Background: Lacerations are a common presenting complaint in the acute care setting. Current guidelines recommend the use of sterile technique for the exploration and closure of these wounds in order to reduce the risk of subsequent infection. Research in other medical specialties has cast doubt on the effectiveness of sterile gloves in lowering infection rates for uncomplicated procedures. The use of sterile surgical gloves is associated with increased costs in materials, labor, and time. This review hopes to answer the question: are sterile gloves necessary for the closure of simple lacerations? Methods: Exhaustive search of available medical literature was performed. Ovid MEDLINE, Web of Science, Cinahl, and Google Scholar were used to obtain articles relevant to the question being asked. Articles were critically appraised and included in the systematic review if they met predefined inclusion criteria. Results: Four randomized controlled trials were included in this review. None of these studies showed a statistically significant decrease in wound infections when comparing sterile gloves to an alternative clean approach for the closure of simple lacerations. Conclusion: For patients with no significant risk factors, we can be moderately confident that sterile gloves do not decrease the incidence of wound infections after simple laceration repair. The available evidence does not show a benefit justifying the higher cost associated with their use. Further research is necessary to strengthen the confidence of the recommendation.


Separate collection system for recyclable wastes in the Helsinki region was ranked second best of European capitals. The collection system includes paper, cardboard, glass, metals and biowaste. Residual waste is collected and used in energy production. The collection system excluding paper is managed by the Helsinki Region Environmental Services HSY, a public organization owned by four municipalities (Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa). Paper collection is handled by the producer responsibility scheme. The efficiency of the collection system in the Helsinki region relies on a good coverage of door-to-door-collection. All properties with 10 or more dwelling units are required to source separate biowaste and cardboard. This covers about 75% of the population of the area. The obligation is extended to glass and metal in properties with 20 or more dwelling units. Other success factors include public awareness campaigns and a fee system that encourages recycling. As a result of waste management regulations for source separation of recyclables and biowaste, nearly 50 percent of recycling rate of household waste has been reached. For households and small and medium size enterprises, there is a sorting station fleet of five stations available. More than 50 percent of wastes received at sorting stations is utilized as material. The separate collection of plastic packaging in Finland will begin in 2016 within the producer responsibility scheme. HSY started supplementing the national bring point system with door-todoor-collection and pilot operations will begin in spring 2016. The result of plastic packages pilot project has been encouraging. Until the end of 2016, over 3500 apartment buildings have been joined the piloting, and more than 1800 tons of plastic packages have been collected separately. In the summer 2015 a novel partial flow digestion process combining digestion and tunnel composting was adopted for source separated household and commercial biowaste management. The product gas form digestion process is converted in to heat and electricity in piston engine and organic Rankine cycle process with very high overall efficiency. This paper describes the efficient collection system and discusses key success factors as well as main obstacles and lessons learned as well as the partial flow process for biowaste management. Keywords—Biowaste, HSY, MSW, plastic packages, recycling, separate collection.


Tritium storage beds at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor are likely to use uranium as a getter material with a total inventory of 150 g T{sub 2} at 75% stoichiometric composition of UT{sub 3}. We propose a storage bed design directly extrapolated from the Joint European Torus uranium beds, which already have a {sup 238}U inventory of 4.284 kg. Three alternative approaches to implement calorimetry for in situ tritium inventory accounting are discussed. The favored solution uses a microporous thermal insulation operating in a hydrogen atmosphere. This design is shown to meet all operational and safety requirements. The accuracy of calorimetric assay to {+-}0.1 requires only the measurement of a temperature difference to {+-}0.1 K and stabilization of the ambient reference temperature of 300 to {+-}0.1 K. 9 refs., 2 figs.


Title: AN ANALYSIS OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE FACTORS FOR ERP SYSTEMS IN ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION FIRMS BooYoung Chung, Ph.D., 2007 Directed By: Professor Miroslaw J. Skibniewski, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering Even though the use of ERP systems is growing and becoming more popular, these systems are still somewhat unfamiliar in the construction industry. Many engineering and construction firms know how beneficial ERP systems are, but they still hesitate to adopt these systems due to their high cost and risk. Without a doubt, a successful ERP implementation is an essential for the benefits from such systems, so this issue is always considered top priority in the ERP related research area. It is obvious that several important factors must be considered for successful implementation, but most engineering and construction firms have no idea what factors should be considered most heavily. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to help these firms better understand the critical factors that need to be considered to ensure the success of ERP systems. This research formulated the conceptual ERP success model based on strong background theories and knowledge gained from several industry practitioners. The survey instrument was designed based on the conceptual ERP success model, and was tested before conducting the main survey. The ERP success model and its variables were finally fixed after completing a series of data analyses with the main survey. Since there have been few studies attempting to validate empirically the factors affecting both ERP implementation and user adoption, this research focused on identifying the factors for the ERP success from both implementation project and user adoption perspectives. Then, identified factors were examined to verify their relationships with success indicators associated with the redefined ERP success. Furthermore, the research suggested recommendations for the ERP success showing how to approach ERP implementation to avoid failure and what we should do considering the significance of each factor to a given dependent variable based on the findings of the study. These recommendations can provide helpful information to engineering and construction firms when they consider implementing or upgrading their ERP systems. This information should help companies reduce tremendous ERP implementation risks so that companies can have more chances to improve their business value with the success of EPR systems. AN ANALYSIS OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE FACTORS FOR ERP SYSTEMS IN ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION FIRMS


Papers on beta- glucuronidase sensitivity and specificity for identifying Escherichia coli in sources of environment, food, water, etc. have been published since 1976. In this study we conducted a review of the incidence of E. coli I² - glucuronidase -positive in goat milk, obtained by hand milking throughout the lactation: spring, summer, autumn. The presence of E. coli in milk is considered both as a health indicator and a pathogenic factor capable of causing food poisoning. The determination of the E. coli I²-glucuronidase-positive was carried using TBX medium by cultivating colonies typical blue at 44 0 C. The absence of E. coli in milk yielded during the spring, when the animal milking is done three times a day, was found in the performed analyses; the same was observed during fall, when the milk production is lower and the milking is done once a day. The load of E. coli I²-glucuronidase-positive was averaging 66.67 CFU/ml of goat milk, during the middle lactation period (July-August), in conditions of higher temperature. During this period, milking is done in the mountain zone, where the transhumance of animals takes place in summer. The presence of the species E. coli was also confirmed by microscopic examination. Attention should be paid to hygiene and milk should be immediately cooled, during hot weather, as E. coli can be a source of food poisoning. Â


This present study evaluates the pollution status of shallow hand-dug wells in Erena community, Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, North-central Nigeria using pollution index. The application of pollution index on the hydrochemical data revealed that the groundwater from the shallow aquifers in Erena area had serious bacteriological pollution and moderately/slightly pollution coming from pH, iron and bicarbonate, while the pollution status of the remaining parameters are within the acceptable limit for a potable water. The observed microbial pollution arising from the presence of total coliform and E. coli in the well water are due to migration of plume from un-lined pit-latrines/soakaway while the enrichment of the well water with low pH, high iron and bicarbonate can be attributed to natural sources arising from bedrock dissolution. Results of well water samples collected far away from the pit-latrines/soakaway show no microbial contaminant. The dominant hydrochemical facies as revealed by Piper diagram are Ca-Mg/CO3-HCO3. Boiling of the water before drinking is recommended as most bacteria do not withstand very high temperature. Future hand-dug wells and boreholes in the area should be sited far away from the existing pit-latrines/soakaway and groundwater should be tapped from deeper aquifers. The use of sanitary VIP-latrines and well-lined soakaway system were proposed. Niger State Ministries of Environment and Water Resources should organize workshops and seminars in the area as means of creating the needed awareness on the benefits of good hygiene and clean environment to man.


1. Human outdoor recreational activities are increasing and have a significant impact on wildlife. There are few methods suitable for investigating the response of rare and endangered species to human recreational activities, although the impact can be assessed at various scales by measuring both physiological and behavioural responses to disturbance.
2. Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus are suffering strong population declines throughout central Europe. We examined the effects of ski tourism on capercaillie habitat use and adrenocortical activity, measured non-invasively in droppings.
3. During three winters, 2003–06, we radio-tracked 13 capercaillie. In the southern Black Forest in Germany, we sampled 396 droppings of these and additional individuals before and after the start of the ski season. We tested whether the intensity of human winter recreational activities affected home range location and habitat use, and we identified those factors influencing the concentration of corticosterone metabolites (CM) in droppings.
4. Capercaillie used habitats subject to ski tourism. Although the latter did not affect home range location, capercaillie preferred undisturbed forests within their home ranges and avoided areas with high recreation intensity in the ski season. Faecal CM levels of individuals in areas with low recreation intensity were significantly lower than those in areas with moderate or high recreation intensity during the entire study period.
5. We conclude that ski tourism affects both habitat use and endocrine status in capercaillie, with potential negative consequences on body condition and overall fitness.
6. Synthesis and applications.
This study demonstrates the relevance of studying wildlife responses at various temporal and spatial scales, and the value of using multiple methods applied to the same individuals to monitor the impact of human recreational activities on a free-ranging species. In order to protect capercaillie populations, we recommend that managers keep forests inhabited by capercaillie free from tourism infrastructure and retain undisturbed forest patches within skiing areas.


The present research, conducted through Study I and Study
II, investigated tile contribution of socio-economic status and fathers' education in the selection process of the public sector jobs according to the laid down criterion, and the improportional association of these two variables to the selection of the candidates at the N.W.F.P. Public Service Commission. For this purpose a sample of 695 subjects between the age of 18-35 years, who had applied for various jobs and had appeared for selection at the N.W.F.P., Public Service Commission were chosen.A sample of 95 subjects, who were selected by the Commission. from these 695 subjects were also chosen. Study I, comprised of the estimation of reliability of the CPI. For this purpose inter-scale, and scale-total correlations were computed, for both the total sample and the selected candidates. The inter-scale correlations for the total sample range from r = -.015 to r .87 and for the selected candidates inter-scale correlation range
is from r = .09 to r .91.Tile scale total correlation for the entire sample is between r = .34 and r = .87, while for the selected candidates the range of correlation is from r = .57 to r = .90. KR - 20 indices of reliability were also calculated which came out to be from .72 to .97 with a median of .89.For Study-II the candidates appearing for selection were classified into low and high scorers and their percentage in the low and high scorer category for the entire and the selected sample were calculated for the relevant CPI sub-scales.The low and high scorers on the relevant CPI sub-scales were classified into different levels of socio-economic status and father's education. It was found that candidates from upper class and with father's from graduate category scored high for the Majority of the sub-scales. The selected subjects were categorized into low and high scoring groups on the relevant scales of CPI and were tested for selection improportionately as regards their father's education and socio-economic status. It was found that subjects from the upper class and with father's education from the graduate category scored high on majority of the sub-scales.
The subjects in the total and selected sample, were compared through Chi-square on their socio-economic and father's education, in order to see the contribution of these variable in the selection process. It was found that majority of the selection was from the middle class and from father's having middle-intermediate educational level.One way analysis of variance was applied on the scores of relevant sub-scales of CPI for the selected and a matched sample of unselected subjects. It was found that the two groups of subjects differed only on qualities leading to personal importance, social participation and status, whereas, they did not differ on qualities mentioned in the selection criteria.


The objective of this feasibility study was to explore strategies for expanding the Information Studies Programme with a focus on curriculum content and delivery mode. It explored stakeholders' requirements in terms of curriculum content and delivery modes. Multiple strategies were used to collect data and information. The methods used included review of secondary sources, questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions. All these methods were triangulated in order to complement each other as each method has its strengths and weaknesses in data collection. Respondents were drawn from 26 institutions. The findings of the study indicated that there is great diversity in skills and knowledge required for professional and career development as information provision services diverge from the traditional four-wall structures. The training needs call for a wider coverage than what is currently provided and the delivery mode also needs diversification. The study recommends that the structure of both the core and optional courses of the current MA programme be revised; postgraduate diploma and taught PhD programmes be introduced and delivery modes be diversified.


This article examines the extent to which various asset classes, including managed futures, stocks, bonds, commodities, and gold, have hedged against inflation. The study uses data from the U.S. consumer pricing index from 1980 to 2011 as its measure of ex post inflation. We note the relative nominal and real performance of each of these asset classes and their relationship to inflation over several different time horizons. Using regression analysis, we find that managed futures provide a robust hedge against inflation, increasingly so over longer time frames. Equities and gold showed little relationship to inflation over any period while commodities display protection at shorter timeframes. Bonds were found to exhibit a significantly negative relationship with inflation over shorter time periods while a positive relationship was found over longer periods. In addition, we examine the relationship between the asset classes and the expected and unexpected components of inflation. Here we show that managed futures provided protection against expected inflation with commodities displaying a strong positive relationship to short-term, unexpected inflationary shocks. Bonds were shown to have a strong negative relationship to these same shocks. Overall, we find that managed futures display a strong protection profile with other asset classes failing to preserve wealth in certain inflationary environments over the entire 30-year sample period.


We devised a highly sensitive method for simultaneously determining methamphetamine (MA) and amphetamine (AP) enantiomers, desmethylselegiline (DMSG) and selegiline (SG), in human hair using a derivatization technique and high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS). MA and AP enantiomers and DMSG were effectively converted to trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) derivatives, and the sensitivity of MA and DMSG increased five times over compared with that of free bases. The TFA derivatives of each compound were stable within one week in a stock solution of methanol or for 24 h in the HPLC mobile phase (mixture of methanol and ammonium formate buffer). Each compound was well separated, and calibration curves were linear in the concentration range 0.04-40 ng/mg for MA enantiomers, SG and DMSG, and 0.2-40 ng/mg for AP enantiomers. The accuracy and precision of the method were evaluated, and relative standard deviations were within 7%. Our method was successfully applied to hair samples obtained from long-term MA abusers and SG users. (+)-MA and (+)-AP were detected from three MA abusers at concentrations of 0.79-20.85 and 0.04-3.30 ng/mg, respectively. On the other hand, (-)-MA, (-)-AP, DMSG, and SG were detected in three SG users at concentrations of 2.48-9.05, 0.72-3.10, 0.12-0.59, and 0-0.04 ng/mg, respectively. Based on our obtained data, discrimination of MA abusers from SG users was considered to be possible by comparing optical isomers of MA and AP, the existence of DMSG and/or SG, and the concentration ratio of AP to MA in hair samples.


Allergic asthma is a complicated disorder where multiple stimuli activate various signalling pathways resulting in the synthesis of a wide array of inflammatory proteins. Among the diverse transcription factors in the human genome, Nucleus Factor Kappa B (NFκB) and p38 Mitogen Activated Protein (MAP) kinases play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of allergic asthma. Salicylic acid derivatives, 5-Amino Salicylic Acid (5-ASA) and Sodium Salicylate (SS) have been evidenced to inhibit NFκB in vitro model. 5-ASA has demonstrated significant antiasthmatic activity in preclinical murine models. In the present study, 5-ASA and SS were screened in silico against a definite set of proteins, namely Inhibitor of Kappa Beta (IκB), p38 α, β, γ and δ using Glide and Prime modules of Schrodinger suite. The two drug candidates were attributed to the MTT assay in RAW 264.7 mouse monocyte macrophage cells for their in vitro cytotoxicity. From the hits obtained in silico, IκB and p38γ were further evaluated using western blot analysis followed by evaluation of TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-13, nitrate and nitrite, Myeloperoxidase (MPO) and Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced RAW 264.7 cells. The results revealed significant reduction in the levels of the aforementioned parameters accompanied by the reduced expression of IκB and p38γ in cells treated with 5 ASA and SS, when compared LPS induced cells indicating the immune suppressive potential of both the drugs that can be used against allergic asthma.


Abstract The differences between parents and adolescents in relation to information and communication technologies (ICT) are well documented, yet little is known about how adolescents experience these differences. The study reported in this paper therefore aimed to elucidate adolescents' views on these differences, and in the process to explore the possible impact on parent-adolescent relationships. The participants comprised 23 Grade 10 learners, conveniently selected from three high schools in the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. The learners participated in focus group discussions and reported on the following: their experiences and perceptions regarding their parents' level of techno-literacy; their attitude towards, and use of, ICT in comparison with that of their parents; and parental regulations imposed on their use of these technologies. Thematic content analysis was applied to delineate themes emerging from the texts. Although the study confirmed that differences between parents and adolescents exist in relation to ICT, it calls into question other research that too readily portrays this aspect as being negatively experienced by the adolescent, and a threat to healthy parent-adolescent relationships. It was also evident that it is not possible to be conclusive about the impact that ICT may have on parent-adolescent relationships, without information on how parents and adolescents relate above and beyond these technologies. The importance of ICT in adolescents' lives emphasises the need to unravel the impact it may have on their well-being.


There is an explosion of interest in Bayesian statistics, primarily because recently created computational methods have finally made Bayesian analysis obtainable to a wide audience. Doing Bayesian Data Analysis: A Tutorial with R, JAGS, and Stan provides an accessible approach to Bayesian data analysis, as material is explained clearly with concrete examples. The book begins with the basics, including essential concepts of probability and random sampling, and gradually progresses to advanced hierarchical modeling methods for realistic data. Included are step-by-step instructions on how to conduct Bayesian data analyses in the popular and free software R and WinBugs. This book is intended for first-year graduate students or advanced undergraduates. It provides a bridge between undergraduate training and modern Bayesian methods for data analysis, which is becoming the accepted research standard. Knowledge of algebra and basic calculus is a prerequisite. New to this Edition (partial list): * There are all new programs in JAGS and Stan. The new programs are designed to be much easier to use than the scripts in the first edition. In particular, there are now compact high-level scripts that make it easy to run the programs on your own data sets. This new programming was a major undertaking by itself.* The introductory Chapter 2, regarding the basic ideas of how Bayesian inference re-allocates credibility across possibilities, is completely rewritten and greatly expanded.* There are completely new chapters on the programming languages R (Ch. 3), JAGS (Ch. 8), and Stan (Ch. 14). The lengthy new chapter on R includes explanations of data files and structures such as lists and data frames, along with several utility functions. (It also has a new poem that I am particularly pleased with.) The new chapter on JAGS includes explanation of the RunJAGS package which executes JAGS on parallel computer cores. The new chapter on Stan provides a novel explanation of the concepts of Hamiltonian Monte Carlo. The chapter on Stan also explains conceptual differences in program flow between it and JAGS.* Chapter 5 on Bayes' rule is greatly revised, with a new emphasis on how Bayes' rule re-allocates credibility across parameter values from prior to posterior. The material on model comparison has been removed from all the early chapters and integrated into a compact presentation in Chapter 10.* What were two separate chapters on the Metropolis algorithm and Gibbs sampling have been consolidated into a single chapter on MCMC methods (as Chapter 7). There is extensive new material on MCMC convergence diagnostics in Chapters 7 and 8. There are explanations of autocorrelation and effective sample size. There is also exploration of the stability of the estimates of the HDI limits. New computer programs display the diagnostics, as well.* Chapter 9 on hierarchical models includes extensive new and unique material on the crucial concept of shrinkage, along with new examples.* All the material on model comparison, which was spread across various chapters in the first edition, in now consolidated into a single focused chapter (Ch. 10) that emphasizes its conceptualization as a case of hierarchical modeling.* Chapter 11 on null hypothesis significance testing is extensively revised. It has new material for introducing the concept of sampling distribution. It has new illustrations of sampling distributions for various stopping rules, and for multiple tests.* Chapter 12, regarding Bayesian approaches to null value assessment, has new material about the region of practical equivalence (ROPE), new examples of accepting the null value by Bayes factors, and new explanation of the Bayes factor in terms of the Savage-Dickey method.* Chapter 13, regarding statistical power and sample size, has an extensive new section on sequential testing, and making the research goal be precision of estimation instead of rejecting or accepting a particular value.* Chapter 15, which introduces the generalized linear model, is fully revised, with more complete tables showing combinations of predicted and predictor variable types.* Chapter 16, regarding estimation of means, now includes extensive discussion of comparing two groups, along with explicit estimates of effect size.* Chapter 17, regarding regression on a single metric predictor, now includes extensive examples of robust regression in JAGS and Stan. New examples of hierarchical regression, including quadratic trend, graphically illustrate shrinkage in estimates of individual slopes and curvatures. The use of weighted data is also illustrated.* Chapter 18, on multiple linear regression, includes a new section on Bayesian variable selection, in which various candidate predictors are probabilistically included in the regression model.* Chapter 19, on one-factor ANOVA-like analysis, has all new examples, including a completely worked out example analogous to analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), and a new example involving heterogeneous variances.* Chapter 20, on multi-factor ANOVA-like analysis, has all new examples, including a completely worked out example of a split-plot design that involves a combination of a within-subjects factor and a between-subjects factor.* Chapter 21, on logistic regression, is expanded to include examples of robust logistic regression, and examples with nominal predictors.* There is a completely new chapter (Ch. 22) on multinomial logistic regression. This chapter fills in a case of the generalized linear model (namely, a nominal predicted variable) that was missing from the first edition.* Chapter 23, regarding ordinal data, is greatly expanded. New examples illustrate single-group and two-group analyses, and demonstrate how interpretations differ from treating ordinal data as if they were metric.* There is a new section (25.4) that explains how to model censored data in JAGS.* Many exercises are new or revised. * Accessible, including the basics of essential concepts of probability and random sampling* Examples with R programming language and JAGS software* Comprehensive coverage of all scenarios addressed by non-Bayesian textbooks: t-tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and comparisons in ANOVA, multiple regression, and chi-square (contingency table analysis)* Coverage of experiment planning* R and JAGS computer programming code on website* Exercises have explicit purposes and guidelines for accomplishment* Provides step-by-step instructions on how to conduct Bayesian data analyses in the popular and free software R and WinBugs


As an approach to the purification of adenovirus-encoded DNA replication proteins, we have developed in vitro complementation assays that make use of viral mutants defective in DNA replication in vivo. Nuclear extracts prepared from cells infected with H5ts36 or H5ts125, two such mutants belonging to different complementation groups, were found to be defective in viral DNA replication in vitro. However, replication activity could be restored by mixing the two extracts. Replication activity in either extract also could be restored by addition of appropriate replication-deficient fractions purified from cells infected with wild-type adenovirus. By using such assays, H5ts36- and H5ts125-complementing activities were extensively purified. As expected, purified H5ts125-complementing activity consisted of a single major polypeptide, the 72-kilodalton (kDal) adenovirus DNA binding protein. The purified H5ts36-complementing activity consisted of the 80-kDal adenovirus terminal protein precursor and two other major polypeptides with apparent molecular masses of 140 and 65 kDal. Formation of the 80-kDal terminal protein-dCMP complexes, the proposed initial step in adenovirus DNA replication, required components in the purified H5ts36-complementing fraction and a cellular factor(s) but did not require the adenovirus DNA binding protein. The complete in vitro adenovirus DNA replication reaction was reconstituted from the purified H5ts36-complementing activity, the adenovirus DNA binding protein, and an extract from uninfected cells.


BACKGROUND
Deficits in information transfer between inpatient and outpatient physicians are common and potentially dangerous.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of a newly-created electronic discharge summary.

DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS
Pre-post evaluation of discharge summaries using a survey of outpatient physicians and a medical records review.

MEASUREMENTS
Outpatient physicians' ratings of satisfaction with discharge summaries before and after implementation of an electronic discharge summary using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = very dissatisfied; 5 = very satisfied). Additionally, 196 randomly selected discharge summaries before and after implementation were rated for timeliness and presence of 16 key content areas by 3 internists.

RESULTS
Two hundred and twenty-six of 416 (54%) and 256 of 397 (64%) outpatient physicians completed the baseline and postimplementation surveys. Satisfaction with quality and timeliness of discharge summaries improved with the use of the electronic discharge summary (mean quality rating 3.04 versus 3.64; P < 0.001, mean timeliness rating 2.59 versus 3.34; P < 0.001). A higher percentage of electronic discharge summaries were completed within 3 days of discharge as compared with dictated discharge summaries (44.8% versus 74.1%; P < 0.001). Several elements of the discharge summary were present more often with the electronic discharge summary, including discussion of follow-up issues (52.0% versus 75.8%; P = 0.001), pending test results (13.9% versus 46.3%; P < 0.001), and information provided to the patient and/or family (85.1% versus 95.8%; P = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
The use of an electronic discharge summary significantly improved the quality and timeliness of discharge summaries.


After the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Morse v. Frederick in December of 2006, it received an unusual mix of amicus briefs in support of ACLU-represented high school senior Joseph Frederick. Frederick, who had sued his principal after being suspended for waving a banner stating Bong Hits 4 Jesus at an Olympic torch rally that he attended with classmates during school hours, had on his side not only the usual suspects, such as the Student Press Law Center and the National Coalition Against Censorship. Also supporting him were six conservatively-oriented religious advocacy groups: the American Center for Law and Justice; the Christian Legal Society; the Alliance Defense Fund; the Liberty Legal Institute; Liberty Counsel, and the Rutherford Institute. As these religious groups made clear in their briefs, they felt no particular affinity with Frederick's banner, which he himself described as containing mere nonsense words designed to attract television cameras. But they were concerned that in the course of resolving the case, the Supreme Court would recognize on broadly-worded grounds the school's right to censor his speech, thus setting a precedent that implicitly limited other students' rights to express their religious views at school. Their concern is not surprising: in recent years, there have indeed been an increasing number of cases involving clashes between students seeking to express their religiously-motivated views at school and schools that have restricted such messages out of concern that they will be hurtful to other students. These conflicts have generally arisen in the context of anti-gay and pro-life speech. In Morse itself, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled for the school district on a narrow, drug-focused rationale that did not resolve the developing split over how to approach such cases. But while Morse's holding was explicitly narrow, aspects of the majority opinion and Justice Alito's concurrence do have some interesting implications for how to approach situations where students' religiously-motivated speech may be hurtful to other students. In this Article, I weave together strands from Tinker, Fraser, and Morse, as well as from lower court decisions taking varying approaches to this issue, to propose a new standard for student speech that is potentially hurtful to other students. This approach encompasses, without being limited to, speech that is religiously-motivated in nature. I argue that student speech that is hurtful to other students (whether religiously-motivated or not) should first be divided into two categories: (1) speech that identifies particular students for attack; and (2) speech, such as the message on Harper's T-shirt, that expresses a general opinion without being directed at particular named (or otherwise identified) students. Schools should receive great latitude to restrict the first category of speech, which essentially amounts to verbal bullying. By contrast, potentially hurtful speech that does not single out specific students and simply expresses a general viewpoint should be restricted only if it is likely to materially disrupt at least one other student's education (which I define as tangibly interfering with his ability to learn and succeed at school).


The aim of this paper is to assess how German savings banks adjust capital and risk under capital regulation. We estimate a modified version of the model developed by Shrieves and Dahl (1992). In comparison to former research, we impose fewer restrictions with regard to the impact of regulation on capital and risk adjustments. Besides, we complement our analysis with dynamic panel data techniques and a rolling window approach. We find evidence that the coordination of capital and risk adjustments depends on the amount of capital the bank holds in excess of the regulatory minimum (the so-called capital buffer). Banks with low capital buffers try to rebuild an appropriate capital buffer by raising capital and simultaneously lowering risk. In contrast, banks with high capital buffers try to maintain their capital buffer by increasing risk when capital increases.


In this paper we use trends in self-reported disability from the late forties through the late eighties to gauge the impact of the growth of income maintenance for the disabled on the labor force attachment of older working-aged men. Under the assumption that the actual health of these men has not changed, we can use the trends in self-reported disability to make inferences about the disincentive effects of disability transfers. Our tabulations suggest that, for the post World War II period, earlier accommodation of health problems accounts for between two and three-fifths of the 4.9 percentage point drop in the labor force participation of men aged 45-54 and between one-quarter and one-third of the 19.9 percentage point drop among men aged 55-64. since not all of this earlier accommodation can necessarily be causally attributed to the expansion of disability programs, these figures should be interpreted as upper bounds on the impact of such programs on the work force attachment of older men.


The problem of sampling signals that are not admissible within the classical Shannon framework has received much attention in the recent past. Typically, these signals have a parametric representation with a finite number of degrees of freedom per time unit. It was shown that, by choosing suitable sampling kernels, the parameters can be computed by employing high-resolution spectral estimation techniques. In this letter, we propose a simple acquisition and reconstruction method within the framework of multichannel sampling. In the proposed approach, an infinite stream of nonuniformly-spaced Dirac impulses can be sampled and accurately reconstructed provided that there is at most one Dirac impulse per sampling period. The reconstruction algorithm has a low computational complexity, and the parameters are computed on the fly. The processing delay is minimal just the sampling period. We propose sampling circuits using inexpensive passive devices such as resistors and capacitors. We also show how the approach can be extended to sample piecewise-constant signals with a minimal change in the system configuration. We provide some simulation results to confirm the theoretical findings.


Using a $Z_q$-generalization of a theorem of Ky Fan, we extend to Kneser hypergraphs a theorem of Simonyi and Tardos that ensures the existence of multicolored complete bipartite graphs in any proper coloring of a Kneser graph. It allows to derive a lower bound for the local chromatic number of Kneser hypergraphs (using a natural definition of what can be the local chromatic number of a hypergraph).


Answering questions that require multi-hop reasoning at web-scale necessitates retrieving multiple evidence documents, one of which often has little lexical or semantic relationship to the question. This paper introduces a new graph-based recurrent retrieval approach that learns to retrieve reasoning paths over the Wikipedia graph to answer multi-hop open-domain questions. Our retriever model trains a recurrent neural network that learns to sequentially retrieve evidence paragraphs in the reasoning path by conditioning on the previously retrieved documents. Our reader model ranks the reasoning paths and extracts the answer span included in the best reasoning path. Experimental results show state-of-the-art results in three open-domain QA datasets, showcasing the effectiveness and robustness of our method. Notably, our method achieves significant improvement in HotpotQA, outperforming the previous best model by more than 14 points.


An industrial laser Doppler velocimeter has been developed for accurately measuring the velocity and length of moving surfaces. The instrument's advanced optical and electronic design provides a large depth of field, high SNR, and large dynamic range making it very suitable to industrial process control applications.


There is limited existing evidence justifying the economic case for state education policy. Using newly-developed measures of the human capital of each state that allow for internal migration and foreign immigration, we estimate growth regressions that incorporate worker skills. We find that educational achievement strongly predicts economic growth across U.S. states over the past four decades. Based on projections from our growth models, we show the enormous scope for state economic development through improving the quality of schools. While we consider the impact for each state of a range of educational reforms, an improvement that moves each state to the best-performing state would in the aggregate yield a present value of long-run economic gains of over four times current GDP.


ABSTRACT The motivation for earthquake early warning (EEW) is the fact that in many applications a few extra seconds of notice ahead of the about‐imminent strong shaking can provide significant benefit. Reducing data latencies, accelerating processing times, and tuning seismic station distributions increase time available for warning. We assess the feasibility of EEW for Hawai'i and examine how additional stations or upgrades to existing stations can improve warning times. We designed an objective method to identify the most efficient sites for improving an existing seismic network's coverage, taking both seismic station distribution and seismic hazard into account. The choice of locations for new seismic station sites is informed by improvements in warning time, considering the distribution of seismic hazard and exposure. New sites that improve warning time from earthquakes that are most likely to generate significant ground motions are given preference. This technique may be applied to any seismically active region and target infrastructure in which seismic hazard is spatially defined. We demonstrate this method's use on the Island of Hawai'i, with focus on warnings to astronomical observatories on Mauna Kea and island population centers Hilo and Kailua‐Kona. We identified 13 candidate sites for new sensors, telemetry upgrades, or new station installations that should provide an additional 1–4 s of warning for the most probable damaging earthquakes in southern Ka'ū and northern offshore regions in which 2–14 s and


Chalcophile element concentrations in melt inclusions and matrix glasses may be used to investigate low pressure degassing processes, as well as sulfide saturation during crustal fractionation, and mantle melting. Erupted products from Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻ i, record three stages of sulfide saturation (in the mantle, crust, and within lava lakes), separated by episodes of sulfide resorption (i.e., sulfide undersaturation) during ascent through the thick Hawaiian lithosphere, and during syn-eruptive degassing. The presence of residual sulfides in the mantle source throughout the melting interval accounts for the high S concentrations of Kīlauean primary melts (1387–1600 ppm). Residual sulfides retain chalcophile elements during melting, decoupling the variability of these elements in high MgO melts from that of lithophile elements. Decompression associated with magma ascent through the thick Hawaiian lithosphere drives an increase in the sulfide concentration at sulfide saturation (SCSS), resulting in shallow storage reservoirs (~1–5 km depth) being supplied with sulfideundersaturated melts. A drop in temperature, coupled with major element changes during the fractionation of olivine, causes the SCSS to decrease. Combined with an increase in melt S contents during fractionation, this initiates a second stage of sulfide saturation at relatively high MgO contents (~12 wt% MgO). Syn-eruptive degassing of S drives the resorption of sulfides in contact with the carrier liquid. The covariance structure of Cu, MgO and Ni contents in melt inclusions and matrix glasses indicates that the dissolution of sulfides effectively liberates sulfide-hosted Cu and Ni back into the melt, rather than the vapour phase. The contrasting behaviour of Cu, Ni, Se and S during sulfide resorption indicates that the chalcophile element signature of the Kīlauean plume is largely controlled by silicate melt-vapour partitioning, rather than sulfide-vapour partitioning. The participation of dense sulfide liquids in shallow degassing processes may result from their direct attachment to buoyant vapour bubbles, or olivine crystals which were remobilized prior to eruption. Sulfide resorption obscures the textural and chemical record of sulfide saturation in matrix glasses, but not in melt inclusions, which are isolated from this late-stage release of chalcophile elements. The partitioning of S between the dissolving sulfide, melt and the vapour phase accounts for approximately 20% of the total S release into the atmosphere.


Sperm-mediated gene transfer (SMGT) is based on the ability of spermatozoa to bind exoge- nous DNA and transfer it into oocytes by fertilization. However, SMGT is still undergoing opti- mization to improve its efficiency to produce transgenic animals. The acrosome reaction is neces- sary for spermatozoa to carry the exogenous DNA into oocytes. In this study, the effect of the acrosome reaction on the efficiency of spermatozoa carrying exogenous DNA was evalua- ted. The results showed that the efficiency of the acrosome reaction was significantly higher (p⟨0.05) after incubation with 50 μmol/L progesterone compared to incubation without proges- terone. It was significantly higher (p⟨0.05) in the 20, 40, and 60 min of progesterone treatment groups than in the 0 min treatment group. The spermatozoa were further incubated with cyanine dye Cy5 labeled DNA (Cy5-DNA) for 30 min at 37°C, and positive fluorescence signals were detected after the acrosome reaction was induced by progesterone at concentrations of 0 and 50 μmol/L for 40 min. The percentage of positive Cy5-DNA signals in spermatozoa was 96.61±2.06% and 97.51±2.03% following exposure to 0 and 50 μmol/L progesterone, respective- ly. The percentage of partial spermatozoa heads observed following combination with Cy5-DNA was 39.73±3.03% and 56.88±3.12% following exposure to 0 and 50 μmol/L progesterone, respec- tively. The ratio of positively stained spermatozoa combined with exogenous DNA showed no reduction after the acrosome reaction. These results suggest that the acrosome reaction might not be the key factor affecting the efficiency of SMGT.


On June 17, 2011, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton issued two significant memoranda on the use of prosecutorial discretion in immigration matters. Prosecutorial discretion refers to the agency's authority to not enforce immigration laws against certain individuals and groups. The primary memo (the Morton Memo on Prosecutorial Discretion) calls on ICE attorneys and employees to refrain from pursuing noncitizens with close family, educational, military, or other ties in the U.S. and instead spend the agency's limited resources on persons who pose a serious threat to public safety or national security. Morton's second memo focuses on exercising discretion in cases involving victims, witnesses to crimes, and plaintiffs in good faith civil rights lawsuits. The memo instructs "[a]bsent special circumstances or aggravating factors, it is against ICE policy to initiate removal proceedings against an individual known to be the immediate victim or witness to a crime."


The principles of continuum damage mechanics are reviewed first for the case of uniaxial tension. The damage variable is then decomposed into two variables called crack damage variables and void damage variables. A consistent mathematical formulation is presented to decompose the damage tensor into two parts: one caused by voids and the other caused by cracks. In the first part of this work, isotropic damage in the uniaxial tension case is assumed. However, the generalization to three-dimensional states of damage is presented in the second part of this work, using tensorial damage variables. It is shown that the components of tensorial crack damage variables and void damage variables are not independent of each other, implying a coupling between the two damage mechanisms. This coupling may be obvious based on the physics of the problem, but a rigorous mathematical proof is given for it. Also, explicit relations governing the components of the crack and void damage variables are derived.


Imagine, as was once the case, that today's social studies curriculum measured all else against a standard of being male, Protestant, and Anglo-Saxon. (1) Women, African Americans, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Muslims, not to mention other religious, ethnic, and racial groups, would react with righteous outrage. With justification, we can claim that today's social studies curriculum has become more inclusive of a range of groups and perspectives within and beyond the United States. Although still imperfect, the contemporary K-12 social studies curriculum has moved away from the tacit equating of "American" with, for example, Protestant, or Christian for that matter. At least one major exception to this legitimation of diversity persists: it is still tacitly assumed that everyone is heterosexual until proven otherwise. Despite striking growth in social, political, legal, and media presence of gays in American life, especially in the past decade, (2) few social studies materials appear to have substantive treatment of gay history and issues. Indeed, many of these materials fail to even mention such words as homosexual, straight, or gray. It is as if the millions of gay inhabitants of the United States, past and present, did not exist. Although scholarship studied in colleges is now sometimes rich with gay material, Americans who do not attend college--and the least educated are precisely those who are most inclined to be prejudiced against gay people (3)--are unlikely to hear of such scholarship. The belief that the archetypal human is straight is called heteronormativity. It belies an inclusive curriculum. Moreover, it encourages stereotypes. As James Banks has warned, using a "mainstream" benchmark against which group differences are measured promotes "a kind of 'we-they' attitude among mainstream students and teachers." (4) Banks's observation about multi-ethnic education seems equally applicable to the study of homosexuals: "Ethnic content should be used to help students learn that all human beings have common needs and characteristics, although the ways in which these traits are manifested frequently differ cross-culturally." (5) Heteronormativity goes basically unchallenged in teaching materials for K-12 social studies. Unless children are raised in a limited number of locales or have teachers who go beyond what the textbook provides, they may graduate from high school being none the wiser that heteronormativity paints an inaccurate picture of social life and perpetuates intolerance, sometimes with tangibly destructive consequences such as harassment and physical violence. (6) Curricular Limitations of Current Inclusion The social studies curriculum, because it must make some attempt at describing the world as it is, has always dealt with "difference." The debate, as Margaret Smith Crocco shows, has centered on what the differences are and how they have been dealt with. (7) The common failure even to mention the existence of lesbians and gay men (let alone bisexual and transgender persons) clearly clashes with gay matters today being a visible part of the public landscape in most of America. Thus, a first step that social studies educators need to take is frank acknowledgment that differences in sexual orientation (and other taboo subjects such as religion) exist in America. (8) To put it another way, educators must answer the question, Does everybody count as human? (9) One current and widely used U.S. history high school textbook is illustrative of the current failures. In its treatment of post-war African American novelists, James Baldwin is described as writing about "patterns of discrimination" directed toward blacks. This point is placed as a precursor to the struggle against racial injustice in the civil rights era. The text is silent, however, about Baldwin's being both African American and homosexual. He wrote eloquently of "patterns of discrimination" directed toward gay men. …


Abstract Background: Glasses for children are recommended and prescribed by different groups of professionals. We set out to compare the prescription practices of ophthalmologists, orthoptists and optometrists/opticians in Switzerland. Methods: Online questionnaire on the prescription and recommendation of glasses in fictitious cases of children of different ages, refractive values and symptoms. The questionnaire was sent out to members of the Swiss Ophthalmological Society, Swiss Orthoptics and Schweizerischer Berufsverband für Augenoptik und Optometrie. Results: 307 questionnaires were analysed. Optometrists/opticians recommended glasses with a significantly smaller cycloplegic refraction value (p < 0.005) than did orthoptists and ophthalmologists. In the example of a 14-year-old asymptomatic child, ophthalmologists recommended glasses at + 2.64 [Dpt], orthoptists at + 2.44 [Dpt] and optometrists/opticians at + 1.32 [Dpt]. Optometrists/opticians tended to recommend slightly higher correction values in glasses than did ophthalmologists and orthoptists. Conclusion: In Switzerland, optometrists/opticians recommend glasses with significantly smaller cycloplegic refraction values than do orthoptists and ophthalmologists, regardless of age or symptoms described in these fictitious cases.


This study bridges the gap between Corporate Governance with the practice of human resource management and organizational performance. Data were collected from companies listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange on consumer product sector with 10 companies and consisting of 35 respondents. By using multiple regression analysis, the relationship between corporate governance and human resource management practices reveal significant effect on organizational performance. This proves that human resource management has a role to the company performance. Moreover, the results show the role of human resource management as a mediating variable that connects between corporate governance practices and company performance. This result also proves that there is a correlation between corporate governance practices implemented in companies with the implementation of human resource management. This study raises the approach of stakeholders who take learning through corporate governance. Although there is difficulty in getting cooperation and response from the companies involved, it proves that the stakeholders of the employees involved are aware of corporate governance issues and companies are required to improve and maintain their standards.


Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by repetitive episodes of partial or complete upper airway closure leading to diminished (hypopenia) or absent airflow (apnea) into the lungs despite persistent inspiratory effort. The treatment of the OSA varies from conservative therapy to invasive surgical measures. Placement of intraoral prosthesis is a conservative, non invasive means of treatment modality with the goal of positioning the tongue and mandible at an increased vertical and protrusive position to minimize the possibility of oropharyngeal obstruction. This article describes clinical and laboratory technique for the fabrication of mandibular advancement prosthesis for the management of obstructive sleep apnea.


A theory for time-resolved photothermal spectroscopy is proposed for in situ determination of reaction and phase transformation kinetics and mechanisms in condensed media. The theory is developed from the thermal diffusion equation for thin slabs of materials with a finite optical absorption coefficient undergoing a first-order process. The ratio of the photo-response to the total thermal response is evaluated for various reaction kinetics, and a series of time-resolved spectra is constructed.


According to the authors many Europeans believe that if Turkey were to become an EU member state there would be large numbers of Turks immigrating to EU. It is estimated that there are approximately 3,6 million Turkish nationals living abroad of which about 3,2 million are in European countries. Some studies predict a flow of migrants (between 1.3 to 2.7 million) from Turkey to the EU until 2030. The authors argue that prospects of EU accession will not eliminate immigration from Turkey; however, the context, the number and the composition of Turkish immigration will be very different than what it has been so far. Given the importance of the EU as an anchor in Turkish politics and for the economy, it is quite likely that migration might be greater and of a more difficult sort if the prospects of membership is lost.


Despite surviving a number of threats, President Obama's health care law remains harmful, unstable, and unpopular. It also remains vulnerable to repeal, largely because Congress and the Supreme Court have granted each state the power to veto major provisions of the law before they take effect in 2014.The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) itself empowers states to block the employer mandate, to exempt many of their low- and middle-income taxpayers from the individual mandate, and to reduce federal deficit spending, simply by not establishing a health insurance "exchange." Supporters of the law do not care for this feature, yet they adopted it because they had no choice. The bill would not have become law without it.To date, 34 states, accounting for roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population, have refused to create Exchanges. Under the statute, this shields employers in those states from a $2,000 per worker tax that will apply in states that are creating Exchanges (e.g., California, Colorado, New York). Those 34 states have exempted at least 8 million residents from taxes as high as $2,085 on families of four earning as little as $24,000. They have also reduced federal deficits by hundreds of billions of dollars.The Obama administration is nevertheless attempting to tax those employers and individuals, contrary to the plain language of the PPACA and congressional intent, and to deny millions of Americans the opportunity to purchase low-cost, high-deductible coverage. Employers, consumers, and even state officials in those 34 states can challenge those illegal taxes in court, as Oklahoma has done. States can also block those illegal taxes — and even stop the federal government from operating an Exchange — by approving a strengthened version of the Health Care Freedom Act.The PPACA's Medicaid expansion, which would cost individual states up to $53 billion over its first 10 years, is now optional for states, thanks to the Supreme Court's ruling in NFIB v. Sebelius. Some 16 states have announced they will not expand their programs, while half of the states remain undecided. Yet the Obama administration is trying to coerce states into implementing parts of the expansion that the Court rendered optional. States can replicate Maine's lawsuit challenging this arbitrary attempt to limit the Court's ruling.Collectively, states can shield all employers and at least 12 million taxpayers from the law's new taxes, and still reduce federal deficits by $1.7 trillion, simply by refusing to establish Exchanges or expand Medicaid.Congress and President Obama have already repealed the third new entitlement program the PPACA created — the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, or CLASS Act — as well as funding for the "co-op" plans meant to serve as an alternative to a "public option." A critical mass of states exercising their vetoes over Exchanges and the Medicaid expansion can force Congress to reconsider, and hopefully repeal, the rest of this counterproductive law. Real health care reform is impossible until that happens.


Gasification of Biomass, Coal, and Petroleum Coke at High Heating Rates and Elevated Pressure Aaron Dudley Lewis Department of Chemical Engineering, BYU Doctor of Philosophy Gasification is a process used to convert any carbonaceous species through heterogeneous reaction to obtain the desired gaseous products of H2 and CO which are used to make chemicals, liquid transportation fuels, and power. Both pyrolysis and heterogeneous gasification occur in commercial entrained-flow gasifiers at pressures from 4 to 65 atm with local gas temperatures as high as 2000 °C. Many gasification studies have been performed at moderate temperatures, heating rates, and pressures. In this work, both pyrolysis and char gasification experiments were performed on coal, petroleum coke, and biomass at conditions pertinent to commercial entrained-flow gasifiers. Rapid biomass pyrolysis experiments were performed at atmospheric pressure in an entrained-flow reactor for sawdust, switchgrass, corn stover, and straw mostly using a peak gas temperature of 1163 K at particle residence times ranging from 34 to 113 ms. Biomass pyrolysis was modeled using the Chemical Percolation Devolatilization model assuming that biomass pyrolysis occurs as a weighted average of its individual components (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin). Thermal cracking of biomass tar into light gas was included using a first-order model with kinetic parameters regressed in the current study. Char gasification rates were measured for biomass, petroleum coke, and coal in a pressurized entrained-flow reactor at high heating-rate conditions at total pressures between 10 and 15 atm. Peak centerline gas temperatures were between 1611 and 1879 K. The range of particle residence times used in the gasification experiments was 42 to 275 ms. The CO2 gasification rates of biomass and petroleum coke chars were measured at conditions where the reaction environment consisted of approximately 40 and 90 mol% CO2. Steam gasification rates of coal char were measured at conditions where the maximum H2O concentration was 8.6 mol%. Measured data was used to regress apparent kinetic parameters for a first-order model that describes char conversion. The measured char gasification rates were far from the film-diffusion limit, and are pertinent for pulverized particles where no internal particle temperature gradients are important. The modeling and measured data of char gasification rates in this research will aid in the design and efficient operation of commercial entrained-flow gasifiers, as well as provide validation for both existing and future models at a wide range of temperatures and pressures at high heating-rate conditions.


Rat7p/Nup159p is an essential nucleoporin of Sac-charomyces cerevisiae originally isolated in a genetic screen designed to identify yeast temperature-sensitive mutants defective in mRNA export. Here we describe a detailed structural-functional analysis of Rat7p/Nup159p. The mutation in the rat7-1 ts allele, isolated in the original genetic screen, was found to be a single base pair change that created a stop codon approximately 100 amino acids upstream of the actual stop codon of this 1,460 amino acid polypeptide, thus eliminating one of the two predicted coiled-coil regions located near the carboxyl terminus of the protein. These coiled-coil regions are essential since an allele lacking both coiled-coil regions was unable to support growth under any conditions. In contrast, no other region of the protein was absolutely required. The SAFG/PSFG repeat region in the central third of the protein was completely dispensable for growth at temperatures between 16 degrees C and 37 degrees C and cells expressing this mutant allele were indistinguishable from wild type. Deletion of the amino-terminal third of the protein, upstream from the repeat region, or the portion between the repeat region and the coiled-coils resulted in temperature-sensitivity, but the two alleles showed distinct phenotypes with respect to the behavior of nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). Taken together, our data suggest that Rat7p/Nup159p is anchored within the NPC through its coiled-coil region and adjacent sequences. In addition, we postulate that the N-terminal third of Rat7p/Nup159p plays an important role in mRNA export.


The Snorre Field is located on the Tampen Spur, Northern Viking Graben between 61°N and 62°N. Main structural elements are large, westerly tilted fault blocks. The Snorre Structure, one of the largest fault blocks in the East Shetland Basin, extends across Block 34/7 into Block 34/4. The Snorre Fault Block includes the Snorre Field, Tordis Field and the Vigdis Field oil discoveries. Major oil discoveries have so far been made in the Brent Group, the Statfjord Formation and the Lunde Formation. Discoveries have also been made in the Upper Jurassic and Paleocene. Upper Jurassic stratigraphic traps are the main target for further exploration in the area. The westerly rotated fault blocks on the Tampen Spur are delineated by NNE–SSW- to NE–SW-trending faults. From west to east, these are the Murchison Fault, the Outer Snorre Fault, the Southern Snorre Fault and the Inner Snorre Fault. Other faults recognized are the E–W- and SE–NW-striking cross-faults dividing the elongated fault blocks into minor compartments. The N–S-striking faults are common in the Snorre area. The number of these faults decreases towards the north. The Snorre Escarpment is the surface expression of the major Inner Snorre Fault representing the eastern border fault of the Snorre Fault Block. Two major rifting episodes are recognized in the area. In the thermal subsidence phase following the late Permian to early Triassic rifting, large amounts of sediments of the Teist-, Lomvi-, Lunde-, Statfjord Formation, Dunlin- and Lower Brent Group were accumulated. A second major rifting episode resulted in intense fault activity from the early Bathonian to the late Kimmeridgian. Two major pulses of increased tectonic activity are recognized in the second rift episode. In the north, in the Zeta area, there is indication of late Jurassic lateral movements. Late Jurassic faulting, block rotation and footwall uplift, combined with Jurassic to Cretaceous subsidence, make the Snorre Fault Block of the Tampen Spur a very pronounced structural high in the area.


Diamond has many superior, desired characteristics of implant materials such as low friction, high wear and corrosion resistance, and well bonding surface to bone. The potential of diamond for total hip replacement implants was studied in the form of amorphous diamond coatings on conventional metal implant materials. Amorphous diamond coatings (sp3 bonding fraction 80%, thickness 0.2 to 10 microns) were deposited on stainless steel AISI316L, Ti6A14V, and CoCrMo alloys using filtered pulsed plasma are discharge method. Superior attachment of coatings to the implant materials was achieved by using high energy plasma beams to deposit amorphous diamond and proper intermediate layers. Previously it was shown that these coatings are biocompatible causing no local tissue reactions. Tribologic studies using a pin on disk apparatus with coated or uncoated implant materials in 1 wt.% NaCl distilled water were performed. A simplified hip joint simulator was used for preliminary testing of metal on polyethylene and metal on metal artificial hip joints modified with amorphous diamond coating. The average coefficients of friction were typically in the range of 0.03 to 0.11 for amorphous diamond coated materials. In the case of metal on metal hip implants, the average friction during initial running in period was improved (coefficient of friction = 0.07) compared with the same metal on metal pair (coefficient of friction = 0.22) and sliding was significantly smoother. In pin on disk wear tests, the average wear factors obtained were 140.10(-6), 5.0.10(-6), and << 0.1.10(-6) mm3/Nm for the pairs of AISI316L, CoCrMo, and the same materials with amorphous diamond coating. The corrosion rates of these implant materials in 10 wt.% HCl solution were decreased by a factor of 10,000 to 15,000 and any damage of the coatings was not observed in 6 months. The results of the tests show that in all the combinations studied, amorphous diamond coating improved definitely the wear and corrosion resistance compared with the uncoated materials.


Can the pro-active release of raw datasets by the government lead to more participatory democracy and government accountability? This paper explores the limits of what is possible through open government data by examining the UK government's recent release of historic data in its COINS database of public expenditure. The paper begins by examining the origins of the UK's open government data policy. It shows that far, from constituting a radical departure from pre-existing practice, the use of open data as a tool of democratic consolidation is in fact the outcome of several long-term trends in British politics and administration. It then shows that these origins encouraged a limited view of the likely impact of open government data on the actual exercise of democratic accountability, one which emphasises the removal of institutional barriers to access and tends to be overly-optimistic about how widely these data are likely to be used by individual citizens. Although pro-active disclosure may make it easier for "the public" to obtain information, there are still numerous barriers to actually using it, including the technical challenge of processing the raw data itself, the expertise to understand it and the existence of opportunities to act effectively on it. Overall, the paper argues that far from encouraging direct participation, the resource requirements for using government datasets actually reinforce the importance of intermediary organisations capable of processing and interpreting them, and that a rights-based framework may not be a particularly informative way of understanding the effects of open government data on democratic practice. It also suggests that the experience of the COINS disclosure has thus far confirmed a number of key claims made by technological sceptics, including that information technology is likely to reinforce existing power relations rather than disrupting them.


Librarians are expected to be expert searchers, and developing information literacy skills to navigate the vast world of information is a focus of most library and information science (LIS) programs. It is important to understand the information literacy and behaviors of LIS students to see if they are employing the skills they will need to assist and educate their future patrons, yet there is relatively little research into the information literacy and behaviors of librarians and library students. Using a survey on information behaviors, this study addresses this gap in the literature by examining how LIS students in 18 countries search for, evaluate, and use information in various contexts, and on whom they rely for help. The results of this study demonstrate library science students' information literacy skills within an international context. Faculty in LIS programs will be interested to see how their students approach information problems, and might use this understanding to develop or strengthen courses and inform curricular decisions


The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage 'rapid assessment', this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.


Abstract The J-PET detector being developed at the Jagiellonian University is a positron emission tomograph composed of the long strips of polymer scintillators. At the same time, it is a detector system that will be used for studies of the decays of positronium atoms. The shape of photomultiplier signals depends on the hit time and hit position of the gamma quantum. In order to take advantage of this fact, a dedicated sampling front-end electronics that enables to sample signals in voltage domain with the time precision of about 20 ps and novel reconstruction method based on the comparison of examined signal with the model signals stored in the library has been developed. As a measure of the similarity, we use the Mahalanobis distance. The achievable position and time resolution depend on the number and values of the threshold levels at which the signal is sampled. A reconstruction method as well as preliminary results are presented and discussed.


This research study explores and compares the career and technical education programs offered in a US community college and the vocational/career and technology education programs offered in a comparable Chinese postsecondary institution. The study sought to find positive transferable characteristics of the career and technical education programs in each country, which could be shared by similar institutions in China and the US. Under the impact of globalization, international cooperation and collaboration between institutions and programs becomes more and more important, particularly considering there are many shared problems and thus the potential for shared solutions. This research offers insights and information that may be valuable to postsecondary education administrators and policy makers, and promote cooperation among CTE educators in the US and China. The purpose of sharing solutions is to improve the quality of the career and technical education programs in order to meet global economic needs locally and benefit postsecondary educational systems in both countries. Although the contexts and many characteristics of the case study institutions differ, they have experienced the impacts of globalization and the current economic crisis, and both must address similar challenges in meeting the increasing demand for a globally competent workforce. The study's findings resulted in four primary recommendations that could be adopted by both the US and Chinese case institutions: (a) create timely new programs and courses, (b) seek new funding sources and alternatives for reducing operational costs, (c) recruit qualified full-time or part-time faculty who have industry experience, and (d) add a critical thinking component in all courses. Moreover, recommendations for each of the institutions were developed.


The cytochrome P-450 pathway is capable of metabolizing arachidonic acid to omega- and subterminal hydroxylase metabolites, 16-, 17-, 18-, 19-, and 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (P-450 HETEs). We have quantitated, by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS), endogenous HETEs exiting the rabbit isolated perfused kidney elicited by hormonal stimulation. Kidneys were perfused with Krebs-Henseleit solution containing indomethacin (2.8 microM) to prevent further metabolism of HETEs by cyclooxygenase. Phenylephrine (2-3 microM) was added to the perfusate to raise perfusion pressure to approximately 80 mmHg. Angiotensin II (ANG II), arginine vasopressin (AVP), and bradykinin (BK) were injected into the renal artery and perfusates collected throughout the vasoactive response. After addition of an internal standard, deuterated 19-HETE, perfusates were extracted and purified and P-450 HETEs were derivatized for GC/MS analysis. Under basal conditions, 16-, 18-, 19-, and 20-HETEs were released (range: 50-270 pg/ml), 19-HETE being the highest and fivefold greater than 16-HETE, the lowest. Injection of 50 ng ANG II increased by two- to sixfold P-450 HETE release associated with an increase of 40 +/- 11 mmHg in perfusion pressure. An equipressor dose of AVP (50 ng) did not release P-450 HETEs nor did a 5-micrograms dose of the vasodilator peptide BK, which decreased perfusion pressure by 22 +/- 6 mmHg. Authentic 19- and 20-HETE isomers resulted in dose-dependent dilation, as did 18(R)- and 16(R)-HETEs, whereas their enantiomers and 17-HETE isomers were without effect on perfusion pressure. The vasodilator effects of 18(R)- and 16(R)-HETEs, like 20- and 19-HETEs, were inhibited by indomethacin. Furthermore, P-450 HETEs exhibited both regio- and stereoselective inhibition of proximal tubule adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity. The (S) enantiomers of 16- and 17-HETE potently inhibited activity, whereas their (R) isomers and other P-450 HETEs had negligible effects on ATPase activity. The quantity of HETEs released from the kidney, either under basal conditions or when stimulated by ANG II, and their biological profile suggest that subterminal HETEs may participate in renal mechanisms affecting vasomotion and tubular transport.


At some point in their educations, students must learn copious amounts of information. To do this, they use a variety of well-known strategies such as study groups, note-taking services, and videotapes of lectures. In fall 2004, a group of first-year dental students at the University of Michigan (U-M) School of Dentistry asked to have all dental school lectures videotaped and recordings made available on a Web site. The students doubted their ability to accurately summarize in their notes the quantity of information presented in lectures. The students thought that reviewing a video recording of each lecture would help them better retain the biomedical information presented. The Office of Dental Informatics is responsible for the development, implementation, and evaluation of learning-technology activities in the school. This includes faculty development, course Web pages, research with and about learning technology, and the formative and summative evaluation of learning technology projects. The office is also responsible for the acquisition, installation, and operation of classroom and computer lab equipment. In response to the students' request, the Dental Informatics group applied formative evaluation strategies to determine the ultimate solution. The group determined that podcasting audio recordings of lectures provided a better technology solution for the students' needs than the originally requested video recordings.


Adult patients with a Class II skeletal base are often treated by a combined orthodontic and surgical approach. Advancement of the mandible, most often including a bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (BSSO), is preceded by orthodontic alignment and frequently the curve of Spee is levelled. When the chin is prominent, there is a risk of accentuating this as a result of surgery. An option to prevent this is to maintain a deep curve of Spee before surgical advancement. This will result in an opening rotation of the mandible during surgery and thus, a less prominent chin. The aim of this study was to compare, retrospectively, two orthodontic treatment approaches in patients treated by a BSSO. In one group (4 males, 20 females; mean age pre-surgery 29.3 years), the deep bite was maintained (deep bite group) while in the other (3 males, 10 females; mean age pre-surgery 27.1 years) the overbite was normal prior to surgery (level group). Lateral skull radiographs were taken before orthodontic treatment (T0), prior to surgery (T1), and at the end of treatment (T2). Differences between the groups as measured on lateral skull radiographs at T1 and T2 were analysed and quantified using an independent t-test. The results showed that soft tissue pogonion moved significantly further forward in the level than in the deep bite group (P < 0.05). Lower anterior face height and the cranial base-mandibular plane angle increased more in the deep bite than in the level group (P < 0.05 and P = 0.001, respectively). The maintenance of a deep bite prior to mandibular advancement surgery induces an opening rotation of the mandible reducing chin prominence and increasing lower anterior face height post-surgically.


There can be no doubt that the Romans were very much influenced in their use of interstate arbitration by the Greeks. This statement can be made without affecting the question as to whether the actual principle of arbitration was known to them before their contact with the Greeks. Either the practice sprang up independently in Italy and Greece owing to similarity of conditions, or else it was part of the same stock of political and social ideas inherited by each race alike from common ancestors. It would be improbable if two nations of such close relationship and such similar civilisation could not have inherited so natural an idea or developed it along similar lines, and indeed the very widespread practice of arbitration in private law at Rome has none of the signs of an imported idea.


The ulnar and radial nerves to the hands of 12–31-d-old marmoset monkeys were transected and ligated, and the monkeys were subsequently reared for periods of 1.4–1.6 years with only median nerve innervation to the hand. Features of organization in the cortical area 3b hand map were then assessed with neurophysiological mapping procedures, and compared to features in monkeys that had undergone either a normal postnatal development with three intact hand nerves, or an abnormal development with two intact nerves due to postnatal injury of the median nerve. A systematic comparison of cortical organization in these monkeys led to three main findings. First, some features of organization show little or no change when monkeys are reared with one, two, or three hand nerves. These features include receptive field size and the overall size of the hand map. Second, other features are, in contrast, clearly altered in an injury-dependent manner. These features include cortical neuronal thresholds to light tactile stimuli, and the spatial location, size, shape, continuity, and somatotopic interfacing of representations of the parts of the hand. Finally, estimates of the peripheral innervation territories of the hand nerves, and of the corresponding distributions of cortical neurons activated by inputs from these territories, indicate that the normal hand map contains bandlike aggregates of neurons that are dominantly activated by inputs from each nerve. Postnatal nerve injuries alter the size of these nerve dominance aggregates.


Residual networks (ResNets) have introduced a milestone for the deep learning community due to their outstanding performance in diverse applications. They enable efficient training of increasingly deep networks, reducing the training difficulty and error. The main intuition behind them is that, instead of mapping the input information, they are mapping a residual part of it. Since the original work, a lot of extensions have been proposed to improve information mapping. In this paper, a novel extension of the residual block is proposed inspired by linear dynamical systems (LDSs), called LDS-ResNet. Specifically, a new module is presented that improves mapping of residual information by transforming it in a hidden state and then mapping it back to the desired feature space using convolutional layers. The proposed module is utilized to construct multi-branch residual blocks for convolutional neural networks. An exploration of possible architectural choices is presented and evaluated. Experimental results show that LDS-ResNet outperforms the original ResNet in image classification and object detection tasks on public datasets such as CIFAR-10/100, ImageNet, VOC, and MOT2017. Moreover, its performance boost is complementary to other extensions of the original network such as pre-activation and bottleneck, as well as stochastic training and Squeeze-Excitation.


AIM
The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the beta-glucan in women with abnormal cytology, including the women with a positive screening for ASCUS-LSIL furtherly divided in women with positive cytology (ASCUS or LSIL) and negative colposcopy and women with abnormal cytology, positive colposcopy and human papilloma virus (HPV)-CIN1 hystology who opted for follow-up.

METHODS
From September 2007 to December 2008, 60 women with ASCUS-LSIL diagnosis were recruited at the ambulatory of Lasersurgery and Cervico-Vaginal Patology, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Policlinico Umberto I of Rome. The women was subdivided in two groups: 1) women with cytological diagnosis of ASCUS or LSIL and negative colposcopy; 2) women with abnormal cytology, positive colposcopy and HPV-CIN1 histology, who opted for follow-up. All the women were treated with two cycles of a daily topical application of beta-glucan for 20 consecutive days with a suspension of 10 days. The effects of beta-glucan were analyzed with colposcopy and cytology at 3.6 and 12 months from the beginning of the therapy.

RESULTS
After 3 months of treatment, of the 30 women with positive cytology and negative colposcopy, 80% with ASCUS diagnosis resulted negative, 35% with LSIL diagnosis resulted negative; after 6 months 100% with ASCUS diagnosis resulted negative, 70% with LSIL diagnosis resulted negative; after 12 months 85% with LSIL diagnosis resulted negative. Of the 30 women with positive cytology, positive colposcopy and HPV-CIN1 histology after 3 months 20% resulted negative, after 6 months 60% resulted negative and after 12 months 80% resulted negative. The persistence of the HPV-CIN1 histology was verified in the 13% of the women. For these women the definitive treatment was the TFD.

CONCLUSION
Our study demonstrate the effectiveness of the treatment with beta-glucan in the women with ASCUS-LSIL lesions and HPV-CIN1 lesions, increasing of the regressions rate after 12 months of the treatment of the 15-20%.


Many concurrent systems are required to maintain certain safety and liveness properties. One emerging method of achieving confidence in such systems is to statically verify them using model checking. In this approach an abstract, finite-state model of the system is constructed; then an automatic check is made to ensure that the requirements are satisfied by the model. In practice, however, this method is limited by the state space explosion problem.We have developed a compositional method that directly addresses this problem in the context of multi-tasking programs. Our solution depends on three key space-saving ingredients: (1) checking for counter-examples, which leads to simpler search algorithms; (2) automatic extraction of interfaces, which allows a refinement of the finite model --- even before its communicating partners have been compiled; and (3) using propositional "strengthening assertions" for the sole purpose of reducing state space.In this paper we present our compositional approach, and describe the software tools that support it.


The main purpose of this paper is to increase and deepen the knowledge about teacher's management of group work in the classroom. A more specific aim is to create and present a model illustrating different possible ways for teachers' management appropriate for group work. The result shows that it is beneficial, but not sufficient, to use the two concepts leadership and teachership, to create a complete model. To ascertain a complete model it is also necessary to pay attention to the teachers' considerations, which play a decisive influence on teachers' willingness to use group work. By combining leadership, teachership and considerations it was possible to create and present a model of four possible ways for teachers' management pertaining group work.


After the prevailing of local autonomy and also general election for local leader (Pemilukada), it seems that managerial procedures for development in Indonesia have been forced to change. Local autonomy successfully makes some regencies and cities to feel more empowered. Indeed, the locals now have more discretions to determine direction of development implemented in their jurisdiction.This study is conducted to detect failure threat of development as early as possible. It also attempts to examine the design of evaluation on the management of regency development in current days. The study also tries to describe the ideal design of evaluation, which, in this case, is a design that can stimulate Local Apparatus Task Unit (SKPD) to improve their performance on Madura Island Region. Good evaluation on governmental management must not only emphasize on measuring current success (ex post), but also predict possible success in the future (ex ante). It is expected that recommendations given by result of evaluation would be useful. This study makes every endeavor to create a design of evaluation on governmental management implementation for development process at regency level in Madura Island Region. The rule for evaluating governmental management implementation has been stated in Law No.32/2004 on Local Government, particularly in Chapter VII about "Local Development Planning", Article 150-154. This law is followed-up then with Government Regulation No.8/2008 on "Stage, Procedure of Making, Control, and Evaluation on Implementation of Local Development Plan" and Internal Affair Minister Decree No.54/2010 on "Implementation of Government Regulation No.8/2008 on Stage, Procedure of Making, Control, and Evaluation on Implementation of Local Development Plan". Based on result of evaluation on governmental management implementation in Madura, especially in Sumenep and Bangkalan, some Local Apparatus Task Unit (SKPD) do not implement good governance due to internal and external factors influencing each SKPD. However, the Preparation Committee of Madura Province Establishment (P4M) perceives that natural resource (SDA) and human resource (SDM) are ready to be used.


Position-specific scoring matrices are one way to represent approximate string patterns, which are commonly encountered in the field of bioinformatics. An important problem that arises with their application is calculating the statistical significance of matches. We review the currently most efficient algorithm for this task, and show how it can be implemented in Haskell, taking advantage of the built-in non-strictness of the language. The resulting program turns out to be an instance of dynamic programming, using lists rather the typical dynamic programming matrix.


Here I survey a sample of the essays and reviews on the sciences of the long eighteenth century published in this journal since it was founded in 1969. The connecting thread is some historiographic reflections on the role that disciplines—in both the sciences we study and the fields we practice—have played in the development of the history of science over the past half century. I argue that, as far as disciplines are concerned, we now find ourselves a bit closer to a situation described in our studies of the long eighteenth century than we were fifty years ago. This should both favor our understanding of that period and, hopefully, make the historical studies that explore it more relevant to present-day developments and science policy. This essay is part of a special issue entitled "Looking Backward, Looking Forward: HSNS at 50," edited by Erika Lorraine Milam.


For many years, silicone implants were used in reconstructive and esthetic surgeries, especially in cases in which the facial profile of patients presented deficiencies in the inferior third of the face. This material proved to be successful in most aspects. However, several complications were well reported in the literature, as the case of bone reabsorption in the region of the mandibular chin. In this article, the authors present two clinical cases of bone reabsorption from the anterior cortex of the chin associated with silicone implants and discuss the etiology, complications, and treatment plan. ■ ABSTRACT


With the lines between shareholders and corporations blurring over constitutional rights like free exercise of religion and political speech, questions as to how and under what circumstances the law respects or disregards the separation between shareholders and their corporations have never been more urgent. In the corporate law literature, these inquiries have overwhelmingly focused on the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil, a judicial mechanism normally applied to hold shareholders responsible for the obligations of corporations. The last twenty years of veil-piercing scholarship has been largely devoted to empirical analyses of veil-piercing cases collected from Lexis and Westlaw searches. Since 1991, scholars have been trying to mine cases for ever more variables that might predict when and under what circumstances judges disregard the separation between shareholders and their corporations. This Article argues that these scholars have focused on the substance of veil-piercing law to the detriment of another factor: civil procedure. This Article is the first to survey civil procedure and evidentiary rules that affect existing veil-piercing studies including pleading standards, threshold presumptions, burdens of proof, jury access and waiver. The Article ultimately argues that phenomena scholars now ascribe to the "incoherence" of veil-piercing law are explicable in the context of veil-piercing's procedural fluidity.


This paper investigates optimal active control schemes applied to a point absorber wave energy converter within a receding horizon fashion. A variational formulation of the power maximization problem is adapted to solve the optimal control problem. The optimal control method is shown to be of a bang-bang type for a power take-off mechanism that incorporates both linear dampers and active control elements. We also consider a direct transcription of the optimal control problem as a general nonlinear program. A variation of the projected gradient optimization scheme is formulated and shown to be feasible and computationally inexpensive compared to a standard NLP solver. Since the system model is bilinear and the cost function is non-convex quadratic, the resulting optimization problem is not a convex quadratic program. Results will be compared with an optimal command latching method to demonstrate the improvement in absorbed power. Time domain simulations are generated under irregular sea conditions.


Atopic dermatitis (AD) in dogs is defined as "a genetically-predisposed inflammatory and pruritic allergic skin disease with characteristic clinical features." It is associated most commonly with IgE antibodies specific for common environmental allergens such as house dust mites, grass and plant pollens. The etiology of cAD is considered as multifactorial. An epidermal barrier dysfunction combined with dysregulation of the immune system leads to the development of clinical disease in dogs with a suggested genetic background for AD. T-lymphocytes (T cells) with effector functions play a dominant role in the development of atopic skin lesions. T cells with regulatory functions (Tregs) also exist. However, whether absence or reduction in number and function of Tregs may contribute to the development of canine AD skin lesions, was unknown. The only disease-modifying treatment available is the allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT). Success of ASIT in atopic dogs is currently only achieved in 50-80%, hence, potentiation of ASIT in order to improve its efficacy would be beneficial for future therapeutic interventions of cAD. A better understanding of immunoregulatory mechanisms may be at the basis for more successful ASIT. Tregs are thought to contribute to the beneficial effects of ASIT in AD. For that reason, the research questions addressed in this thesis focussed on the dysbalance of T cell responsiveness, with emphasis on the possible roles of Tregs and CD8+ T cells within the etiology of cAD.In addition, the effects of two different immunomodulatory compounds (Hsp and CpG ODN), potentially capable of restoring the dysbalance in T cell responsiveness in cAD, were evaluated. This thesis shows that cells of not only the subpopulation of CD4+ T cells, but also the subpopulation of CD8+ T cells likely contribute to the disease by producing inflammatory cytokines. First evidence for presence of allergen-specific CD8+ T cells was found in the peripheral blood of AD dogs. In addition to a role as effector T cell, CD8+ T cells may also have a regulatory function. Presence of T cells of both CD4+ and CD8+ lineages with regulatory markers (CD25+FoxP3+) have been found in the peripheral blood and skin of AD dogs. However, at this moment, we don't know their role in the immunopathogenesis of cAD, since their numbers were largely similar to those in healthy dogs. The Treg function could be diminished or Tregs could have been functionally overruled by the high numbers or activation status of effector T cells in lesional atopic skin. Future functional studies, including suppression assays, need to be performed to determine the relevance of the T cells with regulatory markers and their usefulness as targets in new immunomodulatory strategies for dogs with AD.


Galois theory, the study of the structure and symmetry of a polynomial or associated field extension, is a standard tool for showing the insolvability of a quintic equation by radicals. On the other hand, the Inverse Galois Problem, given a finite group G, find a finite extension of the rational field Q whose Galois group is G, is still an open problem. We give an introduction to the Inverse Galois Problem and compare some radically different approaches to finding an extension of Q that gives a desired Galois group. In particular, a proof of the Kronecker-Weber theorem, that any finite extension of Q with an abelian Galois group is contained in a cyclotomic extension, will be discussed using an approach relying on the study of ramified prime ideals. In contrast, a different method will be explored that defines rigid groups to be groups where a selection of conjugacy classes satisfies a series of specific properties. Under the right conditions, such a group is also guaranteed to be the Galois group of an extension of Q.