Abstract. The Match method quantifies chemical ozone loss in the polar stratosphere. The basic idea consists in calculating the forward trajectory of an air parcel that has been probed by an ozone measurement (e.g., by an ozonesonde or satellite instrument) and finding a second ozone measurement close to this trajectory. Such an event is called a "match". A rate of chemical ozone destruction can be obtained by a statistical analysis of several tens of such match events. Information on the uncertainty of the calculated rate can be inferred from the scatter of the ozone mixing ratio difference (second measurement minus first measurement) associated with individual matches. A standard analysis would assume that the errors of these differences are statistically independent. However, this assumption may be violated because different matches can share a common ozone measurement, so that the errors associated with these match events become statistically dependent. Taking this effect into account, we present an analysis of the uncertainty of the final Match result. It has been applied to Match data from the Arctic winters 1995, 1996, 2000, and 2003. For these ozonesonde Match studies the effect of the error correlation on the uncertainty estimates is rather small: compared to a standard error analysis, the uncertainty estimates increase by 15% on average. However, the effect may be more pronounced for typical satellite Match analyses: for an Antarctic satellite Match study (2003), the uncertainty estimates increase by 60% on average. The analysis showed that the random errors of the ozone measurements and the "net match errors", which result from a displacement of the second ozone measurement of a match from the required position, are of similar magnitude. This demonstrates that the criteria for accepting a match (maximum trajectory duration, match radius, spread of trajectory clusters etc.) ensure that, given the unavoidable ozone-measurement errors, the magnitude of the net match errors is adequate. The estimate of the random errors of the ozonesonde measurements agrees well with laboratory results.


A "NEW EUROPE" OR "DEAD LANDS"? In Britain during 1916, a periodical called The New Europe appeared. Believing that the Great War offered an unique opportunity to destroy the dynastic empires that prevented nationalities like the Czechs and Poles from having their own self-governing homelands, contributors such as R. W. Seton-Watson, Elmer Davis, and W. J. Rose advocated the establishment of independent states, based upon nationality, throughout Eastern Europe. The creation of new nation-states would, these men thought, rectify an historic injustice and satisfy the legitimate claims of the nationalities. After 1918 many intellectuals and popular writers invested their fears and hopes for the postwar era in the notion of Eastern Europe, a region that they saw as a geographical, political, and cultural entity of self-governing nation-states distinct from Western Europe. (1) As several scholars have demonstrated, before 1914 West European and American thinkers depicted Eastern Europe as a place of semi-Orientalized, backward, and degenerate peoples, thereby differentiating themselves and an idealized West--in civilizational terms--from the others of Eastern Europe. (2) This analysis begs an important question. How did Westerners' cultural ideas about Eastern Europe after the Great War reflect the political transformation that had occurred? Through a study of interwar French, British, and American literature, including both contemporary scholarly studies and travel accounts that were written about the region, one can conclude that West Europeans and Americans did not change their fundamental ideas about the area and its peoples. (3) They could have created a positive discourse on the region by viewing East Europeans as political and cultural equals, fellow citizens of the new European home, rather than seeing them as uncivilized savages. The journal The New Europe sought to demonstrate the potential for the formation of a positive East European image. However, these early hopes died soon after the close of the peace conference, and even use of the term "the New Europe" tapered off during the 1920s. In an effort to make West European civilization look superior, many writers described an Eastern Europe that was the home of inferior, degenerate cultures characterized by barbarity, pseudo-Orientalism, and Levantinism, ideas that placed Eastern Europe in closer connection with the Orient than with the "high culture" of Western Europe. Thus, in cultural terms, a New Eastern Europe never came into existence. After the Great War, negative constructions of Eastern Europe tied into ideas about Western civilization's decline and probable collapse. Notions of Western decline dated to the late nineteenth century, yet some of the most influential prognosticators of that decline, particularly Oswald Spengler and Arnold J. Toynbee, only published their ideas in 1918 and the years following. During the interwar era, writers who deprecated Eastern Europe as a zone of uncivilized people did so in an attempt to find meaning for the idea of Western civilization in the wake of the war. In a few seminal cases, men like Arnold Toynbee, Paul Valery, and Henri Massis analyzed the symptoms of Western deterioration, sought solutions for the Western problem, and in the process depicted Eastern Europe as inferior to the West in order to present the West in the best light possible, that is, by contrasting Western Europe with its degenerate Eastern neighbor. While one might think it contradictory to maintain that Westerners defamed Eastern Europe in order to uphold as superior a Western civilization which they believed to be in a state of decline, in reality no contradiction exists. West Europeans and Americans thought that the West had entered the most severe crisis of its existence after the Great War and that disintegration seemed to loom on the horizon. But most of them believed that with reforms, such as a spiritual revival, Western civilization could be saved from the fate of the "others," including those in Eastern Europe, who had slipped beyond the point of salvation. …


The Smart Energy Research Lab (SERL) Observatory dataset described here comprises half-hourly and daily electricity and gas data, SERL survey data, Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) input data and 24 local hourly climate reanalysis variables from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) for over 13,000 households in Great Britain (GB). Participants were recruited in September 2019, September 2020 and January 2021 and their smart meter data are collected from up to one year prior to sign up. Data collection will continue until at least August 2022, and longer if funding allows. Survey data relating to the dwelling, appliances, household demographics and attitudes was collected at sign up. Data are linked at the household level and UK-based academic researchers can apply for access within a secure virtual environment for research projects in the public interest. This is a data descriptor paper describing how the data was collected, the variables available and the representativeness of the sample compared to national estimates. It is intended as a guide for researchers working with or considering using the SERL Observatory dataset, or simply looking to learn more about it.


In children with DMD (Duchenne muscular dystrophy), flexion contractures may develop as a result of the disease process. The corresponding flexion moments caused by these contractures may contribute significantly to the production of the net hip flexion moment during the gait of these children. The goal of the present study is to quantify hip flexion passive moments that may be associated with the presence of hip flexion contractures and to estimate their contribution to the net moment during the gait of children with DMD. Kinematic and kinetic parameters were collected during gait of six subjects with DMD. Hip flexion passive moments were also measured during the same session. Six control children participated in the study in order to have normal reference values. Although no significant group difference was observed for hip flexion passive moment variables, the hip flexion passive moment contribution is worth noting in both groups of children. We believe that the passive moments can compensate for the presence of progressive muscle weakness in the children with DMD and be beneficial to their gait.


Summary Shallow shear wave reflection profiling, in comparison to compressional wave surveys, requires a greater awareness of and ability to discriminate the many sources and associated forms coherent noise can take on shot gathers and the manifestation of that noise on CMP stacked sections. Shallow shear wave reflection surveying is an attractive alternative to compressional wave reflection surveys in some situations due in large part to the increased resolution potential at a given dominant reflection frequency, the polarized nature of the energy, insensitivity to pore materials, and the relationship of shear wave velocity to rigidity/stiffness of materials. Unlike compressional wave arrivals where reflections are the only coherent hyperbolic events, reflections and surface waves can appear hyperbolic on shear wave shot gathers. This unique difference should eliminate the complete confidence placed in unique interpretations of all hyperbolic events with a zero offset apex as reflections. Without careful attention to true measured velocities (ground truth) and complete removal of all energy arriving within the noise cone, Love waves will likely stack coherently on CMP sections. Interpretations made of stacked shear wave data which do not include sample shot gathers where reflection events are clearly identifiable outside the noise cone should not be considered legitimate and need to be assumed coherent noise.


The paper analyses the development feasibility and the possibilities of using the application for mobile terminal devices with the aim of generating geo-referenced audio-video recordings of the traffic network. The application has been developed at the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences in Zagreb, in J2ME environment. The application is meant to create a geo-referenced audio-video recording of the traffic network, and can therefore be efficiently applied by all who are involved in activities regarding the general condition of roads, road signage, road environment, in short, by anyone who may benefit from the geo-referenced audio-video recording of the traffic network in order to operate more efficiently.


We simulate the magnetosphere of the nearby millisecond pulsar PSR J0437-4715, which is expected to have an unscreened electric potential due to the lack of magnetic pair production. We incorporate general relativistic (GR) effects and study curvature radiation (CR) by primary electrons but neglect inverse Compton scattering of thermal X-ray photons by these electrons. We find that the CR spectrum cuts off at energies below ~17 GeV, well below the threshold of the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) telescope (≲100 GeV), while other models predict a much higher cutoff of ≳100 GeV. GR theory also predicts a relatively narrow pulse (βo ~ 0.2 phase width) centered on the magnetic axis. EGRET observations above 100 MeV significantly constrain the application of the Muslimov & Harding model for γ-ray production as a result of GR frame dragging and ultimately its polar cap (PC) current and accelerating potential. Whereas the standard prediction of this pulsar's γ-ray luminosity due to GR frame dragging is ~10% of the spin-down power, a nondetection by forthcoming H.E.S.S. observations will constrain it to ≲0.3%, enforcing an even more severe revision of the accelerating electric field and PC current.


Financial education is a crucial determinant of informed decisions, in both the private and social spheres. From a life cycle perspective, it improves personal finance. From youth to retirement, basic economic and financial competences, including specific pension literacy, help to plan for the future and to make better choices, thus reducing the probability of financial fragility, particularly in old age, and increasing economic independence, particularly for women. In the social sphere, a growing literature is demonstrating that basic financial education also affects public choices, influencing voting behavior, economic reforms, policy outcomes, and, more generally, the workings of our democracies.


If a buyer breaches a contract but the market price has remained unchanged, English courts and the treatises have treated the seller as a "lost volume seller." The seller, it is argued, could have had two sales, not one, so it lost the profit on the second sale. This paper recognizes that the buyer has an option to terminate and that the contract prices that option. The implicit option price of the lost volume remedy results in an absurd contract, setting the option price high when it should be low and vice versa. The default rule ought to be the contract-market differential (zero in these cases) with the parties determining the appropriate option price with a nonrefundable deposit or liquidated damages.


The numerous discoveries of black stone artefacts in Europe open new fields of research of great interest as regards the understanding of raw material acquisition and manufacturing and also the reconstruction of ancient exchange networks. Two main research axes were explored for this multidisciplinary research: the material was studied using archaeological, geological and analytical approaches. A new analytical protocol using LA-ICP-MS was tested and gives promising results and opens future developments. The aim of this study was to reconstruct the relationships between artefacts and sources during the Iron Age in Celtic Europe, and also to understand the distribution of the raw material and production systems of these black stone artefacts. Some changes between the Iron Age periods necessitated the examination of the circulation and diffusion of black stone objects across Europe, and also the long-distance trade of materials. These results constitute the most comprehensive archaeological, geological, and analytical referential database for European black stone material available to date.


At the neuronal level, the visual experience is continually interrupted by moments of blindness due to the saccades, the rapid ocular movements that accompany the dynamic exploration of the visual scene. Unlike what happens during ocular stasis, in which the salient information about the surrounding space is collected and processed in the visual system, the saccadic movements are instead associated with an inhibition mechanism, through which the conscious processing ofthe stimuli is systematically interrupted. How is it possible that the information gathered in the course of the saccades is integrated into a unique and coherent experience? A 'remapping' mechanism of inputs at their meeting with the neuronal fields of sensory receptors has been assumed as a fundamental factor in the explanation of the maintenance of visual continuity through the constant change of the retinal coordinates of perceived objects. Subjective time is elusive if we assume that the clock time is the only 'real' and 'objective' time. In contrast, subjectivity shows modes of timing that are irreducible at the time of clocks – modes, which refer to unconscious modalities of experiencing an 'extended present' that is not made of instant points, but of processes qualitatively different from the experimentally measured time.


BACKGROUND
Elite sport is continuously evolving. World records keep falling and athletes from a longer list of countries are involved.

PURPOSE
This commentary was designed to provide insights into present and future trends associated with world-class endurance training based on the perspectives, experience, and knowledge of an expert panel of 25 applied sport scientists.

RESULTS
The key drivers of development observed in the past 10-15 years were related to (1) more accessible scientific knowledge for coaches and athletes combined with (2) better integration of practical and scientific exchange across multidisciplinary perspectives within professionalized elite athlete support structures, as well as (3) utilization of new technological advances. Based on these perspectives, we discerned and exemplified the main trends in the practice of endurance sports into the following categories: better understanding of sport-specific demands; improved competition execution; larger, more specific, and more precise training loads; improved training quality; and a more professional and healthier lifestyle. The main areas expected to drive future improvements were associated with more extensive use of advanced technology for monitoring and prescribing training and recovery, more precise use of environmental and nutritional interventions, better understanding of athlete-equipment interactions, and greater emphasis on preventing injuries and illnesses.

CONCLUSIONS
These expert insights can serve as a platform and inspiration to develop new hypotheses and ideas, encourage future collaboration between researchers and sport practitioners, and, perhaps most important, stimulate curiosity and further collaborative studies about the training, physiology, and performance of endurance athletes.


Waterborne pathogens are a major health threat and must be eliminated to guarantee safe usage of water for potable purposes. For this purpose, a new carbon-based nanomaterial composed of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and iron oxides was constructed for bacterial inactivation. Owing to its magnetic properties, the SWCNT–iron oxide nanocomposite may serve as a reusable antimicrobial agent. The nanocomposite material exhibited high antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli. Successful reuse of the nanocomposite material was achieved by washing with calcium chloride and distilled water, which restored its performance for several successive cycles. To investigate the cytotoxicity mechanisms of the nanocomposite material, we exposed it to single-gene knockout mutant strains of E. coli. Mutants bearing shorter lipopolysaccharide (LPS) layers in the outer membrane (ΔrfaC and ΔrfaG) demonstrated an increased sensitivity in comparison to the wildtype strain, exemplified in enhanced removal by the nanocomposite material. This finding suggests that the LPS acts as a protective shield against the nanocomposite material. Inactivation of mutants impaired in specific oxidative stress defense mechanisms (ΔsodA, ΔkatG and ΔsoxS) emphasized that oxidative stress plays a significant role in the inactivation mechanism of the nanocomposite. This study sheds light on the mechanisms of bacterial inactivation by carbon-based nanomaterials and advances their potential implementation for water disinfection.


Though Korea is located in non-endemic region of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and the incidence rate of nasopharynx cancer (NPCa) is very low, some clinical and histologic characteristics are similar to those in EBV endemic regions. Korean Radiation Oncology Group (KROG) established a database of NPCa patients and a few informative studies were performed, which mostly have conformed to those from the previously reports by others. Large variation in intensity modulated RT (IMRT) detail was recognized and the key principles at Samsung Medical Center are introduced. Based on the current understandings of Korean perspective, further refinement aiming at improved clinical outcomes would be anticipated through large scale prospective clinical trials.


Aiming to describe the heat transfer process of tubular heating furnace from the angle of energy quality, a exergy transfer model of tubular heating furnace was established to evaluate the energy consumption level of heat furnace. The model is based on the 1-N heat exchange chain theory, innovatively combined with the transfer evaluation index. The temperature distribution in the furnace chamber is calculated by the mathematical model of the zonal method, and then the reduction rate of the heat transfer density and the resistance rate of the heat transfer are calculated. The results show that the exergy potential of the radiant furnace tubes during the heat transfer of the heat furnace is large, and the influences of both the blackness of the furnace wall and the coefficient of convective heat transfer of the exergy transfer of the radiant furnace tubes under steady-state conditions is discussed in detail. With the increase in the blackness of the furnace wall, the exergy density of the flue gas side of the pipe wall increases significantly. With the decrease in the coefficient of convective heat transfer, the exergy density of the working medium side of the tube wall decreases significantly. The energy efficiency of the heat furnace can be improved by adjusting the two parameters in engineering.


This text analyzes distance education in Brazil in order to establish the theoretical and practical links between two of its essential dimensions: The political injunctions that determine the practices tested in various experiments under way; and the economical issues that emerge from the technologies used and how they articulate to the real conditions of implementation. The analysis is based on data from empirical research conducted at different moments of Brazilian recent history, with an emphasis on teacher training experiments. Emphasis is given to the analysis of the forms of appropriation and use of the distance education proposals by users. The contradictions between the promises of a technocratic discourse, which gives priority to technique, and the reality of the teaching systems, which are not able to guarantee the basic conditions to accomplish the proposals, is also highlighted.


Barrier dams, traps, and lampricides are the techniques currently used by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission to control sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus) in the Great Lakes. To augment these control techniques, a sterile-male-release research program was initiated at the Lake Huron Biological Station. Male sea lampreys were sterilized by intraperitoneal injection of the chemical sterilant P,P-bis(1-aziridinyl)-N-methylphosphinothioic amide (bisazir). An analytical method was needed to quantitate the concentration of bisazir in water and to routinely verify that bisazir (>25 μg/L) does not persist in the treated effluent discharged from the sterilization facility to Lake Huron. A rapid, accurate, and sensitive liquid chromatographic (LC) method was developed for determining bisazir in water. Bisazir was dissolved in Lake Huron water; extracted and concentrated on a C 18 solid-phase extraction column; eluted with methanol; and quantitated by reversed-phase LC using a C 18 column, a mobile phase of 70% water and 30% methanol (v/v), and UV detection (205 nm). Bisazir retention time was 7-8 min; total run time was about 20 min. Method detection limit for bisazir dissolved in Lake Huron water was about 15 μg/L. Recovery from Lake Huron water fortified with bisazir at 100 μg/L was 94% (95% confidence interval, 90.2-98.2%).


Reuse is a process that deals not only with objects, architectures and territories, but also with images and collective perception. It goes beyond the physical reality and produces a space having less delimited meanings, more difficult to be defined because of its immateriality, although not less necessary. Montage, giving new meanings to images from archives, has been since long an artistic methodology used for movies, photography, visual arts. In this context, some artworks, like the most interesting architectonic reuses, do not re-propose slavishly pre-existing realities. On the contrary, thorough a process of estrangement and montage, they relaunch, open to unexpected outcomes. This text proposes an analysis of some works straddling the beginning of the millennium, by Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi and Joan Fontcuberta. These authors, by different means, suggest the existence of a common ground, a possible map of the contemporary artistic production dealing with alpine territories. Nitrate ghosts of living beings suspended in a nearly abstract white, digital landscape, mermaids' skeletons. Images differ greatly from one another and displace the observer. By deconstructing the mechanisms behind communications produced by different systems of power (scientific, political, etc.), they dismantle prejudices and established visions. They do not oppose new realities to existing ones, but with the irruption of the unexpected, of discrepancy and heterogeneity, compared to conventions and to the foreseeable, they activate the observer, bounced out of the comfort zone of the passive spectator.


Samanea tubulosa is a plant used for medicinal and feeding purposes. However, ingestion of S. tubulosa pods has been associated with bovine abortion. Thus, the aim of this work was to investigate the effects of diet containing 5% of S. tubulosa pod meal on male and female Wistar rats. Diet was administered to male rats (n = 10) for 60 days before mating. Female rats (n = 10) received the treatment for 30 days, during cohabitation and from gestational day (GD) 0 to GD20. Treated animals were mated with untreated rats. In male rats, plant consumption caused decreased food consumption and 20% fertility index reduction. Litters from treated males presented lower body weight and crown– rump length. Female rats treated with the plant increased water and food intake and body weight. Decreases in fertility, fecundity and gestation indices and increase of placenta weight and mean number of corpora lutea were found. Thus, owing to the possible general and reproductive toxic effects, long-term consumption of S. tubulosa is not recommended for phytotherapic or food purposes.


A novel technique for the generation of single-pulse rotational CARS spectra is presented and demonstrated flows and flames. The technique is based on a multiple four-color interaction, where the rotational in gas with two photons of different frequencies from a broadband dye laser, and by coupling to a energies are excited photon from a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser a rotational CARS photon is created. An interesting third feature of the technique is the possibility of simultaneously generating both a rotational and vibrational using a double-folded BOXCARS arrangement. This technique is demonstrated on N2 CARS spectrum molecules.


Abstract
In this chapter, the authors conceptualize corporate entrepreneurship as a mental model that allows firms to adapt to new competitive landscapes by facilitating the development of new cognitive scripts and schemas. The authors begin by explaining what it means for a firm to be competitively bewildered, or lost, in a rapidly changing competitive domain. The authors also describe five stages of being lost competitively. The authors then map the attributes of an entrepreneurial firm – adaptability, speed, flexibility, aggressiveness, and innovativeness – to stages of the bewilderment process wherein they may be most helpful to realign competitive realities and entrepreneurial scripts and schemas. The authors conclude by proposing contributions resulting from conceptualizing corporate entrepreneurship as a bewilderment schema and also explain how this represents a novel perspective.


The development of processes for the co-processing of vegetable oils and petroleum hydrocarbons, the purpose of which is to production components of motor-fuels, is an important direction in the development of the fuel and energy industry. An important stage in the planning and implementation of such processes is the selection of a catalyst. Recently, zeolites of various structures and modifications have become very popular as catalysts. In this work, processing on a zeolite catalyst of the ZSM-5 type of a straight-run diesel fraction and a blend of a diesel fraction with 50% vol. sunflower oil, were implementation. Regularities of the effect of sunflower oil involvement in processing on a zeolite catalyst on the composition and properties of the obtained products are revealed. It has been established that the products of joint processing of sunflower oil and straight-run diesel fraction on a zeolite catalyst meet to the arctic brand of diesel fuel in terms of low-temperature properties. It is shown that the obtained product of processing on zeolite is a promising blending component for the production of low-freezing diesel fuels. The received results indicate the feasibility of joint processing of vegetable oils and straight-run diesel fractions on zeolite catalysts. The involvement of vegetable oils in processing will expand the pool of feedstock for the production of motor-fuel components.


Full of pop, punk and personalities, The 1970s Scrapbook sways through this energetic era on platform shoes to the beat of glam rock and disco mania. Teenyboppers screamed for their idols, whether David Cassidy, David Essex, The Osmonds, Bay City Rollers or Abba. Colour television brought it all to life, with a mixture of comedy from The Good Life to Fawlty Towers. Much of the TV action came from the USA featuring Kojak, Starsky and Hutch and the stunt riding of Evel Knievel. For children, animals came to life with the Muppet Show and the Wombles, while in space new horizons were beamed up with Star Trek, and Star Wars on the big screen. Amongst all this fervour, Britain had been set the mathematical challenge of decimalisation in 1971, and then in 1977 the celebrations came for the Queen's Silver Jubilee.


In this study, two laboratory-scale simulated landfill bioreactors were established, of which Reactor A was operated only with leachate recirculation and served as the control, and Reactor B was operated as semi-aerobic bioreactor landfill with leachate recirculation. In situ leachate treatment and accelerating organic decomposition in semi-aerobic bioreactor landfill was investigated. The results indicated that the introduction of air into the landfill was favourable for optimising the micro-organism growth environment and accelerating the degradation off organic matter. It can be seen clearly from the results that NH4+-N can be removed in situ in the semi-aerobic bioreactor landfill with leachate recirculation. Moreover, semi-aerobic bioreactor landfill showed lower emissions for leachate than those in leachate from anaerobic landfill, with low concentrations of COD, VFA, NH4+-N and TKN, and which saved the disposing process off the discharged leachate. The three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy (EEMs) of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in Reactor B changed greatly, and fluorescence peak changed from protein-like fluorescence at Day 60 to humic-like fluorescence at Day 95 and 250, while in Reactor A, fluorescence peak of DOM was always protein-like fluorescence. The comparison of the EEMs indicated that the semi-aerobic landfill accelerated the organic decomposition.


A method is proposed to optimize the network survivability based on average distance. We explain the merit of shorter average distance and design the topologies which have minimum average distance then choose the optimal network from them by the network performance analysis under random failure.


To implement proper family medicine practice and to get the best of it, the concept of patient-centered care (PCC) has to be put into use. Studies have found that one of the most important advantages of PCC is the increase in the patients' quality of life. PCC has been recognized as a marker of quality in health service delivery with its improvement. However, the physicians' belief is essential for its implementation. A cross-sectional study was done to find out what family physicians think of PCC and what they believe are the obstacles that block from its use in Bahrain. Twenty-eight family physicians (FPs) working in the primary health care centers were arbitrarily culled from a pool of doctors. To all a pre-designed questionnaire was sent that contained three parts; demographic information, type of facilities that they work and whether it is promoting PCC practice and the last was concerned with the physicians' view about the barrier against its implementation and what they cerebrate that could avail in promoting it. The results showed that the majority of the participants were family physicians working in governmental health centers. More than 85% knew the congruous definition of PCC and 96.4% thought that the most common barrier for not implementing PCC approach is the time constraint while almost 93% thought that the short duration of time of the consultation is another impediment for implementing PCC. Withal, 57.1% and 53.6% of FPs thought that language and the doctor's communication skills are other barriers respectively. Since the ultimate aim of provision of health care in any country is the optimal health of the population and since PCC practice could fortify and avail in achieving that goal, it is recommended that policy makers and health authorities are required to abstract all obstacles that works against implementing PCC and change the work environment in order to make it facile for the practitioners to apply PCC practice approach


ColourAIze is an interactive system that analyses black and white drawings on paper, automatically determines realistic colour fills using artificial intelligence (AI) and projects those colours onto the paper within the line art. In addition to selecting between multiple colouring styles, the user can specify local colour preferences to the AI via simple stylus strokes in desired areas of the drawing. This allows users to immediately and directly view potential colour fills for paper sketches or published black and white artwork such as comics. ColourAIze was demonstrated at the Winter 2017 Comic Market in Tokyo, where it was used by more than a thousand visitors. This short paper describes the design of the system and reports on usability observations gathered from demonstrators at the fair.


ANN DUPUIS [*] ABSTRACT. This paper suggests the possibility of an interdisciplinary, tripartite merger of transaction cost economics and the concept of embeddedness, with feminist insights. It demonstrates that in isolation, a simple application of transaction cost analysis can offer an adequate explanation of economic activity. The explanatory power of this approach however, is enhanced when complemented by greater recognition of the importance of the social context in which economic activity occurs. This paper uses research from New Zealand's largest street market to examine women's work in street commerce, a sub-sector of the informal sector. Aspects of transaction cost analysis are applied to activities of women market vendors. It is proposed however, that the approach we take which considers the embeddedness of economic activity in ongoing networks of social relations, and the intertwining of economic with non-economic goals, is compatible with aspects of feminism. Novel features of the analysis include the applicatio n of transaction cost analysis to informal sector activity and a synthesis of this approach with a feminist oriented network analysis. I Introduction TRANSACTION LOST ANALYSIS, a core aspect of the New Institutional Economics, has achieved prominence chiefly through the work of Williamson (1975, 1985, 1994). Initially referred to by Coase (1937) as marketing costs, transaction costs have been widely incorporated into economics. Transaction cost economics offers an alternative view of economic behavior from that of the mainstream neoclassical approach. Although Williamson himself acknowledges that transaction cost economics has "enormous explanatory power" (1986, xviii) most analyses have been contributions to the theory of the firm and industrial organization, and have chiefly emphasized contractual relations at the institutional level, particularly those of markets and hierarchies (see for example Casson 1996). There is now a growing body of literature that attempts to study empirically the validity of the central theses of transaction cost economics. Articles in a recent special issue of the Cambridge Journal of Economics, on contracts and competition, f or example, have examined variations of transaction costs across both firms and industries (Maher 1997) and also drawn attention to the managerial perceptions of transaction costs versus fully recognized transaction costs (Buckley 1997). There has also been a parallel growth in the literature recognizing the importance of networks in organizational permutations (Granovetter 1995; Podolny and Page 1998). Valuable empirical research has been undertaken on the existence of these networks in such diverse areas as, for example, the apparel industry (Uzzi 1996, 1997), bio-technology (Barley et al 1992; Powell and Brantley 1992) and financial services (Podolny 1993, 1994). Furthermore, a torrent of strategic management literature has emerged focusing on the significance of the ties and alliances between organizations, although it appears that until Gulati (1998) the literature in this area had given greater recognition to dyadic interactions rather than more broadly based social networks. To date, attempts at integrating the two strands of transaction cost economics and social network perspectives have been limited. A notable exception to this however can be found in Jones et al(1997). Correspondingly, attempts rarely have been made to apply transaction cost economics to the study of informal sector activity. Here too Uzzell (1994) stands out as an exception. A further gap exists in the linking of either of these two approaches to work of a feminist orientation. In part, this paper is an attempt to mitigate these gaps and so break down what we see as unnecessary barriers between the disciplines. The approach taken therefore constitutes an attempt at developing an interdisciplinary direction. Thus rather than focusing on the discrete features of distinct approaches, we highlight instead areas where we see the compatibility and convergence of perspectives. …


Observation of the cortical response to specific therapy in real-time would provide valuable evidence for the neural mechanisms underlying stroke rehabilitation. This study aimed to explore the cortical response during acupuncture in hemiplegic limb acupoints for stroke patients. Nineteen stroke patients were recruited for the measurement of cerebral hemodynamics during resting state and acupuncture state based on functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Wavelet amplitude (WA) was used to describe the cortical activation based on the time-frequency analysis of fNIRS signals. Results showed significantly higher WA of bilateral prefrontal and motor cortex during acupuncture state than the resting state. Additionally, significantly negative correlation was observed between the motor score and increased WA in the contralesional hemisphere. These findings suggest that there were increased cortical activation of bilateral hemispheres and patients with severe motor dysfunctions had more activation of contralesional hemisphere in response to the acupuncture intervention. This study provides preliminary evidence about the neural mechanism underlying acupuncture for motor impairment and suggests the role of fNIRS in stroke rehabilitation assessment.


Background and Purpose: Coping strategies play a key role in the management of different diseases. Resilience and positive emotions in patients could enhance coping strategies and reduce disease complications. This study aimed to determine the level of resilience and the associated factors in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 186 CAD patients referring to Dr. Heshmat Hospital of Rasht in 2013. Data were collected using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS. Results: In this study, mean score of resilience was 65.50±1.58 (out of 100), and 53.2% of the subjects had lower scores than the mean. Significant associations were observed between the resilience level and age, gender, education status, employment status and history of hypertension (P<0.05). According to the logistic regression, employment status was the only significant predictor of resilience. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, since the majority of the subjects had lower scores than the mean of resilience, it is recommended that these patients be monitored for mental and psychological health. Furthermore, they should be trained on coping skills depending on their socio-demographic features.


Multilevel phase-type diffractive lenses were fabricated by translating a filament of a femtosecond laser pulse into three-dimensional space inside synthesized silica. The profile of the lenses was designed by use of a multi-level approximation to a kinoform lens. Two-level diffractive lenses with multiple layers along the optical axis provided a maximum efficiency of 37.6% at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. A four-level diffractive lens provided a maximum efficiency of 56.9%. The lenses fabricated with filamentation were free from birefringence.


Background: We did not have any data about vulvar cancer — as a fourth cause of gynecological cancer in the worldwide — in our country. Study Design: Our study is designed to evaluate the frequency, stage and outcome of patients with vulvar cancer. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective observational study, we studied patients' records with diagnosis of vulvar cancer who referred to department of gynecology oncology, Emam-Khomeini Hospital (EKH), Tehran, Iran, between January 1998 and December 2018. A total of 106 cases of vulvar cancers were found in the records of outpatient oncology clinic of medical university of Tehran university. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier analysis with SPSS version of 24. Results: Mean age of the 106 patients in the study was 59.2 years. The most site of tumor involvement was major labial (39.1%). Vulvar cancer significantly was more in multiparous (P < 0.001) and menopause patients (P < 0.001). Squamous Cell Carcinoma was the most pathology of vulvar cancer (72.2%). Ninety patients (84.9%) had surgery as a primary treatment and 48 (53.3%) of these patients received adjuvant radiotherapy or chemoradiation after surgery. Mean duration of patient's follow up was 82.4 ± 68.3 month. Five-year survival of our patients in all stages was 71%. Conclusions: Our findings are located between developed and underdeveloped countries. Our patients are diagnosed nearly in earlier stages of disease and 84.9%t of them had surgery as a primary treatment, so earlier surgery resulted in good survival of patients.


The technical and legal issues associated with digital material, originally the concern principally of audiovisual librarians, now impact upon library management in general. Three factors, occurring simultaneously, have driven the digital agenda for library managers: the high profile accorded to the accomplishment of mission; the ever-increasing complexity of copyright legislation; and the Internet which has served as a catalyst for deregulation and globalisation. The purpose of this short article is to explore both the opportunities and the obstacles posed by these factors across three core areas of digital collection management: conservation, access and development. I shall draw upon the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF) in this context. The BnF is a national library containing heritage collections, largely legal deposit and used for research purposes,. and also collections aimed at a far wider public.. The Audiovisual department is in charge of phonograms, videograms, multimedia and electronic documents. The collection was originally created in 1911 by the linguist Ferdinand Brunot of the Sorbonne University as 'Les Archives de la parole'. Subsequently the collection has been further developed mainly with published records, mostly as legal deposit. The collection now has over one million documents, in all kinds of technical devices and carriers. In France, three institutions share the audiovisual heritage collections: the BnF for documents, the Centre National de la Cinematographie (CNC) for film, and the Institut national de l'Audiovisuel for radio and television archives. In the BnF audiovisual collections are enlarged by legal deposit, by acquisitions and by donations. But whereas we own the carriers - a material property -, we do not own the intellectual property in the work. The protection of authors' rights and neighbouring rights are central to the actions we have to perform in order to accomplish our missions of conservation and giving access.


There is a increasing interest in analysis of large-scale multiway data. The concept of multiway data refers to arrays of data with more than two dimensions, that is, taking the form of tensors. To analyze such data, decomposition techniques are widely used. The two most common decompositions for tensors are the Tucker model and the more restricted PARAFAC model. Both models can be viewed as generalizations of the regular factor analysis to data of more than two modalities. Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF), in conjunction with sparse coding, has recently been given much attention due to its part-based and easy interpretable representation. While NMF has been extended to the PARAFAC model, no such attempt has been done to extend NMF to the Tucker model. However, if the tensor data analyzed are nonnegative, it may well be relevant to consider purely additive (i.e., nonnegative) Tucker decompositions). To reduce ambiguities of this type of decomposition, we develop updates that can impose sparseness in any combination of modalities, hence, proposed algorithms for sparse nonnegative Tucker decompositions (SN-TUCKER). We demonstrate how the proposed algorithms are superior to existing algorithms for Tucker decompositions when the data and interactions can be considered nonnegative. We further illustrate how sparse coding can help identify what model (PARAFAC or Tucker) is more appropriate for the data as well as to select the number of components by turning off excess components. The algorithms for SN-TUCKER can be downloaded from Mrup (2007).


We develop a tractable and versatile model of pretrial negotiation in which the negotiating parties are optimistic about the judge's decision and anticipate the possible arrival of public information about the case prior to the trial date. The parties will settle immediately upon the arrival of information. However, they may also agree to settle prior to an arrival. We derive the settlement dynamics prior to an arrival: negotiations result in either immediate agreement, a weak deadline effect—settling at a particular date before the deadline, a strong deadline effect—settling at the deadline, or impasse, depending on the level of optimism. Our findings match stylized facts.


T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALL) and lymphomas are aggressive hematologic cancers frequently associated with activating mutations in NOTCH1. Early studies identified NOTCH1 as an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of T-ALL through the use of g-secretase inhibitors (GSI). Here, we characterized the interaction between PF-03084014, a clinically relevant GSI, and dexamethasone in preclinical models of glucocorticoid-resistant T-ALL. Combination treatment of theGSI PF-03084014with glucocorticoids induced a synergistic antileukemic effect in human T-ALL cell lines and primary human T-ALL patient samples. Mechanistically PF-03084014 plus glucocorticoid treatment induced increased transcriptional upregulation of the glucocorticoid receptor and glucocorticoid target genes. Treatment with PF-03084014 and glucocorticoids in combination was highly efficacious in vivo, with enhanced reduction of tumor burden in a xenograft model of T-ALL. Finally, glucocorticoid treatment effectively reversed PF-03084014–induced gastrointestinal toxicity via inhibition of goblet cell metaplasia. These results warrant the analysis of PF03084014 and glucocorticoids in combination for the treatment of glucocorticoid-resistant T-ALL. Mol Cancer Ther; 11(7); 1565–75. 2012 AACR.


Although global warming over the past century has been confirmed, the response of different regions to it is still uncertain. We developed a tree‐ring width chronology based on tree‐ring samples from juniper trees from the Xiqing Mountains in the northeast Tibetan Plateau, the central headwater area of the Yellow River. Using this tree‐ring chronology, the minimum winter half‐year (October–April) temperature for the research area was reconstructed for the past 425 years. The reconstruction shows that temperature variability was minimal over past four centuries prior to the warming that began in 1941. During the 50 years from 1941 to 1990, the minimum temperature of the winter half‐year increased 2.5 °C. This degree of warming relative to the past 400 years suggests that the eastern Tibetan Plateau is highly sensitive to global warming. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society


While many water management tools exist, these systems are not usually interconnected and therefore cannot communicate between one another, preventing Integrated Water Resources Management to be fully achieved. This paper presents the solution proposed by WatERP project * where a novel solution enables better matching between water supply and demand from holistic perspective. Subsystems that control the production, management and consumption of water will be interconnected through both information architecture and intelligent infrastructure. The main outcome will consist of, a web-based Open Management Platform integrating near real-time knowledge on water supplies and demand, from sources to users, across geographic and organizational scales and supported by a knowledge base where information will be structured in water management ontology to ensure interoperability and maximize usability. WatERP will thus provide a major contribution to: 1) Improve coordination among actors, 2) Foster behavioural change, 3) Reduce water and energy consumption, 4) Optimize water accountability.


We investigate the infrared (IR) properties of cool, evolved stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), including the red giant branch (RGB) stars and the dust-producing red supergiant (RSG) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars using observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope Legacy program entitled "Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution in the Tidally Stripped, Low Metallicity SMC," or SAGE-SMC. The survey includes, for the first time, full spatial coverage of the SMC bar, wing, and tail regions at IR wavelengths (3.6–160 μm). We identify evolved stars using a combination of near-IR and mid-IR photometry and point out a new feature in the mid-IR color–magnitude diagram that may be due to particularly dusty O-rich AGB stars. We find that the RSG and AGB stars each contribute ≈20% of the global SMC flux (extended + point-source) at 3.6 μm, which emphasizes the importance of both stellar types to the integrated flux of distant metal-poor galaxies. The equivalent SAGE survey of the higher-metallicity Large Magellanic Cloud (SAGE-LMC) allows us to explore the influence of metallicity on dust production. We find that the SMC RSG stars are less likely to produce a large amount of dust (as indicated by the [3.6] − [8] color). There is a higher fraction of carbon-rich stars in the SMC, and these stars appear to reach colors as red as their LMC counterparts, indicating that C-rich dust forms efficiently in both galaxies. A preliminary estimate of the dust production in AGB and RSG stars reveals that the extreme C-rich AGB stars dominate the dust input in both galaxies, and that the O-rich stars may play a larger role in the LMC than in the SMC.


An unsymmetrical diarylethene derivative was synthesized, and its photochromic properties and fluorescence switch were investigated in detail. The results showed that this compound exhibited reversible photochromism, undergoing reversible cyclization and cycloreversion reactions upon alternating irradiation with UV and visible light both in solution and in PMMA film, and its absorption maxima were observed at 574 nm in hexane and at 579 nm in PMMA amorphous film, respectively, upon irradiation with 297 nm UV light. The diarylethene 1a in hexane solution exhibited relatively strong fluorescence at 413 nm when excited at 322 nm. The fluorscence intensity is highest at the concentration of 1.0×10-4 mol/L when excited at 322 nm.


We introduce a novel technique, which we call online-to-confidence-set conversion. The technique allows us to construct highprobability confidence sets for linear prediction with correlated inputs given the predictions of any algorithm (e.g., online LASSO, exponentiated gradient algorithm, online least-squares, p-norm algorithm) targeting online learning with linear predictors and the quadratic loss. By construction, the size of the confidence set is directly governed by the regret of the online learning algorithm. Constructing tight confidence sets is interesting on its own, but the new technique is given extra weight by the fact having access tight confidence sets underlies a number of important problems. The advantage of our construction here is that progress in constructing better algorithms for online prediction problems directly translates into tighter confidence sets. In this paper, this is demonstrated in the case of linear stochastic bandits. In particular, we introduce the sparse variant of linear stochastic bandits and show that a recent online algorithm together with our online-to-confidence-set conversion allows one to derive algorithms that can exploit if the reward is a function of a sparse linear combination of the components of the chosen action. Appearing in Proceedings of the 15 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics (AISTATS) 2012, La Palma, Canary Islands. Volume XX of JMLR: W&CP XX. Copyright 2012 by the authors.


This study proposes a basic learning program for enhancing visual literacy using an original Web content management system (Web CMS) to share students' out- comes in class as a blog post. It seeks to reinforce students' understanding and awareness of the design of visual content. The learning program described in this research focuses on to address how to create meanings of visual content that is important to express infor- mation visually, and includes three exercises based on perception, visual variables, and signification. The Web CMS to publish student works and share in class helps enhance students' reflection. We also developed a rubric as an assessment device for students' outcomes. The content of the learning program and its implementation are described with the support of observational data.


Consider the problem of testing s hypotheses simultaneously. In order to deal with the multiplicity problem, the classical approach is to restrict attention to procedures that control the familywise error rate (FWE). Typically, it is known how to construct tests of the individual hypotheses, and the problem is how to combine them into a multiple testing procedure that controls the FWE. The closure method of Marcus et al. (1976), in fact, reduces the problem of constructing multiple test procedures which control the FWE to the construction of single tests which control the usual probability of a Type 1 error. The purpose of this paper is to examine the closure method with emphasis on the concepts of coherence and consonance. It was shown by Sonnemann and Finner (1988) that any incoherent procedure can be replaced by a coherent one which is at least as good. The main point of this paper is to show a similar result for dissonant and consonant procedures. We illustrate the idea of how a dissonant procedure can be strictly improved by a consonant procedure in the sense of increasing the probability of detecting a false null hypothesis while maintaining control of the FWE. We then show how consonance can be used in the construction of some optimal maximin procedures.


This thesis examines the utopian writings of Robert Hugh Benson, H. G. Wells and Aldous Huxley in the context of contemporary and modern nationally conscious discourses. Focusing on the period of 1910-1939, the present study explores the terms and strategies whereby utopian visions of a World State, premised on religion or universal governance, engage with, and contribute to, constructions of England as a specific topography, with a political culture, social hierarchies, religious sensibilities, and literary tradition. Informed by literary history, utopian theory, studies of national character and nationalism, the thesis argues that the writings of Benson, Wells and Huxley communicate an ascertainable reciprocity between these authors' utopian imagination and national susceptibilities. The thesis investigates the ways in which the studied fictions endorse visions of a World State, offering a mediated response not only to the contemporary condition of England, but also to England's topographic, political, and socio-cultural continuity. Of particular interest is a reinvocation of Southern England as either a fictional setting or a liminal environment for the emergence of a World State. The study also investigates the narrative anxieties about the retreat of Liberalism from the national political scene, being superseded by the restrictive regimes of a World State; and a fictional renewal of social hierarchies as nationally conscious models for efficient government. The thesis further accounts for the authorial engagements with continuity, examining Benson's investment in dynastic rule, Wells's hostility to revolution, and Huxley's redefinition of the 'English poetic mind' to oppose the dissolution of national literary traditions in a global future. In exploring the extent to which alternative versions of England (Catholic, Cosmopolitan, Alien) dominate the visions of world unity, this thesis contends that the nationality of a World State manifests itself not in the universal ends that such visions seek to achieve, but in the nationally conscious means they press into service.


Estimating the response of asset prices to changes in monetary policy is complicated by the endogeneity of policy decisions and the fact that both interest rates and asset prices react to numerous other variables. This paper develops a new estimator that is based on the heteroskedasticity that exists in high frequency data. We show that the response of asset prices to changes in monetary policy can be identified based on the increase in the variance of policy shocks that occurs on days of FOMC meetings and of the Chairman's semi-annual monetary policy testimony to Congress. The identification approach employed requires a much weaker set of assumptions than needed under the 'event-study' approach that is typically used in this context. The results indicate that an increase in short-term interest rates results in a decline in stock prices and in an upward shift in the yield curve that becomes smaller at longer maturities. The findings also suggest that the event-study estimates contain biases that make the estimated effects on stock prices appear too small and those on Treasury yields too large.


In her article "Parallel Women Characters and Femininity in Durrell's and Kazantzakis's Work" Helena Gonzalez-Vaquerizo discusses Nikos Kazantzakis's and Lawrence Durrell's fiction with regard their narration of women protagonists. Further, considering both writers' role in a modernist literature and issues of gender identity, Gonzalez-Vaquerizo examines the special relationship women have with nature. For both writers, the female and the feminine seem to be the pagan descendant of a powerful goddess and women's carnality is seen as key to man's spiritual experience. Gonzalez-Vaquerizo posits that a comparative approach to Durrell and Kazantzakis both with regard to their biographies and their novels can change our stereotypes concerning gender identity and the role of women in both author's work and life showing unexpected parallels between their women characters.


Radiolabeling studies showed that salicylic acid (SA), an essential component in the signal transduction pathway leading to systemic acquired resistance, is synthesized from phenylalanine (Phe) and benzoic acid in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) plants inoculated with pathogens. Leaf discs from plants inoculated with either tobacco necrosis virus or Pseudomonas lachrymans incorporated more [14C]Phe into [14C]SA than mock-inoculated controls. The identity of SA was confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. No reduction in specific activity of [14C]SA was observed for either free or bound SA between control and infected plants after feeding [14C]Phe. A specific inhibitor of Phe ammonia-lyase, 2-aminoindan-2-phosphonic acid, completely inhibited the incorporation of [14C]Phe into [14C]SA, although plants treated with 2-aminoindan-2-phosphonic acid could still produce [14C]SA from [14C]benzoic acid. Biosynthesis of SA in tissue inoculated with tobacco necrosis virus followed a transient pattern with the highest induction occurring 72 h postinoculation. Uninfected tissues from an infected plant synthesized de novo more SA than did controls. This suggests the involvement of a systemic signal triggering SA synthesis in tissue distant from the site of infection that display systemic acquired resistance.


All of the PT-symmetric potentials that have been studied so far have been local. In this paper, nonlocal PT-symmetric separable potentials of the form V(x,y)=i{epsilon}[U(x)U(y)-U(-x)U(-y)], where U(x) is real, are examined. Two specific models are examined. In each case, it is shown that there is a parametric region of the coupling strength {epsilon} for which the PT symmetry of the Hamiltonian is unbroken and the bound-state energies are real. The critical values of {epsilon} that bound this region are calculated.


A new species of oribatid mites, Peloptulus sacculiferus n. sp., was found in coastal meadows adjacent to salt marshes and is described in this paper. The species has notogastral sacculi instead of areae porosae, which is unique within the family. The new species is distributed in Portuguese coastal habitats of the Minho River, of the Lagoon of Aveiro and in the south-western Algarve at Cabo São Vicente, but it avoids the salt marsh area. A related species, Peloptulus reticulatus Mihelčič, 1957, occurs at the border of salt marshes in the Lagoon of Faro in southern Portugal. This species is re-described, and P. trinacriae Arcidiacono, 1975, from coastal dunes in Sicily is declared a new junior synonym of P. reticulatus.


We propose a new variational family for Bayesian neural networks. We decompose the variational posterior into two components, where the radial component captures the strength of each neuron in terms of its magnitude; while the directional component captures the statistical dependencies among the weight parameters. The dependencies learned via the directional density provide better modeling performance compared to the widely-used Gaussian mean-field-type variational family. In addition, the strength of input and output neurons learned via our posterior provides a structured way to compress neural networks. Indeed, experiments show that our variational family improves predictive performance and yields compressed networks simultaneously.


I describe a fast multilingual parser for semantic dependencies. The parser is implemented as a pipeline of linear classifiers trained with support vector machines. I use only first order features, and no pair-wise feature combinations in order to reduce training and prediction times. Hyper-parameters are carefully tuned for each language and sub-problem.

The system is evaluated on seven different languages: Catalan, Chinese, Czech, English, German, Japanese and Spanish. An analysis of learning rates and of the reliance on syntactic parsing quality shows that only modest improvements could be expected for most languages given more training data; Better syntactic parsing quality, on the other hand, could greatly improve the results. Individual tuning of hyper-parameters is crucial for obtaining good semantic parsing quality.


The Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library (KMODDL) exemplifies digital collections in which groups of objects are versions of the same resource and which resources are related to one another taxonomically. Other objects in the collection are supplementary materials that explicitly cite the primary KMODDL resources. To manage the complex relationships among KMODDL objects while maintaining the DC one-to-one principle, metadata developers established controlled vocabulary encoding schemes that linked related objects. The solution implemented enables users to find all versions of a resource and all supplementary materials that cite the resource in a single search.


The research and development (R&D) of radioprotective agents (RAs) have been conducting since seven decades ago, and the safety and protection against undesirable effects of ionizing radiation (IR) has become an important issue especially for the benefit of patients receiving the radiotherapy, in addition to the applications in nuclear industry, military, outer space exploration and accidental exposures. Although the technology advancement makes the radiotherapy a promising better treatment by maximizing the effect of IR to the cancer cells, there are still needs for improvement in minimizing the toxicity to the normal cells. Aiming at providing the new researchers in the radiation protection field with an overall view for R&D of the RAs, this mini-review elucidates in brief a general understanding of the IR and its effects on the cell, the concepts of radiotherapy and therapeutic ratio, the categories of RAs and their mechanisms, and discusses on the strategies and challenge for R&D of the RAs.


The present note is based on alcyonacean material collected by Dr. Arthur G. Humes, Boston University Marine Program, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, U.S.A., while on board R/V "Alpha Helix" in the waters of the Moluccas in the spring of 1975. The corals, most of which were the hosts of copepods, were collected during the "Alpha Helix'' East Asian Bioluminescence Expedition, which was supported by the National Science Foundation (USA) under grants OFS 74 01830 and OFS 74 02888 to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and NSF grant BMS 74 23242 to the University of California, Santa Barbara. I thank Dr. Humes for entrusting the material to me. The material is kept in the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, Netherlands; the register numbers are preceded by the abbreviation RMNH. The collection contains a number of well-known species, most of them are widespread throughout the warm Indo-Pacific area. Three species have not been recorded from Indonesian waters before. They are the following. Dendronephthya (Morchellana) castanea Utinomi, 1952. One colony from the SW shore of Gunung Api, Banda Is., 4°3i/45"S i29°5i'55"E, depth 3 m, 4 May 1975, A. G. Humes no. 1834, RMNH Coel. no. 11834. Previously recorded from Japan (Utinomi, 1952) and the Philippines (Tixier-Durivault & Prevorsek, 1962). Litophyton acutifolium Kukenthal, 1913. One colony from the same locality, but depth 10 m, 28 April 1975, A. G. Humes no. 1794, RMNH Coel. no. 11835. Field-note: "Long slender stalk, brown branches". Previously recorded from the Red Sea (Kukenthal, 1913; Verseveldt, 1974). Nephthea galbuloides Verseveldt, 1973. One colony from Amboina,


Keywords: epiphytes, Eucheuma sp., 'ice-ice\', Kappaphycus sp., Thalassia sp., minerals
The productivity of two species of red algae, namely Eucheuma denticulatum (Burman) Collins et Harvey and Kappaphycus alvarezii (Doty) Doty was investigated at Paje and Uroa, two sites in Zanzibar differing in seagrass cover. The growth rate (GR) of E. denticulatum in Paje (low seagrass cover) was 20–75% lower than in Uroa (high seagrass cover), depending on season. Growth of K. alvarezii in Paje was compromised by Polysiphonia spp. epiphytism. Manganese, iron, copper and zinc contents of both E. denticulatum and K. alvarezii from Paje were 35–99% lower than in E. denticulatum from Uroa. Culturing of epiphyte-infested or healthy K. alvarezii in seawater fortified with the mentioned minerals improved daily GR by 10–200 %. The effect of Cu, Zn and Mn in K. alvarezii with epiphytic infestation and 'ice-ice\' was positive only when Provasoli solution was added. The GR of E. denticulatum was virtually unchanged by the addition of minerals. It is suggested that Fe, Zn, and especially Mn may play an important role in conferring resistance to physical stress to the macroalgae, stress which eventually makes them more susceptible to epiphytism and/or a bacterial infection that is responsible for a disease condition known as 'ice-ice\'. Ice-ice describes the texture and colour of the affected thalli. The possible role of seagrasses to the productivity of algae is also discussed. Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Sciences Vol.2(2) 2003: 163-170


The presence and configuration (syn or anti) of an oxyimino group in the 7 (beta)-acyl side chain of 3-cephems do not modify the intrinsic reactivity of the beta-lactam ring, but have highly enzyme-specific effects. When compared with the corresponding desoxyimino beta-lactam compound: (i) with the plasmid-mediated Escherichia coli RTEM-2 serine beta-lactamase, the substrate activity of the anti isomer is increased and that of the syn isomer is decreased; (ii) with the Streptomyces R61 serine D-alanyl-D-alanine cleaving peptidase (a highly penicillin-sensitive enzyme), the rate of enzyme acylation is not or only little affected when the oxyimino group is in the syn configuration, but is decreased when the oxyimino group is in the anti configuration; (iii) with the Actinomadura R39 serine D-alanyl-D-alanine-cleaving peptidase (an exceedingly highly penicillin-sensitive enzyme), the rate of enzyme acylation is unaffected whatever the configuration of the substituent. The oxidation of the sulphur atom of the dihydrothiazine ring on the beta-face of the molecule makes it both a poorer inactivator of the DD-peptidases and a poorer substrate of the beta-lactamase. The Streptomyces albus G Zn2+-containing D-alanyl-D-alanine-cleaving peptidase (a highly penicillin-resistant enzyme) remains highly resistant to all compounds tested.


SOCE mediated by ORAI1 affects the metabolism, redox status, and function of enamel cells in teeth. Preventing CRAC'd teeth Store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) through CRAC channels, specifically complexes formed by ORAI Ca2+ channels and STIM Ca2+ sensors, mediates Ca2+ uptake in enamel cells in teeth. Eckstein et al. described a patient with a null mutation in ORAI1 that likely accounted for the defective enamel mineralization in his teeth. In mice, deficiency of ORAI1, but not that of ORAI2, decreased SOCE in enamel cells and resulted in compromised enamel structure. In an enamel cell line, ORAI1 knockdown increased mitochondrial cellular respiration, resulting in altered redox status that increased the efficiency of Ca2+ uptake in the ER. These results indicate that ORAI1 is the major CRAC channel in enamel cells and reveal the mechanisms by which SOCE affects enamel cell function. Store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) channels are highly selective Ca2+ channels activated by the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) sensors STIM1 and STIM2. Their direct interaction with the pore-forming plasma membrane ORAI proteins (ORAI1, ORAI2, and ORAI3) leads to sustained Ca2+ fluxes that are critical for many cellular functions. Mutations in the human ORAI1 gene result in immunodeficiency, anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, and enamel defects. In our investigation of the role of ORAI proteins in enamel, we identified enamel defects in a patient with an ORAI1 null mutation. Targeted deletion of the Orai1 gene in mice showed enamel defects and reduced SOCE in isolated enamel cells. However, Orai2−/− mice showed normal enamel despite having increased SOCE in the enamel cells. Knockdown experiments in the enamel cell line LS8 suggested that ORAI2 and ORAI3 modulated ORAI1 function, with ORAI1 and ORAI2 being the main contributors to SOCE. ORAI1-deficient LS8 cells showed altered mitochondrial respiration with increased oxygen consumption rate and ATP, which was associated with altered redox status and enhanced ER Ca2+ uptake, likely due to S-glutathionylation of SERCA pumps. Our findings demonstrate an important role of ORAI1 in Ca2+ influx in enamel cells and establish a link between SOCE, mitochondrial function, and redox homeostasis.


This paper defines the Sybil attack and comparative analysis with different Attacks; among these attacks, Sybil Attack is dangerous attack. This malicious node access the information from the network region of wireless sensor network and that node either modifies or dropping the packets in the network region known as Sybil Attack.The current study addresses two major problems that every network will be facing i.e. Trust and Authentication. The security protocol establishes the trust in the network but instead of these protocols we enable the trust and authentication by Cluster Head Node; this Cluster Head node provides rules and regulation, on the basis of the rules and regulations we authenticate the nodes and detecting Sybil Attack.


This paper studies changes in computer use and job quality in the EU-15 between 1995 and 2015. We document that while the proportion of workers using computers has increased from 40% to more than 60% over twenty years, there remain significant differences between countries even within the same occupations. Several countries have seen a significant increase in computer use even in low-skilled occupations generally assumed to be less affected by technology. Overall, the great increase in computer use between 1995 and 2015 has coincided with a period of modest deterioration of job quality in the EU-15 as whole, as discretion declined for most occupational and educational groups while intensity increased slightly for most of them. Our OLS results that exploit variation within country-occupation cells point to a sizeable positive effect of computer use on discretion, but to small or no effect on intensity at work. Our instrumental variable estimates point to an even more benign effect of computer use on job quality. Hence, the results suggest that the (moderate) deterioration in the quality of work observed in the EU-15 between 1995 and 2015 has occurred despite the spread of computers, rather than because of them.


Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is a spice obtained from the plant belonging to the family Umbelliferae (Apiaceae). The green, young coriander leaves, also known as cilantro, and the aromatic coriander fruit or seed find uses in curry meat dishes, poultry and seafood dishes, a variety of ethnic foods, puddings, breads, soups, and stews. In traditional remedies, coriander was used for relief of gastrointestinal maladies, although other historical uses included as an aphrodisiac, antibiotic, a remedy for respiratory ailments and pain, and a treatment for loss of appetite and memory. Current uses being investigated include its antioxidant, antimicrobial, diabetes-modulating, and neurological benefits.


Foodborne disease (food poisoning) tends to be regarded as a comedy illness—not pleasant to have, or talk about, but little more than an inconvenience. Yet trivialising foodborne disease ignores the size of the illness burden: estimates vary from 76 million cases of foodborne disease annually in the United States1 to 5.4 million in Australia2 and 1.3 million in England and Wales.3 Three of the major pathogens—Campylobacter spp, Salmonella spp, and Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli O157 (STEC O157)—are zoonoses (that is, transmitted from vertebrate animals to humans). As well as causing acute symptoms including diarrhoea and vomiting, infection can have long term implications.

Campylobacter is the principal bacterial cause of gastroenteritis in the developed world. The World Health Organization estimates that about 1% of the population of Europe will be infected with Campylobacter spp each year. In England and Wales about 45 000 acute cases are diagnosed annually. Infection is associated with development of Guillain-Barre syndrome, the commonest cause of acute flaccid paralysis in polio-free regions in the world.4 The risk of developing it after campylobacter infection is about 1 in 1000 (the risk rising to around 1 in 160 for infections with certain serotypes).5 Both campylobacter and salmonella infections can result in reactive arthritis, although the precise mechanisms are still unclear, and infection with STEC O157 is a leading cause of haemolytic uraemic syndrome, the most common preventable trigger for acute renal failure in children.6

Clinical management of patients with acute symptoms of foodborne disease in primary care is generally the same regardless of aetiology (rest and rehydration), and treatment with antimicrobials is rarely indicated for uncomplicated diarrhoea. For example, there is no evidence that antibiotic treatment of uncomplicated salmonella diarrhoea in otherwise healthy children and adults is beneficial, and it may even prolong salmonella carriage.7 Antimicrobial treatment in cases of STEC O157 infection might do positive harm, potentially precipitating the onset of haemolytic uraemic syndrome.8Limiting inappropriate antimicrobial use also has broader public health benefits.

Although knowing the causative organism might not affect clinical management, it is vital for public health protection, and primary care is in the front line as regards outbreak detection. Differentiating infection with foodborne zoonoses from other causes of acute diarrhoea is not always easy, but clinical acumen, appropriate laboratory tests, and prompt alerts to local health protection teams allow public health professionals to assess whether an apparently sporadic case is simply that or whether it is necessary to initiate the detailed detective work required to track an outbreak to its source. Clinical, epidemiological, microbiological, and environmental studies require the combined effort of doctors and vets, alongside laboratory and environmental health colleagues.

Epidemiological studies of sporadic infection also yield important clues about transmission paths and potential sources. The now familiar association between Salmonella enteritidis phage type 4 infection in humans and consumption of poultry eggs9 was revealed through such endeavour. More than a decade after those observations were published in the BMJ, the epidemic of infection in humans is seemingly coming under control. However, a continued public health challenge is to ensure that good work undertaken by UK industry is not jeopardised by buying contaminated products from overseas.10

Primary prevention of foodborne zoonoses is mainly a veterinary responsibility. However, organisms causing human illness do not necessarily have animal health implications—campylobacter and STEC O157 are cases in point. Surveillance data amassed from clinical investigations can help policy makers target resources. For example, the Food Standards Agency's campaign "Cleaner farms, better flocks" reflects the fact that reducing the impact of UK foodborne disease chiefly depends on controlling campylobacter contamination of chickens.11 Safeguarding the flow of surveillance data remains a priority in the wake of developments in data protection, and in changes to the delivery of primary care, including the introduction of telephone triage systems.

Like all communicable diseases, foodborne zoonoses do not respect administrative or professional boundaries. Acknowledging the importance of an integrated approach to investigation and control of zoonoses, including foodborne zoonoses, several European countries have formed unified administrative structures. Although this has not formally happened in the UK, a combined approach at government level has led to several initiatives, including the production of UK zoonoses reports (available at www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/zoonoses/reports.htm).).

Figure 1

False colour scanning electron micrograph of E coli, showing pili

It is, perhaps, worth reflecting that vets and doctors form either end of a chain (from primary prevention at one end to dealing with its failures at the other) and that decisions made by many others along the food chain, including in the food industry (primary production, retail, and catering) affect our exposure to foodborne pathogens. The recent outbreak of STEC O157 in Wales12 serves as a timely reminder of the importance of foodborne zoonoses and of the collaborative efforts needed to control them.


The COLLINWOOD neighborhood of Cleveland is located about 7 mi. northeast of PUBLIC SQUARE. Originally part of E. Cleveland Twp., initially called COLLAMER, Collinwood was a village separate from Cleveland until 1910. By 1860 an omnibus line operated between Cleveland and Collamer via St. Clair Ave. The main axis of the village was Collamer (E. 152nd) St. By 1890 Collinwood was a major switching point of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern (later New York Central) Railroad and the location of its vast freightyards. The COLLINWOOD RAILROAD YARDS eventually included over 120 mi. of track and extensive repair shops, providing the basis for the area's early growth. In the late 1800s Collinwood was also the site of lakefront vineyards, whose grapes were used in wine production. Disaster struck the Collinwood community on 4 Mar. 1908, when the COLLINWOOD SCHOOL FIRE claimed 174 lives. Collinwood was annexed to Cleveland on 21 Jan. 1910. The neighborhood became home to large Irish, Italian, and Slovenian populations. FIVE POINTS--the intersection of E. 152nd St. and St. Clair and Ivanhoe avenues--was the commercial hub of the neighborhood. Collinwood was also home to EUCLID BEACH PARK. During World War II, Collinwood encompassed one of the heaviest industrial areas in the world. Within its boundaries, in addition to the New York Central yards, were FISHER BODY, Thompson Prods. (see TRW), GENERAL ELECTRIC, LINCOLN ELECTRIC, Eaton Axle (see EATON CORP.), Natl. Acme (see ACME-CLEVELAND), Bailey Meter (see BABCOCK & WILCOX), and a dozen other firms. During the 1950s Collinwood experienced the beginning of social problems, including high delinquency and crime rates, followed by racial turbulence in the 1960s and 1970s as AFRICAN AMERICANS moved into the formerly white neighborhood. The neighborhood was further buffeted by the departure of such industries as Fisher Body and Eaton and the closing of the Collinwood shops by CONRAIL in 1981. In the face of such reverses, organizations such as the Collinwood Village Development Corp. (est. 1987) have been working to upgrade the neighborhood's residential and commercial property. Since the late 1990s, Collinwood experienced revitalization through the arts, particularly along the neighborhood's Waterloo Road. Arts Collinwood formed in 2003; within the next few years eleven new arts-related businesses opened in the neighborhood. Collinwood gained national and international recognition for its arts-centered rehabilitation efforts. In 2009 the Wall Street Journal featured the neighborhood in a story about the use of the arts to fight blight. Thearts initiative in Collinwood was also featured on German National Television.


Saliency prediction is a topic undergoing intense study in computer vision with a broad range of applications. It consists in predicting where the attention is going to be received in an image or a video by a human. Our work is based on a deep neural network named SalGAN, which was trained on a saliency annotated dataset of static images. In this thesis we investigate different approaches for extending SalGAN to the video domain. To this end, we investigate the recently proposed saliency annotated video dataset DHF1K to train and evaluate our models. The obtained results indicate that techniques such as depth estimation or coordconv can effectively be used as additional modalities to enhance the saliency prediction of static images obtained with SalGAN, achieving encouraging results in the DHF1K benchmark. Our work is based on pytorch and it is publicly available here: https://github.com/juanjo3ns/SalBCE


Abstract Formation of triple helices with GA and GT third strands has been studied. Besides the usual investigation techniques common for characterizing triple helical formation (CD spectroscopy, gel shift mobility assay, chemical probing and S1 nuclease footprinting) we have used a new technique in which targeting of polypurine sequences in duplexes was demonstrated on oligonucleotide microchips. This technique is very successful to quickly test a large number of potential triple helix formation. In this work we used oligonucleotide microairay to study the specificity of DNA duplex recognition by GA and GT strands. Generic 6-mer microchip containing all possible 46 = 4,096 single-stranded hexadeoxyribonucleotides immobilized within individual gel pads was applied. To study formation of intermolecular triple helices on the generic microchip, a number of Pu.Py duplexes were formed by hybridization of the mixture of purine octadeoxyribonucleotides on the microchip followed by targeting of the duplexes by GA or GT third strands. Melting behavior of the formed structures was investigated using fluorescence measurements under microscope. In solution we present the results obtained for GT triplexes and discuss the characteristics of the CD spectra. Results obtained by S1 nuclease footprinting, KMnO4 and DMS chemical probing are consistent with the spectroscopic data reflecting triplex structure formation.


Autonomy has been proposed by Self-determination theory (SDT) as universally beneficial to subjective well-being (SWB). This assumption is questioned, however, by cross-cultural researchers who argue that autonomy is less central within collectivist societies. The thesis addressed this controversy by conducting a mixed methods study with Ecuadorian and British university students. In line with SDT, the results of questionnaires and focus groups demonstrate that autonomy is likely to be conducive to SWB in both collectivist (Ecuador) and individualist (the UK) societies. On the other hand, the findings suggest a cross-cultural differentiation in ways in which various versions of autonomy correlate with SWB. Self-generated or individual autonomy correlated positively with SWB in both cultural contexts, whereas autonomy achieved by genuine self-endorsement/internalization of external influences was only beneficial for participants from the collectivist culture. Furthermore, the data point to higher levels of individual autonomy in the British sample. Finally, the findings from focus groups indicate the higher importance and internalization of external influences among Ecuadorian students. Overall, therefore, although the study reconfirms key tenets within SDT, it also suggests that the studied variables and their relationships might be mediated by cultural self-construal, which, in turn, can have implications for international pedagogical practices.


In his famous concurrence in Railway Express Agency v. New York, Justice Jackson offered a powerful vision of the relationship between equality and liberty. The two major strands of existing case law and scholarship about the relationship between the equal protection clause and the (substantive) due process clause find their roots in Justice Jackson's observations. One strand treats the clauses as virtually fungible - different verbal formulations that produce essentially identical results. The other strand stresses the differences between the two clauses and argues that a court faced with a constitutional challenge should apply one clause rather than the other, either because the claim is intrinsically better addressed under one rubric or because, as a tactical matter, precedent forecloses resort to the other clause. This essay builds on Justice Jackson's concurrence to offer a different approach. It examines the possibility of looking at questions "stereoscopically" - through the lenses of both the due process clause and the equal protection clause - and suggests that this approach can have synergistic effects, producing results that neither clause might reach by itself. I begin with two cases where the Supreme Court viewed the issue stereoscopically. Harper v. State Board of Elections shows how this approach can trigger doctrinal development - in that case, the articulation of a heightened standard of review for cases involving restrictions on the franchise. M.L.B. v. S.L.J., by contrast, reflects a doctrinal area - the access of indigent litigants to the courts - in which the Court's jurisprudence remains anchored in simultaneous reliance on principles of due process and equal protection because fundamental rights analysis can provide a limiting principle for claims of equality. I then turn to two cases where the Court failed to view the issue before it stereoscopically. In Romer v. Evans, recognizing the liberty interests at stake would have put the Court's equal protection decision on a firmer footing, by providing a conceptual underpinning for the holding that singling out gays, lesbians, and bisexuals constituted impermissible animus, rather than a legitimate distinction. By contrast, in Bush v. Gore, the Court's failure to see the due process-based dimensions of the right to vote blinded it to two fatal flaws in its equal protection analysis of the Florida recount. Thus, we might revise Justice Jackson's observation in Railway Express to say that just as courts can take no better measure to assure that laws will be just than to require that laws be equal in operation, so too, they often can have no better measure of how to achieve the requirements of equality than to understand the underlying claims of justice embodied in the due process clause's concept of liberty.


In 2005, cover for treatment injury replaced medical misadventure in New Zealand's accident compensation scheme. The mischief was to remove the need for a claimant to prove a health practitioner's or organization's negligence to establish cover. The aim was to provide greater fairness for claimants, faster claims handling and a higher acceptance rate. A disturbing aspect of the case law interpreting the treatment injury criteria is that notions of negligence have crept back into the interpretation of these criteria and are becoming entrenched. The original purpose of the reform is in danger of miscarrying, unless these misguided interpretations are corrected by superior appellate courts. This is not simply a matter of being faithful to the intention of the reform but is necessary to maximize provider trust and cooperation in the claims process in the interests of claimants. A way to do this is to incorporate the concept of 'preventability' as defined in the Swedish, Danish and Finnish patient insurance schemes. It may prove impossible to eradicate fault altogether from treatment injury, but vigilance is required so that negligence is kept to a minimum. Negligence concepts might continue to play a role in the interpretation of the statutory exclusion from cover of personal injury that is an 'ordinary consequence' of treatment. Another is in relation to Accident Compensation Corporation's (ACC's) mandatory duty to report a risk of harm to the public. Any enthusiasm on behalf of ACC and the courts to 'bring back negligence' is ironically absent from the latter aspect of the scheme.


Predicting the performance of students is one of the most important topics required for learning contexts such as colleges and universities, as it helps to design successful mechanisms that boost tutorial outcomes and prevent dropouts among various items. These are benefited by automating the many processes involved in the activities of usual students which handle huge volumes of information collected from package tools for technology-enhanced learning. Thus, the careful analysis and interpretation of these information would provide us with valuable data regarding the data of the students and therefore the relationship between them and hence the tutorial tasks. This data is the supply which feeds promising algorithms and methods able to estimate the success of the students. During this analysis, virtually many papers were analysed to show radically different trendy techniques widely applied to predict the success of students, along with the goals they need to achieve in this area. These computing-related techniques and approaches are mainly machine learning techniques, deep learning techniques, Artificial Neural Networks & Neural Networks Convolution, etc. This paper demonstrates the analysis and their comparisons of various methods used to forecast Student Academic success.


In this paper we describe a complex dataset used to study the circulation and wind-driven flows in the Wax Lake Delta, Louisiana, USA under winter storm conditions. The whole package bundles a large dataset (approximately 74 GB), which includes the numerical model, software and scripts for data analysis and visualization, as well as detailed documentation. The raw data came from multiple external sources, including government agencies, community repositories, and deployed field instruments and surveys. Each raw dataset goes through the processes of data QA/QC, data analysis, visualization, and interpretation. After integrating multiple datasets, new data products are obtained which are then used with the numerical model. The numerical model undergoes model verification, testing, calibration, and optimization. With a complex algorithm of computation, the model generates a structured output dataset, which is, after post-data analysis, presented as informative scientific figures and tables that allow interpretations and conclusions contributing to the science of coastal physical oceanography. Performing this study required a tremendous amount of effort. While the work resulted in traditional dissemination via a thesis, journal articles and conference proceedings, more can be gained. The data can be reused to study reproducibility or as preliminary investigation to explore a new topic. With thorough documentation and well-organized data, both the input and output dataset should be ready for sharing in a domain or institutional repository. Furthermore, the data organization and documentation also serves as a guideline for future research data management and the development of workflow protocols. Here we will describe the dataset created by this study, how sharing the dataset publicly could enable validation of the current study and extension by new studies, and the challenges that arise prior to sharing the dataset .


Endogenous Cushing's syndrome is a rare endocrine disorder that incurs significant cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, due to glucocorticoid excess. It comprises adrenal (20%) and non-adrenal (80%) aetiologies. While the majority of cases are attributed to pituitary or ectopic corticotropin (ACTH) overproduction, primary cortisol-producing adrenal cortical lesions are increasingly recognised in the pathophysiology of Cushing's syndrome. Our understanding of this disease has progressed substantially over the past decade. Recently, important mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of adrenal hypercortisolism have been elucidated with the discovery of mutations in cyclic AMP signalling (PRKACA, PRKAR1A, GNAS, PDE11A, PDE8B), armadillo repeat containing 5 gene (ARMC5) a putative tumour suppressor gene, aberrant G-protein-coupled receptors, and intra-adrenal secretion of ACTH. Accurate subtyping of Cushing's syndrome is crucial for treatment decision-making and requires a complete integration of clinical, biochemical, imaging and pathology findings. Pathological correlates in the adrenal glands include hyperplasia, adenoma and carcinoma. While the most common presentation is diffuse adrenocortical hyperplasia secondary to excess ACTH production, this entity is usually treated with pituitary or ectopic tumour resection. Therefore, when confronted with adrenalectomy specimens in the setting of Cushing's syndrome, surgical pathologists are most commonly exposed to adrenocortical adenomas, carcinomas and primary macronodular or micronodular hyperplasia. This review provides an update on the rapidly evolving knowledge of adrenal Cushing's syndrome and discusses the clinicopathological correlations of this important disease.


Older adults experience difficulties in daily situations that require flexible information selection in the presence of multiple competing sensory inputs, like for instance multi-talker situations. Modulations of rhythmic neural activity in the alpha–beta (8–30 Hz) frequency range in posterior brain areas have been established as a cross-modal neural correlate of selective attention. However, research linking compromised auditory selective attention to changes in rhythmic neural activity in aging is sparse. We tested younger (n = 25; 22–35 years) and older adults (n = 26; 63–76 years) in an attention modulated dichotic listening task. In this, two streams of highly similar auditory input were simultaneously presented to participants′ both ears (i.e., dichotically) while attention had to be focused on the input to only one ear (i.e. target) and the other, distracting information had to be ignored. We here demonstrate a link between severely compromised auditory selective attention in aging and a partial reorganization of attention-related rhythmic neural responses. In particular, in old age we observed a shift from a self-initiated, preparatory modulation of alpha rhythmic activity to an externally driven, response in the alpha–beta range. Critically, moment-to-moment fluctuations in the age-specific patterns of self-initiated and externally driven lateralized rhythmic activity were tied to selective attention. We conclude that adult age difference in spatial selective attention likely derive from a functional reorganization of rhythmic neural activity within the aging brain.