Exterior contour and interior structure are both vital features for classifying objects. However, most of the existing methods consider exterior contour feature and internal structure feature separately, and thus fail to function when classifying patchy image structures that have similar contours and flexible structures. To address above limitations, this paper proposes a novel Multi-Orientation Region Transform (MORT), which can effectively characterize both contour and structure features simultaneously, for patchy image structure classification. MORT is performed over multiple orientation regions at multiple scales to effectively integrate patchy features, and thus enables a better description of the shape in a coarse-to-fine manner. Moreover, the proposed MORT can be extended to combine with the deep convolutional neural network techniques, for further enhancement of classification accuracy. Very encouraging experimental results on the challenging ultra-fine-grained cultivar recognition task, insect wing recognition task, and large variation butterfly recognition task are obtained, which demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed MORT over the state-of-the-art methods in classifying patchy image structures. Our code and three patchy image structure datasets are available at: https://github.com/XiaohanYu-GU/MReT2019.


Poultry by-product meal (PBM) is a popular animal-based protein source tested in aquaculture feed formulations for replacing fishmeal (FM), mainly due to its high protein content, relatively cheap price and broad availability. However, due to the well-documented variability in success of PBM inclusions, a meta-analysis approach was utilized to summarize the efficacy and success of PBM inclusion in aquaculture diet formulations substituting FM. Hedges'g effect sizes were calculated by quantitatively comparing final weight and feed conversion ratio (FCR) between animals fed control (100% FM) and PBM-supplemented FM diets using data from 47 published articles targeting 33 different species (141 and 96 effect size calculations for final weight and FCR, respectively). In addition, several analyses were performed to determine the effect of different moderators as well as variation across species. Meta-regression was conducted to evaluate the effect of varying PBM proportions of the diet on the response variables. Overall, a non-significant final weight but a significant higher FCR was detected with aquaculture species fed PBM diets. Similar trends in final weight were observed for subgroups. However, FCR for crustaceans and marine fish fed PBM diets was not significantly different than those fed control diets. In both freshwater and marine fish, 'species' was a significant moderator effect on responses, while the 'level of FM replacement' was significant only in marine fish. Higher between-study heterogeneity was detected for fish, which may be due to the influence of certain factors, such as variability in nutritional quality and palatability and digestibility of PBM or due to variability on the fish meal used. In contrast, low between-study variation was observed in crustaceans indicating consistent success in PBM-supplemented diets for shrimp compared with fish.


As a consequence of volatile markets and agile development processes, products and organizational structures have become increasingly complex. Modeling and analyzing complex products and organizations via matrices and graphs are useful ways to handle this complexity. This paper combines approaches for modeling products and organizational structures with matrices on the one hand. On the other hand, graph-based methods for analyzing the dependencies within as well as between the product and organization domain are described. Combining these domains gives the possibility to improve the overall development process by minimizing iterations and by adjusting the organizational to the product structure.


Association between Library of Congress Subject Readings (LCSHs) and their corresponding Library of Congress Class Notations (LCCNs) was measured in term of probability of having the identical LCCN for all occurrences of a given LCSH in a database consisting of 101,347 MARC records. The measurements were controlled with regard to main classes of the Library of Congress classification (LCC). The analysis was repeated for all LCC main classes to determine if there are significant variations in association between LCSHs and their corresponding LCCNs in various classes of LCC. The degree of association between LCSHs and their corresponding LCCNs was found to be statistically significant among different classes of LCC. Class 'T' (Technology) had the strongest degree of association and Class 'A' (General Works) had the weakest level of association.


Nanoparticle based hybrid imaging by MRI, PET-CT and Fluorescent reflectance techniques are emerging in imaging carotid artery disease. 64Cu-TNP is detectable by MRI and PET-CT. A trimodality reporter 64Cu-TNP is a derivatization product made of: 1. the chelator DTPA attached with radiotracer 64Cu and iron oxide core in center provides contrast in MRI imaging(T2, T2*, or steady-state freeprecession sequences); 2. fluorochrome attached with 64CuTNP is used for fluorescence imaging, including fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, and fluorescence-mediated tomography; 3. crosslinked aminated polysaccharide coating provides the biocompatibility and determines the blood halflife and provides linker for attachment of tracers and potentially affinity ligands. The novelty of 64-Cu nanoparticle is that it provides structural, molecular and physiological information same time in carotid artery disease. Other possible techniques based 64-Cu nanoparticles are possible multiple contrast magnetic resonance imaging, susceptibility weighted imaging, positron emission tomography, nanoparticle based imaging, computer tomography, fluorescent based imaging, and fluorescent microscopy but not confirmed yet.


A perceived recent increase in global jellyfish abundance has been portrayed as a symptom of degraded oceans. This perception is based primarily on a few case studies and anecdotal evidence, but a formal analysis of global temporal trends in jellyfish populations has been missing. Here, we analyze all available long-term datasets on changes in jellyfish abundance across multiple coastal stations, using linear and logistic mixed models and effect-size analysis to show that there is no robust evidence for a global increase in jellyfish. Although there has been a small linear increase in jellyfish since the 1970s, this trend was unsubstantiated by effect-size analysis that showed no difference in the proportion of increasing vs. decreasing jellyfish populations over all time periods examined. Rather, the strongest nonrandom trend indicated jellyfish populations undergo larger, worldwide oscillations with an approximate 20-y periodicity, including a rising phase during the 1990s that contributed to the perception of a global increase in jellyfish abundance. Sustained monitoring is required over the next decade to elucidate with statistical confidence whether the weak increasing linear trend in jellyfish after 1970 is an actual shift in the baseline or part of an oscillation. Irrespective of the nature of increase, given the potential damage posed by jellyfish blooms to fisheries, tourism, and other human industries, our findings foretell recurrent phases of rise and fall in jellyfish populations that society should be prepared to face.


A selected number of upland soils were subjected, in situ, to simulated rain of short duration in order to
establish a methodology for evaluating erodibility of Malaysian soils. The rainfall simulator produces an
18mm shower in three minutes from an average height of OAm, falling onto a 0.0625m2 test plot area at
20% slope. Results from both the surface and sub-surface horizons show less variability in the soil loss
between plots than between successive runs on the same plot. Mean soil loss ranged between 5A2g and
12. 66g per plot. Soil loss was found to be not very sensitive to small variations in antecedent soil moisture
around the field capacity value. The method appears capable of discriminating responses between soils and
is thus, suited to the study of erodibility of upland soils in Malaysia.


ontological approaches to personalizing queries of unstructured data requires intensive use of XML-based tables and schema. From the legacy design efforts for CSDL to the myriad of approaches to XML schema development including the development of XIRQL , Hybrid XML retrieval and XML queries , the adoption of advanced techniques for unstructured content management is progressing rapidly. Paralleling these research advances is pervasive adoption of Cloud Computing platforms including Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), driven by the growth of the Amazon Web Services platform in addition to others. The intent of this thesis proposal is to define an XML schema that can aggregate unstructured content that when combined based on the individualized taxonomies and ontological preferences of system users, delivers highly relevant and timely data. The proposed XML Schema Model for Unstructured Content Personalization shown in Figure 1. This model is further supported by the development of and continual fine-tuning of Quantum Information Algorithms to define approximate taxonomies and approaches to creating role-based query is used as the basis of creating personalization pathways in the data. Quantum Information Theory also makes it possible to create enterprise-wide networks of knowledge management systems that can effectively "learn" over time through the use of latent semantic indexing (LSI) to create linguistic models of representation of the data. Quantum Information Theory provides the basis for creating an entire network of systems that can in essence learn over time, continually fueling new insights into the knowledgebase of the complex of systems themselves.


Employing nonlinear spectral imaging technique based on two-photon-excited fluorescence and second-harmonic generation (SHG) of biological tissue, we combine the image-guided spectral analysis method and multi-channel subsequent detection imaging to map and visualize the intrinsic species in a native rabbit aortic wall. A series of recorded nonlinear spectral images excited by a broad range of laser wavelengths (730-910 nm) are used to identify five components in the native rabbit aortic wall, including nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), elastic fiber, flavin, porphyrin derivatives, and collagen. Integrating multi-channel subsequent detection imaging technique, the high-resolution, high contrast images of collagen and elastic fiber in the aortic wall are obtained. Our results demonstrate that this method can yield complementary biochemical and morphological information about aortic tissues, which have the potential to determine the tissue pathology associated with mechanical properties of aortic wall and to evaluate the pharmacodynamical studies of vessels.


Purpose: To evaluate the use of the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) and the Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) for the assessment of nutritional status in patients with common malignant tumors.
Methods: Patients hospitalized in Huizhou Central People's Hospital from December 2012 to May 2014 were enrolled. The diagnosis with cancer was confirmed by pathological examination and patients received chemotherapy/radiotherapy or surgery. The patients were interviewed by a trained surgeon using NRS 2002 and PG-SGA. Fasting venous blood samples were taken from all enrolled patients, and serum albumin and prealbumin levels were measured. NRS 2002 score ≥ 3 indicated malnutrition risk, and PG-SGA score ≥ 4 indicated malnutrition. The correlations among the scores, serum albumin and prealbumin levels, the body mass index (BMI), the length of hospital stay, and hospitalization cost were analyzed.
Results: 482 patients participated in this study, 242 (50.2%) had NRS 2002 score ≥ 3 and 359 (74.5%) had PG-SGA score ≥ 4. The detection rate of PG-SGA was significantly higher than that of NRS 2002. In patients with serum albumin <35 g/L and prealbumin <0.2 g/L, the detection rates of NRS 2002 and PG-SGA were 67.8% and 93.4%, and 66.4% and 88.8%, respectively, with significant difference. Both NRS 2002 and PG-SGA scores were associated with albumin, pre-albumin, and BMI (P<0.05).
Conclusions: PG-SGA has greater sensitivity than NRS 2002 in assessing nutritional status for patients with common malignancies and is more appropriate for nutritional assessment of cancer patients.


Abstract. Detailed analyses of the Lake Van pollen, Ca / K ratio, and stable oxygen isotope record allow the identification of millennial-scale vegetation and environmental changes in eastern Anatolia throughout the last glacial (~ 111.5–11.7 ka BP). The climate of the last glacial was cold and dry, indicated by low arboreal pollen (AP) levels. The driest and coldest period corresponds to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 (~ 28–14.5 ka BP), which was dominated by highest values of xerophytic steppe vegetation. Our high-resolution multi-proxy record shows rapid expansions and contractions of tree populations that reflect variability in temperature and moisture availability. These rapid vegetation and environmental changes can be related to the stadial-interstadial pattern of Dansgaard–Oeschger (DO) events as recorded in the Greenland ice cores. Periods of reduced moisture availability were characterized by enhanced occurrence of xerophytic species and high terrigenous input from the Lake Van catchment area. Furthermore, the comparison with the marine realm reveals that the complex atmosphere–ocean interaction can be explained by the strength and position of the westerlies, which are responsible for the supply of humidity in eastern Anatolia. Influenced by the diverse topography of the Lake Van catchment, more pronounced DO interstadials (e.g., DO 19, 17–16, 14, 12 and 8) show the strongest expansion of temperate species within the last glacial. However, Heinrich events (HE), characterized by highest concentrations of ice-rafted debris (IRD) in marine sediments, cannot be separated from other DO stadials based on the vegetation composition in eastern Anatolia. In addition, this work is a first attempt to establish a continuous microscopic charcoal record for the last glacial in the Near East. It documents an immediate response to millennial-scale climate and environmental variability and enables us to shed light on the history of fire activity during the last glacial.


Title of thesis: BACKSTEPPING CONTROL DESIGN FOR THE COORDINATED MOTION OF VEHICLES IN A FLOWFIELD Rochelle Mellish, Master of Science, 2011 Thesis directed by: Dr. Derek A. Paley Department of Aerospace Engineering Motion coordination of autonomous vehicles has applications from target surveillance to climate monitoring. Previous research has yielded stabilizing formation control laws for a self-propelled vehicle model with first-order rotational dynamics; however this model does not adequately describe the rotational and translational dynamics of vehicles in the atmosphere or ocean. This thesis describes the design of decentralized algorithms to control self-propelled vehicles with second-order rotational and translational dynamics. Backstepping controls for parallel and circular formations are designed in the absence of a flowfield and in a steady, uniform flowfield. Backstepping and proportional-integral controllers are then used to stabilize yaw in a rigid-body model. Feedback linearization is used to attain the desired forward speed. These formation control laws extend prior results to a more realistic vehicle model. Aside from the addition of new sensing and communication requirements, the second-order control laws are demonstrated to have comparable performance to the first-order controllers. The theoretical results are illustrated by numerical simulations. BACKSTEPPING CONTROL DESIGN FOR THE COORDINATED MOTION OF VEHICLES IN A FLOWFIELD


Explanatory annotations make Hobbes's sometimes archaic prose accessible to students. The text is based on the 1909 Oxford University Press edition, which in turn was based on one of the most fully corrected copies of the text that was widely available to readers in the seventeenth century. The editors have also noted variations between this text and other authoritative editions. Backgrounds includes writings on Hobbes's life; selections from his responses to criticism of the book; and criticism and reactions to the work by Sir Robert Filmer, James Harrington, Bishop Bramhall, Edward Hyde (the earl of Clarendon), Gottfried Wilheim Leibniz, Montesquieu, and Henry Sedgwick. Interpretations collects eight of the most important assessments of Hobbes and Leviathan written in the last forty years, including writings by Leo Strauss, Michael Oakeshott, Johann P. Sommerville, Richard Tuck, Jean Hampton, David Johnston, George Kateb, and Richard E. Flathman. Also included in this edition are a Selected Bibliography, Glossary of Terms, and Index of Authorities Cited in the work.


Theoretical immunology constitutes a critical basis of all medical discoveries. Immunology has been dominated since the 1940s by the self/nonself model. Here we try to shed light on the origins of this theoretical model and to show how and why this model has been called into question during the last thirty years. This paper has three aims. Firstly, we explore the sources of the immune self, going upstream from immunology to ecology-biology, psychology and eventually philosophy. Here the key questions : is the immune self really analogous with the philosophical and psychological selves in which it originates? What is the signification and adequacy of such a conceptual borrowing? We suggest that the << self >> vocabulary in immunology is not clear and precise. Secondly, we present the experimental inadequacies of the self/non-self model. We show then how both the vagueness of the term << self >> and these experimental flaws casted doubt on theories of immunology. Among the several models that have been proposed recently, none has attracted a consensus. Some immunologists have even suggested that immunology should rid itself of theorical concerns and concentrate on molecular aspects. This suggestion, however, is unacceptable\; hence it is still necessary to find a theoretical framework for immunology. Finally, we try to suggest a way to escape this uncomfortable situation of doubt. The immune << self >> and the immune << system >> (<< network >>) are rooted in strong metaphysical conceptions of identity, the main characteristic of which is to consider the organism as an enclosed and self-constructing entity. By contrast, based on experimental data about immune tolerance and host-pathogen interactions, we propose to consider organisms as open entities. To what theory does this conception lead? What would be the consequences of such a theory with regard to medical aspects?


Abstract Theory and research indicates that individuals with more frequent positive emotions are better at attaining goals at work and in everyday life. In the current study we examined whether the expression of genuine positive emotions by scientists was positively correlated with work-related accomplishments, defined by bibliometric (e.g. number of citations) and sociometric (number of followers for scholarly updates) indices. Using a sample of 440 scientists from a social networking site for researchers, multiple raters coded smile intensity (full smile, partial smile, or no smile) in publicly available photographs. We found that scientists who presented a full smile had the same quantity of publications yet of higher quality (e.g. citations per paper) and attracted more followers to their updates compared to less positive emotionally expressive peers; results remained after controlling for age and sex. Thin-slicing approaches to the beneficial effects of positive emotionality offer an ecologically valid approach to complement experimental and longitudinal evidence. Evidence linking positive emotional expressions to scientific impact and social influence provides further support for broaden and build models of positive emotions.


Objectives Clinical characterisation studies have been essential in helping inform research, diagnosis and clinical management efforts, particularly early in a pandemic. This systematic review summarises the early literature on clinical characteristics of patients admitted to hospital, and evaluates the quality of evidence produced during the initial stages of the pandemic. Methods MEDLINE, EMBASE and Global Health databases were searched for studies published from January 1st 2020 to April 28th 2020. Studies which reported on at least 100 hospitalised patients with Covid-19 of any age were included. Data on clinical characteristics were independently extracted by two review authors. Study design specific critical appraisal tools were used to evaluate included studies: the Newcastle Ottawa scale for cohort and cross sectional studies, Joanna Briggs Institute checklist for case series and the Cochrane collaboration tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials. Results The search yielded 78 studies presenting data on 77,443 people. Most studies (82%) were conducted in China. No studies included patients from low- and middle-income countries. The overall quality of included studies was low to moderate, and the majority of studies did not include a control group. Fever and cough were the most commonly reported symptoms early in the pandemic. Laboratory and imaging findings were diverse with lymphocytopenia and ground glass opacities the most common findings respectively. Clinical data in children and vulnerable populations were limited. Conclusions The early Covid-19 literature had moderate to high risk of bias and presented several methodological issues. Early clinical characterisation studies should aim to include different at-risk populations, including patients in non-hospital settings. Pandemic preparedness requires collection tools to ensure observational studies are methodologically robust and will help produce high-quality data early on in the pandemic to guide clinical practice and public health policy. Review registration Available at https://osf.io/mpafn


Software testing is an important means of software quality assurance, the automatic generation of test data has been widely studied. By analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the genetic algorithm ?the particle swarm optimization algorithm and the ant colony algorithm, the paper proposes a new improved particle swarm optimization algorithm in the automatic generation of test data. By the artificial immune algorithm is introduced into the particle swarm algorithm, the diversity of the individual is kept in the improved strategy, and it can overcome the local optimum problem of standard particle swarm optimization algorithm. The overall search capability as well as the performance of the standard algorithm is enhanced. Finally experiment proves the feasibility and efficiency of the algorithm in software testing.


Drucker J. An evaluation of competitive industrial structure and regional manufacturing employment change, Regional Studies. This paper examines the relationship between regional industrial structure and employment change in the manufacturing sector and nineteen subsectors in the United States from 1987 to 1997. The relative associations of economic diversity, industrial specialization and competitive structure with economic performance are assessed using a non-causal regression framework. Multiple facets of industrial structure at the regional scale, including competitive structure, are considered together by exploiting confidential microdata to construct and evaluate detailed metrics across broad geographic and industrial ranges. The findings suggest the importance of industrial competitive structure for understanding regional employment change, economic performance and industrial development.


We propose to extend demographic multistate models with a behavioural element linking intentions to behaviour. Concretely, behavioral rules explain intentions and thus transitions. Our framework is inspired by the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Model parameters are determined using empirical data if available. We exemplify our approach with a model of migration from Senegal to Southern Europe. Our approach adds to the toolkit of demographic projection by allowing for shocks and social influence which alter behaviour in nonlinear ways, while sticking to the general framework of multistate modelling.


This paper sets out a theory of torts and cyberspace wrongs. Its goal is to set out a sparse theoretical account of tort law and apply it to cyberspace torts, both negligent and intentional. I approach this goal by applying the framework of property rules and liability rules to cyberspace torts. That framework suggests that trespass doctrine is appropriate in instances of cyber-invasions of private information resources, such as the breaking of codes to access private information on the web. However, trespass doctrine should play no role in cyber-invasions of public information resources, such as the sending of spam email. I also examine indirect liability claims against operating system sellers or internet service providers for the harms caused by cyberspace actors (e.g., virus writers, copyright violators). The theory presented here suggests that the basis for strict indirect liability is weak. Finally, the theory suggests that immunity rules should play a role in this area, though in a smaller set of instances than those protected by the Communications Decency Act.


IN OTHER JOURNALS . . . 649 MEDICAL EDUCATION AND HARD SCIENCE Medical education in Australia is a work in progress. Self-directed and problem-based learning have all but displaced didactic teaching. Some of our medical schools are now graduateentry entities, and all have changed their entry requirements to a combination of academic excellence and performance at interview. Curricula have been trimmed and made more cohesive. The hard sciences — anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, pathology, pharmacology and microbiology — now make room for behavioural and social sciences. These changes have been made to produce "a well-rounded professional [who] demonstrates: knowledge, clinical competence, lifelong learning, evidence-based practice, interdisciplinary teamwork, balance between disease management and disease prevention/health promotion . . ."* as well as communication skills and compassion! But what do doctors think of all this? Medical students in the UK and Australia have called for more, not less, hard science. At a crowded session at the national conference of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, a plenary panel of academics and surgeons lamented the downgrading of anatomy in medical courses and called for its revival, and a medical student's account of his limited exposure to anatomy, his questioning of social sciences, and his sharing of the charades of problem-based learning was followed by thunderous applause clearly reflecting the audience's sentiments on modern medical education. Accommodating the wishes of medicine's many splinter groups is unrealistic, but academia needs to consult with the profession more widely and counter the scepticism with solid educational evidence garnered not with soft but hard science.


In her (auto)biographical narrative China Men,(1) Maxine Hong Kingston searches for and reconstructs the history of her (fore)fathers through a complex narrative that accesses memory, "talk-story," imagination, historical "facts" and documents, photographs, Chinese legends and folklore, and newspaper articles. Hong Kingston's narrative arrives at a knowledge of her (fore)fathers' identities and histories, as well as her own, via these sources, and in so doing equalizes the truth value of memory, "factual" accounts, imagination, and documented "proof." Her treatment of photographs in China Men is not confined to a reconstruction of her male ancestors' past and history, but also plays a prominent role in the narrative of her immediate family's more recent past. Moreover, Hong Kingston's own apparent view of the photograph is a diverse and often seemingly contradictory one: as a child she tells of innocently believing that a photograph may lie; yet, as an adult she seems to hold the equally naive belief that the photograph is capable of telling the truth.(2) Hong Kingston also interrogates the multiple functions of the photograph in both American culture, and within her own family. In her narrative, photographs are documents of self-evident proof and silent communications from the past which speak only when she names them. In addition, Hong Kingston examines the status of the photograph as document, a document that can attest to a personal and communal history of Chinese American presence, as well as contribute to an erasure of that presence in America. Finally, photographs in China Men are both failed attempts to capture an event or person(s) as unchanged and present ("as they are"), and tools for fabricating a successful "American" to send home to loved ones in China. Far from undermining the history she discovers and creates, Hong Kingston's plural and contradictory treatment of the photograph parallels the multiple and self-contradicting versions of the histories she presents, exposing and challenging dominant American history as a monologue that has silenced and erased the histories of Chinese Americans. Traditionally, the photograph has been seen in Western culture as a re-presentation of nature, an unmediated transcription of reality onto film.(3) This notion of photography as veracity endows the photograph with the capacity to prove, to either present factual evidence or stand as a fact itself. And this belief in the photograph as proof extends beyond Roland Barthes' assertion in Camera Lucida that "in Photography I can never deny that the thing has been there" (76), to an unquestioned acceptance that the photograph presents us with a faithful reproduction of what "has been there." The very act of photography as interpretive (the photographer chooses what to photograph, the camera is controlled), and necessarily selective (the photograph is limited by the camera's field of vision--the frame), is denied in favor of the photograph's construction as presence, truth, fact, and proof. The photograph has gained the status of document in our culture, both as a verifiable document of "reality," and also as the product of a medium ostensibly able to document the monologic narrative of conventional Western history. However, the "innocence" of the photograph as a simple metonymy has not gone unquestioned, and all philosophies or reflections on photography argue that the photograph is a means of communication, rather than a piece of factual evidence. Moreover, what the photograph communicates arises only from the meaning we ascribe to it; meaning does not inhere in the photograph itself. The photograph, then, can only verify the meaning we simultaneously invest in, and extract from, it. Rather than presenting an evidential and singular Truth, the photograph's silence invites the speculation of multiple meanings, characterizing it, Susan Sontag states, as "a polylogue" (173).(4) Because its silence can be invested with more than one possible meaning, the photograph may also be enlisted by the dominant culture in the service of obtaining and maintaining power. …


Background: Among the many cannabinoids in the cannabis plant, cannabidiol (CBD) is a compound that does not produce the typical subjective effects of marijuana. Objectives: The aim of the present review is to describe the main advances in the development of the experimental and clinical use of cannabidiol CBD in neuropsychiatry. Methods: A non-systematic search was performed for studies dealing with therapeutic applications of CBD, especially performed by Brazilian researchers. Results: CBD was shown to have anxiolytic, antipsychotic and neuroprotective properties. In addition, basic and clinical investigations on the effects of CBD have been carried out in the context of many other health conditions, including its potential use in epilepsy, substance abuse and dependence, schizophrenia, social phobia, post-traumatic stress, depression, bipolar disorder, sleep disorders, and Parkinson. Discussion: CBD is an useful and promising molecule that may help patients with a number of clinical conditions. Controlled clinical trials with different neuropsychiatric populations that are currently under investigation should bring important answers in the near future and support the translation of research findings to clinical settings.


Communication has changed dramatically in recent years due to the dawn of new ICT technologies and the need of people to communicate in real time. This paper will introduce a little communication theory as a background, compare current technologies and finally introduce a smart, efficient and secure communication platform. It will furthermore address further improvements to the new platform. 1.1 Communication means sharing information Nowadays information has an unprecedented importance. It has never been easier to share information with other entities. An information is based on characters that are connected via a syntax and grammar to form data. Setting this data into context is information. "Sharing information" creates knowledge and to share information one must communicate. There must be a sender and a receiver who communicate. It surrounds our everyday life more than ever, especially at work. Communication can reach different degrees of efficiency and organized in various ways. Efficiency can be determined by individual skills of participants as well as differences in the established communication structure and culture [1]. Communication can be ranked in terms of relevance. Should this information be accessible by everyone or just a special group of people? Or is there one specified recipient for one specific information. Depending on this classification and the criticality of the transferred information a secured and trustworthy environment may be needed. Technologically speaking this means to establish a trust and security level through end to end encryption or at least transport layer encryption to secure the transmission. Adding such security measures will result in a complex system which can create a trustworthy connectedness of the participating entities. Corporate communication includes every communication process no matter if it is inor outbound. This includes the sharing of information between employees as well as communication of the corporation to employees. Through communication an organization gains knowledge and if this knowledge is managed properly an organization can draw strategic decisions from it which gives them competitive advantages. That is why communication is such an integral part of modern businesses [2].


Vital-sign monitoring of patients within a hospital setting is a big component in the recognition and treatment of early signs of deterioration. Current vital-sign monitoring systems, including both manual early warning systems, and more sophisticated data fusion systems, typically make use of the most recently recorded data, and are unable to deal with missing data in a principled manner. The latter is particularly pertinent in the field of ambulatory monitoring, in which patient movement can result in sensor disconnections and other artefact. This paper presents a Gaussian process regression technique for estimating missing data and how it can be incorporated within an automated data fusion monitoring system. The technique is then demonstrated using vital-sign data from a recent clinical study conducted at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, showing an improvement over an existing data fusion algorithm by providing both an estimate of missing vital sign data and the uncertainty in the estimated value.


Designing and implementing a health financing policy for universal coverage is relatively simple in principle but complex in practice. This issue of the Bulletin explores how it can be done, drawing lessons from several country experiences.

Equity of access to health services of all types is key to universal coverage policy. High levels of out-of-pocket payments, including user fees, are still pervasive in many countries, limiting the ability of people to use services. Lagarde and Palmer (839–848) reinforce earlier evidence that removing or reducing user fees increases utilization, at least in the short term. Leive and Xu (849–856) illustrate another problem of out-of-pocket payments, showing that many households in 15 African countries cope by borrowing or by selling assets, i.e. they use their savings and go into debt, thereby restricting long-term economic survival.

An important challenge therefore is to shift away from out-of-pocket payments through the development of prepayment schemes. The development of such health financing schemes may take time and the overall country context matters; these two issues are discussed by Carrin et al. (857–863), who also address the importance of establishing appropriate rules and incentives for the organizations that are involved in implementing these policies. The development of strategies for universal coverage will vary according to country circumstances and constraints, illustrated by El-Idrissi et al. (902–904) for Algeria and Morocco. Prepayment schemes can take many forms on the road to universal coverage. In Mali, membership of community or mutual health insurance schemes has a positive effect on access to priority health services, shown by Miller Franco et al. (830–838).

Moving towards prepayment is important but in many settings additional funds will also be critical. Prakongsai et al. (898–901) examine the advantages and disadvantages of earmarking revenues specifically for health, a mechanism often advocated by health professionals. Kaddar and Furrer (877–883) show that international debt relief initiatives can be used to supplement other sources of funding for health and that ministries of health can seek access to these resources.

The role of external aid in expanding the funding for health in the African region is debated in the round table (889–895). Kirigia and Diarra-Nama propose several key strategies that would allow countries to eventually wean themselves off international donor funding, essentially involving the better use and management of domestic resources. Ooms and Van Damme highlight, however, the huge gaps between current health expenditures in most low-income settings and any realistic concept of the minimum expenditure necessary to ensure universal access. They argue that sustained, increased and predictable international health aid is essential. Masyie agrees that enhanced effective mobilization and use of domestic resources should be part of Africa's strategy.

From a macroeconomic point of view, large inflows of aid risk, at least in theory, increasing domestic inflation and appreciating the real exchange rate with subsequent harmful effects on economic growth, as is explained by Cavagnero et al. (864–870). They show, however, that in practice the magnitude of this risk varies across countries and in most cases could be managed appropriately.

Available funds must also be raised and pooled in a way that allows cross-subsidization across income groups and the financial risks of illness to be shared between the sick and the healthy. In general, multiple, small risk pools (e.g. insurance schemes or district health services funded by local taxes) will not be viable without some mechanism for transferring funds between them according to the risk profiles and incomes of their populations. McIntyre et al. (871–876) bring together experience from Ghana, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania to illustrate the significance of enhanced integration of health financing mechanisms in terms of contribution schedules and benefit packages. Smith (884–888) draws on the long experience of formula funding in England's National Health Service to show how funds can be transferred between geographical areas in the interest of equity and efficiency.

Resource allocation towards health promotion activities within the context of the social health insurance schemes in Japan and Mongolia is scrutinized by Bayarsaikhan (896–897). In both countries, social health insurance revenues can be tapped as a novel source of financing health promotion.

Finally, Mathonnat (905–906) comments on Herbert Klarman's classic article on public intervention in financing health and medical services. He reminds us that Klarman's views, on the role of philanthropy in health financing and on the need for governments to stimulate more efficient health systems and to pay particular attention to health-care access for the poor, are still valid today; they are particularly relevant on this 30th anniversary of the Alma-Ata conference and the renewed focus on health for all.

There is now general consensus that health financing systems should be developed to achieve universal coverage. This Bulletin theme issue aims to illustrate the diversity of factors that policy-makers must consider when devising appropriate financing policies. We hope that it helps countries to move more quickly in their chosen direction. ■


The "tremendous force of analogy", with which Henry aims achieved
confrontation of fissured aspects of personality and of culture
"in the depths of the house, of the past, of that mystical other
world that might have flourished", is conspicuous in the poetry
of Edwin Arlington Robinson. It is more than the mere dynamic
of image-making, which characterises much poetry of the present
age. It is infused in Robinson's attitude to life, his
psychological realism, his implied values, and his primary
symbols. Like the sailor in "Lost Anchors", the poet made of
his 'legend' 'a manifest Analogy.' (p.578)
The Robinsonian Analogy is a predominantly psychological
structure proportioned according to the poet's main interest -
human nature - and essential aim - inferential disclosure of
inner realities. It is a dark house in which the occupants
live and die psychic lives and psychic deaths. It is not unlike
James' "house on the jolly corner", the archetypal analogy of
man and house of which Spencer Brydon, the central character in
"The jolly Corner", becomes so acutely aware in the time of his
spiritual crisis: "The quaint analogy quite hauntingly remained with him,
when he didn't indeed rather improve it by a still
intenser form : that of his opening a door behind which
he would have made sure of finding nothing, a door into
a room shuttered and void, and yet so coming, with a
great suppressed start, on some quite erect confronting
presence, something planted in the middle of the place
and facing him through the dusk."
The house symbolism and the "alter-ego" situation depicted
in "The jolly Corner" are comparable to Robinsan's poetic
postulates, the significance of which are more clearly perceived
in terms of psychological analogies.
Psychoanalysis has drawn attention to the ontogenetic and
phylogenetic significance of house symbolism. James and Robinson
found the symbol to be a convenient means of expressing psychic
dilemma and of depicting, in plausible images, aspects of the
unconscious life. A man wanders through the darkness of his
house, opening and closing "mortal', 'inner', 'wrong' or 'forgotten'
doors (as the poet variously describes them), in quest of identity,
in search of his soul. 'This treacherous and imperfect house
of man' (p.1028), the poet describes him on one occasion. He
may be, like Brydon, on the "threshold" of self—realisation or,
like Avon in Avon' s Harvest, on the edge of doom. He may, like
Nightingale in The Glory of the Nightingales, erect a pretentious
mansion on a foundation of evil and guilt ; or, like Bartholow
in Roman Bartholow, finally escape his 'ancestral prison'. Mere are still some gods to please,
And houses are built without hands, we're told." (p.48)
Penn-Raven tells Bartholow that his "dreams have taken" him
"far from home" (p.819) ; gives the example of a man, who
"Sure that his house that was not made with hands
Was built forever, was too sure to see;" (p.820)
and later observes that "Negation is a careless architect." (p.826)
Matthias heeds similar warnings of his own "inner voice",
actually a projection phantasy, and at the end prepares to
restore the 'tower' of 'self'. Be learns, like Brydon, that:
"the development of personality moans more than the mere fear
of bringing monsters into the world, or the fear of isolation.
It also means fidelity to the law of one's being."
The more mature of Robinson 's characters share Brydonls
psychologically "prodigious journey" and experience "a sensation
more complex than had ever before found itself consistent with
sanity", while the more unhappy representatives of human
psychology, of whom Avon is the most conclusive example, are
destroyed in the "rage of personality"...
"the stranger, whoever he might be, evil, odious, blatant,
vulgar, had advanced as for aggression, and he knew
himself give ground.. Then harder pressed still, sick
with the force of his shock, and falling back as under the
hot breath and the roused passion of a life larger
than his own, a rage of personality before which
his own collapsed, he felt the whole vision
turn to darkness and his very feet give way." The vision turned to darkness, the struggle upward for the
light, in the 'buried' rooms of the dark house ... such is
the psychology, such the parable, such the 'manifest Analogy',
of Edwin Arlington Robinson's poetry.


BACKGROUND
Experimental studies in animals and observational studies in humans suggest that regular aspirin use may decrease the risk of colorectal adenomas, the precursors to most colorectal cancers.

METHODS
We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial to determine the effect of aspirin on the incidence of colorectal adenomas. We randomly assigned 635 patients with previous colorectal cancer to receive either 325 mg of aspirin per day or placebo. We determined the proportion of patients with adenomas, the number of recurrent adenomas, and the time to the development of adenoma between randomization and subsequent colonoscopic examinations. Relative risks were adjusted for age, sex, cancer stage, the number of colonoscopic examinations, and the time to a first colonoscopy. The study was terminated early by an independent data and safety monitoring board when statistically significant results were reported during a planned interim analysis.

RESULTS
A total of 517 randomized patients had at least one colonoscopic examination a median of 12.8 months after randomization. One or more adenomas were found in 17 percent of patients in the aspirin group and 27 percent of patients in the placebo group (P=0.004). The mean (+/-SD) number of adenomas was lower in the aspirin group than the placebo group (0.30+/-0.87 vs. 0.49+/-0.99, P=0.003 by the Wilcoxon test). The adjusted relative risk of any recurrent adenoma in the aspirin group, as compared with the placebo group, was 0.65 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.46 to 0.91). The time to the detection of a first adenoma was longer in the aspirin group than in the placebo group (hazard ratio for the detection of a new polyp, 0.64; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.43 to 0.94; P=0.022).

CONCLUSIONS
Daily use of aspirin is associated with a significant reduction in the incidence of colorectal adenomas in patients with previous colorectal cancer.


The genome of the maize pathogen Cochliobolus heterostrophus encodes three unlinked monofunctional catalase-encoding (CAT) genes that singly or in combination could offer protection against the harmful effects of oxidative stress. Phylogenetic analysis placed the CAT2 and CAT3 proteins in a cluster with large subunit catalases (CAT3 has a secretory signal sequence and was grouped with known secreted catalases), whereas CAT1 clustered with small subunit catalases. Single, double, and triple cat mutants were created and screened for sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide and altered virulence on maize. All mutants deficient in CAT3 had enhanced sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide, as compared with wild type or with mutants deficient in CAT1, CAT2, or both. All catalase-deficient mutants had normal virulence to maize. Thus, the secreted CAT3 protein protects the fungus from oxidative stress during vegetative growth, but members of this enzyme family, alone or in combination, are not essential for virulence.


This study investigated the introduction of computers into the Iranian educational systern, the rationale for introducing the Computer Studies course, and most importantly. the implementation process. The first main focus of the study was to identify the factors and conditions that were important in the computer implementation process. The second focus was to examine how these factors relate to modeis of implementation of innovation, particularly to Fullan's model which was used as the theoretical framework, and to examine the strengths and weaknesse; of his model as applied to the situation of Iran and other developing countries. Participants were sarnples of different groups invoived in the innovation, namely policy makers. principals, teachers, computer lab managers, students and parents. The data collected consisted of questionnaires, semi-stmctured interviews, policy documents and on-site observations in Iranian high schools in Isfahan (one of the largest Iranian cities). The high rate of questionnaire retums and interview participation demonstrated the participants' interest in cooperating to improve the computer education in Iranian high schools. The results of the study confirm that the identified implementation issues in using computers in Iranian schools acre similar to those in other developing countries. e-g., lack of hardware. software and maintenance, lack of trained people, lack of clarity about the objectives, motivational problems, gender inequity in relation to using cornputers, and the programrning language used as well as the little educational software that was available was in English and culturally inappropriate. The findings also indicated that certain characteristics of the Iranian situation that strongly influenced the implementation process are not emphasized, or overlooked in the theoretical assurnptions of the more common models of implementation derived from expenence in western industrialized countries. On the basis of these findings, the researcher offered suggestions both for additional elements to be considered in fomulating theones of implementation for developing countries and for measures to be taken by national authorities such as those in Iran for coping with technological change in schools. The study was innovative in that it examined the role of situational factors. in particular factors of traditional societies in transition: socio-economic, socio-cultural factors and political stability, in the irnplementation of technological change. The data provided substantial evidence for the importance of sociocultural and socio-economic factors in the implernentation of the Cornputer Studies course. However, political stability was not dealt with in-depth and needs more research. Any implernentation modei should take into consideration the role of situational factors in a given


Like many transcription factors important for animal development, members of the Hox protein family instigate multiple tissue-specific developmental programs. In each tissue, an individual Hox protein regulates a different subset of gene targets. Consequently, Hox proteins must sense positional information from the cell and select different DNA binding targets in response. Furthermore, Hox proteins must sense which gene it has bound and select which mode of transcription regulation – activation or repression – to implement at each site. Our studies with the Drosophila Hox protein Ultrabithorax (Ubx) in vitro and in vivo demonstrate that interplay between intramolecular and intermolecular protein interactions involving intrinsically disordered regions play key roles in these sense and select mechanisms. The Ubx protein comprises a structured DNA-binding homeodomain, which accounts for ∼15% of the protein, short elements with predicted helical structure, and two large intrinsically disordered regions. Most of the protein sequence influences DNA-binding affinity by the homeodomain. The two intrinsically disordered regions directly contact the homeodomain and impact DNA-binding specificity as well. Consequently, protein interaction regions, alternatively spliced sequences, and phosphorylation sites embedded within these disordered regions provide an opportunity for cellular events to modulate DNA binding. In particular, the C-terminal intrinsically disordered region appears to act as a tissue identity sensor. This region consists of a binding motif for the Hox cofactor Exd, separated from the homeodomain by alternatively spliced disordered segments. Intramolecular interactions allow the motif to prevent monomer binding to Ubx–Exd composite sequences. As the distance between the motif and the homeodomain is shortened by splicing, DNA binding by Ubx monomers and multimers is inhibited as well. Tissue identity determines both Exd availability and the identity of the Ubx splicing isoform, which together dictates which subset of Ubx target sequences is bound: high affinity monomer sites, low affinity monomer sites, and/or Ubx–Exd heterodimer sites. The N-terminal disordered region binds transcription factors that subdivide Ubx-specified tissues, and thus may transmit positional information within the tissue to the homeodomain. Conversely, DNA binding triggers a large conformational change in Ubx which exposes these intrinsically disordered regions to solvent. This conformational change in Ubx varies with the DNA sequence bound, providing a mechanism for the DNA sequence to influence protein interactions and transcription regulation. The reciprocal nature of these interactions reinforces and stabilizes "correct" Ubx-DNA complexes, generating the reliability that is a necessary part of Hox function.


This paper addresses the challenge of developing techniques for the effective teaching of computer network design. It reports on the experience of using the technique of problem-based learning as a key pedagogical method for teaching practical network design within the context of a Master's program module in data telecommunications and networks at the University of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, U.K. A two-threaded approach was adopted that comprised a problem-based learning thread and a conventional lecture thread. The problem-based learning thread within the module comprised sessions designed to place the students in the position of network design consultants who are introduced to scenarios that have a high degree of realism in which a client has specific business requirements that can be met through the adoption of a network solution. In this way, the problem-based learning thread allows the students to develop their design skills, while the lecture thread uses traditional teaching methods to allow students to develop their understanding of key network components and architectures. A formal evaluation of this approach has been carried out and demonstrated a very effective and realistic learning experience for the students. Therefore, the authors propose that problem-based learning is an ideal pedagogical tool for the teaching of computer network design.


The Tinkertoy graphical interface to Lisp is described, in which programs are 'built' rather than written, out of icons and flexible interconnections. It represents a computer/user interface that can easily exceed the interaction speed of the best text-based language editors and command languages. It also provides a consistent framework for interaction across both editing and command execution. Moreover, because programs are represented graphically, structures that do not naturally conform to the text medium can be clearly described, the new kinds of information can be incorporated into programs and program elements. >


A clinical, psychophysical, and electrophysiologic study was undertaken of two autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa pedigrees with a genetic mutation assigned to chromosome 19q by linkage analysis. Members with the abnormal haplotype were either symptomatic with adolescent onset nyctalopia, restricted visual fields, and non-detectable electroretinographic responses by 30 years of age, or asymptomatic with normal fundus appearance and minimal or no psychophysical or electroretinographic abnormalities. There was no correlation in the severity in parents and their offspring. Pedigree analysis suggested that although the offspring of parents with the genetic mutation were at 50% risk of having the genetic defect, the risk of being symptomatic during a working lifetime was only 31%. Such bimodal phenotypic expressivity in these particular pedigrees may be explained by a second, allelic genetic influence and may be a phenomenon unique to this genetic locus. Genetic counselling in families expressing this phenotype can only be based on haplotype analysis since clinical investigations, even in the most elderly, would not preclude the presence of the mutant gene.


Most gold deposits of the northern Piedmont of Georgia are within the Dahlonega gold belt and the Carroll County gold belt. Together these belts can be traced across Georgia from Alabama to North Carolina and consist of at least 217 abandoned mines and prospects. The overwhelming majority of the gold deposits occurs within the New Georgia Group, with a small number occurring within the western belt of the Sandy Springs Group. Important host rocks for the gold deposits include mafic and felsic metavolcanics of the Pumpkinvine Creek Formation, metasediments and metavolcanics of the Canton Formation, metavolcanics of the Mud Creek Formation, meta-igneous rocks of the Kellogg Creek mafic complex, and metavolcanics and metasediments of the Univeter Formation. Most gold deposits of the Dahlonega and Carroll County belts can be grouped into six districts: the Villa Rica district, the Burnt Hickory Ridge district, the South Canton district, the Auraria district, the Dahlonega district, and the White County district. Gold was mined intermittently from the Dahlonega and Carroll County belts from 1829 to 1935. Production from these belts accounted for the majority of the recorded statewide production of just over one-half million ounces.An extrapolation of metamorphism dates from the southern Piedmont suggests that rocks in the Dahlonega and Carroll County gold belts were metamorphosed to at least greenschist facies (biotite subfacies) and as high as amphibolite facies (kyanite subfacies) in the Late Devonian approximately 365 million years ago and were affected by four fold generations. Rocks of the New Georgia Group are interpreted as the oldest rocks in the Dahlonega and Carroll County belts. The New Georgia Group is composed predominantly of metavolcanic rocks and grades upward into the overlying Sandy Springs Group, a predominantly metased-imentary sequence.Whole-rock and trace element chemistry of mafic metavolcanic host rocks and the presence of abundant interlayered metasediments strongly suggest that rocks of the Dahlonega and Carroll County gold belts were deposited in a back-arc basin environment. Contemporaneous with the deposition of the rocks within the back-arc basin, convecting thermal waters leached gold from underlying rocks. Upon reaching the sea floor in the vicinity of a vent, gold was precipitated in siliceous horizons (exhalites) or was incorporated into contemporaneous tuffs, flows, and sediments. Subsequently, during metamorphism and deformation of the host rocks, gold and other elements were remobilized and redeposited in structurally controlled ore shoots in the siliceous horizons. Gold originally incorporated into contemporaneous tuffs, flows, and sediments migrated to structurally controlled sites (fold hinges, shear zones, cleavages, etc.) in these host rocks, thus giving rise to two types of deposits: ore shoots in metamorphosed, auriferous siliceous horizons, and gold-bearing quartz bodies ("sweat-outs") derived from metamorphosed auriferous host rocks. Exposure and weathering of the gold deposits resulted in a supergene enrichment of gold in the weathered horizon (saprolite) and a mechanical and chemical concentration of gold in placers.


The chapter maps the nursing practices on active service overseas that recovered men including, body care, feeding work, the management of pain and support for the dying. These four areas of nursing practice are commonly associated with nursing work, yet, as the chapter argues, in war zones, they demanded complex gendered negotiations. Comfort care placed the single female nurse too close to the naked male body and feeding work was allied to mothering, rather than professional practice. In the absence of sufficient medical officers in a war zone, pain relief demanded the development of scientific skills of diagnosis and prescription. The chapter examines how the nurses managed these contradictions to develop an understanding of the critical role of fundamental nursing care and create a space for themselves as experts by the bedside.


POPE BENEDICT XVI's recent trip to Britain has placed Catholic teaching on conscience again in the public eye. On his pilgrimage in September 2010, Benedict beatified the English convert John Henry Newman, among whose most famous writings are those dealing with the dignity of conscience, and the Holy Father's address to the British Parliament in Westminster Hall repeatedly referred to another Englishman important to Catholic thinking on conscience, St. Thomas More. In his Westminster Hall address, the pope suggested that More's case is particularly relevant in the midst of modern secularism, where it is often advised that Christians serving in public roles "should be required at times to act against their conscience." (1) Much of Catholic social thought on conscience, in fact, could have been written with More's case in mind. Leo XIII and Pius XI, the two popes who wrote most extensively on conscience between the First and Second Vatican Councils, beatified and canonized More in 1886 and 1935, respectively. Leo and Pius showed particular concern to defend the rights of Catholic consciences against interference from hostile civil governments, and their writings set the stage for the memorable passages in Gaudium et Spes and Dignitatis Humanae in which Vatican II addressed the subject directly. The Council's treatment of conscience expands upon these popes' teaching but remains in essential continuity with the earlier tradition. Since the Council, the main focus of magisterial writings on conscience has been to defend this tradition's objective underpinnings. Magisterial teaching on the individual conscience has insisted upon its grounding in objective truth and the natural law. Neither the papal writings on conscience before or after the Council, nor the documents of Vatican II itself, can be adequately understood without grasping this connection to the natural law. Conscience from Leo XIII toVatican II Leo XIII (1878-1903) is perhaps best known for his encyclical Rerum novarum (1891), which provided the foundation for much of later Catholic thought on issues relating to economics. (2) Throughout the encyclical, Leo demonstrates evident concern with the living and working conditions of the laboring classes, the possibility of social unrest and violence as a result of class disparities, and the rise of socialist movements. The threat of violent revolution and the rise of governments hostile to the Church in some parts of Europe cast a shadow over many of Leo's writings. In a number of encyclicals, Leo seeks to define the relationship between Church, State, society, and the individual Catholic. He particularly wrestles with the concept of freedom, seeking always to preserve two important principles: the freedom of Catholics to fulfill their religious duties and the sense that freedom is not absolute and must be limited by the demands of truth and justice. In doing so, he upholds what will appear again and again as an important principle of Catholic social thought, the dependence of freedom upon truth. These themes appear already in one of Leo's earlier encyclicals, Diuturnum (1881), written in response to the assassination of Emperor Alexander II of Russia earlier in the year. (3) In the encyclical, Leo strongly defends the rights and prerogatives of legitimate civil authority. Such authority is necessary to maintain order and is in conformity with the divine plan. Indeed, the authority of rulers derives ultimately from God (D, 5, 9). Nevertheless, precisely because the authority of civil rulers comes from God, it is also limited and subject to God. Leo reminds rulers that kings themselves will someday have to "render an account to the King of kings and Lord of lords" for their governance and actions (D, 16). While rulers have a right to demand obedience from their subjects, they also have a corresponding duty to rule in conformity with divine decrees. Understanding the centrality of such divine decrees--the divine law--is the key to Leo's thinking on the relationship between the Church and the State and between the individual Christian and the State. …


Abstract This article examines the institutionalization of online consultation, a prominent instrument of governance reform in contemporary China in which government organizations make public draft laws and regulations and solicit input from interested parties prior to finalizing decisions. The article specifically analyses the extent to which online consultation is a durable governance reform that enhances transparency and participation in policymaking. The analysis focuses on the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and Guangzhou Municipal Government (GMG), leading organizations in the implementation of online consultation. Through the analysis of original datasets consisting of hundreds of policies proposed by the MOC and GMG and thousands of comments submitted in response to these drafts, the article demonstrates that online consultation has institutionalized government transparency but has not consistently enhanced public participation. Although online consultation has the potential to transform policymaking, the evidence suggests that strong confidence in this possibility is not warranted.


BACKGROUND
In an effort to determine an efficient algorithm for the evaluation of patients with parathyroid adenomas in the reoperative setting, we explored the combination of using ultrasound scans (US) and sestamibi scintigraphy as the only preoperative imaging tests.

METHODS
We analyzed the outcomes of 62 consecutive patients who were treated between January 1995 and May 1999 and who were referred for persistent primary hyperparathyroidism after initial surgical exploration, at which time no abnormal parathyroid glands had been found. Although all patients underwent US, computed tomography scan, magnetic resonance imaging, and sestamibi scan, we analyzed the success of localization and reoperation using only the results of US and sestamibi scan.

RESULTS
Sixty-one patients (98%) underwent curative reoperations. The sensitivity, positive predictive value, and accuracy for US were 90%, 86%, and 84%, respectively; the corresponding values for sestamibi imaging were 78%, 94%, and 74%, respectively. In 58 of 62 cases (94%) preoperative US and/or sestamibi scan accurately identified the adenoma. In 3 patients for whom combined US and sestamibi scan were inaccurate, 1 adenoma was found by intraoperative US in the strap muscle; 1 adenoma was found by blind cervical thymectomy, and 1 adenoma was found by planned sternotomy that was based on computed tomography findings.

CONCLUSIONS
This study supports an algorithm of obtaining US and sestamibi scan as the initial and perhaps only preoperative localization tests for patients with primary hyperparathyroidism after failed operation, at which time no abnormal glands had been found.


Accurate models of synaptic plasticity are essential to understand the adaptive properties of the nervous system and for realistic models of learning and memory. Experiments have shown that synaptic plasticity depends not only on pre- and post-synaptic activity patterns, but also on the strength of the connection itself. Namely, weaker synapses are more easily strengthened than already strong ones. This so called soft-bound plasticity automatically constrains the synaptic strengths. It is known that this has important consequences for the dynamics of plasticity and the synaptic weight distribution, but its impact on information storage is unknown. In this modeling study we introduce an information theoretic framework to analyse memory storage in an online learning setting. We show that soft-bound plasticity increases a variety of performance criteria by about 18% over hard-bound plasticity, and likely maximizes the storage capacity of synapses.


Nanopore structures have been successfully employed in next-generation DNA sequencing. For more complicated protein which normally contains 20 different amino acids, identifying the fluctuation of ionic current caused by different amino acids appears inadequate for protein sequencing. Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop size-controllable nanopores with optical activity that can provide additional structural information. Herein, we discovered the novel nanopore properties of the self-assembled ultramicroelectrodes originally developed by Bard and co-workers. Using a slightly modified method, the self-assembly of 7 ± 1 nm gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) can be precisely controlled to form a gold nanoporous sphere (GPS) on the tip of a glass capillary. Different dithiol linker molecules (1,3-propanedithiol, C3; 1,6-hexanedithiol, C6; and 1,9-nonanedithiol, C9) reproducibly led to rather similar nanopore sizes (5.07 ± 0.02, 5.13 ± 0.02, and 5.25 ± 0.01 nm), respectively. The GPS nanostructures were found to exhibit high ionic current rectification as well as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity due to the presence of nanopores and numerous "hot spots" among the cross-linked AuNPs on the surface of GPS. The rectification effect of the small nanopores was observed even under high concentration of electrolyte (290 mM), along with SERS enhancement factors well above 1 × 105. The GPS nanostructures were successfully applied for SERS-based detection of glutathione from a single HeLa cell.


In the Words of Frederick Douglass: Quotations from Liberty's Champion. Edited by John R. McKivigan and Heather L. Kaufman. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2012. vii + 256 pp. $22.95 hardcover. In the Words of Frederick Douglass is a collection of approximately seven hundred quotations from one of the most famous African American leaders of the nineteenth century. According to the editors, John R. McKivigan (the Project Director and Editor of the Frederick Douglass Papers) and Heather L. Kaufman (a research assistant on the editorial staff of the Frederick Douglass Papers), the specific quotations that they decided to showcase are "representative of the breadth and strength of his [Douglass'] intellect and interests as well as the eloquence with which he expressed them" (xix). McKivigan and Kaufman carefully selected quotations that they believe speak to a wide range of important issues germane to U.S. history and African American life and culture from the late years of the antebellum era until the mid-1890s. They also suggest that "Frederick Douglass's words have at least as much relevance to twenty-first-century readers as those of the first generation of American founders" (xviii). McKivigan and Kaufman sub-divide the numerous quotations of varying lengths into 113 logical topics conveniently presented in alphabetical order from "Abolition" to "Women," more than a few of which have sub-categories. Spanning from the early 1840s until 1894, the quotations are extracted from various speeches, correspondences, editorials, essays, and his three widely read autobiographies. The shortest quote, from a speech in 1880, is four words in length and sounds like an African proverb on patience: "Great bodies move slowly" (231). The longest quote is twenty-seven lines from an 1844 letter to abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison reflecting upon to the hypocrisy of segregation in northern churches. In addition to containing profound quotations from Douglass, In the Words of Frederick Douglass includes a "Foreword" by Douglass scholar John Stauffer, a "Preface," a straight forward introductory sketch of Douglass' life and work, a brief chronology, a "Note on Editorial Method, a selected bibliography, and an index. Stauffer praises McKivigan's and Kaufman's volume and comments on the "silencing" and canonization of Douglass' thought during the twentieth century. Further, he believes that by reading Douglass' words, Americans could be motivated to change the world they live in. "Douglass' words continue to serve as inspiration," Stauffer observes, "Indeed they can inspire us, as readers and citizens, to bind up the nation's wounds, complete the unfinished work, and finally fulfill the ideas of freedom and equality of opportunity for all Americans" (xiv). The editors share these sentiments, concluding that Douglass' ideas are "relevant to the struggles for liberty and equality still being waged today" (37). In the "Preface," the editors stress the usefulness of Douglass's observations to its readership in the new millennium; contextualize his position within the basics of black leadership history; and summarize the expansive body of writings that Douglass produced primary during the second half of the nineteenth century. In the brief introduction, McKivigan and Kaufman offer a succinct overview of Douglass' "remarkable life story" from his birth in February 1818 on a Maryland tobacco plantation until his death in the nation's capital on February 20, 1895. The editors demonstrate how Douglass was molded by various contexts and monumental events, including the institution of slavery, the abolitionist movement, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the first decade of the Progressive era, "the nadir" for African Americans. After formally joining the abolitionist movement two decades before the outbreak of the Civil War, Douglass soon developed into a multi-faceted and, in fact, a quintessential universal reformer, human rights activist, and politician who wore many hats and embraced many causes. …


Neoclassical and psychological models of consumer behavior often make divergent predictions for the welfare effects of paternalistic policies, leaving wide scope for researchers' choice of a model to influence their policy conclusions. We develop a framework to reduce this model uncertainty and apply it to administrative data on consumer decision making in Medicare Part D. Consumers' choices for prescription drug insurance plans can be explained by Abaluck and Gruber's (AER 2011) model of utility maximization with psychological biases or by a neoclassical version of their model that precludes such biases. We evaluate these competing hypotheses using nonparametric tests of utility maximization and a trio of model validation tests. We find that 79% of enrollment decisions in Medicare Part D from 2006-2010 satisfied basic axioms of consumer preference theory under the assumptions of full information, zero transaction cost, and no measurement error. The validation tests provide evidence against widespread psychological biases. In particular, we find that precluding psychological biases improves the structural model's out-of-sample predictions for consumer behavior.


ABSTRACT Immigrants are often concentrated in particular, often low-waged, segments of the labour market and employers tend to assume that immigrants posit (soft) skills which make them particularly suited for specific tasks. Less scholarly attention has been given to the real and perceived content of these skills and how employers may shift their view over time. We contribute to the literature by examining changing ethnic employment hierarchies in two immigrant-intensive labour markets in Norway. Drawing on qualitative data from the hotel and fish processing industries, we describe, first, how different ethnic groups are allocated into specific jobs forming a clear hierarchy in the eyes of employers, and, second, how employers' preferences for particular groups change as new immigrants enter the labour market. Theoretically, we develop the concept of 'ethnicity as skill', which points to the tendency among employers to equate ethnic group membership with a set of informal qualifications.


Linear subspace models are pervasive in computational sciences and particularly used for large datasets which are often incomplete due to privacy issues or sampling constraints. Therefore, a critical problem is developing an efficient algorithm for detecting low-dimensional linear structure from incomplete data efficiently, in terms of both computational complexity and storage.
In this paper we propose a streaming subspace estimation algorithm called Subspace Navigation via Interpolation from Partial Entries (SNIPE) that efficiently processes blocks of incomplete data to estimate the underlying subspace model. In every iteration, SNIPE finds the subspace that best fits the new data block but remains close to the previous estimate. We show that SNIPE is a streaming solver for the underlying nonconvex matrix completion problem, that it converges globally to a stationary point of this program regardless of initialization, and that the convergence is locally linear with high probability. We also find that SNIPE shows state-of-the-art performance in our numerical simulations.


This paper presents the analysis on the factors that affect the career success among
employees in TNB Malacca. The research wants to identify the relationship between
job satisfactions, self-esteem and career adaptability with the career success where
focused the three elements that necessarily related and act as the independent
variables for this study. The three objectives are presented which is first, to identify
the relationship between job satisfaction and career success among employees, second
to study the effect of self-esteem and career success among the employees and the
third objectives are to determine the effect on the career adaptability and career
success among employees in TNB Malacca. For this purpose, 97 reliable respondents
from TNB Malacca were studied. The finding showed that only two variables have
significant relationship which is self-esteem and career adaptability. Thus, these two
variables consider as the factors that affect the career success among employees in
TNB Malacca. Meanwhile, one variable showed negative relationship is the job
satisfaction which considers not the factors that affecting career success among
employees. This study refers to primary data and also secondary data for supporting
the sampling technique. Meanwhile, the researcher use questionnaire as the method
to collect the data and information from sample respondents in accomplishing the
research objectives. The result of research was analyzed using multiple statistical
procedures which are reliability analysis, correlation analysis and multiple regression
analysis. The results of study presented in this research agree that self-esteem and
career adaptability are the most factors that affecting career success. This study can
be seen as a foreword to a more detailed study to be carrying by future research on the
factors of career success among employees.


This is the second paper of a series in which we present new measurements of the observed rates of supernovae (SNe) in the local Universe, determined from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search (LOSS). In this paper, a complete SN sample is constructed, and the observed (uncorrected for host-galaxy extinction) luminosity functions (LFs) of SNe are derived. These LFs solve two issues that have plagued previous rate calculations for nearby SNe: the luminosity distribution of SNe and the host-galaxy extinction. We select a volume-limited sample of 175 SNe, collect photometry for every object, and fit a family of light curves to constrain the peak magnitudes and light-curve shapes. The volume-limited LFs show that they are not well represented by a Gaussian distribution. There are notable differences in the LFs for galaxies of different Hubble types (especially for SNe Ia). We derive the observed fractions for the different subclasses in a complete SN sample, and find significant fractions of SNe II-L (10%), IIb (12%), and IIn (9%) in the SN II sample. Furthermore, we derive the LFs and the observed fractions of different SN subclasses in a magnitudelimited survey with different observation intervals, and find that the LFs are enhanced at the high-luminosity end and appear more "standard" with smaller scatter, and that the LFs and fractions of SNe do not change significantly when the observation interval is shorter than 10 d. We also discuss the LFs in different galaxy sizes and inclinations, and for different SN subclasses. Some notable results are that there is not a strong correlation between the SN LFs and the host-galaxy size, but there might be a preference for SNe IIn to occur in small, late-type spiral galaxies. The LFs in different inclination bins do not provide strong evidence for extreme extinction in highly inclined galaxies, though the sample is still small. The LFs of different SN subclasses show significant differences. We also find that SNe Ibc and IIb come from more luminous galaxies than SNe II-P, while SNe IIn come from less luminous galaxies, suggesting a possible metallicity effect. The limitations and applications of our LFs are also discussed.


Understanding the academic and career aspirations of adolescents and their destinations could inform policy makers and educators about how best to provide support at society and school levels to facilitate adolescents transitioning from school to further education and work. The current qualitative study investigates seven senior secondary students from three schools with varying intakes of student ability under the "Secondary School Places Allocation System" in Hong Kong. By employing a Systems Theory Framework, the study looked into the academic and career aspirations of these students and tracked their destinations immediately after secondary school graduation. Findings show that the academic and career aspirations of adolescents and their destinations are shaped by prevailing preferences for attaining higher qualifications, preferably a bachelor's degree, parental and others' influences, and outcomes of public examination results. The implications of enhancing support for the societal, school, and career- and life-planning education of individuals are discussed.


In this study, the manner of private taxis drivers has been investigated for choosing passenger and destination from a fixed point. Therefore, two models called Multinomial and Nested Logit Models have been utilized. The information gained by scrolling in 2016 is the input data, which are in the format of revealed preference, acquired by the verbal interview in Vanak Square in Tehran (Iran). Based on data resulted by 120 questionnaires the selection modeling of passenger and destination was done. The results of the descriptive analysis show that 96.7% of respondents are men and only 3.3% are women. In addition, 15% of them are illiterate, 16.7% have under Diploma degree, 52.5% have Diploma degree and 15.8% have Bachelor degree or higher. On average, the verification was 44%, and the results achieved by this research show that the parameters consisting of searching time, the working time of drivers and the traveling time were the most important factors resulted from the calibration of the Logit models. Nested Logit model has a better performance compared with the Multinomial Logit model. The Nested Logit Model has ρ2=0.45 while this value is 0.35 for the Multinomial Logit Model. Finally, the suitable decision has been made in the various path based on gained results.


OBJECTIVE: Various markers have shown promise as diagnostic markers and prognostic predictors in malignant mesothelioma (MM). METHODS: Through morphometric and immunological studies of markers in stromal components (calretinin, CEA, Leu-M1 and thrombomodulin) and nuclear components (p53 and Ki-67), we evaluated post-diagnosis survival in 58 patients with MM. RESULTS: The histologic pattern of the MM was typical in 50 cases and atypical in 8. Through immunohistochemistry, we confirmed 40 cases of mesothelioma and 11 cases of adenocarcinoma, although we were unable to classify 7 of the 8 cases presenting atypical histologic patterns. Cox multivariate analysis revealed that the risk factor for death was higher (476.2) among patients of advanced age, presenting the biphasic subtype and testing positive for components expressed at the nuclear level. CONCLUSION: The most useful immunohistochemical markers were was calretinin (for mesothelioma) and CEA (for adenocarcinoma). Immunohistochemical quantification of thrombomodulin facilitated the diagnosis of mesothelioma in patients testing positive for both calretinin and CEA. The most useful prognostic information was that provided by the routine histopathological analysis of the tumor type. It is of note that the combination of a mean age of 55 years and 30.5% immunohistochemical markers in nuclear components created a natural dividing point between patients in which survival was shorter than expected and those in which it was longer than expected. Therefore, histopathological analysis offers a powerful weapon with great potential to inform decisions regarding the use of adjuvant chemotherapy after surgical excision of a mesothelioma.


Background Necroptosis/programmed necrosis is initiated by a macro-molecular protein complex termed the necrosome. Receptor interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1/RIP1) and RIP3 are key components of the necrosome. TNFα is a prototypic inducer of necrosome activation, and it is widely believed that deubiquitination of RIP1 at the TNFR-1 signaling complex precedes transition of RIP1 into the cytosol where it forms the RIP1-RIP3 necrosome. Cylindromatosis (CYLD) is believed to promote programmed necrosis by facilitating RIP1 deubiquitination at this membrane receptor complex. Methodology/Principal Findings We demonstrate that RIP1 is indeed the primary target of CYLD in TNFα-induced programmed necrosis. We observed that CYLD does not regulate RIP1 ubiquitination at the TNF receptor. TNF and zVAD-induced programmed necrosis was highly attenuated in CYLD-/- cells. However, in the presence of cycloheximide or SMAC mimetics, programmed necrosis was only moderately reduced in CYLD-/- cells. Under the latter conditions, RIP1-RIP3 necrosome formation is only delayed, but not abolished in CYLD-/- cells. We further demonstrate that RIP1 within the NP-40 insoluble necrosome is ubiquitinated and that CYLD regulates RIP1 ubiquitination in this compartment. Hence, RIP1 ubiquitination in this late-forming complex is greatly increased in CYLD-/- cells. Increased RIP1 ubiquitination impairs RIP1 and RIP3 phosphorylation, a signature of kinase activation. Conclusions/Significance Our results show that CYLD regulates RIP1 ubiquitination in the TNFα-induced necrosome, but not in the TNFR-1 signaling complex. In cells sensitized to programmed necrosis with SMAC mimetics, CYLD is not essential for necrosome assembly. Since SMAC mimetics induces the loss of the E3 ligases cIAP1 and cIAP2, reduced RIP1 ubiquitination could lead to reduced requirement for CYLD to remove ubiquitin chains from RIP1 in the TNFR-1 complex. As increased RIP1 ubiquitination in the necrosome correlates with impaired RIP1 and RIP3 phosphorylation and function, these results suggest that CYLD controls RIP1 kinase activity during necrosome assembly.


From Henry Darger's elaborate paintings of young girls caught in a vicious war to the sacred art of the Reverend Howard Finster, the work of outsider artists has achieved unique status in the art world. Celebrated for their lack of traditional training and their position on the fringes of society, outsider artists nonetheless participate in a traditional network of value, status, and money. After spending years immersed in the world of self-taught artists, Gary Alan Fine presents "Everyday Genius," one of the most insightful and comprehensive examinations of this network and how it confers artistic value. Fine considers the differences among folk art, outsider art, and self-taught art, explaining the economics of this distinctive art market and exploring the dimensions of its artistic production and distribution. Interviewing dealers, collectors, curators, and critics and venturing into the backwoods and inner-city homes of numerous self-taught artists, Fine describes how authenticity is central to the system in which artists-often poor, elderly, members of a minority group, or mentally ill-are seen as having an unfettered form of expression highly valued in the art world. Respected dealers, he shows, have a hand in burnishing biographies of the artists, and both dealers and collectors trade in identities as much as objects. Revealing the inner workings of an elaborate and prestigious world in which money, personalities, and values affect one another, Fine speaks eloquently to both experts and general readers, and provides rare access to a world of creative invention-both by self-taught artists and by those who profit from their work. "Indispensable for an understanding of this world and its workings. . . . Fine's book is not an attack on the Outsider Art phenomenon. But it is masterful in its anatomization of some of its contradictions, conflicts, pressures, and absurdities."-Eric Gibson, "Washington" "Times "


Introduction If palliative care is to lead the way towards a new model for integrated care, the ability to share information across the whole of health and social care is essential. Coordinate My Care (CMC) is a service dedicated to preserving dignity and autonomy at the end of life. Its care pathways enable health professionals from primary and secondary care to put the patient at the centre of health care delivery. This service is underpinned by an electronic solution. The CMC record can be accessed 24/7 by all health and social care professionals who have a legitimate relationship with the patient. Patients and methods The record displays diagnosis, prognosis, advanced care plan, resuscitation status and patients wishes for end of life care patients across London. This article is a review of CMC use and outcomes from August 2010- March 2012. Results 1087 CMC patient records were analysed. The primary diagnosis was non-cancer in 52.3%, cancer in 46.3% and unknown in 1.4%, 42% of all patients were cared for by generalist only and had no specialist palliative care involvement. At the time of analysis 207 had died. Actual place of death was home 38.6%, care/nursing home 16.4%, hospice 12.1% and 30% in hospital. This equates to 55% of patients dying in their usual place of residence and reflects that 70% died outside of hospital. Conclusion The CMC service has a well defined pathway underpinned by an electronic solution. It has been shown to change culture and deliver fully integrated, personalised end of life care. A pan-London CMC roll out will take place over the next 12 months.


As the popularity of computer-mediated psychoanalysis rises, it is important that analysts and researchers undertake a more comprehensive investigation of the parameters involved in mediation and their effects on the psychoanalytic setting, the analytic field, and the unconscious of the analytic couple. The primary aim of this paper is to offer a series of communication models that visually lay out for comparison purposes key aspects involved in both in-person and mediated psychoanalytic communication. Particular emphasis is placed on the nonverbal channels of unconscious communication, so vital to reverie, and on the attenuation and distortion of these channels when electronically mediated. Also addressed are the disruptive capacities of communication devices and the mediation artifacts that are inevitably introduced by telecommunication systems, whose overarching goals of efficiency, clarity, and expediency conflict with those of analysis. The paper ends with a call for the psychoanalysis of telecommunications.


Introduction: World health develops by huge progressive tempos. Each separate state has features of health-care system. Despite this, there are only few general models of health care all over the world. Scientific summarizing of main legal and organizational and economic aspects of functioning of each of general models of health care system should has a place periodically including its topical changes. This is the purpose of our review. Materials and Methods: We used empirical methods (data collection, study, and comparison), methods of comparative analysis, and generalization of statistical data. It has been used regulatory legal acts regulating the functioning of health systems, reports from the World Health Organization (WHO), Bloomberg analytical agency, and Foundation for Public Welfare (published in English on the site) also. Results and Discussion: Shot comparative characteristic of the functioning of the main models of health-care systems and analysis of the indexes of the efficiency of functioning of the health-care models including all available disadvantages allows us to conclude about slightly higher efficiency of the one model compared to others (the state system and the Beveridge system). Conclusion: Assessment of the approaches for describing the effectiveness of the functioning of health-care systems allows us to describe two mechanisms of calculation of the health-care effectiveness index - the Bloomberg and The Commonwealth Fund. The obtained results allow claiming that the most effective model of health-care system is system of public health financing. Given study shows the features and predicted benefits of actual models of health-care systems. Given results may be used in the process of reforming of health-care system for the developing and developed countries.


We study the evolution of the curvature perturbation on the super-horizon scales starting from the inflationary epoch until there remains only a single dynamical degree of freedom, presureless matter, in the universe. We consider the cosmic inflation driven by a multiple number of the inflaton fields, which decay into both radiation and pressureless matter components. We present a complete set of the exact background and perturbation equations which describe the evolution of the universe throughout its history. By applying these equations to the simple but reasonable model of multi-field chaotic inflation, we explicitly show that the total curvature perturbation is continuously varying because of the non-adiabatic components of the curvature perturbation generated by the multiple inflaton fields throughout the whole evolution of the universe. We also provide an useful analytic estimation of the total as well as matter and radiation curvature perturbations, assuming that matter is completely decoupled from radiation from the beginning. The firstname.lastname@example.com firstname.lastname@example.com firstname.lastname@example.com Present address resulting isocurvature perturbation between matter and radiation is at most sub-percent level when the masses of the inflaton fields are distributed between 10mPl and 10 mPl. We find that this result is robust unless we use non-trivial decay rates, and that thus, in general, it is hard to obtain large matter-radiation isocurvature perturbation. Also, by using the δN formalism, we point out that the inflationary calculation, especially when involving multiple inflaton fields, is likely to lose the potentially important postinflationary evolution which can modify the resulting curvature perturbation.


Abstract Experiments have been carried out to study the heatup behavior of a submerged debris bed constituted of segmented reactor channels of Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR). The study has been done for under fully submerged, partially submerged and nearly exposed conditions. This situation may arise from a severe accident scenario of PHWR where full or segmented reactor channels are likely to be disassembled and form a submerged debris bed. An assembly of electrical heater rod, simulating fuel bundle and channel components like Pressure tube and calandria tube constitute each segmented reactor channels. Ten such reactor channels constitute the debris bed. Heatup of this debris bed is observed with respect to different water levels and at power levels of 10, 20 and 30 kW, typical to decay power levels of 0.25 %, 0.5 % and 0.75 % of reactor full power respectively. It has been observed from the set of experiments that fully submerged debris bed does not get heated up and fuel rod temperature remains at saturation temperature. Heatup is observed for exposed channels only, however the heatup rate is limited with steam and radiative cooling. For exposed debris bed, channels surrounded by neighboring channels get heated up as compared to channels at the periphery of the debris bed.


Halogen atoms Cl, Br, and I steer crystallization of 2-halo-3-hydroxypyridine 1, pyridine-N-oxides 2, and 2-halo-3-aminopyridine 3 in noncentrosymmetric space groups efficient for nonlinear optical materials. Whereas the strong hydrogen-bond chains are aligned antiparallel, the L- or V-geometry of weak interhalogen interaction steers polar alignment in the solid state, even for high dipole moment (μ) halogenated N-oxides 2 (μ > 5.0 D). Six out of seven structures evaluated crystallize in polar/chiral space groups due to interhalogen interactions compared to the one in six probability of noncentrosymmetric packing for achiral molecules.