and collagen type I and III content were assessed.
Results : TR animals exhibited a higher (P 0.05).
Conclusion : Weightlifting exercise training enhances the femoral neck mechanical properties in maturing rats without increasing bone volume and mineral density, but with important augmentations in the total and type III collagen contents. This indicates that the improved femoral neck strength in response to weightlifting training is more likely to be due to bone quality as opposed to bone quantity.


This study was conducted to investigate the effect of 5% (w/v) Strobilanthes crispus
crude extract on rat liver during induced hepatocarcinogenesis. Elemental analysis, was
done to support this study on all the liver tissues by energy filter transmission electron
microscope (EFTEM) and variable pressure scanning electron microscope (VPSEM).
Histological and gross changes of liver evaluation were conducted to observe the cellular
and morphological changes during induced hepatocarcinogenesis in rats treated with
S.crispus. Xenobiotics detoxification enzymes such as aniline hydroxylase (ANH) and
glutathione S-transferase (GST) were assayed in liver tissues. Gross examination on liver
of rats which were induced with diethylnitrosamine/acetylaminofluorene (DEN/AAF)
showed the presence of nodules, haemorrhages and swelling on liver surface. The 5%
(w/v) Strobilanthes crispus extract effectively reduced gross changes on liver during
induced hepatocarcinogenesis. Meanwhile, histological evaluation revealed that a certain
grade of inflammation or necrosis at portal and lobular region and stages of fibrosis
during induced hepatocarcinogenesis was successfully reduced after the administration of
Strobilanthes crispus extract. Nevertheless, supplementation of S. crispus did not fully
recover the liver to normal histological feature. This could be due to the short duration of
this experiment. Elemental analysis by VPSEM showed that 5% w/v Strobilanthes
crispus extract contained 63.52% of carbon, 16.56% of oxygen, 0.66% of sodium, 0.08%
of magnesium, 11.78% of aluminium, 0.17% of phosphorus, 1.19% of sulphur, 1.66% of
chloride, 0.95% of potassium, 0.19% of iron, 0.20% of copper, 2.30% of calcium, 0.39%
silicon and 0.35% of argentum. The fresh liver tissue obtained from rats administered
with DEN/AAF and treated with Strobilanthes crispus extract showed higher percentage
distribution of antioxidant elements such as potassium and magnesium when compared to
the liver from rats induced with DEN/AAF and untreated rats, DEN/AAF administered
and treated with glycyrrhizin rats, normal without treatment rats, normal with
Strobilanthes crispus supplemented rats and normal with glycyrrhizin supplemented rats.
To detect the antioxidant elements such as potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron at
ultrastructural level, EFTEM was used. By utilizing EFTEM, the distributions of these
elements were also found to be higher in cancer with S.crispus group compared to other
groups. This may suggest showed that tumor cells has high uptake of these elements
from S.crispus extract. Meanwhile, DEN/AAF induced rats showed an increase activity
of drug/carcinogen detoxification enzymes i.e. GST and ANH. However, 5% w/v
S.crispus extract effectively inhibit the activity of these enzymes in DEN/AAF induced
rats. S.crispus which is rich with antioxidant elements such as potassium, magnesium,
calcium and iron play important role during carcinogenesis. Thus, S.crispus can be
considered as potential chemopreventive agent