INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: To compare thulium vapoenucleation of the prostate (ThuVEP) with holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) for patients with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) with a 24-month follow-up. METHODS: 94 patients with symptomatic BPH were randomized to ThuVEP (n=48) or HoLEP (n=46). All patients were assessed preoperatively and followed at 1, 6, 12, and 24 months postoperatively. International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), Quality of Life (QoL), maximum urinary flow rate (Qmax), post-void residual urine (PVR), and PSA were obtained at each follow-up visit. The perioperative complications were classified according to the modified Clavien classification system. Patient data were expressed as median (interquartile range) or numbers (%). RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the surgical groups pre-operatively: median age at surgery was 73 (67-76) yrs. and prostate volume was 80 (46.75-100) gm. Fourty-three (45.7%) patients presented in urinary retention with an indwelling catheter. The operative time was 60 (41-79) minutes without differences between the groups. There were no differences between the groups regarding catheter time (2 (2-2) days) and postoperative stay (2 (2-3) days). Clavien 1 (13.8%), Clavien 2 (3.2%), Clavien 3a (2.1%), and Clavien 3b (4.3%) complications occurred without differences between the groups. At 12-month follow-up, Qmax (10.7 vs. 23.3 ml/s), PVR (100 vs. 11.1 ml), IPSS (20 vs. 5), and QoL (4 vs. 1) differed significantly from baseline (p<0.001) without differences between the groups. A significant decrease of median PSA was found at 24-month (4.14 vs. 0.46 µg/l) follow-up (p<0.001) corresponding to a PSA-decrease of 81.8 (67.5-94.1)% without differences between the groups. At 24-month follow-up, Qmax (10.7 vs. 22.8 ml/s), PVR (100 vs. 22 ml), IPSS (20 vs. 5), and QoL (4 vs. 1) had still improved significantly compared to baseline (p<0.001). However, median PVR was significantly lower after HoLEP (12.5 ml) compared to ThuVEP (29.9 ml) (p⩽0.03). The reoperation rate was zero at 24-month follow-up. During 24-month follow-up, two episodes (2.1%) of acute urinary retention occurred and 7 (7.4%) patients developed urinary tract infections without differences between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: ThuVEP and HoLEP are safe and effective procedures for the treatment of symptomatic BPH. Both procedures give equivalent and satisfactory micturition improvement with low morbidity and durable prostate volume reduction at 24-month follow-up. Source of Funding: Boston Scientific: ISRURO400001


textabstractAccountability and inclusiveness in institutions and institutional arrangements are significant challenges in the Western Balkans in the 21st century. During the last three decades the region has had to deal with the breakdown of socialism and the accompanying internal ethnic conflicts and civil war, while trying to meet the requirements of European Accession and debt conditionality agreements with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other donor organisations. The transition discourse, highly influenced by Western powers, initially affirmed the value of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. In time however, implementing focused on selective political and civil rights (at the cost of civil, economic and social rights) and measures to create a competitive market economy, stated as key to improving efficiency and production. In this process, the public sector was restructured and accompanied by privatisation of prevailing entitlements and rights in traditional essential services. Under these pressures, reforms and rights in the region were and remain contested terrains, associated with dissimilar norms of justice and inclusiveness that particularly affected the more vulnerable sections of society. This paper focuses on market-oriented reforms and austerity measures that were undertaken in the public sector since the 1990s as part of debt conditionality, and rationalised as necessary to improve the quality and efficiency of services. It analyses the shifting development frameworks accompanying the 'transition' and the norms of accountability and inclusion embedded in consequent commercialisation of social policy and public services. It examines the increased involvement of Western businesses in the provision of these services which, with the support of international financial donors, have often served as effective parallel forms of (corporate global) governance influencing public policy. It studies the increased resort of the restructured institutions and arrangements to surveillance of welfare recipients, including individual targeting and interventions and the outcomes of technocratic decision-making processes on different groups in society, particularly with regard to health, unemployment and social security benefits. The paper demonstrates how these shifts have resulted in increased poverty, inequality, insecurity and exclusion, with matters worsening in the wake of the 2007 financial crisis. The paper pays attention to the role of civil society in challenging these changes while taking up issues such as accountability, corruption, transparency and the need for increased civil society participation. The paper suggests that the transition discourse promoted a vision of accountability associated with the ideal 'free' market that optimised efficiency and price, which in the absence of a functioning 'free' and competitive market, resulted in promoting the interests of companies and other actors involved in providing these services. Within this new framework Inclusivity reflected the ability of a person to buy these services. But the serious deficits that have emerged with regard to entitlements and rights amongst marginalised groups means that inclusion, in a real sense, remains elusive and unable to fully respond to the needs of all its citizens.


The multi-axis simulators are designed for experimental verification of the safe functioning of large components and subsystems under real world customer usage in vibration and durability testing. Transformation of the full vehicle conditions to mast rig testing with correct system dynamics and vibration characteristics and boundary conditions is a key challenge in the development of the experimental set-up. In this paper, a systematic methodology is formalized how to design the experimental set-up on MAST rig to replicate the vehicle dynamics and vibration characteristics in vehicle conditions. System modes and frequency response functions are chosen as key performance metrics to compare the dynamics of the system to be tested for both full vehicle and rig design. Criteria on the metrics are defined to make decision if the test rig design is sufficiently replicating the in-vehicle conditions. The methodology is illustrated on a side skirt attached to a heavy duty truck chassis that demonstrates the appli...


Neal, A.C. 2006. Lipid Biosynthesis in Eukaryotic Cells. Studies on Enzyme Activities Involved in Fatty Acid Activation and Acylation. Doctor's dissertation. ISSN:1652-6880, ISBN: 91-576-7127-3 Lipid molecules are fundamental to cellular function and structure. Lipid metabolic events leading to these basic building blocks has been intensely studied, but are still not fully understood. Through five different studies on enzymes involved in activation and acylation of acyl groups done in three different model organisms we have uncovered novel data on lipid biosynthesis and utilization. Saccharomyces cerevisiae contains two homologous glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferases, GPT2 and SCT1, which catalyses the first step in the acyl-lipid assembly. Deletion or over expression of the corresponding genes has not only strong effects on the glycerol-3-phsophate activity but also on the total acyl content as well as on lipid and acyl composition. (Paper I) The main form of storage lipids in seeds is Triacylglycerol. The TAZ1 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, At104.1, and At104.2 from Arabidopsis thaliana are acyltransferase homologous genes that when overexpressed increase oil quantity in Yeast and Plants. (Patent I) Wax esters and ethyl esters are unique constituents that have roles in energy storage and cell structure. In this work we show that microsomal preparations from Arabidopsis thaliana leaves efficiently acylate free fatty acids to long chain alcohols with no activation of the fatty acids to thioesters prior to acylation. We also show that in this enzymatic reaction long chain (C18–C24) unsaturated fatty alcohols and C18–C22 unsaturated fatty acids were preferred. (Paper II) Long-chain acyl-CoA synthetases activate fatty acids and provide substrates for virtually every metabolic pathway that catabolizes FA or synthesizes complex lipids. In Mus musculus heart tissue we show that ACSL1 mRNA levels increase by 2.5 fold after birth, which correlates with the 14 fold increase in total ACSL activity at this time. In contrast, the levels of ACSL3, 4, and 6 mRNA were high in the embryonic heart, and decreased dramatically after birth suggesting that these isoforms may play a critical role during the development of the fetal heart. (Paper III) Microsomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and developing Elm (Ulmus glabra) seeds contain a novel type of acyltransferase activity, a acyl-CoA dependent acylation of glycerophosphodiesters. Glycerophosphocholine was acylated by yeast microsomes with a Vmax of 8.7 nmol/min/mg protein and a Km of 2.5 mM. The GPCAT activity was sensitive to NEM, phenantroline and Zn ions. (Paper IV)


Social behavior has long puzzled evolutionary biologists, since the classical theory of natural selection maintains that individuals should not sacrifice their own fitness to affect that of others. Social Evolution and Inclusive Fitness Theory argues that a theory first presented in 1963 by William D. Hamilton—inclusive fitness theory—provides the most fundamental and general explanation for the evolution and maintenance of social behavior in the natural world.

 James Marshall guides readers through the vast and confusing literature on the evolution of social behavior, introducing and explaining the competing theories that claim to provide answers to questions such as why animals evolve to behave altruistically. Using simple statistical language and techniques that practicing biologists will be familiar with, he provides a comprehensive yet easily understandable treatment of key concepts and their repeated misinterpretations. Particular attention is paid to how more realistic features of behavior, such as nonadditivity and conditionality, can complicate analysis. Marshall highlights the general problem of identifying the underlying causes of evolutionary change, and proposes fruitful approaches to doing so in the study of social evolution.

 Social Evolution and Inclusive Fitness Theory describes how inclusive fitness theory addresses both simple and complex social scenarios, the controversies surrounding the theory, and how experimental work supports the theory as the most powerful explanation for social behavior and its evolution.


This research deals with a vital and important issue in computer world. It is concerned with the software management processes that examine the area of software development through the development models, which are known as software development life cycle. It represents five of the development models namely, waterfall, Iteration, V-shaped, spiral and Extreme programming. These models have advantages and disadvantages as well. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to represent different models of software development and make a comparison between them to show the features and defects of each model.


The vision of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) was first developed in the late 1990s. It describes new worlds, economies and paradigms that emphasize the centrality of human experience, however, distinguished from related visions such as ubiquitous and pervasive computing. A key feature of the AmI vision are the seamless intelligent environments and gadgets, capable of anticipating people's needs and motivations, and acting autonomously on their behalf. So what can be gleaned from exploring the conditions under which this innovation domain evolves over time and how it adapts to various criticisms and technical challenges? The AmI vision not only represents possible futures but actively creates the worlds in which AmI applications appear to be possible. Visionaries and research leaders build expectations, marshal resources and align key stakeholders. Promises and progressions toward realizing AmI have performative and generative features but the original promise of intelligence has largely failed. This outcome points to a two-sided problem. The definitional looseness of intelligence is permissive of what can be expected of the role and scope of artificial reasoning in AmI interaction paradigms, while ordinary human reasoning and knowing what people actually want and need remains persistently elusive. Grappling still with the problem of what the intelligence in Ambient Intelligence can stand for, research and development has shifted its focus toward the design of practical win-win solutions, coined synergetic prosperity.


This single volume describes the animals that are most injurious and costly to humans, examining the important roles of these pests throughout history and the implications of the never-ending wars we wage against the natural world.
 From mosquitoes to nematodes to mice, there are a multitude of organisms and animals that pose major health risks, cause economic burdens, and even threaten famine conditions for human civilization. Addressing these problems is often extremely costly and only partially effective.
 Pests: A Guide to the World's Most Maligned, Yet Misunderstood Creatures presents an overview of the animals that have the greatest impact on our lives, from the creatures that eat our crops through the ones that invade our homes and those that transmit diseases. Each entry provides a brief history of our interactions with the specific pest, methods of management or eradication for the pest being discussed, and an extensive Further Reading list that includes resources on both the biology of the pest and methods of control. The author explains the complexity of the worldwide pest problem and demonstrates how some of these issues are a result of human over-population and shortsightedness, inviting readers to consider our place in nature and how other animals have adapted to and benefited from the growing human population.


Recent years have witnessed growing interest in research on the structure and properties of proteins and peptides as physiologically active dietary components. The above has spurred a new interest in the isolation of animal, plant and microbiological peptides and investigation of their biological activity. The isolation and separation of protein and peptide mixture is not an easy procedure. Immobilised Metal Ion Affinity Chromatography (IMAC) is increasingly often used in this process. Affinity chromatography relies on the specific interactions between amino acids, their reactive groups in peptides and metal ions. The objective of this study was to determine whether copper and nickel ions can be used for the separation of peptides isolated from string beans than had been blanched and heated in a microwave oven. In this study, peptides extracted with 1% trichloroacetic acid (TCA) from string beans that had been blanched and heated in a microwave oven, were separated by chromatography on columns with copper and nickel ions immobilised through iminodiacetic acid (IDA). Peptide concentrations of the separated fractions were determined. Peptides found in string beans had similar affinity for metal ions in the Cu > Ni sequence, with selectivity in the Ni > Cu sequence. Microwave heating of string beans decreases the peptide content of extracts isolated with 1% TCA. The resulting changes are dependent on the duration of the process and the type of heating medium. Affinity chromatography with the use of metal ions immobilized to iminodiacetic acid (IDA)-Sephadex G-25 may be successfully used for the separation of peptides isolated from string beans.


Huge amounts of textual information relevant for market analysis, trending or product monitoring can be found on the Web. To make use of that information a number of text mining services were proposed that extract and categorize entities from given text. Such services have individual strengths and weaknesses so that merging results from multiple services can improve quality. To merge results, mappings between service taxonomies are needed since different taxonomies are used for categorizing extracted information. The mappings can potentially be computed by using ontology matching systems. However, the available meta data within most taxonomies is weak so that ontology matching systems currently return insufficient results. In this paper we propose a novel approach to enrich service taxonomies with instance information which is crucial for finding mappings. Based on the found instances we present a novel instance-based matching technique and metric that allows us to automatically identify equal, hierarchical and associative mappings. These mappings can be used for merging results of multiple extraction services. We broadly evaluate our matching approach on real world service taxonomies and compare to state-of-the-art approaches.


Domain adaptation is one of the most challenging tasks of modern data analytics. If the adaptation is done correctly, models built on a specific data representation become more robust when confronted to data depicting the same classes, but described by another observation system. Among the many strategies proposed, finding domain-invariant representations has shown excellent properties, in particular since it allows to train a unique classifier effective in all domains. In this paper, we propose a regularized unsupervised optimal transportation model to perform the alignment of the representations in the source and target domains. We learn a transportation plan matching both PDFs, which constrains labeled samples of the same class in the source domain to remain close during transport. This way, we exploit at the same time the labeled samples in the source and the distributions observed in both domains. Experiments on toy and challenging real visual adaptation examples show the interest of the method, that consistently outperforms state of the art approaches. In addition, numerical experiments show that our approach leads to better performances on domain invariant deep learning features and can be easily adapted to the semi-supervised case where few labeled samples are available in the target domain.


The paper examines the relationship of South African broad money (M3) and a set of variables such as income, opportunity cost of holding money (domestic and foreign interest rates), inflation, and stock market prices using a shopping-time technology model from [1] and [49]. The empirical evidence employs an ARDL model to test for a stable long-run relationship between M3 and its determinants. With cointegration established, we estimate an error-correction model that reveals how short-run dynamics adjust towards a long-run equilibrium. There are four important results for broad money in South Africa. First, there is cointegration between M3 and its determinants – income, foreign interest rates, inflation, and real stock market prices. Second, stock prices are an important determinant since cointegration fails if real stock prices are left out. Third, contrary to some of the received literature, the inclusion of an exchange rate in addition to stock prices causes most coefficients to be insignificant. More importantly, demand for M3 becomes unstable. Finally, a dummy variable that captures the introduction of inflation targeting introduced in 2000Q2 is insignificant. This irrelevance of inflation targeting in a money demand function remains whether we employ real stock prices or stock returns as one of the determinants of money demand.


Abstract Coastal dunes fringe the coast between Southport and Liverpool in northwest England, forming a natural barrier which prevents marine flooding of low-lying agricultural land in West Lancashire and north Merseyside. The dunes are best developed at Formby Point, where they reach 25 m above sea-level and blown sand extends some 4 km inland. This paper presents the results of an initial programme of field drilling, sediment analysis and radiocarbon dating which suggest that the dune complex developed from a large offshore sandbank, which was in existence by 6800 years ago. Behind the bank lay a large area of intertidal mudflats and sandflats with fringing saltmarsh. Dunes may have first become established on the emergent sand bank around 6000 years ago, but the oldest dunes for which there is direct dating evidence formed between 5700 and 5800 years ago. A period of dune stability, possibly associated with seaward progradation of beach and foredune ridges, appears to have occurred between 2500 years ago and the early Middle Ages. During the earlier part of this period oak and alder woodland covered the dunes and the sands were deeply podsolized. Historical and documentary evidence indicates that extensive sandblowing occurred all along the coast during the early Middle Ages, which was a period of exceptional storminess and rapid coastal erosion. Several settlements and farms were lost to the sea or were overwhelmed by blown sand as the coast eroded. Active sand tongues extended across the full width of the barrier and buried the backbarrier peats and silts along the western margin of Downholland Moss. Dune instability has continued intermittently until the present, although on a smaller scale, and consequently most of the present dune forms are relatively recent. Sand stabilization and foreshore reclamation measures undertaken in the second half of the nineteenth century were highly effective and contributed to a net seaward progradation of the entire Formby coastline between 1850 and 1900. Abandonment of these measures around the time of the First World War contributed to, but did not ultimately cause, a return to shoreline erosion and a new phase of frontal dune instability which is still in progress.


This paper examines the stock and accounting performance of two airlines in Canada, WestJet and Air Canada, over the past four years, taking into account the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. September 11 (9-11) resulted in dramatic changes in the airline industry and had significant implications on the economic gains of most airlines. Our study focuses on the viability of low-cost (LCC) versus conventional-cost (legacy) business models in Canada under the current business environment. We chose WestJet as a typical low-cost airline and compare its accounting and stock performance to Air Canada, a legacy carrier and rival in several business sectors. We found that WestJet's performance was highly superior to that of Air Canada. As a result of our findings, we argue that WestJet's business model provides the firm with significantly more financial and operational flexibility than the one exhibited by its legacy rival, Air Canada. WestJet's lower operating costs, high consumer trust, product offering, corporate structure, workforce and work practices, as well as operational procedures are all factors that appear to contribute to its relative success.


Triple bottom line (TBL) reporting has become a way of life in terms of non-financial reporting at major corporations. However, its utility in terms of value-add for these corporations seems to be a mystery at present. This paper aims to look at how corporations use the TBL as a framework for reporting and what limitations key members of these corporations see with the TBL approach. In particular, the motivation behind the employee in charge of conducting non-financial reporting and providing sustainability information has been identified. The paper analyses the results of an empirical investigation into the constructions people put on the triple bottom line framework, and its utility in making sustainability information public, either through standalone reports, annual reports, or online reporting. The main purpose of the analysis was to focus upon issues and factors that drove TBL practices and reporting within a sample size of 40 corporations around the world, considered to be best practices adopters in non-financial reporting.


The first Young Researchers in Human–Robot Interaction Workshop, held on March 1, 2006 in Salt Lake City, Utah, provides insight into how to facilitate the establishment of the HRI community. Organized in conjunction with the first annual ACM/IEEE Human Robot Interaction Conference, the NSF-sponsored workshop assembled 15 graduate students from 5 different countries in computer science, psychology, engineering, and the arts to build the HRI community. This report highlights recommendations from discussion sessions, a synopsis of the plenary address, and representative examples of the participants' presentations. Participants emphasized that HRI is a unique field, requiring knowledge in computing, psychology, and communications despite the differences in the courses, methods, and philosophies across disciplines. The following are needed for future growth in HRI: (i) stable, canonical robotics platforms for research purposes, (ii) a multidisciplinary community infrastructure to connect researchers, and (iii) a "Berlitz phrasebook" and collected reference materials for helping understand the "other" disciplines.


ABSTRACT Yu, Y., Zhang, H. and Lemckert, C., 2013. Seasonal variations of the salinity and turbidity in the Brisbane River estuary, Queensland, Australia. In: Conley, D.C., Masselink, G., Russell, P.E. and O'Hare, T.J. (eds.) The Brisbane River estuary, Queensland, Australia, is a vital ecological region and of importance for people who live nearby. The estuarine health status has been influenced by both marine and riverine conditions. The estuary experiences high turbidity and salinity throughout most of the year, however, little is known about the actual turbidity and salinity structures within it. This study examined ten-years of field data to investigate the seasonal variations in salinity and turbidity. The results revealed that the salinity at the Brisbane River mouth was estimated to be 31.7 and 32.8 ppt during wet and dry seasons, respectively. The surface longitudinal salinity then decreased along the estuary, with the highest decreasing rates of 0.7 and 0.6 ppt/km occurring within the mid-estuary. The average salinity flux was 8.19×104 and 8.25×104 ppt m3/s during the wet and dry seasons, respectively. The slight discrepancy of salinity fluxes between two seasons may be attributed to the lack of consideration of the other freshwater inflows to the estuary. The actual salinity flux through the estuary will therefore fall within the two estimated flux values. It was also found that the length of the turbidity maximum was approximately 35 km during wet season, which was three times as long as it is during the dry seasons. The values indicate the perceived, and actual, health of the estuary changes with season and location and thus care must be taken when interpreting ad-hoc measurements.


In addition to organizing the neuromuscular junction, the receptor tyrosine kinase MuSK is also a co-receptor for BMPs in developing muscle. Muscles need MuSK twice Muscle-specific kinase (MuSK) is a receptor tyrosine kinase that is required for the formation and maintenance of neuromuscular junctions. Yilmaz et al. found that MuSK also functions as a co-receptor for bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) in myoblasts and in myotubes. MuSK bound to BMPs and BMP receptors in vitro and promoted signaling by BMPs in muscle cells. MuSK promoted the expression of distinct sets of BMP-induced transcripts in myoblasts and myotubes in a manner that was independent of its kinase activity. One of the transcripts stimulated by MuSK-BMP signaling in myoblasts was required for the ability of BMP4 to inhibit intracellular calcium release in response to activation of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. Thus, in addition to playing a critical role in organizing the neuromuscular junction, MuSK also acts as a BMP co-receptor in developing muscles. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) function in most tissues but have cell type–specific effects. Given the relatively small number of BMP receptors, this exquisite signaling specificity requires additional molecules to regulate this pathway's output. The receptor tyrosine kinase MuSK (muscle-specific kinase) is critical for neuromuscular junction formation and maintenance. Here, we show that MuSK also promotes BMP signaling in muscle cells. MuSK bound to BMP4 and related BMPs with low nanomolar affinity in vitro and to the type I BMP receptors ALK3 and ALK6 in a ligand-independent manner both in vitro and in cultured myotubes. High-affinity binding to BMPs required the third, alternatively spliced MuSK immunoglobulin-like domain. In myoblasts, endogenous MuSK promoted BMP4-dependent phosphorylation of SMADs and transcription of Id1, which encodes a transcription factor involved in muscle differentiation. Gene expression profiling showed that MuSK was required for the BMP4-induced expression of a subset of genes in myoblasts, including regulator of G protein signaling 4 (Rgs4). In myotubes, MuSK enhanced the BMP4-induced expression of a distinct set of genes, including transcripts characteristic of slow muscle. MuSK-mediated stimulation of BMP signaling required type I BMP receptor activity but was independent of MuSK tyrosine kinase activity. MuSK-dependent expression of Rgs4 resulted in the inhibition of Ca2+ signaling induced by the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor in myoblasts. These findings establish that MuSK has dual roles in muscle cells, acting both as a tyrosine kinase–dependent synaptic organizing molecule and as a BMP co-receptor that shapes BMP transcriptional output and cholinergic signaling.


South and Southeast Asian economic integration via increased trade flows has been increasing significantly over the past 2 decades, but the level of trade continues to be relatively low. This underperformance has been due to both policy-related variables—relatively high tariff and non-tariff barriers—and high trade costs due to inefficient "hard†and "soft†infrastructure (costly transport links and problems related to trade facilitation). The goal of this study is to estimate the potential gains from South Asian–Southeast Asian economic integration using an advanced computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The paper estimates the potential gains to be large, particularly for South Asia, assuming that the policy- and infrastructure-related variables that increase trade costs are reduced via economic cooperation and investment in connectivity. As Myanmar is a key inter-regional bridge and has recently launched ambitious, outward-oriented policy reforms, the prospects for making progress in these areas are strong. If the two regions succeed in dropping inter-regional tariffs, reducing non-tariff barriers by 50%, and decreasing South Asian–Southeast Asian trade costs by 15%—which this paper suggests is ambitious but attainable—welfare in South Asia and Southeast Asia would rise by 8.9% and 6.4% of gross domestic product, respectively, by 2030 relative to the baseline. These gains would be driven by rising exports and competitiveness, particularly for South Asia, whose exports would rise by two thirds (64% relative to the baseline). Hence, the paper concludes that improvements in connectivity would justify a high level of investment. Moreover, it supports a two-track approach to integration in South Asia, i.e., deepening intra-regional cooperation together with building links to Southeast Asia.


All who lived in the early 1950s remember the fear of polio and the elation felt when a successful vaccine was found. Now David Oshinsky tells the gripping story of the polio terror and of the intense effort to find a cure, from the March of Dimes to the discovery of the Salk and Sabin vaccines-and beyond. Here is a remarkable portrait of America in the early 1950s, using the widespread panic over polio to shed light on our national obsessions and fears. Drawing on newly available papers of Jonas Salk, Albert Sabin and other key players, Oshinsky paints a suspenseful portrait of the race for the cure, weaving a dramatic tale centered on the furious rivalry between Salk and Sabin. Indeed, the competition was marked by a deep-seated ill will among the researchers that remained with them until their deaths. The author also tells the story of Isabel Morgan, perhaps the most talented of all polio researchers, who might have beaten Salk to the prize if she had not retired to raise a family. As backdrop to this feverish research, Oshinsky offers an insightful look at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which was founded in the 1930s by FDR and Basil O'Connor. The National Foundation revolutionized fundraising and the perception of disease in America, using "poster children" and the famous March of Dimes to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from a vast army of contributors (instead of a few well-heeled benefactors), creating the largest research and rehabilitation network in the history of medicine. The polio experience also revolutionized the way in which the government licensed and tested new drugs before allowing them on the market, and the way in which the legal system dealt with manufacturers' liability for unsafe products. Finally, and perhaps most tellingly, Oshinsky reveals that polio was never the raging epidemic portrayed by the media, but in truth a relatively uncommon disease. But in baby-booming America-increasingly suburban, family-oriented, and hygiene-obsessed-the spectre of polio, like the spectre of the atomic bomb, soon became a cloud of terror over daily life.


This paper evaluates service quality in the Durban freight transportation industry, in which a high degree of competition exists. Previous measurements of service quality in the industry have been casual gauges, rather than a formalised process. This paper makes a contribution by examining the level of service quality, specifically from a tangibles, reliability and responsiveness perspective, thereby identifying service quality gaps which need to be closed, with a view to raising service quality levels in the industry. The SERVQUAL instrument has been used to measure service quality levels administered to 500 of the industry's active customers, i.e. organisations utilising the services of the freight transportation industry. The targeted respondents were managers responsible for logistics in their organisations. It was found that gaps existed between expectations and perceptions of service quality on 14 of the 15 measured items. Recommendations are made as to how the industry can improve its service quality levels.


The trend in using games in elementary level education also spreads through higher education levels and specific domains such as engineering. Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in the usage of games in software engineering. In this paper, we are presenting a systematic review and analysis of 350 papers regarding games in software engineering education that was published in the last fifteen years. After applying our inclusion criteria and manual inspection of these studies, we have ended up with 53 primary papers. Based on a systematic process, we reported and discussed our findings with possible future research directions. The main results of this study indicate that the studies are accumulated around 5 categories: Games that learners/students play, games that learners/students develop as projects, curriculum proposals, developing/coming up with new approaches, tools, frameworks or suggestions and others.


Raman spectra of ilmenite-type phases on the Mg 4 Si 4 O 12 -Mg 3 Al 2 Si 3 O 12 join have been collected. With increasing Al content, bandwidths increase while band positions remain nearly constant, consistent with the occurrence of disorder in the solid solution. However, at least eight active Raman bands are observed up to the highest Al content, which is inconsistent with the seven bands expected for an R 3 c corundum-type structure. It implies that Al, Mg and Si are ordered at short range distance and that the occurrence of a fully disordered corundum-type phase is unlikely within the narrow P-T range of stability of the ilmenite-structure phases in this system, unless ordering occurs during temperature quenching as is the case in Mg-rich majorites. The present Raman spectra also provides a basis for identification of silicate ilmenites in shocked meteorites.


In mixed reality, occlusions and shadows are important to realize a natural fusion between the real and virtual worlds. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to acquire dense depth information of the real world from the observer's viewing position. The depth sensor must be attached to the see-through HMD of the observer because he/she moves around. The sensor should be small and light enough to be attached to the HMD and should be able to produce a reliable dense depth map at video rate. Unfortunately, however, no such depth sensors are available. We propose a client/server depth-sensing scheme to solve this problem. A server sensor located at a fixed position in the real world acquires the 3-D information of the world, and a client sensor attached to each observer produces the depth map from his/her viewing position using the 3-D information supplied from the server. Multiple clients can share the 3-D information of the server; we call it Share-Z. In this paper, the concept and merits of Share-Z are discussed. An experimental system developed to demonstrate the feasibility of Share-Z is also described.


The development of injectable microspheres for anticancer drug delivery into the brain is a major challenge. The possibility of entrapping 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in chitosan coated monodisperse biodegradable microspheres with a mean diameter of 10-25 um was demonstrated. An emulsion of 5-FU (in water) and polylactic acid (PLA) dissolved in acetone-dichloromethane mixture was poured into an aqueous solution of chitosan (or poly-vinyl alcohol) with stirring using a high-speed homogenizer, for the formation of microspheres. 5-FU recovery in microspheres ranged from 44-66% depending on the polymer and emulsification systems used for the preparation. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the chitosan coated microspheres had less surface micropores compared to PVA based preparations. The drug release behaviour from microspheres suspended in phosphate buffered saline exhibited a biphasic pattern. The amount of drug release was much higher initially (approximately 25%), followed by a constant slow release profile for a 30 days period of study. This chitosan coated PLA/PLGA microsphere formulation may have potential for the targeted delivery of 5-FU to treat cerebral tumours.


Glutamate has been found to play an unexpectedly important role in neuroendocrine regulation in the hypothalamus, as revealed in converging experiments with ultrastructural immunocytochemistry, optical physiology with a calcium-sensitive dye, and intracellular electrical recording. There were large amounts of glutamate in boutons making synaptic contact with neuroendocrine neurons in the arcuate, paraventricular, and supraoptic nuclei. Almost all medial hypothalamic neurons responded to glutamate and to the glutamate agonists quisqualate and kainate with a consistent increase in intracellular calcium. In all magnocellular and parvocellular neurons of the paraventricular and arcuate nuclei tested, the non-NMDA (non-N-methyl-D-aspartate) glutamate antagonist CNQX (cyano-2,3-dihydroxy-7-nitroquinoxaline) reduced electrically stimulated and spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic potentials, suggesting that the endogenous neurotransmitter is an excitatory amino acid acting primarily on non-NMDA receptors. These results indicate that glutamate plays a major, widespread role in the control of neuroendocrine neurons.


Until now, no effective systemic treatment options have been available for patients with unresectable advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In the Sorafenib Hepatocellular Carcinoma Assessment Randomized Protocol (SHARP), patients with unresectable advanced HCC with Child–Pugh liver function class A and who had not received prior systemic therapy, received either oral sorafenib (400 mg twice daily) or placebo until radiological and symptomatic progression. The two groups of patients were well balanced with respect to baseline characteristics. The study was stopped at the second planned interim analysis because of an advantage in the median overall survival (10.7 vs 7.9 months; hazard ratio: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.55–0.87; p < 0.001) and the median time to radiological progression (5.5 vs 2.8 months; p < 0.001) in the sorafenib arm. However, sorafenib was not able to increase the time to symptomatic progression. In terms of toxicity, there were more cases of diarrhea, weight loss, hand–foot skin reaction and hypophosphatemia among the patients receiving sorafenib, the majority of which were of grade 1 or 2 severity. The SHARP trial has demonstrated that sorafenib is effective in prolonging median survival and time-to-progression in patients with advanced HCC and that it is generally well tolerated with a manageable adverse events profile.


Online social networks have seen a rapid growth in recent years. A key aspect of many of such networks is that they are rich in content and social interactions. Users of social networks connect with each other and forming their own communities. With the evolution of huge communities hosted by such websites, users suffer from managing information overload and it is become hard to extract useful information. Thus, users need a mechanism to filter online social streams they receive as well as enable them to interact with most similar users. In this paper, we address the problem of personalizing dissemination of relevant information in knowledge sharing social network. The proposed framework identifies the most appropriate user(s) to receive specific post by calculating similarity between target user and others. Similarity between users within OSN is calculated based on users' social activity which is an integration of content published as well as social pattern Application of this framework to a representative subset of a large real-world social network: the user/community network of the blog service stack overflow is illustrated here. Experiments show that the proposed model outperform tradition similarity methods.


This thesis sets up and solves an intertemporal general equilibrium model of regional rebalancing. The world consists of two regions, each endowed with two goods -one tradable and one nontradable. The model is solved in closedform which makes the rebalancing process transparent. In particular, first order di↵erence equations governing the price paths are established. Another benefit of the closed-form solution is that it allows for global analysis, and not just locally around the equilibrium. Further, the price of nontraded goods outside equilibrium are derived and the transfer e↵ect is quantified. By linearization, the thesis obtains a rule of thumb for the misalignment in nontraded goods' prices out of equilibrium. The thesis calculates the welfare costs associated with a suboptimal consumption allocation. Further, the thesis simulates the rebalancing of regional imbalances between the core and periphery in the Eurozone. The model predicts that current consumption is likely to deviate from the optimal allocation. The rebalancing leads to significant inflation di↵erences between the core and the periphery. Finally, the welfare costs from the suboptimal consumption allocation seem to be relatively small. However, the costs di↵er significantly between the regions.


Abstract. Statistical relationships between the variability of the area covered by double tropopause events (DTs), the strength of the tropical upwelling, the total column ozone and of the lower stratospheric water vapour are analyzed. The QBO and ENSO signals in the double tropopause and tropical upwelling as well as their influence on the statistical relationships are also presented. The analysis is based on both reanalysed data (ERA-Interim) and satellite data. Significant anticorrelations were found between the area covered by DTs and the total column ozone in the midlatitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. This relationship is confirmed by a large positive correlation between the areas covered by ozone laminae and double tropopause events as found in the HIRDLS satellite dataset. Significant anticorrelations were also found between the global area of double tropopause events and the near global (50° S–50° N) water vapour in the lower stratosphere. The correlations of DT variables with total column ozone and ozone laminae are both consistent with the poleward displacement of tropical air with lower ozone mixing ratio and with tropospheric intrusions of tropical tropospheric air into the lower extratropical stratosphere. The association of DTs with the poleward displacements of the tropical air is also consistent with a strong positive correlation between the area covered by DTs and the wave activity in the lower most stratosphere, between the first and second lapse rate tropopauses, as found in the ERA-Interim reanalysis. Finally, a significant anticorrelation was found between the tropical upwelling and the near global lower stratospheric water vapour. Moreover, the step like decrease in the lower stratospheric water vapour after 2001 is mirrored by a step like increase in the tropical upwelling.


BACKGROUND
This case study describes the first reported vaginal delivery following radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of fibroids. The subject was among a cohort of women seeking treatment for symptomatic fibroids. She was enrolled in a clinical trial studying outcomes of laparoscopic, ultrasound-guided RFA of symptomatic fibroids.

CASE
A 38-year-old, G4P3, female was diagnosed with uterine fibroids following a spontaneous abortion and preterm delivery at 21 weeks of a nonviable infant. RFA was performed on 7 fibroids, the largest of which was measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to be a 6.1-cm, submucosal-intramural, right posterior leiomyoma. The patient conceived approximately 3.5 months after RFA. She had a spontaneous labor at term with an uncomplicated vaginal delivery of a 3,487-g female infant (Apgars: 9, 9). Post-RFA and post-delivery MRI images indicated a myometrial thickness of 9.6 mm throughout, including beneath the ablation site.

CONCLUSION
The lack of a uterine defect following RFA in this case may have allowed this patient to progress to term without uterine rupture as has been reported with conventional myomectomy. The use of RFA in infertile women needs further study, and the decision to perform a cesarean section in women who have had RFA needs to be evaluated. The potential to treat many fibroid patients without requirement for subsequent cesarean section also needs further study.


Arguably since the Marshall Court and undoubtedly since the New Deal, the U.S. Constitution has been subverted to the point where its original meaning has been substantially lost inside a tangled knot of Supreme Court case law. Like termites eating away at the constitutional architecture, Supreme Court interpretations of provisions such as the Commerce Clause, taxing and spending power, Privileges or Immunities Clause, Ninth Amendment, Tenth Amendment, and Eleventh Amendment have so rotted them that they no longer serve the critical functions originally envisioned.One of the most pervasive themes in this journey into constitutional Wonderland – where constitutional law professors teach at least six impossible things before breakfast – is the loss of vertical separation of powers, or federalism. Year after year, the drumbeat of expanding federal power grows louder, drowning out objections and concerns voiced by the states. The noise has recently reached a fevered pitch, fueled by actions of the Obama Administration: massive industry bailouts overloaded with federal strings, mind-numbing trillion-dollar stimulus programs laden with earmarks, aggressive use of federal powers to shut down states' efforts to fight illegal immigration and, the coup de grâce, Obamacare.The six-million-dollar question is how to untangle this constitutional Gordian knot. The most intriguing proposals call for specific constitutional amendments or a constitutional convention, the latter of which has not occurred since the grand convention in Philadelphia that fateful, hot summer of 1787. This essay will explore the major themes of these calls for constitutional amendments and conventions, who is behind them, what problems they seek to solve, and their likelihood of success.


Land use changes and channelization of streams in the deep loess region of western Iowa have led to stream channel incision, altered flow regimes, increased sediment inputs, decreased habitat diversity and reduced lateral connectivity of streams and floodplains. Grade control structures (GCSs) are built in streams to prevent further erosion, protect infrastructure and reduce sediment loads. However, GCS can have a detrimental impact on fisheries and biological communities. We review three complementary biological and hydraulic studies on the effects of GCS in these streams. GCS with steep (≥1:4 rise : run) downstream slopes severely limited fish passage, but GCS with gentle slopes (≤1:15) allowed greater passage. Fish assemblages were dominated by species tolerant of degradation, and Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) scores were indicative of fair or poor biotic integrity. More than 50% of fish species had truncated distributions. After modification of GCS to reduce slopes and permit increased passage, IBI scores increased and several species were detected further upstream than before modification. Total macroinvertebrate density, biomass and taxonomic diversity and abundance of ecologically sensitive taxa were greater at GCS than in reaches immediately upstream, downstream or ≥1 km from GCS. A hydraulic study confirmed results from fish passage studies; minimum depths and maximum current velocities at GCS with gentle slopes (≤1:15) were more likely to meet minimum criteria for catfish passage than GCS with steeper slopes. Multidisciplinary approaches such as ours will increase understanding of GCS‐associated factors influencing fish passage, biological assemblage structure and other ecological relationships in streams. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The paradigm of developing alternative tourism is a development option for Bali Aga village as a tourism village. This paper aims at investigating form of alternative tourism implementation in Bali Aga Village valued by its tourist activities. This research focuses on tourist aspects including the importance of culture, motives for traveling (what they do on holiday and how they feel and behave) such as participating with the local people making bamboo weaving, they felt like family members. Because of the interaction that makes tourists and local people very closely filled with a sense of kinship. The importance of this research is to determine how much the characteristics of alternative tourism have been implemented in Bali Aga village. This research is a qualitative research. Data were taken by administering purposive sampling technique. The results of the study are used as a basis for describing the application of alternative tourism concepts in two villages of Bali Aga, namely Pedawa Village and Sidatapa Village, Buleleng Regency. The study shows that (1) tourists really like the culture that is owned by the community, (2) the purpose of visiting tourists does have a purpose to get to know the culture of the community and be involved in people's lives; (3) visiting tourists live in the home of the Bali Aga village community. Thus, the totality of community involvement as actors of tourist service providers has been able to show the main characteristics of alternative tourism.


There is concern that certain content within some motor vehicle television advertising may negatively influence the driving attitudes and behaviours of viewers, particularly young people, and hence have a negative impact on road safety. In recognition of this concern, many developed countries have adopted a self-regulatory approach to motor vehicle advertising. The basic elements of self-regulation are a code of practice or guiding principles governing advertising content and the establishment of a process for hearing and adjudicating complaints about alleged breaches of that code. However, as in other areas, the effectiveness of self-regulation is being questioned in that many motor vehicle advertisements in Australia and elsewhere appear non-compliant with self-regulatory codes. Applying lessons from studies of alcohol advertising, this paper first reviews the research assessing the content of motor vehicle advertising. A suggested research framework is then proposed to inform the development of motor vehicle advertising regulatory codes where they do not exist, and to better monitor compliance with codes where they do exist. The research framework suggested includes expert content analysis of ads, the impact of advertising on risk-taking cognitions and decisions in computer-simulated traffic situations, and assessing audience perceptions of, and reactions to, messages in advertisements mapped against regulatory code content. An example of audience reaction research is also presented.


Objectives Tumour microenvironment heterogeneity is believed to play a key role in cancer progression and therapy resistance. However, little is known about micro regional distribution of hypoxia, glycolysis and proliferation in spontaneous solid tumours. The overall aim was simultaneous investigation of micro regional heterogeneity of 64Cu-ATSM (hypoxia) and 18F-FDG (glycolysis) uptake and correlation to endogenous markers of hypoxia, glycolysis, proliferation and angiogenesis to better therapeutically target aggressive tumour regions and prognosticate outcome. Methods Exploiting the different half-lives of 64Cu-ATSM (13h) and 18F-FDG (2h) enabled simultaneous investigation of micro regional distribution of hypoxia and glycolysis in 145 tumour pieces from four spontaneous canine soft tissue sarcomas. Pairwise measurements of radioactivity and gene expression of endogenous markers of hypoxia (HIF-1α, CAIX), glycolysis (HK2, GLUT1 and GLUT3), proliferation (Ki-67) and angiogenesis (VEGFA and TF) were performed. Dual tracer autoradiography was compared with Ki-67 immunohistochemistry. Results Micro regional heterogeneity in hypoxia and glycolysis within and between tumour sections of each tumour piece was observed. The spatial distribution of 64Cu-ATSM and 18F-FDG was rather similar within each tumour section as reflected in moderate positive significant correlations between the two tracers (ρ = 0.3920–0.7807; p = 0.0180 –<0.0001) based on pixel-to-pixel comparisons of autoradiographies and gamma counting of tumour pieces. 64Cu-ATSM and 18F-FDG correlated positively with gene expression of GLUT1 and GLUT3, but negatively with HIF-1α and CAIX. Significant positive correlations were seen between Ki-67 gene expression and 64Cu-ATSM (ρ = 0.5578, p = 0.0004) and 18F-FDG (ρ = 0.4629–0.7001, p = 0.0001–0.0151). Ki-67 gene expression more consistently correlated with 18F-FDG than with 64Cu-ATSM. Conclusions Micro regional heterogeneity of hypoxia and glycolysis was documented in spontaneous canine soft tissue sarcomas. 64Cu-ATSM and 18F-FDG uptakes and distributions showed significant moderate correlations at the micro regional level indicating overlapping, yet different information from the tracers.18F-FDG better reflected cell proliferation as measured by Ki-67 gene expression than 64Cu-ATSM.


New and reconfigured structures of policymaking and governance present fresh challenges to gender equality seekers, especially in federal systems. In a world in which policy functions are increasingly being "uploaded" to international or supranational levels, "downloaded" to meso-level units, or "offloaded" to civil society and private enterprises (Banaszak, Beckwith, and Rucht 2003), the links among institutional design, policy activism, and policy outcomes provide fruitful opportunities for empirical research and theory building. This essay asks what impact state architectures have on women's political mobilization around child care. How might we theorize the effects of different types of federation and multilevel governance on child-care activists' political opportunities and achievement of policy outcomes? How adequate are existing frameworks for explaining links among policy actors, state institutions, civil society, and international business? We sketch some preliminary answers and show how recognizing the significance of the multiple scales and layers involved in contemporary governance can expand feminist research agendas and promote gender-sensitive policymaking. Child care is increasingly understood as an essential component of contemporary welfare states (Michel and Mahon 2002). Well-designed child-care programs help time-pressed earner parents reconcile work and family life and make it possible for lone parents to improve their economic situation through paid work. Universal early childhood education and care (ECEC) also lays the foundations for lifelong learning, indispensable for success in knowledge-based, postindustrial economies. Adequate public support for ECEC systems generates good postindustrial jobs for early childhood educators who work in publicly financed, regulated settings instead of in low-paid, informal, caregiving situations (Esping-Andersen 1999). Developing high-quality, universal ECEC in federal systems with divided jurisdictional responsibility, however, faces particular challenges. Most comparative social policy and welfare regime literature ignores state architectures by assuming that unitary state forms are the norm and focusing purely on nation-state governments and policymaking (Esping-Andersen 1999). Advocacy and policy initiatives on international or meso-level scales typically are ignored or underexplored.


In each of 2 years, pregnant mares (n = 1 0 and n = 23) kept at pasture were divided into copper supplemented or unsupplemented groups, and injected with calcium copper edetate or saline. Their foals were examined, weighed, measured and clinically scored at 2 weekly intervals from birth to 1 60 days of age to assess growth and development, and evidence of developmental orthopaedic disease (DOD). Foal liver biopsies were harvested by Tru-cut biopsy needle at different ages for determination of copper concentration. At 1 60 days of age, articular surfaces were examined for cartilage irregularities, which were sampled for histology and histochemistry. Cartilage samples were harvested from irregularities and defined sites for histology. Distal third metacarpal and metatarsal bones (Mc3 and Mt3) were sawn frontally, radiographed and processed for histology. The parenteral copper supplementation had no effect on mare or foal liver copper concentration, and was not associated with reduced evidence of DO D in foals. The prevalence and severity ofDOD lesions was very low. Two different patterns of decline in foal liver copper concentration were observed. Enlargements of the distal Mc3 and Mt3 physeaJ region were present in all foals, but were not associated with pain, lameness, or abnormalities in the metaphyseal growth plate. In vivo techniques to assess body composition could be used to predict chemical body composition, particularly ultrasonographic rump fat thickness measurements. Fillies were significantly fatter than colts at 1 60 days of age, despite no differences in mean birth weight and weight gain. The only growth parameters associated with the prevalence of DOD lesions was rapid growth rate between 5 and 6 months of age, which was associated with more lesions in the tibiotarsal joint. The New Zealand Thoroughbred industry should weigh and condition score foals at monthly intervals, keeping careful records. Foals can be successfully


This article considers the changing political significance of Christianity in the interior of southern Africa during the 1850s, focusing primarily on the views of Tswana rulers, converts and others within their communities, and secondarily on attempts by European missionaries to reconcile their service both to African communities and to European expansion, which compelled them to articulate a rationale for their civilising mission. The article historicises the process whereby Christianity lost its initial universalistic ideals and became politicised by African-European competition, with divine sanction being claimed by one side or another. That process was accompanied by considerable debate and doubt: the separation of believers from unbelievers, faith from works and souls from bodies was far from clear or certain. Although African converts would ultimately continue to pursue the promise of equality offered by Christian teachings, they would do so more as individuals than as intact African communities, surrendering their bodies to European rule while entrusting their souls to the care of God.


With a cast of characters that wouldnt be out of place in a Victorian novel, Chocolate Wars tells the story of the great chocolatier dynasties, through the prism of the Cadburys. Chocolate was consumed unrefined and unprocessed as a rather bitter, fatty drink for the wealthy elite until the late 19th century, when the Swiss discovered a way to blend it with milk and unleashed a product that would conquer every market in the world. Thereafter, one of the great global business rivalries unfolded as each chocolate maker attempted to dominate its domestic market and innovate new recipes for chocolate that would set it apart from its rivals. The contest was full of dramatic contradictions: The Cadburys were austere Quakers who found themselves making millions from an indulgent product; Kitty Hershey could hardly have been more flamboyant yet her husband was moved by the Cadburys tradition of philanthropy. Each was a product of their unique time and place yet they shared one thing: they want to make the best chocolate in the world.


A three-dimensional (3-D) imaging system based on Gray-code projection is described; it is thought to be used as an integration to the already developed profilometer based on the projection of multifrequency gratings. The Gray-code method allows us to evaluate the 3-D profile of objects that present even marked discontinuities of the surface, thus increasing the flexibility of the measuring system as to the topology of the objects that can be measured. The basic aspects of Gray-code projection for 3-D imaging and profiling are discussed, with particular emphasis devoted to the study of the resolution of the method and to the analysis of the systematic errors. The results of this study allow us to determine the optimal setting of the parameters of the measurement and to develop a suitable calibration procedure. The procedures for implementing the Gray-code method are presented, and some interesting experimental results are reported. Calibration of the system reveals an accuracy of 0.2 mm, corresponding to 0.1% of the field of view.


This paper describes research on four web-based learning applications that employ a variety of assessment approaches and student tracking and data aggregation mechanisms. These applications are aimed at promoting deeper learning in web-based learning applications and courses and at facilitating a researchbased, design experiment approach to prototype development and improvement. Developmental research on two of these tools, Affinity Learning and Critical Thinking, is discussed in this paper. Affinity Learning uses database-driven software to capture the teaching skill of a master teacher. Students are guided through online activities and assessments in accord with their skills and rate of learning. When a student outcome is unanticipated in the software/database, the teacher is solicited for help. In offering that help, the teacher designs a new activity and assessment that is incorporated into the environment. The Affinity environment grows from an initial state to more and more sophisticated capabilities. The Critical Thinking Tool requires students to make and justify their answers to queries about web-based instructional content. The tool's database then graphically displays all students' choices, plus their rationales. Students are asked to review and rate the quality of others' rationales and to modify their own as needed. Both tools provide fine-grained information on student decision-making and performance that is useful for informing improvements in design. Both also have demonstrated their ability to produce student learning and promote deep understanding of concepts and principles.


Ongoing research on how to support high-quality information for intermodal transport is reported. The research approach suggests that the interaction between the domains of transport, infrastructure, and institutional management is a step forward. This kind of interaction must be formalized and structured through a specific infrastructure, and someone must be responsible for the development and maintenance of this infrastructure. Research results of 54 semistructured interviews conducted as a prestudy for a port community system (PCS) in the Port of Gothenburg, Sweden, are used as empirical data. Results indicate that cooperation and information sharing within the port cluster are far from a highly integrated supply-chain management solution. Results also reveal major gaps regarding the recognition of each other's situation, especially between authorities and the shipping industry. With a PCS viewed as an interaction infrastructure, the approach of the Port of Gothenburg stresses the need for interaction among the different domains as well as the need for a strong initiator and developer. For the system to become successful, it must achieve a certain status as useful and trusted by the many who must update the system in a timely manner. For trust to be built into the system, development and implementation must be done in close cooperation with the many actors. The actors must think outside of their own systems; information crucial to each individual actor's operation also can be of value to others.


Extracted from text ... * The author is attached to the Graduate School of Business Leadership, Unisa.
44
"COMPLEX EQUALITY": A PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLORATION
OF A NOVEL CONCEPTION OF "EQUALITY"
MW van Wyk*
1 INTRODUCTION
Since 1994 the South African government has embarked on a number of
ambitious projects, in almost all spheres of life, which are ultimately
underpinned by the value of equality. It is routinely assumed that there is
a common understanding about what we mean when we speak of equality,
but this is erroneous because there are many different conceptions of
equality, some of which are diametrically in conflict with others. ..


Railroad ballast plays an important role in supporting heavy rail loading, preventing the deformation of track, and providing drainage of water from the track structure. However, over time, ballast is fouled by the breakdown of ballast aggregate and/or the infiltration of fines, which undermine ballast functions. This may result in damage to the rail system, such as track settlement. Ground penetrating radar (GPR), a nondestructive method, can be used to rapidly, effectively, and continuously assess railroad track substructure conditions. Ballast under various fouling conditions generates various electromagnetic (EM) scattering patterns. In this study, air-coupled 2 GHz antenna was found to be sensitive to the scattering pattern change. Appropriate data processing was used to remove the effects of ties and rails to obtain clear GPR images of the subsurface layers. Then, the amplitude envelope and time-frequency approaches were implemented to characterize the signal in time and frequency domains simultaneously. Using these techniques, non-fouled ballast thickness can be assessed and trapped water can be detected, along the track.


Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are an increasingly popular organizational form of providing public infrastructure. They can increase e ciency and improve resource allocation, yet pervasive contract renegotiations cast doubts on whether they should be preferred over public provision. Renegotiating a PPP contract allows the present government to extract resources from future governments in exchange for current infrastructure spending by the PPP. This option is not available under public provision. We develop a model that formalizes this idea and predicts that government will use renegotiations to anticipate spending and shift payments to future administrations. Regulating renegotiation procedures so as to avoid opportunistic behavior does not avoid the use of renegotiations to anticipate government spending, changing scal accounting rules does. We analyze data from Chile, Colombia and Peru, comprising 59 highway PPPs and 535 renegotiation processes, to conclude that the evidence is broadly consistent with the predictions of our model. We nd that the magnitude of renegotiations is substantial: renegotiations per concessionyear average 9.5% of the initial investment in Colombia, 3.6% in Peru and 1.3% in Chile. With concessions that last many decades, this suggests that the magnitude of renegotiations will end up being larger than the initial investment for many concessions, as is already the case for 11 out of the 25 concessions in Colombia. Most of the cost of renegotiations falls on future administrations and in the three countries more than 45% of renegotiations, as measured by volume, occur during the construction phase, which can be interpreted as evidence against incomplete contract models of renegotiations and in favor of our model.


School-wide Positive Behaviour for Learning (SWPB4L) uses School-wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS), an evidence-based intervention for reduction of student problem behaviour, as a template for its structure. Teacher acceptability of interventions is important for establishing social validity and can relate to the fidelity and effectiveness of interventions. Teacher acceptability has been found to vary in certain interventions with experience and qualifications. This study examined if SWPB4L was acceptable to teachers in three Intermediate schools and the extent to which acceptability varied according to teacher experience, highest qualification, and years since most recent qualification. Teachers were found, on average, to rate SWPB4L as acceptable but this did not vary differentially according to the demographic variables investigated in this study. Nevertheless, it is encouraging that teachers in these schools have generally found SWPB4L acceptable as this means that SWPB4L implementation in the sample schools is supported. The results are discussed in terms of the practical implications for schools.


Objective: Describing a model of evaluation seen from a customer's point of view for the current needed pharmacy computer system. Data Sources: literature research, ATTOFARM, WINFARM P.N.S., NETFARM, Info World - PHARMACY MANAGER and HIPOCRATE FARMACIE. Study Selection: Five Pharmacy Computer Systems were selected due to their high rates of implementing at a national level. We used the new criteria recommended by EUROREC Institute in EHR that modifies the model of data exchanges between the EHR and the Pharmacy Computer Systems. Data Synthesis: We established after a literature research 27 technical evaluation criteria, 25 software module applications evaluation criteria using an evaluation scale, according points from 0 to 10. In the technical criteria there were included the security requirements mentioned in the ISO 18308 standards. The five models after evaluation present almost similar results, but neither of them include the requirements of CEN/TC 251, ISO/TC 215 and HL7 standards. Conclusion: The evaluated Pharmacy Computer Systems are insufficiently prepared for a Web application and a communication with EHR or a national integrated Health System. However, the evaluated applications are oriented over fulfilling the current administrative and managerial needs for single and multi-store chains.


ABSTRACT As one of the Celtic languages, Irish is among the few languages in the world that employ word initial mutations (IMs) in order to express grammatical functions. IMs express grammatical information by a way of systematic alternation of minimal phonological contrasts, which closely links segmental phonology to grammatical morphology (Irish also employs final consonant palatalization as a grammatical marker, but this will not be the focus of our paper). The overwhelming majority of Irish speakers are bilingual (with English), and virtually all Irish-speaking children grow up with varying degrees of exposure to and use of English in the home. Irish is undergoing rapid language change at present, and the system of IM is affected by this process of shift such that many fluent Irish speakers show inconsistent use of IM in their spoken language. Given inconsistency in the use of a grammatical system in the adult language, the question arises whether it will be possible to identify developmental norms for the use of IM in child language. This in turn has clinical implications, in terms of the presence (or absence) of clinical markers of language delay or disorder. The data we report on consist of narrative samples from typically developing children (aged between 3 and 6) and a group of parents, who completed the same task (telling a story from a wordless picture book). We plot consistency and accuracy IM use in the language of children and parents. A key finding is that inconsistent IM use by parents is mirrored by inconsistent use by children. We discuss clinical implications for language sampling for diagnostic purposes, and the importance of individualized assessment.


The objective of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the development of the housebuilding industry in Korea. Starting from a description of the growth of the industry in the regulated environment, relevant theories are investigated. Based on both theory and evidence, an analytic framework is then developed from which four main research areas are drawn. The first area is an analysis of the structure of the Korean housebuilding business. The focus is on the investigation of governance structure within the housebuilding business and determinants of that structure. The second area is an examination of efficiency in the housebuilding business. Cost structures of the housebuilding business, the input factor relationship, the extent of economies of scale, and productivity are evaluated. The third area is an analysis of the building firms' diversification strategy. The extent of diversification among housebuilding firms, the changing pattern and the motives for that diversification are examined. Finally, the fourth area brings these elements together to investigate the efficiency of the firms' diversified production structure by estimating multi-product cost functions. Interviews and secondary data sources were used to examine the structure of the Korean housebuilding business. For the analyses of the efficiency of the business, multiproduct firms, and the firms' diversification strategy, econometric modelling techniques such as Translog cost function estimation and multivariate regression estimation were employed. The cost structure of the Korean housebuilding business was found to be price inelastic, with relatively low productivity and increasing returns to scale. Firms tended to depend on 'contracting' throughout the production process and also showed diversified production structures. Diversification was motivated by avoiding risks and uncertainty within the housebuilding business and by using retained resources efficiently. The diversification strategy was found to be economically efficient, although the estimated optimum scale suggests that the current scale of the firms may be too large.


Manufacturing is currently undergoing a transition from a mass production system to a lean production system which emphasizes quality and speedy response to market conditions using technologically advanced equipment and a flexible organization of the production process. This new manufacturing system has achieved remarkable productivity advances. The success or failure of the Midwest's manufacturing sector in climbing on board this revolution will be central to the region's future prosperity due to the historic role of manufacturing in shaping the region's economy. Successful adaptation to lean manufacturing is likely to require significant changes in both the management of factories and the structure of the economy, such as changes in worker training, job performance, public infrastructure, and perhaps the location of factories and jobs. These changes are the focus of this article. First, I briefly summarize the main features of lean manufacturing. The next section concentrates on the effects of the introduction of lean manufacturing. I will discuss several aspects of the new manufacturing system: managementlabor relationships, worker training, location decisions, and product development. Finally, I discuss policy implications of the change in manufacturing systems. To illustrate, examples from the auto industry will be used throughout the article because it has greatly influenced the way many other businesses organize their factories. However, it is important to note that specific applications of lean manufacturing vary according to industry and firm. Thus, the picture described in this article is necessarily a general one.


This book is concerned with recent developments in time series and panel data techniques for the analysis of macroeconomic and financial data. It provides a rigorous, nevertheless user-friendly, account of the time series techniques dealing with univariate and multivariate time series models, as well as panel data models. It is distinct from other time series texts in the sense that it also covers panel data models and attempts at a more coherent integration of time series, multivariate analysis, and panel data models. It builds on the author's extensive research in the areas of time series and panel data analysis and covers a wide variety of topics in one volume. Different parts of the book can be used as teaching material for a variety of courses in econometrics. It can also be used as reference manual. It begins with an overview of basic econometric and statistical techniques, and provides an account of stochastic processes, univariate and multivariate time series, tests for unit roots, cointegration, impulse response analysis, autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity models, simultaneous equation models, vector autoregressions, causality, forecasting, multivariate volatility models, panel data models, aggregation and global vector autoregressive models (GVAR). The techniques are illustrated using Microfit 5 (Pesaran and Pesaran, 2009, OUP) with applications to real output, inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, and stock prices.


Immobilized metal chelate affinity chromatography (IMAC) support was practiced for α -amylase immobilization. Poly(hydroxyethylmethacrylate-methacryloylamidotryptophan)-Ni [p(HEMA-MAT)-Ni ] nanospheres, average diameter 100 nm, were produced by surfactant free emulsion polymerization. Characterizations of p(HEMAMAT)-Ni nanospheres were carried out by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM). In addition, average particle size, size distribution, and surface charge were specified. The amount of N-methacryloylamidotryptophan (MAT) incorporated to polymer was determined as 1.95 mmol/g polymers by using nitrogen stoichiometry. The specific surface areas of poly(hydroxyethylmethacrylate) [p(HEMA)] and p(HEMA-MAT) nanospheres were calculated as 1856 m /g and 1914 m /g, respectively. Protein adsorption increased with increasing initial protein concentration and maximum α -amylase adsorption on p(HEMA-MAT)-Ni nanospheres was observed at pH 4.0. Both free and immobilized α -amylase showed pH optimum at pH 7.0. It was determined that the immobilized α -amylase had better thermostability than the free one. Immobilization of the enzyme did not significantly change the kinetic parameters. The storage stability of α -amylase increased upon immobilization. It was also observed that p(HEMA-MAT)-Ni nanospheres can be repeatedly used for α -amylase immobilization.


Systems evolve with societal, business and technological changes. Because of these changes, socio-technical systems need to adapt to new situations that were unknown at the time of design. Good knowledge of system evolution can help with that adaption.  Although the evolution of software and interactive systems has been broadly debated, little research has been conducted on the specific genre of systems and even less empirical research on the evolution of interactive software has been performed. We propose a three-dimensional framework which consists of what changes during the evolution of training simulators, what are the drivers for those changes and how the changes effect innovation and robustness of the training simulators. By reviewing the literature on training simulators, we argue for this framework. The contribution of the paper is a framework that can be used to carry out empirical studies on evolution of training simulators.


Zoonotic infections are infections of animals that can be transmitted to humans. There are more than 400 viruses with a zoonotic origin that can cause mild or severe clinical pathology in humans. This chapter will attempt to cover a handful of these viruses that have been especially relevant as human pathogens: arenaviruses, Ebola virus, Nipah virus, and Hantavirus. Arenaviruses consist of a number of species and collectively have a worldwide distribution. They cause mild to severe illness in humans. Filoviruses have a sylvatic epidemiology in Africa and can spill over into humans, where they usually cause severe illness with a high mortality rate. Filoviruses are efficiently spread person-to-person, as highlighted in the 2014 to 2015 urban epidemic in West Africa. Nipah virus has caused a relatively limited number of human cases in Southeast Asia. Nipah virus infection with central nervous system involvement is associated with high mortality. Hantaviruses have a worldwide distribution and cause renal and pulmonary syndromes in humans.


The ostracod faunas of six middle to late Eocene sections in the Central Sakarya Region were studied with the aim to describe the palaeoenvironmental changes occurred in the area and the age of the Halidiye Formation. This study based on theOstracoda faunawas carried out for the first time in the region and a comparison between theOstracoda species identified in this study and the data obtained by other previous work carried out in central Europe and Turkey indicated a middle to late Eocene age for the formation. Within the Halidiye Formation, 35 species of Ostracoda belonging to 31 genera were observed, among which, the followings are the more relevant for chronostratigraphic purposes: Cytherella jonesiana (Bosquet), Bairdia cymbulaDeltel, B. crebraDeltel, Neocyprideis williamsoniana (Bosquet), Cuneocythere (Monsmirabilia) triebeli (Keij), Schuleridea perforata (Roemer), Hemicyprideis montosa (Jones ve Sherborn), Cladarocythere apostolescui (Margerie), Krithe parvula Deltel, K. angusta Deltel, K. caudata Van Den Bold, K. rutoti Keij, Trachyleberis aculeata modesta Van Hinte, Pterygocythereis aquitanica Ducasse, Nucleolina multicostata (Deltel), Leguminocythereis genappensis Keij, Grinioneis alata Ducasse, G. paijenborchiana Keij, Quadracythere persica Tambareau, Caudites orientalis Sönmez-Gökçen, Loxoconcha subovata (Muenster), Monoceratina striata Deltel, Uroleberis globosa Ducasse, Paracypris contracta (Jones), Cyprinotus sp., and Heterocypris sp. Based on the lithological properties and environmental indicators, the Halidiye Formation reflects characteristics of transitional lagoonal to deep marine settings. Among the Ostracoda identified hereby, Cyprinotus and Heterocypris indicate freshwater, Cladarocythere, Neocyprideis, and Loxoconcha indicate lagoonal, Leptocythere, Cytheromorpha, and Cyamocytheridea indicate lagoonallittoral, Hermanites, Quadracythere, and Uroleberis indicate epineritic, Monsmirabilia, Schuleridea, and Caudites indicate epineritic-infraneritic, Paracypris indicates infraneritic, Cytherella, Bairdia, and Cytheropteron indicate epineritic-bathyal, and, finally, Krithe and Macrocypris indicate infraneritic-bathyal environmental conditions.


Background: The first step in improving research conduction in society can be conceived as identifying the weak points of research. Given that faculty members of universities carry out most of the research activities, the present study attempts to study the relationship between barriers to research from the viewpoint of the faculty members of Lorestan University of Medical Sciences and the research activities of them.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study, using census method, assessed all of the faculty members of Lorestan university of medical sciences. A self-administered questionnaire analyzing the faculty members' demographic variables, knowledge about and attitudes toward barriers to different steps of research was designed and the self-report questionnaires were filled out and their relationship with the annual assessment scores in research criteria were assessed by chi-square, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests.
Results: Variables such as the faculty members' department, number of their modules, primary motivation for research conduction, knowledge about variables such as research methodologies, searching strategies in medical databases, putting forward proposals, research article writing and also, attitude towards vaiables such as approved research priorities, putting forward proposals, quality of research advice, approval of proposals in research councils, research facilities, the process of peer review of national scientific articles, presenting papers in conferences and participating in theses were related to the research performance of them (p<0.05).
Conclusion: If seems that giving special privileges to the faculty members of faculty of medicine, those with many modules and those with no optimal knowledge and attitude, we can enhance their motivation to participate in research activities.
Keywords: Barriers to research, Faculty members, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Research performance.


Cardiomyocyte apoptosis is a key event in the process of doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiotoxicity. Our previous study found that rosmarinic acid (RA) could attenuate pressure overload-induced cardiac dysfunction via cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), however its effect in DOX-induced cardiotoxicity remains unknown. In the present study, mice were subjected to a single intraperitoneal injection of DOX (15mg/kg) to generate DOX-induced cardiotoxicity. Histological examination, echocardiography, and molecular markers were used to evaluate the effects of RA. Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (CMs) and CFs were used to verify the protective effect of RA in vitro. Conditioned medium derived from RA-treated CFs were prepared to illustrate the effect of RA on paracrine interplay between CFs and CMs. We found that RA significantly alleviated DOX-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis and cardiac dysfunction in vivo, which, however, had almost negligible beneficial effect on DOX directly induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis in vitro. Mechanistically, CFs-derived Fas L was responsible for DOX-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and RA treatment could decrease Fas L expression in CFs and its release to the conditioned medium by suppressing nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) activation and metalloproteinase 7 (MMP7) expression, and exerted the anti-apoptotic effect on CMs via CFs. Ionomycin, and activator of NFAT, abrogated RA-mediated protective effect on cardiomyocyte apoptosis and cardiac dysfunction. In summary, RA alleviated cardiomyocyte apoptosis by inhibiting the expression and release of Fas L in CFs via a paracrine manner, moreover, NFAT as well as MMP7 inhibition were responsible for the suppression of Fas L. RA could be a powerful new therapeutic agent to mitigate cardiomyocyte apoptosis, thereby improving DOX-induced cardiotoxicity.


Owing to the complex interactions among climate, plants, cattle grazing, and land management practices, the impacts of climate change on cattle have been hard to predict. Predicting future grassland ecosystem functioning relies on understanding how changes in climate alter the quantity of forage produced, but also forage quality. Plant protein, which is a function of plant nitrogen concentrations, and digestible energy limit the performance of herbivores when in short supply; moreover, deficiencies can be expensive to mitigate. To better understand how changes in temperature and precipitation would affect forage protein and energy availability, we analyzed over 21 000 measurements of cattle fecal chemistry acquired over 14 years in the continental US. Our analysis of patterns in forage quality among ecologically defined regions revealed that increasing temperature and declining precipitation decreased dietary crude protein and digestible organic matter for regions with continental climates. Within regions, quality also declined with increased temperature; however, the effects of precipitation were mixed. Any future increases in precipitation would be unlikely to compensate for the declines in forage quality that accompany projected temperature increases. As a result, cattle are likely to experience greater nutritional stress in the future. If these geographic patterns hold as a proxy for future climates, agriculture will require increased supplemental feeds or the consequence will be a decrease in livestock growth.


WHO IS THE CIVIL DIGNITARY ON THE MOSAIC OF THE DONORS IN THE CHURCH OF ST DEMETRIOS IN THESSALONIKI? This paper focuses on the analysis of the insignia, the portrait and the so-called square nimbus in order to clarify the identity of the anonymous civil dignitary depicted in the famous 7th century mosaic of the donors in the church of St Demetrios in Thessaloniki. It is argued that he is not (as often supposed) the founder of the church, the praetorian prefect of Illyricum Leontios, but rather a contemporary donor of the mid-7th century who contributed to the rebuilding of the church after a fire damaged the building about 620/30. His garment and his insignia do not fit to those of a praetorian prefect but most likely represent the highest senatorial dignity in the 7th century, namely that of an honorary consul (ἀπὸ ὑπάτων or ὕπατος). This does not exclude the possibility that he did hold the office of the prefect of eastern Illyricum (respectively of Thessaloniki) as well. The mentioning of the name Leo in the mosaic inscription pertaining to the rebuilding after the fire follows a common epigraphic habit in building inscriptions that refers to the authority responsible to approve the execution of the project. This Leo is often assumed to be the same person as the civil dignitary. Although this conclusion is generally possible it has to remain hypothetical.


Purpose Previous research has shown that >50% of residency programmes indicate that inappropriate Facebook postings could be grounds for rejecting a student applicant. This study sought to understand medical students' views regarding the impact of their Facebook postings on the residency admissions process. Study design In 2011–2012, we conducted a national survey of 7144 randomly selected medical students representing 10% of current enrollees in US medical schools. Students were presented with a hypothetical scenario of a residency admissions committee searching Facebook and finding inappropriate pictures of a student, and were asked how the committee ought to regard these pictures. Results The response rate was 30% (2109/7144). Respondents did not differ from medical students nationally with regard to type of medical school and regional representation. Of the three options provided, the majority of respondents (63.5%) indicated 'the pictures should be considered along with other factors, but should not be grounds for automatic rejection of the application'. A third (33.7%) believed 'the pictures should have no bearing on my application; the pictures are irrelevant'. A small minority of respondents (2.8%) felt 'the pictures should be grounds for automatic rejection of the application'. Conclusions That the views of students regarding the consequences of their online activity differ so greatly from the views of residency admissions committees speaks to the need for better communication between these parties. It also presents opportunities for medical schools to help students in their residency application process by increasing awareness of social media screening strategies used by some residency programmes, and fostering self-awareness around the use of social media during medical school and especially during the residency application process.


The grounded theory approach is implemented in analysing sermons on poverty and directed at the poor as listeners. This is an abductive approach in the paradigm of social constructionism as developed by Cathy Charmaz in Sociology. I am applying this method of empirical analysis to sermons, in this case sermons on poverty with Matthew 25:31-46 as sermon text. In this article, I am going to discuss the place of grounded theory in qualitative research and the application of Charmaz's approach to it in homiletics. The process of sermon analysis in its different phases will be discussed as well as the interaction of this bottom-up theory with existing homiletic theories in relation to the research topic. The goal is to update our knowledge contextually in the interaction between praxis and theory with a view to preaching in our context of poverty.


We demonstrate a thermally tunable optical metamaterial with negative permeability working in the visible range. By covering coupled metallic nanostrips with aligned nematic liquid crystals (NLCs), the magnetic response wavelength of the metamaterial is effectively tuned through control of the ambient temperature, changing the refractive index of LC via phase transitions. By increasing the ambient temperature from 20 to 50 °C, the magnetic response wavelength shifts from 650 to 632 nm. Numerical simulations confirm our tests and match the experimental observations well.


Projectiles experience severe stress conditions during impact and subsequent penetration in concrete due to target resistance. Structural integrity of projectile needs to be maintained during penetration for ensuring the operation of fuzing/initiating mechanism as well as preventing any unintended initiation of explosive during impact or penetration. This paper presents a methodology to use Forrestal formulations to arrive at initial design of an ogive nosed penetrator. Forrestal formulae necessitate experiments to obtain total penetration. A methodology is presented in which total penetration obtained from Conventional Weapon formula has been used in Forrestal formulations to estimate the resistive force offered by the concrete target. This resistive force is used to estimate the axial stress condition of penetrating projectile. These formulations have been used to design a 14 kg ogive nosed penetrator impacting with 500 m/s velocity against concrete target having compressive strength of 35 MPa.


In an article published in 1992, Professors Twerski and Cohen suggested that basic principles of the law of informed consent require medical providers to tell their patients about competing providers could perform the same procedures better or more safely. In its 1996 decision in Johnson v. Kokemoor, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin cited Twerski and Cohen's article in holding a neurosurgeon liable for not telling a patient of such a competitor. As a result, Twerski and Cohen now argue, the law of informed consent now stands on the brink of a second revolution. This comment sets forth a systems/strategic analysis of Twerski and Cohen's proposal. That is, using the delivery system for coronary bypass graft surgery as an example, it describes the current system's operation, projects how the system would operate with Twerski and Cohen's proposal in place (by exploring the strategies that patients and providers would be likely to pursue), and then evaluates the two comparatively. The comment concludes that even if the proposal were adopted immediately, the resulting change would proceed at a moderate pace. Over the long run, the proposal would tend to align the interests of providers with those of their patients and work a substantial net improvement in system operation.


SUMMARY: Thirteen strains of Thermus isolated from New Zealand hot pools were screened for their ability to grow on minimal or near-minimal media and to exhibit extracellular protease activity. Environmental regulation of protease production by one such strain, Thermus Ok6, was investigated in detail. Protease activity was maximally derepressed during growth under conditions which lead to energy starvation (i.e. highly oxidized carbon substrate, oxygen limitation, slow growth rate and a high external pH), and was variably repressed by different nitrogen sources. These results suggest that the function of the enzyme is to scavenge carbon/energy and nitrogen. The protease was loosely attached to the cell under these growth conditions but could be released by growing the organism in high concentrations of trypticase peptone plus yeast extract, by exposing the culture to moderate shear forces or by washing cells in high ionic strength solutions of various inorganic salts, organic acids or amino acids. A simple and rapid procedure for the partial purification of the enzyme is described.