of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Professor M. Brian Blake. No. of pages in text. (152) The increase in the demand for online services has resulted in approximately 1 trillion connected objects and devices on the Internet, which generate billions of gigabytes of new data each day. As more devices become web-enabled, the number and type of services available on the Internet are likely to increase. The growing number of services adds to the complexity of connectedness and interoperability of computing systems. Moreover, interactions between organizations and individuals are also increasing. As a result, data produced by internal and external business processes are in turn growing at an exponential rate creating a data deluge. Companies need to do more than just connect people and integrate processes to become smarter service providers. Business applications must now be able to react to inherently dynamic and uncertain business situations. Companies need to improve and modify, act in an agile manner, optimize and adapt business processes to their customers, and thereby improve the responsiveness of the whole company. Only companies that can quickly and efficiently adapt to the changing business needs can stay competitive in the global market. Initial approaches that sustain competitiveness focus on increasing collaboration and interoperability within an organization and with its suppliers and consumers. These early approaches required a robust, and interoperable computing architecture. A popular and deeply collaborative approach to incorporating the realizations of connectivity and interoperability has been the Web service framework. In this context, services are realized as autonomous, platform-independent, computational elements that are described, published, discovered, orchestrated and programmed using standard protocols. Loosely coupled services have traditionally been orchestrated by a central processing service executed in the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). BPEL is the defacto standard for service-oriented composition and orchestration. It is used to build and execute workflows of collaborating applications distributed within and across organizational boundaries. These workflows scale to Web-scale Web service workflows, which realize the business logic of organizations, its partners, and customers across geographic boundaries. However, business logic realized by BPEL is usually formulated in the early stages of the software design lifecycle, which renders workflows non-responsive to just in time changes to time-dependent and often uncertain business trends. Manual changes to service activities can be a delicate, time-consuming activity that might require a designer to have extensive knowledge about the underlying business logic and representations. Also, the deluge of data generated from workflows create daunting challenges in bringing data together in a form that can be efficiently analyzed to make data-driven decisions promptly. The result is an information gap where more data does not necessarily increase the ability to process symbiotic pieces of data to arrive at needed insights and decisions in uncertain environments. Currently, there is a strong requirement for methods that allow Web service workflows to adapt transparently to changes in a dynamic and uncertain environment to meet the demands of a business conditions. Also, a by-product of workflows is data silos. These silos have been known to contain valuable and detailed records of operations, manufacturing, supply-chain management, customer behavior, marketing campaign performance and workflow procedures. Converting data silos into a knowledge base that can provide data-driven inference is also necessary to create added value, deliver value more efficiently and prevent commoditization of the goods and services. The major contribution of this dissertation is a methodology whereas the BPEL process is represented as an agile model that mimics an expert system. This agile model enables greater responsiveness to the evolution of data and efficiently narrows the information gap. The agile model is implemented as a probabilistic network that, in effect, realizes the knowledge base and an inference engine that underlies any traditional expert system. The knowledge base formulates knowledge about the workflow problem domain in a structured way, and the inference engine supports reasoning about events and decisions in the workflow's domain. Two steps are used to accomplish structuring and reasoning. Firstly, sets of (conditional) dependence and independence statements among workflow data transitions, and casual relations are encoded as a directed acyclic graph. Secondly, the strengths of dependency relationships using probability and graphical theory are specified for the inference engine. A core aspect of this approach is that historical domain-specific functional data (extracted from an operational Web service workflow) is leveraged to capture an initial snapshot of probabilistic beliefs of the underlying phenomenon of the workflow. Then ongoing run-time data update those beliefs to capture the run-time trends of the workflow and provide just-in-time decision support. The abstract representation of BPEL process as an expert system addresses both nonresponsiveness and the information gap by providing a data-derived inferential visibility of workflow semantics. The particular knowledge base used is a Bayesian network, and the inference engine is the set of graphical and probabilistic methods that applies to the probabilistic network. The framework uses data as evidence and provides a framework to represent and update beliefs about the workflow behavior. Moreover, data silos can now be used to provide integrated, actionable information and insights. Consider the Web service workflow of an online retailer with a global supply chain. Queries to non-explicitly defined trends about the behavior of workflow users such as "Which product or supplier is best?" or "Should a product or supplier be changed?" can now be responsive to time-dependent trends. This dissertation contributes a methodology for the construction of this unique model and the framework for the transformation of BPEL into a more agile representation. Ultimately, together, these contributions represent a paradigm that is more responsive to dynamic business trends and uncertainty by the holistic inferential view of business processes.


The Southwest Oncology Group carried out a comparative study of two combination chemotherapy regimens in 231 patients with extensive squamous carcinoma of the lung. One regimen consisted of bleomycin, adriamycin, CCNU, vincristine, and mechlorethamine (BACON). The other involved mechlorethamine, adriamycin, and CCNU (NAC) in the same dose and schedule but with the deletion of vincristine and bleomycin. The response rate was 21% for BACON and 16% for NAC. The median survival time (MST) was 16 weeks for all patients receiving each regimen. Pretreatment performance statues (PS) was significantly related to the response rates: these were 28% for BACON and 23% for NAC among fully ambulatory patients (PS, 8-10) versus 15% for BACON and 10% for NAC among those with a lesser PS (P less than 0.05). Survival was also influenced by PS; the MST was 28 weeks for PSs 8-10 with either regimen compared to an overall MST of 11.5 weeks for patients with PSs 5-7 and 2.8 weeks for PSs 1-4. The toxicity of the two regimens was comparable with a 4% incidence of treatment-related deaths. An additional 10% of the patients were hospitalized because of life-threatening but reversible toxic effects. The only patients for whom there may be an improvement in MST over that expected from supportive care alone are those with PSs 8-10. Patients who demonstrated response or improvement, regardless of PS, had a significantly longer MST: 39.5 versus 11.2 weeks for those who did not respond (P = 0.001).


OBJECTIVES
This study was performed to investigate the toxicity of the herbicide MCPA after repeated treatment according to OECD No 409.

METHODS
The herbicide MCPA was administrated to dogs of both sexes in daily doses: 0, 1, 5 and 15 mg/kg per os during 90 days. Clinical observations were recorded, opthalmoscopic, haematological, clinical chemistry parameters were investigated. The morphological changes were examined using pathological and histological techniques.

RESULTS
An increase in the activity of the enzyme ALT and of urea concentration was observed in the middle- and high-dose groups. ALP and creatinine were decreased in dogs of all dose groups. After 60 days of MCPA administration, the concentration of glucose decreased in the high-dose group. The relative weight of both testes was decreased in the males from the high-dose group in comparison to controls. The decrease in testes weight was associated with focal testicular atrophy and loss of spermatogenic cells in the lobuli of testes. Focal hepatocellular necrosis, inflammatory changes and mononuclear nodules were observed in the liver, predominantly in males of the high-dose group.

CONCLUSIONS
Administration of MCPA did not cause mortality and had no adverse effects on hematological parameters of animals. The results of the study showed that MCPA treatment caused inflammatory lesions in the liver, moderate damage of the kidney, and had focal adverse effect on the development of spermiogenesis. The changes were reversible.


OBJECTIVE
To assess mothers' perceptions of pediatrician-provided smoking cessation counseling.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional, descriptive study.

SETTING
Waiting rooms of five ambulatory pediatric clinics in the Bronx, NY.

PARTICIPANTS
Convenience sample of 115 mothers.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
A structured questionnaire assessed the smoking history of the subject, presence or absence of environmental tobacco smoke(ETS)-related conditions in the subject's youngest child, and extent of smoking cessation counseling by the pediatrician. Subjects were asked whether they had been 1) asked about smoking; 2) advised about the risks of ETS exposure; 3) assisted in smoking cessation; and 4) arranged for a follow-up appointment to discuss smoking cessation.

RESULTS
Overall, 73% of mothers reported being asked about smoking by their child's pediatrician, and 50% reported being advised about the effects of ETS exposure. Of the 26 smokers in the sample, only two reported being assisted in smoking cessation. None reported being arranged for a follow-up appointment. Mothers of children with ETS-related conditions reported a higher rate of assessment for smoking status (ask: 85% vs. 63%, p =.01; advise: 57% vs. 43%, p =.19).

CONCLUSIONS
Mothers in our setting report a high level of inquiry into their tobacco use, especially when they have children with ETS-related conditions. While they also report receiving advice about the risks of ETS exposure, smokers are very infrequently assisted in smoking cessation.


Mad Money (Manchester University Press, 1998) is the completely rewritten and updated version of Casino Capitalism (Blackwells, 1986). It has been suggested--of both volumes--that there was no theory underlying Strange's discussion of the international financial system in them. This she argues in this Working Paper is emphatically not the case, Both volumes always implicitly, and often explicitly, are underpinned by the dominant themes that are reflected in Strange's work since the publication of 'International Relations and International Economics: A Case of Mutual Neglect', International Affairs, 46 (2) 1970. These themes are threefold: Firstly a need to privilege the politics of the international financial system in the study of international relations; a discipline too long myopic in its focus on violent conflict and war between states at the expense of all else. (ii) A need to go beyond liberal political and economic theory and recognise the significance of 'structural power' in the internation system. (iii) A need to recognise that 'the areas of significant ignorance' in our understanding of the role of the international financial system in an era of technological revolution and globalisation are becoming greater rather than smaller. For Strange, the structural power of capital is not constant and, therefore, cannot be accommodated in the logic of liberal economics. Thus, using the dictionary definition of mad--erratic, unpredictable, irrational behaviour, damaging not only to sufferers but also to others--we have, as she puts it 'mad money'.


Background and Objectives: Social Security Organization (SSO) is the second largest organization to the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME) in providing health care services in Iran. In recent years the gap between the SSO's resources and expenditures has shown an unprecedented growing trend due to the rapidly increasing demand. Continuation of this trend may lead to financial imbalance in the following years, which would negatively impact access of public to health care services. This study, thus, seeks to explore factors affecting the efficiency of SSO's health care services in quest for solutions to alleviate the potentially critical situation ahead. Methods: A microeconomic analysis was carried out by Panel SFA method. Cobb-Douglas production function was estimated based on Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE), using seven-year panel data derived from the yearbooks of SSO (2008-2015). The annual admission rate was selected as the output variable and it was assumed to be a function the number of physicians, nurses, active beds, paraclinical and other staff, and the bed restoration interval. Calculation was carried out using Frontier Version 4.1 Software. Findings: Significant elasticity coefficient of 0.835, 0.073, 0.0273, -0.199 was obtained for active beds, physicians, nurses, and bed restoration interval respectively. The marginal production of inputs was calculated to be 79.14, 9.48, and 1.73 for active beds, physicians and nurses, respectively. The marginal rate of technical substitution (MRTS) was identified to be 0.18 for nurse-physician, 0.02 for nurse-bed, and 0.12 for physician-bed substitution. The η and  were calculated to be 0.015 and 0.581, respectively. Conclusions: Our results clearly shows that the production (annual patient admission rate) in SSO's hospital is capital intensive being highly dependent on number of active beds with increasing return to scale. The inefficiency has only marginally decreased over time, yet there is room to improve production by increasing efficiency. The MRTS for nurse-physician substitution suggests that the escalating burden of physicians' wage may be reduced by employing nurses in the services they can deliver instead of physicians. The negative contribution of bed restoration interval to production highlights the challenging nature of quality improvement by increased ALS, which is currently low in SSO's hospitals. The problem of inconsistency between quality services and high production, thus, persists pointing to the need for in-depth reform in the structure of health care delivery.


Oxidation of sulphide minerals in acid sulphate soils has acidified a substantial part of the low-lying coastal land in Australia. Such sulphides, including pyrite (FeS2) formed thousands of years ago during saline inundation of soils rich in iron. They do not pose a serious concern when submerged by the water table, because this prevents atmospheric oxygen reacting with the pyritic layer. However, flood protection of low-lying coastal land through the installation of deep surface drains has caused a general lowering of the water table elevation, that in turn has exposed the pyritic layers to atmospheric oxygen. High rainfall following droughts causes acid pollution of the surrounding flood mitigation drains, creeks and river systems. Large ground areas are affected by the transport of acid constituents during seepage. One way of controlling new acid production is through the installation of weirs in the flood mitigation drains in order to raise the water table elevation. In this paper, the acid pollution in New South Wales is reviewed, and the effect of groundwater elevation is examined. Relationship between acid production and groundwater table is examined. Mathematical models are developed to simulate acid production and transport, and two groundwater management regimes are examined. Weir based control of the groundwater table is shown to be successful in controlling acid production.


A major 6000-km long west-northwest to east-southeast-trending Trans-Saharan lineament, extending from Kenya to Morocco, referred to as the Tibesti Lineament, has been described by Guiraud et al. (2000). This lineament shows up on satellite images, air-photo mosaics and terrain elevation models, as swarms of parallel faults. It corresponds to a major discontinuity of surface wave velocities in the mantle, suggesting that it deeply affects the lithosphere. The highest heat flow measurements in the West African shield are found adjacent to the Tibesti Lineament in the northern Hoggar uplift. Geophysical, geological, and geomorphological evidence suggests that the Tibesti lineament may have continued into North America (Laurentia), which collided with northwest Africa during the Appalachian-Mauritanide orogeny, coinciding with the late Palaeozoic assembly of the supercontinent Pangaea. The contiguous Laurentian lineaments which may be extensions of the Tibesti Lineament, are the here newly recognised Chesterfield Inlet Lineament and the Cabot Strait Lineament, both of which are situated in Canada. These lineaments are defined as linear pattern breaks in processed aeromagnetic anomaly maps of Canada. Some portions of them also can be detected in refraction and reflection seismic survey data ( e.g. , under Hudon Bay), and to a lesser extent, in the Bouguer gravity anomaly map of Canada. The lineaments have present-day (neotectonic) surface expressions in the form of inlets, submarine channels, straight river segments, and strings of linear lakes, extending over 3700 km, from Nunavut Province northwest of Hudson Bay, across Quebec and Newfoundland, and to the Cabot Strait separating Newfoundland from Nova Scotia. The highest heat flow in the Canadian Maritimes is found in the Cabot Strait. The Tibesti-Cabot-Strait-Chesterfield Inlet lineaments reflect deep-seated fracturing of the North African and North American lithosphere, involving both the crust and rigid upper mantle. These lineaments cut right across the grain of numerous orogenic belts dating from the Palaeoproterozoic, Late Mesoproterozoic, and Palaeozoic. By analogy with other large transcontinental lineaments which contain ore deposits, these newly identified megalineaments may be prospective for economic mineral deposits, such as hydrothermal gold and base metal mineralization, and diamondiferous kimberlites.


Yaws is a re-emerging endemic treponemal infection. The Pacific Islands are believed
 to be a major focus of yaws worldwide. WHO has recently developed a strategy for global
 yaws eradication based predominantly on community mass treatment with azithromycin at a
 dose of 30mg/kg (max 2g). Mass treatment with azithromycin is also key to the WHO strategy
 for trachoma elimination, although the dose used is lower (20mg/kg – max 1g). In areas
 where trachoma and yaws are co-endemic, mass treatment of populations as part of
 trachoma control programmes might aid yaws eradication efforts, but could also have
 negative consequences if drug resistance were to be encouraged.
 Prior to mass treatment with azithromycin, the prevalence of clinical and serological
 evidence of yaws in the Solomon Islands was found to be high. Household contact with a
 seropositive individual was a strong risk factor for infection, especially if the contact also had
 an active skin lesion. Village level seroprevalence was shown to be the strongest risk factor
 for infection. Haemophilus ducreyi was identified as the likely cause of a large proportion of
 ulcerative skin lesions amongst children, which were clinically indistinguishable from those of
 yaws.
 A single round of mass treatment with azithromycin at a dose of 20mg/kg significantly
 decreased the prevalence of both clinical signs of yaws and serological evidence of active
 infection. This effect was shown to extend to at least 18 months after mass treatment in the
 absence of any further intervention. Not receiving treatment with azithromycin was the
 major risk factor for seropositivity following MDA at both 6 and 18 months of follow-up.
 A rapid diagnostic test for syphilis was shown to also have potential value for use in
 yaws. The sensitivity of the test was strongly associated with the antibody titre on gold
 standard testing, suggesting the test may be most appropriate for testing individuals with
 suspected active yaws where antibody titres are higher.
 Mathematical modelling data were used to establish the minimum number of rounds
 and coverage that are likely to be required to interrupt transmission. Consistent with the
 findings of the post-MDA prevalence surveys, the model predicted that high coverage –
 ideally above 80% - is likely to be required to interrupt transmission.
 This PhD has addressed several key questions about the epidemiology of yaws. Even
 within endemic populations, the disease is highly focal. Integration of rapid diagnostic tests
 into routine surveillance may help improve data quality and guide yaws elimination efforts at
 a national level. Given the strong association between coverage of mass treatment and risk
 of infection, new strategies to increase the reach of yaws eradication strategies are needed.
 Mathematical modelling may be of use in informing the design of these interventions.


Globally, the spread of antibiotic resistance via chicken meat consumption cause serious public health concerns. With this respect, the current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of thermophilic Campylobacter species isolated from raw meat chicken samples and their genetic determinants of resistance to various classes of antibiotics. A total of 540 chicken raw meat samples collected from various supermarkets and slaughterhouses in Istanbul, Turkey were analyzed according to EN ISO 10272-1:2006 standard procedure. For identification of the genus and species of the isolates, multiplex PCR assay was held. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of the antimicrobial agents (nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, gentamicin, kanamycin, and erythromycin) were initially determined using the broth microdilution method. In addition, the genetic determinants of antimicrobial resistance were investigated by PCR assays. In total, 357 (66.1%) Campylobacter isolates were obtained including 268 Campylobacter jejuni and 89 Campylobacter coli. Resistance to quinolones (nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin) was the most common in all strains (80.1%), followed by resistance to tetracycline's (70.3%). The lowest resistance was determined as resistance to kanamycin (4.2%). Gentamicin and erythromycin resistance was not observed in this study. Only five C. coli isolate (1.4%) was classified as multidrug resistant. On the basis of these data, execute widely presence of antimicrobial resistance to quinolones and tetracycline's in C. jejuni and C. coli isolates from chicken raw meat samples and emphasizes that further multidisciplinary studies and novel strategies in the concept of 'One Health' are needed.


The goal of this paper is to empirically investigate, on the example of eBooks, the effects of the expected quality, external and internal reference prices, risk-taking propensity and perceived costs of production on the size of the voluntary payments in pay-what-you-want (PWYW) scheme. Using the results of a vignette experiment, we show that independently from the expected quality of the eBook, when individual internal reference price is higher than external reference price, voluntary payments are significantly higher if external reference price is not provided. When the external reference price is not provided then PWYW payments depend positively on consumers' individual internal reference price, and the perceived percentage of the price believed to cover the author's compensation and the publication costs. The originality of the research comes from separating the anchoring effect of external reference prices from the quality signal effect.


The term "triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)" refers to the subtype of breast cancer and is defined by the lack of expression of genes for hormone receptors (estrogen and progesterone receptors) and human endothelial growth factor 2 (HER2) protein. Absence of these receptors makes the treatment difficult because the drugs tamoxifen and transtuzumab, which act on hormone receptors and HER2 respectively and inhibit cell division, can no longer be prescribed. Hence, conventional cytotoxic therapies remain the main treatment approach. Despite of sensitivity of tumor cells to cytotoxic agents, relapse and metastatis is commonly seen and also survival rate is poor. Considering all these problems, in the present review, we have discussed various types of TNBCs and its treatment approaches which includes surgery, chemotherapy and some targeted therapies such as poly(adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-ribose) polymerase inhibitors, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors, fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitors, androgen receptor inhibitors, inhibition of trop-2, inhibition of JAK2/STAT3 pathway and gamma secretase inhibitors.


Visual threshold changes were measured just before and just after a preadapting light was dimmed to several luminance levels. The course of the sensitivity change is similar whether the eye is adapting to darkness or to a light which is merely dimmed. The major features of the early dark adaptation curve are (1) a small rise in the threshold when the preadapting light is turned off, and (2) an abrupt subsequent drop which slows into the familiar dark adaptation curve. These two features are influenced by the luminance of both the preadapting and adapting lights. The locus of the effect is discussed as being probably in the receptor itself, and the implications of this suggestion are considered.


On the 31st of May 2010, South Africa, as a geopolitical creation, had been in existence for a century; a momentous occasion for the country. However, the day passed with little acknowledgement of this event. The question that needs to be asked is why? Surely, the centenary of the geopolitical creation of a country should be commemorated as it is a time to reflect where the country has come from? Thus the focus of this article is the lack of commemoration of Union in 2010 and History Education. The centenary of Union was not commemorated and this phenomenon needs to be unpacked and understood. The Union forms part of the heritage of all South Africans but this it not deemed so by the state. In terms of education, the history of Union will be forgotten as it is not studied and the importance of the creation of South Africa as a geopolitical unit will fall by the waste side. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to unpack the notion of heritage and Union, its exclusion from the National Curriculum Statement (NCS), the non commemoration of its centenary, the significance of Union to society and its recent inclusion into the new Curriculum and Assessment Policy (CAPS) document.


Since the demise of central planning, post-Soviet cities have found themselves operating in a radically different economic climate. Contrary to the situation during the Soviet epoque, market relations and the urban economy's adjustment thereto constitute the reality which urbanites face in their daily lives. For the vast majority, this reality has been harsh. Even so, market agency in post-Soviet cities is circumscribed by a physical infrastructure composed to foster its rejection, leading to an inevitable tension between Soviet legacy and the reality of the market economy. An overarching task of this dissertation is to contribute to a greater understanding of the new urban form which is emerging out of this tension. For this purpose, eight papers, using case studies from urban Kazakhstan, are brought together in order to shed light on recent urban developments in the former Soviet Union.Two broad themes are subject to particular attention: urbanisation and regional migration processes, and urban socio-spatial differentiation. Urbanisation is studied through the comparative analysis of census data from 1989 and 1999, from which a "closed city effect" pattern emerges. Sovietand post-Soviet era urban-bounf migrant characteristics are compared using survey data (N=3,136) collected by the author, demonstrating the existence of a significant ethnic transition within the migrant flow. Socio-spatial differentiation patterns are mapped and analysed for three Kazakh military-industrial case study cities (Ust'-Kamenogorsk, Leninogorsk and Zyryanovsk), revealing significant spatial disparities which are principally explainable in light of the workings of the Soviet economy, and its built-in priority system. Market forces tend to accentuate them.


We study the implications of robot adoption at the level of individual firms using a rich panel data-set of Spanish manufacturing firms over a 27-year period (1990-2016). We focus on three central questions: (1) Which firms adopt robots? (2) What are the labor market effects of robot adoption at the firm level? (3) How does firm heterogeneity in robot adoption affect the industry equilibrium? To address these questions, we look at our data through the lens of recent attempts in the literature to formalize the implications of robot technology. As for the first question, we establish robust evidence that ex-ante larger and more productive firms are more likely to adopt robots, while ex-ante more skill-intensive firms are less likely to do so. As for the second question, we find that robot adoption generates substantial output gains in the vicinity of 20-25% within four years, reduces the labor cost share by 5-7%-points, and leads to net job creation at a rate of 10%. These results are robust to controlling for non-random selection into robot adoption through a difference-in-differences approach combined with a propensity score reweighting estimator. Finally, we reveal substantial job losses in firms that do not adopt robots, and a productivity-enhancing reallocation of labor across firms, away from non-adopters, and toward adopters.


(ABSTRACT) Green computing, an emerging field of research that seeks to reduce excess power consumption in high performance computing (HPC), is gaining popularity among researchers. Research in this field often relies on simulation or only uses a small cluster, typically 8 or 16 nodes, because of the lack of hardware support. In contrast, System G at Virginia Tech is a 2592 processor supercomputer equipped with power aware components suitable for large scale green computing research. DIRECT is a deterministic global optimization algorithm, implemented in the mathematical software package VTDIRECT95. This thesis explores the potential energy savings for the parallel implementation of DIRECT, called pVTdirect, when used with a large scale computational biology application, parameter estimation for a budding yeast cell cycle model, on System G. Two power aware approaches for pVTdirect are developed and compared against the CPUSPEED power saving system tool. The results show that knowledge of the parallel workload of the underlying application is beneficial for power management.


Construction has been an industry characterised by disputes, fierce competitiveness and fragmentation - all major obstacles to development. Now, however, a relationship-based approach to project procurement, through partnering and alliancing, aims to bring about a fundamental change. ----- ----- -----

This book addresses the critical relationship issues for a more collaborative and sustainable construction industry. It looks at how project procurement and project alliancing partner selection works, and how risk and crisis resolution are managed. It provides readers with guidance and models on how to put a relationship-based approach to procurement into practice, drawing on specific prototypes from an actual, successful project that can be adapted.


Abstract Most wildfires occur during summer in the northern hemisphere, the area burned annually is increasing, and fire effects during this season are least understood. Understanding plant response to grazing following summer fire is required to reduce ecological and financial risks associated with wildfire. Forty 0.75-ha plots were assigned to summer fire then 0, 17, 34 or 50% biomass removal by grazing the following growing season, or no fire and no grazing. Root, litter, and aboveground biomass were measured before fire, immediately after grazing, and 1 yr after grazing with the experiment repeated during 2 yr to evaluate weather effects. Fire years were followed by the second driest and fifth wettest springs in 70 yr. Biomass was more responsive to weather than fire and grazing, with a 452% increase from a dry to wet year and 31% reduction from a wet to average spring. Fire reduced litter 53% and had no first-year effect on productivity for any biomass component. Grazing after fire reduced postgrazing grass biomass along the prescribed utilization gradient. Fire and grazing had no effect on total aboveground productivity the year after grazing compared to nonburned, nongrazed sites (1 327 vs. 1 249 ± 65 kg · ha−1). Fire and grazing increased grass productivity 16%, particularly for Pascopyrum smithii. The combined disturbances reduced forbs (51%), annual grasses (49%), and litter (46%). Results indicate grazing with up to 50% biomass removal the first growing season after summer fire was not detrimental to productivity of semiarid rangeland plant communities. Livestock exclusion the year after summer fire did not increase productivity or shift species composition compared to grazed sites. Reduction of previous years' standing dead material was the only indication that fire may temporarily reduce forage availability. The consistent responses among dry, wet, and near-average years suggest plant response is species-specific rather than climatically controlled.


This paper investigates the relationship between the growth of road networks and regional development. The authors test for mutual causality between the growth of road networks (which are divided functionally into local roads and highways) and changes in county-level population and employment. The authors employ a panel data set containing observations of road mileage by type for all Minnesota counties over the period 1988 to 2007 to fit a model describing changes in road networks, population and employment. Results indicate that causality runs in both directions between population and local road networks, while no evidence of causality in either direction is found for networks and local employment. The authors interpret the findings as evidence of a weakening influence of road networks (and transportation more generally) on location, and suggest methods for refining the empirical approach described herein.


A basic theoretical understanding of stable isotope fractionations can help researczzzhers plan and interpret both laboratory experiments and measurements on natural samples. The goal of this chapter is to provide an introduction to stable isotope fractionation theory, particularly as it applies to mass-dependent fractionations of non-traditional elements and materials. Concepts are illustrated using a number of worked examples. For most elements, and typical terrestrial temperature and pressure conditions, equilibrium isotopic fractionations are caused by the sensitivities of molecular and condensed-phase vibrational frequencies to isotopic substitution. This is explained using the concepts of vibrational zero-point energy and the partition function, leading to Urey's (1947) simplified equation for calculating isotopic partition function ratios for molecules, and Kieffer's (1982) extension to condensed phases. Discussion will focus on methods of obtaining the necessary input data (vibrational frequencies) for partition function calculations. Vibrational spectra have not been measured or are incomplete for most of the substances that Earth scientists are interested in studying, making it necessary to estimate unknown frequencies, or to measure them directly. Techniques for estimating unknown frequencies range from simple analogies to well-studied materials to more complex empirical force-field calculations and ab initio quantum chemistry. Mossbauer spectroscopy has also been used to obtain the vibrational properties of some elements, particularly iron, in a variety of compounds. Some kinetic isotopic fractionations are controlled by molecular or atomic translational velocities; this class includes many diffusive and evaporative fractionations. These fractionations can be modeled using classical statistical mechanics. Other kinetic fractionations may result from the isotopic sensitivity of the activation energy required to achieve a transition state, a process that (in its simplest form) can be modeled using a modification of Urey's equation (Bigeleisen 1949).

Theoretical estimates of isotopic fractionations are particularly powerful in systems that are difficult to characterize experimentally, or when empirical …


We propose a collaborative filtering (CF) recommendation framework which is based on viewing user feedback on products as ordinal, rather than the more common numerical view. Such an ordinal view frequently provides a more natural reflection of the user intention when providing qualitative ratings, allowing users to have different internal scoring scales. Moreover, we can address scenarios where assigning numerical scores to different types of user feedback would not be easy. The framework can wrap most collaborative filtering algorithms, enabling algorithms previously designed for numerical values to handle ordinal values. We demonstrate our framework by wrapping a leading matrix factorization CF method. A cornerstone of our method is its ability to predict a full probability distribution of the expected item ratings, rather than only a single score for an item. One of the advantages this brings is a novel approach to estimating the confidence level in each individual prediction. Compared to previous approaches to confidence estimation, ours is more principled and empirically superior in its accuracy. We demonstrate the efficacy of the approach on two of the largest publicly available datasets: the Netflix data and the Yahoo! Music data.


Self-timed logic may have advantages for security-sensitive applications. The absence of a clock, as a reliable timing reference, makes conventional power analysis attacks more difficult. However, the variability of the timing of self-timed circuits is a weakness that could be exploited by alternative attack techniques. This paper introduces a methodology for the differential power analysis of self-timed circuits which does not rely upon a clock signal. This methodology is used to investigate the security of a self-timed, ARM-compatible processor designed specifically to explore the benefits of self-timed design in secure applications. Timing analysis is also applied to the same design. The results from the analyses are presented and confirm that self-timed logic with dual-rail encoding and secure storage significantly improves resistance to non-invasive attacks.


What is "scientific knowledge" and when is it reliable? These deceptively simple questions have been the source of endless controversy. In 1993, the Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling on the use of scientific evidence in federal courts. Federal judges may admit expert scientific evidence only if it merits the label "scientific knowledge." The testimony must be scientifically "reliable" and "valid." This book is organized around the criteria set out in the 1993 ruling. Following a general overview, the authors look at issues of fit--whether a plausible theory relates specific facts to the larger factual issues in contention; philosophical concepts such as the falsifiability of scientific claims; scientific error; reliability in science, particularly in fields such as epidemiology and toxicology; the meaning of "scientific validity"; peer review and the problem of boundary setting; and the risks of confusion and prejudice when presenting science to a jury. The book's conclusion attempts to reconcile the law's need for workable rules of evidence with the views of scientific validity and reliability that emerge from science and other disciplines.


Using data from Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team Survey at 90 GHz (MALT90), we present a molecular line study of a sample of APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL) clumps. Twelve emission lines have been detected in all. We found that in most sources, emissions of HC3N, HN13C, CH3CN, HNCO and SiO show more compact distributions than those of HCO+, HNC, HCN and N2H+. By comparing with other molecular lines, we found that the abundance of HNCO (χ(HNCO)) correlates well with other species such as HC3N, HNC, C2H, H13CO+ and N2H+. Previous studies indicate the HNCO abundance could be enhanced by shocks. However, in this study, we find the abundance of HNCO does not correlate well with that of SiO, which is also a good tracer of shocks. We suggest this may be because HNCO and SiO trace different parts of shocks. Our analysis indicates that the velocity of a shock traced by HNCO tends to be lower than that traced by SiO. In the low-velocity shocks traced by HNCO, the HNCO abundance increases faster than that of SiO. While in the relatively high-velocity shocks traced by SiO, the SiO abundance increases faster than that of HNCO. We suggest that in the infrared dark cloud MSXDC G331.71+00.59, high-velocity shocks are destroying the molecule HNCO.


Effect of aromatherapy with Lavender on quality of sleep of Nursingl students

soheila shamsikhani, Dr davood hekmat pu, Dr mahbobeh sajadi hezaveh *, simin shamsikhani, somayeh khorasani, fatemeh Behzadi

assisstant professor faculty of nursing and midwifery , email@example.com

Abstract: Introduction: Sleep problems are common in medical students . One of the methods to improve the quality of sleep is lavender aromatherapy . The aim of this study was to determine the effect of Lavender aromatherapy on sleep quality of nursing students in Arak University of Medical Sciences .
 Methods: This is a clinical trial performed on 66 female nursing students selected through purposive sampling. Participants were randomly allocated into two groups (34 in intervention and 32 in control group). Sleep quality was assessed by Pittsburg Sleep Quality Scale. Intervention group used Lavender oil and control group used water. After intervention, sleep quality was assessed with the same questionnaire. Data was analyzed with SPSS using descriptive and inferential statistics.
 Results: The study revealed that 78% of participants did not have a good sleep quality . Results showed that the mean score of sleep quality before and after aromatherapy with lavender was significantly different in intervention group (p<0.05), but in control group the difference was not significant. Also there was no significant difference between intervention and control groups after intervention.
 Conclusions: Findings showed that despite positive effect of Lavender aromatherapy in intervention group, there was no significant difference between intervention and control groups after intervention. Further studies in this regard are recommended .

Keywords: Quality of sleep, aromatherapy, Lavender, nursing students


To conduct a pilot study on the lived experiences of people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on affected people.

 This mixed methods study used random and snowball techniques to recruit 91 respondents (age range 18–58 years) from 14 countries. Accessing patients with COVID-19 was restricted because of the nature of the disease and the treatment they were receiving which limited their access to being selected for our pilot study. Therefore, our respondents were members of the general population who were directly or indirectly affected by the pandemic. Respondents completed online surveys consisting of the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) and open-ended questions. Collected data were subjected to IBM SPSS statistics software (v. 22.0) and thematic analysis.

 Both quantitative and qualitative instruments reported very high feasibility, which is suggestive of an excellent feasibility of our mixed methods design. Second, we identified financial and time resources as major barriers to the recruitment process, and how to avert these in the main study was discussed. Third, COVID-19 pandemic had more anxious than depressive impacts on our respondents. We also found that more than half (58, 63.7%) of the total respondents showed high knowledge level of COVID-19, and the major sources from which they gained knowledge were television, radio, and online academic papers. Our qualitative insight showed five themes from the lived experiences of respondents from the COVID-19 pandemic. These themes were; changes in lifestyles, disruption of schooling activities, impact on options for health services, disruption of works and economy, and anxious and worrisome impacts, in that order.

 Main study is feasible with minor addition required on our protocol. Given other findings, we recommend the need for adaptive coping skill training, and appropriate information sharing during pandemics. There is also the need for psychosocial preparation due to the uncertainty of pandemics. In addition, averting the likely adverse economic impacts from pandemics should be of concern to governments and other stakeholders during pandemics. Finally, we recommend that governments and other stakeholders should be cautious about the likelihood of limited health service options for the general public during pandemics.


P149 Angiotensin (Ang) II acts as a mitogen in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) via multiple signaling mechanisms, including activation of tyrosine kinases and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). In addition, we have reported that cytosolic phospholipase A 2 (cPLA 2 )-dependent release of arachidonic acid (AA) is linked to Ang II-induced VSMC growth independent of tyrosine kinase. Ang II-mediated activation of cPLA 2 involves translocation to the nucleus, as well as serine phosphorylation. Furthermore, VSMC growth stimulated by Ang II has been shown to involve phosphoinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). Thus, Ang II-mediated cPLA 2 activation may require a MAPK-dependent phosphorylation, while additional kinases may couple Ang II to the activation of MAPK. Therefore, we used cultured rat VSMC to examine the role of PI3K and MAPK in the phosphorylation of cPLA 2 , release of AA and growth induced by Ang II. Exposure of VSMC to Ang II (100 nM) increased 3 H-thymidine incorporation and cell number by 82% and 75%, respectively when compared to controls (5976 ± 861 cpm/well; 1.9 ± 0.25 x 10 5 cells/mL, respectively). Ang II increased 3 H-AA release by 145% when compared to controls (411 ± 81 cpm/well). The PI3K inhibitor LY294002 (10 μM) blocked the Ang II-induced thymidine incorporation completely and the release of AA by 66%. Similarly, the MAPK-kinase (MEK) inhibitor PD98059 (10 μM) abolished Ang II-mediated growth and attenuated AA release by 35%. Exogenous AA restored VSMC growth in the presence of PD98059 but not in cells treated with LY294002. Western blot analysis revealed that inhibition of PI3K or MEK reduced the Ang II-mediated increase in phosphorylation of MAPK, as well as the amount of phosphoserine-cPLA 2 associated with the nucleus. Thus, it appears that cPLA 2 -dependent release of AA is required for Ang II-induced growth of VSMC and may involve the PI3K-dependent phosphorylation of MAPK and subsequent phosphorylation-dependent activation of cPLA 2 .


We have shown in several controlled rat and human infection studies that dietary calcium improves intestinal resistance and strengthens the mucosal barrier. Reinforcement of gut barrier function may alleviate inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Therefore, we investigated the effect of supplemental calcium on spontaneous colitis development in an experimental rat model of IBD. HLA-B27 transgenic rats were fed a purified high-fat diet containing either a low or high calcium concentration (30 and 120 mmol CaHPO4/kg diet, respectively) for almost 7 wk. Inert chromium EDTA (CrEDTA) was added to the diets to quantify intestinal permeability by measuring urinary CrEDTA excretion. Relative fecal wet weight was determined to quantify diarrhea. Colonic inflammation was determined histologically and by measuring mucosal interleukin (IL)-1beta. In addition, colonic mucosal gene expression of individual rats was analyzed using whole-genome microarrays. The calcium diet significantly inhibited the increase in intestinal permeability and diarrhea with time in HLA-B27 rats developing colitis compared with the control transgenic rats. Mucosal IL-1beta levels were lower in calcium-fed rats and histological colitis scores tended to be lower (P = 0.08). Supplemental calcium prevented the colitis-induced increase in the expression of extracellular matrix remodeling genes (e.g. matrix metalloproteinases, procollagens, and fibronectin), which was confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR and gelatin zymography. In conclusion, dietary calcium ameliorates several important aspects of colitis severity in HLA-B27 transgenic rats. Reduction of mucosal irritation by luminal components might be part of the mechanism. These results show promise for supplemental calcium as effective adjunct therapy for IBD.


The first layer of plant immunity is activated by cell surface receptor-like kinases (RLKs) and proteins (RLPs) that detect infectious pathogens. Constitutive interaction with the RLK SUPPRESSOR OF BIR1 (SOBIR1) contributes to RLP stability and kinase activity. As RLK activation requires transphosphorylation with a second associated RLK, it remains elusive how RLPs initiate downstream signaling. To address this, we investigated functioning of Cf RLPs that mediate immunity of tomato against Cladosporium fulvum. We employed live-cell imaging and co-immunoprecipitation in tomato and Nicotiana benthamiana to investigate the requirement of associated kinases for Cf activity and ligand-induced subcellular trafficking of Cf-4. Upon elicitation with the matching effector ligands Avr4 and Avr9, BRI1-ASSOCIATED KINASE 1 (BAK1) associates with Cf-4 and Cf-9. Furthermore, Cf-4 that interacts with SOBIR1 at the plasma membrane, is recruited to late endosomes after elicitation. Significantly, BAK1 is required for Avr4-triggered endocytosis, effector-triggered defenses in Cf-4 plants and resistance of tomato against C. fulvum. Our observations indicate that RLP-mediated immune signaling and endocytosis require ligand-induced recruitment of BAK1, reminiscent of BAK1 interaction and subcellular fate of the FLAGELLIN SENSING 2 RLK. This reveals that diverse classes of cell surface immune receptors share common requirements for signaling initiation and endocytosis.


Wireless-optical broadband access network (WOBAN) is regarded as a promising broadband access network technology for meeting the challenges of the exponential increase in Internet traffic. WOBAN combines the reliability and capacity of the passive optical network (PON) with the ubiquity and mobility of the wireless network to cost efficiently deliver services to the end user. In common with other next generation communication networks, WOBAN faces the challenge of delivering very high data rates without sacrificing the quality of service (QoS) and energy efficiency. In this paper, we propose a new resource management technique for improving the energy efficiency of the integrated optical-wireless unit in WOBAN. The concept is based on increasing the idle time of the wireless and optical parts without sacrificing the QoS of end applications, and exploiting idle durations to enable sleep, which ultimately boosts power savings. We use the interoperability for resource management in the wireless and optical parts to maintain the QoS. Our results reveal that extending the idle time and making the resource management in both optical and wireless adapt to the daily traffic fluctuations guarantee the QoS requirements for different traffic and boost energy savings in WOBAN.


The properties of materials synthesized with nanoparticles (NPs) are highly correlated to the sizes and shapes of the nanoparticles. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging technique can be used to measure the morphological characteristics of NPs, which can be simple circles or more complex irregular polygons with varying degrees of scales and sizes. A major difficulty in analyzing the TEM images is the overlapping of objects, having different morphological properties with no specific information about the number of objects present. Furthermore, the objects lying along the boundary render automated image analysis much more difficult. To overcome these challenges, we propose a Bayesian method based on the marked-point process representation of the objects. We derive models, both for the marks which parameterize the morphological aspects and the points which determine the location of the objects. The proposed model is an automatic image segmentation and classification procedure, which simultaneously detects the boundaries and classifies the NPs into one of the predetermined shape families. We execute the inference by sampling the posterior distribution using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) since the posterior is doubly intractable. We apply our novel method to several TEM imaging samples of gold NPs, producing the needed statistical characterization of their morphology.


Abstract Germlings of the green alga Ulva sp. were developed as a diet for juvenile Haliotis laevigata (≥3.5 mm shell length) and compared with a current commercial diet consisting of Ulvella lens plus the diatom species Navicula cf. jeffreyi. The utilization of macroalgae germlings (juvenile gametophyte and sporophyte) allowed 3-dimensional growth and subsequently provided greater feed biomass in comparison with the current 2-dimensional commercial feed for the later nursery phase consisting of 5–10 mm (shell length) juvenile abalone. The juvenile abalone showed active feeding on both the Ulva germling diet and the current commercial diet. The Ulvella lens/Navicula cf. jeffreyi diet resulted in abalone of significantly larger shell length at the end of the 14-wk feeding trial. However, the Ulva germling diet recorded significantly larger abalone for the first 4–5 wk, whereas the commercial diet produced significantly larger abalone from week 6 to the end of the trial. The growth rate on both diets exceeded 100 μm.day−1 and the specific growth rates were maintained above 1%.day−1 for the duration of the feeding trial with neither measure portraying significant differences between diets. There was no significant difference in juvenile abalone mortality feeding on the two diets. The Ulva germling consumption exhibited a spike (500 germling blades.abalone−1.day−1) in consumption at week three then, once reduced, a gradual increase occurred until the end of the trial. Ulvella lens consumption demonstrated a similar pattern to Ulva germlings consumption and was significantly, positively correlated. Consumption rates for the two green algae both correlated with juvenile abalone growth. The diatom (Navicula cf. jeffreyi) consumption was affected by plate rotation (light intensity and grazing pressure) rather than juvenile abalone.


The paraxial theory of spherical refracting surfaces, spherical lenses, and slabs with one birefringent medium is investigated analytically: using walk-off effects in the paraxial domain, a number of relations between objects and images are deduced, along with cardinal elements, in the case where the optic axis is parallel to the optical axis. This method naturally shows that in some cases first-order astigmatism appears. An argument based on the wavefront (and phase) transformation shows that any spherical birefringent thin lens is stigmatic in the paraxial domain, because the first-order astigmatisms due to the two surfaces of such a lens compensate each other. This is a priori not the case with thick birefringent lenses -- but two such cases are detailed.


The role of environmental products, especially of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in the livelihoods of rural people has been underlined by many scholars though their actual contribution to household income remains debated. To some, this contribution is essential while for others it is only complementary or even trivial. In order to contribute to this debate, we analyzed the data collected through 474 household interviews and focus group discussions held in 13 villages in the humid forest zone of Cameroon. The results show that environmental products in general were collected by 96% (East) 76% (South) and 58% (Southwest) of the households interviewed. Though non-negligible in the first two regions, the financial contribution of environmental products to the household economy remains relatively low. However, many households remain attached to NTFPs because they reflect their way of life and food security aspirations. The highest relative contribution of NTFPs (16%) to households' income was obtained from villages in the East populated by Baka pygmies while the highest absolute household income value emerged from villages in the South (XAF 600,000/USD 1,091) where the performance was associated with both forest availability and the willingness of Bantu households to invest their time and knowhow in valuing environmental goods. On the other hand, agriculture was dominant in the three regions with an average annual income of 70%, 46% and 38% respectively for villages in the South, Southwest and East regions.


We describe active measurements of topology and end-to-end latency characteristics between several of the DNS root servers and a subset of their clients using the skitter tool developed by CAIDA. We gather a sample of clients for each monitored DNS root server, combine these samples into a common target list and then actively probe these targets and analyze their connectivity. We identify the subsets of destinations that have large latency connections to all instrumented root name servers and discuss their geographical make-up. Our goal is to build an analytical framework for evaluating the optimality of root server placement and its impact on the efficiency of the DNS service. The skitter tool and the methodology we propose can also be used for monitoring the end-to-end performance in large networks and for assessing the optimality of web servers placement in general.


The decrease of microRNA-452 (miR-452) in gliomas promoted stem-like features and tumorigenesis. However, the role of miR-452, especially in regulating cancer stem cells (CSCs) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains ambiguous. We enriched stem-like HCC cells by serial passages of hepatospheres with chemotherapeutic agents. Stem-like characteristics including the capabilities of chemo-resistance, stemness-related gene expression profiling, self-renewal, tumorigenicity and metastasis formation were detected. MiR-452 was markedly increased in the chemo-resistant hepatospheres and human HCC tissues. and the overexpression of miR-452 in HCC patients predicted poor overall survival. MiR-452 significantly promoted stem-like characteristics in vitro and in vivo. Further, Sox7 was identified as the direct target of miR-452, which could physically bind with β-catenin and TCF4 in the nucleus and then inhibit the activity of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Finally, the combined chemotherapy of doxorubicin and all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) showed dramatically efficiency in suppressing HCC metastasis. These data suggested that miR-452 promoted stem-like traits of HCC, which might be a potential therapeutic target for HCC. The combination of doxorubicin and ATRA might be a promising therapy in HCC management.


In 2012, eight million cancer deaths were recorded, this disease being the second leading cause of death worldwide, after cardiovascular disease. The onset of cancer is the result of the interaction between a person genetic factors and the environmental factors and lifestyle. The major factors involved in cancer are: smoking, drinking alcohol, obesity, exposure to sunlight and some viral infections. An important role in initiating anticancer treatment is staging of cancer, as therapy is guided by this criterion. The article reviews the types of therapy used for the most common forms of cancer: lung, breast, colorectal and prostate.


Objective: The rate of failed interlock blood alcohol content (BAC) tests is a strong predictor of recidivism post-interlock and a partial proxy for alcohol use. Alcohol biomarkers measured at the start of an interlock program are known to correlate well with rates of failed BAC tests over months of interlock use. This study evaluates 2 methods of measuring low blood levels of the biomarker phosphatidylethanol (PEth). PEth is a 100 percent alcohol-specific biomarker and strongly intercorrelated with several independent indicators of drinking driving risk, including 8 other biomarkers, 3 psychometric assessments, and the rate of failed interlock BAC tests during many months of interlock use. Does a more sensitive method of measuring PEth at program entry detect drinking even among those who subsequently log no failed interlock tests? Methods: In a sample of 281 driver blood samples, PEth was measured by both high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LCMSMS) in order to compare sensitivity and accuracy. The average rate of failed interlock BAC tests was the criterion measure for marker sensitivity. LCMSMS, calibrated to detect low levels of drinking as a possible measure of abstinence violation, was judged relative to the standard HPLC assay for PEth measured up to 4 μmol/L. Results: The 2 methods showed a good quantitative relationship (r2> .86). LCMSMS detected positive PEth levels in samples that were below the limit of detection of the HPLC method. PEth measured by LCMSMS was positive for a higher proportion of driving under the influence (DUI) offenders who logged zero failed interlock BAC tests than were detected by HPLC. Conclusion: Although HPLC is the widely used standard for measuring PEth in clinical alcoholism samples, the LCMSMS method, when calibrated to detect trace amounts of the major component of PEth, can detect abstinence levels of alcohol near zero intake and still correlate strongly with other indicators related to alcohol use and road safety.


The work reported here is a systematic study to evaluate the compatibility of using PS-F (potassium silicate with high modulus – fly ash) slurry in the conservation of adobe structures. Firstly, the optimum mixing proportion (0.47) was determined by flow meter. Then the experimental program was divided into two parts: one part studied changes in physical and mechanical properties with increase in setting time by means of the measurement of moisture content, compressive and flexural strength, elastic-wave velocity, density, and porosity; the other part studied the durability of PS-F slurry through temperature and humidity cycles, freeze–thaw cycles, water stability, tensile testing, and alkali resistivity tests. The results show that the consolidation process with the slurry can meet the requirements of conservation applications and provide a timely anchoring force, and the slurry and soil mass of adobe-based structures have good compatibility in physical and mechanical properties. In addition, the slurry can strongly resist freeze–thaw cycles, temperature-moisture cycles, and tensile stress and has a relatively weak resistance to alkali solutions and water immersion. In conclusion, PS-F with a mixing ratio of 0.47 is a suitable slurry for conservation of adobe structures.


As water supplies become strained, some municipalities have turned to reclaimed water as a potential source to meet non-potable needs. Such reclaimed water – wastewater effluent treated to appropriate quality standards – is not suitable for human consumption without additional treatment, but can be used for purposes such as irrigation and cooling. One reclaimed water distribution system of particular interest is at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), USA, which receives treated effluent from City of Austin wastewater treatment plants. Depending on the embedded energy of existing water sources, existing levels of wastewater treatment, and the extent of the relevant distribution network, water reuse can save energy and carbon emissions compared with conventional drinking water distribution systems, at the expense of higher capital costs. Our analysis uses EPANet modeling software and historical datasets to examine the embedded energy and carbon emissions in drinking water and reclaimed water for non-potable applications at UT. We then examine the overall economics of reclaimed water use, including capital and operating costs for a variety of amortization periods, financing costs, and externality costs using a levelized-cost of water methodology. This integrated analysis serves as the basis for developing principles of sustainable water reuse.


Aim: The objective of this work was to develop ocular inserts of ofloxacin and dexamethasone and to evaluate their potential for controlled ocular delivery. Materials and Methods: Ofloxacin and dexamethasone were obtained as a gift sample from Indu Drugs, Pvt. Ltd., hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) (P55 and E15) from Pellets Pharma Ltd., HPMC K4M from NSF Pharma Pvt. Ltd., Eudragit (RL-100 and L-100) from Biogen Extracts Pvt. Ltd., polyethylene glycol and ethanol were purchased from S.D. Fine Chemicals, Mumbai, India. Ocular Inserts were prepared by solvent casting technique using polymer Eudragit (RL-100 and L-100) and HPMC (K4M, P55 and E15) at different concentration and combination. Results and Discussion: 10 formulations (F1-F10) were developed and all the formulations were subjected to evaluation for thickness, weight variation, folding endurance, pH, % moisture absorption, drug content, and in vitro release study. Infrared spectral analysis showed that there is no interaction of drug with polymer which indicates the intactness of drug in the formulation. On the basis of in vitro drug release studies, formulation F6 was found to be better than the other formulations and selected as an optimized formulation, which was further subjected to stability study. No significant change was observed in the drug content and physical features during storage at 25°C/60% RH and 40°C/75% RH for 9 months. Conclusion: In this study, an attempt was made to develop ocuserts of ofloxacin and dexamethasone combination with improved bioavailability, avoidance of repeated administration and dose reduction. From the experimental finding, it can be concluded that HPMC is a hydrophilic polymer good film forming and is a promising agent for ocular delivery. Eudragit was a satisfactory polymeric ingredient to fabricate the rate controlling membrane of the ocusert system. Incorporation of polyethylene glycol enhances the flexibility of film, achieving therapeutic levels of the drug in the formulation and also permeability of the drug through cornea. The kinetic treatment of in vitro dissolution data indicated that the optimized ocusert followed Peppas kinetics with zero-order drug release. The drug remained intact and stable in the ocuserts on storage.


Fifth AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, Nov 12-15, 2006

PR-17

Background. People who survive beyond five years after a lung cancer diagnosis have been referred to as long-term lung cancer (LTLC) survivors. There currently is limited information about the health status, health behaviors, and quality of life (QoL) of LTLC survivors. In our multiple-dimension study, comprehensive models were explored under a conceptual model of Wilson and Cleary (1) to capture the most important survival predictors. Our framework encompasses the following five dimensions: health and QoL (e.g., comorbid conditions and spiritual well-being), health-related behaviors (e.g., smoking status and physical activity level), disease and treatment related factors (e.g., adverse effects and disease recurrence), host related factors (e.g., genotypes of oxidative pathways), tumor related factors (e.g., histology and markers of cell proliferation and apoptosis), as well as demographic variables. Methods. We conducted a matched multivariate analysis to assess predictors for longer survival and better QoL. We sequentially modeled from each study dimension and then to higher order dimensions. LTLC survivors (n=150) were matched to patients who survived less than 2 years (n=150) by known survival predictors including age at diagnosis, gender, tumor cell type, TNM stage, and number of primary lung cancers. Results . Under disease dimension, patients with any progression or recurrence were almost 3 times more likely to die within 2 years than those without progression or recurrence; under treatment dimension, those who had surgery were only 33% as likely to die within 2 years as those without surgery; under physical functioning dimension, patients who reported being "unable to do work or could only do light work" were at a 2.7-5.8 fold higher probability of dying within 2 years than those who were fully active; and under host susceptibility dimension, patients with a GSTM1 positive allele (indicative of a higher anti-oxidative function) were 4 times less likely to die within 2 years than those with a null type. Summary. In this initial analysis, we have shown the importance of all five dimensions, with varying magnitude. New knowledge gained from our study may help lung cancer survivors, their healthcare providers, and their caregivers by providing evidence for establishing clinical recommendations to enhance their long-term survival and health-related QoL. (This study is supported by NIH grants CA77118, CA80127, CA84354, and CA115857.) 1. Wilson IB, Cleary PD. Linking clinical variables with health-related quality of life: A conceptual model of patient outcomes. JAMA 1995; 273:59-65


The Asia Pacific Journal of Medical Toxicology (APJMT) was born in December 2012 to open up new perspectives for dissemination of research in medical toxicology. It was also created to expand the science of medical toxicology, addiction morbidities, drug interactions and adverse effects in the Asia Pacific region (1,2). The journal has attracted the support of medical toxicologists from different countries around the world to take part as members of the editorial board. The journal received its first notice of being indexed in a well-known database (Chemical Abstracts Service) in March 2013. It has been listed in EBSCO, Index Copernicus and DOAJ since July 2013. These achievements would not be possible without contribution of the authors of previous issues and the great support of the editorial board and the reviewers from different parts of the world. We are grateful to all of them. The articles of the previous issues were written by authors form diverse countries (mostly form the Asia Pacific region and also from Africa, Europe and the United states). In addition, various aspects of medical toxicology including epidemiology, new treatments, prognosis of poisoned patients and psychiatric basis of poisoning have been covered. During the 12th annual congress of the Asia Pacific Association of Medical Toxicology (APAMT), an editorial board meeting of the APJMT was held in which the members of the editorial board had a chance to share their ideas about the present and future of the journal. The discussion was mostly upon three essential questions: What is the current status of the journal? Most members expressed that one of the advantages of the journal is that it has been accepted by the Asian Pacific scientists as a reliable regional journal to publish their works. Moreover, the journal has been published regularly and this could strengthen the journal credibility so that it has been accepted by reliable indexing databases.  What are our defects and obstacles? Several members believed that the major obstacle of the journal is lack of an established reputation. In addition, there is a favor towards other peer reviewed journals outside the region by some of the APAMT members. Hence no other way remains for the journal except increasing the visibility and trying for being indexed in other high rank databases. In this regard, nearly all journal board members pointed out that gaining recognition by marked indexing databases including Medline and Science Citation Index should be our main objective. Furthermore, the weakness of methodology of some of manuscripts submitted to the journal was stated as a defect. What should we do to overcome the obstacles and to develop the journal? The solutions and recommendations for overcoming obstacles and developing the journal can be categorized as follow: Being compulsive about excellent peer-review of the manuscripts submitted to the journal. Inviting experienced authors for writing review articles about controversial subjects in medical toxicology. Inviting scientists from other parts of the world to contribute their works to the journal. Communication with all national and international societies for introducing the APJMT as their official or supported journal. Applying for being indexed in Medline and Science Citation Index. In conclusion, the journal has been moved ahead and will be propelled forward by the assistance of great scientists around the world to conquer higher peaks. We also should not forget that the journal has been established to empower medical toxicology in the region (3), and so we should focus on helping junior scientists in the region to improve and publish their genuine works. I would like to thank the editorial board members including A. Bhala, J. Brent, K. Brusin, F. R. Chowdhury,  B. Dadpour, P. Due, R. Fernando, B. Megarbane, S. M. Monzavi, D. Roberts, and W. Temple, for participating in the meeting or sending their valuable opinions via email about the current status and future plan of the journal.


An overview is given of the academic discipline of engineering ethics in the United States, describing how the subject has been taught in the US, and suggesting a new method that uses the history and sociology of science and technology to teach ethical issues in engineering. Traditionally, engineering ethicists have focussed on accidents to analyze both ethical conduct and social implications of engineering. The new approach attempts to move beyond this concern with what might be called "disaster ethics" to study the ethical and social aspects of everyday engineering practice.


Abstract In Canada, Indigenous children have been removed from their families and communities for residential schooling and for adoption and fostering by the state. These historic and ongoing policies have contributed to a general lack of awareness and respect for the rights of Indigenous children as children, as well as Indigenous rights bearers. This paper examines the ways in which historic Indigenous transracial adoption projects acted as a means of public education for ignorance, and argues there is an urgent need for increased public and academic attention to Indigenous children's rights as both universal children's rights and Indigenous rights.


A transformative, fascinating theory—based on robust and groundbreaking experimental research—reveals how our unconscious fear of death powers almost everything we do, shining a light on the hidden motives that drive human behavior More than one hundred years ago, the American philosopher William James dubbed the knowledge that we must die "the worm at the core" of the human condition. In 1974, cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker won the Pulitzer Prize for his book The Denial of Death, arguing that the terror of death has a pervasive effect on human affairs. Now authors Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszczynski clarify with wide-ranging evidence the many ways the worm at the core guides our thoughts and actions, from the great art we create to the devastating wars we wage. The Worm at the Core is the product of twenty-five years of in-depth research. Drawing from innovative experiments conducted around the globe, Solomon, Greenberg, and Pyszczynski show conclusively that the fear of death and the desire to transcend it inspire us to buy expensive cars, crave fame, put our health at risk, and disguise our animal nature. The fear of death can also prompt judges to dole out harsher punishments, make children react negatively to people different from themselves, and inflame intolerance and violence. But the worm at the core need not consume us. Emerging from their research is a unique and compelling approach to these deeply existential issues: terror management theory. TMT proposes that human culture infuses our lives with order, stability, significance, and purpose, and these anchors enable us to function moment to moment without becoming overwhelmed by the knowledge of our ultimate fate. The authors immerse us in a new way of understanding human evolution, child development, history, religion, art, science, mental health, war, and politics in the twenty-first century. In so doing, they also reveal how we can better come to terms with death and learn to lead lives of courage, creativity, and compassion. Written in an accessible, jargon-free style, The Worm at the Core offers a compelling new paradigm for understanding the choices we make in life—and a pathway toward divesting ourselves of the cultural and personal illusions that keep us from accepting the end that awaits us all. Praise for The Worm at the Core "The idea that nearly all human individual and cultural activity is a response to death sounds far-fetched. But the evidence the authors present is compelling and does a great deal to address many otherwise intractable mysteries of human behaviour. This is an important, superbly readable and potentially life-changing book."—The Guardian (U.K.) "A neat fusion of ideas borrowed from sociology, anthropology, existential philosophy and psychoanalysis."—The Herald (U.K.) "Deep, important, and beautifully written, The Worm at the Core describes a brilliant and utterly original program of scientific research on a force so powerful that it drives our lives."—Daniel Gilbert, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of Stumbling on Happiness "As psychology becomes increasingly trivial, devolving into the promotion of positive-thinking platitudes, The Worm at the Core bucks the trend. The authors present—and provide robust evidence for—a


ABSTRACT Regional pay? The public/private sector pay differential. Regional Studies. This paper extends the debate on making public sector wages more responsive to those in the private sector. The way in which the public/private sector wage differential is calculated dramatically alters conclusions, and far from there being substantial regional disparity in wages offered to public sector workers, any differences are predominantly concentrated in London and the South East where public sector workers are significantly disadvantaged relative to private sector workers. This has implications for staff recruitment and retention. Such findings question the need for regional market-facing pay, but highlight the necessity to revisit the London-weighting offered to public sector workers.


This paper describes the concept of pneumatic structures applied to multi-story buildings. In such buildings an internal environmental air pressure acting on the underside of the roof supports floors that are suspended from roof level. A continuous plastic membrane surrounded by an external cable-network for reinforcement purposes contains the pressurized building environment in a similar fashion to the container of a pressure vessel. The paper explores safety considerations, fire protection measures, special requirements relating to water and sanitary services in a hyperbaric environment, airlock entrance and emergency egress provisions, construction and erection considerations, cost projections, and the structural design process. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of alternative structural air-supported configurations and fluid-inflated systems in which the building environment is not pressurized.


BACKGROUND
A lot of research work has been carried out to determine the effectiveness of using a traumatic restorative treatment (ART) in the management of dental caries, but there are still unresolved issues surrounding the use of the technique particularly in very large carious lesions.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the current survival rates of multi-surface ART restorations placed in the primary dentition and any consequences to the restored tooth after premature loss of the restoration.

STUDY SELECTION
Using a set of specific key words, a Pubmed/Medline search was carried out to retrieve all publications on ART restorations placed in primary teeth in the period January 2000 to December 2011. Only publications whose studies had multi-surface ART restorations as an item of study were retrieved and relevant data extracted.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Twelve studies contained in 12 publications fulfilled the selection criteria and were included in the study. The selected publications were analysed by the author to establish the study follow-up period and the survival rate of the multi-surface ART restorations for the different follow-up periods. Further information was adduced on any other effects of restoration on the tooth after premature loss of the restoration.

RESULTS
The search findings indicated that the survival rate for most of the multi-surface restorations were generally very low. Further, there were indications that even after the premature loss of the ART restorations, most of the affected teeth survived for the period of the study with a number of them having shown no signs of secondary caries or associated dental abscessees.

CONCLUSION
While the survival rates of multi-surface ART restorations in the studies documented in the review were low, the ART restorations appeared to provide some beneficial effects to the retention-longevity of the restored tooth even after their premature loss.


The test of analogue and mixed-signal (AMS) cores requires the use of expensive AMS testers and accessibility to internal analogue nodes. The test cost can be considerably reduced by the use of built-in-self-test (BIST) techniques. One of these techniques consists of generating analogue test signals from digital test patterns (obtained via /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ modulation) and converting the responses of the analogue modules into digital signatures that are compared with the expected ones. This paper presents an implementation of the analogue test signal generation part that includes programmability of the circuit blocks, leading to an improvement of performance and a reduction of circuit size with respect to previous approaches. A 0.18 /spl mu/m CMOS circuit has been designed and fabricated, allowing the generation of test signals ranging from 10 Hz to 1 MHz.


Friend recommendation is an important recommender application in social media. Major social websites such as Twitter and Facebook are all capable of recommending friends to individuals. However, most of these websites use simple friend recommendation algorithms such as similarity, popularity, or "friend's friends are friends," which are intuitive but consider few of the characteristics of the social network. In this paper we investigate the structure of social networks and develop an algorithm for network correlation-based social friend recommendation (NC-based SFR). To accomplish this goal, we correlate different "social role" networks, find their relationships and make friend recommendations. NC-based SFR is characterized by two key components: 1) related networks are aligned by selecting important features from each network, and 2) the network structure should be maximally preserved before and after network alignment. After important feature selection has been made, we recommend friends based on these features. We conduct experiments on the Flickr network, which contains more than ten thousand nodes and over 30 thousand tags covering half a million photos, to show that the proposed algorithm recommends friends more precisely than reference methods.


The design of cryptographic engines for the Internet of Things (IoT) edge devices and other ultralightweight devices is a crucial challenge. The emergence of such resource-constrained devices raises significant challenges to current cryptographic algorithms. PHOTON is an ultra-lightweight cryptographic hash function targeting low-resource devices. The currently implemented hardware architectures of PHOTON hash function utilize a large amount of resources and have low operating frequencies with a low rate of throughputs. Maximum operating frequency and throughput of PHOTON architecture can be improved but at the cost of larger area utilization. Therefore, to improve the area-performance trade-offs of PHOTON hash function, an iterative architecture is implemented in this work. The concern is with the most lightweight version of PHOTON hash function with the hash size of 80 bits. It is implemented and verified on several Xilinx and Altera Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) devices using their synthesis and simulation tools. Low-cost and high-processing FPGA devices were both considered. The design is optimized for performance, whereas the area utilization is also taken into consideration. The overall performance and logic utilization are benchmarked with the existing implementations. The results show an improvement rate of 10.26% to 51.04% in the speed performance and a reduction rate of 7.55% to 60.64% in area utilization compared to existing implementations of PHOTON hash functions.


Jackie Sheehan traces the background and development of workers clashes with the Chinese Communist Party through mass campaigns such as the 1956-7 Hundred Flowers movement, the Cultural Revolution, the April Fifth Movement of 1976, Democracy Wall and the 1989 Democracy Movement. The author provides the most detailed and complete picture of workers protest in China to date and locates their position within the context of Chinese political history. Chinese Workers demonstrates that the image of Chinese workers as politically conformist and reliable supporters of the Communist Party does not match the realities of industrial life in China. Recent outbreaks of protest by workers are less of a departure from the past than is generally realized.


Sickness behavior and fatigue are induced by cerebral mechanisms involving inflammatory cytokines. High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is an alarmin, and a potential key player in this process. Reliable quantification methods for total HMGB1 and its redox variants must be established in order to clearly understand how it functions. Current methods pose significant challenges due to interference from other plasma proteins and autoantibodies. We aimed to develop an antibody-free sample preparation method followed by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to measure HMGB1 in human plasma. Different methods were applied for the removal of interfering proteins and the enrichment of HMGB1 from spiked human plasma samples. A comparison of methods showed an overall low extraction recovery (<40%), probably due to the stickiness of HMGB1. Reversed-phase liquid chromatography separation of intact proteins in diluted plasma yielded the most promising results. The method produced an even higher degree of HMGB1 purification than that observed with immunoaffinity extraction. Detection sensitivity needs to be further improved for the measurement of HMGB1 in patient samples. Nevertheless, it has been demonstrated that a versatile and fully antibody-free sample preparation method is possible, which could be of great use in further investigations.


Symbolic AI systems typically have difficulty reasoning about motion in continuous environments, such as determining whether a cornering car will clear a close obstacle. Bimodal systems, integrating a qualitative symbolic system with a quantitative diagram-like spatial representation, are capable of solving this sort of problem, but questions remain of how and where knowledge about fine-grained motion processes is represented, and how it is applied to the problem. In this paper, we argue that forward simulation of motion is an appropriate method, and introduce continuous motion models to enable this simulation. These motion-specific models control behavior of objects at the spatial level, while general mechanisms in the higher qualitative level control and monitor them. This interaction of low- and high-level activity allows for problem solving that is both precise in individual problems and general across multiple problems. In addition, this approach allows perception and action mechanisms to be reused in reasoning about hypothetical motion problems and


Functional neuroimaging techniques are used widely in cognitive neuroscience to investigate aspects of functional specialization and functional integration in the human brain. Functional integration can be characterized in two ways, functional connectivity and effective connectivity. While functional connectivity describes statistical dependencies between data, effective connectivity rests on a mechanistic model of the causal effects that generated the data. This review addresses the conceptual and methodological basis of established techniques for characterizing effective connectivity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. In particular, we focus on dynamic causal modeling (DCM) of fMRI data and emphasize the importance of model selection procedures and nonlinear mechanisms for context-dependent changes in connection strengths. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.


For many years, multinational corporations could compete successfully by exploiting scale and scope economies or by taking advantage of imperfections in the world's goods, labor and capital markets. But these ways of competing are no longer as profitable as they once were. In most industries, multinationals no longer compete primarily with companies whose boundaries are confined to a single nation. Rather, they go head-to-head with a handful of other giants. Against such global competitors, it is hard to sustain an advantage based on traditional economies of scale and scope.

MNCs must seek new sources of competitive advantage.While multinationals in the past realized economies of scope principally by utilizing physical assets and exploiting a companywide brand, the new economies of scope are based on the ability of business units, subsidiaries and functional departments within the company to collaborate successfully by sharing knowledge and jointly developing new products and services.

Collaboration can be an MNC's source of competitive advantage because it does not occur automatically ? far from it. Indeed, several barriers impede collaboration within complex multiunit organizations. And in order to overcome those barriers, companies will have to develop distinct organizing capabilities that cannot be easily imitated. The authors develop a framework that links managerial action, barriers to interunit collaboration and value creation in MNCs to help managers understand how collaborative advantage can work. The framework conceptualizes collaboration as a set of management levers that reduce four specific barriers to collaboration, leading in turn to several types of value creation. They draw on BP's experience to illustrate the effectiveness of a collaborative approach.


Econometric Investigation into the Impact of Institutions on the Wage Share of Industrialised Nations The aim of this paper is to evaluate the changing impact of corporatism – cooperation between business, labour and state interest groups – over the period 1960-2010 and across industrialised economies on the development of the share of labour in national income. Also due to data issues this relationship has not been extensively analysed in the literature so far. A new time-variant corporatism index developed by Jahn (2016) allows us to fill this gap. Using different panel data techniques, samples and control variables, our main results suggest that there is a robust non-linear relationship at work. While the linear effects of both corporatism and the public sector share are positive, the coefficient of the interaction term of these two institutional indicators is negative and hence indicates a negative slope for countries with both a high level of corporatism and a large government share in GDP in explaining the change as well as the level of the adjusted wage share in the long run. To a certain extent the two institutions can be seen as substitutes. In countries where the role of the state has been reduced, the existence of a more centralised wage bargaining system has limited the extent of the fall in the share of labour in national income. In countries with less prevalent collective bargaining systems, a similar effect can be achieved by higher government spending. We therefore argue for a stronger role for centralised wage bargaining in economic policy-making, especially in countries where the share of government spending in GDP is low.


Background Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) usually expresses CD5 antigen. However, 7–20% of patients are CD5 negative. We report here a series of 19 CD5-negative B-CLL cases. Material/Methods We reviewed 19 consecutive CD5-negative B-CLL cases seen in our medical center from 2009 to 2015 and compared them with 105 CD5-positive B-CLL cases. The two groups were compared in terms of clinical parameters, laboratory parameters, and survival characteristics. Results Lymphadenopathy was present in 31.5% of the CD5-negative group and 51.4% of the CD5-positive group (p=0.029). Splenomegaly was present in 42.1% of the CD5-negative group and 16.1% of the CD5-positive group (p=0.029). There was no difference between the groups in terms of Binet A, B, and C stages (p=0.118, p=0.051, and p=0.882, respectively). The median thrombocyte count was 144×109/L and 160×109/L in the CD5-negative and CD5-positive groups, respectively (p=0.044). There was no difference between the two groups in terms of median neutrophil count (p=0.169). The mean lymphocyte count was 43.2±4.0×109/L and 36.7±3.2×109/L in the CD5-negative and CD5-positive groups, respectively (p=0.001). There was no difference between the groups in terms of autoimmune hemolytic anemia and autoimmune thrombocytopenia. In five-year follow-up, 84.2% of CD5-negative patients and 90.5% of CD5-positive patients were alive (p=0.393). Conclusions We found more isolated splenomegaly, less lymphadenopathy, a higher lymphocyte count, and a lower thrombocyte count in the CD5-negative group. There was no difference between the groups in terms of clinical stage, autoimmune phenomena, hemoglobin and neutrophil count, and survival.


I - Continuous-Time Systems - The "second method of Lyapunov is the most general approach currently in the theory of stability of dynamic systems. After a rigorous exposition of the fundamental concepts of this theory, applications are made to (a) stability of linear stationary, linear nonstationary, and nonlinear systems; (b) estimation of transient behavior; (c) control-system optimization; (d) design of relay servos. The discussion is essentially self-contained, with emphasis on the thorough development of the principal ideas and mathematical tools. Only systems governed by differential equations are treated here. Systems governed by difference equations are the subject of a companion paper. II - Discrete-Time Systems-The second method of Lyapunov is applied to the study of discrete-time (sampled-data) systems. With minor variations, the discussion parallels that of the companion paper on continuous-time systems. Theorems are stated in full but motivation, proofs, example, and so on, are given only when they differ materially from their counterparts in the continuous-time case. Part I has been published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers as Paper No. 59-NAC-2. Part II has been published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers as Paper No. 59-NAC-3.