To the Editor,

Microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) is characterized by the involvement of a wide range of blood vessels including arterioles, venules, and capillaries. Necrotizing glomerulonephritis and alveolar hemorrhage are commonly seen in patients with MPA, which may concomitantly or sequentially involve the nervous or musculoskeletal systems as well as other organs including the skin, heart, eyes, and intestine [1]. However, symptomatic pancreatic involvement in cases of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated glomerulonephritis is extremely rare [2]. We herein report a case of MPA with crescentic glomerulonephritis that initially presented as acute pancreatitis.

A 59-year-old Korean woman visited the Emergency Department in Presbyterian Medical Center for evaluation of epigastric pain and vomiting. She had a 20-year history of type 2 diabetes mellitus. On admission, she had a temperature of 37°C, pulse rate of 105 beats per minute, blood pressure of 140/80 mmHg, and respiratory rate of 18 breaths per minute. Her eyes were sunken, and her skin turgor was diminished. Her blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine levels were 12.5 mmol/L (reference, 2.8 to 7.1) and 640 µmol/L (reference, 50 to 110), respectively. Her serum creatinine level 1 month earlier was 50 µmol/L. Her serum concentration of C-reactive protein was 82.9 mg/L (reference, < 3), and her serum amylase and lipase levels were 825 U/L (reference, 28 to 100) and 927 U/L (reference, 13 to 60), respectively. Alanine aminotransferase and bilirubin were normal. A routine chest X-ray showed slight haziness in the bilateral lung fields. Both kidneys exhibited mildly increased renal parenchymal echogenicity and normal size. To evaluate for possible pancreatitis, we performed abdominal computed tomography (CT), which did not show any swelling of the pancreas. Additionally, her antinuclear antibody titer was normal.

Under the clinical impression of acute kidney injury due to dehydration and pneumonia, the patient underwent treatment by appropriate hydration and antibiotics, such as ceftriaxone. We considered the cause of dehydration to be acute pancreatitis. However, her renal function did not improve and her urine output decreased from 1,200 to 200 mL/day on the fourth day of admission. As a result, hemodialysis was initiated. We performed further laboratory testing including complement levels, autoantibodies, and ANCA studies. The complement C3 and C4 levels were 0.78 g/L (normal, 0.76 to 1.39) and 0.14 g/L (normal, 0.12 to 0.37), respectively. Rheumatoid factor was elevated to 53.3 kIU/L (reference, 0 to 15). ANCA was positive in a perinuclear pattern with a titer of 1:640. In the enzyme immunoassay, anti-myeloperoxidase antibody was positive, but anti-proteinase 3 antibody was negative. Anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody was also negative.

Following the clinical diagnosis of MPA, the patient was started on 1 g/day of intravenous methylprednisolone (21st day of hospitalization) for 3 days, followed by 60 mg/day of oral prednisone. Intravenous cyclophosphamide (750 mg) was administered on the 27th day of admission. Following immunosuppressive therapy, the patient's fever subsided and her serum and lipase levels returned to normal (Fig. 1). On the 30th day of admission, a percutaneous renal biopsy was performed. On light microscopy, all six glomeruli showed segmental or global sclerosis with crescents. Both cellular (2/6, 33%) and fibrous crescents (4/6, 66%) were present. Small amounts of mesangial immunoglobulin M and C3 deposits were detected by immunofluorescence microscopy (Fig. 2). Plasmapheresis was initiated on day 40, at which time the patient had been maintained on hemodialysis three to four times per week since day 4 of hospitalization. During dialysis on day 50, she complained of cough and dyspnea. A chest CT scan showed multifocal ground-glass opacities in the bilateral lungs. Laboratory examination revealed neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count of 0.1 × 109; reference, > 1.5 × 109) and elevated C-reactive protein (120 mg/L). The patient was diagnosed with pneumonia and treated with intravenous antibiotics, including teicoplanin and meropenem. Despite these interventions, the patient died of septic shock on hospital day 60.

Figure 1.

Following immunosuppressive therapy, the serum amylase levels and C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration returned to normal. ST, steroid; Cyc, cyclophosphamide; PP, plasmapheresis; HD, hemodialysis.

Figure 2.

(A) Kidney biopsy (light microscopy). The glomerulus shows global sclerosis with fibrocellular crescent formation. The interstitium shows plasma cell and lymphocyte infiltration with mild fibrosis (PAS, ×200). (B) Small amounts of mesangial immunoglobulin ...

Although digestive tract involvement has been reported in 30% to 56% of patients with MPA, pancreatic involvement in MPA is extremely rare [1]. In several cases of Wegener's granulomatosis, which is another form of ANCA-associated vasculitis, acute pancreatitis was the initial manifestation [3]. However, few cases of acute pancreatitis in patients with MPA have been reported. Iwasa and Katoh [2] and Haraguchi et al. [4] reported cases of MPA identified on autopsy as crescentic glomerulonephritis and necrotizing pancreatitis, respectively. In our case, the patient presented with acute pancreatitis on admission, which improved after immunosuppressive treatment. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of acute pancreatitis as an initial manifestation of MPA in Korea.

There is no literature to date regarding the clinical significance of MPA presenting as acute pancreatitis. We hypothesize that there may be two clinical implications in treating these patients. First, we initially thought that the cause of the acute kidney injury in our patient was dehydration due to pancreatitis and treated her condition with intravenous fluid resuscitation and antibiotics. However, her renal function did not improve, and the patient was later found to have MPA. Therefore, in cases of acute kidney injury and concomitant pancreatitis, it is important to consider the possibility of ANCA-associated vasculitis. Second, we propose that MPA presenting with pancreatitis might be a more severe form of MPA. Chawla et al. [3] reported that all patients who presented initially with pancreatitis had a rapidly progressive course with fulminant progression of Wegener's granulomatosis. Among patients with MPA, two patients with pancreatic involvement reportedly died despite clinical remission [2,4]. Therefore, more careful monitoring may be needed in patients with MPA and acute pancreatitis.

Immunosuppressive treatment with corticosteroids, azathioprine, and cyclophosphamide causes cellular immune dysfunction, which facilitates infection by intracellular pathogens such as fungi, viruses, and mycobacteria. Booth et al. [5] reported that development of leukopenia and pneumonia were the two most common adverse events in patients with vasculitis on immunosuppressive therapy and were closely associated with sepsis and death. The patient described in the present case report died of sepsis secondary to pneumonia.

In summary, we have reported a case of MPA with crescentic glomerulonephritis presenting initially as acute pancreatitis. In cases of acute kidney injury and concomitant acute pancreatitis, it is important to evaluate the presence of ANCA-associated vasculitis.


Many applications in speech, robotics, finance, and biology deal with sequential data, where ordering matters and recurrent structures are common. However, this structure cannot be easily captured by standard kernel functions. To model such structure, we propose expressive closed-form kernel functions for Gaussian processes. The resulting model, GP-LSTM, fully encapsulates the inductive biases of long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent networks, while retaining the non-parametric probabilistic advantages of Gaussian processes. We learn the properties of the proposed kernels by optimizing the Gaussian process marginal likelihood using a new provably convergent semi-stochastic gradient procedure, and exploit the structure of these kernels for scalable training and prediction. This approach provides a practical representation for Bayesian LSTMs. We demonstrate state-of-the-art performance on several benchmarks, and thoroughly investigate a consequential autonomous driving application, where the predictive uncertainties provided by GP-LSTM are uniquely valuable.


Abstract : The Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) provides a well-defined, publicly available set of methodologies for providing appraisals relative to Capability Maturity Model (trademark) Integration (CMMI) models. It is applicable to a wide range of appraisal usage modes, including both internal process improvement and external capability determinations. With the publication of this handbook, the method is embodied in three standard variants based on the class structure defined in the Appraisal Requirements for CMMI (ARC V1.1). As a set, the SCAMPI methods provide a variety of solutions to accommodate the needs of appraisers who play a variety of different roles. The internal change agent, the professional consultant, and the external auditor all have needs that lead to specific sets of tailoring decisions in the use of process appraisals. Guidance for these needs is provided for each applicable process description. This document defines the boundaries of tailoring and provides guidance for the application of the SCAMPI B and SCAMPI C methods.


Abstract. From 2016–2018 a DC-8 aircraft operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) made four series of flights, profiling the atmosphere from 150 m to ~ 12 km above sea level from the Arctic to the Antarctic over both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This program, the Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission, sought to sample the troposphere in a representative manner, making measurements of atmospheric composition in each season. This paper describes the aerosol microphysical measurements and derived quantities obtained during this mission. Dry size distributions from 2.7 nm to 4.8 µm in diameter were measured in-situ at 1 Hz using a battery of instruments: 10 condensation particle counters with different nucleation diameters, two ultra-high sensitivity aerosol size spectrometers (UHSAS), one of which measured particles surviving heating to 300 °C, and a laser aerosol spectrometer (LAS). The dry aerosol measurements were complemented by size distribution measurements from 0.5–930 µm diameter at near-ambient conditions using a cloud, aerosol, and precipitation spectrometer (CAPS) mounted under the wing of the DC-8. Dry aerosol number, surface area, and volume, and optical scattering and asymmetry parameter at several wavelengths from the near-UV to the near-IR were calculated from the measured dry size distributions (2.7 nm to 4.8 µm). Dry aerosol mass was estimated by combining the size distribution data with particle density estimated from independent measurements of aerosol composition with a high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer and a single particle soot photometer. This paper briefly describes the instrumentation and fully documents the aircraft inlet and flow distribution system, the derivation of uncertainties, and the calculation of data products from combined size distributions. Comparisons between the instruments and direct measurements of some aerosol properties confirm that in-flight performance was consistent with calibrations and within stated uncertainties for the two deployments analyzed. The unique ATom dataset contains accurate, precise, high-resolution in-situ measurements of dry aerosol size distributions, and integral parameters, and estimates and measurements of optical properties, for particles


It is the purpose of this study to clarify long-term stability of a circular roadway subjected to inner pressure σr (ri)together with rock pressure σr (r0). Circumferential stress at the wall σθ(ri ) obtained by the elastic analysis is equal to {2σr(r0) -σr (ri)}. Therefore, it is natural to consider that tensile failure possibly develops into the surrounding rock starting at the wall if σr (ri ) is larger than 2σr(r0). A question arises whether it can be properly applied to a circular roadway where large visco-elastic deformation is expected.A non-linear rheological model proposed by this authors was used to simulate time-dependent behaviour of rock around a circular roadway. It was assumed that inner pressure gradually increases. Results of computer simulation indicate that, at first, the failed region develops and the roadway converges. As time goes by, inner pressure gradually increases, then convergence ceases and finally the roadway diameter starts to increase. We obtained interesting results as follows;1. Even if σr(ri) is larger than 2σr (r0), σθ(ri) is still remained in compression provided that Poisson's ratio increases with failure of rock.2. Post-failure characteristics of rock, that is, slope of descending portion of stress-strain curve in the post-failure region is not so important.3. Time-dependency of rock is very important, and affects long-term stability of a circular roadway. Right now, we have only limited information concerning time-dependent behaviour of rock. It is especially important to obtain accurate knowledge concerning Poisson's ratio and behaviour of rock in tension.


The unprepared independent Kyrgyz republic faced much political turmoil since independence. In order t o bring stability the reformist president Akayev adop ted enormous provisions but unluckily all seemed sh ort before the threat to the state. Opposition primaril y came from his own party in the parliament who were opposed to the reforms of Akayev. They wanted to embed with soviet policies. Being a small, land locke d and mountainous state faced economic fall out in 19 94. But the president was chained helplessly in his hand. And by and large the economic condition was also demolished by the president himself. After independence he followed the language policy which made compulsory the learning of Kyrgyz language. So there was huge migration of Russians, Kazakhs, J ews, Turks, and Uzbeks to their own state. Importan tly they were contributing to the development of state being resided in urban areas. Ethnic conflict predominantly contributed for the upheaval of the s tate.


High-quality fruits can be produced by controlling the environmental factors, i.e. temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide, and light intensity. The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) variety 'Rinka 409', was grown hydroponically with a high-wire system in high technology greenhouse, Ehime University, Japan. The water stress treatment using visual monitoring system was used to produce the high soluble solids tomato fruits. Moreover, a high lycopene content of tomato can be produced by controlling the storage condition. Non-destructive measurement has been known to provide a fast and accurate quality measurement of fruits and vegetables. The objectives of this study were to develop a precise position for the non-destructive measurement of the lycopene content in high soluble solids stored tomato using Vis/NIR spectroscopy and evaluate its performance. In this study, the high soluble solids of tomato fruits were grown under water stress treatment and stored after harvesting at 25°C in a cool incubator for 7 days. The tomato spectra were measured using Vis/NIR spectroscopy with the wavelength 500-1010 nm. The estimation of the lycopene content was based on the statistical model using multivariate analysis. From this study, it is concluded that the measurement of lycopene content in high soluble solids of tomato fruits after storage by using the top part of the tomato, was better than if it is compared to the side part. It was best determined using PLS analysis with Visible/Near-infrared Spectroscopy non-destructively, with the R 0.98 and RMSE 0.80. Keywords— high soluble solids tomato; lycopene; non-destructive measurement; stored tomato; visible/near-infrared spectroscopy.


This paper is the second in a series of quarterly updates intended to outline the latest available lessons from research about resettlement of young offenders. It provides an overview of the relevant literature published in the period since Beyond Youth Custody's first update of the literature that was published in July 2013.
It highlights that the number of children and young adults in custody has continued to fall. Such falls are welcome but also have implications for resettlement services since the residual incarcerated population is likely to have more entrenched offending behaviour and higher concentration of problems.
It outlines some of the proposed changes to the secure estate including the provisions of the Offender Rehabilitation Bill and how they will affect young people in different ways.
It identifies that while there is an increasing understanding of the general principles that underlie effective resettlement work, there is less concrete evidence of the impact of particular interventions, especially where these are delivered by non-statutory partners


Proper N management for agricultural production is critical to minimize groundwater contamination with NO3 For 18 yr, research was conducted to observe NO3–N concentrations in the vadose zone, groundwater, and subsurface drainage under sprinkler‐irrigated, primarily corn (Zea mays L.) production. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] were also grown intermittently on the site. The lysimeter leachate NO3–N concentration increased to 156 mg L−1 under corn production within 1 yr after the initiation of irrigation (at the onset of the study), then decreased to <10 mg L−1 during a 6‐yr period of best‐management N fertility management for corn. The average yearly lysimeter NO3–N concentration fluctuated between 8 and 117 mg L−1 during the study. Nitrate concentrations in the shallow groundwater followed a similar time series trend as leachate concentrations, but with lower concentrations and lagging about 1 yr. Subsurface drainage NO3–N concentrations were much lower but followed the same trend as the shallow groundwater. An N balance indicated higher net N mineralization after the initiation of irrigation and the years after potato production. Fertilizer N application rates and yearly weather conditions, which affected crop vigor and N uptake, combined to affect the fall residual soil NO3 Fall soil NO3 from 0‐ to 1.8‐m depth was the most significant factor influencing the leachate NO3–N concentration each year during the study (r2 = 0.76).


Among the many unresolved issues on the agenda of the forthcoming UN climate change negotiations in Cancun is the issue of what will happen to the Kyoto Protocol, since at present, there will be no targets for greenhouse (GHG) emissions from developed countries under the Protocol beyond 2012. To illuminate this aspect of the Protocol, this Policy Brief looks closer at the nature of the commitments and the compliance regime under the Kyoto Protocol. We argue that the compliance regime of the Protocol is not as robust as many of the Protocol's supporters might think. The precise legal form of the commitments in the climate regime may have little impact on whether countries actually achieve their targets. Instead, we argue, negotiators should focus on agreeing a framework of commitments that are credible and enforceable, rather than focus excessively on the legal form of those commitments.


H. A. Emerson kept this diary from January 1 to December 29, recording aspects of his job as the proprietor of the paper mill in Franklin, Massachusetts. Emerson wrote about his daily activities at the paper mill, including quantity and type of paper produced, as well as machinery maintenance and efficiency, and number of hours Emerson worked. Almost every entry mentions the weather of the day, sometimes describing how weather hindered production at the paper mill. Emerson was involved in the local church choir and frequently mentions it in his journal. Other entries describe social life in Franklin and other nearby Massachusetts and New England towns, as well as family visits, brief references to national political affairs, alluding to the ongoing Civil War.


The study was conducted to investigate the impacts of Brahmaputra riverbank erosion hazard on livelihood pattern of char people, agriculture and environment. Five villages of Mymensingh district near to the Brahmaputra River were selected. A semi-structured questionnaire, interview, secondary data sources, field observation and focus group discussion were utilized for this study. Result revealed that erosion has a great impact on livelihood, agriculture, environment and other sectors. Population displacement is a common phenomenon in the study area due to riverbank erosion. During the river erosion 73% people took temporary and 27% took permanent migration where 26% had chosen town as permanent migration. About 56% people loss 0 to 5 acres and 33% loss 6 to 10 acres of their land. Before riverbank erosion 61% people were involved in farming but after riverbank erosion it decreased into 24%. About 88% respondents used tube well as the main source of drinking water, which was smaller than that of the national rural rate 96.42% and some people used river water as drinking, bathing, washing clothes and household materials, and that was so unhygienic. The major diseases like diarrhea, dysentery, asthma, TB, typhoid, etc. were prevalence during flood and river erosion as well as medical facility was also poor. Only 9% people used medicine from consultant doctor. The study has explored a negative fact that without any organizational support, the people of the villages have to formulate and undertake various adaptation techniques in their own way. Finally, the study has recommended some suggestions for the policy planners and implementers for the future development of the riverbank erosion victims in Bangladesh. It emphasizes the importance of the government and non-governmental organizations to take their own responsibility to the devastating situation of the riverbank erosion. Progressive Agriculture 28 (2): 73-83, 2017


Indian marriage markets are characterized by an enormous level of female migration, the presence of dowries, and by differing levels of participation in the decision by women. We formulate and estimate a dynamic, equilibrium, two-sided matching model which allows for estimation of separate preferences for men and women. We recover male and female preferences over partner characteristics, dowry, and migration costs in the presence of differing degrees of female independence and unobserved heterogeneity. In counter-factual simulations we focus on how likely changes in sex-ratios, female autonomy, and education affect equilibrium marriage matching and welfare. Our estimates suggest that men prefer less educated and less autonomous women, and so increases in female education and autonomy reduce the welfare of women in the marriage market, even if education and autonomy improve welfare outside of marriage. Declining sex-ratios improve welfare for some, but not all, women largely by increasing the value of marrying later.


A comprehensive review of the published work is presented
on field, laboratory modelling and theoretical data relating to
ground movements associated with trenchiess pipelaying
techniques. Due to the similarities with convergent trenchiess
techniques, soft ground tunnelling work is also reviewed.
The factors that influence these ground movements are
isolated and the ability to investigate these considered in terms of
model tests. A test facility based on a 1.5m long, 1.5m high and
1.0m wide steel tank has been developed and this is described
together with the philosophy behind its use. The development of
appropriate methods of simulating both pipejacking and
pipebursting trenchiess techniques using the test facility, based on
the installation of a 200mm diameter semicircular steel pipe
section, are described. The use of a stereo-photogrammetry
technique for the ground movement data acquisition is also
reported and assessed.
Three programmes of model tests were conducted: open
shield pipejacking, closed shield pipejacking and pipebursting.
The test programmes included investigations into the effects on
the soil movements of variations in cover depth, overcut ratio
(pipejacking tests), bursting ratio (pipebursting tests) and the
effect of using different dry sands at different densities.
From the photographs obtained during the tests, the sand
displacements were determined in both the longitudinal and
perpendicular planes to the pipe installation. These displacements
allowed contour plots to be produced for the horizontal and
vertical components of these displacements. This allowed the
interaction of the various areas of sand movement to be
appreciated, and the extents and magnitudes to be investigated
for the changes in the factors made between each test.
The extension of the results to other test conditions not
directly investigated and also to the limited field data available, is
made by using interpolation and extrapolation of graphical plots of
the test data. These graphical plots also allowed trends in the data
to be highlighted. This project involved a fundamental study of ground
movements. However, guidance is given on how the results
obtained from the tests can be used to determine the effects on
adjacent services and structures. This is presented bearing in
mind that the test results were for laboratory model simulations
rather than prototype operations.
Two simple theoretical analyses are described, one based on
the error function curve and one using a fluid flow method. The
error function analysis is used to predict ground movements in
the perpendicular plane to the installation, while the fluid flow
analysis, with dilation and compression capabilities, is developed
to enable ground movements to be predicted in both the
perpendicular and longitudinal planes. The analyses were applied
to the laboratory model tests and the results correlated very well.
The results of the laboratory model tests and the theoretical
analyses developed, considerably extend the understanding and
knowledge on the ground movements associated with trenchless
pipelaying techniques.


This paper proposes a novel concept of "local integrity" suitable to Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers in urban vehicular scenarios. The idea is to take into account not only the system, but also the environment nearby the receiver in its nominal conditions, exploiting the potentialities offered by a Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET) infrastructure. In detail, the potential availability of multiple observations of GNSS signals, taken by different vehicles participating to a VANET, can be shared and combined in order to implement a collaborative spatial/temporal characterization and prediction of the local degradations of the GNSS signals. These concepts are intended to pave the way for the reconsideration/redefinition of the classic GNSS integrity concept, in order to overcome the major problems and limitations to its applicability in urban vehicular scenarios. The analytical development of the proposed methodology and the suitable network architecture for its implementation, as well as some validation results, are presented and discussed in the paper.


Believers insist that the ghost of utopianism returned to Europe in May 1968, and that it has been haunting the ruins of 'the political' ever since. This paper is written in the spirit of belief. It has two claims: first, and incidentally, that utopianism—namely, a politics of alternatives poised at the limits of thought and being, epistemology and ontology—is both expedient and inevitable in regard to a terrain where, a la Foucault, power is everywhere, 'immanent to the social field, distributed through the brains and bodies of citizens'; and second, and here is the crux of my argument, the movement in our time from nihilism to utopianism has required a careful renegotiation with ideas of community, communication, sociability, conatus. This process, most apparent within contemporary postmodernism, I would like to call, after Derrida, the politics of friendship. The rest of this paper is an attempt to describe the restless itinerary of such a politics, which entails, in the main, postmodernism's departure from the cult of the hybrid subject toward a non-communitarian understanding of community.


The paper explores the failure of traditional civil remedies, as well as newer "three strikes" and Internet filtering remedies, to tackle intellectual property rights infringement on the Internet. Although the "three strikes" and Internet filtering/blocking measures were introduced in response to inadequacy of traditional remedies, over the decade of practical applications they have not achieved significant success, as well. Principal socio-legal reasons for such failures are reviewed and analyzed. Main reasons are found to be that traditional remedies and first generation new remedies are tailored to "offline" environment. Existing remedies are more suited to traditional legal interactions, where the parties are clearly identifiable and jurisdictional collisions are well defined. The way of action of existing remedies is inherently offline. They are ill adapted to the requirements of the online environment, such as difficulty to identify anonymous parties in multiplejurisdictions, and hence, high enforcement costs, as well as legal and technological complexity. It should be noted that online environment requires swift enforcement in view of the dynamic technological change. Based on this analysis, key features of the efficient online remedy design are identified. In the second part of the paper, a case study of successful enforcement of trademark rights online is presented. Example of rare success in enforcing legal liability for infringement of intellectual property rights is the special remedy of domain name seizure and takeover, implemented through the alternative and online dispute resolution procedure – the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). Domain seizure/takeover remedy implemented through the existing UDRP system works at the supranational level and successfully operates as an online instrument dealing with trademark rights infringement in the domain names. The author considers expansion of this special remedy and the domain seizure through the UDRP to cover copyright and related rights infringement as a viable addition to the existing remedies for the rights holders to deal with the online infringements. The former (that is a special sanction of domain seizure and take-over) may be relatively easily adopted by the judiciary both as an interim measure and as a final remedy; however, this would address only part of the challenges that enforcement of intellectual property rights faces online. Only the combination of the special sanctions and the online dispute resolution mechanism, capable to enforce such sanctions, address most inadequacies of traditional offline remedies (especially high cost, slowness and complexity, competence of the dispute resolution authority, as well as risks of political and legal abuses). This may be achieved through expansion of the existing UDRP system; however, it may need an additional supranational legal framework. The paper recognizes limitations of any rights enforcement instruments online, which are predefined by the nature of the online environment – its extraterritorial nature and span over jurisdictions, which may willingly tolerate infringement of intellectual property rights. These limitations would set the limits over the effectiveness of the novel remedies. Nevertheless, the domain seizure and take-over sanction made available for other infringements of the intellectual property rights online (chiefly copyright and related rights infringement) and enforced through relatively easily expandable UDRP system would complement the existing offline remedies and would expand the enforcement instrumentary for the rights holders, thus, enabling marginalization of the most popular intellectual property rights infringements online.


1. To evaluate the effects of converting-enzyme inhibition on the sympathetic nervous system, on renin and on the other known regulators of aldosterone secretion, we measured blood pressure, heart rate, plasma noradrenaline, adrenaline, renin activity, aldosterone, cortisol and serum potassium in 15 sodium-repleted hypertensive patients in supine position and during 30 min of 65° head-up tilt before and during treatment with SQ 14 225. 2. SQ 14 225 produced significant decreases in supine blood pressure and plasma aldosterone and significant increments in plasma renin activity and potassium; in contrast, heart rate, noradrenaline, adrenaline and cortisol were unchanged. 3. While in control tilt studies blood pressure was always maintained, during treatment three of 15 patients had vasovagal syncopes. In the remaining 12 blood pressure was maintained during tilt on SQ 14 225; however, while the tilt-induced responses in heart rate and adrenaline were as in control studies, the 30 min increments in noradrenaline were significantly higher. 4. Both before and during treatment the responses of plasma renin activity and aldosterone to tilt were parallel, and correlated with each other, and cortisol and potassium changed only slightly. 5. It is concluded that the SQ 14 225-induced fall in blood pressure occurs without a concomitant rise in sympathetic nervous activity; thus the increase in supine plasma renin activity, being a reflection of the interruption of the angiotensin feedback mechanism on renin release, indicates an effective suppression of angiotensin II formation. 6. During SQ 14 225 the persistence of aldosterone response to tilt and its relationship with renin activity suggest that the enzymatic blockade is over-ridden; however, in the presence of a reduced formation of angiotensin II a more pronounced response of the sympathetic nervous system is required to defend blood pressure against postural changes.


INTRODUCTION
Multiple studies have concluded that ambulatory percutaneous nephrolithotomy (aPCNL) is safe. However, selection criteria remain vague and no investigators have assessed the practicality of using various post-procedural drainage strategies in the ambulatory setting. In this study we establish a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria for aPCNL, compare outcomes between aPCNL patients and those admitted following PCNL, and incorporate a variety of "exit" strategies including Double-J stent, ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) stent and totally tubeless techniques.

METHODS
We developed inclusion and exclusion criteria to determine patient eligibility for aPCNL. Between January 2014 and December 2016, 52 out of 145 patients met criteria for aPCNL and 47 of these patients were ultimately discharged on the same day. Forty-seven of the remaining 98 patients who were admitted following PCNL were randomly selected as a control group. Primary outcomes included stone-free status, emergency department (ED) visits and hospital readmissions within the 6-week post-operative period. Statistical analysis was performed using Student's t-tests, chi square tests, and Fischer's exact tests.

RESULTS
Both groups had similar age (P = 0.91), sex (P = 0.68), body mass index (P = 0.91), and stone burden (P = 0.12). Patients in the ambulatory group had a lower Charlson Comorbidity score (aPCNL CCS = 0.11, inpatient PCNL CCS = 0.62, P = 0.002). Seventy three percent of ambulatory patients and 62% of standard PCNL patients had no residual stone burden 6 weeks following PCNL (P = 0.33). The average residual stone fragment in our ambulatory and standard PCNL group was 3.5 and 3.2 mm, respectively. Five patients (11%) from the aPCNL group and 4 (9%) from the standard PCNL group presented to the ED (P = 0.76). One aPCNL (2%) and three standard PCNL (6%) patients were re-admitted to the hospital (P = 0.62).

CONCLUSIONS
In this study we establish specific inclusion and exclusion criteria for aPCNL. Using these criteria we then demonstrated the practicality of using various exit strategies to facilitate aPCNL. Future randomized control trials would be beneficial in confirming the safety and efficacy of aPCNL in select patients.


As the number of students diagnosed with attentional issues continue to rise, educators are constantly looking for alternative ways to keep students engaged for longer periods of time so that they are accessible for learning. The purpose of this study is to determine if a movement strategy, a bouncy band, will help students focus attention for longer periods of time and increase on-task behavior. A convenience sample of 25 students identified with attentional issues were selected to participate in the current study. Pre and post assessments indicated that the bouncy bands did have a positive effect on the student's ability to maintain attention, listen attentively to adults/peers, and follow oral directions. In addition, results from the pre and post observations suggested that when the bouncy band was used as a movement strategy, there was a marked decrease in students off-task behaviors. Results from the interviews suggested that most of the participants believed that the bouncy bands were fun, helped them to focus, relax, and feel calmer when taking tests.


A review of:

Markey, Karen, Annie Armstrong, Sandy De Groote, Michael Fosmire, Laura Fuderer, Kelly Garrett, Helen Georgas, Linda Sharp, Cheri Smith, Michael Spaly, and JoniE. Warner. "Testing the Effectiveness of Interactive Multimedia for Library-User Education." portal: Libraries & the Academy 5.4 (Oct. 2005): 527-54.

Objective –To demonstrate the effectiveness of interactive multimedia tutorials in delivering library educational content, and to evaluate librarian experiences of developing multimedia tutorials, both as part of the LUMENS (Drabenstott) project.

Design – User study (questionnaire and interviews) using pretest-posttest design.

Setting – Four academic libraries in the United States. One library dropped out during the course of the project.

Subjects – Ninety university students from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), Purdue University, and the University of Notre Dame participated in the main study to evaluate three of the tutorials: "Doing research an introduction to the concepts of online searching," "How to read a scientific paper," and "Hungry for information?" Another group of 15 subjects from UIC, consisting of 10 graduate students, 2 faculty, 2 librarians, and one fellow, assessed a fourth tutorial "Keeping current in your field." Librarians were interviewed about their experiences producing the interactive multimedia tutorials.

Methods – The 90 students were given a pretest containing questions about library educational content and five demographic questions. The students used the multimedia tutorial for 15-30 minutes and immediately afterward were given a posttest containing comparable questions to the pretest in terms of content and difficulty. The students were also asked to rate their experiences of using the tutorials in various ways on a scale from 0-10. At UIC, the experiences of the subjects using the multimedia tutorial were assessed by personal interviews. Librarians producing the multimedia tutorials were asked about their experiences of developing multimedia tutorials through e-mail, listserv discussion, phone calls, and face-to-face personal and group interviews.

Main results – All three libraries measured a significant increase (using a one sample t-test, p 75%) of students were familiar with tutorial content before start. Despite this, most of the students found the tutorials useful and enjoyable, and the majority were fairly likely to recommend the tutorial to a friend. Interviews with subjects at UIC revealed similar experiences, except that the subjects were less familiar with the tutorial content at the beginning, and they were more likely to return to the tutorial for a refresher. The tutorial with the highest amount of interactivity was the most popular. The librarians found it difficult to find time to learn Macromedia Flash and to work within the LUMENS project generally. Eight out of 15 librarians remained with the project over the entire period.
Conclusion – Students learned library educational content by using multimedia tutorials and seemed to enjoy the experience, and educational librarians should lead multi-expert project teams in tutorial production. Finally, the educational value of multimedia tutorials must be offset from the time and effort needed to produce them.


Variations in small game hunting along the northern and eastern rims of the Mediterranean Sea and results from predator-prey simulation modeling indicate that human population densities increased abruptly during the late Middle Paleolithic and again during the Upper and Epi-Paleolithic periods. The demographic pulses are evidenced by increasing reliance on agile, fast-reproducing partridges, hares, and rabbits at the expense of slow-reproducing but easily caught tortoises and marine shellfish and, concurrently, climate-independent size diminution in tortoises and shellfish. The results indicate that human populations of the early Middle Paleolithic were exceptionally small and highly dispersed.


The functional groups approach is an efficient way to analyze seasonal changes in phytoplankton biomass as it is based on the physiological, morphological, and ecological attributes of the species. In this study, we identified the functional groups and driving factors behind short-term succession in phytoplankton communities. We analyzed physical, chemical, and biological factors of the Maixi River in Baihua Reservoir (BHR) from August to September, 2013 (summer, phase I) and March to May, 2014 (late spring and early summer, phase II). The 226 samples collected were divided into 23 functional groups. In phase I, phytoplankton biomass ranged from 4.88 to 30.59 mg·L -1 , and the group S1 ( Pseudanabaena limnetica ) had the greatest biomass. In phase II, phytoplankton biomass ranged from 2.22 to 50.61 mg·L -1 , and groups Y ( Cryptomonas sp.) and S1 ( P. limnetica ) had the greatest biomass. Dominant functional groups in the Maixi River changed from S1 + D + Y + Lo in phase I to Y + S1 in summer. Changes in the phytoplankton community varied between 0 and 0.144 day -1 in phase I and between 0.008 and 0.389 day -1 in later spring and early summer. This showed a steady-state phytoplankton community during the two phases, in which the functional groups S1 ( P. limnetica ) and Y ( Cryptomonas sp.) were dominant. Pseudanabaena limnetica , Synedra sp., Peridinium sp., and Cryptomonas sp. were dominant during summer, contributing to 70% of the total biomass in the steady-state community, and P. limnetica , Synedra sp., Cryptomonas sp., and Chlamydomonas sp. were dominant during later spring and early summer, contributing to 60% of the total biomass in the community. Groups S1, D, and Y formed easily in the Maixi River, but P. limnetica was the dominant species in the eutrophic conditions of the Maixi River. According to biotic and abiotic factors, we concluded that the Maixi River is hypertrophic, and water resource management should take blooms of P. limnetica occurring in May into account. Temperature and dissolved oxygen were the critical factors affecting the steady-state of the phytoplankton community in late spring and early summer and summer, respectively. Because the Maixi River is an important source in the BHR, its phytoplankton functional groups directly affect the ecological balance of the water environment.


The current study of the specialist police response to male rape survivors focused on Sexual Offenses Investigative Technique (SOIT) officers to explore whether a differential level of service is influenced by an officer9s and/or victim9s gender. Data on both police and male and female rape survivors were comparatively analyzed using the qualitative method of thematic analysis. Key issues that emerged included: (1) Rape victims reported a lack of confidence in the judicial system; this was more apparent in male survivors9 responses and was one of the factors that informed their decision whether or not to report their victimization. (2) Both male and female rape victims demonstrate a gender preference for female SOIT officers, which reinforces the historical approach within the police force to encourage females to apply for such positions. Tis practice suggests a reliance on gender stereotypes as heuristics to assess the likelihood of the empathy and sensitivity of the SOIT officer9s response. (3) Finally, few male rape victims reported their victimization, and those who did frequently experienced a gendered response that was often negative and could delay their recovery process. Recommendations are also made regarding best practice in SOIT officer training.


Deep landscape dissection by the Dadu and Yalong rivers on the eastern margin of the Tibetan plateau has produced high-relief, narrow river gorges and threshold hillslopes that frequently experience large landslides. Large landslides inundate river valleys and overwhelm channels with large volumes (>10 5 m 3 ) of coarse material, commonly forming stable landslide dams that trigger extensive and prolonged aggradation upstream. These observations suggest that strong feedbacks among hillslope processes, channel morphology, and incision rate are prevalent throughout this landscape and are likely characteristic of transient landscapes experiencing large increases in local relief, in general. Landslide effects are a by-product of rapid incision initiated by regional uplift. However, over timescales relevant to landscape evolution (>10 4 yr), large landslides can also act as a primary control on channel morphology and longitudinal river profiles, inhibiting incision and further preventing the complete adjustment of rivers to regional tectonic, climatic, and lithologic forcing. We explore a probabilistic, numerical model to provide a quantitative framework for evaluating how landslides influence bedrock river incision and landscape evolution. The time-average number of landslide dams along a river course, and thus the magnitude of the landslide influence, is set by two fundamental timescales—the time it takes to erode landslide deposits and erase individual dams and the recurrence interval of large landslides that lead to stable dams. Stable, gradually eroding landslide dams create mixed bedrock-alluvial channels with spatial and temporal variations in incision, ultimately slowing long-term rates of river incision, thereby reducing the total amount of incision occurring over a given length of river. A stronger landslide effect implies that a higher percentage of channel length is buried by landslide-related sediment, leading to reduced river incision efficiency. The longer it takes a river channel to incise into a landslide dam and remove all landslide-related sediment, the more control these events have on the evolution of the river profile and landscape evolution. This can be the result of slow erosion of stable dams, or a higher frequency of large events.


As the knowledge and understanding of environmental impacts associated with buildings increase, methods of assessing the impacts are also improving in building research. This paper attempts to analyse how applicable the conventional and improved process and input-output inventory methods are in assessing the environmental attributes in the construction industry in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA). The paper presents preliminary findings based on an extensive literature review of an ongoing PhD research to analyse embodied energy of buildings in SSA. A basic outline on how the process and input-output inventory techniques operate is presented first followed by a discussion on factors considered to limit the application of the techniques in the region. It is noted that despite the limitations the methods have, they are still sufficient for use in the absence of other alternatives. While enhancement of data for this purpose is essential for appropriate results, further improvement on the methods to suit the local needs is highly recommended.


The development of several types of mobile objects requires new devices, such as high‐performance filters, microelectromechanical systems and other components. Pie‐ zoelectric materials are crucial to reach the expected performance of mobile objects because they exhibit high quality factors and sharp resonance and some of them are compatible with collective manufacturing technologies. We reviewed the main piezo‐ electric materials that can be used for radio frequency (RF) applications and herein report data on some devices. The modelling of piezoelectric plates and structures in the context of electronic circuits is presented. Among RF devices, filters are the most critical as the piezoelectric material must operate at RF frequencies. The main filter structures and characterisation methods, in accordance with such operating condi‐ tions as high frequencies and high power, are also discussed.


BACKGROUND
Dental trauma occur in childhood and adolescence with consequences in time and costs for both patient and family. The scientific knowledge of these matters is scarce. For some individuals, dental trauma will result in long, time-consuming and costly treatments in childhood which will continue into adulthood.

AIM
The thesis aimed to increase the knowledge of incidence, risk, treatment, time and costs spent on dental traumas to primary and permanent teeth in children and adolescents.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
The material for the studies emanated from the county of Västmanland, Sweden, and the municipality of Copenhagen, Denmark, and from a Swedish nation-wide material (Folksam). The material was collected from accident reports, dental files, dental trauma forms, questionnaires and telephone interviews. Descriptive, prospective and analytical methods were used. A classification of uncomplicated and complicated dental traumas was presented.

RESULTS
The incidence of dental trauma to boys was higher, compared to girls, in the county of Västmanland in almost all age groups. For both sexes, the first years in life and the first years in school were the most accident prone periods with incidence twice as high as the average incidence for all children and adolescents in the county. Every third trauma was complicated with injuries to the pulp or periodontal ligaments. Every second patient with a dental trauma to permanent teeth suffered from multiple dental trauma episodes (MDTE) during a period of 12 years. In almost every second patient with MDTE, at least one of the affected teeth had sustained repeated trauma episodes. The risk of sustaining MDTE increased when the first trauma episode occurred in the age interval of 6-10, compared to 11-18 year olds. During a 12-year period, treatment times for complicated traumas were 2.0 and 2.7 times higher for primary and permanent teeth, respectively, compared to corresponding values for uncomplicated traumas. On average, direct time (treatment time) represented 11% and 16% of the total time, while the direct costs (health care service, transport, loss of personal property and medicine) represented 60% and 72% of the total costs of traumas to primary and permanent teeth, respectively, during a 2-year period for cases of a nation-wide material.

CONCLUSION
Dental traumas are frequent and some individuals are injured several times. Besides treatment time, efforts from the family are substantial in time and costs. Parameters such as degree of severity, access to treatment and place of injury are of major importance to both patient and family and should be considered when calculating time and costs of dental trauma in children and adolescents.


OBJECTIVE
To verify whether hypogonadism represents a risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and to verify whether testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) improves CV parameters in subjects with known CV diseases (CVDs).

DESIGN
Meta-analysis.

METHODS
An extensive Medline search was performed using the following words 'testosterone, CVD, and males'. The search was restricted to data from January 1, 1969, up to January 1, 2011.

RESULTS
Of the 1178 retrieved articles, 70 were included in the study. Among cross-sectional studies, patients with CVD have significantly lower testosterone and higher 17-β estradiol (E(2)) levels. Conversely, no difference was observed for DHEAS. The association between low testosterone and high E(2) levels with CVD was confirmed in a logistic regression model, after adjusting for age and body mass index (hazard ratio (HR)=0.763 (0.744-0.783) and HR=1.015 (1.014-1.017), respectively, for each increment of total testosterone and E(2) levels; both P<0.0001). Longitudinal studies showed that baseline testosterone level was significantly lower among patients with incident overall- and CV-related mortality, in comparison with controls. Conversely, we did not observe any difference in the baseline testosterone and E(2) levels between case and controls for incident CVD. Finally, TRT was positively associated with a significant increase in treadmill test duration and time to 1 mm ST segment depression.

CONCLUSIONS
Lower testosterone and higher E(2) levels correlate with increased risk of CVD and CV mortality. TRT in hypogonadism moderates metabolic components associated with CV risk. Whether low testosterone is just an association with CV risk, or an actual cause-effect relationship, awaits further studies.


Barrows and gilts (n=210) were used to test the effects of crystalline amino acid (AA) supplementation of reduced crude protein (RCP) diets formulated on a net energy basis on quality characteristics of the LM from growing-finishing pigs. Pigs were blocked by weight, and pens (3 barrows and 3 gilts/pen) within each block were assigned randomly to either cornsoybean meal diets (C) or 1 of 3 RCP diets and added crystalline AA levels for the dietary treatments during each feeding phase. During the last 3-wk feeding phase, 10 ppm of ractopamine were included in all diets. At slaughter and after a 24-h rapid chilling period, a subsample of whole pork loins (3/pen) was collected during carcass fabrication and further processed into LM chops for quality data collection. A 2.5-cm-thick slice was removed from the anterior end of randomly selected fresh pork bellies (3 bellies/pen). Belly slices were further dissected into the outer s.c. (OSC) and middle s.c. (MSC) fat layers, as well as intermuscular fat (INT). Jowl, belly and LM samples were freeze-dried and analyzed for fatty acid composition. As CP decreased in swine diets, Japanese (P < 0.01), American (P = 0.032), and fat color scores decreased (linear, P = 0.017), whereas LM drip loss increased (linear, P = 0.015) with decreasing CP diets. Lightness (L*) value increased (P = 0.015) linearly with decreasing CP diets; yet, neither a* nor b* values were affected (P ≥ 0.414) by RCP treatments. Furthermore, marbling and firmness scores, cooking loss percentage, and shear force values were not (P ≥ 0.503) affected by dietary CP levels. Color was detrimentally affected by reducing dietary CP and adding crystalline AA in diets formulated on a net energy basis. There were no (P ≥ 0.132) dietary treatment × fat layer interactions; however, proportions of all SFA and all MUFA increased (linear, P ≤ 0.006), and proportions of all PUFA decreased (linear, P = 0.010), as CP was reduced in the diet. Also, belly fat IV decreased linearly (P < 0.001) with decreasing dietary CP. Total SFA were greatest (P < 0.05) in the INT, and SFA percentage was greater (P < 0.05) in the MSC than OSC. The OSC and MSC had greater (P < 0.05) proportions of all MUFA than INT, whereas OSC had greater (P < 0.05) proportions of PUFA than MSC and INT. The OSC had the greatest (P < 0.05) IV (74.0), and IV of the MSC was greater (P < 0.05) than that of the INT (70.0 vs. 68.1). Similarly, total PUFA percentages in the jowl and LM samples decreased (linear, P ≤ 0.0003), whereas MUFA percentages in the jowl and LM measured (linear, P ≤ 0.0062) with decreasing dietary CP. In particular, in swine diets oleic acid (18:1c9) increased (linear, P ≤ .0142) and linoleic acid (18:2n6) decreased in the LM and the jowl fat as CP was decreased. Similar to 18:2n6, linolenic acid (18:3n3) in the jowl fat and LM had decreased (linear, P ≤ .0001) 27% and 17.8% in the jowl fat and LM respectively, among RCP treatments. Results indicate that fatty acid composition differs greatly among the fat layers of fresh pork bellies, MUFA composition of pork belly fat was increased at the expense of PUFA by reducing dietary CP, suggesting enhanced de novo synthesis in pigs fed RCP diets supplemented with


We derive a second-order differential equation for the two-loop sunrise graph in two dimensions with arbitrary masses. The differential equation is obtained by viewing the Feynman integral as a period of a variation of a mixed Hodge structure, where the variation is with respect to the external momentum squared. The fibre is the complement of an elliptic curve. From the fact that the first cohomology group of this elliptic curve is two-dimensional we obtain a second-order differential equation. This is an improvement compared to the usual way of deriving differential equations: Integration-by-parts identities lead only to a coupled system of four first-order differential equations.


Ultracold collisions of cold atoms or molecules make the bound states of the collision complex formed from the two colliding species accessible for control and manipulation of the cold species or the complex. Such resonances are best treated by a resonant scattering theory, which in the ultracold domain can take advantage of the properties of the long-range potential and the methods of multichannel quantum defect theory. Coupled channels calculations on the threshold scattering states and bound states of the 40K87Rb molecule illustrate the ideas and methodology of quantum defect theory using the long-range potential and also demonstrate the spin properties of the bound states throughout the spectrum.


"The Impact of Microcredit on the Poor in Bangladesh: Revisiting the Evidence,"by David Roodman and Jonathan Morduch (2011) is the most recent of a sequence of papers and postings that seeks to refute the findings of the Pitt and Khandker (1998) article"The Impact of Group-Based Credit on Poor Households in Bangladesh: Does the Gender of Participants Matter?"that microcredit for women had significant, favorable effects on poverty reduction. In this paper the authors show that these latest Roodman and Morduch claims are based on seriously flawed econometric methods and theory and a lack of due diligence in formulating models and interpreting output from packaged software. On the basis of Roodman and Morduch's preferred two-stage least squares regression, an alternative calculation of the standard errors would lead one to conclude that the problem with Pitt and Khandker is that they underestimate the positive and statistically significant effect of women's credit on household consumption. As in their previous efforts, the methods of Roodman and Morduch are shown to bias the findings in the direction of rejecting the results of Pitt and Khandker. We also further examine two aspects of our instrumental variable approach that have been attacked by Roodman and Morduch. The first is the validity of the exclusion restrictions underlying the use of interactions between program choice and the set of exogenous variables (including the village fixed effects) as instruments. The second is the application of the"one-half acre"program eligibility rule. The authors show that identification does not require both of these, and present new results dropping each assumption in turn. The results originally reported in the Pitt and Khandker paper hold up extremely well in this new analysis.


Experiments have been conducted with a two-dimensional timedependent, numerical model of the general circulation of the atmosphere up to the mesopause. A scheme for the calculation of cooling rates due to the 15(mu)m band of carbon dioxide is developed. It uses the Curtis matrix approach which incorporates cooling-to-space, transfer of radiation between atmospheric layers and non-equilibrium effects in the upper mesosphere. The sensitivity of the cooling rate calculations to the choice of collisional relaxation time is investigated. An 'almost exact' scheme to calculate heating rates due to the absorption of solar radiation by ozone and molecular oxygen is presented. Use of both new radiation schemes enables the diabatic heating rate to be calculated to the upper boundary of the model. Other heat sources in the region of the mesopause are discussed. Incorporation of the new schemes considerably improves the modelled temperature structure of:the stratosphere and lower mesosphere. The upper mesosphere is not well reproduced with no indication of the observed cold summer mesopause. The heat and momentum budgets of the mesosphere are studied. Eddy momentum fluxes derived from satellite observations of planetary waves are found to be significant for the circulation and transport properties of the stratosphere but incapable of producing the required distribution of angular momentum in the mesosphere. A Rayleigh friction parameterisation is included in the mesosphere to reproduce the observed zonal wind and temperature structure. Momentum deposition by tides and gravity waves is discussed. Curtis matrices are calculated with higher mixing ratios of carbon dioxide and the effects of increased atmospheric CO2 on stratospheric temperatures and ozone is investigated. Temperature decreases of up to about 10K are predicted with increases in ozone concentration in the upper stratosphere. In the lower stratosphere the ozone increases are restricted to high latitudes and a decrease shown in equatorial regions. The latitudinal variations are reflected in the ozone column density. An experiment is conducted in which chlorofluorocarbons are released into the model atmosphere and the effects on stratospheric ozone are in exactly the opposite sense to those predicted for the CO2 case. A run in which CO2 and CFCs are introduced simultaneously shows that the two effects are not linearly additive. A simple photochemical theory is used to investigate the temperature dependence of ozone and to explain the non-linearity of the coupled experiment.


problem of increasing prevalence and causes high morbidity and mortality. It is found primarily in young males, with a familial history of hypertension and/or cardiovascular disease. Examination of lipid profiles has been used to detect the risk of hypertension in adolescents. Objective To compare blood pressure and lipid profiles in adolescents with and without a parental history of hypertension. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted from January to February 2012 on students from a senior high school in the Toba Samosir District, North Sumatera. Sixty-eight adolescents were included, aged 15 to 18 years. Group I comprised 34 adolescents with hypertensive parents, and group II comprised 34 adolescents with normotensive parents. Subjects were selected based on questionnaires. Subjects' blood pressures were measured at rest. Three measurements were made in intervals of 10-15 minutes, then averaged for both systolic and diastolic blood pressures. Lipid profiles were measured using the CardioCheck cholesterol test after subjects had fasted for 12 hours. Results The median systolic blood pressures (SBP) in groups I and II were 110 mmHg (range 93.3-123.3) and 106.7 mmHg (range 96.7-123.3), respectively, (P=0.584). The median diastolic blood pressures (DBP) were 73.3 mmHg (range 66.7-83.3) and 71.7 mmHg (range 63.3-80.0), respectively, (P=0.953). Total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in group I were significantly higher than those levels in group II [median total cholesterol: 162.0 (range 158-170) vs. 159.0 (range 150-170), respectively; (P=0.001); and mean LDL-C: 103.5 (SD 3.72) vs. 99.1 (SD 4.63), respectively; (P=0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed a correlation of moderate strength between parental history of hypertension and increased LDL-C (P<0.001) in adolescents. Conclusion Adolescents with and without familial history of hypertension have no significant median blood pressure differences. However, adolescents with hypertensive parents have  afsignificantly higher median total cholesterol and mean LDL-C. Furthermore, we find a correlation between parental history of hypertension and increased LDL-C in adolescents.


The Gila River of central Arizona is representative of braided, sand bed rivers in alluvial valleys that have inherent unstable behavior and destructive channel migration. The 112-year record of channel conditions along a portion of the Gila River provides data for the construction of locational probability maps for main flow channels. Zones of stability and hazardous instability alternate with each other at 3.2 km (2 mi) intervals. During the past century the overall sinuosity of the main flow channel has remained close to 1.18, despite numerous changes in actual location. Spatial and temporal variation of sinuosity have occurred in subreaches as a result of sedimentation behind a dam and fluctuations in the density of phreatophyte growth, which both affect the hydraulics of flood flows. Unstable zones of the channel correspond to the surface of the sediment wedge behind the dam and areas dense phreatophyte growth. Stable zones correspond to areas controlled by bedrock or man-made structures, as well as locations determined by these external factors plus the requirement to maintain a consistent sinuosity. Channels such as that of the Gila River do not meet most assumptions of equilibrium and are best understood through probabilistic approaches with an assumption of catastrophic adjustment.


This paper discusses recent theoretical efforts to develop a general and flexible method for the calculation of the field distributions around and inside complex optical systems involving both dielectric and metallic materials. Starting from the usual light-matter coupling Hamiltonian, we derive a self-consistent equation for the optical field in arbitrary optical systems composed of N different subdomains. We show that an appropriate solving procedure based on the real-space discretization of each subdomain raises the present approach to the rank of an accurate predictive numerical scheme. In order to illustrate its applicability, we use this formalism to address challenging problems related to nonradiative energy transfers in near-field optics. In particular, we investigate in detail the detuning of a microresonator probed by a near-field optical probe.


Much of development policy has been based on the search for a short to do list that would get countries moving. In this paper I argue that economic activity requires a large and highly interacting set of public policies and services, which constitute inputs into the production process. This is reflected in the presence, in all countries, of hundreds of thousands of pages of legislation and hundreds of public agencies. Finding out what is the right mix of the public inputs, and more importantly, what is a valuable change from the current provision is as complex as determining what is the right mix of private provision of goods. In the latter case, economists agree that this process cannot be achieved through central planning and that the invisible hand of the market is the right approach, because it allows decisions to be made in a more decentralized manner with more information. I argue that a similar solution is required to deal with the complexity of the public policy mix.


Information visualization shows tremendous potential for helping both expert and casual users alike make sense of temporal data, but current time series visualization tools provide poor support for comparing several foci in a temporal dataset while retaining context and distance awareness. We introduce a method for supporting this kind of multi-focus interaction that we call stack zooming. The approach is based on the user interactively building hierarchies of 1D strips stacked on top of each other, where each subsequent stack represents a higher zoom level, and sibling strips represent branches in the visual exploration. Correlation graphics show the relation between stacks and strips of different levels, providing context and distance awareness among the focus points. The zoom hierarchies can also be used as graphical histories and for communicating insights to stakeholders. We also discuss how visual spaces that support stack zooming can be extended with annotation and local statistics computations that fit the hierarchical stacking metaphor.


BACKGROUND
Although the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) flow grade is valuable and widely used qualitative measure in angiographic trials, it is limited by its subjective and categorical nature.

METHODS AND RESULTS
In normal patients and patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) (TIMI 4), the number of cineframes needed for dye to reach standardized distal landmarks was counted to objectively assess an index of coronary blood flow as a continuous variable. The TIMI frame-counting method was reproducible (mean absolute difference between two injections, 4.7 +/- 3.9 frames, n=85). In 78 consecutive normal arteries, the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) TIMI frame count (36.2 +/- 2.6 frames) was 1.7 times longer than the mean of the right coronary artery (20.4 +/- 3.0) and circumflex counts (22.2 +/- 4.1, P < .001 for either versus LAD). Therefore, the longer LAD frame counts were corrected by dividing by 1.7 to derive the corrected TIMI frame count (CTFC). The mean CTFC in culprit arteries 90 minutes after thrombolytic administration followed a continuous unimodal distribution (there were not subpopulations of slow and fast flow) with a mean value of 39.2 +/- 20.0 frames, which improved to 31.7 +/- 12.9 frames by 18 to 36 hours (P < .001). No correlation existed between improvements in CTFCs and changes in minimum lumen diameter (r=-.05, P=.59). The mean 90-minute CTFC among nonculprit arteries (25.5 +/- 9.8) was significantly higher (flow was slower) compared with arteries with normal flow in the absence of acute MI (21.0 +/- 3.1, P < .001) but improved to that of normal arteries by 1 day after thrombolysis (21.7 +/- 7.1, P=NS).

CONCLUSIONS
The CTFC is a simple, reproducible, objective and quantitative index of coronary flow that allows standardization of TIMI flow grades and facilitates comparisons of angiographic end points between trials. Disordered resistance vessel function may account in part for reductions in flow in the early hours after thrombolysis.


Classical economic theories can explain modern economic processes only to some extent. Economic growth theories were explained by many distinguished economists, such as Marx, Smith, Riccardo, Schumpeter, Becker and many others. The classical means of production were the main object in the interest of the economists researching and explaining economic growth. However, more sophisticated economy demands new methods and methodology to explain the same processes: growth, productivity, effectiveness, competitiveness. Unexplained growth in productivity in the second part of the 20th century was the beginning of new scientific research of intangible assets. However, at the time rapid growth in productivity was explained mainly by better human resources and technological progress. Intangible assets were not taken into account and were ignored by many economists and accountants for a long period of time because of the problems of identification, valuation and measurement of intangible assets. Various scientists of the field interpreted intangible assets according to their understanding. However, the growing number of literature on intangible assets suggests that this issue is becoming interesting enough and significant for the companies and economy in general. The aim of the paper is, after having analyzed economic thought development and discussing problematic issues of identification of intangible assets, to analyze elements of intangible assets and formulate universal definition of intangible assets. The object of the paper is intangible assets. The methods used are systematic classification and analysis of scientific literature in the field of intangible assets.


Strategic M&As mean focus on growth (e.g. revenue growth) and aim to enhance the firm's competitive position. The academic literature reports, however, an extremely high failure rate of strategic M&As – their outcomes are very difficult to forecast and they are extremely risky. Complexity increases even further, if we add the international perspective. At the same time, the empirical evidence states that M&As contribute to one third of average corporate growth rate. So, how can we make them value-creating? Combining market abnormal returns and fundamental company analysis, this study explains which factors and features of firms are relevant for the evaluation of acquirers' performance and how they are linked together. Furthermore, compared to the simple market-based studies and single accounting measures analysis, it includes additional – strategic - perspective and provides real examples of the value-creating and value-destroying transactions, explaining the strategy behind its success or failure. Therefore, it suggests a new approach for planning an acquisition and makes forecasting of the future payoffs by decision-makers possible from the early stage.


It is always difficult to say how much (or how little) corrupt the administration of a country is unless a proper operational definition of corruption is used. There are two ways of dealing with the more general approach towards corruption. First, the denial-of-everything approach which claims that corruption is too complex, too vague and too difficult to define and eventually measure and/or analyze. Many reports and analyses of corruption adopting this approach usually begin with the notion that corruption is a complex social phenomenon that is practically immeasurable and difficult to define. In addition corruption (as most social phenomena) is system dependent, i.e. its forms and involvement in different societies varies. Respectively, perceptions of corruption in different countries and governments differ substantially. Most often this approach is politically biased and is used to reject findings on corruption at all levels. The rationale is that one cannot measure something that could not be defined. Secondly, the positivist approach, which includes the attempt to compose and decompose corruption to its different forms and mechanisms and to construct a system of measures which aim to account for the levels of corruption in societies, social sectors, or among different population groups. The logic of this approach is that the function of science is to measure the immeasurable, i.e. to step by step create preconditions (theory) that would make is possible to asymptotically get closer to the true understanding of a given phenomenon. In Bulgaria, a well-known and systematic approach to analyze and counteract corruption has been adopted by Coalition 2000 (1). One of the instruments used by Coalition 2000 has been its Corruption Monitoring System (CMS) (2). The basic methodological assumptions and concepts on which the CMS is based are: Administrative corruption. This concept refers to the corruption transactions in which lower and middle level officials receive kickbacks (money, gifts, favors) from citizens either to provide a better service or to violate existing rules and laws. This type of corruption has been found to be characteristic for all post-socialist countries and is manifested in forms and sectors that seem fairly unlikely for developed countries. The main systemic reason for the existence of this type of corruption is the character of transition processes in these countries. More specifically this is the dynamically shifting balance between the public and the private spheres within a short period of time. Administrative corruption seems to be the negative byproduct of systemic adjustment to the new public-private balance in society. Political corruption. This concept refers to corruption of high level officials in the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. In principle corruption transactions of this type involve manipulation of substantial resources and more complicated corruption schemes (including political party financing). Perception based measures. Perception based measures of corruption include accounts for the perceived spread of corruption in different social sectors (also institutions, professional groups, etc.). CMS research findings and other international research has shown that perception based measures reflect attitudes of different targets groups towards corruption are not precise estimates of the actual level of corruption. In this respect perception based measures are dependent on situational factors and are strongly politically biased. However they proved a fair account of public tolerance or intolerance of corruption practices in society. Experience based measures. Experience based measures account for incidences of personal experience with corruption transactions. These measures are based on anonymously provided reports. The same approach is used in crime victimization research and experience accumulated since the 1960-ies has proved that obtained results are fairly accurate. …


Peritoneal fibrosis (PF) is an important complication of peritoneal dialysis therapy. The present study was performed to examine the mechanisms of PF in view of the plasminogen activator (PA)/plasmin/matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) cascade. PF was induced in tissue-type PA (tPA) deficient mice and wild-type mice by intraperitoneal injection of chlorhexidine gluconate. Mice were killed on day 21, and tissue samples were taken. Histopathological studies were performed. Plasmin activity, gelatinases activity, and the levels of tPA, transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1), and MMP-2 mRNA were determined. Protein levels of MMP-3, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-1, -2, and -3, phospho-Smad3, membrane-type 1 (MT1)-MMP, and MT3-MMP were also studied. On day 21, tPA +/+ mice showed severe PF, whereas tPA -/- mice showed milder change. Submesothelial basement membranes were dissolved in tPA +/+ mice while they were relatively preserved in tPA -/- mice. The levels of macrophage infiltration, staining for alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) and collagen type III, and vascular density were all significantly lower in tPA -/- mice than in tPA +/+ mice. The levels of plasmin activity, pro- and active MMP-2, mRNA expression of tPA and TGF-beta1, and phospho-Smad3 protein were also lower in tPA -/- mice. No difference was observed between the two groups concerning the protein levels of MMP-3, TIMP-1, TIMP-2, TIMP-3, MT1-MMP, or MT3-MMP. These results indicate that the presence of tPA enhances inflammation, angiogenesis, and fibrogenesis in the peritoneum of the PF model mice. Activation of the PA/plasmin/MMP cascade may play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of PF.


Summary
1.This review assesses current knowledge about the interplay between landscape and pollinator communities. Our primary aim is to provide an evidence base, identify key gaps in knowledge and highlight initiatives that will help develop and improve strategies for pollinator conservation.

2.Human-dominated landscapes (such as arable land and urban environments) can have detrimental impacts on pollinator communities but these negative effects can be ameliorated by proximity to semi-natural habitat and habitat corridors. There is also evidence to suggest that increased landscape heterogeneity and landscape configuration can play an important role in the maintenance of diverse pollinator communities.

3.Landscape characteristics have direct impacts on pollinator communities but can also influence abundance and richness through interaction with other drivers such as changing climate or increased chemical inputs in land management.

4.The majority of existing literature focuses on specific hymenopteran groups but there is a lack of information on the impact of landscape changes on non-bee taxa. Research is also needed on the effectiveness of management interventions for pollinators and multiple year observations are required for both urban and rural initiatives.

5.Current policies and monitoring schemes could contribute data that will plug gaps in knowledge, thus enabling greater understanding of relationships between landscapes and pollinator populations. This would in turn help design mitigation and adaptation strategies for pollinator conservation.

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The battle for public opinion in the Islamic world is an ongoing priority for U.S. diplomacy. The current debate over why many Muslims hold anti-American views revolves around whether they dislike fundamental aspects of American culture and government, or what Americans do in international affairs. We argue, instead, that Muslim anti-Americanism is predominantly a domestic, elite-led phenomenon that intensifies when there is greater competition between Islamist and secular-nationalist political factions within a country. Although more observant Muslims tend to be more anti-American, paradoxically the most anti-American countries are those in which Muslim populations are less religious overall, and thus more divided on the religious–secular issue dimension. We provide case study evidence consistent with this explanation, as well as a multilevel statistical analysis of public opinion data from nearly 13,000 Muslim respondents in 21 countries.


Rules of thumb that are used in the industry for polymer-flooding projects tend to limit the distance over which hydrolyzed poly-acrylamide polymers can be transported in pipelines without under-going significant degradation. However, in sensitive environments, such as offshore facilities where footprint minimization is required, centralization of the polymer-hydration process and long-distance transport may be desirable. More-reliable rules are required to de-sign the pipe network and to estimate mechanical degradation of polymers during transport in turbulent conditions.In this work, we present evidence in the form of empirical large-scale pipeline experiments and theoretical development refuting the claim that polymer pipeline transport is limited by mechanical degradation. Our work concludes that mechanical degradation oc-curs at a critical velocity, which increases as a function of pipe di-ameter. Provided the critical velocity is not reached in a given pipe, there is no limit to the distance over which polymer solution can be transported. In addition, the drag reduction of viscous polymer solutions was measured as a function of pipe length, pipe diameter, fluid ve-locity, and polymer concentration. An envelope was defined to fix the minimum and maximum drag reductions expected for a given velocity in larger pipes. For pipes with diameters varying between 14 and 22 in. at a velocity greater than 1 m/s, the drag-reduction percentage is anticipated to be between 55 and 80%. A more- refined model was developed to predict drag reduction with less uncertainty. In conclusion, classical design rules applied for water transport (fluid velocity < 3 m/s) can be applied to the design of a polymer network. Therefore, for tertiary polymer projects, the existing water-injection network should be compatible with the mechanical requirements of polymer transportation. For secondary polymer projects, changing the rules of design by taking into account the high level of drag reduction should bring some economy to the pipe design and installation


Significance What is the relationship between your own private awareness of events and the awareness that you intuitively attribute to the people around you? In this study, a region of the human cerebral cortex was active when people attributed sensory awareness to someone else. Furthermore, when that region of cortex was temporarily disrupted, the person's own sensory awareness was disrupted. The findings suggest a fundamental connection between private awareness and social cognition. This study tested the possible relationship between reported visual awareness ("I see a visual stimulus in front of me") and the social attribution of awareness to someone else ("That person is aware of an object next to him"). Subjects were tested in two steps. First, in an fMRI experiment, subjects were asked to attribute states of awareness to a cartoon face. Activity associated with this task was found bilaterally within the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) among other areas. Second, the TPJ was transiently disrupted using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). When the TMS was targeted to the same cortical sites that had become active during the social attribution task, the subjects showed symptoms of visual neglect in that their detection of visual stimuli was significantly affected. In control trials, when TMS was targeted to nearby cortical sites that had not become active during the social attribution task, no significant effect on visual detection was found. These results suggest that there may be at least some partial overlap in brain mechanisms that participate in the social attribution of sensory awareness to other people and in attributing sensory awareness to oneself.


What can be learnt about the idea and ideal of judicial independence in authoritarian regimes? While idealised international standards and declarations of judicial independence note the need for separation from the executive, there is more often silence on the relative position of the courts in relation to the military. Yet in country's like Myanmar's semi-military regime (2011-), discussions of judicial independence from the executive and legislature make little sense unless we first consider separation from military rule. Military involvement in the courts, both at a personal and institutional level, has become the norm over past decades in Myanmar. In light of this reality, this chapter considers the nature of judicial power of the Constitutional Tribunal and Supreme Court. It highlights debates raised over appointment and removal procedures, questions over which court should have jurisdiction on constitutional review matters, concerns of military-executive interference and the domineering attitude of the Parliament towards the courts. As a recent yellow ribbon campaign protesting against military transfers into the courts highlights, independence of the courts from military influence is a necessary yet difficult first step forward.


Screening mammography results in the increased detection of indolent tumors. We hypothesized that screen- and symptom-detected tumors would show genotypic differences as copy number imbalances (CNI) that, in part, explain differences in the clinical behavior between screen- and symptom-detected breast tumors. We evaluated 850 women aged 40 and above diagnosed with stage I and II breast cancer at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center between 1985 and 2000 with information available on method of tumor detection (screen vs. symptoms). CNIs in screen- and symptom-detected tumors were identified using high-density molecular inversion probe arrays. Cox proportional modeling was used to estimate the effect of method of tumor detection on disease-free survival after adjusting for age, stage, and the CNIs. The majority of tumors were symptom detected (n = 603) compared with screen detected (n = 247). Copy number gains in chromosomes 2p, 3q, 8q, 11p, and 20q were associated with method of breast cancer detection (P < 0.00001). We estimated that 32% and 63% of the survival advantage of screen detection was accounted for by age, stage, nuclear grade, and Ki67 in women aged 50 to 70 and aged 40 to 87, respectively. In each age category, an additional 20% of the survival advantage was accounted for by CNIs associated with method of detection. Specific CNIs differ between screen- and symptom-detected tumors and explain part of the survival advantage associated with screen-detected tumors. Measurement of tumor genotype has the potential to improve discrimination between indolent and aggressive screen-detected tumors and aids patient and physician decision making about use of surgical and adjuvant treatments. Cancer Prev Res; 4(10); 1609–16. ©2011 AACR.


Transracial adoptees represent a specific group of immigrants who experience unique immigration processes that bring them face-to-face with two cultural backgrounds: that of their heritage culture on one hand and that of their national culture on the other hand. However, there is a scarcity of studies focused on the way these processes unfold within adoptive families. This study was aimed at exploring how transracial adoptees cope with the construction of their ethnic identity. Administering a self-report questionnaire to 127 transracial adoptees and their mothers, for a total of 254 participants, we first investigated the association between mothers' cultural socialisation (enculturation and preparation for bias strategies) and adoptees' ethnic identity (i.e. ethnic identity exploration and ethnic identity affirmation dimensions). We then investigated whether ethnic identity affects self-esteem by testing the hypothesis that national identity moderates the relationship between ethnic identity and self-esteem. Results revealed that mothers' enculturation (but not their preparation for bias) supported adoptees' ethnic identity exploration, which in turn was positively associated with ethnic identity affirmation. Moreover, we confirmed the moderation effect: ethnic identity affirmation enhanced the level of self-esteem, but only for those adoptees who perceived a higher degree of national identity affirmation.


Due to the relatively high prevalence of hypotension (20% -40%) after spinal anesthesia as well as the adverse effects of hypotension on mother and baby, it is better to prevent hypotension as much as possible. Therefore, this study is aimed to determine the relationship between postural blood pressure and heart rate changes and hypotension incidence rate after spinal anesthesia in cesarean section.63 women aging18 to 45years old with fullterm pregnancy, who were candidate for caesarean section with spinal anesthesia, entered the study. Afterwards, the diastolic, systolic, and mean arterial pressures as well as the heart rate (pulse) in different positions (sitting, lying, and left lateral) were measured. After spinal anesthesia, the patients' blood pressure was measured and recorded every minute until the10thmin, then every 3 minute until the15thmin, and then every 5 minute until the end of cesarean section. Data analysis was performed using SPSS (ver. 19) software, descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and post hoc Bonferroni test. In this study, the hypotension incidence rate was 30% and the orthostatic variation rate of the systolic blood pressure in more than half of the people was between 4.39 to 13.49psi, which showed the highest variation compared to the diastolic pressure, mean arterial blood pressure (or: mean arterial pressure [MAP]), and heart(pulse). Considering the correlation coefficient of 0.27, the systolic blood pressure in the lateral position has the highest relationship with the incidence of hypotension. The postural systolic blood pressure changes in patients prior to the spinal anesthesia can be a predictive factor for the post-spinal hypotension incidence.


This paper proposes a real-time video analysis algorithm to read the resistance value of a resistor using a color recognition technique. To achieve this, firstly, a nonlinear filtering is applied to input video frame to smooth intensity variations and remove impulse noises. After that, a photometric invariants technique is employed to transfer the video frame from RGB color space to Hue-Saturation-Value (HSV) color space, which decreases sensitivity of the proposed method to illumination changes. Next, a region of interest is defined to automatically detect resistor's colors and then an Euclidean distance based clustering strategy is employed to recognize the color bars. The proposed method provides a wide range of color classification which includes twelve colors. In addition, it utilizes relatively low computational time which makes it suitable for real-time mobile video applications. The experiments are performed on a variety of test videos and results show that the proposed method has low error rate compared to the other resistor color code recognition mobile applications.


YouTube is the second most popular website in the world and is increasingly being used as a platform for disseminating health information. Our aim was to evaluate the content‐quality and audience engagement of YouTube videos pertaining to the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)‐CoV‐2 virus which causes the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19), during the early phase of the pandemic. We chose the first 30 videos for seven different search phrases: "2019 nCoV," "SARS CoV‐2," "COVID‐19 virus," "coronavirus treatment," "coronavirus explained," "what is the coronavirus" and "coronavirus information." Video contents were evaluated by two independent medical students with more than 5 years of experience using the DISCERN instrument. Qualitative data, quantitative data and upload source for each video was noted for a quality and audience engagement analysis. Out of the total 210 videos, 137 met our inclusion criteria and were evaluated. The mean DISCERN score was 31.33 out of 75 possible points, which indicates that the quality of YouTube videos on COVID‐19 is currently poor. There was excellent reliability between the two raters (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.96). 55% of the videos discussed prevention, 49% discussed symptoms and 46% discussed the spread of the virus. Most of the videos were uploaded by news channels (50%) and education channels (40%). The quality of YouTube videos on SARS‐CoV‐2 and COVID‐19 is poor, however, we have listed the top‐quality videos in our article as they may be effective tools for patient education during the pandemic.


In measurement-based quantum computation, quantum algorithms are implemented via sequences of measurements. We describe a translationally invariant finite-range interaction on a one-dimensional qudit chain and prove that a single-shot measurement of the energy of an appropriate computational basis state with respect to this Hamiltonian provides the output of any quantum circuit. The required measurement accuracy scales inverse polynomially with the size of the simulated quantum circuit. This shows that the implementation of energy measurements on generic qudit chains is as hard as the realization of quantum computation. Here, a 'measurement' is any procedure that samples from the spectral measurement induced by the observable and the state under consideration. As opposed to measurement-based quantum computation, the post-measurement state is irrelevant.


In this study, it was aimed to determine the reasons for the waste of bread among consumers in Hatay province and what should be taken for the elimination of these causes. The subjects of this study were the data obtained from 406 consumers selected from the city center. The data were obtained through face to face interviews during the period of May-2017. In the questionnaire, there were questions towards determining the bread consumption habits, consumption preferences and bread waste levels along with the socio-demographic characteristics of the consumers. Cross tabulation and chi-square analysis were used in the evaluation and comparison of the data. It was determined that the amount of bread consumed per person was 278 g/day and 7% of the total family consumption of bread was wasted without any consumption. While the most consumed types of bread are traditional white bread and flatbread, bakeries and groceries are the most common places to buy bread. Consumers usually buy bread twice a day and the main considerations in the consumers' preference for bread purchase are that the establishments comply with hygiene requirements and that quality materials are used in the bread making process. Staling and bad taste are among the significant issues in bread wastage. Taking future trends in the sector into consideration, producers should pay attention to product quality, production according to health conditions and longer shelf life on bread; depending on consumer awareness. The producers should diversify their production of bread and other bakery products.


Missing position error signal sampling data in hard disk drives (HDDs) results in their servo systems having irregular sampling rates (ISRs). With the natural periodicity of HDDs, which is related to the disk rotation, HDD servo systems with ISRs can be modeled as linear periodically time-varying systems. Based on our previous results, an explicit minimum entropy H∞ controller for HDD servos with ISRs via discrete Riccati equations is first obtained. The resulting controller is subsequently demonstrated to be periodically time-varying and implementable. Simulation and experimental studies, which have been carried out on a set of hard disk drives, demonstrate that the proposed control synthesis technique is able to handle ISRs and can be used to conveniently design a loop-shaping track-following servo that achieves the robust performance of a desired error rejection function for disturbance attenuation. Experimental results on ten actual 2.5" hard disk drives show around 27% improvement of the 3σ PES was obtained by the proposed control algorithm.


Is the current labor market as tight as official statistics would seem to indicate? If incumbent workers increase their hours of work, it is irrelevant to the unemployment rate, but hardly irrelevant to the level of labor supply. Bluestone and Rose find that job insecurity and stagnating wages have made Americans willing to work those extra hours to build a financial cushion, and a 1 percent increase in hours worked per worker for a fixed labor supply is equivalent in terms of labor supply to a 1 percent increase in the number of workers. This more realistic picture of labor supply has important implications for expectations that welfare recipients can easily find jobs, for reforms in labor market statistics to provide better information, and for the direction of monetary policy.