The article presents research data from 60 patients with vascular dementia. All subjects were divided into 2 groups: 1st group 30 patients who received choline alfoscerate on the background of basic therapy; and group 2 30 patients who received only basic therapy. The effectiveness of therapy was evaluated twice: before treatment and on day 40 of treatment. The status was assessed using the VAS scale (visual-analogue scale for pain), according to the questionnaire for identifying vegetative disorders and determining the vegetative dystonia syndrome (VDS), according to the severity of vegetative reactivity according to the Danyini-Ashner test, and the Hamilton anxiety and depression test. A reliable nootropic effect of the drug was revealed, as well as its effect on cerebrosthenic and somatovegetative manifestations. There were no serious adverse events requiring additional measures.


The world most important source of chemical information, Chemical Abstracts (CA), is celebrating hundred years of its existence. This is undoubtedly a good reason for summarizing at least the most important steps and to look both back and ahead. To abstract and index most of the published results of chemical research has been definitely the main and crucial role of this service and the material collected represents actually compressed history of chemical research in the last 100 years. The CA played also an extremely important role in listing and identification of all known chemical compounds through a registry system resulting in indispensable CAS REGISTRY database, which now approaches 100 million items. Among many and sometimes quite difficult decisions, the veryearly orientation on computer technology was the most important and this is the basis for the present unbeatable position of CA on the chemical information market. The most prestigious product of computer methodology is the SciFinder, which is probably the most sophisticated and efficient tool for searching scientific information. The only complaint is the price of CA, which is unfortunately closely related to ever-increasing production of new chemical information and to the commitment of CA to keep a very high standard of quality of the information products.


This article derives from considering the interrelations of two sets of long-term international work: that on interdisciplinary crisis studies and that on critical studies on men and masculinities. More specifically, it interrogates the place and potential of crisis and crises in the politics and problematics of men and masculinities, including how crisis can be a driver of critical studies on men and masculinities. Further to this, four main forms of deployment of crisis within critical studies on men and masculinities are interrogated. There is a wellelaborated debate on what has come to be called 'the crisis of masculinity'. Interestingly, this takes very different shapes, sometimes even opposite constructions, in different parts of the world and within different discourses. Even with this diversity, crisis is often presented as 'fact', identity and a result of 'role confusion' for boys, young men and men around what it might mean to be a boy and man in contemporary times. This approach contrasts with those foregrounding more endogenous crisis tendencies, first, within patriarchal relations and then of gender itself, with associated deconstructions of men and masculinity. Meanwhile, within critical studies on men and masculinities, there has been a relative neglect, at least until recently, of large-scale global crises. Key examples include financial crisis, political crisis, ecological crisis and pandemic crisis. In short, there appears to have been over-recognition of the 'crisis of masculinity', some recognition of crisis tendencies of patriarchal relations and of gender, and under-recognition of crises created or reinforced largely by certain men and masculinities globally and transnationally.


With the development of technology, massive amounts of data are often observed at a large number of spatial locations (n). However, statistical analysis is usually not feasible or not computationally efficient for such large dataset. This is the so-called "big n problem".
The goal of this dissertation is to contribute solutions to the "big n problem". The dissertation is devoted to computationally efficient methods and models for large spatial and spatio-temporal data. Several approximation methods to "the big n problem" are reviewed, and an extended autoregressive model, called the EAR model, is proposed as a parsimonious model that accounts for smoothness of a process collected over space. It is an extension of the Pettitt et a1. as well as Czado and Prokopenko parameterizations of the spatial conditional autoregressive (CAR) model. To complement the computational advantage, a structure removing orthonormal transformation named "pre-whitening" is described. This transformation is based on a singular value decomposition and results in the removal of spatial structure from the data. Circulant embedding technique further simplifies the calculation of eigenvalues and eigenvectors for the "pre-whitening" procedure.
The EAR model is studied to have connections to the Matern class covariance structure in geostatistics as well as the integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA) approach that is based on a stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE) framework. To model geostatistical data, a latent spatial Gaussian Markov random field (GMRF) with an EAR model prior is applied. The GMRF is defined on a fine grid and thus enables the posterior precision matrix to be diagonal through introducing a missing data scheme. This results in parameter estimation and spatial interpolation simultaneously under the Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) framework.
The EAR model is naturally extended to spatio-temporal models. In particular, a spatio-temporal model with spatially varying temporal trend parameters is discussed.


Adverse effects observed in alcoholic rats are often attributed to alcohol per se. Alcoholic liver damage, however, can be avoided by modulating nutritional factors despite high blood alcohol concentrations. Hence, we examined the effect of blood alcohol concentration on pancreatic enzyme activity and release. Three liquid diets containing 36 and 18% of total energy derived from alcohol and protein, respectively, were fed. Each alcohol diet contained 11, 21 or 31% of energy from carbohydrate, and the fat concentration was appropriately adjusted. The control groups of rats (fed an isoenergetic liquid diet without alcohol) and the alcoholic groups of rats were maintained for 2 wk. The three groups of alcoholic rats consumed 13.3 +/- 2.3, 13.3 +/- 2.2 and 13.2 +/- 1.9 g/kg of alcohol daily, and their corresponding blood alcohol levels were 41.5 +/- 4.3, 55.4 +/- 8.9 and 44.6 +/- 2.2 mmol/L. Pancreatic acinar amylase activity in alcoholic rats was proportional to carbohydrate ingested, despite high blood alcohol concentrations; chymotrypsin and trypsin activities were unchanged. Acinar enzyme activities in control rats were similar. Furthermore, cholecystokinin-octapeptide-stimulated amylase release in alcoholic rats corresponded with the amylase concentration in acini, whereas stimulated trypsin output was unaltered in both control and alcoholic rats. These results demonstrate that neither alcohol ingestion nor high blood alcohol concentration affects the activities of pancreatic proteases and that the changes in the activity and release of amylase are related to the intake of carbohydrate.


Volume 9 in the Babbage Reprint Series makes the Moore School Lectures (1946) available for the first time. Volume 9 in the Babbage Reprint Series makes the Moore School Lectures (1946) available for the first time. Delivered by such notable engineers and scientists as J.P. Eckert, J. Mauchly, H. Goldstine, A.W. Burks, and J. von Neumann at the University of Pennsylvania as a direct response to crucial new developments in the design and construction of the early stored program computer, the ENIAC, the lectures provide a comprehensive overview of the history of computing devices and digital and analog computing mechanisms; machine elements, including arithmetic circuits and the Selectron; numerical mathematical methods; and a detailed presentation of the ENIAC, the parallel type EDVAC, and the serial acoustic binary EDVAC.


High repetition rate passively mode-locked sources are of significant interest due to their potential for applications including optical clocking, optical sampling, communications and others. Due to their short excited state lifetimes mode-locked VECSELs are ideally suited to high repetition rate operation, however fundamentally mode-locked quantum well-based VECSELs have not achieved repetition rates above 10 GHz due to the limitations placed on the cavity geometry by the requirement that the saturable absorber saturates more quickly than the gain. This issue has been overcome by the use of quantum dot-based saturable absorbers with lower saturation fluences leading to repetition rates up to 50 GHz, but sub-picosecond pulses have not been achieved at these repetition rates. We present a passively harmonically mode-locked VECSEL emitting pulses of 265 fs duration at a repetition rate of 169 GHz with an output power of 20 mW. The laser is based around an antiresonant 6 quantum well gain sample and is mode-locked using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. Harmonic modelocking is achieved by using an intracavity sapphire etalon. The sapphire then acts as a coupled cavity, setting the repetition rate of the laser while still allowing a tight focus on the saturable absorber. RF spectra of the laser output show no peaks at harmonics of the fundamental repetition rate up to 26 GHz, indicating stable harmonic modelocking. Autocorrelations reveal groups of pulses circulating in the cavity as a result of an increased tendency towards Q-switched modelocking due to the low pulse energies.


PURPOSE
Using Monte Carlo, we estimated the 3-dimensional organ-dose distribution for neutron and gamma irradiation of the male liver, female liver, and female breasts for neutron-and gamma-stimulated imaging. Understanding the dose distribution from these diagnostic scans is essential for assessing radiation risk.

METHODS
Monte Carlo was performed using the GEANT4 GATE application and a voxelized XCAT human phantom. Male and female XCAT phantoms were voxelized into 256×256×600 voxels (3.125×3.125×3.125mm^ 3). A monoenergetic rectangular beam of neutrons or gammas with 1.6×10^ 7 particles was irradiated onto a 2cm thick slice at eight different angles from 0-180°. For the liver, the beam rotated about the axis of the torso. For the breast, the beam rotated around the pendulous breasts. The neutron irradiation utilized a 5MeV neutron beam and the gamma irradiation utilized a 7MeV gamma beam. Dose volume histograms were computed to analyze the absolute and relative doses in each organ.

RESULTS
The neutron irradiation of the liver for both the male/female phantoms imparted the highest organ dose to the liver. All other organ doses were below ∼15% of the liver dose, except for the stomach-wall which registered ∼80% and ∼70% respectively for the male and female. The highest dose for gamma irradiation of the liver occurred in the stomach-wall, with a relative liver dose of ∼70% in the male and ∼75% in the female. Most other organ doses were below ∼10% of the stomach dose. For the breast scans, both the neutron and gamma irradiation registered maximum organ doses in the breasts, with all other relative organ doses being well below 2% of the breast dose.

CONCLUSION
Neutron and gamma irradiation of target organs such as the liver and breasts imparts the maximum dose to the primary target organ and a considerably lower dose to proximal organs outside of the beam plane.


One of the main criteria of effectively managing emergency and crisis situations is good preparedness. Simulation and serious games (SSG) are often advocated as promising technologies supporting training and increasing the skills necessary to deal with new, complex and often unexpected situations. This paper is based on an investigation of why a seemingly appropriate SSG technology was not used long after procurement. We identified potential obstacles and challenges of SSG implementation in organizations responsible for societal safety. The focus is on fire fighter training and is based on 33 interviews with major stakeholders from seven countries, from organizations with successful as well as unsuccessful experiences of SSG use. By contrasting the different incentives and views regarding the technology use, this paper contributes to a better understanding of challenges related to SSG implementation and use. The results confirm the possible benefits of SSGs, but also highlight an urgent need for new approaches to integrate these new technologies into organizational practices. Only by formulating local, organizational strategies with the SSG use can the technology be implemented successfully.


The MALDI-TOF MS analysis of copolymers very often results in complex spectra. A chromatographic separation/fractionation prior to the MALDI investigation can be advantageous since the MALDI mass spectra of fractions very often reveal well-resolved peaks of distinguishable copolymer series. For this purpose, different modes of chromatography have been applied. Chromatographic runs were transferred to MALDI targets utilizing a combined air/electrospray deposition device. Using the new MassChrom2D software, fraction-dependent 2D copolymer compositions plots were obtained providing additional information on the chromatographic mode, and enabling fast modification of conditions to increase separation.


This study was designed to provide the' ~eans for implementing formal scientific vegetation management 1n the succulent valley bushveld of the eastern Cape, South Africa. Nowhere in the world has a detailed, effective and practical veld management system being developed entirely from research, and even the most successful management systems rely heavily on the intuition of people. A process, formally called ' adaptive management', combines this intuition with scientific testing and the overall objective of this study was to provide a framework for formalized adaptive management in succulent valley bushveld. On analyzing the process of adaptive management, the following knowledge 'tools' were identified: (i) a management system for immediate implementation; (ii) a technique for vegetation assessment; (iii) a technique for monitoring vegetation change; (iv) a technique for monitoring forage use and recovery; (v) a list of key forage species; (vi) a model to set initial stocking rates; (vii) a method of recording essential information; and (viii) a database of ecological principles. Providing these 'tools' became the goals of this study. These topics covered almost all facets of rangeland science, and the approach was to address these in a 'top down' manner, rather than sub-optimize by specializing on anyone component. Most of the 'tools' were achieved to a greater or lesser extent and are presented as a series of publications. However, a central tool, that for monitoring vegetation change, remains outstanding despite comprehensive testing of a range of traditional botanical methods. Indeed, critical review revealed that this 'missing tool' is a problem which is common in all vegetation communities in South Africa despite the impression created by vegetation researchers that adequate techniques are indeed available. This is serious because land managers are not able to evaluate the impact of their efforts and the government is unable to monitor the effectiveness of their research and extension services, costing millions of public monies annually. The implication also, is that vegetation cannot be managed scientifically (management implies monitoring). Either formal adaptive management is not practicable, or researchers are operating from an inappropriate paradigm; specifically that of providing techniques for their research projects and claiming that these (or derivatives of these) are adequate for farm or regional scale monitoring. More generally, research has often become an end in it's self, with research quality being judged by criteria which are of lit~17 significance to the real world and which damage eff 1c1ency. Perhaps, the real value of vegetation research lies in the experiential learning which the researcher gains n~t the inevitably parochial results. '


The present study details the development of a family of novel D‐Ala8 glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) peptide conjugates by site specific conjugation to an antithrombin III (ATIII) binding carrier pentasaccharide through tetraethylene glycol linkers. All conjugates were found to possess potent insulin‐releasing activity. Peptides with short linkers (<25 atoms) conjugated at Lys34 and Lys37 displayed strong GLP‐1 receptor (GLP‐1‐R) binding affinity. All D‐Ala8GLP‐1 conjugates exhibited prominent glucose‐lowering action. Biological activity of the Lys37 short‐linker peptide was evident up to 72 h post‐injection. In agreement, the pharmacokinetic profile of this conjugate (t1/2, 11 h) was superior to that of the GLP‐1‐R agonist, exenatide. Once‐daily injection of the Lys37 short‐linker peptide in ob/ob mice for 21 days significantly decreased food intake and improved HbA1c and glucose tolerance. Islet size was decreased, with no discernible change in islet number. The beneficial effects of the Lys37 short‐linker peptide were similar to or better than either exenatide or liraglutide, another GLP‐1‐R agonist. In conclusion, GLP‐1 peptides conjugated to an ATIII binding carrier pentasaccharide have a substantially prolonged bioactive profile compatible for possible once‐weekly treatment of type 2 diabetes in humans.


Broad band light emission ranging from the ultraviolet (UV) to the near infrared (NIR) has been observed from silicon nanoparticles fabricated using low energy (30-45 keV) metal and non-metal ion implantation with a fluence of 5*1015 ions/cm2 in crystalline Si(100). It is found from a systematic study of the annealing carried out at certain temperatures that the spectral characteristics remains unchanged except for the enhancement of light emission intensity due to annealing. The annealing results in nucleation of metal nanoclusters in the vicinity of Si nanoparticles which enhances the emission intensity. Structural and optical characterization demonstrate that the emission originates from both highly localized defect bound excitons at the Si/Sio2 interface, as well as surface and interface traps associated with the increased surface area of the Si nanocrystals. The emission in the UV is due to interband transitions from localized excitonic states at the interface of Si/SiO2 or from the surface of Si nanocrystals. The radiative efficiency of the UV emission from the Si nanoparticles can be modified by the localized surface plasmon (LSP) interaction induced by the nucleation of silver nanoparticles with controlled annealing of the samples. The UV emission from Si nanoclusters are coupled resonantly to the LSP modes. The non-resonant emission can be enhanced by electrostatic-image charge effects. The emission in the UV (~3.3 eV) region can also be significantly enhanced by electrostatic image charge effects induced by Au nanoparticles. The UV emission from Si nanoclusters, in this case, can be coupled without LSP resonance. The recombination of carriers in Si bound excitons is mediated by transverse optical phonons due to the polarization of the surface bound exciton complex. The low energy side of emission spectrum at low temperature is dominated by 1st and 2nd order phonon replicas. Broad band emission ranging from the UV to the NIR wavelength range can be obtained from Ag implanted onto a single silicon substrate.


This book introduces the epidemiological characteristics, etiology, molecular biology, virology and the latest research progress of COVID-19 It also presents the clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment of the new infectious disease The content is based on literature review of a large number of relevant articles published in China and abroad, as well as the experience of medical workers in this field in China In the pandemic, experts from major hospitals in Shanghai had successfully treated more than 300 patients with COVID-19 Their valuable experience in diagnosis and treatment has been summarized and included in the book It is hoped that this book will be helpful to the vast number of readers who are concerned about the research progress and treatment of COVID-19 © 2020 by World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd


Abstract Objective To investigate whether the uterine cervix excision is associated with preterm birth in female mice. Study Design Sexually mature female C57BL/6 mice (n = 40) were randomly divided into four groups (A, sham; B, cervical excision; C, lipopolysaccharide, 100 µg intrauterine injection; and D, cervical excision + lipopolysaccharide injection), with 10 mice per group. Three weeks after cervical excision, timed mating was performed. On gestational day 16, lipopolysaccharide was injected between the first and second horns of the right uterus near the cervix. The uterine cervix was obtained after delivery and was histologically analyzed. Results The mean gestational period in group D was significantly lower than those in the other groups (17, 19.5, 19, and 18.2 days in groups D, A, B, and C, respectively; p = 0.034). The cervical length was shorter in the cervical excision groups (p = 0.004). The muscle-to-collagen ratio in the proximal cervix was higher in group D (p = 0.037). Conclusion Prepregnancy cervical excision and subsequent lipopolysaccharide injection showed a high rate of preterm birth, which was higher than the known lipopolysaccharide injection related preterm birth rate. Prepregnancy cervical excision appears to have additive effects with inflammation in inducing preterm birth, which are associated with the relative muscular component amount.


Do you toil away in an office, garage or basement lab in the hopes of bringing a new widget to life? What will you do when it's alive and kicking?Here's the primer every first-time inventor needs. Packed with plain-English explanations and step-by-step instructions, Nolo's Patent for Beginners defines clearly and simply what a patent is and why you need one. The book shows you:*how to document an invention for maximum protection *how to tackle the time-and-money-saving, patent-searching process *the patent application process *who owns a patent *how to avoid patent infringementThe 4th edition is completely updated and revised to reflect current law and court rulings, including the Supreme Court's decision in the controversial "Festo" case.Nolo's Patents for Beginners is a must-have reference book for inventors, educators, entrepreneurs, students, and business people who must deal with and understand patent law.


ABSTRACT In this study a detailed analysis of acoustical parameters of sounds produced by male Trichopsis vittatus, T. schalleri and T. pumilus during agonistic behaviour is reported. The calls consist of croaks which are composed of double pulses generated by modified pectoral fins. Calls of the three species are different in main frequency, number of double pulses within a croak and double pulse period. Croaks are uttered in series only in T. vittatus. Sound pressure levels are highest in T. pumilus, the smallest species. Amplitude of individual pulses of a double pulse are similar in T. pumilus and T. schalleri. Main frequency is negatively correlated with body mass in all species, but there is no correlation between sound pressure level and body mass. Differences in the calls of the three species suggest that T. schalleri is a distinct species. Furthermore, results indicate spectral characteristics and sound intensity could be of biological importance in fish.


This study aims to assess the oxidative stress in leprosy patients under multidrug therapy (MDT; dapsone, clofazimine and rifampicin), evaluating the nitric oxide (NO) concentration, catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, glutathione (GSH) levels, total antioxidant capacity, lipid peroxidation, and methemoglobin formation. For this, we analyzed 23 leprosy patients and 20 healthy individuals from the Amazon region, Brazil, aged between 20 and 45 years. Blood sampling enabled the evaluation of leprosy patients prior to starting multidrug therapy (called MDT 0) and until the third month of multidrug therapy (MDT 3). With regard to dapsone (DDS) plasma levels, we showed that there was no statistical difference in drug plasma levels between multibacillary (0.518±0.029 µg/mL) and paucibacillary (0.662±0.123 µg/mL) patients. The methemoglobin levels and numbers of Heinz bodies were significantly enhanced after the third MDT-supervised dose, but this treatment did not significantly change the lipid peroxidation and NO levels in these leprosy patients. In addition, CAT activity was significantly reduced in MDT-treated leprosy patients, while GSH content was increased in these patients. However, SOD and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity levels were similar in patients with and without treatment. These data suggest that MDT can reduce the activity of some antioxidant enzyme and influence ROS accumulation, which may induce hematological changes, such as methemoglobinemia in patients with leprosy. We also explored some redox mechanisms associated with DDS and its main oxidative metabolite DDS-NHOH and we explored the possible binding of DDS to the active site of CYP2C19 with the aid of molecular modeling software.


Arterial stiffness is associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk. Previous sex-based investigations of local and central stiffness report inconsistent findings and have not controlled for menstrual cycle phase in women. There is also evidence that sex hormones influence the vasculature, but their impact on arterial stiffness across a natural menstrual (NAT) or oral contraceptive pill (OCP) cycle has been understudied. This study sought to 1) examine potential sex differences in local and central stiffness, 2) compare stiffness profiles between NAT and OCP cycles, and 3) investigate the relationship between duration of OCP use and arterial stiffness. Sex hormone concentrations, β-stiffness index (local stiffness), and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity [cfPWV (central stiffness)] were assessed in 53 healthy adults (22 ± 3 yr old, 20 men, 15 NAT women, and 18 OCP women). All participants were tested three times: men on the same day and time 1 wk apart, NAT women in menstrual, midfollicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle, and OCP women in placebo, early active and late active pill phases. β-Stiffness was higher in men than NAT and OCP women ( P < 0.001), whereas cfPWV was similar between groups ( P = 0.09). β-Stiffness and cfPWV did not differ across or between NAT and OCP cycles ( P > 0.05 for both) and were not associated with duration of OCP use (β-stiffness: r = 0.003, P = 0.99; cfPWV: r = -0.26, P = 0.30). The apparent sex differences in local, but not central, stiffness highlight the importance of assessing both indexes in comparisons between men and women. Furthermore, fluctuating sex hormone levels do not appear to influence β-stiffness or cfPWV. Therefore, these stiffness indexes may need to be assessed during only one cycle phase in women in future investigations. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We observed higher local, but not central, arterial stiffness in men than women. We also demonstrated that there are no differences in arterial stiffness between naturally cycling women and women who use monophasic oral contraceptive pills, and that the duration of oral contraceptive pill use does not influence arterial stiffness.


At high temperatures, evaporative cooling is the principal mechanism for heat dissipation in cattle. It is influenced by humidity and wind speed and by physiological factors such as respiration rate, and density and activity of sweat glands. Following exposure to heat, cattle appear to acclimatise within 2-7 weeks. The failure of homeostasis at high temperatures may lead to reduced productivity or even death. Knowledge of characteristic behavioural signs of increasing heat stress may alert cattle handlers to impending heat distress, particularly in areas of potential climatic extremes of high temperatures and humidities. Reduction of the heat increment of feeding by dietary manipulation may partially protect cattle from forecast heat stress. Under high heat stress, Bos indicus breeds and their crosses have better heat regulatory capacities than Bos taurus breeds, due to differences in metabolic rate, food and water consumption, sweating rate, and coat characteristics and colour. Also, because Bos taurus have a higher heat loading at the skin, they must evaporate substantially more sweat than Bos indicus to maintain normal body temperatures. Welfare concerns exist about heat stress and the provision of shade for feedlot cattle. In hot weather, cattle actively seek shade, which may reduce the radiant heat load by 30% or more. Under conditions of extreme heat load, shading may maintain production and reduce deaths from heat stroke. Shading of feed and water also offers production advantages for British and European breeds of cattle.


A comprehensive account of the neurobiological basis of language, arguing that species-specific brain differences may be at the root of the human capacity for language. Language makes us human. It is an intrinsic part of us, although we seldom think about it. Language is also an extremely complex entity with subcomponents responsible for its phonological, syntactic, and semantic aspects. In this landmark work, Angela Friederici offers a comprehensive account of these subcomponents and how they are integrated. Tracing the neurobiological basis of language across brain regions in humans and other primate species, she argues that species-specific brain differences may be at the root of the human capacity for language. Friederici shows which brain regions support the different language processes and, more important, how these brain regions are connected structurally and functionally to make language processes that take place in milliseconds possible. She finds that one particular brain structure (a white matter dorsal tract), connecting syntax-relevant brain regions, is present only in the mature human brain and only weakly present in other primate brains. Is this the "missing link" that explains humans' capacity for language? Friederici describes the basic language functions and their brain basis; the language networks connecting different language-related brain regions; the brain basis of language acquisition during early childhood and when learning a second language, proposing a neurocognitive model of the ontogeny of language; and the evolution of language and underlying neural constraints. She finds that it is the information exchange between the relevant brain regions, supported by the white matter tract, that is the crucial factor in both language development and evolution.


In this paper we discuss the role of the media in pressuring corporate managers and directors to behave in ways that are 'socially acceptable'. Sometimes this coincides with shareholders' value maximization, others not. We provide both anecdotal and systematic evidence that media affect companies' policy toward the environment and the amount of corporate resources that are diverted to the sole advantage of controlling shareholders. Our results have important consequences for the focus of the corporate governance debate and for the feasibility of reforms aimed at improving corporate governance around the world.


Lepidagathis hyalina Nees is used locally in Ayurvedic medicine to treat coughs and cardiovascular diseases. This study explored its pharmacological potential through in vivo and in vitro approaches for the metabolites extracted (methanolic) from the stems of L. hyalina. A qualitative phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of numerous secondary metabolites. The methanol extract of L. hyalina stems (MELHS) showed a strong antioxidative activity in the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and reducing power assays, and in the quantitative (phenolic and flavonoid) assay. Clot lysis and brine shrimp lethality bioassays were applied to investigate the thrombolytic and cytotoxic activities, respectively. MELHS exhibited an expressive percentage of clot lysis (33.98%) with a moderately toxic (115.11 μg/mL) effect. The in vivo anxiolytic activity was studied by an elevated plus maze test, whereas the antidepressant activity was examined by a tail suspension test and forced swimming test. During the anxiolytic evaluation, MELHS exhibited a significant dose-dependent reduction of anxiety, in which the 400 mg/kg dose of the extract showed 78.77 ± 4.42% time spent in the open arm in the elevated plus maze test. In addition, MELHS demonstrated dose-dependent and significant activities in the tail suspension test and forced swimming test, whereas the 400 mg/kg dose of the extract showed 87.67 ± 6.40% and 83.33 ± 6.39% inhibition of immobile time, respectively. Therefore, the current study suggests that L. hyalina could be a potential source of anti-oxidative, cytotoxic, thrombolytic, anxiolytic, and antidepressant agents. Further study is needed to determine the mechanism behind the bioactivities.


Frances Willard founded the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in 1884 to carry the message of women's emancipation throughout the world. Based in the United States, the WCTU rapidly became an international organization, with affiliates in forty-two countries. Ian Tyrrell tells the extraordinary story of how a handful of women sought to change the mores of the world -- not only by abolishing alcohol but also by promoting peace and attacking prostitution, poverty, and male control of democratic political structures.In describing the work of Mary Leavitt, Jessie Ackermann, and other temperance crusaders on the international scene, Tyrrell identifies the tensions generated by conflict between the WCTU's universalist agenda and its own version of an ideologically and religiously based form of cultural imperialism. The union embraced an international and occasionally ecumenical vision that included a critique of Western materialism and imperialism. But, at the same time, its mission inevitably promoted Anglo-American cultural practices and Protestant evangelical beliefs deemed morally superior by the WCTU.Tyrrell also considers, from a comparative perspective, the peculiar links between feminism, social reform, and evangelical religion in Anglo-American culture that made it so difficult for the WCTU to export its vision of a woman-centered mission to other cultures. Even in other Western states, forging links between feminism and religiously based temperance reform was made virtually impossible by religious, class, and cultural barriers. Thus, the WCTU ultimately failed in its efforts to achieve a sober and pure world, although its members significantly shaped the values of those countries in which it excercised strong influence.As and urgently needed history of the first largescale worldwide women's organization and non-denominational evangelical institution, "Woman's World / Woman's Empire" will be a valuable resource to scholars in the fields of women's studies, religion, history, and alcohol and temperance studies.


The objective of the article is to examine some of the discussions regarding performative arts (i.e. theatre) in Germany and the Baltic provinces in the 18th century and to add theological-philosophical marginalia to those discussions. In the light of selected texts answers are sought for two main questions: 1) what place does sanctioned artistic activity have in the theological and intellectual atmosphaere in Germany? Does it largely coincide with social or religious goals like in the Middle Ages, or does it have some different purpose that is not overlapping with those of society or religion? 2) What benefit does society derive from artistic activity? In 18th-century Germany, such issues were discussed in all the circles of society (ecclesiastic, artistic, educational, economic, etc.) thereby establishing a basis for aesthetics as a discipline related to art theory. If, in the early 18th century, the German philosophers dealt with art historically or as subjected to other disciplines then by the end of the century, the arts had become independent. Current article traces through some discussions the arguments which were used in the conflicts regading the place of theatre in the society, and what expectations and assumptions accompanied these arguments. The authors have also sought a clearer understanding of the placement of theatre on the scale of beneficial- useless- harmful, based on the aims (related to society or religion) that have been stated by the proponents or assumed by default. The question's broader background includes an interest in how the reputation of theatre is connected to the goals assigned to it and how the corresponding trends compare with the reputation of religion in society. In the examples included in the article, the assessment of any artistic activity is closely related to what the goal of art was thought to be and to what extent this goal was thought to conform to religious and/ or social goals. The article notices that those authors who took art most seriously, were the ones who saw it as a part of a whole. It is possible to distinguish between two groups of such authors: one for whom the goal of art was identical or similar with the goals aspired by religion or society and the other who saw theatrical performances as generally harmful or wasteful activity for society and thus dangerous. There emerges also a third group of authors what tends to regard theatre as (relatively) harmless, but at the same time accepts the limited usefulness of theatre for society and religion and accordingly theatre is often perceived as (mere) entertainment.


We compute the asymptotic induced matching number of the $k$-partite $k$-uniform hypergraphs whose edges are the $k$-bit strings of Hamming weight $k/2$, for any large enough even number $k$. Our lower bound relies on the higher-order extension of the well-known Coppersmith–Winograd method from algebraic complexity theory, which was proven by Christandl, Vrana and Zuiddam. Our result is motivated by the study of the power of this method as well as of the power of the Strassen support functionals (which provide upper bounds on the asymptotic induced matching number), and the connections to questions in tensor theory, quantum information theory and theoretical computer science.Our proof relies on a new combinatorial inequality that may be of independent interest. This inequality concerns how many pairs of Boolean vectors of fixed Hamming weight can have their sum in a fixed subspace.


"Like so many acronyms in public currency, SOA means many different things to different people. Paul Brown deftly avoids getting caught in the trap of overstating the case for SOA. Instead, he brings the topic skillfully into focus, zeroing in on the concepts that must be understood in order to be effective. Paul's purpose, as I've found so often in his presentations and conversations, is to get to the core of real-world architectural issues that make the difference between success and failure. Paul doesn't sit in an ivory tower pontificating; he gets right down to the critical issues in order to develop effective real-life strategies."--From the Foreword by Jonathan Mack, Senior Technical Architect, Guardian Life Insurance Company"As Paul Brown explains in this fine book, there is more to software development than just writing code. Successful software requires deep thought and strategy. It requires the coordination and marshalling of the resources and intellect of the entire company, both business and IT. I learned much from reading his manuscript and heartily endorse the finished book."--Dr. Michael Blaha, author and industrial consultant"Paul Brown has provided a practical and actionable guide that will illuminate the way for Business and IT Leaders involved in IT strategy, planning, architecture, and project management. A successful adoption of SOA will touch every aspect of the business and change the way IT does business. This book does a good job of describing the organizational challenges and risks and providing suggestions to manage them. It also dives deeply into the architectural techniques that can be employed in order to align the service architecture with the business, thus providing maximum benefit and continued funding for your SOA transformation."--Maja Tibbling, Lead Enterprise Architect, Con-way Enterprise Services"Succeeding with SOA achieves where most books on service-oriented architectures fail. It accurately describes what practitioners are seeing, as well as why, and gives them practical examples through case studies and instruction. Most useful both for those about to take the plunge and those who are already soaking."--Charly Paelinck, Vice President, Development and Architecture, Harrah's Entertainment"This book is a must-read for architects and SOA practitioners. It provides an important foundation for a SOA strategy. Brown emphasizes the importance of aligning services with their business processes, building capabilities using strong enterprise architecture standards, and ensuring an effective governance process. The book promotes the notion of mutual dependency between managing a business using business processes and managing its IT with SOA. By aligning the two paradigms, a business can become more agile, able to adapt to change both quickly and economically. This is the promise of SOA."--Sunny Tara, Director, IT, Enterprise Architecture and Services, Harrah's EntertainmentGetting a Desired Business Return on Your Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) InvestmentToday, business processes and information systems are so tightly intertwined that they must be designed together, as parts of a total architecture, to realize enterprise goals. In Succeeding with SOA, Paul Brown shows how service-oriented architectures (SOAs) provide the best structure for such integration: clean, well-defined interfaces between collaborating entities. But even SOAs need to be correctly understood and implemented to avoid common failures. Drawing on decades of experience, Dr. Brown explains what business managers and IT architects absolutely need to know--including critical success factors--to undertake this essential work.Coverage includes Setting clear and reasonable expectations for SOA's benefits Understanding why conventional project management techniques don't scale to today's enterprise-wide projects Defining a living roadmap for developing services based on business priorities Establishing coherent leadership that brings together business executives, IT leaders, and the SOA architecture group Using Total Architecture Synthesis (TAS) to rapidly develop business processes and information systems together Understanding the central role of architecture--and making sure the right architectural decisions get madeWhether you're a business or technical leader, this book will help you plan, organize, and execute SOA initiatives that meet or exceed their goals--now, and for years to come.List of Figures List of Tables ForewordPrefacei? PART I. Building Your SOA Chapter 1: The SOA Challenge Chapter 2: Business Process Pitfalls Chapter 3: Business Systems Pitfalls Chapter 4: SOA: More Than Services Chapter 5: Keys to SOA Success Chapter 6: Organizing for SOA Successi? Chapter 7: SOA Project Leadership Chapter 8: SOA Enterprise Leadership Chapter 9: Agile SOA Development PART II. Managing Risk Chapter 10: Responsibility and Risk in Business Processes Chapter 11: Managing Project Risk Chapter 12: Investing Wisely in Risk Reduction Chapter 13: Managing SOA Risks Afterword Indexi?


The Great Recession unleashed a wave of fiscal stress in the USA, with austerity measures such as spending cuts, service reductions and privatisation predictably taking centre stage. Decades of federal withdrawal from urban policy and funding, combined with state retrenchment, have contributed to a landscape of urban fiscal stress exacerbated by the prolonged effects of the post-2007 recession. This article examines the experience of fiscal crisis in four US cities (Detroit, Dallas, Philadelphia, and San Jose), focusing on the narratives used by city and state government leadership to publicly describe local crises. Shared elements of the framing of urban fiscal crisis in this diverse set of cities provide insight into the unfolding of austerity in local politics. Blame for the crisis has centred less on social spending than in previous crises, and more on local governance failures, public pension commitments, and ongoing global economic precarity. Crisis governance has become widespread, even in fiscally resilient cities, driven by a vision of lean government in a 'new normal'. While retrenchment effectively shrinks the state through spending cuts and privatisation, the governing power of cities is also being diminished by the narrative of fiscal responsibility reflected in the national move toward public pension restructuring and expanded state interventionism.


Abstract The taxonomic composition of three principal and distantly related groups of the former tribe Millettieae, which were first identified from nuclear phytochrome and chloroplast trnK/matK sequences, was more extensively investigated with a phylogenetic analysis of nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS/5.8S sequences. The first of these groups includes the neotropical genera Poecilanthe and Cyclolobium, which are resolved as basal lineages in a clade that otherwise includes the neotropical genera Brongniartia and Harpalyce and the Australian Templetonia and Hovea. The second group includes the large millettioid genera, Millettia, Lonchocarpus, Derris, and Tephrosia, which are referred to as the "core Millettieae" group. Phylogenetic analysis of nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS/5.8S sequences reveals that Millettia is polyphyletic, and that subclades of the core Millettieae group, such as the New World Lonchocarpus or the pantropical Tephrosia and segregate genera (e.g., Chadsia and Mundulea), each form well supported monophyletic subgroups. The third lineage includes the genera Afgekia, Callerya, and Wisteria. These genera are resolved as a basal subclade in the inverted-repeat-lacking clade, which is a large legume group that includes the many well known temperate and herbaceous legumes, such as Astragalus, Medicago and Pisum, but not any other Millettieae. Communicating Editor: Jerrold I. Davis


Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is a popular approach in various network applications, such as link prediction and network parameter characterization. Incremental SVD approaches are proposed to process newly changed nodes and edges in dynamic networks. However, incremental SVD approaches suffer from serious error accumulation inevitably due to approximation on incremental updates. SVD restart is an effective approach to reset the aggregated error, but when to restart SVD for dynamic networks is not addressed in literature. In this paper, we propose TIMERS, Theoretically Instructed Maximum-Error-bounded Restart of SVD, a novel approach which optimally sets the restart time in order to reduce error accumulation in time. Specifically, we monitor the margin between reconstruction loss of incremental updates and the minimum loss in SVD model. To reduce the complexity of monitoring, we theoretically develop a lower bound of SVD minimum loss for dynamic networks and use the bound to replace the minimum loss in monitoring. By setting a maximum tolerated error as a threshold, we can trigger SVD restart automatically when the margin exceeds this threshold. We prove that the time complexity of our method is linear with respect to the number of local dynamic changes, and our method is general across different types of dynamic networks. We conduct extensive experiments on several synthetic and real dynamic networks. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method significantly outperforms the existing methods by reducing 27% to 42% in terms of the maximum error for dynamic network reconstruction when fixing the number of restarts. Our method reduces the number of restarts by 25% to 50% when fixing the maximum error tolerated.


In this paper we propose a tax and benefit reform to increase the working hours and to decrease the welfare participation of single mothers in Sweden. We have access to highquality tax and income data, and use a detailed tax-benefit program to generate precise budget-sets. We formulate and estimate a structural, static model of labor supply and welfare participation. The results suggest that labor supply among single mother households in Sweden is quite elastic, and that there is self-selection into welfare. The proposed reform would generate welfare-gains for virtually everyone in the sample, yet would be revenue neutral.


The great popularity of IEEE 802.11 along with channel scarcity may lead to a degraded overall performance if an intelligent channel allocation process is not used. A channel allocation unaware of other network's presence in the area may increase medium access contention and co-channel interference, harming networks' aggregate capacity. This work proposes a new automatic channel allocation mechanism for infra-structured IEEE 802.11 networks that works in an independent and distributed manner in access points and uses clients station's measurements exchanged with the new IEEE 802.11k standard.


A married person falls deeply in love with someone else. A man of average income feels he cannot be truly happy unless he owns an expensive luxury car. A dieter has an irresistible craving for ice cream. Desires often come to us unbidden and unwanted, and they can have a dramatic impact, sometimes changing the course of our lives. In On Desire, William B. Irvine takes us on a wide-ranging tour of our impulses, wants, and needs, showing us where these feelings come from and how we can try to rein them in. Spicing his account with engaging observations by writers like Seneca, Tolstoy, and Freud, Irvine considers the teachings of Buddhists, Hindus, the Amish, Shakers, and Catholic saints, as well as those of ancient Greek and Roman and modern European philosophers. Irvine also looks at what modern science can tell us about desire-such as what happens in the brain when we desire something and how animals evolved particular desires-and he advances a new theory about how desire itself evolved. Irvine also suggests that at the same time that we gained the ability to desire, we were "programmed" to find some things more desirable than others. Irvine concludes that the best way to attain lasting happiness is not to change the world around us or our place in it, but to change ourselves. If we can convince ourselves to want what we already have, we can dramatically enhance our happiness. Brimming with wisdom and practical advice, On Desire offers a thoughtful approach to controlling unwanted passions and attaining a more meaningful life.


Tick-borne infections of livestock are wide-spread in Africa and present a great constraint to livestock development, particularly in the improvement of local breeds. This problem is compounded by the high susceptibility of foreign breeds of livestock being used to improve livestock productivity in many African countries. Brown Ear tick, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, is the most economically important of the 40-70 African tick species. This is due to the fact that it is a highly efficient vector of Theileria parva, that causes East Coast Fever (ECF), the tick also causes cutaneous effects such as focal dermal necrosis and irritation, such it"s the pathogen of the most important and complex tick–borne disease, (ECF). A commonly used commercial arthropod repellent N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET) is still considered the best available product for repelling arthropods. However, this repellent is harmful to human beings and it has been found to cause considerable environmental pollution. In search for effective alternatives to DEET against different hematophagous arthropods, there has been renewed interest in repellents of botanical origin. A monoterpene of relatively low volatility, p-menthane-3,8-diol, obtained from lemon eucalyptus leaves (Eucalyptus citriodora) has shown potent repellence against mosquitoes. This study sought to undertake structure-activity studies of synthesized p-menthane3,8-diol stereoisomers and analogues against the Brown ear tick in order to identify structural features associated with high repellency. The essential oil of lemon eucalyptus was extracted by hydrodistillation. Commercial standards of (+) and (−)-isopulegol were hydrated at C-8 using the oxy-mercuration/demercuration procedure to obtain (+) and (–)-trans-p-menthane-3,8-diol respectively. (±)-Cis-p-menthane-3,8-diol stereoisomers were prepared from (±)-citronellal via the Zimmermann and English procedure that involved acid catalyzed cyclization of (±)citronellal. GC-MS was used to identify the constituents of E. citriodora oil and the structure of the synthesized p-menthane-3,8-diol (PMD) stereoisomers, LC-MS was used to analyze the aqueous fraction. The E. citriodora oil, menthane diol stereoisomers, its analogues and DEET were screened for their repellent activity against R. appendiculatus, through subjecting them to a dual choice tick climbing bioassay. The data obtained was analyzed using (SAS® Institute, 2002-2003, version 9.0) and R-statistical package. Menthane diols were potently repellent (RD75 (1.21– 2.04) ×10 -3 mg)) against R. appendiculatus and comparable to that of DEET, 1.43×10 -3 mg. Racemates of cis, (RD75 1.42×10 -3 mg) and trans 1.42×10 -3 mg were as repellent as (+) and (−)-trans diols, (2.03– 2.04) ×10 -3 mg. Thus, repellency was neither stereospecific nor stereoselective. PMD analogues of the diol (L-menthol, 1-α-terpineol) showed much lower repellency, RD75, 1734.12 mg and 6960.34 mg against R. appendiculatus compared to pmenthane-3,8-diol stereoisomers. E. citriodora oil had much lower repellency than PMD stereoisomers, but significantly higher repellency than L-menthol and 1-α-terpineol. The yield of E. citriodora oil was 1.84% and the major constituents in E. citriodora oil were citronellal (32.03%), citronellol 19.41%), cineole (9.87%) and isopulegol (5.97%). The aqueous fraction of the hydro-distillate was least repellent to the Brown ear tick and it was found to contain aromadendrene oxide, linalool, citronellic acid and ursolic acid, which have been shown to be weakly repellent to arthropods. Therefore, the structural features required for repellency against R. appendiculatus, according to this study is a saturated menthane skeleton with two hydroxyl functions at C-3 and C-8. The findings of this study lay down the groundwork for search for new user-approved, efficacious tick repellents.


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate threats to dissolve the New Zealand Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as interpreted through the public press. Design/methodology/approach - An institutional approach is adopted in this case, and the analysis is driven by Oliver's understandings of antecedents to deinstitutionalization. Relevant press articles are reviewed, and SFO history and New Zealand socio-political context inform the analysis. Findings - The paper identifies over 1,800 articles (September 2003 to October 2008) and analyses the content of those 157 that contain views on the SFO itself. This analysis reveals that while there is a strong political antecedent to the proposed change, the media is dominated by weakly evidenced but emotive functional and social arguments. The susceptibility of the SFO to political influence, and a less-than-fully engaged media, is shown to provide a risk of deinstitutionalization to this politically dependent office. Research limitations/implications - Conclusions suggest how a relatively new and possibly politically naive organisation may be, by necessity, starting to come to terms with its own external dependencies. Social implications - The SFO may be evolving new relational norms in response to its own vulnerabilities in a political environment. There may be lessons for others in this analysis of a norming process, and further research into such processes would be a rich area for further study. Originality/value - The contribution is in forming an understanding of the media patterns and in analysing what they convey as to the threatened deinstituitonalization of the SFO.


President Obama's praise of empathy as a valuable judicial trait triggered a shamefully partisan misrepresentation of both the concept of empathy and the nature of our judicial system more generally. In this manufactured debate, the Right presented the judicial status quo as "objective" and "universal," contrasting it starkly with a caricature of judicial empathy as "biased" and "activist." To speak of the law or of the judiciary as impartial in a descriptive, as opposed to an aspirational, way is to lie. It is a very effective lie for the defenders of the status quo, because it makes the status quo seem both natural and right. And if the status quo is natural and right, any attempt to change it will be viewed as unnatural and wrong. If one instead views the law is a product of the biases, assumptions, and self-interest of those who write, enforce, and uphold it, then it seems both wise and necessary to encourage the diversification of our moral and legal imagination. Empathy is one way to engage in this reflective project. I define empathy as the exercise of our moral imagination against, or at least indifferent to, our own self-interest. Empathy is to be distinguished from sympathy, which is what we feel when others remind us of ourselves or our own experiences. Empathy forces us to imagine and to have concern for those who are radically different from and even threatening to us when the principles of justice demand it.


This research concerns a critical analysis of the Lawyers" Movement (2007-2009) in Pakistan through the lens of a social movement theory (SMT). The Lawyers' Movement represents the joint struggle by the legal fraternity for the restoration of the deposed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan by the then General/President Pervez Musharraf. The paper finds that as an unprecedented event in the political history of Pakistan, the lawyers" community was not only able to organize itself as a united pressure group, but also successfully mobilized public support from various sections of society. The study argues that within the constitutional provisions of freedom of expression, the legal fraternity amicably converted a purely legal-professional issue into an organized social movement. The deposed Chief Justice and other judges of the apex court were restored. Methodologically, this research analyses the lawyers" movement using a social movement theory approach. The study thus makes a humble methodological contribution, and further enriches our understanding of social movements in developing societies like Pakistan.


In response to policy-makers' increasing claims to prioritise 'people' in smart city development, we explore the publicness of emerging practices across six UK cities: Bristol, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, and Peterborough. Local smart city programmes are analysed as techno-public assemblages invoking variegated modalities of publicness. Our findings challenge the dystopian speculative critiques of the smart city, while nevertheless indicating the dominance of 'entrepreneurial' and 'service user' modes of the public. We highlight the risk of bifurcation within smart city assemblages, such that the 'civic' and 'political' roles of the public become siloed into less obdurate strands of programmatic activity.


Study objective: Previous research provides preliminary evidence of spatial variations of mental disorders and associations between neighbourhood social context and mental health. This study expands past literature by (1) using spatial techniques, rather than multilevel models, to compare the spatial distributions of two groups of mental disorders (that is, disorders due to psychoactive substance use, and neurotic, stress related, and somatoform disorders); and (2) investigating the independent impact of contextual deprivation and neighbourhood social disorganisation on mental health, while assessing both the magnitude and the spatial scale of these effects. Design: Using different spatial techniques, the study investigated mental disorders due to psychoactive substance use, and neurotic disorders. Participants: All 89 285 persons aged 40–69 years residing in Malmö, Sweden, in 2001, geolocated to their place of residence. Main results: The spatial scan statistic identified a large cluster of increased prevalence in a similar location for the two mental disorders in the northern part of Malmö. However, hierarchical geostatistical models showed that the two groups of disorders exhibited a different spatial distribution, in terms of both magnitude and spatial scale. Mental disorders due to substance consumption showed larger neighbourhood variations, and varied in space on a larger scale, than neurotic disorders. After adjustment for individual factors, the risk of substance related disorders increased with neighbourhood deprivation and neighbourhood social disorganisation. The risk of neurotic disorders only increased with contextual deprivation. Measuring contextual factors across continuous space, it was found that these associations operated on a local scale. Conclusions: Taking space into account in the analyses permitted deeper insight into the contextual determinants of mental disorders.


This study of policy change examines the parallel strategies the administration of President George W. Bush has used to substantially alter the direction of forest policy during his first term. Using the Healthy Forests Initiative as a case study, this analysis explains how, by framing the problem of wildfires and forest health in terms of process and pointing blame at environmental groups misusing appeal procedures, the administration was able to emphasize process, rather than the content of existing forest policy. It also provided a reasonable explanation for the president to take a lead in seeking both legislative as well as regulatory change. We contend that the use of two parallel policymaking paths—legislative and administrative—enabled the president to pursue policy change more rapidly, and, from a strategic standpoint, more effectively, than by relying upon the legislative process alone. We offer that the Bush administration's approach to changing forest policy represents a redirection that is likely to serve as a template for further environmental policy change.


We theoretically and experimentally analyze the benefit of hetero-structured cladding in Solid-Core Photonic BandGap fibers so as to increase the loss ratio between high order modes and fundamental mode. This property is applied to the realization of 19-cells core fibers practically single-mode around 1050 nm. When designed to operate in the 4th BandGap, a new design is proposed which permits to obtain mode field diameter of 44 μm whereas, for operation in the 3rd BandGap, a mode field diameter of 33 μm is obtained with 20 cm bending radius. The impact of the shape of hetero-structure on single-mode behavior is discussed.


Abstract Goosegrass is considered one of the most important grassy weeds of rice, particularly in rain-fed environments. Experiments were conducted in laboratory, screenhouse, and field to study the germination ecology of goosegrass seeds. In the laboratory, germination was greater at higher alternating temperatures (30/20 and 35/25 C) than at the lowest alternating temperatures (25/15 C). An after-ripening period of at least 3 mo was required to improve the germination of goosegrass. Germination was tolerant of salt stress but sensitive to a high degree of water stress. A pH range of 5 to 10 did not influence seed germination (92 to 95%). In the screenhouse study, seedling emergence of goosegrass was greatest (82%) for seeds placed on the soil surface, but decreased exponentially after that, no seedlings emerged at a burial depth of 8 cm. Seedling emergence and seedling dry matter declined markedly with the addition of crop residue to the soil surface at rates equivalent to 4 to 6 ton (t) ha−1. In the field, seedling emergence of goosegrass was greater under zero-till (ZT; 16 to 18%) than under minimum tillage (MINT; 8 to 11%). Because seedling emergence was greater from surface-sown seeds and emergence was favored by ZT, this species is likely to become a problematic weed in ZT systems. The information gained from this study could be used in developing effective weed management strategies. Nomenclature: Goosegrass, Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. ELEIN; rice, Oryza sativa L.


BACKGROUND: In Crohn's disease, inflammation is presumably sustained by an increased production of proinflammatory cytokines, in particular tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) and interleukin 1 beta (IL 1 beta). TNF alpha can induce a host of cellular effector events resulting in perpetuation of the inflammatory process. In vivo studies with anti-TNF alpha antibody treatment have led to impressive clinical results. AIMS: To investigate whether treatment with the TNF alpha inhibitor oxpentifylline results in clinical improvement in corticosteroid dependent chronic active Crohn's disease. METHODS: Sixteen Crohn's disease patients received oxpentifylline 400 mg four times a day in a four week open label study. RESULTS: Blockade of TNF alpha production in 16 patients with corticosteroid dependent Crohn's disease did not improve the clinical disease activity (CDAI mean (SEM) 188.75 (5.65) versus 185.13 (10.87) or the endoscopic degree of inflammation (CDEIS 14.9 (2.87) versus 14.8 (2.27) or laboratory parameters. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, use of the TNF alpha inhibitor oxpentifylline does not improve inflammation in Crohn's disease. This finding suggests that there may be more key mediators than only TNF alpha in the inflammatory process in Crohn's disease.


The doctrine of necessity has strong roots in the common law of tort and property going back hundreds of years. In the United States the doctrine has been applied in various situations to negate judicial review of constitutional challenges to government action, most recently in some of the wildfire and flood claims resulting from disasters. But now, the states' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have brought one of these necessity doctrines—the public health necessity relying on Jacobson v. Massachusetts—to the forefront as courts across the country review constitutional challenges to state public health measures. With such intense review of Jacobson's public health necessity in a short timeframe, it appears that the courts, including the Supreme Court, are recognizing that common law emergency exceptions cannot be applied to prevent constitutional review. This development supports the goal of this Article, which is to discourage the use of the necessity doctrine to bypass constitutional scrutiny of asserted rights, particularly as to takings claims under the Fifth Amendment. This Article examines the historical development of the diverse categorical exceptions to takings claims under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and addresses the continued viability of these exceptions following the decision in Pennsylvania Coal v.Mahon. After reviewing four categories of necessity exceptions that include: 1) the doctrine of destruction (general, military, and law enforcement);2) the public health exception;3) the nuisance and background principles of property law exception;and 4) the police power exception, this Article concludes that the only doctrinally acceptable categorical defenses to a regulatory taking are the nuisance and background principles of property law exceptions. Nuisance and background principles of state law will determine whether the property owner has a property interest subject to a government taking. If the property owner never had a right to use their property in a manner that constitutes a nuisance or interferes with a public resource, it cannot be taken and does not deserve compensation. Government actions that constitute a taking, but benefit the public as a whole whether by conferring a benefit or preventing a harm, should not burden individual property owners when, under the Armstrong principle, in all fairness and justice, we the public should share in paying for the benefits received.


The deployment of smart meters is a promising innovation that comes to enhance the energy efficiency measures in the smart grid. The smart meter enables distributors to better understand the electrical network and reduce complexity of the management operations. It offers to households monitoring and control possibilities to their everyday energy consumption through the distribution of detailed information on household consumption and its evolution. This involves disaggregation of individual household loads in term of their individual energy consumption known as Non intrusive loads monitoring. In this paper, we present a supervised NILM approach based on dynamic fuzzy c-means events clustering and KNN label matching. First, a filtering method is involved to enhance the edge/events detection step. Then we perform a dynamic Fuzzy c-means clustering procedures to build appliances signature data based on active and reactive power measurements taking into account the time of day usage. The data base is further refined to map potential clusters centers that best identify the different appliances. A performance evaluation of the proposed approach is conducted showing a recognition rate over 90% for high consumption loads and promising results for low consumption loads.


The present research examined how intra- and inter-team discussions prior to negotiations affect negotiation processes and outcomes. A Pilot Study showed that intra-team discussions motivate negotiators to understand the underlying interests more deeply (i.e. epistemic motivation), whereas inter-team discussions foster a greater concern for the counterpart (i.e. prosocial motivation). Experiment 1 showed that teams, independent of their power, achieved greater economic and social outcomes when they engaged in intra- and inter-team discussions instead of just one discussion format or none at all. In a multiparty setting, Experiment 2 showed why: intra-team discussions resulted in greater economic outcomes because they increased negotiators' understanding of the underlying interests, whereas inter-team discussions improved social outcomes because they encouraged cooperative behaviour. Experiment 3 examined the order in which both discussion formats are administered and found that an intra-team discussion, followed by an inter-team discussion resulted in better economic and social outcomes than a reverse order because it established greater alignment between negotiating teams.


Fossil equids from Tadzhikistan are little known outside the former USSR. We here describe the equid samples from a number of fossil localities in this part of central Asia. Because the samples are small, the taxonomic status of the finds in most cases remains uncertain or preliminary.


Brucella (B.) canis was isolated from ejaculate of a 4-year old Korthals-Griffon male dog after occurrence of epididymitis and orchitis. Despite several trials of therapy with different antibiotics relapes occurred, with B. canis being isolated from ejaculate, blood and urine samples, respectively. Bacteriological examinations were added by serological testing over a period of about 1.5 years. During the study SAT serum titre steadily dropped from 1:200 to 1:50. By CFT, B. canis antibodies were detectable at the beginning with a titre of 1:320 and to the end of the study with titres between 1:80 and 1:160.


The association between depression and cardiovascular disease has been well established and has been shown to decrease patients' quality of life and increase the risk of mortality, frequency and duration of hospitalization, and health care costs. The inpatient setting provides a potentially valuable opportunity to assess and treat depression among patients with acute cardiac illness, allowing for daily monitoring of treatment side effects. Although systematic depression screening appears to be feasible, efficient, and well accepted on inpatient cardiac units, the current lack of consistent inpatient assessment for depression in heart failure patients suggests the presence of barriers influencing the effective diagnosis and treatment of depression among inpatients with heart failure. The theory of planned behavior describes the cognitive mechanism by which behavioral intent is formed, giving some insight into how nurses' attitudes and beliefs affect their performance of routine depression screening. In addition, application of this cognitive theory suggests that nurses may be influenced to adopt more positive attitudes and beliefs about depression through educational intervention, leading to greater likelihood of routine assessment for depression, ultimately leading to more timely diagnosis and treatment and improved patient outcomes.


We analyze directional dependence and scaling of air log permeability statistics characterizing minipermeameter measurements by Tidwell and Wilson on the faces of a 30 by 30 by 30 cm3 size unsaturated block of Berea sandstone. We find distinct differences between the statistics and scaling behaviors of data measured on faces parallel and normal to bedding, and of incremental measurements in three orthogonal directions along these faces. Whereas the distribution of data and their increments parallel to bedding are heavy tailed, those of increments normal to bedding are Gaussian. Order q sample structure functions of increments parallel to bedding scale as powers ξ(q) of directional lag, sd, over limited ranges of sd. Using moment and extended self‐similarity methods of analysis we find ξ(q) to be generally nonlinear in q, tending to be concave in q on faces normal to bedding and convex on faces parallel to bedding. Whereas the literature attributes nonlinear scaling of ξ(q) with q to multifractals or fractional Laplace motions, we find the data to be consistent with sub‐Gaussian random fields subordinated to truncated (monofractal, self‐affine) fractional Gaussian noise. The increments exhibit negative statistical dependence (antipersistence) that varies with direction parallel to bedding and is more pronounced on faces parallel than normal to bedding.


This article poses questions regarding learning and representation in relation to young children's popular culture. Focusing on gender, the article builds on multimodal, social semiotic analyses of two different media texts related to a specific brand and shows how gender and gender differences are represented multimodally in separate media contexts and in the interplay between different media. The results show that most of the semiotic resources employed in the different texts contribute in congruent ways to the representation of girls as either different from or inferior to boys. At the same time, however, excerpts from an encounter with a young girl who engages with characters from the brand in her role play are used as an example of how children actively make meaning and find strategies that subvert the repressive ideologies manifested in their everyday popular culture.


This paper proposes a new data‐driven approach to model detailed splashes for liquid simulations with neural networks. Our model learns to generate small‐scale splash detail for the fluid‐implicit‐particle method using training data acquired from physically parametrized, high resolution simulations. We use neural networks to model the regression of splash formation using a classifier together with a velocity modifier. For the velocity modification, we employ a heteroscedastic model. We evaluate our method for different spatial scales, simulation setups, and solvers. Our simulation results demonstrate that our model significantly improves visual fidelity with a large amount of realistic droplet formation and yields splash detail much more efficiently than finer discretizations.


Sections through various levels of small intestine from adult male rats were examined by fluorescence microscopy after treatment with fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled lectins from Dolichos biflorus, Lotus tetragonolobus, Ricinus communis, and Triticum vulgare (wheat germ). The latter three lectins reacted with the microvillar portion of the epithelial cells lining the crypts and villi in sections of intestine adjacent to the pylorus. This pattern of reactivity was sharply altered along the first 15 cm of intestine so that in sections distal to this point the luminal surfaces of only those epithelial cells in the crypts and at the base of the villi reacted with the L. tetragonolobus and R. communis lectins, whereas the wheat germ lectin reacted with the surfaces of the cells lining the villi. In sections from the distal end of the small intestine, all three lectins reacted with the surfaces of cells only at the base of the villi and in the crypts. These results show a difference in surface components in cells at various portions on the villi and the dependence of these differences on the region of intestine. The D. biflorus lectin reacted with approximately 25% of the goblet cells at each level of intestine studied whereas the reactivities of the goblet cells with the other three lectins were dependent upon the region of intestine.


From experiments on samples of different thickness the amount of stored light in a particular sample of the infra-red sensitive phosphor made by activating strontium sulfide with cerium and samarium is calculated to be 2.6 × 1016 quanta per cubic cm. This corresponds, for this sample, to one quantum of light for every 8 samarium atoms or every 60 cerium atoms.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the unplanned peripheral intravenous reinsertion in pediatric inpatients at a teaching hospital in Taiwan. Researchers recruited 206 pediatric inpatients and their caretakers for the study and used multivariate regression in calculating their results. The results showed the following: whether pediatric patients received drugs (P < .001), whether the appropriate height of the drops was adhered to (P = .053), and whether the adjustment of the drip rate was done by the clients or caretakers themselves (P = .046) were significant determinants of unplanned peripheral intravenous reinsertions. It may be worthwhile to incorporate the findings regarding factors affecting the unplanned peripheral intravenous reinsertion into pediatric nurses' educational programs.


On September 20, 1587, Walpurga Hausmannin of Dillingen in southern Germany was burned at the stake as a witch. Although she had confessed to committing a long list of "maleficia" (deeds of harmful magic), including killing 41 infants and two mothers in labour, her evil career allegedly began with just one heinous act - sex with a demon. Fornication with demons was a major theme of her trial record, which detailed an almost continuous orgy of sexual excess with her diabolical paramour Federlin "in many diverse places ...even in the street by night". As Walter Stephens demonstrates in "Demon Lovers", it was not Hausmannin or other so-called witches who were obsessive about sex with demons - instead, a number of devout Christians, including trained theologians, displayed an uncanny preoccupation with the topic during the centuries of the "witch craze". Why? To find out, Stephens conducts a detailed investigation of the first and most influential treatises on witchcraft (written between 1430 and 1530), including the infamous "Malleus Maleficarum" ("Hammer of Witches"). Far from being credulous fools or mindless misogynists, early writers on witchcraft emerge in Stephens's account as rational but reluctant skeptics, trying desperately to resolve contradictions in Christian thought on God, spirits and sacraments that had bedeviled theologians for centuries. Proof of the physical existence of demons - for instance, through evidence of their intercourse with mortal witches - would provide strong evidence for the reality of the supernatural, the truth of the Bible, and the existence of God. Early modern witchcraft theory reflected a crisis of belief - a crisis that continues to be expressed today in popular debates over angels, Satanic ritual child abuse and alien abduction.


In recent decades, guitar education has emerged as a discipline in PreK-12 institutions alongside "traditional" music education such as band, orchestra, and chorus. Despite the substantial body of literature containing practical advice on teaching guitar, research-supported scholarship is lacking. Additionally, this body of literature suggests a lack of congruency between curriculum, pedagogy, and teacher preparation among guitar educators. The purpose of this study was to provide an evidentiary-based understanding of the professional profiles and pedagogic practices of guitar educators. A multi-phase investigation was conducted. In Phase One, a large sample (n = 1,269) of guitar educators participated in the Guitar Educator Questionnaire (GEQ). Findings from the GEQ suggest a low (7.9) percent of music educators who teach guitar class consider themselves to be "guitar specialists." A substantial number of respondents (68.5 percent) indicated that they rarely or never participated in guitar related professional development, and 76.1 percent of respondents reported that their pre-service training provided little or no preparation for a career in guitar education. A purposeful sample of six "exemplary" guitar educators contributed pedagogy-focused interviews and video teaching samples in Phases Two and Three. Data from the three phases were analyzed according to principles of thematic analysis in order to identify potential pathways toward the continued growth and maturation of guitar education. INDEX WORDS: Guitar, Guitar educator, Guitar education, Thematic analysis, Best practices, Exemplary educator, Curriculum, Pedagogy, Teacher preparation, Teacher identity, Democratic education, Teacher background PROFESSIONAL PROFILES, PEDAGOGIC PRACTICES, AND THE FUTURE OF GUITAR EDUCATION


A Level 1 reader with holiday search-and-find fun by bestselling author/photographer Walter Wick! From the photographer of the bestselling I Spy books and creator of the Can You See What I See? series is a new Christmas search-and-find reader chock-full of fun! Children can read the simple text and use the picture clues to search for dozens of hidden trinkets and toys! An illustrated word list in the back of the book provides extra support for the newest readers!


COVID-19 has stressed the condition of radical uncertainty that increasingly characterises our times and compels cities to learn new ways to cope with unexpected global urban challenges. The volume proposes preparedness as a key concept in urban geography, planning, and policy, inviting international scholars to discuss its pros and cons. Firstly, it builds a critical theoretical framework around the concept of preparedness in relation to the COVID-19 effects and other interconnected crises. Then, the authors put at work and redefine preparedness, starting from worldwide surveys, research experiences, public discourses and spatial strategies analysis in Europe and, more extensively, in Italy. Finally, the closing section goes beyond the view of preparedness as an emergency tool, proposing to interpret it more broadly as a technology supporting a sustainable urban transition. The book mainly targets academics in urban planning, policy, and geography. However, the prominence of the topic of preparedness makes the volume an essential reading not only within social sciences but further in engineering, basic sciences, and life science. In addition, the book provides directions to practitioners and civic leaders in supporting cities and regions to prepare themselves in the face of pandemics and unpredictable socio-environmental shocks. © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Simonetta Armondi, Alessandro Balducci, Martina Bovo and Beatrice Galimberti;individual chapters, the contributors. All rights reserved.


We report on our processing steps to build a diachronic parallel corpus based on the world's oldest banking magazine. The magazine has been published since 1895 in German, with translations in French and partly in English and Italian. Our data sources are printed issues (until 1997), PDF issues (since 1998) and HTML files (since 2001). The corpus building poses special challenges in article boundary recognition and cross-language article and sentence alignment. Our corpus fills a gap in parallel corpora with respect to genre (magazine articles), domain (banking and economy articles), and its time span (120 years).


A 10-year-old girl with a gingival erythema lasting from one year, usually asymptomatic, sometimes responsible for paresthesia, was sent by the dentists with a suspicion of capillary malformation. The personal and family history was negative for significant disorders. Physical examination (Fig. 1) showed an erythema with clear-cut borders of the maxillary gingiva level with the upper incisors and to a lesser extent with the upper canines. A histological examination (Fig. 2, 3) showed hyperplasia of the epithelial ridges and a massive infiltrate consisting almost exclusively of plasma cells in the chorion. The final diagnosis was plasma cell gingivitis. The girl was asked to brush her teeth without tooth-paste and not to use chewing gum or candy of any kind. After a month the situation was unchanged.


Public policy in the United States is disproportionately responsive to the wealthy, and the traditional response to this problem, campaign finance regulation, has failed. As students of politics have long recognized, however, political influence flows not only from wealth but also from organization, a form of political power open to all income groups. Accordingly, as this Essay argues, a promising alternative to campaign finance regulations is legal interventions designed to facilitate political organizing by the poor and middle class. To date, the most important legal intervention of this kind has been labor law, and the labor union has been the central vehicle for this type of organizing. But the labor union as a political-organizational vehicle suffers a fundamental flaw: unions bundle political organization with collective bargaining, a highly contested form of economic organization. As a result, opposition to collective bargaining impedes unions' ability to serve as a political-organizing vehicle for lowerand middle-income groups. This Essay proposes that labor law unbundle the union, allowing employees to organize politically through the union form without also organizing economically for collective bargaining purposes. Doing so would have the immediate effect of liberating political-organizational efforts from the constraints of collective bargaining, an outcome that could mitigate representational inequality. The Essay identifies the legal reforms that would be necessary to enable such unbundled "political unions" to succeed. It concludes by looking beyond the union context and suggesting a broader regime of reforms aimed at facilitating political organizing by those income groups for whom representational inequality is now a problem.


Charity is big business in the United States. In 2015, private individuals or entities donated over $350 billion, which accounted for approximately two percent of the gross domestic product in the United States. Even though this seems like big money, these donations were split among over 1.5 million organizations. And each year, the number of charitable organizations grows and therefore, the competition for public donations increases. In part to succeed in such competition, some charitable organizations have turned to branding and trademarks as a way to differentiate their entities and to encourage donations. Drawing from the for-profit branding and trademarking strategies, some charitable organizations have become valuable brands in their own right. Unfortunately, however, the similar phenomenon of trademark bullying has also seemed to have spilled over from the for-profit sector into the nonprofit one. This is arguably an even more nefarious problem than in the for-profit sector because nonprofits are supposedly on a mission to help society. If, in their goal to raise more money in order to perform their mission, these charitable organizations are actually harming society through the costs associated with enforcement and in reducing the number of charitable entities, then the work of these organizations seems to be counterproductive. Not only that, but in shrinking the market of charitable organizations, larger organizations are able to control which causes society should care about, leaving many other worthy causes underfunded or without funding. This Article posits that much of the blame for over-enforcement of trademark rights may in large part be placed on judicial interpretation of U.S. federal trademark law. Although federal courts are not united, the more restrained approach to charitable trademarks taken by courts in the earlier part of the Twentieth Century appears to have shifted over the last few decades towards greater protection, particularly if the trademark holder is a well-established nonprofit. At the same time, case law appears to require an enhanced level of control over such charitable trademarks. Both strands in federal case law may be encouraging over-enforcement of trademark law, both formally and informally. In order to reduce bullying, this Article proposes a number of solutions, including a judicial heightening of certain pleading requirements, and encouraging the responsible public shaming of charitable trademark bullies. In limiting the types of trademark infringement cases that could be brought and drawing to the public's attention those cases that overstep the legal boundaries, charitable entities should hopefully feel freer to not worry about over-enforcing trademark rights and instead, focus on their missions to better our world.


This paper presents the fundamentals of the DVD+ReWritable 4.7 GB (DVD+RW) groove format of the disk. It describes the format detection and addresses the IC implementation of the required circuitry. Simulation and measurement results show the robustness of both the DVD+RW groove format of the disk and of the applied format detection method and circuitry.


This book focuses on middle-class urban women as participants in new forms of consumer culture. Within the special world of the department store, women found themselves challenged to resist the enticements of consumption. Many succumbed, buying both what they needed and what they desired, but also stealing what seemed so readily available. Pitted against these middle-class women were the management, detectives, and clerks of the department stores. Abelson argues that in the interest of concealing this darker side of consumerism, women of the middle class, but not those of the working class, were allowed to shoplift and plead incapacitating illness-kleptomania. The invention of kleptomania by psychiatrists and the adoption of this ideology of feminine weakness by retailers, newspapers, the general public, the accused women themselves, and even the courts reveals the way in which a gender analysis allowed proponents of consumer capitalism to mask its contradictions.


Success in collaboratively learning subject matter means both learning the subject matter (collaborating to learn), and learning how to effectively manage the team interaction (learning to collaborate). Supporting on-line learning teams means supporting both these activities. We focus on the problem of assimilating the knowledge needed to address interaction problems that may arise during collaborative learning sessions. This involves gathering knowledge about the types of problems that learning groups might encounter, evaluating methods for identifying situations in which those problems exist, and implementing strategies to facilitate groups learning on-line.


Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) such as Naproxen have been used for a long time for the treatment of acute and chronic inflammation conditions. However, the oral administration of NSAIDs for a long time can cause gastric mucosal damage, which may result in ulceration and bleeding. Therefore, the development of a transdermal drug delivery (TDD) system of NSAIDs is of a great interest as it decreases GIT side effect and provides a constant release of drug in a determined period of time. Moreover, one of the important parameters of TTD is improving the permeability of the drug through human skin, since the stratum corneum layer of the epidermis prevents the permeability of various drugs and the naproxen in particular. In this present paper, we have successfully synthesized and characterized various ester derivatives of naproxen (methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, pentyl and hexyl esters) that have more suitable physicochemical properties for TDD and the butyl ester derivative has been formulated into liquid formulation for topical administration. The formulation was tested for stability according to ICH guidelines. No change in the initial appearance was observed during three months of study at room temperature & at 40 °C. The assay and pH were within the international standard limits during the period of the study. So, stable topical formulation of naproxen ester has been obtained.


A flatbed dryer with a reversible airflow was introduced in the Philippines through a collaborative project between Nong Lam University of Vietnam and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice). In this design, airflow is reversed at some point during the drying period to achieve uniform drying without mixing the grain. An 8-ton capacity dryer was constructed at PhilRice Central Experiment Station in Nueva Ecija to evaluate its performance and adaptability under Philippine conditions. Appropriate and locally available materials were used in the construction of the pilot unit. Nine (9) additional dryers were then constructed at PhilRice stations (Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Negros, Agusan, Central Mindanao University, and Midsayap) that served as pilot units for technology promotion in their respective areas of coverage. Performance of the dryer was evaluated in terms of the following parameters: (1) drying; (2) quality of dried grains; and (3) economic analysis of using the dryer. The performance evaluation was conducted in three drying batches of newly harvested rice seeds. Paddy dried with the reversible airflow flatbed dryer at full load capacity has a uniform moisture content with one percent (1%) moisture gradient at different layers of the grain mass along the depth and across the drying bin. The drying rate was 1% moisture reduction per hour. The drying cost of using the reversible dryer is PhP0.74 per kg which is lower than the prevailing mechanical drying cost of PhP1.13 per kg. It has a payback period of 2.5 years and break-even point of 53.0 batches/year. To date, eight (8) privately-owned units have already been constructed and fully operational in the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Quirino, and Bukidnon, with PhilRice receiving inquiries from interested individuals here and abroad regarding the technology.


Solitary wave steering under interaction with continuous waves is studied. An analytical approach based on two conserved quantities of the wave evolution is used to study transverse wave number variations. The method is applicable to any number of transverse dimensions and any kind of nonlinearity. The analytical results provide useful information for the investigation of optimal parameters of interaction for efficient multidimensional steering. Numerical simulations for specific cases are used to confirm the analytical results.


A case of disseminated pseudallescheriasis in a German Shepherd bitch is presented. Bones (ilium, a rib and phalanges), joints (elbow and acetabulum) and the surrounding tissues were the principal organs affected. In addition, Pseudallescheria boydii was isolated, in lower numbers, from the eye, kidney, lymph nodes draining the affected regions and urine. The dog was euthanized. P. boydii was identified by morphologic characteristics and molecular techniques (beta tubulin sequence). In addition, an ITS nucleotide sequence analysis showed that this strain differed from another isolate identified as Scedosporium apiospermum that had caused a disseminated infection in another German Shepherd. The importance of the molecular characterization of fungi belonging to the Pseudallescheria/Scedosporium complex, isolated from animals is stressed in light of the ongoing attempts to recharacterize these fungi.


The use of stone Acupuncture needles, the "Bian Shi", is reported in several ancient Chinese manuscripts, pointing the origin of this form of medical treatment to Western China in the stone age. Early writings on silk fabrics and on stone have been retrieved from tombs and elsewhere to provide a fascinating insight on the useage and developement of acupuncture. Over many centuries the tradition has been passed between generations of physician-acupuncturist families who were the attendants of Emperors, and the leaders of the medical profession, teaching and writing texts that were studied throughout the East.