Food and feeding ecology of fish may be a crucial characteristic of the life-history strategy of species to know the foremost necessary functional role of the fish inside they are living ecosystems food and feeding habitat is very necessary to derived energy is consumed in many vital role, they assist us to grow, become stronger, provide us energy, survival and reproduction for all the metabolic activities, cell repair, muscular contractions secretary functions, impulse physical event and build up a stronger immune system and to repair previous harmed cells and also the upkeep of correct health. In this study were investigate the feeding habits of Arius maculatus and analysis of the stomach contents there penetrating any other foreign particle. The various food items recorded from the stomach of A. maculatus during the study period. In general, the food items found in the examined stomachs were grouped into eight categories. The cat fish of A. maculatus stomach contents as identified. The feed compositions in the following order; Miscellaneous< Crustacean < Fish < Polychaetes < Sand grains < Digested matter < Zooplankton < Phytoplankton were recorded as respectively.


With the rapidly growing pandemic of COVID-19 caused by the new and challenging to treat zoonotic SARS-CoV2 coronavirus, there is an urgent need for new therapies and prevention strategies that can help curtail disease spread and reduce mortality. Inhibition of viral entry and thereby spread constitute plausible therapeutic avenues. Similar to other respiratory pathogens, SARS-CoV2 is transmitted through respiratory droplets, with potential for aerosol and contact spread. It uses receptor-mediated entry into the human host via angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2) that is expressed in lung tissue, as well as oral and nasal mucosa, kidney, testes, and the gastrointestinal tract. Modulation of ACE2 levels in these gateway tissues may prove a plausible strategy for decreasing disease susceptibility. Cannabis sativa, especially one high in the anti-inflammatory cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD), has been proposed to modulate gene expression and inflammation and harbour anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. Working under the Health Canada research license, we have developed over 800 new Cannabis sativa lines and extracts and hypothesized that high-CBD C. sativa extracts may be used to modulate ACE2 expression in COVID-19 target tissues. Screening C. sativa extracts using artificial human 3D models of oral, airway, and intestinal tissues, we identified 13 high CBD C. sativa extracts that modulate ACE2 gene expression and ACE2 protein levels. Our initial data suggest that some C. sativa extract down-regulate serine protease TMPRSS2, another critical protein required for SARS-CoV2 entry into host cells. While our most effective extracts require further large-scale validation, our study is crucial for the future analysis of the effects of medical cannabis on COVID-19. The extracts of our most successful and novel high CBD C. sativa lines, pending further investigation, may become a useful and safe addition to the treatment of COVID-19 as an adjunct therapy. They can be used to develop easy-to-use preventative treatments in the form of mouthwash and throat gargle products for both clinical and at-home use. Such products ought to be tested for their potential to decrease viral entry via the oral mucosa. Given the current dire and rapidly evolving epidemiological situation, every possible therapeutic opportunity and avenue must be considered.


Abstract Since the Agricultural Act of 2014, the federal crop insurance program (FCIP) has been the cornerstone agricultural policy in the United States, and is the largest such program globally, with about $100 billion in coverage annually. Given its scale and scope, the FCIP has the potential to have pervasive impacts on incentives and policy functioning if not designed and priced properly. Surprisingly, soil data are not considered by the government when establishing insurance guarantees or rates. Using soil data that could easily and feasibly be scaled nationally, we find that the pricing differentials caused by the government's failure to handle soil information leads to large errors in rating.


Gender violence is a serious problem that also affects the adolescent population (Gonzalez & Santana, 2001). The victims of such violence in adolescence, should they seek help, rely primarily on their peers and rarely report it to adults (Weisz et al., 2007). The responses or reactions of avoidance, minimization or protection that their peers may have contribute to the victim maintaining or breaking the "unhealthy" relationship. An experimental study was designed to examine the reactions of adolescents in the event that they are witness to an episode of violence (verbal and physical aggression) towards a friend. The main objective was to analyze the differences in their reactions according to sex of the witness, familiarity with the perpetrator (stranger vs. a friend) and the relationship between aggressor and victim (a date, romantic partner.) An exploratory analysis of the influence of the witnesses" sexist beliefs (hostile and benevolent) on these reactions was also performed. Thus, more negative reactions were found (greater passivity and less empathy) among men in the case where the victim maintained a relationship with the offender than in the case of a date, especially if the perpetrator was a stranger. Also, in the girls more avoidance responses were found when the violent episode occurred between members of a couple on a date. Finally, the practical implications of the findings are discussed, highlighting the need to include guidelines in programs against gender violence among adolescents on how to behave if in relation to the victim when they are witnesses of gender violence.


Partisanship permits groups of like-minded people who share similar ideas to organize
themselves efficiently in politics. It's an accepted and acceptable part of parliamentary
democracy. But when hyper-partisanship takes hold in politics it can be detrimental to the
way parliamentarians serve their constituents and severely diminish how they see their
representatives. In this article, the author reflects on his experiences in Alberta's Assembly
and suggests three ways he, his colleagues, and other parliamentarians across the country
can reverse the trend towards hyper-partisanship. First, he suggests parliamentarians treat
our political adversaries as colleagues, and seek opportunities to get to know them away from
the legislature. Second, he urges parliamentarians to seek options for dealing with legislation
in a less partisan, more collaborative environment in committee. Finally, he recommends
making a conscious effort to elevate the level of debate, discussion, and decorum in each of
our respective Legislatures. This article was originally presented to the 39th Commonwealth
Parliamentary Association Canadian Regional Seminar in Charlottetown, on October 11, 2017.


Uniaxial tension tests of small versus large round specimens and small versus large flat specimens from a 3XXX series aluminium alloy were carried out to identify the mechanical properties of the material. Different measurement techniques such as laser micrometer, edge tracing and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) were applied in the tests. In addition, extensometers were used to validate the results from the edge-trace and DIC approaches. The results from the tension tests were processed and the true stress-strain curves were obtained. For the round specimens, the data were measured all the way to fracture while for the flat specimens the measured data were only evaluated until diffuse necking. The results showed good agreement within each specimen geometry and measurement technique. A deviation between the small round specimen and the three other specimen geometries was observed in the comparison of the round and flat specimens. Based on the experimental results the material constants in the modified JohnsonCook (MJC) constitutive relation were calibrated. The measured data from the flat tension tests had to be extrapolated from diffuse necking. The method of extrapolation was discussed and, depending on the hardening laws, the extrapolation gave different material behaviour at large plastic strains. This showed that the method of extrapolation is only an approximation that could lead to an incorrect material behaviour in complex nonlinear structural problems. Fracture was not evaluated in this thesis, hence ABAQUS/Standard was used in the numerical work. Simulations of the tension tests based on the direct calibration were performed and the results corresponded with the experimental results, hence the direct calibration predicted the material behaviour well in this case. The material parameters in the MJC constitutive relation were optimized using inverse modelling in LS-OPT. Compared with the experimental results, the optimization gave a very good fit for the flat specimens, while it resulted in a lower stress level at large plastic strains for the round specimens. Finally, a numerical case study was performed to investigate that the material properties obtained from the round and flat tension tests gave the same result in a nonlinear finite element simulation. The study showed that the material data from the round and flat specimens resulted in approximately the same material behaviour in a complex nonlinear problem with large plastic strains in this case. This demonstrated that the round and flat tensile specimens were both valid to identify mechanical properties of materials.


A fully differential R-MOSFET-C fourth-order Bessel active lowpass filter employing passive resistors and current-steering MOS transistors as a variable resistor is proposed. The implementation relies on the tunability of the current-steering MOS transistors operating in triode region which counteract the concert deviation of resistance in integrated circuit manufacturing technology in order that the group delay of the Bessel active filter can be realised accurately. A 0.75 /spl mu/s group delay 520 kHz fourth-order Bessel lowpass filter based on a passive doubly terminated RLC prototype was designed and fabricated using 3.3 V power supply and 0.5 /spl mu/m CMOS technology. Chip test results demonstrate better than 65 dB THD with a 100-kHz, 1.65-Vpp input signal, frequency tuning range of more than ten decades from 0.6 kHz to 550 kHz, chip area of 0.32 mm/sup 2/ and power consumption of 13.3 mW.


The lecture focuses on how the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment relates to tort law. It was the Annual Constitution Day Lecture given at the University of Maine School of Law on September 17, 2010. The equal protection clause requires that "all persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike." Royster Guano v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415 (1920). This formal equality requirement applies to tort law as to other areas of law. Yet it is difficult in torts to discern whether the requirement has been violated, because of the decentralized and individualized method of adjudication used to resolve tort claims. Tort law since the end of slavery has not had clear statutory exclusions based on race, unlike areas such as education or transportation. Individual court decisions, however, can constitute state action that violates the equal protection clause, as seen in cases such as Palmore v. Sidoti, 466 U.S. 429 (1984), in the family law arena. Clear examples from the history of tort law show that some tort decisions devalued African-Americans' tort claims and thus violated the equal protection clause, as discussed in Part II. Equal protection continues to be relevant to tort law. Race-based and gender-based tables are still used in court to predict a plaintiff's earnings or life expectancy for determining tort damages. Such admission is arguably state action and can not be justified by any compelling state interest, Part III explains. The admission of these tables in court is a violation of plaintiffs' equal protection rights.


Introduction: Liver steatosis (fatty liver) is frequently found during the conditions such as diabetes and obesity. The current experimental study was executed the effect of adropin against high fat diet (HFD)-induced obese diabetic Wistar rats via nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway. Materials and Methods: Wistar rats were randomly divided into six groups and divided as follows: normal, HFD control, HFD + adropin (2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg), and HFD + Glibenclamide (2.5 mg/kg), respectively. Lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, hepatic parameters, antioxidant, and proinflammatory cytokines were estimated at the end of the experimental study. Nrf2 transcription and nuclear level were also estimated. In vitro adropin diminished the accumulation of lipid droplets in dose-dependent manner and no effect was observed on the lipolysis. Type II diabetic rats fed with HFD exhibited a marked reduction in hepatic extraction faction and hepatic steatosis after the adropin and glibenclamide treatment. Results: Adropin significantly (P < 0.001) altered the hepatic parameter such as alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase; antioxidant parameters such as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, 8-OhdG, superoxide dismutase, glutathione (GSH) peroxidase, catalase, GSH, GSH reductase, GSH S-transferase; proinflammatory cytokines, namely tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, respectively. In addition, adropin significantly reduced the nuclear Nrf2 activity at dose-dependent manner. Conclusion: Adropin improved insulin sensitivity, reduced lipogenesis in the adipocytes and also decrease the inflammation through downregulated cytokines (Nrf2 pathway).


The pre-trained language model (PrLM) demonstrates domination in downstream natural language processing tasks, in which multilingual PrLM takes advantage of language universality to alleviate the issue of limited resources for low-resource languages. Despite its successes, the performance of multilingual PrLM is still unsatisfactory, when multilingual PrLMs only focus on plain text and ignore obvious universal linguistic structure clues. Existing PrLMs have shown that monolingual linguistic structure knowledge may bring about better performance. Thus we pro-pose a novel multilingual PrLM that supports both explicit universal dependency parsing and implicit language modeling. Syntax in terms of universal dependency parse serves as not only pre-training objective but also learned representation in our model, which brings unprecedented PrLM interpretability and convenience in downstream task use. Our model outperforms two popular multilingual PrLM, multilingual-BERT and XLM-R, on cross-lingual natural language understanding (NLU) benchmarks and linguistic structure parsing datasets, demonstrating the effectiveness and stronger cross-lingual modeling capabilities of our approach.


The main purpose of the study is to assess building community capacity for tourism
development. A lack of community capacity has been identified as a barrier to tourism
development in third world countries. Hence, the study provides a focused academic
analysis of this issue within tourism development in Shiraz. The data for this study was
collected from community leaders and local residents. Eight operational dimensions in
three levels of (individual, organizational and community) were used to measure the
level of community capacity building for tourism development. Information for this
study was derived from questionnaires and focus group discussions. Descriptive
statistics, correlations, t-test, one-way Anova, and multiple regression analysis were also
performed on the complete data set. Descriptive Statistics were used to determine the
level of community capacity building as well as its barriers for tourism development.
The findings show that, generally, community capacity building in the study area is low.
However, the community capacity building in the old district is higher than the new district of Shiraz. The findings also show sense of community and individual level are
the highest in comparison with other dimensions and levels. These finding also have
been supported by focus group discussion. T-test results also confirmed higher level of
community capacity building for the old district. One-way anova result also showed that
the level of community capacity building in cultural activities is higher than other types
of tourism activities. The study also has identified that lack of community capacity
building is an important barrier for tourism development, especially in the new district.
In support of this finding, the focus group has also confirmed the barriers of community
capacity building. This study also investigated community perceptions towards tourism
impacts and its relationship with level of community capacity building. The study
proved that there are broadly similar views among the leaders and local residents'
perceptions toward tourism impacts on local communities. The correlation result showed
that there is a significant relation between economic impacts and the level of community
capacity building for tourism development. The correlations result also confirmed that
there were significant relationships between the level of community capacity building
and the leaders' age, length of residence, length of position, income, tourism income,
tourism job and family engaged in tourism activities. Lastly, multiple regression analysis
indicated that approximately 74 percent (R² =.737) of the variance in community
capacity building was predicted by the leaders' income, tourism income, extra activities,
length of residence, educational level, and family engaged in tourism industry.
According to the result, the largest beta coefficient is the leaders' income. It is expected
that the findings of this study could be utilized by the community leaders and tourism
developers for future follow-up studies and reassessment of community capacity
building for tourism development in their communities.


This study is a quantitative investigation researching the effect of sea states that influences shell fragmentation along Sandscale Haws beach in Cumbria. The main aim of this investigation is to analyse whether the varying sea states significantly affect the shell fragmentation, looking into detail different types of shell fragments as a comparison. Measurements of the differing types of shell fragments were obtained in order to establish a suitable comparison between the different transects. By recording results over a few transects at the same section of the beach, patterns may emerge between each type of shell fragment and each transect. These patterns will then be subjected to statistical analysis to examine the interrelationships between the parameters tested.
From the results obtained, it is apparent that there is a varying fragmentation between the shell types. From statistical analysis, the significance of transect comparisons shows there is a significant difference between transects, this could be an influence from varying sea states. This investigation has arrived at the conclusion that is inconclusive but the significant statistics showed that with further investigation sea states and possibly sea level rise due to climate change could be partly understood from shell fragmentation.


Many high-performance distributed applications use only a small fraction of their available bandwidth. A common cause of this problem is not a flaw in the application design, but rather improperly tuned network settings. Proper tuning techniques, such as setting the correct TCP buffers and using parallel streams, are well-known in the networking community, but outside this community they are infrequently applied. In this paper, we describe a service that makes the task of network tuning trivial for application developers and users. Widespread use of this service should virtually eliminate a common stumbling block for high-performance distributed applications.


Background : Stewardship is contemplated as a way to make the national Health Service more efficient and effective within the context of devolution. In december 2010, the Minister of Health commissioned the university of "Sapienza" and "cattolica" of rome the task of testing and ensuring that we have the appropriate tools for evaluating the implementation level of Stewardship as part of the realization of the actions contemplated in the national Prevention Plan and their application to the Italian regions context. Methods:the method of analysis included two phases: 1) implementation of the evaluation model and assessment tool; 2) validation of the tool, with the objective of ascertaining its technical-informational functionality. the questionnaire included 141 answers in a closed format (singles or multiples) and was subdivided into five areas of analysis. every function of Stewardship was adjusted by a "weight" and a score (from 0 to 5) assigned by a panel of experts was applied to each item. Results :"ensuring accountability" was indicated as the most important Stewardship function. "ensuring accountability", "leadership", "resources Management and services", "accountability" and "evidence based medicine/evidence based prevention", respectively, characterized each function. responses were received from 75% of experts. Moreover, suggestions were collected for each question. Conclusions : considering this relatively new field of interest, to date there are no tools for looking at all aspects of stewardship. However, a rigorous instrument could be crucial for the success of policies. the proposed method could enable one to assess the level of Stewardship implementation, and to compare and propose actions for improvement. this could be essential to achieving the highest levels of quality in Public Health....


The authors proposed a coupling model to simulate the complex bio-geochemical reactions in subsurface water flow and solte transport. The reactions are important and it is meanful to including these in a traditional model. However, I got lost in reading through the manuscript. The work is interest but I felt the authors were failed to present a clear consistent streamline from the model development to calculation, simulation and verification. Abstract The abstract seems too long and a bit of confusing. It is kind of hard to get your main contribution from this complicated abstract. Like you state that the development of the model is your research goal, but your results focus on detailed geochemical analysis and explanations. Thus which one is your most important point? The goal and results then are not logically consistent though for sure they are related. If the model is creative, it would be better to prove its accuracy and efficiency. If the bio-geochemical processes are the problem that need to be illustrated, then it is better to describe the significance of the geochemical environment. I suggest to modify your abstract to clearly present your contribution.


Objective: To establish the diagnostic criteria for PANDAS and to analyze the existing evidence regarding its etiopathogenesis, treatment and prophylaxis. Sources: Review of the scientific literature through a MEDLINE search carried out between 1989 and 2006. Summary of the findings: The diagnostic criteria for PANDASwere established nearly 10 years ago, but a lot of controversy still exists over the actual existence of this new pediatric disease. The name of this new disease, supposedly of poststreptococcal etiology, derives from an acronym that stands for pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disease associated with streptococcal infection. Tics and obsessive-compulsive symptoms are the major clinical signs of the disease, which develop after streptococcal infections, probably through autoimmune mechanisms. Even though these neuropsychiatric symptoms are common in rheumatic chorea, whose etiology is also poststreptococcal, the classic choreiformmovements and other symptoms of rheumatic fevers are absent in PANDAS. The use of antimicrobial and immunologic therapy has been investigated and considered feasible in some cases. Conclusions: Further research is still necessary in order to answer the question posed in the title of this article. In the meantime, the identification of tic disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorders in children should include the possibility of PANDAS, seeking to provide evidence of previous streptococcal infection. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2007;83(3):201-208: PANDAS, streptococci, chorea, rheumatic fever, tics, obsessive-compulsive disorder.


ABSTRACT Existing approaches for multivariate functional principal component analysis are restricted to data on the same one-dimensional interval. The presented approach focuses on multivariate functional data on different domains that may differ in dimension, such as functions and images. The theoretical basis for multivariate functional principal component analysis is given in terms of a Karhunen–Loève Theorem. For the practically relevant case of a finite Karhunen–Loève representation, a relationship between univariate and multivariate functional principal component analysis is established. This offers an estimation strategy to calculate multivariate functional principal components and scores based on their univariate counterparts. For the resulting estimators, asymptotic results are derived. The approach can be extended to finite univariate expansions in general, not necessarily orthonormal bases. It is also applicable for sparse functional data or data with measurement error. A flexible R implementation is available on CRAN. The new method is shown to be competitive to existing approaches for data observed on a common one-dimensional domain. The motivating application is a neuroimaging study, where the goal is to explore how longitudinal trajectories of a neuropsychological test score covary with FDG-PET brain scans at baseline. Supplementary material, including detailed proofs, additional simulation results, and software is available online.


Longitudinal, round, perforated pipe edge drains have been used along Kentucky roadways for approximately two decades. Panel (fin) edge drains were first used in Kentucky in 1984. Most of these edge drains were installed on the Interstate and Parkway systems. Several problems related to the drains have been noted in the last seven years. A number of these problems have been observed to be related to flexible outlet pipes and headwalls. A recent study was initiated to evaluate headwalls and outlets on I-75 from Lexington, Kentucky to Cincinnati, Ohio (approximately 70 miles) and on I-71 from Louisville, Kentucky to I-75 in Northern Kentucky (approximately 68 miles). This study was initiated as a first phase of a much more intensive study which will evaluate all edge drains and outlets on Interstates and Parkways in Kentucky. This report documents findings of the investigation of 234 edge drain outlets. Of the 234 outlets investigated, approximately 43% of the edge drain outlets inspected were out of service. Approximately 50% of the outlet pipes had been damaged during installation. More significant problems were found at the headwall and outlet pipe connection than any other location in the drainage system. It appears that a maintenance program should be established to clean the troughs of the headwalls, and to check the screens for clogging and rust. The metal screens should be replaced with galvanized screens. Positive flow should also be maintained from the headwalls. The buildup of grass and silt can eventually detour some of the flow. Headwalls located in cuts are more prone to become covered or ponded. Edge drains and outlets should be inspected after they are installed. Rigid outlet pipe should be precast into the headwalls. This should help eliminate problems occurring at the headwall connection. Currently, a rigid outlet pipe is connected to an approximately 2-foot long "pigtail" (4-in. flexible pipe) which is precast into the headwall.


BACKGROUND
While collecting may be a normal behaviour, hoarding is a symptom of various psychiatric disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). Although anecdotal reports suggest that hoarding is not uncommon in geriatric psychiatry populations, its psychopathological correlates in such samples have not been well characterised.

METHODS
The presence of clinically significant hoarding symptoms was screened for in 100 consecutive patients in a geriatric psychiatry inpatient unit. Both patient and collateral histories were obtained. When hoarding symptoms were present, a detailed history of their phenomenology was obtained by means of a structured questionnaire and the response of hoarding symptoms to treatment during hospitalisation was monitored.

RESULTS
Clinically significant hoarding was found in 5/100 subjects. Four of these 5 patients met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia (paranoid subtype), with onset of symptoms coinciding with increased symptoms of dementia. The fifth patient met criteria for bipolar disorder (manic episode), also had symptoms of dementia, and had a lifelong history of hoarding. Hoarding behaviours responded to antipsychotic treatment in 3 of the 5 patients.

CONCLUSIONS
A history of hoarding may be useful in many psychiatric patients, but psychopathological correlates of this symptom are likely to vary with age. In a geriatric psychiatry inpatient population hoarding was associated not with OCD or OCPD, but rather with paranoid schizophrenia and increasing symptoms of dementia. Dopamine blockers appeared useful in decreasing hoarding in some patients, raising interesting questions about the neurobiology of this symptom.


An investigation into some of the literary features of the book of Malachi reveals that each unit is structured in a twofold way. The macrostructure of the book also shows that the book can be divided into two parts. The results of this investigation strengthens the recent trend in the research of Malachi that it is unlikely that the book underwent an extensive redactional process over a period of time and that it is rather more likely that the book was written in a relatively short period of time.


Nine different streetlighting products were installed on various streets in Kansas City, Missouri during February, 2011, to evaluate their performance relative to the incumbent high-pressure sodium (HPS) lighting. The applications investigated included 100 W, 150 W, 250 W, and 400 W HPS installations. Initial measurements and comparisons included power, illuminance, and luminance; sample illuminance readings have continued at each of the nine locations at roughly 1,000-hour operating intervals since then. All of the LED products consumed less power than their HPS counterparts—with a mean difference of 39% and a range of 31% to 51%—but they also emitted 31% fewer lumens, on average. The net result is just a 15% increase in mean efficacy. Applying the city's stringent light loss factors to the initial measured data meant that five of the LED products (and two of the HPS luminaires) were predicted to eventually fail to meet the specified mean illuminance over their lifetimes; however, the specified light loss levels are not expected to be reached by the LED products until some distant future date (between 12 and 30 years after installation according to manufacturer specification sheet estimates). The practical value of designing streetlighting systems to meet illumination requirements more than 15more » years in the future is questioned. Numerous sources of variation in field measurements are noted throughout the report, particularly seasonal influences such as ambient temperature and foliage that are evident in the time-series illuminance data.« less


In traffic safety applications for vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), emergency messages have to be disseminated quickly and extensively in order to inform as many vehicles as possible in a short period of time. Hence, the broadcast storm problem is prone to occur. In the past, several approaches have been proposed to solve the problem. Among them, we find counter-, distance-, location-, cluster-, and probabilistic-based schemes. In this paper, we analyze existing protocols and present a novel scheme that is designed to mitigate the broadcast storm problem, reduce the end-to-end latency in real urban scenarios, and deal with the faults that occur during transmission. The proposed routing protocol assigns a density adopted dynamic back-off time based on traffic flow theory to vehicle. It ensures the dissemination of the emergency message onto every part of the road, and when there is no relay vehicle, the emergency message will be retransmitted. We use the GrooveNet simulator to demonstrate that the proposed scheme has a low collision probability, low overhead and a short end-to-end latency.


This article seeks to lay a theoretical foundation of the internal decentralization (decentralization in the local municipality): its essence and content are defined, the main forms as well as the kinds of forms are identified. This is performed by using theoretical propositions of decentralization in the state (at the state level) following different researchers' works and verifying whether they are suitable for local municipalities of Lithuania and other countries. In the article the set goal is being sought by these actions: 1) the origin and the meaning of the word "decentralization" are explained; 2) the essence and the content of decentralization in the state (at the state level) are defined; 3) the essence and the content of decentralization in the local municipality are defined, its main forms and kinds of forms are named; 4) currently the most frequently applied forms of internal decentralization in local municipalities of other countries are submitted. In the opinion of the author of the article, decentralization in the local municipality (or internal decentralization in the local municipality) means the transfer of the powers assigned to municipal bodies, which belong to a higher hierarchical level, to a subordinate or non-subordinate bodies, which belong to a lower hierarchical level, or division of powers to a bigger number of bodies of the same hierarchical level. The bodies that have received these powers are guaranteed some discretion to make decisions and operate. Moreover, a certain interaction (relations, responsibilities) between the bodies that have transferred the powers and the ones that have received those powers is foreseen. From the author's of the article point of view, the internal decentralization in the local municipality is performed by these forms: 1) deconcentration; 2) transfer of powers (delegation); 3) fiscal decentralization; 4) economic decentralization. The author thinks that at present the most frequently applied forms of internal decentralization in municipalities of different countries are the following ones: 1) composition of branch and/or functional committees (commissions) of municipal councils and transfer of powers (delegation) to them to operate and to adopt decisions on behalf of the municipal council; 2) transfer of a part of powers (delegation) of municipal councils (representative government institutions) to the executive institution; 3) application of different ways of economic decentralization, starting with the most ordinary and gradually moving to the introduction of more complicated forms of PPP (Public Private Partnership); 4) transfer of powers (delegation) to the territorial communities (with executive bodies) of residential areas or their parts; 5) transfer of powers (delegation) to communal organizations, frequently called "neighbourhood communities"; 6) transfer of powers (delegation) to the self-government bodies of schools, to public services consumers' protection councils or bodies of a similar type; 7) composition of structural-territorial subdivisions of the municipal administration (with different legal status) and transfer of powers (delegation) to them to manage the affairs of the inhabitants of one or several residential areas, to provide basic administrative and/or public services.


The importance of cholesterol in health and disease is commonly understood since many studies have correlated increase detection of cholesterol in blood with many diseases such as cardiovascular disease or elevated blood pressure. In this study we investigate the activation/inactivation mechanism of cholesterol synthesis in response to AMP/ATP ratio. The link step between energy need and inactivation of cholesterol synthesis is mediated by AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK) through phosphorylation of 3- hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR), the enzyme catalysing the committing step in cholesterol synthesis.Besides the fact that this system is known for years and is one of the first AMPK regulated pathways identified, the full pathway involved in this regulation has not been caught clearly in literature. There are numerous studies referring to AMPK regulated pathways but not a concrete piece of work combining the newly retrieved knowledge on AMPK regulation as well as the antagonized effects of HMGCR dephosphorylation. In order to produce a clear and easily understood description of the pathway we decided to create a map depiction of the system. After careful manual curation of the relative papers and taking advantage of the SBGN notation, a community driven system notation with computational potentials, we constructed a map depicting the well characterized interactions of proteins involved in this system, particular in human organism. The aim of this project is the collection of the available information, characterization of the relation between pathway players and the production of a map that would be a helpful tool in identifying potential drug targets and generally improve the understanding of the regulation mechanism.


Cicadidae or Cicadas, like the majority of insects, are mostly unknown for most people including their life history and ecology such as the nymph emergence. Moreover the effect of fire to these particular animals is also clearly unknown so far.
We studied a population of Cicadas based on the nymph emergence among burned (one and two years after the fire) an unburned Aleppo pine forests. We used replicated plots to collect nymph exuviae (the abandoned exosqueleton after the last moult) once a weed across the whole emerging period (June to September). Nymphs collected were used to measure the abundance phenology of emerging nymphs, and the body size and sex ratio of cicadas. We used absolute density data from our plots to validate a new method of measuring relative abundance of emerging cicadas based on transects.
We found significant differences in the nymph phenology of cicadas between burned and unburned habitats, probably related to the vegetation cover and sunlight. Interestingly, we found an advancement of the nymph phenology in burned habitats that seems to be connected to the lack of vegetation cover on this area and the fast heating of the ground.
Despite these results, we didn't find differences in size and sex ratio between burned and unburned habitats, maybe related to the sample size that was available. Nevertheless, we should consider do a further investigation on the size and sex ratio of cicadas to get a trustworthy result about their variation among burned and unburned areas.
To conclude, we found that the abundance estimates using the new transect method was highly related to our absolute density measures found in plots.
This study has provided me a new knowledge on cicadas and the role that they have in their ecosystem. Moreover, this study shows the alteration that the fire represents for these animals. Furthermore, knowing these significant alterations to the emergence phenology could be useful to further studies to assess the consequences in the ecosystem


Since the mid-1990s, traceability has become a popular concept in industrial logistics, regardless of the production regime and type of product. Implementing traceability systems across the food supply chain is seen as crucial for increasing food quality and safety, for optimizing production or for documenting sustainability. However, implementation of traceability systems in the seafood sector seems to be stagnating. Against this backdrop, the main objective of this study is to define and analyse in detail seafood traceability benefits related to regulatory compliance, supply chain management improvements, market access facilitation, and risk mitigation. To support this objective, the study collects and compiles policy incentives from governments and industry associations to encourage the establishment of company seafood traceability. In addition, this study updates information regarding existing traceability standards and norms serving various purposes in the seafood sector. Based on a thorough analysis of speciality literature and the extensive experience of the authors, this study formulates several recommendations that are relevant for a wide range of stakeholders in the seafood sector.


Saint John's is a "landscape paradise" in central Minnesota. Although no complete checklist of vegetation exists for the campus, various surveys reveal a diverse flora. This floral wealth is the result of several terrestrial biomes converging on campus — prairie, savanna, deciduous forest, and coniferous forest — as well as diverse aquatic habitats including both lakes and wetlands. A 56-acre restored prairie at the entrance of Saint John's is dominated by big bluestem and little bluestem. A savanna has been restored to the north and east of the Gemini Lakes and is characterized by bur oaks scattered among prairie grasses and forbs. Minnesota's oldest pine plantation occurs on campus near the Preparatory School. Common campus pines include red pine, Scotch pine, and white pine. More than half of the Arboretum is comprised of deciduous forests dominated by either sugar maple and basswood or oak. Cattails and an assortment of sedges and rushes are common in the large, restored wetland that occurs on the north end of campus. Our campus lakes support pondweeds, milfoil, and even carnivorous plants. European buckthorn, and other invasive species, such as earthworms, threaten the long-term health of Saint John's plant communities.


Objectives. To highlight the pattern of vigorous physical activity among freshmen university students and to evaluate the association between sociodemographic factors, perceived barriers, support factors, sedentary behaviours and body mass index. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted on Mansoura University students at the beginning of the academic year 2008 - 2009. A total of 500 freshmen students were selected by systematic random sample. Participants responded to the short form of International Physical Activity Questionnaire and other questions. Results. The study revealed that the prevalence of vigorous activity among the students was 9.8% (N=49) versus 90.2% (N=451) for mild and moderate activity. Body-related barriers were significantly higher among those reporting mild and moderate activities as shyness from others when doing exercise (6.9% versus 0.0%) and shyness from body looks in front of people (14.6% versus 4.1%). Lack of equipment was also perceived to be a barrier (31.0% versus 16.3%), for those doing mild to moderate versus vigorous, respectively. A significantly higher proportion of persons doing vigorous activity reported the influence of support factors such as perceived benefit for health (53.1% versus 33.7%), encouragement from others (53.1% versus 30.4%) and participation from others (51.0% versus 23.9%), compared with the more sedentary students. The majority of both groups spent <4 hours daily in front of a computer, but the overall proportion was significantly higher among those only reporting mild and moderate activity (88.0% versus 63.3%). Conclusion. The prevalence of most of the barriers studied was higher among those reporting mild and moderate activities and support factors were higher among those reporting vigorous activity. These results highlight the importance of environmental factors, social norms and intra-personal factors in determining the pattern of activity among Egyptian freshmen university students. SAJSM , vol 23 No. 4 2011


Lysine dendrimers consist of natural lysine amino acid residues. Due to this reason, they are usually not as toxic as other dendrimers. Lysine dendrimers are often used in drug and gene delivery. These dendrimers penetrate blood-brain barrier and thus could be used for the delivery of drugs and other substances, for example, bioactive peptides to brain or elimination of disease-related peptides out of the brain. To do it, dendrimers should form complex with these peptides. In the present chapter, we describe computer simulation of the interaction of lysine dendrimer of the second generation with three different peptides and check does it form complexes with them. Two of these peptides (Semax and Epithalon) are nootropic peptides and third is the fragment of amyloid peptide, which forms amyloid fibrils and plaques in Alzheimer's disease. Our simula tion demonstrates that the lysine dendrimers form complexes with these therapeutics peptides. Thus, we demonstrated that lysine dendrimer is a good candidate for the delivery of therapeutic peptides. We also have shown that lysine dendrimer destroys existing stacks of amyloid peptides and forms a stable complex with them. Thus, it looks that it could be used in future for the treatment of Alzheimer's diseases.


Objective The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of augmented feedback on participants' workload, performance, and distribution of visual attention. Background An important question in human–machine interface design is whether the operator should be provided with direct solutions. We focused on the solution space diagram (SSD), a type of augmented feedback that shows directly whether two aircraft are on conflicting trajectories. Method One group of novices (n = 13) completed conflict detection tasks with SSD, whereas a second group (n = 11) performed the same tasks without SSD. Eye-tracking was used to measure visual attention distribution. Results The mean self-reported task difficulty was substantially lower for the SSD group compared to the No-SSD group. The SSD group had a better conflict detection rate than the No-SSD group, whereas false-positive rates were equivalent. High false-positive rates for some scenarios were attributed to participants who misunderstood the SSD. Compared to the No-SSD group, the SSD group spent a large proportion of their time looking at the SSD aircraft while looking less at other areas of interest. Conclusion Augmented feedback makes the task subjectively easier but has side effects related to visual tunneling and misunderstanding. Application Caution should be exercised when human operators are expected to reproduce task solutions that are provided by augmented visual feedback.


Objective: This paper aims at assessing outcomes following induction of labor and characteristics likely to predict vaginal delivery. Study design: This is a descriptive retrospective cohort study including all women with singleton pregnancies who delivered at term in the university clinics of Kinshasa, DR Congo, from January 01, 2006 until December 31, 2010. Induction was initiated regardless of cervical status. Methods of induction included: oxytocin perfusion, vaginal Misoprostol, intracervical insertion of the Foley catheter and amniotomy. Results of induction were compared in terms of failure of labor, cesarean section, fetal distress, and neonatal distress. Logistic regression was used to seek for independent contributing factors for adverse outcomes. Results: During the period of the study 115 patients at term (3.2%) were concerned with induction of labor. Means for maternal age, gestational age and weight at confinement were 30.5 ± 5.7 years, 37.95 ± 1.54 weeks and 69.3 ± 15.1 kg, respectively. The mean parity and gravidity were 2.4 ± 1.9 and 2.9 ± 1.9, respectively. The mean Bishop score was 6.2 ± 1.5 at the first induction, with 66 women (57.3%) having less than 7. Indications for induction were: preeclampsia (52 = 54.1%), premature rupture of membranes (34 = 29.5%), post term (17 = 14.6%), gestational diabetes (5 = 4.3%), stillbirth (5 = 4.3%), polyhydramnios (3 = 2.6%) and cardiopathy (1 = 0.8%). Methods of induction at the first attempt included: oxytocin (86 = 74.7%), vaginal misoprostol (20 = 17.3%), transcervical Foley catheter balloon (14 = 12.1%), and amniotomy (1 = 0.8%). Failure to induce uterine contraction at the first attempt was noted in 9/115 (7.8%) women. Vaginal delivery occurred in 78 (66.9%) women, and cesarean section in 34 (29.6%). The majority of cesarean sections were performed at the primary induction, most of them (29/34 = 85.3%) in women with bad Bishop score. Failure of induction was more likely to occur in association with high maternal weight (OR 6.8; CI 1.2 - 39.7), and somewhat birth weight (OR 2.1 but CI containing 1). Risk for cesarean section was increased in association with induction of labor in cases of high maternal weight (OR 10.3, CI 16.0 - 67.0), and somewhat of high birth weight (OR 2.3, but CI containing 1). Fetal distress was associated only with maternal weight (OR 15.7, CI 1.3 - 187.8), and neonatal distress only with Bishop score (OR 10.9, CI 1.1 - 108.0). Conclusion Induction of labor in our setting in order to get vaginal delivery is affected of a high risk of adverse outcomes such as failure of induction, cesarean delivery, fetal and neonatal distress. This risk is significantly influenced by maternal weight, birth weight and Bishop score. Lack of worse outcomes between the first and the subsequent attempts to induce labor can be regarded as a reason to try induction even in the presence of unfavorable cervix.


We experimentally and numerically observe synchronization of two semiconductor lasers commonly driven by a chaotic semiconductor laser subject to optical feedback. Under condition that the relaxation oscillation frequency is matched between the two response lasers, but mismatched between the drive and the two response lasers, we show that it is possible to observe strongly correlated synchronization between the two response lasers even when the correlation between the drive and response lasers is low. We also show that the cross correlation between the two responses is larger than that between drive and responses over a wide parameter region.


We investigate when voters favour social investment. Welfare states have transformed their core policies as a result of low economic growth and fiscal pressures. The social investment strategy, such as broader education provision and promotion of women's employment, aims at shifting the economy from the traditional Keynesian welfare state to the high-productivity economy by encouraging long-term and inclusive human capital formation. Social investment is popular among citizens in many developed economies, especially in the EU where governments promote social investment as part of their welfare policy packages. However, in Japan, the term 'social investment' is rarely used in policy discussions. Consequently, we ask what levels of voter support social investment policies have in such an environment; which voter characteristics are associated with social investment support; and whether voter support for social investment differs when placed in a broader policy context. To answer these questions, we conducted an online survey with a conjoint experiment. Our data analysis shows that social investment policies are popular among Japanese people, despite a lack of familiarity with the concept of social investment. We find that social libertarians and female respondents are more likely than social authoritarians and male respondents to support social investment. In addition, there is some evidence that higher income voters are favourable to social investment policies. Furthermore, voter support for social investment depends on the policy context. Support becomes weaker when social investment policies are presented in combination with decreasing levels of social security spending. Our results highlight what kinds of social investment policies could be achieved without damaging electoral fortunes.


This study deals with an Iranian child's first language acquisition and is going to measure the words development of the child as a case study through counting the words he produced on the period of 7 days before his second birthday. A child, 24 months old, will be studied through transcripts and audio over the course of a week. The materials used for this study were one voice recorder for recording the child's audio and paper and pencil for the observer to write down produced words by the child. The strategies used in order to handle the study were transcription and observation in order to count the words easier and also more accurate. Results of the study revealed that this child is able to produce more than other children in previous studies had been done by other researchers up to now. Another aspect of result revealed that the child produced one word instead of other for example use an animal name for calling more than one.


The light-emitting transistor (LET) shows promise as a fundamental circuit element for electronic-photonic integration. This paper reviews key characteristics of the transistor laser, discusses preliminary work on integration, and explores methods for heterogeneous integration of LET-based electronic-photonic circuit blocks with silicon CMOS in a wafer-scale process.


We present an effective method for supervised feature construction. The main goal of the approach is to construct a feature representation for which a set of linear hypotheses is of sufficient capacity -- large enough to contain a satisfactory solution to the considered problem and small enough to allow good generalization from a small number of training examples. We achieve this goal with a greedy procedure that constructs features by empirically fitting squared error residuals. The proposed constructive procedure is consistent and can output a rich set of features. The effectiveness of the approach is evaluated empirically by fitting a linear ridge regression model in the constructed feature space and our empirical results indicate a superior performance of our approach over competing methods.


Abstract. This paper describes the splitting supercell idealized test case
used in the 2016 Dynamical Core Model Intercomparison Project (DCMIP2016).
These storms are useful test beds for global atmospheric models because the
horizontal scale of convective plumes is O(1 km), emphasizing
non-hydrostatic dynamics. The test case simulates a supercell on a
reduced-radius sphere with nominal resolutions ranging from 4 to 0.5 km and is based
on the work of Klemp et al. (2015). Models are initialized with an
atmospheric environment conducive to supercell formation and forced with a
small thermal perturbation. A simplified Kessler microphysics scheme is
coupled to the dynamical core to represent moist processes. Reference
solutions for DCMIP2016 models are presented. Storm evolution is broadly
similar between models, although differences in the final solution exist. These
differences are hypothesized to result from different numerical
discretizations, physics–dynamics coupling, and numerical diffusion.
Intramodel solutions generally converge as models approach 0.5 km
resolution, although exploratory simulations at 0.25 km imply some dynamical
cores require more refinement to fully converge. These results can be used as
a reference for future dynamical core evaluation, particularly with the
development of non-hydrostatic global models intended to be used in
convective-permitting regimes.


This paper addresses the question of the place of pragmatic abilities in the overall architecture of the mind. Until recently, pragmatics was assumed to be part of a non-modular, unencapsulated, central system. Sperber and Wilson (2002) have proposed that pragmatics is to be conceived of as a sub-module of the mindreading module, with its own principles and mechanisms. This is in line with an increasingly modular view of the mind (Cosmides & Tooby 1992, 1994; Sperber 1994b, 2001, 2005; i.a.), according to which cognition consists of many dedicated domain-specific mechanisms or 'conceptual modules', highly interconnected with each other. This paper focuses on the connection between the pragmatics module and epistemic vigilance mechanisms, that is, mechanisms that assess the quality of the incoming information and the reliability of the individual who dispenses it (Sperber et al. 2010). The latter take as their proprietary input the output of the pragmatics module and assess its believability. This paper makes two original proposals: first, that epistemic vigilance mechanisms may directly affect the comprehension process, and, second, that the emergence of epistemic vigilance mechanisms targeted at assessing the communicator's competence and benevolence may correlate with different developmental stages in pragmatics.


The MoWiTT field facility is used to measure the convective film coefficient over the exterior surface of a window. The MoWiTT-measured data is compared to some commonly-used experimental and theoretical models. The comparison shows that the MoWiTT data disagrees with the previously used models such as the ASHRAE/DOE-2 model. The reasons for these disagreements are discussed. An experimental model, based on the MoWiTT data, is presented to correlate the film coefficient with the difference in temperatures of the exterior glass surface and the ambient, in the natural convection region, and with the site wind speed, in the forced convection region. The wind speed is considered both in windward and leeward hemispheres. The validity of the MoWiTT model for low-rise buildings is then discussed.


Health and welfare of loose-housed dairy cows in cubicle stalls is related to the design of the cubicles. Problems with lack of cleanliness, disturbed behaviours and cow health still occur in modern dairy housing systems. The purpose of this work was to compile present knowledge of cubicles, especially the partition design. The main objective was to recommend a cubicle partition that would facilitate natural behaviours and maintain clean and healthy dairy cows. The study was made both as a literature review and as experiments. Researchers, Alfa Laval Agri AB market divisions and farmers were contacted throughout the study. Even though bedding materials and construction of the cubicle floor is of importance, it is only briefly mentioned in this study. A survey of research and recommendations made on cubicle design was carried out in the literature review. A summary of cubicles on the market and around the world today was also made. Field studies of preference, hygiene and lying down behaviour of dairy cows were used to evaluate how well cows performed in some various cubicle types. I each study, cows were monitored using time-lapse recording. The hypothesis was that partitions with obstructed side zones perform better than partitions that facilitate space sharing to the side. Another part of the experiment was to examine whether the cubicle training rail could be redesigned in order to facilitate more natural behaviours of cows, but still have functionality. The experiment compared occupancy and hygiene levels in two cubicle designs. Two already existing popular partition types were combined with brisket boards and training rail. Sixteen cows had free access to 8 cubicles of each type for a study period of two weeks. A hygiene study was also made of the cubicles, determining the level of hygiene in each cubicle by observing cubicle dirtiness twice a day during one week. Four cubicle designs were examined concerning the lying down and rising behaviour. Two cows were randomly chosen for the intense behavioural study. They were moved between the cubicle types (after an adaptation period) and monitored for 24 hours in each of the four cubicle types. The overall conclusion made from the experimental part is that long-term experiments need to be done to evaluate how cubicle design interacts with cow cleanliness and comfort. The behaviour of cows in cubicle systems corresponds to many constraints that need to be defined and held equal. However by observation, it seems to be easier to evaluate how well the animals perform natural behaviours in the cubicles than making conclusions about cleanliness and injuries. According to the results observed, a high placement of the training rail would add cubicle comfort. Anyhow, the use of a shoulder brace in the cubicle did not add lying comfort in the present experiment. A cubicle partition that facilitate more space sharing to the side in the front seems to be more attractive for the cows, and does not interact with a natural lying down behaviour. The back of the partition should guide the cows to lie down in a position that facilitate cubicle cleanliness. Thus, the hypothesis that partitions with obstructed side zones perform as well as a partition that facilitates space sharing to the side could not be continued.


The concept of equivalent layers, previously applied only to all-dielectric multilayer systems, is extended to include symmetrical systems containing absorbing layers. To maximize the potential transmittance of such a system, its parameters must be chosen so that the refractive index of the equivalent layer is real. This choice simultaneously leads to a minimum of the imaginary part of the equivalent phase thickness. The proof involves a novel technique of representing the parameters of the layers by those of a spherical triangle. In the mathematical process, a simple expression is derived for the phase thickness of the dielectric layers of the symmetrical system appropriate to the optimization of its potential transmittance.


This essay argues that, while many restorative processes are quite valuable, there is the potential for their use to produce results that conflict with the community's shared intuitions of justice and to thereby undermine the criminal law's moral credibility. Because such moral credibility can have practical crime-control value, it ought not be undermined unless the crime-control benefits of doing so clearly outweigh the costs. In practice, it is entirely possible to rely upon restorative processes in ways that avoid injustice and that assure justice is done.


Background Behavioral studies show that attention training can alter threat bias, influence vulnerability to stress and reduce clinical anxiety symptoms. The aim of this study was to examine which cognitive functions of attention processing are modulated by attention training, and how a priori anxiety interacts with the attention training procedure. Specifically, we expected modulation in the P1/N1 event-related potential (ERP) complex if early spatial attention was to be affected by training and modulation in later ERP components (P2, N2, P3) had training affected top-down attentional processes. Method Thirty anxious and 30 non-anxious adults performed a modified probe detection task. Electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded throughout for later ERP analyses. Half the participants in each anxiety group were randomly assigned to undergo a training procedure designed to divert their attention away from threat and the other half received placebo training. Results Anxious participants who were trained to avoid threat showed a linear reduction in response time (RT) to targets replacing neutral faces with the progression of training. This change in RT was not observed among non-anxious participants or among anxious participants who were exposed to placebo training. Following training, the anxious participants who were trained to avoid threat showed a reduction in P2 and P3 mean amplitudes and an enhancement in N2 mean amplitude. Conclusions Attention training affects anxious participants whereas non-anxious participants seem not to respond to it. The ERP data suggest that attention training modulates top-down processes of attention control rather than processes of early attention orienting.


The emerging discipline of sustainability science is focused explicitly on the dynamic interactions between nature and society and is committed to research that spans multiple scales and can support transitions toward greater sustainability. Because a growing body of place-based social-ecological sustainability research (PBSESR) has emerged in recent decades, there is a growing need to understand better how to maximize the effectiveness of this work. The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) provides a unique opportunity for synthesizing insights gained from this research community on key features that may contribute to the relative success of PBSESR. We surveyed the leaders of PECS-affiliated projects using a combination of open, closed, and semistructured questions to identify which features of a research project are perceived to contribute to successful research design and implementation. We assessed six types of research features: problem orientation, research team, and contextual, conceptual, methodological, and evaluative features. We examined the desirable and undesirable aspects of each feature, the enabling factors and obstacles associated with project implementation, and asked respondents to assess the performance of their own projects in relation to these features. Responses were obtained from 25 projects working in 42 social-ecological study cases within 25 countries. Factors that contribute to the overall success of PBSESR included: explicitly addressing integrated social-ecological systems; a focus on solution- and transformation-oriented research; adaptation of studies to their local context; trusted, long-term, and frequent engagement with stakeholders and partners; and an early definition of the purpose and scope of research. Factors that hindered the success of PBSESR included: the complexities inherent to social-ecological systems, the imposition of particular epistemologies and methods on the wider research group, the need for long periods of time to initiate and conduct this kind of research, and power asymmetries both within the research team and among stakeholders. In the self-assessment exercise, performance relating to team and context-related features was ranked higher than performance relating to methodological, evaluation, and problem orientation features. We discuss how these insights are relevant for balancing place-based and global perspectives in sustainability science, fostering more rapid progress toward inter- and transdisciplinary integration, redefining and measuring the success of PBSESR, and facing the challenges of academic and research funding institutions. These results highlight the valuable opportunity that the PECS community provides in helping build a community of practice for PBSESR.


IZA DP No. 10660 mArch 2017 Working Time Accounts and Turnover1 Working time account is an organization tool that allows firms smoothing their demand for hours employed. Descriptive literature suggests that working time accounts reduce turnover and inhibit increase in unemployment during recessions. In a model of optimal choice of hours by a firm I show that working time account does not necessarily guarantee lower turnover. Turnover may be reduced or increased depending on whether a firm meets economic downturn with surplus or deficit of hours and on how productive this firm is. The model predicts that working time accounts contributed positively to reducing turnover in Germany during the Great Recession. JEL Classification: J23, J63


Objective To examine the extent to which women planning a pregnancy comply with recommendations for nutrition and lifestyle. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Southampton, United Kingdom. Participants 12 445 non-pregnant women aged 20-34 recruited to the Southampton Women's Survey through general practices, 238 of whom became pregnant within three months of being interviewed. Main outcome measures Folic acid supplement intake, alcohol consumption, smoking, diet, and physical activity before pregnancy. Results The 238 women who became pregnant within three months of the interview were only marginally more likely to comply with recommendations for those planning a pregnancy than those who did not become pregnant in this period. Among those who became pregnant, 2.9% (95% confidence interval 1.2% to 6.0%) were taking 400 μg or more of folic acid supplements a day and drinking four or fewer units of alcohol a week, compared with 0.66% (0.52% to 0.82%) of those who did not become pregnant. 74% of those who became pregnant were non-smokers compared with 69% of those who did not become pregnant (P=0.08). Women in both groups were equally likely to consume five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day (53% in each group, P=1.0), but only 57% of those who became pregnant had taken any strenuous exercise in the past three months compared with 64% in those who did not become pregnant (P=0.03). Conclusion Only a small proportion of women planning a pregnancy follow the recommendations for nutrition and lifestyle. Greater publicity for the recommendations is needed, but as many pregnancies are unplanned, improved nutrition and lifestyles of women of childbearing age is also required.


The poor immunogenicity of pancreatic tumors makes them particularly difficult to treat. Standard chemotherapies and single agent immunotherapies have had notoriously little success in this arena. Oncolytic virus therapy has the potential to enhance the penetration of immunotherapeutically-delivered CAR T cells into the tumor and improve treatment outcomes. We evaluate this potential by combining two different mathematical approaches: an ordinary differential equation model to simulate population level tumor response to cytotoxic activity of T cells, coupled with an agent-based model to simulate the enhancement of CAR T cell penetration by oncolytic virus therapy.


BACKGROUND
Clinical and histological criteria for ependymoma prognosis are well recognized. Recently few studies have been done based on Immunohistochemistry for prognostication of these tumours. In this study we have correlated the histological spectrum with immmunoexpression of p53 and Ki67 in these tumors.

AIMS
To know the incidence of ependymomas; study their morphological spectrum and to evaluate expression of P53 and Ki 67 in different morphological subtypes.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
A retrospective study was preformed on 70 ependymomas received in a period between 1994 and 2001. Entire tissue received was processed for routine paraffin embedded H&E stained sections. Immunocytochemistry was performed using antibodies to GFAP, EMA, Pancytokeratin and synaptophysin, to differentiate papillary ependymoma from choroid plexus papilloma; clear cell ependymoma from oligodendroglioma and central neurocytoma; ependymoblastoma from other embryonal tumours. p53 and Ki-67 immunohistochemistry was performed to correlate their expression with various tumour grades and subtypes.

RESULTS
There were 3 cases (4.2%) of Grade I ependymoma (2 cases of myxopapillary ependymoma and 1 case of subependymoma); 57 cases (81.5%) of ependymoma grade II (43 of these were of classical variety, 11 of clear cell ependymoma, 2 of papillary and 1 case of cellular ependymoma). There were 9 cases (12.8%) of anaplastic ependymoma (one of these was a clear cell ependymoma and 1 case (1.5%) of ependymoblastoma

CONCLUSION
p53 and Ki67 indices can be used in routine diagnostic laboratories to supplement the tumor grade on histology and more studies with follow up should be performed to analyse the prognosis of different subtypes. The expression of Ki 67 and p53 was significantly higher in anaplastic ependymomas. 4 out of 11 cases of clear cell ependymomas showed higher Ki 67 indices as compared to classical grade II ependymomas, thus further highlighting the importance of differentiating the various subtypes.


The
 combustion technique produces ionically dispersed Ag on a nano-crystalline CeO2 surface. The catalysts
 thus produced were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray
 photoelectron spectroscopy. Catalytic properties towards NO reduction, CO and hydrocarbon oxidation have
 been investigated using the temperature programmed reaction technique in a packed bed tubular reactor. These
 results are compared with α-Al2O3 supported finely divided Ag metal particles synthesized by the
 same method. Both oxidation and reduction reactions over Ag/CeO2 have been observed to occur at
 lower temperatures compared to Ag/Al2O3. The rate and turnover frequency of the NO+CO reaction over 1% Ag/CeO2
 are 56.3 μmol g−1 s−1 and 0.97 s−1
 at 225°C respectively. Activation energy (Ea) values are
 71 and 67 kJ mol−1
 for CO+O2 and NO+CO
 reactions, respectively, over 1% Ag/CeO2 catalyst.


Different EMI filters have been designed for an industrial power electronic converter system and a study on the performance of these different input filter topologies has been performed. Based on one filter topology a study on the influence of the orientation and direction of the windings on the CM chokes and the resulting coupling between two CM chokes as well as with the X capacitors has been performed. This study has shown a large dependency of the filter effectiveness on the CM chokes winding orientation and direction, both for DM and CM noise. This dependency is due to the varying inductive coupling between the two CM chokes as well as between the CM chokes and the ESL of the X capacitors. Also a study of one filter employing an LC band-rejection network to filter the resonant converter switching frequency has been performed.


Abstract : Since the incorporation of the airplane into military service, air superiority has been a key ingredient to success on the modern battlefield. Global Engagement: A Vision for the 21st Century Air Force, the USAF's latest vision statement, lists air and space superiority as the first of six Air Force core competencies. The F-15 Eagle is currently the USAF's primary air superiority fighter. Designed in the 1960s and introduced into service in the mid-1970s, the F-15's status as the world's premiere air superiority fighter is being challenged by new fighter designs from numerous countries, as well as the proliferation of advanced surface-to-air missile systems. The F-22 is the USAF's follow on air superiority fighter to the F-15. The design features of stealth, supersonic cruise, integrated avionics, and sustained maneuverability will provide the F-22 with a first look, first shot, first kill capability in all environments, against all current and planned future threats. However, at $102 million a copy, the F-22 is by far the most expensive fighter the USAF has ever pursued. Along with the collapse of the Soviet Union, today's environment of shrinking defense budgets has called into question the necessity of buying the F-22 at all. Although there are a number of less expensive alternatives, none of them approach the combat capability of the F-22. The USAF is scheduled to buy 339 F-22s which will reach initial operational capability in late 2004. This schedule must be maintained in order to ensure the USAF can provide air superiority for U.S. forces in the future.


This accessible and practical book is a perfect quick guide for postgraduate researchers in education. Looking at the interdependence of teaching and research, the authors show that a critical and analytical exploration of policies and practices is a necessary part of what we mean by being a 'professional' in education.

Drawing on the authors' substantial experience of teaching research skills at postgraduate level, as well as on their own experiences as active researchers, the book will guide you through:

- discourse analysis

- visual methods

- textual research

- data collection and analysis

This co-authored book is structured around a range of methods applicable to educational research and appropriate for use by practitioners at all stages of their professional development. It takes recognisable, 'real life' scenarios as its starting point for each discussion of method, so that readers are able to start from the known and familiar.

As well as exploring theoretical aspects of research method, each chapter provides practical tasks and points for discussion and reflection. These approaches, taken together, are designed to build confidence and encourage reader engagement and enjoyment.


Lighting accounts for about 20% of total electrical energy consumption in the United States. Using natural lighting is a cost-effective way to reduce this consumption and, at the same time, enhance the quality of the indoor environment. For several years, architects and engineers have used scale models, hand calculator programs, and sophisticated main-frame computer programs (such as LUMEN-II) to determine levels of interior daylight for different building configurations. However, none of these tools determines the annual energy savings from daylighting, information which could have an important effect on design decisions. For this reason, a daylighting simulation has been added to DOE-2. Taken into account are such factors as window size, glass transmittance, inside surface reflectances of the space, sun-control devices such as blinds and overhangs, and the luminance distribution of the sky. Because this distribution depends on the position of the sun and the cloudiness of the sky, the calculation is made for standard clear- and overcast-sky conditions and for a series of 20 solar altitude and azimuth values covering the annual range of sun positions. The calculations are performed prior to the complete simulation, and the the resulting daylight factors are stored for later use. Analogous factors for glaremore » are also calculated and stored. For the hourly envelope simulation, the illuminance from each window is found by interpolating the stored daylight factors (using the current-hour sun-position and cloud cover), then multiplying by the current-hour exterior horizontal illuminance. If the glare-control option has been specified, the program will automatically close window blinds or drapes to decrease glare below a pre-defined comfort level. Adding the illuminance contributions from all the windows gives the total number of footcandles at each reference point. This report describes the equations and algorithms used to perform the daylighting calculations in DOE-2.1B, and is intended as a supplement to the DOE-2 Engineers Manual, Version 2.1A, LBL-11353. Supporting user documentation may be found in the DOE-2 Reference Manual, LBL-8706, Rev.2, LA-7689-M, Ver. 2.1A, the DOE-2 BDL Summary, LBL-8688, Rev.3, the DOE~2 Users Guide, LBL-8689, Rev.2, the DOE-2 Sample Run Book, LBL-8678, Rev.l, and the DOE-2 Supplement, LBL-8706, Rev.3.Suppl.« less


Objective: To evaluate the performance of a trigger tool for identifying adverse drug events (ADEs) among older adults in ambulatory primary care practices. Methods: Manual 12-month retrospective chart review at six practices using a 39-item trigger tool. Patients aged 65 or above with cardiovascular diagnoses were included. Charts with triggers underwent detailed review by a physician and pharmacist to identify ADEs. Results: Of 1289 charts reviewed, 645 (50%) had at least one trigger. A random sample of 383 of these charts underwent further review (mean 64 charts per practice). Among the 908 triggers in these charts, 232 were deemed to represent ADEs, of which 92 were deemed preventable and 30% of these were severe. The most common triggers and their positive predictive values (PPVs) for ADEs were "Medication stop" (26.3%), "Hospitalisation" (21.8%) and "Emergency Room" visit (14.9%). Only nine of the triggers had PPVs >5%. These nine triggers accounted for 94.4% (219/232) of the ADEs detected. Discussion: Trigger tools have a potential role in driving quality improvement in ambulatory primary care. In our study using a 39-item ADE trigger tool, most triggers had very low PPVs. Nine of the 39 triggers accounted for 94.4% of ADEs detected, suggesting the possibility of a much briefer tool. Practical issues related to adoption of such tools by practising physicians should be further explored.


Renaissance logician, philosopher, humanist, and teacher, Peter Ramus (1515-72) is best known for his attack on Aristotelian logic, his radical pedagogical theories, and his new interpretation for the canon of rhetoric. His work, published in Latin and translated into many languages, has influenced the study of Renaissance literature, rhetoric, education, logic, and-more recently-media studies. Considered the most important work of Walter Ong's career, "Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue" is an elegant review of the history of Ramist scholarship and Ramus's quarrels with Aristotle. A key influence on Marshall McLuhan, with whom Ong enjoys the status of honorary guru among technophiles, this challenging study remains the most detailed account of Ramus's method ever published. Out of print for more than a decade, this book-with a new foreword by Adrian Johns-is a canonical text for enthusiasts of media, Renaissance literature, and intellectual history.


We empirically assess the distributional impacts and welfare effects of policies to incentivize renewable electricity production for the case of Italy. We use data from the Household Budget Survey between 2000 and 2010 to estimate a demand system in which energy goods' shares of expenditure are modelled using different empirical approaches. We show that the general Exact Affine Stone Index (EASI) demand system provides more robust estimates of price elasticities of each composite good than the commonly used Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS). The estimated coefficients are used to perform a welfare analysis of the Italian renewable electricity production incentive policy. We show that different empirical approaches give rise to significantly different estimates of price elasticities and that methodological choices are the reasons for the very high elasticities of substitutions estimated using similar data by previous contributions. We find no evidence of regressivity of the incidence of the Italian renewable incentive scheme in the period under consideration. The renewable subsidies act as a middle-class tax, with the higher welfare losses experienced by households in the second to fourth quintiles of the expenditure distribution.


This study analyses the influence of four citrus rootstocks, Citrus macrophylla Wester, Gou Tou Chen ( Citrus hybrid), C. volkameriana Ten. & Pasq. and Cleopatra mandarin ( C. reshni Hort. ex Tan.), on growth, yield and fruit quality on Lane Late navel orange. Trees were grown in a plot in Alicante (Spain), where the soil is clay loam, with pH 8.5 and electric conductivity in the 1/5 extract: 0.643 mmhos cm –1 . Yield was weighed during four harvests, fruit quality was determined in 2007 and 2009. Cleopatra mandarin and Gou Tou Chen were found to be the most invigorating rootstocks for 'Lane Late' in heavy and calcareous soil. Trees on C. macrophylla rootstock produced the highest cumulative yield (328.81 kg tree –1 ), without significant differences compared to trees on Cleopatra mandarin (292.41 kg tree –1 ). Rootstock significantly affected fruit quality variables. C. macrophylla and C. volkameriana would appear to induce the highest fruit weight and ripening index.


Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Abstract Technological development in nanoelectronics and solar energy devices demands nanostructured surfaces with controlled geometries and composition. Electrochemical atomic layer deposition (E-ALD) is recognized as a valid alternative to vacuum and chemical bath depositions in terms of growth control, quality and performance of semiconducting systems, such as single 2D semiconductors and multilayered mate- rials. This chapter is specific to the E-ALD of metal chalcogenides on Ag single crystals and highlights the electrochemistry for the layer-by-layer deposition of thin films through surface limited reactions (SLRs). Also discussed herein is the theoretical framework of the under potential deposition (UPD), whose thermodynamic treatment open questions to the correct interpretation of the experimental data. Careful design of the E-ALD process allows fine control over both thickness and composition of the deposited layers, thus tailoring the optoelectronic properties of semiconductor compounds. Specifically, the possibility to tune the band gap by varying either the number of deposition cycles or the growth sequence of ternary compounds paves the way toward the formation of advanced photovoltaic materials.


In the run-up to the 'follow-up international conference on financing for development' to be held in Doha from November 28 to December 2, 2008, it seems particularly timely to collect in one book writings on the various market-based innovative methods of raising development finance. Although developing countries are well advised to use caution in incurring large foreign debt obligations, especially of short duration, there is little doubt that poor countries can benefit from cross-border capital whether channeled through the public or private sectors. The papers in this book focus on various recent innovations in international finance that allow developing countries to tap global capital markets in times of low risk appetite, thereby reducing their vulnerability to booms and busts in capital flows. Debt issues backed by future hard currency receivables and diaspora bonds fall into the category of mechanisms that are best described as foul-weather friends. By linking the rate on interest to a country's ability to pay, Gross Domestic Product (GDP)-indexed bonds reduce the cyclical vulnerabilities of developing countries. Furthermore, these innovative mechanisms perm lower-cost and longer-term borrowings in international capital markets. Not only do the papers included in this book describe the innovative financing mechanisms; they also quantify the mechanisms' potential size and then identify the constraints on their use. Finally, the papers recommend concrete measures that the World Bank and other regional development banks can implement to alleviate these constraints. Economists have analyzed the feasibility and potential of using various tax-based sources of development finance in the context of meeting the millennium development goals. This has given rise to a new discipline of global public finance. This book complements those efforts by focusing on market based mechanisms for raising development finance.


A diverse set of observations from Archaean fossil-bearing rocks, modern submarine hydrothermal systems, experimental and theoretical work on the abiotic synthesis of organic molecules and primitive organized structures, and on water-rock interactions suggests that submarine hot springs were the site for the synthesis of organic compounds leading to the first living organisms on earth. These systems are characterized by high fluxes of thermal energy, highly reducing conditions, abundant and appropriate catalytic surface areas (Fe-Mg clay minerals), significant concentrations of CH sub(4), NH sub(3), H sub(2), metals, etc., and a continuous convective flow which removes products from the site of reaction upward through a mixing gradient of temperature and composition. It is hypothesized that the sequence of reactions CH sub(4), NH sub(3), H sub(2) arrow right amino acids arrow right proteins arrow right complex polymers arrow right metabolizing organized structures arrow right living organisms could occur within and/or adjacent to these systems. Microorganisms found in carefully preserved samples of sulfide chimneys from the East Pacific Rise may be counterparts of Archaean fossil organisms.


We assessed the development of a conditioned partner preference in female rats towards males associated with paced copulation (PC), relative to nonpaced copulation (NPC). Chapter 1 assessed the behavioral mechanisms. Ovariectomized, hormone-primed females were conditioned to associate an odor or a strain of male with PC. A partner preference test occurred in an open field with two tethered males in opposite corners, one associated with PC and the other with NPC. Paired females (relative to unpaired or random-paired groups) developed a partner preference for PC-related males. They displayed more solicitations and hops and darts, and were more likely to choose the PC-related male for their first ejaculation. Similarly, strain conditioning produced partner preference towards the PC-related male, regardless of the strain; although females were more likely to receive their first ejaculation from the PC-related male only if it was of their own strain. The experiments in Chapter 2 assessed neuroanatomical correlates. The brains of females in both paired and unpaired conditions were processed for Fos-immunoreactivity (Fos-IR) following exposure only to the conditioned stimulus (CS) associated either with PC or with NPC. The CS paired with PC induced more Fos-IR in the piriform cortex, the medial preoptic area, and the ventral tegmental area, compared to the induction by the same CS associated with NPC. The experiments in Chapter 3 assessed neurochemical mechanisms. In Part 1, females were treated with the general opioid antagonist naloxone (4 mg/kg) before every conditioning trial, but were drug-free during the final partner preference test. Naloxone treated females did not develop a conditioned partner preference. In Part 2, females were treated with the dopamine antagonist flupenthixol (.25 mg/kg) before conditioning trials. Only Long-Evans females failed to develop an olfactory conditioned partner preference, just like naloxone-treated females. However, flupenthixol had no effect on conditioned preference for a strain of male in Wistar females. The experiments in Chapter 4 depict preliminary data on the activation of oxytocin, vasopressin and gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons following exposure to the CS associated with PC. These data show trends toward a significant activation of Fos within oxytocin neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, and GnRH neurons in the anterior hypothalamus, in paired females exposed to the CS. These results demonstrate that the sexual reward induced by PC can be associated with cues on a partner to develop a conditioned preference. When this occurs via olfactory conditioning of a neutral odor, the mechanisms depend on the interaction of opioids and dopamine in mesolimbic areas. However, the conditioning process for a strain of male appears to depend only on opioids.


: Head-starting of Agassiz's desert tortoise, a means to aid recovery of this threatened species, may adversely affect offspring sex ratios via temperature-dependent sex determination combined with possible unnatural thermal conditions in head-start facilities. We determined sex ratios in juvenile tortoises hatched from first clutches of 4 annual cohorts at the head-start facility at the US Marine Corps Base, Twentynine Palms, California, USA, using non-fatal, endoscopic inspec-tion of gonads. Cohort sexes ranged from 97% females ( f : m ratio of 6.25:1) in 2008 to 84% males ( f : m ratio of 0.19:1) in 2009, apparently primarily in response to local weather conditions during the temperature-sensitive phase of incubation. Warmer weather during development of a second clutch laid in 2009 led to fewer males (55%, f : m ratio of 0.82). Efforts to cool (artificially shade) some nesting burrows were unsuccessful in increasing the proportion of male hatchlings in 2009. Cohort sex ratios were associated with average daily air temperatures during incubation, such that more females were produced during warmer periods, in good agreement with published temperature-controlled laboratory experiments. These results suggest that weather played a major role in determining sex ratios, with apparently smaller or negligible influences resulting from initial location, structure and operation of the head-start facility; experimental shading of nests; and individual mothers' variation in the timing of egg laying and placement of nests within the natal burrows. These results, obtained from a remote, mostly natural field site, indicate the potentially great sensitivity of sex determination in nests of wild, free-living desert tortoises to changes in climate.


There are no minimally invasive diagnostic metrics for acute kidney transplant rejection (AR), especially in the setting of the common confounding diagnosis, acute dysfunction with no rejection (ADNR). Thus, though kidney transplant biopsies remain the gold standard, they are invasive, have substantial risks, sampling error issues and significant costs and are not suitable for serial monitoring. Global gene expression profiles of 148 peripheral blood samples from transplant patients with excellent function and normal histology (TX; n = 46), AR (n = 63) and ADNR (n = 39), from two independent cohorts were analyzed with DNA microarrays. We applied a new normalization tool, frozen robust multi‐array analysis, particularly suitable for clinical diagnostics, multiple prediction tools to discover, refine and validate robust molecular classifiers and we tested a novel one‐by‐one analysis strategy to model the real clinical application of this test. Multiple three‐way classifier tools identified 200 highest value probesets with sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and area under the curve for the validation cohort ranging from 82% to 100%, 76% to 95%, 76% to 95%, 79% to 100%, 84% to 100% and 0.817 to 0.968, respectively. We conclude that peripheral blood gene expression profiling can be used as a minimally invasive tool to accurately reveal TX, AR and ADNR in the setting of acute kidney transplant dysfunction.


In late 2014, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo unveiled his 'global maritime axis' concept, designed to reinvigorate the country's identity as a maritime nation, better defend its seas and boost the maritime sector. His ambitious plan, also known as the 'Jokowi doctrine', is to transform Southeast Asia's largest state located at the nexus of the Indian and Pacific Oceans into a global hub. The extent to which Jokowi can realise his ambitions, given their centrality to his policies, will be an important factor for Indonesia's identity, economy and defence. The article explores the key components of the 'global maritime axis' concept and discusses the challenges facing each component. It highlights the challenges in infrastructure and logistics, naval and coast guard defence, illegal fishing and regional relations, in the context of the Jokowi doctrine. The final section of the article analyses the potential opportunities for AustraliaIndonesia relations and the impact the maritime vision has for Australia.


Patient: Male, 82-year-old Final Diagnosis: Pancreatic intraductal tubulopappilary neoplasm (ITPN) Symptoms: Abdominal pain • anorexia • weakness • weight loss Medication: Amlodipine 5 mg/valsartan 160 mg • nebivolol 5 mg • metformin 850 mg • pancreatin 25 000 IU Clinical Procedure: Total pancreatectomy with splenectomy Specialty: Oncology • Pathology • Radiology • Surgery Objective: Rare disease Background: Pancreatic intraductal tubulopapillary neoplasm (ITPN) was first described by Yamaguchi in 2009 and was recognized by World Health Organization as a distinct entity in 2010. Since then few case reports and case series have been published. Little is known about its clinicopathologic features and treatment outcomes. We present the seventh case of total pancreatectomy for ITPN reported in the English literature. Case Report: Our patient was an 82-year-old male with a previous history of acute evolving-to-chronic pancreatitis. After 2 years of medical consultation, an abdominal magnetic resonance imaging was suspicious for multifocal pancreatic neoplasia. A computed tomography-guided biopsy of the lesion was performed which indicated pancreatic intraductal neoplasia with intermediate dysplasia. After oncology consultation, the patient underwent pylorus-preserving total pancreatectomy with splenectomy. The pathology report showed pancreatic ITPN with intermediate to severe dysplasia and associated invasive carcinoma. All 21 resected lymph nodes were nonmetastatic (pT3N0). The postoperative course of the patient was uncomplicated. He received adjuvant gemcitabine (single agent) for 6 months. At 18 months after surgery he was diagnosed with hepatic metastases; he was still alive at the time of this reporting. Conclusions: ITPN has been associated with previous history of acute pancreatitis in some patients. Early diagnosis, radical surgical resection, and adjuvant chemotherapy may lead to long-term survival rates even in cases with associated invasive component. Total pancreatectomy may be a preferable procedure for ITPN in selected patients.


Business firms' formalization has been seen primarily as an entry barrier, which has often led to policies focused on simplifying formalities and creating minimalist company registries. This approach has been criticized on theoretical grounds for ignoring the tradeoff between ex ante registration and ex post transaction costs. This paper tests for the presence of this tradeoff in the context of company registries. In particular, using purpose-built indexes, we test for whether stronger registration requirements decrease the length of lawyer comments on model transactional legal opinions included in an authoritative report on legal opinions created by the International Bar Association. These lawyer comments proxy for due-diligence costs associated with executing large, cross-country company transactions. We confirm the presence of the tradeoff by finding that in countries with less stringent registration requirements, legal opinion comments are longer, even after controlling for the legal origin, European Union affiliation, and the log of per capita GDP.