This paper describes a wide range of definitions of the policy agenda, which enables one to have a wider view over the concept of the policy agenda and its contexts. On the one hand, policy agenda-setting is a process that is rather open for participation; on the other hand, it is a complex mechanism of influence. A lot of participants take part in the policy agenda design: mass media, politicians, interest groups, etc. From the classical point of view, formation of the policy agenda is basically influenced by three forces: political parties, interest groups and institutions. The article pays a significant attention to the government as an institution that has to maintain sustainability of the public policy and react to spontaneously discussed issues, and an institution, which maintains resources in a competition with other political actors. Many policy agenda formation models have been criticized for their narrowness; thus, in the perspective of time, models of a single variable have provoked the development of a multi-variable model, which has a more systematic approach, yet was criticized for a synthetic construct.


Publications in leading journals are widely known to have a positive impact on economists' judgments of the value of authors' contributions to the literature and on their professional reputations. Very little attention has been given, however, to the impacts of the addition of publications in lower rated journals on such judgments. In our main tests, we asked subsamples of economists in 44 universities throughout the world to rate either a publication list with only higher rated journals or a list with all of these but with additional publications in nearly as many respected but lower rated journals. Our primary finding was that the inclusion of lower rated journals had a statistically significant negative impact on these economists' judgments of the value of the author's contribution. To the extent that such judgments may influence research and publication strategies our findings imply negative implications on social welfare.


RhoGTPases are proteins working as molecular switches as they bind and hydrolyze GTP. They are in their active conformation when GTP is bound and are then able to interact with their effector proteins, which relay the downstream signaling. When the GTP is hydrolyzed to GDP, the RhoGTPase is inactivated. RhoGTPases have been shown to be activated by a variety of stimuli and they are implicated in regulation of diverse cellular processes, including cell migration, cell cycle progression, establishment of cell polarity and transformation. We identified mammalian Par6 as a novel effector protein for the RhoGTPases Cdc42 and Rac1. The Caenorhabditis elegans homologue of Par6 had previously been shown to be essential for cell polarity development in the worm embryo. We found that endogenous Par6 colocalized with the tight junction protein ZO-1 in MDCKII epithelial cells. Par6 also interacted with mammalian Par3, another member of the par (for partitioning defective) gene family, first identified in C.elegans. Endogenous Par3 also localized to tight junctions in epithelial cells. This suggested that Par6 and Par3 are part of a complex regulating cell polarity also in mammalian cells. The interaction between Par6 and activated Cdc42 and Rac1 suggested a role for these RhoGTPases in the regulation of this complex.Co-expression of Par6 together with PKCζ, induced a dramatic change in cell morphology. The cells rounded up and long cellular extensions, resembling neurites, were formed. The ability to induce these changes in cell morphology was found to be dependent on the direct interaction between Par6 and PKCζ, as well as on the kinase activity of PKCζ. We observed that cells co-expressing mPar6C and PKCζ contained bundled microtubules and microtubules that hade been acetylated, indicating that the microtubules were stabilized. To investigate the roles of RhoGTPases in PDGF-induced gene expression we performed cDNA microarray analyses on AG01518 human foreskin fibroblasts in which we over-expressed the dominant negative forms of Cdc42, Rac1 and RhoA. We found that the expression of 16 genes, out of the 45 up-regulated by PDGF-BB, were inhibited ≥50% in the presence of dominant negative Cdc42, Rac1 or RhoA. 19 other genes were down-regulated by one or two of the dominant RhoGTPases. Our data implied that the expression of many PDGF-BB induced genes can be affected by RhoGTPase signaling. In conclusion, the work presented here has increased the knowledge of the involvement of RhoGTPase signaling in establishment of cell polarity and gene regulation.


. The aim of the paper is to present the development tendencies and the significance of agri-food trade in selected preferential trade agreements in both Americas, Asia and Africa. The analysis included the values of trade turnover both within the region and in exchange with third countries, the share of the agri-food trade in the total trade in the region and the share of the regions under investigation in the global agri-food trade. The analysis allowed us to indicate the greatest global exporters and importers of agri-food products. The assessment of trade creation and trade diversion effect in agri-food trade of selected trade agreements was also possible.


We introduce and verify the use of calibrated reference soils or other porous media having known and reproducible water retention characteristics as a means to determine the unknown water retention properties of soils in situ. Pockets of the reference soil may be buried at experimental soil locations, with embedded time domain reflectometry (TDR) probes in both the target and adjacent reference media. Monitoring changes in water content by TDR allows inference of the soil water characteristic (SWC) properties of surrounding soil in hydraulic equilibrium via the known reference media SWC relationship. An expression relating the van Genuchten retention coefficients of any two paired porous media is used to estimate the unknown coefficients. Advantages include in situ measurements across the entire soil wetness range, an ability to closely match pore-size distributions (hence hydraulic continuity) with a wide range of porous media, and measurement efficiency based on using the same instrumentation for all measurements. Seven different soils were used in experiments conducted in a laboratory pressure plate apparatus, a greenhouse, and the field. Soil water characteristic relationships obtained using the reference soils approach were generally similar to those measured using pressure plate apparatus. Potential operational concerns include realizing consistent bulk densities for the buried reference soil pockets, and ensuring that water content (θ) measurements are obtained near effective saturation in field applications. Practical utility of the proposed method may be enhanced by identification or manufacture of a range of reference porous media having reproducible SWCs, e.g., that are invariant under different packing conditions.


A qualitative research project was conducted to test the viability of augmenting an e-learning program for workplace learners using mobile content delivered through smart phones. Ten learners taking a six week web-based e-learning course were given smart phones which enabled them to access approximately 70% of the course content, in addition to having access to the full course via a standard e-learning website. Mobile content was provided in a variety of forms, including text, audio and video files, a mobile multiple-choice quiz website, and links to streaming videos. Study participants who were regular users of mobile phones found the mobile learning materials to be user-friendly, offering increased convenience and flexibility. Use of the mobile content tended to increase as learners spent more time in their day away from locations where Internet-linked computers could be found. Video was found to be the most effective means of presenting content, followed by audio and text. The most promising role of mobile learning appears to be to augment rather than replace e-learning or blended learning.


Maiken Bent, Anna Bjerger, Milena Bonifacini, Ib Braase, Matt Calderwood, Desmond Church,
Alex Da Corte, Cathrine Raben Davidsen, Graham Dolphin, FOS, Helen Frik, Ryan Gander, Ditte Gantriis,
Poul Gernes, Lothar Gotz, James Hyde, John Korner, Malene Landgreen, Albert Mertz, Maria Nepomuceno,
Man Ray, Torben Ribe, Charlie Roberts, Michael Simpson, Simon Starling, Superflex, Daniel Svarre,
Evren Tekinoktay, Pernille Kapper Williams, Richard Woods

A chair is a chair is a chair. Chair, chair, chair. Richard Woods made a chair. Matt Calderwood took a 'For Sale' sign and made it into a chair. Anna Bjerger found a chair and used it as a surface for painting. Where does sculpture end and furniture start. Where do art and design meet. This show includes chairs, sculptures of chairs and sculptures that use chairs as material.

What about Scandinavian design. What we do we think of when we think of Danish design? Wood, nature, harmony, candle light, calm, coziness. What about Verner Panton, one of the great Danish designers of the mid 20c. Somehow his brightly coloured, plastic, pop influenced work doesn't fit the Danish image of itself. The Nordic brand that has been retrospectively packaged and sold to the world has become a self fulfilling prophecy adopted and believed by the Danes themselves. This show examines all this. We've made a twisted, surreal furniture store to take a look at alternative histories and realities. A place where Verner Panton is as Danish as Hans Wegner. Hygge is not the only option.

Simon Starling's has remade Gerrit Rietveld's Zig Zag chair, an icon of modernism, using 45,910 year old wood which was found preserved and workable in a bog in Africa. Starling's chair is placed under a table by Poul Gernes, which sits on Maiken Bent's carpet, all of this is lit by a Richard Woods lamp and positioned in front of Lothar Gotz's wall painting.

We made this furniture store using around 30 chairs, 25 lamps, 2 beds, 1 problem, a tv, a couple of benches, 8 tables, a hammock, a fireplace, lots of ceramics, bookshelves, framed pictures and lots more, by 30 artists. More will be added throughout the show.

During the exhibition we will invite furniture experts - curators, shop owners and designers to reconfigure the displays. This is a furniture store, not a fixed, static exhibition. The Helen Frik ceramics sitting on the FOS table can be bought and carried away. So can the FOS table. We might even have a closing sale.


The automatic recognition of online handwriting is considered from an information theoretic viewpoint. Emphasis is placed on the recognition of unconstrained handwriting, a general combination of cursively written word fragments and discretely written characters. Existing recognition algorithms, such as elastic matching, are severely challenged by the variability inherent in unconstrained handwriting. This motivates the development of a probabilistic framework suitable for the derivation of a fast statistical mixture algorithm. This algorithm exhibits about the same degree of complexity as elastic matching, while being more flexible and potentially more robust. The approach relies on a novel front-end processor that, unlike conventional character or stroke-based processing, articulates around a small elementary unit of handwriting called a frame. The algorithm is based on (1) producing feature vectors representing each frame in one (or several) feature spaces, (2) Gaussian K-means clustering in these spaces, and (3) mixture modeling, taking into account the contributions of all relevant clusters in each space. The approach is illustrated by a simple task involving an 81-character alphabet. Both writer-dependent and writer-independent recognition results are found to be competitive with their elastic matching counterparts. >


Abstract It is well known that temperature solutions of the Implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) equations can exceed the external boundary temperatures, a violation of the "maximum principle." Previous attempts to prescribe a maximum value of the time-step size Δt that is sufficient to eliminate these violations have recommended a Δt that is typically too small to be used in practice and that appeared to be much too conservative when compared to the actual Δt required to prevent maximum principle violations in numerical solutions of the IMC equations. In this paper we derive a new, approximate estimator for the maximum time-step size that includes the spatial-grid size Δx of the temperature field. We also provide exact necessary and sufficient conditions on the maximum time-step size that are easier to calculate. These explicitly demonstrate that the effect of coarsening Δx is to reduce the limitation on Δt. This helps explain the overly conservative nature of the earlier, grid-independent results. We demonstrate that the new time-step restriction is a much more accurate predictor of violations of the maximum principle. We discuss how the implications of the new, grid-dependent time-step restriction can affect IMC solution algorithms.


Cohesin, a multisubunit protein complex, is required for holding sister chromatids together during mitosis and meiosis. The recruitment of cohesin by the sister chromatid cohesion 2/4 (SCC2/4) complex has been extensively studied in Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitosis, but its role in mitosis and meiosis remains poorly understood in multicellular organisms, because complete loss-of-function of either gene causes embryonic lethality. Here, we identified a weak allele of Atscc2 (Atscc2-5) that has only minor defects in vegetative development but exhibits a significant reduction in fertility. Cytological analyses of Atscc2-5 reveal multiple meiotic phenotypes including defects in chromosomal axis formation, meiosis-specific cohesin loading, homolog pairing and synapsis, and AtSPO11-1-dependent double strand break repair. Surprisingly, even though AtSCC2 interacts with AtSCC4 in vitro and in vivo, meiosis-specific knockdown of AtSCC4 expression does not cause any meiotic defect, suggesting that the SCC2-SCC4 complex has divergent roles in mitosis and meiosis. SCC2 homologs from land plants have a unique plant homeodomain (PHD) motif not found in other species. We show that the AtSCC2 PHD domain can bind to the N terminus of histones and is required for meiosis but not mitosis. Taken together, our results provide evidence that unlike SCC2 in other organisms, SCC2 requires a functional PHD domain during meiosis in land plants.


We present an efficient methodology to perform calculations of acoustic propagation and scattering by geometrical objects in ducts with flows. In this paper a methodology with a linearized Navier-Stokes equations solver in frequency domain is evaluated on a two-dimensional geometry of an in-duct area expansion. The Navier-Stokes equations are linearized around a time- independent mean flow that is obtained from an incompressible Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes solver which uses a k-e turbulence model. A plane wave decomposition method based on acoustic pressure and velocity is used to extract the up- and downstream propagating waves. The scattering of the acoustic waves by the induct area expansion is calculated and compared to experiments. Frequencies in the plane wave range up to the cut-on frequency of the first higher order propagating acoustical mode are considered. The acoustical properties of the area expansion is presented in a scattering matrix form that can be used in acoustical two-port calculations on complex duct systems such as exhaust system mufflers and ventilation systems.


Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to examine growth indicators and dietary intake patterns of children aged 4-18 years residing in residential care facilities in Durban. Method: Thirty-three girls and 110 boys, aged 5-18 years, in three different children's homes participated in the study. Anthropometric measurements included weight and height and were analysed using the World Health Organization's AnthroPlus® version 1.0.2 statistical software. The seven-day-cycle menus were analysed for nutrient and energy intake using the FoodFinder® version 3 software programme. Daily nutrient intakes were reported as means and standard deviations, and comparisons were made with the dietary reference intakes for specific age groups. Average served portion sizes were established by plate waste studies and observation. Results: The results showed that stunting and overweight were prevalent in this group. 4.7% of the boys aged 4-8 years and 3.3% of the boys aged 14-18 years were severely stunted. 13.3% of the girls aged 9-13 years and 20% of the girls aged 14-18 years were stunted. The body mass index for age reported that a small number (6.7% of the girls aged 9-13 years and 3.3% of the boys aged 14-18 years) were wasted. The results also showed that 33.3% of the girls aged 4-8 years and 33.4% of the girls aged 9-13 years were at risk of being overweight. 26.7% of the girls aged 14-18 years were overweight (> + 2 standard deviations). Most of the children in the 4-8 age group (83.3% of the boys and 100% of the girls) fell in the normal range for weight for age, while only one boy was underweight. One hundred per cent or more of the dietary reference intakes for energy, protein, carbohydrate and most of the micronutrients were met, except for calcium and iodine. A low intake of vitamin C among older boys and girls was reported. None of the groups met the recommended fibre intake. Conclusion: The results indicated a need for the development and implementation of a comprehensive nutrition education programme for both child care workers and children.


It is essential to make performance measurements of photovoltaics modules in order to quantify the power they will produce under operational conditions. Performance measurements are fundamental throughout the photovoltaic industry, from product development to quality control in manufacturing and installation in the field. Rapid and economic evaluation of photovoltaic performance requires measurements using pulsed illumination solar simulators. However some devices have characteristics which can cause difficulties making these measurements. The aim of this thesis is to overcome these measurement problems focusing particularly on two of the most prevalent and pressing of these problematic characteristics: high capacitance and metastability.
A new method for measuring high capacitance modules in a pulsed simulator, based on tailor made voltage ramps, was developed. The voltage ramp is tailor made such that the measurement time is minimised while maintaining high accuracy (0.5 %), allowing the measurement of high capacitance modules in a single 10ms illumination pulse. The necessary inputs for this method are the capacitance and dark current as a function of voltage for each module. In order to make these measurements, at the high forward bias voltages required, a new system was developed. The tailored voltage ramp can be created individually for each module, since the process is rapid an automatic. This makes the method applicable to a production line or to test house measurements. In addition to their use as inputs for the voltage ramp design, the capacitance and dark current also contain other valuable information, including effective minority carrier lifetime.
In several thin film technologies, such as CIGS, the efficiency is not a fixed value, rather the module is metastable and the efficiency changes depending on the previous exposure /preconditioning of the device. Preconditioning is normally applied to these devices before measurement in order to put them in a specific state that is repeatable and representative of outdoor operation. Improved preconditioning practices are vital for performance measurements in CIGS modules. Therefore the preconditioning behaviour of a variety of CIGS modules from different manufacturers was investigated. The effect of preconditioning varied for different modules, commonly the fill factor improved substantially, but often changes in open circuit voltage were also seen and in some cases also substantial changes in short circuit current. The rates of preconditioning and relaxation were found to follow stretched exponential behaviour, such that the changes occur linearly on a logarithmic timescale over several orders of magnitude in time. The total time for performance stabilisation was found to vary significantly between different types of module. Because of this stretched exponential behaviour, even though the module took days to fully relax to the dark state, there was significant relaxation within the tens of minutes that it would normally take a module to cool down after light soaking before it could be measured. The major implication of observed kinetics is that in order to achieve repeatable measurement the timing in each element of a preconditioning routine should be controlled such that the fractional error in the duration of each step is small. During the investigation an unexpectedly short timescale preconditioning effect was observed, which occurs on a millisecond timescale and relaxes in seconds. It was shown that the measurement artefacts introduced using this method can be eliminated by using electrical forward bias until immediately before the measurement.
Another measurement system was developed to track the dark current and C-V characteristic of the modules during electrical bias preconditioning and subsequent relaxation. These measurements demonstrate that more than one process involved during preconditioning in CIGS. Changes occur both in the doping in the bulk of the absorber and also in charge accumulation occurring near to the absorber / buffer interface. The theoretical models for preconditioning in CIGS were reviewed and compared to the experimental results. A rate model was developed based on the theory of the metastable VSe-VCu defect. This model was shown to correspond well to the rates of preconditioning and relaxation in CIGS. The non-exponential behaviour was shown to be compatible with a distribution of activation energies for the transition between different defect states. The difference in the time taken for modules to stabilise is explained by differences in doping density and the density of VSe-VCu defects.
The work presented facilitates more accurate, economical performance measurements for high capacitance devices and CIGS devices, thereby contributing to the large scale implementation of photovoltaics as power source.


After training complex deep learning models, a common task is to compress the model to reduce compute and storage demands. When compressing, it is desirable to preserve the original model's per-example decisions (e.g., to go beyond top-1 accuracy or preserve robustness), maintain the network's structure, automatically determine per-layer compression levels, and eliminate the need for fine tuning. No existing compression methods simultaneously satisfy these criteria $\unicode{x2014}$ we introduce a principled approach that does by leveraging interpolative decompositions. Our approach simultaneously selects and eliminates channels (analogously, neurons), then constructs an interpolation matrix that propagates a correction into the next layer, preserving the network's structure. Consequently, our method achieves good performance even without fine tuning and admits theoretical analysis. Our theoretical generalization bound for a one layer network lends itself naturally to a heuristic that allows our method to automatically choose per-layer sizes for deep networks. We demonstrate the efficacy of our approach with strong empirical performance on a variety of tasks, models, and datasets $\unicode{x2014}$ from simple one-hidden-layer networks to deep networks on ImageNet.


We study the dynamics of completely connected populations of refractory integrate-and-fire neurons in the presence of noise. Solving the master equation based on a mean-field approach, and by computer simulations, we find sustained states of activity that correspond to fixed points and show that for the same value of external input, the system has one or two attractors. The dynamic behavior of the population under the influence of external input and noise manifests hysteresis effects that might have a functional role for memory. The temporal dynamics at higher temporal resolution, finer than the transmission delay times and the refractory period, are characterized by synchronized activity of subpopulations. The global activity of the population shows aperiodic oscillations analogous to experimentally found field potentials.


Background/Aims: Prenatal exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) dampens hippocampal neurogenesis. This effect is associated with increased anxiety-like behavior in adult offspring. Furthermore, blocking serotonin transporters (SERT) promotes adult neurogenesis. Previous studies were performed largely in males. Therefore, we explored the impact of prenatal LPS on neurogenesis, SERT expression in the hippocampus, and anxiety-like behavior in female rats during prepubertal and adulthood stages. Materials and Methods: Timed pregnant rats were injected with either saline or LPS (100 µg/kg, i.p.) on gestational days 15, 17, and 19. Newly born neurons were monitored by immunohistochemistry, and anxiety-like behavior was monitored using the elevated plus maze and open-field test. SERT expression in the hippocampus was assessed by Western blot and immunofluorescence. Results: Prenatal LPS led to reduced hippocampal neurogenesis in adult but not in prepubertal female offspring. This reduced neurogenesis was associated with enhanced hippocampal expression of SERT protein. However, there was no significant impact of prenatal LPS on anxiety-like behavior. Conclusions: Prenatal LPS-induced reduction in neurogenesis was dissociated from anxiety-like behavior in adult female rats. Furthermore, the long-lasting impact of prenatal LPS on neurogenesis in female offspring was age-dependent.


We propose a forecasting method to improve accuracy for tactical sales predictions at a major supplier to the tire industry. This level of forecasting serves as direct input for the demand planning, steering the global supply chain and is typically up to a year ahead. The case company has a product portfolio that is strongly sensitive to external events. Univariate statistical methods, which are common in practice, are unable to anticipate and forecast changes in the market, while human expert forecasts are known to be biased and inconsistent. The proposed method is able to automatically identify key leading indicators that drive sales from a massive set of macro-economic indicators, across different regions and markets and produce accurate forecasts. Our method is able to handle the additional complexity of the short and long term dynamics from the product sales and the external indicators. We find that accuracy is improved by 16.1% over current practice with proportional benefits for the supply chain. Furthermore, our method provides transparency to the market dynamics, allowing managers to better understand the events and economic variables that affect the sales of their products.


This research compares employment training program staff estimates (N = 118) and enrollee reports (N = 122) of woman battering, that is, the physical violence and other abuse men deploy against their wives and girlfriends. The vast majority of staff estimate that woman battering obstructs the transition from welfare to work for at least some of their clients. Overall, staff respondents' relative sense of the frequency of battering quite accurately reflects enrollee reports. However, staff are especially reluctant to give estimates of physical violence and injury. Moreover, many give very low estimates for those items that are obvious markers of battering, which enrollees report at nontrivial levels. Such discrepancies are particularly disturbing because successful welfare reform implementation depends in part on staff understandings of woman battering as an obstacle to welfare-to-work transition


Time-series analyses suggest that income shocks are fairly persistent. This has implications for the intergenerational risk-sharing effects of pay-as-you-go (paygo) social security programs. By means of a simple stochastic specification, we derive theoretically how the variance of individuals' lifetime income depends on the degree of persistence in the income shocks and the magnitude of the paygo program. A low or medium degree of persistence ensures that properly scaled paygo programs provide intergenerational diversification of income risk. On the other hand, a somewhat higher degree of persistence may well imply that paygo programs in fact increase the exposure to income shocks. Taking into account that it is hard to reject that income shocks are permanent (and income follows a random walk) in many countries, we can not exclude that many individuals in the OECD area do face a heightened exposure to income risk as a consequence of the actual social security programs financed on a paygo basis. JEL Classification: H55, D91, E32


Throughout the last forty years, psychedelic drugs have been illegal in the United States. Stigmatized due to the potential for abuse, the use of these drugs has been relegated to simple criminal activity and research stagnated for those 40 years. Slowly, research has begun to pick up as the restrictions begin to lift incrementally. However, the current restrictions are intense, further limiting the amount of research conducted that can reveal the medical benefits of these drugs. Through multiple studies, both open-label and double-blinded to show both feasibility and efficacy, as well as the biological impact of the drugs, significant anxiolytic, antidepressant, and anti-addictive effects of hallucinogens have been demonstrated. The medical use of these drugs could have a lasting effect regarding substance abuse addictions, severe cases of anxiety, and treatment resistant depression providing alternatives to current methods of treatment.


This paper aims at investigating the factors affecting relative changes in the average farm size over the period 2000-2010. The objective has been pursued applying an empirical investigation in Tuscany region through observation aggregated at municipality level. By applying spatial analysis and spatial econometric techniques, spatial distribution and determinants of different farm size are detected. Results showing the relevance of spatial analysis, pointed out that farm household and territorial characteristics, such as the productivity, single farm payments and being located at plain altitude, positively affect the average farm size since these agricultural holdings are eased to pursue economies of scale.


OF DISSERTATION Molecular Dynamics Study of Solid-Liquid Heat Transfer and Passive Liquid Flow by Sumith Yesudasan Daisy Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY August 2016 High heat flux removal is a challenging problem in boilers, electronics cooling, concentrated photovoltaic and other power conversion devices. Heat transfer by phase change is one of the most efficient mechanisms for removing heat from a solid surface. Futuristic electronic devices are expected to generate more than 1000 W/cm of heat. Despite the advancements in microscale and nanoscale manufacturing, the maximum passive heat flux removal has been ~300 W/cm in pool boiling. Such limitations can be overcome by developing nanoscale thin-film evaporation based devices, which however require a better understanding of surface interactions and liquid vapor phase change process. Evaporation based passive flow is an inspiration from the transpiration process that happens in trees. If we can mimic this process and develop heat removal devices, then we can develop efficient cooling devices. The existing passive flow based cooling devices still needs improvement to meet the future demands. To improve the efficiency and capacity of these devices, we need to explore and quantify the passive flow happening at nanoscales. Experimental techniques have not advanced enough to study these fundamental phenomena at the nanoscale, an alternative method is to perform theoretical study at nanoscales. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is a widely accepted powerful tool for studying a range of fundamental and engineering problems. MD simulations can be utilized to study the passive flow mechanism and heat transfer due to it. To study passive flow using MD, apart from the conventional methods available in MD, we need to have methods to simulate the heat transfer between solid and liquid, local pressure, surface tension, density, temperature calculation methods, realistic boundary conditions, etc. Heat transfer between solid and fluids has been a challenging area in MD simulations, and has only been minimally explored (especially for a practical fluid like water). Conventionally, an equilibrium canonical ensemble (NVT) is simulated using thermostat algorithms. For research in heat transfer involving solid liquid interaction, we need to perform non equilibrium MD (NEMD) simulations. In such NEMD simulations, the methods used for simulating heating from a surface is very important and must capture proper physics and thermodynamic properties. Development of MD simulation techniques to simulate solid-liquid heating and the study of fundamental mechanism of passive flow is the main focus of this thesis. An accurate surfaceheating algorithm was developed for water which can now allow the study of a whole new set of fundamental heat transfer problems at the nanoscale like surface heating/cooling of droplets, thinfilms, etc. The developed algorithm is implemented in the in-house developed C++ MD code. A direct two dimensional local pressure estimation algorithm is also formulated and implemented in the code. With this algorithm, local pressure of argon and platinum interaction is studied. Also, the surface tension of platinum-argon (solid-liquid) was estimated directly from the MD simulations for the first time. Contact angle estimation studies of water on platinum, and argon on platinum were also performed. A thin film of argon is kept above platinum plate and heated in the middle region, leading to the evaporation and pressure reduction thus creating a strong passive flow in the near surface region. This observed passive liquid flow is characterized by estimating the pressure, density, velocity and surface tension using Eulerian mapping method. Using these simulation, we have demonstrated the fundamental nature and origin of surface-driven passive flow. Heat flux removed from the surface is also estimated from the results, which shows a significant improvement can be achieved in thermal management of electronic devices by taking advantage of surface-driven strong passive liquid flow. Further, the local pressure of water on silicon di-oxide surface is estimated using the LAMMPS atomic to continuum (ATC) package towards the goal of simulating the passive flow in water. MOLECULAR DYNAMICS STUDY OF SOLID-LIQUID HEAT TRANSFER AND PASSIVE LIQUID FLOW by Sumith Yesudasan Daisy B.Tech. University of Kerala, 2005 M.Tech. National Institute of Technology, 2007 Dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Syracuse University August 2016 © 2016 Sumith Yesudasan Daisy All Rights Reserved


This paper reports upon an investigation into the effectiveness of ehealth implementations in the aged care sector throughout the world. The purpose of the research was to better understand the link between goals and outcomes in the provision of geriatric ehealth services.

Telemedicine implies a limited service provided by doctors while ehealth means the application of information communication technology by a range of healthcare professionals. Ehealth has emerged as a means to facilitate geriatric care in the face of increased demand for services. It also has the potential to offer a number of benefits to older citizens, including increased quality of care.

Data collection was based an extensive search of electronic databases that indexed technology and medical journals, using terms established by two researchers trained in Information Systems. A review of the 647 primary articles identified, found 66 that met all the search criteria. These papers were then categorised using a framework from the geriatric ehealth literature (Nebeker, Hurdle & Bair, 2003), enabling the identification of Provider-Provider, Provider-Patient and Provider Decision-Support studies. Within these three perspectives the papers were classified according to the nature of the research undertaken, and the number of papers was recorded. Any positive outcomes or limitations reported in the sources were also collated for each category.

The results revealed that most of the papers were derived from Provider-Patient studies, with only very limited Provider-Provider or Provider Decision Support papers. Much of the Provider-Patient research focussed on teleconference implementations, often for particular health conditions. The limited result for Provider-Provider studies was surprising given the emphasis in the wider ehealth literature on the timely and current exchange of health data and information, including the adoption of Electronic Medical Records. Most of the Provider Decision Support studies considered individuals or groups with specific medical conditions. It was found that ehealth was generally accepted by patients and healthcare providers, and a range of mainly social and technical constraints was identified. However, the limited number of studies, the dominance of trials, the repetitiveness of the studies and the limited degree of innovation found failed to confirm any perceived 'disconnect' between organisational goals and outcomes in ehealth aged care. Further studies need to be undertaken before the nature of the link between goals and outcomes in ehealth aged care can be established, along with the reasons that may account for any mismatch.


ABSTRACT The quinolone resistance-determining regions (QRDRs) of topoisomerase II and IV genes from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia ATCC 13637 were sequenced and compared with the corresponding regions of 32 unrelated S. maltophilia clinical strains for which ciprofloxacin MICs ranged from 0.1 to 64 μg/ml. GyrA (Leu-55 to Gln-155, Escherichia coli numbering), GyrB (Met-391 to Phe-513), ParC (Ile-34 to Arg-124), and ParE (Leu-396 to Leu-567) fragments from strain ATCC 13637 showed high degrees of identity to the corresponding regions from the phytopathogen Xylella fastidiosa, with the degrees of identity ranging from 85.0 to 93.5%. Lower degrees of identity to the corresponding regions from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (70.9 to 88.6%) and E. coli (73.0 to 88.6%) were observed. Amino acid changes were present in GyrA fragments from 9 of the 32 strains at positions 70, 85, 90, 103, 112, 113, 119, and 124; but there was no consistent relation to higher ciprofloxacin MICs. The absence of changes at positions 83 and 87, commonly involved in quinolone resistance in gram-negative bacteria, was unexpected. The GyrB sequences were identical in all strains, and only one strain (ciprofloxacin MIC, 16 μg/ml) showed a ParC amino acid change (Ser-80→Arg). In contrast, a high frequency (16 of 32 strains) of amino acid replacements was present in ParE. The frequencies of alterations at positions 437, 465, 477, and 485 were higher (P < 0.05) in strains from cystic fibrosis patients, but these changes were not linked with high ciprofloxacin MICs. An efflux phenotype, screened by the detection of decreases of at least twofold doubling dilutions of the ciprofloxacin MIC in the presence of carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (0.5 μg/ml) or reserpine (10 μg/ml), was suspected in seven strains. These results suggest that topoisomerases II and IV may not be the primary targets involved in quinolone resistance in S. maltophilia.


We are coursing through the vicissitudes of a new millennium where epistemological certainty is no longer taken for granted, and yet, we must still have some empirical and conceptual foundations upon which to build knowledge after the paradigm of the postmodern condition. (1) These knowledge structures of science as "moments of learning" are the minimal parameters of what we know that legitimize knowledge. Not only because the reality of a temporal disjunction engenders liminal perspectives on knowedge, but because the nature of episteme becomes redefined in accordance with the "problems of translation" (PC 3) between repositories of knowledge and their technologies of archiving. Epistemological postmodernity is a turning point for understanding virtual spaces of learning because it is a philosophical meditation that looks toward a future yet-to-come and settles around the problem of what it means to know in relation to the field of educational research, the crisis of legitimation after modernism, and the rule of language games. A question we must always ask in education and research is: Can truth be reduced to an archive? Is it possible? Yes. Knowledge is nothing if it is not grounded upon the possibility of a permanent record of physical data that can then be used to establish "laws of science" as the demonstrable evidence of the self-certainty of the truth of research. Culture depends upon the feasibility of referring to relatively archives of meaning to endow expressions of understanding with the evidence of empirical value and predictive power. The failings of conscious memory require the continuing, demonstrable proof of a past and a future to secure the possibility of a genealogical rendering of human experience. Language intervenes nevertheless to question the validity of laws as denotative statements based on the power of the archive to stabilize the ground of meaning-making. The signs of knowledge thus exteriorized are transformed into the more general category of "information"--its "use-value" not withstanding the effects of representation that mediate for the limitations of human understanding by giving way to the instrumentality of technological reason. Lyotard states that "Scientific knowledge is a kind of discourse" (PC 3). A postmodern proclamation. Knowledge is not a technology in itself. The a posteriori of practice is lacking. Knowledge as discourse need not be instrumental. Commands can be disobey and disavowed, consciously or unconsciously. We must consider the significance of Lyotard's statement regarding scientific knowledge with respect to language and technology--the two-sides of a postmodern techno-epistemological understanding of real-world phenomena through information and communications media (e.g., the computer). Postmodern epistemological doubt settles in the between the apparatus used for the technical manipulation of information and its archival containment of data as virtual signs of understanding. The need for a techno-epistemology--or a view of virtual knowledge that takes into account the influences of technological mediation upon the sources of its production and perception--arises out of the lack of faith in the truth of science. Representation deforms, denatures, and supplements the originary eidetic structures of conceptual formations. Technology redeems a postmodern epistemological doubt by quelling it in the practice of facilitating pragmatic ends through the supplementation of human weakness. Despite ineptitude. Lyotard isolates the origins of technology in prosthetics, or devices which are "aids for the human organs or as physiological systems whose function it is to receive data or condition the context" (PC 44). Such a post-Darwinian supplementation of nature readily follows the "principle of optimal performance" (PC 44), whereby God given deficiencies are minimized and one purposeful action "expends less energy than another" (PC 44). Technology presupposes the need for the proof of the efficacy of research "as the pragmatics of scientific knowledge replaces traditional knowledge or knowledge based on revelation" (PC 44). …


Dugongs ("bugarah al bahr" or "cow of the sea") in Qatar and the wider Arabian Gulf, are animals of both historic and cultural significance to the people in the region. Historically hunted in Qatar, today they are seen as a symbol for conservation in a country that is trying to balance rapid modernization and coastal development with protection of marine biodiversity, as outlined in the Qatar National Vision 2030. Qatar and the Arabian Gulf are home to the largest population of dugongs outside of Australia and is the most important region for dugongs in the western portion of their range. As long-lived large mammals with low reproductive output dugongs are vulnerable to exploitation and are listed as Vulnerable to Extinction by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature). Currently, dugongs in Qatar face many threats including incidental fisheries bycatch and habitat degradation. The extreme marine and physical environment of the Arabian Gulf, as well as the northern limit of dugong distribution, likely means that their life-history differs from populations in Australia. However, there are virtually no life history data for Qatari dugongs and the species remains mostly unstudied. A solid understanding of dugong natural history is necessary to develop a successful management and conservation program. Our knowledge of dugong natural history in Qatar and the Arabian Gulf is poor compared to our knowledge of dugongs in Australia (where the largest population exists). Although approximately 6000 dugongs were estimated to live in the Arabian Gulf including Qatar, this number has not been verified. Sporadic research has been conducted on the Qatari population, including work in 1986 which recorded the largest single dugong group of 577 individuals in the waters between Qatar and Bahrain. More recently, in 2008, the Qatar Ministry of Environment conducted surveys that expanded the area around Qatar where dugongs were observed. Our current study applies similar techniques from the past (boat-based and beach surveys) with newer techniques (aerial surveys using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles [UAVs], histological analyses) to provide an updated understanding of when, where, and how many dugongs are present in Qatari waters, along with preliminary information on their population demographics. From our 2014–2015 surveys, we have enumerated individuals in a large herd, consistently spotted in the winter months in similar areas to the 1986 and 2008 surveys. A total of 508 individuals (including 51 cow-calf pairs) were counted using images taken from a UAV. Underwater surveys verified that the major activity was foraging upon a mixed stand of seagrasses, Halodule univernis and Halophila ovalis, in clear, shallow water (


We analyze effective approximation of unitary matrices. In our formulation, a unitary matrix is represented as a product of rotations in two-dimensional subspaces, so-called Givens rotations. Instead of the quadratic dimension dependence when applying a dense matrix, applying such an approximation scales with the number factors, each of which can be implemented efficiently. Consequently, in settings where an approximation is once computed and then applied many times, such a representation becomes advantageous. Although effective Givens factorization is not possible for generic unitary operators, we show that minimizing a sparsity-inducing objective with a coordinate descent algorithm on the unitary group yields good factorizations for structured matrices. Canonical applications of such a setup are orthogonal basis transforms. We demonstrate numerical results of approximating the graph Fourier transform, which is the matrix obtained when diagonalizing a graph Laplacian.


Albert Einstein said: "Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted." Assessment is arguably the most important method of driving up standards and yet "there is probably more bad practice and ignorance of significant issues in the area of assessment than in any other aspect of higher education".1 However, during my 10-year tenure as International Development Advisor (IDA) for the Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (International) [MRCGP (INT)] exam in Oman, I have seen a dedicated team grow in confidence in delivering the assessments needed to ensure doctors finishing their residency programs are of a good standard.

The concept of assessment has broadened and has multiple purposes. There has been a move away from comparison/competition among students to what has or has not been learned; a greater emphasis on criterion-referencing than peer-referencing. Table 1 highlights the essential differences between these two models of assessment.

Table 1

Two models of assessment.

The challenges in criterion-referenced exams include the need to make sure all the judges make the same judgement about the same performances (i.e. inter-rater reliability), constructing appropriate criteria that are evidenced-based and pragmatic, defining criteria unambiguously, applying criteria fairly, and minimizing examiner differences.

There is also a move to a descriptive approach rather than just raw marks, grades, or statistical manipulation. This has led to a greater emphasis on formative assessment to improve practice rather than summative assessment as in the past. Harden2 uses the bicycle as a useful model when considering the relationship between teaching and evaluation. The front wheel represents teaching and learning while the assessment is represented by the rear wheel; problems occur when the wheels go in different directions or are missing. Wass et al,3 stated that assessment is the most appropriate engine on which to harness the curriculum. Such tests need to be designed addressing key issues such blueprinting, reliability, validity, and standard setting. Furthermore, there needs to be clarity about whether the assessment is formative or summative. Formative assessment is any assessment for which the priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting pupils' learning.

Blueprinting4 allows the content of the test to be planned against learning objectives since assessment must match the competencies being learned. Columbia University professor of law and education, Jay Heubert, says: "One test does not improve learning any more than a thermometer cures a fever…we should be using these tests to get schools to teach more of what we want students to learn, not as a way to punish them."5 Hence, we should use different formats depending on the objectives being tested.

Reliability is the consistency of the test (i.e. how reproducible it is). There are two main facets of reliability: inter-rater and inter-case reliability. Inter-rater reliability is increased by the use of multiple examiners, for example, one question asked by four different examiners is better than one examiner asking four questions. Inter-case reliability is about candidate performance, and it is known that doctors do not perform consistently from task to task.6 Consequently, broad sampling across cases is essential to assess clinical competence.

Validity focusses on whether the competencies are tested. Figure 1 shows Miller's pyramid7,8 of competence that outlines the issues concerning validity. Miller's Pyramid of Assessment provides a framework for assessing clinical competence in medical education and can assist clinical teachers in matching learning outcomes (clinical competencies) with expectations of what the learner should be able to do at any stage. The ultimate goal is to test what the doctor does in the workplace.

Figure 1

The Miller's Pyramid of clinical competence provides an assessment framework.

There are various methods of setting standards,5,9 but the choice of method will depend on available resources and consequences of misclassification of passing/failing candidates. MRCGP (INT) Oman has also had to deal with relatively small numbers of candidates when the usual psychometric calculations cannot be relied on fully. They have used a variety of methods to triangulate in order to arrive at a robust pass/fail decision. This is essential since any exam needs to be fair to patients (to ensure the quality of graduates is very good) and to the candidates (by being clear on what is to be tested and how), in that order.

Assessment weaknesses
The multiple choice paper is quite often at the end of the program and one wonders whether this timing could be better. It tests knowledge but not how to use it. We can move up Miller's pyramid by use of applied knowledge (AKT) questions but this move up the pyramid only addresses that students "know how" and do not necessarily extrapolate that the students can apply this knowledge in the workplace.

The oral and modified essay questions (MEQ) allow the candidate to talk or write about things they have learned on courses. But is that what candidates really do? They can "show how" in the simulated surgery, but this can lead to "gaming" by candidates by referring or deferring or even handing out imaginary leaflets to prevent them having to explain their actions.

In the old MRCGP examination, we had a video component and this often produced distortions of real general practice since candidates could select the cases, and there was often artificial "sharing of options". For example, in cases of chest infection, candidates have been known to say "well I can give you amoxicillin or erythromycin, what would you like?" It revealed that candidates were "performing to the test" without understanding why sharing options is good to ensure compliance and concordance with patients.

It has been said that assessment drives learning but I would suggest it has the potential to "skew" learning10 if candidates are driven to passing exam rather than using them as means to test whether they are providing a good service to patients. Deep and surface are two approaches to learning by candidates [Table 2], this has been derived from original empirical research by Marton and Saljo11 and was elaborated by Ramsden and Atherton.12 It is important to clarify what these approaches are not. Although learners may be classified as "deep" or "surface", they are not attributes of individuals: one person may use both approaches at different times although she or he may have a preference for one or the other. In the UK, many candidates clamor to do exam preparation courses but their best preparation course is their daily practice when they should demonstrate good patient care to themselves and their trainers and, as a side effect, pass the exam with ease.

Table 2

Deep and surface learning.

MRCGP (INT) Oman is an excellent exam that has a good reputation internationally of being a robust and challenging, but fair. However, I would suggest that we improve assessment of trainees by reducing the burden of assessment, thinking about the timing of the assessments, and using tools that are better aligned with the curriculum.

Workplace-based assessments (WPBA) provide such an opportunity to recouple teaching and learning with the assessment. Its authenticity is good as it is as close as possible to the real situation in which the trainees work. Furthermore, it provides us with the only route into many aspects of professionalism; trying to test this in a simulated surgery, for example, only shows "how to pass the station" not what they really do.

WPBA allows the integration of assessment and teaching and uses tools that include feedback. They are, however, summative in that they count but yet they are very formative. It allows both the trainer and learner to be much clearer where they are, not only about their learning trajectory but also their learning needs. It involves an honesty in the relationship but importantly, assessments are no longer "terminal" but can allow reflection by the trainee and hence further their development. Such assessment becomes formative assessment when the evidence is used to adapt the teaching work to meet learning needs.13

This does mean having an educator workforce conversant and confident in the use of methods that move away from the didactic course of teaching towards a Socratic method and heuristic style, which will then promote the development of the reflective practitioner by promoting self-assessment.14 Figure 2 demonstrates the use of appropriate questioning to "get under the skin" of the learner and thereby help his/her progression.15

Figure 2

Hierarchy of knowledge with examples of questions to determine the learner's knowledge.

A detailed discussion of the various methods in WPBA is beyond the remit of this article, but I hope it will stimulate greater interest in this important aspect of educating and assessing the future doctors in Oman.

In summary, the development of robust WPBA for the residency programs will bode well for a competent workforce delivering the best possible, cost-effective care that patients in Oman deserve. However, this does need a strategic view and deployment of appropriate resources to develop the required educator workforce to put this vision into practice. Furthermore, there needs to be a change in attitudes amongst some teachers and most learners that promotes an atmosphere of inquisitive questioning rather than simple blind obedience to the teacher. Finally, I would remind all you trainers and teachers of the Hebrew proverb: "Do not confine 'students' to your own learning for they were born in another time."


This paper reports on the deployment of a predictive model that combines spatial analysis and fuzzy logic modeling to translate expert archeological knowledge into predictive surfaces. Analytic predictive archeological models have great utility for state departments of transportation, and some states have invested millions of dollars in such models. However, classic statistical modeling approaches often require too much data and create questions about whether areas are categorized as low probability because (a) there are no sites or (b) no surveys have been conducted there. However, this process can build robust models around typically sparse archeological data and is not subject to spatial bias. These models are intended to lower overall project costs by identifying corridors with a lower probability of having archeological sites, not to supplant field surveys once a corridor has been chosen. Five influencing factors were defined by archeologists and were calculated with the ArcGIS platform. The archeologists then informed a fuzzy logic induction process that was mapped to output probability functions. These data were geocoded into ArcGIS output surfaces that showed the probability of encountering artifacts. The predictive results were tested through a blind control protocol against cleansed archeological data. These models were shown to perform as well as or better than traditional statistical models and required much less data. The Kentucky implementation includes the superior predictive coverage and, more important, a suite of tools to allow the ArcGIS-competent archeologist to design and execute new modeling routines or to build new models. The availability of higher-quality geographic information systems data will also allow archeologists to update the model.


The authors hypothesized that Lynch syndrome (LS)‐associated endometrial cancer (EC) develops from morphologically normal endometrium that accumulates enough molecular changes to progress through a continuum of hyperplasia to carcinoma, similar to sporadic EC. The primary objective of the current study was to determine whether LS‐associated EC involves progression through a preinvasive lesion. The secondary objective was to identify molecular changes that contribute to endometrial carcinogenesis in patients with LS.


The effects of heat treatment on the hardness and by extension the wear resistance of locally produced grinding plate of known composition were investigated. Specimens were prepared from the grinding plate and were heat treated at 840°C, 860°C and 880°C and quenched at different rate. Some of the specimens were quenched in water and palm oil, while some of the quenched specimens were tempered at 200°C. The results obtained were corroborated with the microstructure of the specimens examined under an optical microscope. The hardness values of the grinding plate specimens quenched in various media increased with increased heat treatment temperatures, and are higher than that of the as-cast specimen. Water quenched tempered specimens (WT) displayed higher hardness values than the as-cast, whereas oil quenched tempered specimens (OT) possessed lower hardness values. The presence of carbide was evident on the micrographs of the water quenched specimens at all the exposure temperatures, which corroborated the observed increased in the hardness values with increased heat treatment temperatures. However, there was significant reduction in the hardness value of the water quenched tempered specimens compared with the quenched specimens, which indicates a significant improvement in toughness. Thus, water quenched and tempered specimen with relatively high hardness value and improved toughness, will be suitable for use as grinding plate because of its relatively better wear resistance. The hardness of the specimens was found to depend on the formation of carbide precipitates within the matrix structure. There is also possibility of production of structure consisting of graphite embedded in a martensitic matrix through the heat treatment. Keyword: carbide, heat treatment, hardness, microstructure, wear resistance


Naegleria fowleri is a pathogenic free-living amoeba that is commonly found in warm, freshwater and can cause a rapidly fulminant disease known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). New drugs are urgently needed to treat PAM, as the fatality rate is >97%. Until recently, few advances have been made in the discovery of new drugs for N. fowleri and one drawback is the lack of validated tools and methods to enhance drug discovery and diagnostics research. In this study we aimed to validate alternative methods to assess cell proliferation that are commonly used for other cell types and develop a novel drug screening assay to evaluate drug efficacy on N. fowleri replication. EdU (5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine) is a pyrimidine analog of thymidine that can be used as a quantitative endpoint for cell proliferation. EdU incorporation is detected via a copper catalyzed click reaction with an Alexa Fluor linked azide. EdU incorporation in replicating N. fowleri was validated using fluorescence microscopy and quantitative methods for assessing EdU incorporation were developed by using an imaging flow cytometer. Currently used PAM therapeutics inhibited N. fowleri replication and EdU incorporation in vitro. EdA (5′ethynyl-2′-deoxyadenosine), an adenine analog, also was incorporated by N. fowleri, but was more cytotoxic than EdU. In summary, EdU incorporation could be used as a complimentary method for drug discovery for these neglected pathogens.


ABSTRACT The Ras-RAF-mitogen-activated protein kinase (Ras-RAF-MAPK) pathway is overactive in many cancers and in some developmental disorders. In one of those disorders, namely, Noonan syndrome, nine activating C-RAF mutations cluster around Ser259, a regulatory site for inhibition by 14-3-3 proteins. We show that these mutations impair binding of 14-3-3 proteins to C-RAF and alter its subcellular localization by promoting Ras-mediated plasma membrane recruitment of C-RAF. By presenting biophysical binding data, the 14-3-3/C-RAFpS259 crystal structure, and cellular analyses, we indicate a mechanistic link between a well-described human developmental disorder and the impairment of a 14-3-3/target protein interaction. As a broader implication of these findings, modulating the C-RAFSer259/14-3-3 protein-protein interaction with a stabilizing small molecule may yield a novel potential approach for treatment of diseases resulting from an overactive Ras-RAF-MAPK pathway.


Over the last few years, transition metal oxide layers have been proposed as selective contacts both for electrons and holes and successfully applied to silicon solar cells. However, better published results need the use of both a thin and high quality intrinsic amorphous Si layer and TCO (Transparent Conductive Oxide) films. In this work, we explore the use of vanadium suboxide (V2Ox) capped with a thin Ni layer as a hole transport layer trying to avoid both the intrinsic amorphous silicon layer and the TCO contact layer. Obtained figures of merit for Ni/V2Ox/c-Si(n) test samples are saturation current densities of 175 fA cm−2 and specific contact resistance below 115 mΩ cm2 on 40 nm thick V2Ox layers. Finally, the Ni/V2Ox stack is used with an interdigitated back-contacted c-Si(n) solar cell architecture fully fabricated at low temperatures. An open circuit voltage, a short circuit current and a fill factor of 656 mV, 40.7 mA cm−2 and 74.0% are achieved, respectively, leading to a power conversion efficiency of 19.7%. These results confirm the high potential of Ni/V2Ox stacks as hole-selective contacts on crystalline silicon photovoltaics.


ABSTRACT Many fungi can develop on building material in indoor environments if the moisture level is high enough. Among species that are frequently observed, some are known to be potent mycotoxin producers. This presence of toxinogenic fungi in indoor environments raises the question of the possible exposure of occupants to these toxic compounds by inhalation after aerosolization. This study investigated mycotoxin production by Penicillium brevicompactum, Aspergillus versicolor, and Stachybotrys chartarum during their growth on wallpaper and the possible subsequent aerosolization of produced mycotoxins from contaminated substrates. We demonstrated that mycophenolic acid, sterigmatocystin, and macrocyclic trichothecenes (sum of 4 major compounds) could be produced at levels of 1.8, 112.1, and 27.8 mg/m2, respectively, on wallpaper. Moreover, part of the produced toxins could be aerosolized from the substrate. The propensity for aerosolization differed according to the fungal species. Thus, particles were aerosolized from wallpaper contaminated with P. brevicompactum when an air velocity of just 0.3 m/s was applied, whereas S. chartarum required an air velocity of 5.9 m/s. A. versicolor was intermediate, since aerosolization occurred under an air velocity of 2 m/s. Quantification of the toxic content revealed that toxic load was mostly associated with particles of size ≥3 μm, which may correspond to spores. However, some macrocyclic trichothecenes (especially satratoxin H and verrucarin J) can also be found on smaller particles that can deeply penetrate the respiratory tract upon inhalation. These elements are important for risk assessment related to moldy environments. IMPORTANCE The possible colonization of building material by toxinogenic fungi in cases of moistening raises the question of the subsequent exposure of occupants to aerosolized mycotoxins. In this study, we demonstrated that three different toxinogenic species produce mycotoxins during their development on wallpaper. These toxins can subsequently be aerosolized, at least partly, from moldy material. This transfer to air requires air velocities that can be encountered under real-life conditions in buildings. Most of the aerosolized toxic load is found in particles whose size corresponds to spores or mycelium fragments. However, some toxins were also found on particles smaller than spores that are easily respirable and can deeply penetrate the human respiratory tract. All of these data are important for risk assessment related to fungal contamination of indoor environments.


AUT64 is a 64-bit automotive block cipher with a 120-bit secret key used in a number of security sensitive applications such as vehicle immobilization and remote keyless entry systems. In this paper, we present for the first time full details of AUT64 including a complete specification and analysis of the block cipher, the associated authentication protocol, and its implementation in a widely-used vehicle immobiliser system that we have reverse engineered. Secondly, we reveal a number of cryptographic weaknesses in the block cipher design. Finally, we study the concrete use of AUT64 in a real immobiliser system, and pinpoint severe weaknesses in the key diversification scheme employed by the vehicle manufacturer. We present two key-recovery attacks based on the cryptographic weaknesses that, combined with the implementation flaws, break both the 8 and 24 round configurations of AUT64. Our attack on eight rounds requires only 512 plaintext-ciphertext pairs and, in the worst case, just 237.3 offline encryptions. In most cases, the attack can be executed within milliseconds on a standard laptop. Our attack on 24 rounds requires 2 plaintext-ciphertext pairs and 248.3 encryptions to recover the 120-bit secret key in the worst case. We have strong indications that a large part of the key is kept constant across vehicles, which would enable an attack using a single communication with the transponder and negligible offline computation.


In order to explain the worst levels of adaptation showed by children with disabilities in relation to non disabled children, this paper aims to carry out a review of the most important advances achieved in recent decades in the study of parenting styles and parenting practices in relation to academic competence and behavior problems of children with and without disabilities. For this, we have carried out an analysis of the main works that show this relationship in the population, and then, we did the same including disability as a differentiating factor. In this sense, the authoritative style and specific parenting practices such as setting limits, communication, autonomy or monitoring are described as good predictors of adaptive behavior in children. However, we miss studies to confirm this relationship in children with disabilities. In this population, most of the papers refer, on the one hand, to expectations and, on the other hand, the stress in parenting and its effect on the parents' mental health. In conclusion, the need to provide additional information about family relationships and disability is discussed.


Objective: Laboratory parameters like NLR, PLR and PDW via using Alvarado scoring we aimed to predict and question the valuability these in the acute appendicitis diagnosis and acute appendicitis pathological subtype.
Materials and Methods: Between January 2013 and June 2015, 455 patients that their acute appendicitis diagnosis has been identified as a result of the pathological report and taken to operation with the suspicion of acute appendicitis and applied to Dicle University Medical Faculty. 114 patients that apply to our emergency service with other complaints excluding abdominal pain and who do not possess acute appendicitis have been registered as the control group. Regarding the NLR. PLR and PDW value both patient and control groups and patient group subtypes have been compared among each other.
Results: In our patient group according to the control group WBC, neutrophil, NLR and PLR average values have been considered significantly high. Lymphocyte and PDW average values in the control group according to the patient group were significantly high. When compared regarding acute appendicitis types and control group NLR and PLR average values: in the perforated appendicitis group, when compared with both the control group and the other two appendicitis types a significantly high values have been detected.
Conclusion: We will consider NLR, PLR and PDW values significant to diagnose acute appendicitis and to predict NLR and PLR value's acute appendicitis pathological subtype.


This study investigated the extent, causes, and correlates of vulnerability to brain-drain among Ethiopian academics in higher education institutions (HEIs). The sample constituted a total of 103 faculty members (Females 9.3% and Males 90.7%) drawn from three colleges and four faculties affiliated to the Debub University. Data were collected through self-reported measures assessing vulnerability to brain-drain (external brain-drain conceptualized as intention to remain in a western country given that they would have opportunities for further study or research; and internal brain drain defined as a brain circulation within the country), affective job characteristics (job satisfaction and organizational commitment), and work environment factors. The results show that affective job characteristics and work environment variables significantly predicted vulnerability to internal brain-drain. While external brain drain is associated with vulnerability to internal brain drain and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). A closer investigation into the prominence of the pull and push factors further disclosed that working condition and the salary are the outstanding ones. Implications of the findings for policy making are also discussed.


The visual component of this project consists of a photographic representation of my experience in a Vezo fishing village on the southwest coast of Madagascar. In the exegesis, magical realism provides a theoretical framework to describe both the use of the photographic medium and the content of my images. Away from both the rigid narratives of modernity and its realist perspective and from the sceptical nihilism of extreme postmodemity, magical realism allows for an ambiguous space in which expression and subjectivity are interconnected with empirical reality. Moreover, this concept which acknowledges a plurality of small and, sometimes contradictory, narratives to inter-dependently co-~xist is useful to describe the syncretism ofthe presence of the supernatural that is embedded in the Vezo everyday life.


We have examined receptors mediating phagocytosis of the intracellular bacterial pathogen, Legionella pneumophila. Three mAbs against the type 3 complement receptor (CR3), which recognizes C3bi, inhibit adherence of L. pneumophila to monocytes by 64 +/- 8% to 74 +/- 11%. An mAb against the type 1 complement receptor (CR1), which recognizes C3b, inhibits adherence by 68 +/- 1%. mAbs against other monocyte surface antigens do not significantly influence adherence. Monocytes plated on substrates of L. pneumophila membranes modulate their CR1 and CR3 receptors but not Fc receptors; such monocytes bind 70% fewer C3b- coated erythrocytes and 53% fewer C3bi-coated erythrocytes than control monocytes. Adherence of L. pneumophila to monocytes in nonimmune sera is dependent on heat-labile serum opsonins; adherence is markedly reduced in heat-inactivated serum (84% reduction) or buffer alone (97% reduction) compared with fresh serum. mAbs against CR1 and CR3 receptors also inhibit L. pneumophila intracellular multiplication and protect monocyte monolayers from destruction by this bacterium. This study demonstrates that human monocyte complement receptors, CR1 and CR3, mediate phagocytosis of L. pneumophila. These receptors may play a general role in mediating phagocytosis of intracellular pathogens.


The amended Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act requires efficacy certification for a drug's initial uses ("on-label"), but does not require certification before physicians may prescribe the drug for subsequent uses ("off-label"). Does it make sense to require FDA efficacy certification for new drugs but not for new uses of old drugs? Using a sequential online survey, we carried on a "virtual conversation" with some 500 physicians. The survey asked whether efficacy requirements should be imposed on off-label uses; almost all physicians said no. It asked whether the efficacy requirements for initial uses should be "dropped", and most physicians said no. We then asked respondents whether opposing efficacy requirements in one case but not the other involved an inconsistency. In response, we received hundreds of written commentaries. We organize and discuss these commentaries with an eye to understanding how the medical market certifies off-label drug uses and how this compares to FDA certification. Does off-label medicine use suggest that efficacy requirements should be placed on new uses of old drugs? Does it suggest that efficacy requirements on new drugs should be lifted? We explore these questions, and ask whether the response of many of the doctors exhibits the familiar behavior bias toward the status quo. Copyright © 2008 American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc..


CYP1A1 is thought to mediate carcinogenesis in oral, lung and epithelial cancers. In order to identify a CYP1A1 inhibitor from an edible plant, 394 natural products in the IIIM's natural product repository were screened, at 10 μM concentration, using CYP1A1-Sacchrosomes™ (i.e. microsomal enzyme isolated from recombinant baker's yeast). Twenty-seven natural products were identified that inhibited 40-97% of CYP1A1's 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activity. The IC50 values of the 'hits', belonging to different chemical scaffolds, were determined. Their selectivity was studied against a panel of 8 CYP-Sacchrosomes™. In order to assess cellular efficacy, the 'hits' were screened for their capability to inhibit CYP enzymes expressed within live recombinant human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells from plasmids encoding specific CYP genes (1A2, 1B1, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, 3A4). Isopimpinellin (IN-475; IC50, 20 nM) and karanjin (IN-195; IC50, 30 nM) showed the most potent inhibition of CYP1A1 in human cells. Isopimpinellin is found in celery, parsnip, fruits and in the rind and pulp of limes whereas different parts of the Indian beech tree, which contain karanjin, have been used in traditional medicine. Both isopimpinellin and karanjin negate the cellular toxicity of CYP1A1-mediated benzo[a]pyrene. Molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulations with CYP isoforms rationalize the observed trends in the potency and selectivity of isopimpinellin and karanjin.


Staffing secondary schools has become difficult in the past 10 years in conjunction with a changing and challenging economy for Millennials. Secondary school leaders have difficulty finding, employing, and retaining content specialists each school year due to the lack of trained teachers to fill positions left by large numbers of retirees. The problem is there is a need for content specialists in secondary schools and only a limited number of new teachers, which is insufficient in replacing retirees, leaving educational leaders scrambling to fill positions each year. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that are deterring Millennials in their first few years of teaching from remaining in their positions as educators and how those differ from veteran teachers who have taught for 10 or more years. A review of the literature revealed that a changing economy, coming into adulthood during a recession, lack of financial incentive, and lack of support are major deterrents for many teachers. This is a qualitative study that uses responses to surveys to gather information to explain the challenges new Millennial teachers face and the causes of the current teacher shortage. Results indicated that while teachers of all ages share many challenges, new teachers face additional challenges, which may deter them from entering or remaining in the profession.


A deeper network structure generally handles more complicated non-linearity and performs more competitively. Nowadays, advanced network designs often contain a large number of repetitive structures (e.g., Transformer). They empower the network capacity to a new level but also increase the model size inevitably, which is unfriendly to either model restoring or transferring. In this study, we are the first to investigate the representative potential of fixed random weights with limited unique values by learning diverse masks and introduce the Parameter-Efficient Masking Networks (PEMN). It also naturally leads to a new paradigm for model compression to diminish the model size. Concretely, motivated by the repetitive structures in modern neural networks, we utilize one random initialized layer, accompanied with different masks, to convey different feature mappings and represent repetitive network modules. Therefore, the model can be expressed as \textit{one-layer} with a bunch of masks, which significantly reduce the model storage cost. Furthermore, we enhance our strategy by learning masks for a model filled by padding a given random weights vector. In this way, our method can further lower the space complexity, especially for models without many repetitive architectures. We validate the potential of PEMN learning masks on random weights with limited unique values and test its effectiveness for a new compression paradigm based on different network architectures. Code is available at https://github.com/yueb17/PEMN


This thesis concerns labour and migration in South Africa. We use a dynamic computable general equilibrium model to analyse the effects of a policy-induced cut to illegal immigration on the local economy. We run the same policy simulation under two distinct modelling scenarios. The first scenario portrays typical labour market conditions and behaviour associated with economies that tend to operate at or near full employment. Simulation results under Scenario 1 indicate that a cut in low-skilled immigration would detract from the long-term welfare of local workers by generating a deterioration in the occupation-mix of their employment. With less low-skilled immigrants, native workers would slip down the skills and earnings ladder. This finding supports modelling evidence for the United States presented in Dixon et al (2011). However, the South African labour market can hardly be described as 'typical'. The impact of high unemployment and a legal minimum wage at the lower end of South Africa's labour market stands in contrast to the economy implicitly described under the assumptions of Scenario 1. The second scenario recognises this contradiction between our modelling assumptions in Scenario 1 and available evidence for the South African labour market. A new wage adjustment process assumed for Scenario 2 accounts for the vast surplus of low-skilled legal workers available in the local market. Simulation results under Scenario 2 indicate that a reduction in illegal immigration would benefit legal residents. The favourable result in Scenario 2 relative to that in Scenario 1 is driven by two factors. The first is a much larger gain in legal employment at the lower end of the market. With illegal labour becoming scarcer, employers shift some of their demand for labour towards legal workers. Under Scenario 2, very little wage pressure arises from this increased demand for legal workers, resulting in a significant upsurge in their employment levels relative to that in Scenario 1. The second factor is that the occupation-mix effect is considerably less negative in Scenario 2 than in Scenario 1. In the absence of wage increases in low-skilled occupations, Scenario 1 does not generate a shift in legal work preferences towards these occupations. By presenting both modelling scenarios we are able to better understand and explain our simulation results. We are also able to clearly contrast our set of results against those in the Dixon et al (2011) study of the United States, which used a similar methodology. The importance of applying suitable labour market mechanisms when modelling the South African economy is highlighted. Two main contributions emerge from this thesis. The first relates to the policy simulations. Detailed analysis of the impact of reduced illegal immigration on the South African economy provides policymakers and researchers with fresh evidence based on a state-of-the-art methodology. The second relates to the economic model. In developing the theory and database of the model used in this study we establish a flexible analytical framework to evaluate many other topical issues in South Africa. The detailed and economy-wide nature of the model is well-suited to not only conducting policy analysis, but also forecasting and historical analysis.


The objective of this paper is to illustrate the methods and tools developed to size and synthesize a stopped rotor/wing vehicle using a reaction drive system, including how this design capability is incorporated into a sizing and synthesis tool, VASCOMP II. This new capability is used to design a vehicle capable of performing a V-22 escort mission, and a sized vehicle description with performance characteristics is presented. The resulting vehicle is then compared side-by-side to a variable diameter tiltrotor designed for the same mission. Results of this analysis indicate that the reaction-driven rotor concept holds promise relative to alternative concepts, but that the variable diameter tiltrotor has several inherent performance advantages. Additionally, the stopped rotor/wing needs considerably more development to reach maturity.


The aim of this thesis is to make a detailed survey, based on a representative sample of words, of how Old Swedish short a followed by the consonant combinations ld and nd has developed in the different Swedish dialects, including those of Finland and Estonia, and to contribute further to earlier discussion about the course of, and conditions governing, the development of this vowel. The words studied are (in their Modern Swedish forms): fall n. hem', gall adj. 'barren, infertile (of a cow)', halla v. 'hold', kall adj. `cold', ollon n. `acorn, beechmast', valla v. 'cause', alder n. 'age'; and n. 'duck', andas v. 'breathe', band n. 'band, ribbon', blanda v. 'mix', brand n. 'firebrand, fire', grand n. 'speck of dust' etc., hand n. 'hand', land n. 'country, land for cultivation, shore' etc., rand n. `stripe, edge' and sand n. 'sand'. For each word in the corpus, a map is used to illustrate the distribution of the different vowel qualities that occur. The study shows that the development of a in the positions in question is considerably more complex than has previously been realized. For one thing, the vowel has not developed in the same way in all the words with an a followed by ld or in all those with a followed by nd. Secondly, regular differences in vowel development are found between ald words on the one hand and and words on the other. An outline survey by the author of the corresponding developments in Danish and Norwegian dialects confirms this picture. An examination of the individual words, moreover, reveals conspicuous local deviations from the expected patterns. The author believes that this wealth of variation cannot be explained solely in terms of intralinguistic factors. As a complementary approach, an attempt should be made to apply a socio-linguistic perspective to the problem.


Municipal Solid Waste as a Viable Alternative Fuel in the U.S.A. by Ana McPhail This dissertation evaluates whether municipal solid waste (MSW) may be a viable alternative and renewable fuel source to generate electricity within the United States. The framework for achieving this objective is split into two large, distinct studies. The first study discerns the relationship between MSW composition (including varying moisture), air pollutant concentrations and associated heating values. Models included AspenPlus® software for the deterministic simulation modeling of thermodynamic and pollution information, and U.S. EPA models WAR and WARM to determine the potential environmental impacts (PEI) and greenhouse gas emission equivalencies, respectively, for each MSW scenario. An economic profitability analysis was also conducted. This study focused on five high impact air combustion products: SO2, CO, CO2, NO and NO2. Results show that flue gas concentrations (and therefore PEI) depend on the composition and moisture of the MSW, in addition to the MSW to coal ratio. The recycled paper and composted organics scenario gave the lowest heating value (8,251 MBtu/lb). Approximate ranges for the WAR results (PEI/hr) are 7,410 to 7,663 for NO, 4 to 8 for NO2, 18 to 105 for CO, 30 to 46 for CO2, and 89 to 2,152 for SO2. WARM results show lower net CO2 emission equivalents to landfill MSW with reduced paper and organics, while combustion is preferred for MSW with paper, organics, or plastics reduction. Reduction in pollutant concentrations yielded a reduction in profit between ~2030%. There were savings associated with emission costs by using MSW in lieu of coal: up to ~3.3% for NO, ~20-47% for NO2, and ~95% for SO2. In summary, the measurable impact MSW composition and moisture had on pollutant concentration, heating value, and economic parameters were important. The second study is used to link the information generated in the first study with legislative actions locally and abroad. In this study, four unique scenarios and one aggregate scenario were considered (i.e. varied subsidies, health impacts, fines, energy credits and fiscal policy data and distributions) using Monte Carlo analysis to inform policy initiatives while determining the economic feasibility of MSW as a renewable fuel for municipalities. Results show that the dispatch curve for electricity generation uses the cheapest fuel (coal), then the second cheapest (natural gas) until demand is met or more fuels are needed. The social marginal cost (SMC) without considering further policy changes yields costs of $0.165/kWh for coal, $0.209/kWh for NG and $0.349/kWh for MSW. Implementing policy changes for internalizing the health impacts currently paid for by the community and the aggregate impact of all scenarios would level the economic playing field for MSW, providing lower SMC's of $0.327/kWh for MSW in both cases, and higher SMC's for coal and NG in other scenarios such that the order of the dispatch curve changes. This work advances the fundamental understanding of the economic limitations and advantages, and the policies needed to foster further proliferation of MSW as a fuel.


In mobile computing environment, the wireless communication disconnect at times and mobile clients move frequently, that's where the shoe pinches for using the technology of conventional wired networks and distributed system to mobile computing system.Based on wireless access network, we propose a technology of agent-cache which is fit for a mobile computing environment with the architecture of'Client/Agent/Server' in this paper. We use the artifice of agent-cache to reduce traffic and take some proper control to avoid dirty data been read by one. Our content includes that user data can be updated in time by virtue of validating the consistency of data among the client, agent and server. A new Callback Validating Policy is presented by us for mobile environment because the current arithmetic for this is believed with the problem of writing delay, in which the cache data need be revalidated again when any client appears.Manage client's cache and transmit failed data, the agent harmonizes and simplifies the relationship between a mobile client and a server. Then the problems which come from mobility, disconnection and writing delay can be abated distinctly.


The height of a piecewise-testable language $L$ is the maximum length of the words needed to define $L$ by excluding and requiring given subwords. The height of $L$ is an important descriptive complexity measure that has not yet been investigated in a systematic way. This paper develops a series of new techniques for bounding the height of finite languages and of languages obtained by taking closures by subwords, superwords and related operations.
As an application of these results, we show that $\text{FO}^2(A^*,\sqsubseteq)$, the two-variable fragment of the first-order logic of sequences with the subword ordering, can only express piecewise-testable properties and has elementary complexity.


Today, even as America asserts itself globally, it lacks a grand strategy to replace "containment of communism." In this short, sharp book, Gary Hart outlines a new grand strategy, one directing America's powers to the achievement of its large purposes. Central to this strategy is the power of American ideals, what Hart calls "the fourth power." Constitutional liberties, representative government, press freedom - these and other democratic principles, attractive to peoples worldwide, constitute a resource that may prove as important to national security and the national interest in this dangerous new century as traditional military, economic and political might. Writes Hart: "The idea that government exists to protect, not oppress, the individual has an enormous power not fully understood by most Americans who take this principle for granted from birth. Far more nations will follow us because of the power of this ideal than the might of all our weapons." Against those who view America's noblest values as an inconvenience or even hindrance to the exertion of influence abroad, Hart warns that we ignore principle only at our peril. Such an approach may serve short-term goals, but there are costs; among them is the compromising of a crucial strategic asset, America's fourth power. Certain objectives require a military response--few serious people would disagree. The question is "whether America's purposes are best achieved through empire and force or through principle and persuasion." To suggest the former, Hart argues, is to misread both history and our current revolutionary age, one where terrorism, the internationalization of markets, information technology, eroding nation-state authority and other realities demand not doctrines of superstate unilateralism and preemption but rather appreciation for new collective security structures, international regulatory bodies, even forms of collaborative sovereignty. Applying the best insights of strategy to statecraft, Hart finds fuzziness, overreaching, and "theological" simplicity in America's current foreign policy. Nor does he believe the war on terror, necessary in the near term, will itself serve to chart America's larger strategic course. A bracing vision of an America responsive to a full spectrum of global challenges, The Fourth Power calls for a deeper understanding both of the threats we face and the profound strengths at our disposal to fight them.


We demonstrate a new scheme for dispersion compensation in femtosecond laser cavities, exploiting the observation that the negative dispersion from a Brewster interface can be strongly enhanced by the focusing effect of a curved surface on a prism or of a thermal lens in the gain medium. Based on this scheme, a high-power Nd:glass laser generated femtosecond pulses without a prism pair. We present a detailed analytical, numerical, and experimental analysis of the discovered dispersion effects. Also, we anticipate the application of these effects for compensation of higher-order dispersion in a broad bandwidth, using a specially designed nonspherically curved mirror surface.


In 2012 and again in 2015, the German government proposed sending German administrators to manage Greece's tax and privatization authorities. The idea was that shared governance would reduce corruption and root out inefficient practices. (In 2017 the Boston Globe proposed a similar arrangement for Haiti.) We test a version of shared governance using eight U.S. interventions between 1904 and 1931, under which American officials took over management of Latin American fiscal institutions. We develop a stylized model in which better monitoring by incorruptible managers does not lead to higher government revenues. Using a new panel of data on fiscal revenues and the volume and terms of trade, we find that revenue fell under receiverships. Our results hold under instrumental variables estimation and with counterfactual specifications using synthetic controls.


Parotidectomy by U-shaped Skin Incision for small Benign Tumors
Objectives: The facelift incision has been used as a more cosmetically favorable alternative to the traditional cervicofacial, S-shaped incision for parotidectomy. However, the facelift incision has the disadvantage of requiring a long skin incision and wide skin-flap elevation. As an alternative, we analyzed the application and safety of a more limited U-shaped skin incision for parotidectomy.
Methods: A U-shaped incision, consisting of pre- and postauricular incisions and a curved incision around the earlobe, was applied in 28 female patients. Their tumors were located in the superficial region of the parotid gland except one patient with a deep lobe tumor. Maximum diameter of the tumor was <3 cm. As a control, 18 patients with a S-shaped incision, who had superficial tumors <3 cm in diameter, were selected. Operative time and postoperative complications were retrospectively compared between the two incision approaches.
Results: No significant difference in operative time was observed between U-shaped incision and S-shaped incision. The frequencies of temporary facial paralysis and salivary fistula were comparable between the two surgical methods.
Conclusion: The U-shaped incision approach is feasible for parotidectomy in patients with small (<3 cm) benign tumors located in the superficial region of the parotid gland.


Abstract The term "organic acidemia" or "organic aciduria" (OA) applies to inborn errors of metabolism (IEM) in which organic acids accumulate in tissues and biological fluids. Classical organic acidurias include methylmalonic aciduria (MMA), propionic aciduria (PA), isovaleric aciduria (IVA) and maple syrup urine disease (MSUD). Aminoacidurias like phenylketonuria are common in the western population. Organic acidemias like MMA, PA and MSUD are more common in Asian countries, especially in India compared with the west. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and treatment outcome of organic acidemias in a study population in India. Four hundred and twenty suspected cases of organic acidemias with an upper age limit of twelve years were enrolled over a two years period beteween January, 2007 and December, 2008, with a three years patient follow-up. Screening tests and thin layer chromatography followed by quantification of organic acids in urine and quantification of amino acids in blood by high performance liquid chromatography were done for detection of organic acidemias. Out of 420 patients, 45 patients (10.7%) were found to have organic acidemias, 15 cases of MMA, 16 cases of PA, 13 cases of MSUD, and one case of IVA were identified. Fifteen patients (33.3%) died during the course and remaining 30 are under therapeutic regimen and showed marked clinical improvement. Therapeutic regimens based on protein restriction, sodium bicarbonate (to correct acidosis), L-carnitine and vitamins were given to the patients. Prompt diagnosis helped to provide specific treatment to majority of these patients with rapid improvement in symptomatology.