The ability to safely manipulate the immune system of the developing fetus carries the hope of effective treatment strategies for certain congenital disorders that can be diagnosed during gestation. One possible intervention is the induction of specific transplantation tolerance to an adult donor who could provide tissue after birth without the need for immunosuppression. Although the introduction of allogeneic stem cells to a developing immune system has been shown to result in hematopoietic chimerism, donor-specific transplantation tolerance has not been demonstrated in a large animal model. In previous reports of in utero stem-cell transplantation, the cells were injected into the fetus by an intraperitoneal route. We sought to improve upon this technique of cell transplantation by developing a method for the safe delivery of allogeneic stem cells directly into the hepatic circulation of fetal swine. In the second phase of our study, we determined if adult allogeneic bone marrow cells delivered to the fetus by this intravascular route could result in result in hematopoietic chimerism and donor-specific transplantation tolerance. A method of successful intravascular injection was designed in which a laparotomy was performed on a sow at midgestation (50-55 days) to administer 1 cc of inoculum into the portal vein of each fetus using transuterine ultrasound guidance and a 25-gauge spinal needle. In one sow, 10 piglets were injected with saline to test safety, and 8 piglets were born. For transplantation of stem cells to the fetuses, donor bone marrow was harvested from a genetically defined miniature swine. In one sow the marrow was injected without T-cell depletion resulting in abortion. In the third sow, the marrow was depleted of T-cells to less than 0.01% using magnetic beads conjugated to anti-CD3 monoclonal antibodies. No chimerism was detected in these offspring. Only in the fourth sow where the T-cell depletion was reduced to about 1% of the cells in the inoculum did one animal demonstrate chimerism. This piglet showed reproducible blood chimerism (0.95% donor cells) detected by flow cytometry measurement of monoclonal antibodies to the donor MHC. In addition, this animal demonstrated hyporesponsiveness to donor lymphocytes in an MLR assay while reacting strongly to third-party stimulator cells. A split-thickness skin graft from the donor was accepted, and a third-party graft was rapidly rejected.


Monolithic integration of step-up DC-DC converters used to be one of the largest challenges in high
voltage CMOS SoCs. Charge pumps are considered as the most promising solution regarding in-
tegration levels compared to boost converter with bulky inductors. However, conventional charge
pump architectures usually show significant drawbacks and reliability problems, when used as on-
chip high voltage generators. Hence, innovative charge pump architectures are required to realize
the monolithic integration of charge pumps in high voltage applications.
In this dissertation, three 4-phase charge pump architectures with the dynamic body biasing tech-
nique and clock schemes with dead time techniques were proposed to overcome drawbacks such as
body effect and reverse current problem of traditional Pelliconi charge pump. The influences of high
voltage CMOS sandwich capacitors on the voltage gain and power efficiency of charge pumps were
extensively investigated. The most reasonable 4-phase charge pump architecture with a suitable
configuration of high voltage sandwich capacitors regarding the voltage gain and power efficiency
was chosen to implement two high voltage ASICs in an advanced 120 V 0.35 μm high voltage CMOS
technology. The first test chip operates successfully and is able to generate up to 120 V from a
3.7 V low voltage DC supply, which shows the highest output voltage among all the reported fully
integrated CMOS charge pumps. The measurement results confirmed the benefits of the proposed
charge pump architectures and clock schemes. The second chip providing a similar output voltage
has a reduced chip size mainly due to decreased capacitor areas by increased clock frequencies. Fur-
thermore, the second chip with an on-chip clock generator works independently of external clock
signals which shows the feasibility of integrated charge pumps as part of high voltage SoCs. Based on
the successful implementation of those high voltage CMOS ASICs, further discussions on the stability
of the output voltage, levels of integration and limitations in the negative high voltage generation of
high voltage CMOS charge pumps are held with the aid of simulation or measurement results. Feed-
back regulation by adjusting the clock frequency or DC power supply is able to stabilize the voltage
performance effectively while being easily integrated on-chip. Increasing the clock frequency can
significantly reduce the required capacitor values which results in reduced chip sizes. An application
example demonstrates the importance of fully integrated high voltage charge pumps.
Besides, a new design methodology for the on-chip high voltage generation using CMOS technolo-
gies was proposed. It contains a general design flow focusing mainly on the feasibility and reliability
of high voltage CMOS ASICs and design techniques for on-chip high voltage generators.
In this dissertation, it is proven that CMOS charge pumps using suitable architectures regarding
the required chip size and circuit reliability are able to be used as on-chip high voltage generators
for voltages beyond 100 V . Several methods to improve the circuit performance and to extend the
functionalities of high voltage charge pumps are suggested for future works.


The occupancy of hydrogen inside the voids of ice ${\text{I}}_{c}$ and ice II, which gives two stable hydrogen hydrate compounds at high pressure and temperature, has been examined using a hybrid grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulation in wide ranges of pressure and temperature. The simulation reproduces the maximum hydrogen-to-water molar ratio and gives a detailed description on the hydrogen influence toward the stability of ice structures. A simple theoretical model, which reproduces the simulation results, provides a global phase diagram of two-component system in which the phase transitions between various phases can be predicted as a function of pressure, temperature, and chemical composition. A relevant thermodynamic potential and statistical-mechanical ensemble to describe the filled-ice compounds are discussed, from which one can derive two important properties of hydrogen hydrate compounds: the isothermal compressibility and the quantification of thermodynamic stability in term of the chemical potential.


The clusters of Eu^(3+) ion in Eu(DBM)3Phen-doped polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) have been studied by three means. The relative fluorescence intensity ratio of the 5D0 -> 7F2 to 5D0 -> 7F1 transitions with different concentrations of Eu^(3+) in Eu(DBM)3Phen-doped PMMA and metastable-state (5D0) lifetime dependence on Eu^(3+) concentration are analyzed. The analysis indicates that there are no clustering effects in Eu^(3+) ions of Eu(DBM)3Phen-doped PMMA when the Eu^(3+) doping concentration is up to 1.0 wt.-%. At the same time, the clustering effect has not been observed by the scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) in Eu(DBM)3Phen-doped PMMA with 1.0 wt.-% of Eu^(3+) ions. The analysis reveals that a high concentration of Eu^(3+) can be incorporated into polymer optical fiber (POF) without clustering effect.


Dr. Ileana Pina from Case Western Reserve University moderated the topic "Transitions of Care: Heart Failure" with Drs. John Rumsfeld from the Denver VA Medical Center, Rebecca Boxer from the University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Mary Norine Walsh from St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana, and Sarah Goodlin from Patient-Centered Education and Research and the Portland Oregon VA Medical Center participating. The discussion focused primarily on: (1) safe and appropriate transition of the in patient to the outpatient setting, including skilled nursing facilities, (2) cost impact on Medicare of re-hospitalizations, (3) rehospitalization rate as a metric, (4) the American College of Cardiology's H2H quality initiative and its three basic cores, (5) methods to decrease rehospitalization, including patient education and post-discharge follow-up, (6) end-of-life measures, including educating hospice nurses and management of devices, (7) systems used in integrated healthcare systems, and (8) patient-centered medical home model of care. (Med Roundtable Cardiovasc Ed. 2010;1(4):221-226) ©2010 FoxP2 Media, LLC


Problem statement: This study proposed two utility accrual real time scheduling algorithms named as Preemptive Utility Accrual Scheduling (PUAS) and Non-preemptive Utility Accrual Scheduling (NUAS) algorithms. These algorithms addressed the unnecessary abortion problem that was identified in the existing algorithm known as General Utility Scheduling (GUS). It is observed that GUS is inefficient for independent task model because it simply aborts any task that currently executing a resource with lower utility when a new task with higher utility requests the resource. The scheduling optimality criteria are based on maximizing accrued utility accumulated from execution of all tasks in the system. These criteria are named as Utility Accrual (UA). The UA scheduling algorithms are design for adaptive real time system environment where deadline misses are tolerable and do not have great consequences to the system. Approach: We eliminated the scheduling decision to abort a task in GUS and proposed to preempt a task instead of being aborted if the task is preemptive able. We compared the performances of these algorithms by using discrete event simulation. Results: The proposed PUAS algorithm achieved the highest accrued utility for the entire load range. This is followed by the NUAS and GUS algorithms. Conclusion: Simulation results revealed that the proposed algorithms were more efficient than the existing algorithm, producing with higher accrued utility ratio and less abortion ratio making it more suitable and efficient for real time application domain.


In this Essay, I make two arguments. First, I argue that the national government may not use the Treaty Power to abrogate Eleventh Amendment protections. The Eleventh Amendment voided specific provisions of the Treaty of Peace that states feared would grant British creditors actionable claims against them and, by cabining the Treaty Power, additionally prevented the national government from negotiating a new treaty that would have held states accountable for their denials of British claims. Whatever the original meaning of the Treaty Power was at the Framing, the Eleventh Amendment redefined and curtailed it dramatically. In fact, the Framers of the Eleventh Amendment saw the Supremacy Clause, and the policy reasons underlying it, not as grounds to tolerate an expansive Treaty Power, but rather as the very reasons to amend the Constitution. The background of the Eleventh Amendment as a response to the Treaty of Peace must be considered in any complete picture of the constitutional balance between the national and state governments in light of the Treaty Power. Second, I argue that the states ratified the Eleventh Amendment to protect themselves from out-of-state plaintiffs - but only out-of-state plaintiffs - with claims based on diversity or federal question jurisdiction. The states ratified the Eleventh Amendment in reaction to Chisholm v. Georgia but did so more as Chisholm pertained to British creditors than as Chisholm pertained to American, out-of-state creditors. As a domestic policy measure, the Eleventh Amendment protected interests within each state and simultaneously cut short the emergence of a national court that could have held states accountable for practices that were discriminatory, corrupt, or dangerous to national security. As a foreign policy measure, the Eleventh Amendment expressed American outrage over Britain's refusal to evacuate military posts in the Northwest and expressed the American refusal to pay debts to British creditors. To protect states from British creditors, the ratifiers of the Eleventh Amendment had to preclude British merchants from bringing treaty-based claims under either federal question or diversity jurisdiction. They did not have to preclude in-state plaintiffs from bringing federal question claims, because British merchants could not practicably assign their claims to in-state plaintiffs. Competing interpretations of the Eleventh Amendment insufficiently consider its purpose as a foreign policy measure.


The role played by neurotrophin-3 during the development of quail sensory ganglia was investigated using a monoclonal antibody that specifically blocks the biological activity of this neurotrophin. Neutralisation of neurotrophin-3 was initiated during completion of gangliogenesis. Neuronal cell counts indicate that about 30% of the neurons normally present in either the placode-derived ganglion nodosum or in a leg-innervating, neural crest-derived dorsal root ganglion are eliminated by the antibody treatment. In both ganglia, this reduction is seen early in development, and the results obtained with the ganglion nodosum indicate that neurotrophin-3 plays an essential role already during gangliogenesis. Neuronal numbers are also compared with those obtained after treatment with a monoclonal antibody to nerve growth factor, used either alone or in combination with the neurotrophin-3 antibody.


Research in constructions of masculinities in South Africa is already an established field, having in part developed out of the need to contextualise global theories in the social, economic and cultural realities of African subjects. In its turn, this research has engendered a number of focused studies which have sought to depart from the traditional 'men's studies' paradigm. Needless to say, studies in constructions of masculinities have infused the traditional paradigm with a new vitality. This thesis proceeds from the premise that to be a man in (South) Africa and elsewhere is contingent upon a diversity of social, economic, political, generational and cultural expectations. I argue that these expectations, which are linked variously to status, sexual orientation and choice, mean that recognition of gender subjectivity as performed must take precedence over the idea of a stable gender role. And, at times, this applies with more force in African societies, traditional and modern (or, as is often the case, a confluence of both), than it does in western ones where class, rather than the complex intersection of tradition and modernity, tends to set gender identities on a more stable platform. I then propose the view that a nuanced conceptualisation of masculinities in South Africa needs to inform analysis of representations of men and women, and I do so by means of an in-depth critical analysis of the shifting conceptions of black African men and women in Shaka Zulu (1986), Mapantsula (1988), Fools (1998) and Yizo Yizo 1 (1999).


Abstract US government reports describe Chinese-conceived "island chains" in the Western Pacific as narrow demarcations for Chinese "counter-intervention" operations to defeat US and allied forces in altercations over contested territorial claims. The sparse scholarship available does little to contest this excessively myopic assertion. Yet, further examination reveals meaningful differences that can greatly enhance an understanding of Chinese views of the "island chains" concept, and with it important aspects of China's efforts to develop as a maritime power. Long before China had a navy or naval strategists worthy of the name, the concept had originated and been developed for decades by previous great powers vying for Asia-Pacific influence. Today, China's own authoritative interpretations are flexible, nuanced and multifaceted – befitting the multiple and sometimes contradictory factors with which Beijing must contend in managing its meteoric maritime rise. These include the growing importance of sea lane security at increasing distances and levels of operational intensity. 摘要 美国政府报告把中国设想的西太平洋 "岛链" 概念描述为中国军队为在有关领土争端的 "反干涉"作战中试图打败美国和盟国部队而设立的狭窄的界线。寥寥无几的相关研究对这个过于短视的看法也没有提出不同意见。然而, 进一步的分析却发现此概念有迥然不同的含义。这些含义能大大增强我们对中国为发展成为一个海洋大国所做出的努力的理解。这个概念是在中国有一个现代的海军或海军战略家之前由其他有影响力的大国为争夺亚太地区的影响力而发展起来的。如今, 中国对此概念的权威解释显示出其灵活性, 微妙性和多面性。这些解释特征恰恰能与北京在管理其海上崛起过程中许多有时是相互矛盾的因素相适应。这些因素包括由于不断增大距离和活动强度所导致的海上通道安全日益增长的重要性。


India?s new and contested status as a nuclear power, the scale of her arms purchases, her investment in missile technology and the huge deployment of ground troops on the western front against Pakistan are issues of immediate concern to her South Asian neighbours. Since tension feeds on tension, war in Afghanistan, terrorist attacks in Kolkata, Delhi, Jammu and Srinagar, mounting tension between India and Pakistan over the issue of cross-border terrorism in Kashmir and the recent threat by General Pervez Musharraf to consider the first strike option as part of Pakistan?s strategic response to Indian mobilisation have contributed to the seriousness of the situation. The probability of the regional conflict escalating into large scale nuclear war, or weapons of mass destruction finding their way into the hands of non-state actors, have drawn world attention to South Asia, which has had visits in quick succession by political leaders and military delegations from the United States, UK, Germany, France, China and Russia. The paper, focused on India?s capacities, perceptions and institutional arrangements for the management of security, seeks to evaluate the significance of her status as an ?emerging? power for the security environment in Asia, and its implication for the international system. It analyses the main objective both empirically, and theoretically. The empirical aspect concerns the measurement of India?s economic and military resources according to the conventional indicators of power. These facts, based on experts? accounts, are supplemented by political and institutional factors which are significant for the estimation of the power of a country. In addition, the analysis seeks to juxtapose the views of observers and actors, and locate the strategic perception of the Indian voter, an important factor in her political landscape in view of her active democratic process. These factors of contemporary politics are to be seen in the larger context of India?s political and security culture, history, the structure of the political system. The issue of contextualisation needs to be understood in terms of its methodological implication at the outset, because, while all states are members of the international system, the use to which they put international politics varies from one context to another. Western nation states, products of a long process of nation building, industrialisation and state-formation, seek the promotion of national interest through their strategic initiatives. Post-colonial state-nations, engaged in the process of nation-creation, are more complex in their rhetoric. For these actors, international politics, in addition to being used as an instrument of national interest, also plays a symbolic role in the building of a national profile. The paper seeks to combine both the material and symbolic aspects of Indian policy in the concept of a security doctrine, one that can bring potential power into an effective focus, in the absence of which mere appurtenances of power like guns and ships are just that and not much more. Since the stability of the doctrine, in addition to its coherence is an important parameter of the significance of Indian power, the paper also takes into account the problems of implementation as well. Though there is considerable force to the argument that South Asian security is crucially contingent on the India-China-Pakistan triangle, India remains the biggest power in South Asia, and her significance, in terms of how India sees herself and how others see her, is a key consideration for regional politics. The need for a sophisticated methodological analysis arises paradoxically from the fact that India is a democratic state and an open society, both of which give a false sense of visibility to India?s security profile. Foreign observers, depending on their own national origin and the context, place their bets on predictions of India?s next move either as the ?regional bully? or the ?regional push-over?, and India, Janus-like, often proves both speculations to be right, appearing in the process to be either mystical-moral, or utterly devoid of principle or doctrine. The paper is in three parts. The first examines the state of play by ranking India with reference to her strategic resource endowments. The second part examines India?s strategic doctrine and the organigram of security, and evaluates her potential power in the light of her doctrine. The third part makes a prognosis of the challenging path ahead for India with reference to the unsolved problems concerning her national security. The conclusion reconsiders the main issue posed in the introduction in the light of the analysis undertaken here.


This paper considers the role of retaliation norms as a way to induce more socially desirable behavior among self-interested parties. The paper first considers the unregulated case in which individuals indulge in mutual aggression, in the absence of other legal or social constraints. Next the relationship between aggressors and their victims is investigated, concentrating on the effect of victim's propensity to retaliate when suffering harm from others. Two retaliatory regimes are examined: proportional retribution and fixed retaliation. Special attention is paid to the impact of these regimes on the parties' interaction. The results suggest that human instincts for revenge may indeed be as important as honesty for the evolution of cooperation. More generally, retaliation norms are an important ingredient for the evolution of desirable social behavior in the absence of other social constraints or legal intervention.


This descriptive, library and function-oriented study examinedthe role of translation in changing, consolidating or redefining gender schemas of the audience in three women journalsof Pahlavi era. Gender schemas are acquired through socialization. They are patterns and information frameworks by which people recognize the values, norms and gender roles of society. Thus, three women journals belonging tofirst and second Pahlavi eras entitled "Ālam-e Nesvān", "Ālam-e Zanān"and "Bacheh Qashang" were selected. First, the amount of the translations and the thematic frequency of the translated materials were evaluated. Next, considering the social status of women and common gender schemas of the era, the respective role of translation in redefining this type of schema was analyzed. In other words, this study attempted to find the answer to this question, did translation in these publications serve to establish common gender schemas of the time or try to change, and provide new pattern?


Childhood and adult onset asthma differ with respect to severity and co-morbidities. Whether they also differ with respect to genetic risk factors has not been previously investigated. Methods We used data from the UK Biobank to conduct genome-wide association studies (GWASs) in 9,433 childhood onset asthma (onset before age 12) and 21,564 adult onset asthma (onset between ages 26 and 65) cases, each compared to 318,237 non-asthmatic controls (older than age 38), and for age of onset in 37,846 asthma cases. Enrichment studies determined the tissues in which genes at GWAS loci were most highly expressed, and PrediXcan, a transcriptome-wide gene-based test, was used to identify candidate risk genes. Findings We detected 61 independent asthma loci: 23 were childhood onset specific, one was adult onset specific, and 37 were shared. Nineteen loci were associated with age of asthma onset. Genes at the childhood onset loci were most highly expressed in skin, blood and small intestine; genes at the adult onset loci were most highly expressed in lung, blood, small intestine and spleen. PrediXcan identified 113 unique candidate genes at 22 of the 61 GWAS loci. Interpretation Genetic risk factors for adult onset asthma are largely a subset of the genetic risk for childhood onset asthma but with overall smaller effects, suggesting a greater role for non-genetic risk factors in adult onset asthma. In contrast, the onset of disease in childhood is associated with additional genes with relatively large effect sizes. Combined with gene expression and tissue enrichment patterns, we suggest that the establishment of disease in children is driven more by allergy and epithelial barrier dysfunction whereas the etiology of adult onset asthma is more lung-centered, with immune mediated pathways driving disease progression in both children and adults. Funding This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health grants R01 MH107666 and P30 DK20595 to H.K.I., R01 HL129735, R01 HL122712, P01 HL070831, and UG3 OD023282 to C.O.; N.S. was supported by T32 HL007605.


Control Flow Analysis is a widely used approach for analysing functional and object oriented programs and recently it has also successfully been used to analyse more challenging notions of computation involving concurrency. However, once the applications become more demanding also the analysis needs to be more precise in its ability to deal with mutable state (or side-effects) and to perform polyvariant (or context-sensitive) analysis. Several insights in Data Flow Analysis and Abstract Interpretation show how to do so for imperative programs but the techniques have not had much impact on Control Flow Analysis because of the less abstract way in which the techniques are normally expressed. In this paper we show how to incorporate a number of key insights from Data Flow Analysis involving such advanced interprocedural techniques as call strings and assumption sets using Abstract Interpretation to induce the analyses from a general collecting semantics.


The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) exemplify society's increasing environmental concern. Regions not attaining the CAAA requirements must develop methods to reduce the pollution. One of these methods is traffic congestion relief. Regional traffic congestion relief measures must be accurately researched and planned to ensure the most effective use of capital expenditures. As a result, there tends to be a great expense in time and money in the data acquisition and planning, which leaves less time and money for actual implementation of transportation enhancements. One of the Florida Department of Transportation's regional commuter assistance programs, Gold Coast Commuter Services (GCCS), has initiated a systematic, cost effective survey and analysis procedure to determine and further evaluate short and long term transportation congestion relief measures for Southeast Florida. Employee and student (primarily for large universities, such as the University of Miami) transportation surveys determine the demands of the peak period commuter. A commuter oriented travel survey provides the essential data to determine detailed commuter profiles including origin/destination, population, attitudinal, place of work and journey to work data. With sufficient commuter data manipulation and a thorough understanding of the work/scholastic site, GCCS may recommend appropriate transportation control measures.


What does it mean that Swift models the rational non-humans of Gulliver's Travels on horses, instead of other animals? Taking up this question, I argue that part 4 confronts readers with the incongruity between traditional admiration of horses as the noblest animals and their systematic exploitation as beasts of burden. To set Swift's perspective in relief, I compare his satire with representations of horses in natural histories by Topsell, Jonstonus, and Buffon, as well as an equestrian manual by William Cavendish. While the exploitation of noble horses does not disturb Topsell or Jonstonus, Buffon's text betrays signs of anxiety, which it nevertheless attempts to suppress. Cavendish, meanwhile, asserts that the human/horse hierarchy must be enforced with continual vigilance precisely because of the horse's signal nobility. In contrast, Swift exposes attitudes toward horses as intolerably contradictory. Crucially, Gulliver and the Houyhnhnm master's conversation about the treatment of horses emphasizes the disparity between their admiration and abasement. Swift offers an example of more logically consistent justifications for exploitation in characterizations of the Yahoos, but it is unclear whether the text advocates better treatment for horses (to accord with their status as the noblest animals) or debunks idealizations of horses (to produce a more compelling rationalization for exploitation). Although I distinguish Swift's perspective on horses from modern arguments for the ethical treatment of animals, I conclude by suggesting that Gulliver's Travels, in its resistance to modern paradigms, provides a vantage point from which we might undertake a radical re-evaluation of the human/animal relationship.


Papua New Guinea has major ex situ field collections of plant genetic material in its major staple food crops (aibika, banana, cassava, sago, sweet potato, taro, yams). The PNG Government has become concerned at the cost of maintaining these collections. With limited germplasm conservation resources available, difficult choices must be made as to which plants to maintain. What resources should be devoted to maintaining plant genetic diversity in the wild or in collections. How should these resources be allocated among various plant kinds, especially when some of them are currently important in agricultural production, whereas others may only be of potential future importance. How should resources be allocated across the various methods of conserving plant germplasm? Should genetic collections only be maintained where the material has been collected or should it also be stored in other countries. A dynamic optimisation model is developed of the crop plant improvement process, including selection from the wild and farmers' fields, conventional plant breeding, the use of advanced plant breeding techniques, and the contribution of plant germplasm collections in the efficiency of this process. The objective of the study is to provide a better basis for evaluating the efficient allocation of resources to plant germplasm conservation in food staples in PNG.


The Toll like receptors (TLRs) are a family of innate immune pattern recognition receptors that have been implicated in the pathogenesis of the autoimmune diseases rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Activation of these receptors by exogenous or endogenous ligands stimulates production of cytokines such as TNF and IL-6. Elevated serum cytokine levels correlate with disease activity and are targeted by modern therapeutics.
Peripheral blood monocytes contribute to disease through extravasation into inflamed tissues and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This study sought to identify the expression of TLRs 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 on monocytes from RA and SLE donors and healthy controls (HC). TLR-induced TNF, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10 and IP-10 secretion from these cells was also assessed, as was the basal expression of signalling inhibitors which regulate the cascade downstream of TLRs. These results were correlated with each other and to the clinical data of the donors.
Significant differences in the expression of TLRs relative to HC were determined for RA and SLE peripheral blood monocytes. However, none of the observed differences correlated with a functional effect in terms of cytokine secretion in response to stimulation. Instead, dysregulation of downstream TLR signalling inhibitors was identified in the disease groups that contributed to these responses.
Firstly, in agreement with other reports expression of TNF-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3, A20) was decreased in the majority RA and SLE monocytes. However, asubpopulation of donors existed with higher A20 expression. Secretion of TNF following TLR8 stimulation of RA and SLE monocytes was elevated in those donors with low A20 expression relative to both HC and RA/SLE donors that exhibited higher A20 expression.
Secondly, expression of sterile-α and HEAT/Armadillo motifs containing protein (SARM) was decreased in RA monocytes. Decreased SARM correlated with disease activity and secretion of IL-1β in response to TLR2 stimulation. The mechanism of action was independent of SARMs documented role in the inhibition of the TLR signalling adaptor TIR domain containing adaptor inducing interferon-β (TRIF).
Finally, Interleukin-receptor associated kinase-M (IRAK-M), another TLR signalling inhibitor, was observed to correlate with IL-6 production by SLE monocytes following TLR5 activation, which was elevated relative to HC. Following TLR5 stimulation, IRAK-M induction by SLE monocytes was lower than HC. Lower IRAK-M expression correlated with elevated serum IL-6 levels, potentially indicating a clinically significant role.
These data suggest that TLR-induced cytokine secretion by monocytes is regulated at the level of signal transduction as opposed to the TLR expression level in RA and SLE. Failure to control aspects of the cascade downstream of TLRs may allow for elevated cytokine production, which could influence disease activity.


One of the applications of quantum technology is to use quantum states and measurements to communicate which offers more reliable security promises. Quantum data hiding, which gives the source party the ability of sharing data among multiple receivers and revealing it at a later time depending on his/her will, is one of the promising information sharing schemes which may address practical security issues. In this work, we propose a novel quantum data hiding protocol. By concatenating different subprotocols which apply to rather symmetric hiding scenarios, we cover a variety of more general hiding scenarios. We provide the general requirements for constructing such protocols and give explicit examples of encoding states for five parties. We also proved the security of the protocol in sense that the achievable information by unauthorized operations asymptotically goes to zero. In addition, due to the capability of the sender to manipulate his/her subsystem, the sender is able to abort the protocol remotely at any time before he/she reveals the information.


There is no doubt that morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD) are increasing in many African countries. Research and implementation of public health nutrition programmes in the developed world have shown that CVD can be prevented by dietary interventions. The objectives of this paper are to (i) review the relationships between diet and CVD; (ii) review the possible contribution of the nutrition transition, which is associated with economic development and "modernisation" to CVD in Africa; (iii) identify barriers and challenges plus assessing the opportunities available to steer the nutrition transition into a more positive direction; and (iv) show how ideal nutrient intakes can be translated into appropriate food based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) and how to apply these for prevention and management of CVDs. This should result in appropriate recommendations for diets that will be country-specific, affordable, culturally acceptable and based on available, traditional and indigenous foods. It is concluded that all health professionals should be sensitised, informed, trained and/or educated to apply FBDGs in a way that will motivate the public or patients to follow healthier diets for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention and treatment of CVD.


Presented herein is an analysis of an intensive dust intrusion of 8-11 February, 2015. The intrusion has been associated with the development of an intense front over the Middle East. During the episode, dust concentrations in Ahvaz air quality monitoring station in south-western Iran (Khuzestan region) reached over 10000 μg/m3, which was beyond the capacity of air quality sensors to be recorded. In this paper, the performance of WRF/Chem modelling system was evaluated for the west and southwestern Iran as well as the whole model domain. MADE and GOCART models as the main aerosol models implemented in WRF/Chem V3.6 were verified by ground observation data for the specific points. We have taken into account the advantages and disadvantages of MADE and GOCART aerosol models over the study period, by comparing the simulations' results for the specific points with the available dust concentration data. The time series of the area-average of modeled dust column mass density over the test area determined a coherent temporal variation with that of MERRA-2 model which shows the sensitivity of WRF/Chem modeling system for this area with most frequent dust storm events in the Middle East. The validation of WRF/Chem V3.6 modeling system results for the overall model domain is implemented using Hovmoller diagrams. The modeled latitude-average of dust column mass density for the whole model domain showed some discrepancies of dust transport pattern with the results of MERRA-2 model. Although there is a considerable difference between the modelled dust concentrations and the observations especially on the peak values, the temporal variations of the modelled dust concentration with MADE aerosol model is quite consistent with the observations. The results of MADE aerosol model for the dust concentration were more close to the observations of the points inside Khuzestan and surrounding low level plains with aeolian soils. The GOCART aerosol model had more reasonable simulation results for the points through the mountainous terrains of western Iran. It can be concluded that the structure of MADE and GOCART aerosol models can be revised with regard to their relative advantages in specific regions to minimize the error in modeling dust behavior. Scince this study has been employed on a dust episode, and considering that the gaseous air pollutants require the emissions data, the simulations of the gaseous aerosols has not been considered in this study. However, the results of the WRF/Chem model for the dust aerosols could be extended to the other aerosols, especially PM10 and PM2.5 particles.


The main objective of this paper is to analyse extreme cases of wave-current interactions on tidal stream energy converters. Experiments were undertaken in the INSEAN tow tank facility where carriage speeds of 0.5 and 1m/s were used with and without waves. The waves studied in this testing campaign had wave heights of 0.2 to 0.4m with a 2s wave period in a stationary reference frame. These wave conditions were considered extreme cases considering the use of a turbine with a rotor diameter of 0.5m. The turbine was equipped with a torque transducer, an encoder and a strain gauge to measure both the rotor torque and the forces on a single blade root. The results of the experiments showed that extreme wave-current cases can result in significant variations in power. Investigating the time histories of the blade root loading in wave-current conditions illuminated the importance of the relationships between the wave phase and blade angular position, and the number of blade rotational periods in a wave period. These affected the loading patterns and also the loading range seen by the blade, both of which have important implications for the fatigue life of the blade.


We present a description of the pipeline used to calibrate the Planck Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) timelines into thermodynamic temperatures for the Planck 2015 data release, covering four years of uninterrupted operations. As in the 2013 data release, our calibrator is provided by the spin-synchronous modulation of the cosmic microwave background dipole, but we now use the orbital component, rather than adopting the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) solar dipole. This allows our 2015 LFI analysis to provide an independent Solar dipole estimate, which is in excellent agreement with that of HFI and within 1 σ (0.3% in amplitude) of the WMAP value. This 0.3% shift in the peak-to-peak dipole temperature from WMAP and a general overhaul of the iterative calibration code increases the overall level of the LFI maps by 0.45% (30GHz), 0.64% (44GHz), and 0.82% (70GHz) in temperature with respect to the 2013 Planck data release, thus reducing the discrepancy with the power spectrum measured by WMAP. We estimate that the LFI calibration uncertainty is now at the level of 0.20% for the 70GHz map, 0.26% for the 44GHz map, and 0.35% for the 30GHz map. We provide a detailed description of the impact of all the changes implemented in the calibration since the previous data release.


Roman seals associated with collyria (Latin expression for eye drops /washes and lotions for eye maintenance) provide valuable information about eye care in the antiquity. These small, usually stone-made pieces bore engravings with the names of eye doctors and also the collyria used to treat an eye disease. The collyria seals have been found all over the Roman empire and Celtic territories in particular and were usually associated with military camps. In Hispania (Iberian Peninsula), only three collyria seals have been found. These findings speak about eye care in this ancient Roman province as well as about of the life of the time. This article takes a look at the utility and social significance of the collyria seals and seeks to give an insight in the ophthalmological practice of in the Roman Empire.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
The ideal suture for abdominal fascial closure has yet to be determined. Surgical practice continues to rely largely on tradition rather than high-quality level I evidence. The authors conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to determine which suture material and technique reduces the odds of incisional hernia.

METHODS
MEDLINE and Cochrane Library databases were searched for articles in English published from 1966 to 1998 using the keywords "suture", "abdomen/surgery", and "randomized controlled trials". Randomized controlled trials, trials of adult patients, and trials with a Jadad Quality Score of more than 3, comparing suture materials, technique, or both, were included. Two independent reviewers critically appraised study quality and extracted data. The reviewers were masked to the study site, authors, journal, and date to minimize bias. The primary outcome was postoperative incisional hernia. Secondary outcomes included wound dehiscence, infection, wound pain, and suture sinus formation.

RESULTS
The occurrence of incisional hernia was significantly lower when nonabsorbable sutures were used. Suture technique favored nonabsorbable continuous closure. Suture sinuses and wound pain were significantly lower when absorbable sutures were used. There were no differences in the incidence of wound dehiscence or wound infection with respect to suture material or method of closure. Subgroup analyses of individual sutures showed no significant difference in incisional hernia rates between polydioxanone and polypropylene. Polyglactin showed an increased wound failure rate.

CONCLUSIONS
Abdominal fascial closure with a continuous nonabsorbable suture had a significantly lower rate of incisional hernia. The ideal suture is nonabsorbable, and the ideal technique is continuous.


Introduction: The hair transplant evolved greatly in the past two decades primarily by the use of microscopes to make follicular units. The use of Micro blades is another step to reduce the surgical trauma and increase the naturalness of the result. Coronal incisions help to maintain the correct direction of hair placed. The goal of this work is to show our experience with the use of blades 0.7 to 1mm in diameter, with coronal incisions for hair transplantation. Method: We evaluated 131 consecutive surgeries from June 2011 to June 2012, in which all patients operated on by the same surgeon with the use of microblades 0.7 to 1mm wide using coronal incisions. Results:The postoperative results were considered satisfactory by the patients and the surgical team.Conclusion:The use of small blades with coronal incisions helps to give more density with little surgical trauma. The results were considered natural with good cosmetic density.


BACKGROUND
In early-stage pancreatic cancer, there are currently no biomarkers to guide selection of therapeutic options. This prospective biomarker trial evaluated the feasibility and potential clinical utility of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis to inform adjuvant therapy decision making.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Patients considered by the multidisciplinary team to have resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma were enrolled. Pre- and post-operative samples for ctDNA analysis were collected. PCR-based-SafeSeqS assays were used to identify mutations at codon 12, 13 and 61 of KRAS in the primary pancreatic tumor and to detect ctDNA. Results of ctDNA analysis were correlated with CA19-9, recurrence-free and overall survival (OS). Patient management was per standard of care, blinded to ctDNA data.

RESULTS
Of 112 patients consented pre-operatively, 81 (72%) underwent resection. KRAS mutations were identified in 91% (38/42) of available tumor samples. Of available plasma samples (N = 42), KRAS mutated ctDNA was detected in 62% (23/37) pre-operative and 37% (13/35) post-operative cases. At a median follow-up of 38.4 months, ctDNA detection in the pre-operative setting was associated with inferior recurrence-free survival (RFS) [hazard ratio (HR) 4.1; P = 0.002)] and OS (HR 4.1; P = 0.015). Detectable ctDNA following curative intent resection was associated with inferior RFS (HR 5.4; P < 0.0001) and OS (HR 4.0; P = 0.003). Recurrence occurred in 13/13 (100%) patients with detectable ctDNA post-operatively, including in seven that received gemcitabine-based adjuvant chemotherapy.

CONCLUSION
ctDNA studies in localized pancreatic cancer are challenging, with a substantial number of patients not able to undergo resection, not having sufficient tumor tissue for analysis or not completing per protocol sample collection. ctDNA analysis, pre- and/or post-surgery, is a promising prognostic marker. Studies of ctDNA guided therapy are justified, including of treatment intensification strategies for patients with detectable ctDNA post-operatively who appear at very high risk of recurrence despite gemcitabine-based adjuvant therapy.


This study investigates women's experiences as they ascended to leadership roles in nonprofit organizations in rural communities, primarily in East Texas. The aim of this study is to understand the lived experiences of women in top management as they ascend into leadership positions, as the characteristics and experiences of effective leaders in rural nonprofits may differ from those of urban nonprofit agencies. There is limited research regarding women's leadership experiences in rural nonprofit organizations. Using a phenomenological inquiry approach, we interviewed 32 women currently serving in leadership roles in rural nonprofit organizations. The research question guiding this phenomenological study was: What are female leaders' lived experiences as they ascend to leadership positions? The interviews were audio recorded and professionally transcribed. Grounded theory approach was used to analyze the data. A total of 155 emergent themes were extracted by triangulation. After the major themes were extracted, 17 selective themes were identified based on leadership. The selective themes were condensed to three themes: 1) Leadership ascension, with six sub-themes of experience, micro-aggression, support, mentoring, training, and networking; 2) Leadership attributes; and 3) Leadership longevity. Despite the small number of participants, this in-depth study highlights the lived experiences of women leaders, providing a platform for further exploration into these experiences, especially in rural settings. Women in this study did not have an intentional leadership trajectory but rather were promoted within the organization. We found that gender impacts women's leadership experiences. We also found that relational leadership styles in rural communities makes a difference for career longevity, and women consider honesty, compassion, integrity, self-awareness, and being a people person to be leadership attributes.


The Canadian educational system has been influenced by geography, population, and natural resources. In some provinces, denominational schools exist within the public school system. Although committed to a multiethnic society, private education also exists within the larger system, with religious or Christian schools considered a subset of private education. The early French and British immigrants to Canada shaped the educational system and their influence is still evident in the contemporary educational milieu, including the dual-language system and the adoption of a multicultural model. The Roman Catholic and Church of England influences were particularly strong since, unlike education in America, religion was integrated into public education. Canadian educational history passed through several stages with both public and provincially funded education under the direction of provincial governments. These included church-controlled education (1700s to mid 1800s); a more centralized authority, universal free education, and taxation at the local level (mid 1800s); the creation of provincial departments of education, a more consistent curriculum, better trained teachers, continued local taxation together with provincial grants (late 1800s to 1900); and from 1900 to the present day, the creation of Ministers of Education in each province and provincial governments playing an increasingly significant role in the shaping of policy


Background: Although antiretroviral treatment is expanding in sub-Saharan Africa, the World Health Organization advocates for integration of palliative care with HAAR T because pain, other distressing symptoms and complex psychosocial challenges persist throughout the HIV trajectory. Palliative care improves the outcome for patients with HIV and may complement antiretroviral treatment by increasing adherence through better management of side effects from the treatment, providing patient and family-centred holistic care, and giving end-of-life care when necessary. However, integrating what have become two disciplines is challenging.

Aim: To study the implications for palliative care provision in the context of changing policy to universal access to HAART for people living with advanced AIDS (PLWA) in Uganda. Research questions addressed in the study included:

1. How do patients with advanced AIDS (stage III and IV) and with palliative care needs and their families experience care delivery and receipt over a period of 8 weeks?

2. How is the morphine roll-out programme among advanced AIDS patients operationalized in Uganda?

3. What are the challenges faced by health care workers involved in delivery and implementation of integrated palliative care for patients with advanced AIDS?

4. What are the views of key opinion leaders on development of palliative care policies in Uganda?

Methods: A mixed methods approach was employed. The study comprised of three phases.

In phase one, a consecutive sample of 30 newly enrolled patients advanced AIDS (stage III & IV) and their carers were recruited at Hospice Africa Uganda and followed up for 8 weeks. Qualitative interviews were conducted with patients and their carers at one time point and an outcome measure using African Palliative Care Association-Palliative Outcome Scale (APCA-POS) was used to assess changes in their experiences over 8 weeks, following access to palliative care. In phase two, 10 palliative care staff members participated in individual interviews and one focus group to explore the challenges they faced in delivering services to patients. Phase three explored, by the use of interviews with 7 key stakeholders, the broader context of palliative care policy development and opinions about key priorities for the future.

Findings: Out of 30 patients, 14 were male and 16 were female. They ranged in age from 18-60 years. The majority of patients were bed-ridden and experienced distressing symptoms related to advanced AIDS and AIDS-defining cancers which necessitated timely palliative care intervention. The key findings of the study relate to the range of physical symptoms experienced by patients and the psychosocial challenges of disclosure and stigma encountered by patients and their families against a backdrop of profound poverty. Palliative care staff indicated two categories which broadly covered the challenges of palliative care delivery to PLWA in Uganda: service-linked and provider-linked challenges. Palliative health care staff and key stakeholders identified strategies to respond to palliative care needs for PLWA across four dimensions: a) partnerships or networking together with stakeholders; b) improving palliative care education; c) raising awareness of palliative care among communities and health care workers; d) advocacy and policies which support and strengthen initiation and expansion of palliative care services to PLWA, including the availability of morphine.

Conclusion: The study shows the paramount importance of drawing on patients' and carers' experiences and concerns to shape models of African palliative care. Both palliative care staff and key informants' perspectives highlight successes, barriers and important lessons for palliative care service delivery in Uganda. These lessons have several implications across the dimensions of practice, education, policy and research. Palliative care staff need to work with several key players or stakeholders to address the many psychosocial issues affecting PLWA including support during treatment. The study indicates the need to translate government policies on palliative care into action.


Despite the period after the Great Highland Famine being labelled by some historians as a period of relative prosperity for the crofting and cottar community of north-west Sutherland, poverty and occasional destitution remained the norm. This article examines the structural causes and social consequences of this recurring pattern, principally from the perspective of the owners and managers of the Sutherland estate. The views of those factors 'on the ground' revolved around the organisation of immediate assistance for the people, as well as a fear of a 'dependency' culture being the permanent result of landlord charitable aid. These views clashed with those of the estate commissioner and ducal family, who were concerned with their public image, especially in the wake of unfavourable comment on the clearances. These contrasting views were further complicated by contemporary debates about charity and Poor Law reform which, although often metropolitan in focus, had a direct impact on the Sutherland estate's r...


[Publications received, of anthropological interest, will be listed for reference purposes and to draw them to the attention of the international community. Listings will include the anthropological contents of periodicals and symposia and such descriptions as are necessary to convey the nature of the publication. Some titles in languages other than English will be translated and will appear in brackets. For serials, publication addresses and subscription information will be mentioned in the first listing and thereafter once a year. Listing does not preclude subsequent review by CA* treatment, although this will be rare. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY does not normally publish standard reviews, but the Editor welcomes and will consider publishing correspondence or articles containing evaluative criticisms.-


Abstract:The intelligence and security services of the Republic of China on Taiwan have been transformed by democratization and Taiwanization. After decades as "political police" answering to the Nationalist Party, in the 1980s they began to focus on threats to the state, ending the use of coercion, and accepting external supervision. Like all aspects of political change on Taiwan, however, institutional reform of these agencies, particularly the National Security Bureau, became caught up in the island's unresolved dilemmas of national identity and its precarious relationship with the People's Republic of China. Such conflicts threaten to undermine the effectiveness of these agencies.


A series of private competition law cases in the UK has demonstrated that there are significant procedural issues that need to be resolved before private enforcement can take off in the way that the European Commission and the UK Government are currently encouraging. One of these issues is the period of limitations in a follow-on case where there are multiple infringers some of whom appeal the (infringement) decision of the competition authority and some of whom do not. This is an ongoing problem in the UK in the context of follow-on actions before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) and is currently awaiting resolution by the Supreme Court in Deutsche Bahn. This article shows that this seemingly simple question of period of limitations is in fact loaded with serious implications going well beyond a procedural, timing issue. Although the issue is pertinent to all types of infringements of competition law with multiple infringers, it has particular implications for leniency recipients in cartel cases and therefore, for the overall relationship between private and public enforcement of competition law. These implications demonstrate how far from desirable the current legal situation is. This article demonstrates what the overall preferable solution is regarding the treatment of period of limitations in follow-on cases based on Commission infringement decisions in the presence of multiple infringers from a UK and EU law point of view.


In this paper, a modified Dual Dynamic Flip-Flop by using edge triggering with a novel embedded logic module is introduced. It presents speed efficient method to incorporate complex logic functions into the flip-flop with small delay penalty. The proposed design reduces the power consumption up to 20% compared to the conventional flip-flops. The aim is to reduce the large delay, leakage power and to reduce the power dissipation by reducing the precharge capacitance. Also, the design is compared with other state-of-the-art designs. A high speed ring counter using digital CMOS gate logic components by the DDFF structure is also designed which is well suited for modern high performance circuits. Finally simulation results are tested using TSPICE.


In Nuptial Symbolism in Second Temple Writings, the New Testament and Rabbinic Literature, Andre Villeneuve examines the ancient Jewish/Christian concept of the marriage covenant between God and his people, moving through salvation history from Eden to Sinai, the Temple and the eschaton.


Ars Armitage arrives on the beach with her surfboard and her faithful dog Breakspear, and paddles out to sea to wait for the Big Wave. But, of course, Mrs Armitage can't be satisfied with just an ordinary surfboard and she is soon adding a hilarious variety of gadgets and contraptions. And when the Big Wave finally arrives, Mrs Armitage certainly surfs with style!


Rationale: Patients with sarcoidosis may have an increased risk of infection similar to other immune‐mediated disorders. However, the data are still limited. Objectives: To investigate the risk of hospitalized infection among patients with sarcoidosis, using a population‐based cohort. Methods: Using the Rochester Epidemiology Project record‐linkage system, a cohort of incident cases of sarcoidosis in Olmsted County, Minnesota from 1976 to 2013 was identified. Diagnosis was confirmed by individual medical record review. For each patient with sarcoidosis, a sex‐ and age‐matched comparator without sarcoidosis was randomly selected from the same population. Medical records of cases and comparators were individually reviewed for hospitalized infection that occurred after the index date. The cumulative incidence of hospitalized infection overall and by type of infection, adjusted for the competing risk of death, was estimated. Cox models were used to compare the rate of first hospitalized infection between cases and comparators and to evaluate the association between use of immunosuppressive agents and hospitalized infection among cases. Results: Three hundred and forty‐five cases and 345 comparators were identified. Patients with sarcoidosis had a higher risk of a hospitalized infection with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.00 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.41‐2.84), adjusted for age, sex, and calendar year of index date. Use of oral glucocorticoids was a significant predictor of hospitalized infection with an HR of 3.03 (95% CI, 1.33‐6.90) for oral glucocorticoids not exceeding 10 mg/day and an HR of 4.48 (95% CI, 1.54‐13.03) for oral glucocorticoids greater than 10 mg/day. Conclusions: Patients with sarcoidosis are at increased risk of hospitalized infection. Glucocorticoid therapy is strongly associated with this increased risk.


Computer Science bears approximately the same relationship to computers as Aerodynamics bears to sailboats. It describes how they work but has little impact on their design which is based almost entirely on intuition strengthened and controlled by experience. However, one day, the Wright brothers of the "ultra-computer" will get to their Kitty Hawk and Computer Science will come into its own. In preparation for that day stands the present volume. It is an excellent mathematics textbook written by an experienced teacher.


The Life Style Performance Model provides a framework for knowing and understanding a person's total activity repertoire within the context of his or her human and nonhuman world. The model enables occupational therapy practitioners to gain a holistic perspective, thus ensuring that interventions will have more clearly discernible relevance to individual needs, interests, capacities, and self-other expectations. It presents a way of conceptualizing the interrelatedness of person, environment, activity profile, and quality of life. This article addresses these dynamic relationships in a manner that makes it possible to plan and implement interventions that hold maximum potential for eliciting and sustaining a person's intrinsic motivation to pursue an evolving life-style optimally satisfying to self and significant others.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the value of a novel composite measure for identifying the best hospitals for major procedures.

DATA SOURCE
We used national Medicare data for patients undergoing five high-risk surgical procedures between 2005 and 2008.

STUDY DESIGN
For each procedure, we used empirical Bayes techniques to create a composite measure combining hospital volume, risk-adjusted mortality with the procedure of interest, risk-adjusted mortality with other related procedures, and other variables. Hospitals were ranked based on 2005-2006 data and placed in one of three groups: 1-star (bottom 20 percent), 2-star (middle 60 percent), and 3-star (top 20 percent). We assessed how well these ratings forecasted risk-adjusted mortality rates in the next 2 years (2007-2008), compared to other measures.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
For all five procedures, the composite measures based on 2005-2006 data performed well in predicting future hospital performance. Compared to 1-star hospitals, risk-adjusted mortality was much lower at 3-star hospitals for esophagectomy (6.7 versus 14.4 percent), pancreatectomy (4.7 versus 9.2 percent), coronary artery bypass surgery (2.6 versus 5.0 percent), aortic valve replacement (4.5 versus 8.5 percent), and percutaneous coronary interventions (2.4 versus 4.1 percent). Compared to individual surgical quality measures, the composite measures were better at forecasting future risk-adjusted mortality. These measures also outperformed the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare ratings.

CONCLUSION
Composite measures of surgical quality are very effective at predicting hospital mortality rates with major procedures. Such measures would be more informative than existing quality indicators in helping patients and payers identify high-quality hospitals with specific procedures.


Medical research is not only a necessary part in the quest to improve the quality of life for people by finding new diagnostic procedures and treatment; it is also a multi billion rand endeavour. Africa itself poses a huge challenge in providing facilities to respond to the global network engaged in medical research. South Africa has responded in part to this need, and is a pioneer in medical research for the continent. In essence, the continent not only provides great challenges, but also great opportunities for research. Many of its facilities engage in collaborative research with global institutions, but these established ties do not adequately fulfil the capacity required. In addition to this, the research environment is constantly evolving. Not only is the process constantly changing, but also the environments in which the research is conducted and the attitude as to how research should be conducted. To stay as current in the field of medical research, new institutions need to respond to the technical, practical and philosophical changes in the field. The National Health Laboratory Services, a South African chapter 21 institution involved in research and diagnosis, is the proposed client for the cancer research institute to be designed. It has established research credentials in cancer; pioneering the national cancer register; and has established links to other national organisations, such as the Medical Research Council of South Africa.


Abstract. High loadings of anthropogenic carbonaceous aerosols in Chinese air influence the air quality for over one billion people and impact the regional climate. A large fraction (17–80%) of this aerosol carbon is water-soluble, promoting cloud formation and thus climate cooling. Recent findings, however, suggest that water-soluble carbonaceous aerosols also absorb sunlight, bringing additional direct and indirect climate warming effects, yet the extent and nature of light absorption by this water-soluble "brown carbon" and its relation to sources is poorly understood. Here, we combine source estimates constrained by dual carbon isotopes with light-absorption measurements of water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) for a March 2011 campaign at the Korea Climate Observatory at Gosan (KCOG), a receptor station in SE Yellow Sea for the outflow from northern China. The mass absorption cross section at 365 nm (MAC365) of WSOC for air masses from N. China were in general higher (0.8–1.1 m2 g−1), than from other source regions (0.3–0.8 m2 g−1). However, this effect corresponds to only 2–10% of the radiative forcing caused by light absorption by elemental carbon. Radiocarbon constraints show that the WSOC in Chinese outflow had significantly higher fraction fossil sources (30–50%) compared to previous findings in S. Asia, N. America and Europe. Stable carbon (δ13C) measurements were consistent with aging during long-range air mass transport for this large fraction of carbonaceous aerosols.


The idea behind the MUBEM & SAC: STEM based science and nature camp was a transformation of scientific knowledge into artifacts using the engineering design process and scientific inquiry. The goals of the camp were developing an integrative science perspective in accordance with the nature of STEM education, supporting career choices of participants for STEM fields, experiencing outdoor learning environments and researches with real scientists, internalizing engineering design process by creating artifacts, and comprehending interaction with nature and science. The participants were sixth and seventh grades gifted students (Male: 14 and Female: 15). STEM attitude scale, researcher notes, artifact, camp, and activity evaluation forms were used as data collection tools. The several disciplines such as astronomy, archeology, music, and mathematics involved the camp. The participants found the opportunity to use telescopes, experience an extensive archaeological excavation, observe the near-nano size object with electron microscopes, construct a bridge like an engineer, and design artifacts like rockets and holograms during the camp. According to results, the science and nature camp supported participants' STEM attitudes and participants' views on the science and nature camp were positive. In addition, participants' artifacts were also qualified as STEM artifacts.


Background—Transgenic and gene-targeted models have focused on the mouse. Fundamental differences between the mouse and human exist in Ca2+ handling during contraction/relaxation and in alterations in Ca2+ flux during heart failure, with the rabbit more accurately reflecting the human system. Methods and Results—Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) mutations can cause familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. An inhibitory domain mutation, arginine146→glycine (cTnI146Gly), was modeled with the use of transgenic expression in the rabbit ventricle. cTnI146Gly levels >40% of total cTnI were perinatally lethal, whereas replacement levels of 15% to 25% were well tolerated. cTnI146Gly expression led to a leftward shift in the force-pCa2+ curves with cardiomyocyte disarray, fibrosis, and altered connexin43 organization. In isolated cTnI146Gly myocytes, twitch relaxation amplitudes were smaller than in normal cells, but [Ca]i transients and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ load were not different. Detrended fluctuation analysis of the QTmax intervals was used to evaluate the cardiac repolarization phase and showed a significantly higher scaling exponent in the transgenic animals. Conclusions—Expression of modest amounts of cTnI146Gly led to subtle defects without severely affecting cardiac function. Aberrant connexin organization, subtle morphological deficits, and an altered fractal pattern of the repolarization phase of transgenic rabbits, in the absence of entropy or other ECG abnormalities, may indicate an early developing pathology before the onset of more obvious repolarization abnormalities or major alterations in cardiac mechanics.


Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a noninvasive, self-administered technique to relieve pain. During TENS, pulsed electrical currents are administered across the intact surface of the skin to generate strong nonpainful TENS sensations or mild muscle twitching at the site of pain. TENS inhibits onward transmission of nociceptive (pain-related) information in the central nervous system and appears to be beneficial for acute and chronic pain. Large meta-analyses suggest positive outcomes for the relief of musculoskeletal and post-operative pain, although many systematic reviews are inconclusive. Evidence suggests that some investigators have used small study sample sizes and TENS techniques that are unlikely to be effective based on the findings of studies that have evaluated optimal TENS settings using healthy volunteers. The national institute of health and clinical excellence (UK) recommend TENS for rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and musculoskeletal pain associated with multiple sclerosis but not for nonspecific low back pain and labour pain. TENS is inexpensive, safe and popular with patients and for this reason practitioners continue to offer patients TENS until better quality evidence emerges.

Key Concepts:

Pain is a major healthcare problem with the prevalence of chronic pain estimated to be greater than 20% in many European countries.

TENS is an inexpensive, noninvasive, self-administered technique that delivers pulsed electrical currents across the intact surface of the skin to relieve pain.

Conventional TENS is administered using low intensity, high frequency currents to generate a strong nonpainful TENS paraesthesia within the site of pain, and acupuncture-like TENS is administered using high intensity, low frequency currents to generate a strong nonpainful pulsating TENS sensation often accompanied by muscle twitching.

Conventional TENS is used in the first instance, and acupuncture-like TENS, which is a form of hyperstimulation, is used for patients who do not respond to conventional TENS.

There is strong neurophysiological evidence that TENS synaptically inhibits onward transmission of nociceptive (pain-related) impulses in the central nervous system.

Clinical experience suggests that TENS is beneficial for acute and chronic pains that are nociceptive, neuropathic or musculoskeletal in origin.

There are many randomised controlled clinical trials on TENS, but most are methodologically weak with small sample sizes and underdosing of TENS.

The majority of systematic reviews on TENS are inconclusive with the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence in the UK recommending that TENS is not cost effective for the management of nonspecific low back pain and established labour pain.

There are some good quality systematic reviews on TENS that suggest that TENS is effective for musculoskeletal pain and post-operative pain with the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence in the UK recommending that TENS is cost effective for the management of rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and musculoskeletal pain associated with multiple sclerosis.

Keywords:

transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS);
electric stimulation therapy;
acupuncture;
gate control theory of pain;
chronic pain;
randomised controlled clinical trial;
meta-analysis


The study describes the presence of opportunities for learners with developmental disabilities that pertain to the different components of selfdetermination, and the trends supporting the increase in opportunities of these learners. It also explored the views that parents hold about the importance of independence in the seven areas of life (personal care, community involvement, recreational and leisure activities, independent living, supported employment, marriage and family, and managing finances). The results of the study revealed that a positive relationship exists between parents' and teachers' perception of learners' level of ability and the opportunities that are provided for these learners to practice skills that lead to self-determination. Parents who have a positive and optimistic view of their children's capacity to be independent tend to encourage engagement in learning through opportunities to practice skills on a daily basis. It is thus recommended that learners with developmental disabilities be given more opportunities to engage in life experiences that foster the development of selfdetermination. Teachers are also encouraged to provide opportunities that will challenge their students optimally and help develop essential skills. Finally, parents should also complement the school initiatives by increasing the emphasis on the development of self-determination skills in the home. Key words: self-determination, developmental disabilities


London and Portland: Frank Cass, 2002. 180 pp. $24.50. Certainly some of the slipperiest slopes facing scholars of the Middle East are the roles played by ethnicity and religion in the region's modern history and politics. Raphael Israeli (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) has produced a work detailing what he portrays as Muslim-Christian discord among the Palestinian citizens of Nazareth, Israel's largest Arab city. Basing himself partly on his service on a government commission investigating the friction in Nazareth, Israeli portrays the town's problems as an example of Muslims edging out the town's Christians and, as the title suggests, of the "Holy Land" in general. Unfortunately, his analysis is characterized by hyperbole, strong personal opinions, and an imprecise reading of local and regional trends affecting the Palestinian community in Israel. Israeli approaches his topic in well-organized fashion. He begins with an examination of Nazareth's history, especially the modern era, and takes care to detail the traditionally important Christian presence in the town. Israeli also notes how the Christian population grew and prospered under the British mandate for Palestine (1920-48) and analyzes the city's lively political scene under Israeli rule. This includes the strength of the communists from the 1950s to the 80s, the recent rise of Islamic revivalism, and the tense drama he calls the Shihab al-Din controversy. This involved local Islamists seizing and occupying land directly in front of the town's largest church, claiming it as Islamic endowment land (waqf) associated with the tomb of the medieval Islamic warrior Shihab al-Din, and demanding the right to build a huge mosque there. The brouhaha pitted Islamists on the city council against the communist mayor, and eventually drew in the Israeli government, which Israeli believes abdicated its responsibility to stop the illegal Muslim encroachment. He argues that the national government thus unwittingly contributed to the marginalization of the town's Christian mayor and the Christian population of Israel more generally, and to the rise of a forceful Islamic movement. Israeli believes that the episode serves as a warning not just to Israel's Christians but the Israeli body politic in general. The problem with this book is that politics in Nazareth are much more complicated than Israeli portrays. His analysis of the situation primarily on the basis of communal conflict is overly simplistic. It is a mistake to extrapolate from the Shihab al-Din controversy a wider thesis that communal conflict is the real core issue, and that Muslims are "displacing" Christians in Nazareth and Israel. Israeli reads too much into the confessional bases of politics in Nazareth, such as in his portrayal of the "Christian-ness" of Rakah, the Arab offshoot of the Israeli Community Party. It is true that a disproportionately large number of "Christians" (in the cultural sense, not the level of personal belief) have been found in Rakah's leadership. …


Combining human welder (with intelligence and versatility) and automated welding systems (with precision and consistency) can lead to intelligent welding systems. This paper aims to present a data-driven approach to model human welder intelligence and use the resultant model to control automated gas tungsten arc welding process. To this end, an innovative machine-human cooperative virtualized welding platform is teleoperated to conduct training experiments. The welding current is randomly changed to generate fluctuating weld pool surface and the human welder tries to adjust his arm movement (welding speed) based on his observation on the real-time weld pool feedback/image superimposed with an auxiliary visual signal which instructs the welder to increase/reduce the speed. Linear model is first identified from the experimental data to correlate welder's adjustment on the welding speed to the 3-D weld pool surface and a global adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model is then proposed to improve the model accuracy. To better distill the detailed behavior of the human welder, K -means clustering is performed on the input space such that a local ANFIS model is identified. To further improve the accuracy, an iterative procedure has been performed. Compared to the linear, global and local ANFIS model, the iterative local ANFIS model provides better modeling performance and reveals more detailed intelligence human welders possess. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model as an effective intelligent controller, automated control experiments have been conducted. Experimental results verified that the controller is robust under different welding currents and welding speed disturbance.


ABSTRACT This work aims at characterizing the interplay between human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and the antiapoptotic cellular protein Bcl-2 responsible for a persistent infection in lymphoblastoid T (J.Jhan) or monocytic (U937) cells. We report that the kinetics of Bcl-2 protein level during the establishment of a chronic infection is biphasic, characterized by a transient decrease followed by restoration to the initial level. The extent and duration of this transient decrease were inversely correlated with the basal level of Bcl-2 as shown by kinetics of Bcl-2 levels in J.Jhan or U937 clones exhibiting different levels of Bcl-2. Using these clones, we also showed that Bcl-2 downregulates HIV-1 replication. Therefore, the cells overexpressing Bcl-2 are characterized by a low viral burden which, in turn, has little effect on the level of this protein. The observed bipasic kinetics is the result of a dual regulation of Bcl-2 induced by HIV-1 infection itself: an upregulation at the transcriptional level of the bcl-2 gene concomitant with a downregulation at the protein level. Convergent data suggest that this downregulation is caused by the oxidative stress induced by the infection itself as shown by the associated modulations of glutathione and thioredoxin levels and by the prevention of these dysregulations byN-acetylcysteine. Altogether, these data indicate that infection first results in a decrease of Bcl-2, permitting an initial boost of replication. Then, as the synthesis at the transcriptional level proceeds, the replication is negatively controlled by Bcl-2 to reach a balance characterized by low virus production and a level of Bcl-2 compatible with cell survival. We suggest that the basal level of Bcl-2, together with infection-inducible transcription factors able to activate bcl-2 gene transcription, is a critical cellular determinant in the tendency toward an acute or a persistent infection.


Thought is considered a psychological concept associated with an individual's mental existence. It is apparent that a great deal of research has been focused on thought as an area of study. however, there is no psychological theory of thought which provides an explanation for its nature and structural organization. So far, researchers have mainly looked at the ways this concept is expressed, rather than investigating what it actually is. In this study, however, based on studies of the functions of the psyche, mental processes, and the neurophysiological bases of mental activity, thought is identified as a need-emotionintentional substance existing in the human being's inner world. In keeping with this understanding of thought, the hypothesis that thought generation is caused by desire and experience (feeling and emotion) is put forward. An individual's thought is linked to his behavior or motivation for activity, and is followed by an emotional experience. The process of thought generation is regarded through the mechanism of behavioral motivation. The primary purpose of this mechanism is to define the qualities of the external objects that serve for need satisfaction and functionality in individuals. The ability to generate thoughts is a feature of thinking related to an individual's mental ability or frame of mind. From this standpoint, a person's mentality is considered to be the capacity of the individual to generate thoughts and work through thoughts. It is shown that the ability to generate thoughts and establish relationships within a stream of consciousness is characteristic of human intelligence. Some basic propositions toward a development of a psychological theory of thought are introduced.


The design allows for the low-stress mounting of fragile objects, like thin walled glass, by using particular ways of compensating, isolating, or releasing the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) differences between the mounted object and the mount itself. This mount profile is lower than true full kinematic mounting. Also, this approach enables accurate positioning of the component for electrical and optical interfaces. It avoids the higher and unpredictable stress issues that often result from potting the object. The mount has been built and tested to space-flight specifications, and has been used for fiber-optic, optical, and electrical interfaces for a spaceflight mission. This mount design is often metal and is slightly larger than the object to be mounted. The objects are optical or optical/electrical, and optical and/or electrical interfaces are required from the top and bottom. This requires the mount to be open at both ends, and for the object s position to be controlled. Thin inside inserts at the top and bottom contact the housing at defined lips, or edges, and hold the fragile object in the mount. The inserts can be customized to mimic the outer surface of the object, which further reduces stress. The inserts have the opposite CTE of the housing material, partially compensating for the CTE difference that causes thermal stress. A spring washer is inserted at one end to compensate for more CTE difference and to hold the object against the location edge of the mount for any optical position requirements. The spring also ensures that any fiber-optic or optic interface, which often requires some pressure to ensure a good interface, does not overstress the fragile object. The insert thickness, material, and spring washer size can be traded against each other to optimize the mount and stresses for various thermal and vibration load ranges and other mounting requirements. The alternate design uses two separate, unique features to reduce stress and hold the object. A release agent is applied to the inside surface of the mount just before the binding potting material is injected in the mount. This prevents the potting material from bonding to the mount, and thus prevents stress from being applied, at very low temperatures, to the fragile object being mounted. The potting material mixing and curing is temperature- and humidity-controlled. The mount has radial grooves cut in it that the potting material fills, thus controlling the vertical position of the mounted object. The design can easily be used for long and thin objects, short and wide objects, and any shape in between. The design s advantages are amplified for long and thin fragile objects. The general testing range was 45 to +45 C, but multiple mounts were successfully tested down to 60 and up to 50 C and the design can be adjusted for larger ranges.


CENTAUR aims to provide an innovative, cost effective, local autonomous data driven in-sewer flow control system whose operation will reduce urban flood risk. The system comprises of a specially designed flow control device and a wireless local water level monitoring and control system. A data driven algorithm has been developed that is able to analyse the water level data and issue instructions to the flow control device to reduce flood risk at the downstream flooding location. This Fuzzy Logic control algorithm has been linked to a SWMM model to allow virtual testing to take place and provide the basis for a Genetic Algorithm to optimise the Fuzzy Logic membership functions. Methods for generating the initial starting membership functions for input to the Genetic Algorithm have also been investigated. Results confirm that the best Genetic Algorithm optimised Fuzzy Logic controllers reduce flood volume by up to 25% depending on the timestep at which the algorithm is run and the membership function initialisation method.


A novel multi-function tribological probe microscope (TPM) has been developed for characterizing surface properties at the micro and nanometre level. The TPM provides four function measurements in a single scan arrangement: surface topography, friction, Young's modulus and hardness of a surface. The measurement is based on point-by-point scanning so that the four measured functions can be correlated in space and in time. It targets an area that is of growing importance to a wide range of technologies where function-orientated surfaces/coatings are in demand. The essential part of the TPM is a force-controlled scanning probe, which has two capacitive sensors. One sensor measures the surface topography and the deformation under a required loading force, and the other measures the frictional force between the probe tip and the surface being scanned. The contact force at the tip is controlled by a magnet/coil force actuator, which applies a constant force in a range of 0.01–30 mN. The topography measurement range is 15 µm with a resolution of 0.1 nm. The scanning area of 100 × 100 µm2 is closed loop controlled with an accuracy of 1 nm. Details of the design, testing and calibration of the TPM are presented, as well as applications of the TPM in mapping surface properties of glass, conductive polymer and some engineered surfaces.


The paper is devoted to the development of general methodological approaches to evaluate and identify the possibility for creating IT clusters in Kazakhstan regions. The present study considers the formation of IT clusters as growth poles. These poles are based on the establishing the groups of interconnected companies and institutions in IT industry linked by commonalities. The analysis of previous literature has shown that this approach is a novel approach to IT clusters formation. The study employs methods, which focus on analysing and identifying IT clusters in the interests of innovative development and the possibility of spreading information technology in Kazakhstan regions. We propose the methodological tools for presenting a standard form to assess innovative potential and industry specialization. This assessment allows to objectively and realistically define a potentially important region for creating IT cluster. The empirical analysis has identified certain trends in possibilities to create IT clusters in the cities of Almaty and Astana. Therefore, these regions play the role of specialized platforms for a new generation. This platform is to provide a multiplier effect on the development of the agglomeration and located in close territories or periphery. The results of this research can be used to elaborate important strategic documents in the field of the development of the IT industry, digital technology, knowledge-based and high-tech sectors in Kazakhstan on the way to Industry 4.0.


This paper highlights the key results from the Renewable Electricity (RE) Futures Study. It is a detailed consideration of renewable electricity in the United States. The paper focuses on technical issues related to the operability of the U.S. electricity grid and provides initial answers to important questions about the integration of high penetrations of renewable electricity technologies from a national perspective. The results indicate that the future U.S. electricity system that is largely powered by renewable sources is possible and the further work is warranted to investigate this clean generation pathway. The central conclusion of the analysis is that renewable electricity generation from technologies that are commercially available today, in combination with a more flexible electric system, is more than adequate to supply 80% of the total U.S. electricity generation in 2050 while meeting electricity demand on an hourly basis in every region of the United States.


When polarized light is reflected from a film-covered surface, the variations in Δ and Ψ with the film thickness d are given by the exact equation of ellipsometry. Δ is the change in the difference between the phases of the parallel (p) and the perpendicular (s) components of the polarized light on reflection, and Ψ is the arc tangent of the factor by which the amplitude ratio of the p and s components changes on reflection. A first-order calculation of the exact equation is presented from which the two Archer equations for Ψ and Ψ (which are more accurate than those derived by Drude), relating their variations with the film thickness d, have been derived. Until now, both of these equations have been considered to be valid only in the thin-film region by most of the authors except Burge and Bennett who questioned the usefulness of the linear approximation for Ψ. It is shown that the Archer equation for Ψ is not valid in the thin-film region and a new generalized equation for Ψ is derived which is valid not only in the thin-film region (∼100 A) but also in certain ranges of the thick-film region. Further, a generalized approximate equation for Δ has also been derived which holds in the thin-film as well as in certain ranges of the thick-film regions. Experimental data to check the validity of the generalized approximate equation for Δ in the thick-film region are presented.


Abstract A time-series analysis was performed on 3 years of daily groundwater level data from 34 monitoring wells in the bedrock aquifer of Seoul to understand the characteristics of groundwater recharge in an urban setting and thereby provide a policy background for sustainable groundwater management. The cross-correlation function was used to estimate the lag time of groundwater level change after a rainfall event. Based on the lag time, monitored wells are classified into two groups. The delay was very short (1–7 days) in Group I wells (n = 12), whereas Group II wells (n = 22) showed a longer delay (17–58 days). Such variable response was considered to reflect differences in the transmission of hydraulic pressure induced by recharging rainwater through the unsaturated zone. The estimated delay time showed significant correlation with the elevation, depth to groundwater level, and thickness of soil (or alluvium). The shorter delay Group I wells generally had shallower groundwater levels and were preferentially located toward mountainous areas. Group I wells also tended to be located in areas with thinner soil (or alluvium) cover. However, ground cover characteristics (e.g. pavement) around wells had no correlation with the delay time. The characteristics of groundwater recharge in this urban setting therefore appear to be controlled by natural conditions such as topography and soil thickness, rather than by land use. The study suggests that natural conditions should be more carefully considered in the designation of Groundwater Preservation Areas.


This thesis looks at motivational forces between work, development and responsibility. Especially the factors self-actualization and altruism. A narrative literature review is combined with a survey study to identify related findings and trends in literature and how these match the contemporary society and people's beliefs.
It is found that the economic view of man as being uttermost selfish, is reflected in peoples' views of work-motivation, and even in people's view of 'the will to help'. However, this view of man cannot be motivated by recent psychological findings, and neither is it as visible when asking survey-participants more self-reflecting questions.
The conclusion is that altruism is, for some reason, hidden away, but is an intrinsic part of human motivation. It is also hypothesized that a society which guarantees every citizen
a basic salary, or other types of basic rights, with no counter performance required in return, can use higher motivational needs such as self-actualization and altruism to motivate a more prosocial and more creative work-force.


Since the World Trade Centre terror attacks of 2001 the intelligence domain has grown rapidly. In keeping with this growth has been a significant increase of scholarly interest in the domain. The intelligence literature is dominated by research into the failures of the discipline, organisational structure and the politics of intelligence. The intelligence analyst is a critical component of the intelligence domain yet is remarkably absent from the intelligence literature. This research seeks to address that imbalance by examining the lived experience of the analyst operating in the law enforcement intelligence domain. To this end, interpretive phenomenology was employed to understand the meanings attributed to analysts' subjective experiences in order to identify enablers and barriers that impact their crucial function in law enforcement. A purposive sample of eight analysts participated in in‐depth, semi structured interviews. Transcripts were subjected in interpretive phenomenological analysis, which revealed two superordinate themes: Self and Work/Home Divide. These referred to internal and external factors that impacted upon participants' functioning, some of which may have a negative impact on psychological wellbeing while others are relevant to efficient functioning within the workplace. Two subthemes being communication and internal conflict are discussed in depth.


The RAPET reaction at 700 degrees C, of different alkoxides (Ti, V, and Si) led to three different nanocomposites. Carbon is the element common to all three structures. Carbon was found as the core in the decomposition of TEOS, as the shell in the decomposition of VO(OEt)3 and embedded in, or mixed completely with, TiO2 in the decomposition of Ti(OiPr)4. This novel method using only metallic alkoxide precursor, in the absence of catalyst, leads in a one-step process to core-shell structures.


The command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) entities and activities supporting carrier strike group (CSG) operations constitute a system of systems (SoS), and the US Navy would benefit from an enhanced, holistic, and systemic understanding of the evaluation of such SoSs. Emerging SoS engineering (SoSE) principles and methods can provide increased understanding and may enhance performance evaluations. The paper proposes SoSE analysis of CSG C4ISR subsystems and their certification. Following an introduction, the paper is organised in sections where: Section 2, the current state of CSG C4ISR system assessments; Section 3, readiness issues for CSGs; Section 4, implication of systems theory for CSG evaluations; Section 5, research recommendations; the authors believe this will advance the current state of evaluation of CSG C4ISR systems. The paper concludes with an explication of the central premise that the Navy can substantially enhance readiness effectiveness by adopting a holistic, SoSE-based approach to CSG C4ISR system evaluation.