Many molecules are inducibly localized in lipid rafts, and their alteration inhibits early activation events, supporting a critical role for these domains in signaling. Using confocal microscopy and cellular fractionation, we have shown that the pool of Bad, attached to lipid rafts in proliferating cells, is released when cells undergo apoptosis. Kinetic studies indicate that rafts alteration is a consequence of an intracellular signal triggered by interleukin-4 deprivation. Growth factor deprivation in turn induces PP1alpha phosphatase activation, responsible for cytoplasmic Bad dephosphorylation as well as caspase-9 and caspase-3 activation. Caspases translocate to rafts and induce their modification followed by translocation of Bad from rafts to mitochondria, which correlates with apoptosis. Taken together, our results suggest that alteration of lipid rafts is an early event in the apoptotic cascade indirectly induced by interleukin-4 deprivation via PP1alpha activation, dephosphorylation of cytoplasmic Bad, and caspase activation.


This paper provides understanding in how different synchronous machine models influence locations of its eigenvalues in the complex plane. Four different synchronous machine models are presented. By simulating and linearizing them in a small network the paper shows how each expansion of them influence the number of eigenvalues and their locations. It is shown how the damping constant D for low-order models can be set to obtain the same damping as for high-order models. The paper also shows how the eigenvalues of the synchronous machine are affected when the output signal from a turbine model is defined as either mechanical power or mechanical torque.


OBJECTIVES
Immunosuppressive pharmacologic agents prescribed to patients with diffuse interstitial and inflammatory lung disease and lung transplant recipients are associated with potential risks for adverse reactions. Strategies for minimizing such risks include administering these drugs according to established, safe protocols; monitoring to detect manifestations of toxicity; and patient education. Hence, an evidence-based guideline for physicians can improve safety and optimize the likelihood of a successful outcome. To maximize the likelihood that these agents will be used safely, the American College of Chest Physicians established a committee to examine the clinical evidence for the administration and monitoring of immunosuppressive drugs (with the exception of corticosteroids) to identify associated toxicities associated with each drug and appropriate protocols for monitoring these agents.

METHODS
Committee members developed and refined a series of questions about toxicities of immunosuppressives and current approaches to administration and monitoring. A systematic review was carried out by the American College of Chest Physicians. Committee members were supplied with this information and created this evidence-based guideline.

CONCLUSIONS
It is hoped that these guidelines will improve patient safety when immunosuppressive drugs are given to lung transplant recipients and to patients with diffuse interstitial lung disease.


Information Systems Development (ISD) is fast moving, knowledge-intensive and requires a substantive amount of teamwork. In order to develop quality software, teams need to leverage the skills and knowledge of each team member. ISD teams who engage in learning at a group level can perform more effectively and efficiently. However, relative to other disciplines, knowledge and literature about team learning in ISD research is new and dispersed. This fact hampers the cumulative progress in research that seeks to answer questions about how ISD teams learn to work together and improve their performance. We draw on and extend the classification scheme of Edmondson et al. (2007) and conduct a review of ISD team learning research literature. We synthesize the main findings and highlight the limitations of existing approaches. We emphasize potential directions for future research while focusing on the resulting implications for ISD management and methodology. We further demonstrate that there are four distinctive streams in ISD team learning research that differ in the manner that they conceptualize team learning, underlying theories, and research methodologies. Finally, we illustrate how these differing streams can cross-fertilize and thereby present notable aspects of team learning presently addressed by related disciplines for which there is scant or non-existent


The use of fish in scientific research is increasing worldwide, due to both the rapid expansion of the fish farming industry and growing awareness of questions concerning the humane use of mammalian models in basic research and chemical testing. As fish are lower on the evolutionary scale than mammals, they are considered to be less sentient. Fish models are providing researchers, and those concerned with animal welfare, with opportunities for adhering to the Three Rs principles of refinement, reduction and replacement. However, it should be kept in mind that fish should also be covered by the principles of the Three Rs. Indeed, various studies have shown that fish are capable of nociception, and of experiencing pain in a manner analogous to that in mammals. Thus, emphasis needs to be placed on the development of alternatives that replace, as much as possible, the use of all living vertebrate animals, including fish. This review gives the first comprehensive and critical overview of the existing alternatives for live fish experimental studies. The alternative methods described range from cell and tissue cultures, organ and perfusion models, and embryonic models, to in silico computer and mathematical models. This article aspires to guide scientists in the adoption of the correct alternative methods in their research, and, whenever possible, to reduce the use of live fish.


How come Africa is so underdeveloped when it is one of the richest continents on earth? Indeed, Africa is a paradox: it is poor and rich at the same time! Resource-wise, Africa is among the top richest continents in the world, yet development-wise it is the poorest of all continents. This paradox desperately needs comprehensive theoretical unpacking and rethinking if Africa is to achieve breakthroughs to the multifaceted development-related problems that have haunted it since the beginning of its unequal encounters with Europe. Regrettably, current Eurocentric development theories fall short on several fronts. The need for a comprehensive body of knowledge ?theories and models ? from the perspective of Africans persists in urgency. The present volume is an attempt to theorise Africa?s [under-]development with a view to provide a sustainable enduring framework of operations that will arrest the elusive predicament of the continent while taking it forward from its current position of passivity. It rethinks and re-imagines a number of externally imposed problematic mechanisms used (un-)consciously in Africa, with the intention to raise awareness and foster critical thinking in scholars and scholarship on African development. With its predicament-oriented theorising, the book is a pacesetter on how to think and research Africa?s [under-]development. It is also an invaluable asset for social scientists, policy makers, development practitioners, civil society activists and politicians.


Morphophysiological characteristics of wheat cultivars define their capacity to compete naturally with weed plants. The objective of this study was to quantify variations in emergence time, growth and initial development of wheat cultivars with different cycles and plant heights. This greenhouse experiment was arranged in a completely randomized experimental design, with three replications at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, in 2006. Treatments consisted of seven wheat cultivars; BRS Guatambu; BRS Tarumã; BRS Timbaúva; BRS Camboatá; BRS Buriti; CD 105; BRS Camboim, and two weed plants, turnip and Italian ryegrass. Emergence time of the cultivars and weed plants was evaluated up to 10 days after sowing. Plant height was determined at 10, 20 and 35 days after emergence (DAE) and development stage at 20 and 35 DAE. Leaf area was measured at 35 DAE as well as dry matter of the aerial parts and roots, with data being submitted to analysis of variance and means compared by the Duncan test. Among the characteristics of the wheat cultivars evaluated, cycle duration and plant height did not affect emergence time with cultivars BRS Guatambu, BRS Timbaúva and BRS Camboim, presenting the highest competitive potential at the beginning of the cycle and BRS Tarumãt showing the lowest means for the morphological variables.


It has been said that great oaks from little acorns grow, and so it is with the William & Gayle Cook Music Library. The "acorn" first appeared about 1918, in the form of a Victrola, a player piano with plenty of rolls (then standard in supporting music appreciation courses), and a few books and scores gathered into what the first head of the Music Department, Charles Diven Campbell, "liked to call a 'musical reading room.'" (1) Three years later Dean Winfred Merrill moved the collection into glass cases in his office, under the supervision of his secretary. The cataloged collections now consist of a total of some 560,686 items: 83,140 books and bound journals, 100,620 scores plus 222,377 performance parts, 134,640 sound recordings, 1,956 videocassettes or discs, and 17,953 microforms--but no player-piano rolls. Its growth has of course paralleled the similar burgeoning of what is now the School of Music, founded as a department in 1910, and as a school in 1921. EARLY DEVELOPMENT The growth of the library during its first twenty years was slow. By 1938, the first year in the new music building (now Merrill Hall), the collection numbered only 1,500 volumes, "supplemented by collections of scores and recordings." (2) Dean Robert L. Sanders wrote in his first annual report in June 1939 that the library "was little more than a good beginning and was without effective supervision." (3) On 1 July of that year, the first full-time librarian, Ethel Louise Lyman (1893-1974), arrived to take up her position after nearly seventeen years as music librarian at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Some of Lyman's success that followed was no doubt due to her long years of experience, and previous analytical visits to major collections elsewhere, beginning with the Sibley Music Library at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester in 1923. During a sabbatical leave in 1936 she had undertaken a survey of fifty-three American libraries, including the Library of Congress, and completed this study during the year after she left Smith College. While Sanders doubled the size of the School of Music faculty during the World War II years, Lyman increased the size of the library's collections within her first five years by nearly ten-fold, to 15,000 volumes and 3,000 sound recordings. Between 1948 and her retirement in 1959, she more than doubled the collection again, to 35,000 books, 80 sets of periodicals, more than 137,840 items of printed music, and in the Record Library 12,000 recordings plus 1,000 study scores. (4) Lyman must have been influenced and supported in her second decade at Indiana by the legendary Wilfred Bain, dean of the School of Music from 1947 to 1973. In his view, there were three foundations, or "posts," on which a great music school must rest. The first was a "splendid" orchestra, the second a "good" department of theory, and the third, "a good library, especially of scores and recordings." (5) Bain was particularly conscious of the isolated position of the university, in the midwestern section of the United States, fifty miles from the nearest city (Indianapolis), and two hundred miles from a metropolis (Chicago) with a major orchestra and an opera company. His strategy was to assure quality by quantity. Frequently he was heard to repeat his favorite aphorism: "It takes an awful lot of milk to get to the cream." (6) By 1960 total student enrollment had passed 700, and was still growing at a rate consistently higher than the university as a whole. (7) Lyman, too, shared that strategy in building the l ibrary's collections to support the growing faculty, student body, and curriculum. Musicologist Carol MacClintock oversaw operations in the library on an interim basis after Lyman's retirement in 1959 until the appointment later that year of Dorothy Ann Eckstrom, who had a B.M. from Northwestern University, and was pursuing an M.A. in library science at Indiana University. …


How do we finally bridge the belief and understanding gap that child and adolescent mental health really matters? In an era of unprecedented changes in commissioning, how do we make the new diverse range of commissioners deliver values-based care for children with mental health problems, and value for money for society over their lifespan? It is therefore really important that such an informed and influential person as the UK Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, has strongly supported prevention as well as intervention for children to include at all levels and in equal measure mental health. Her report (subtitled 'Our children deserve better: prevention pays') provides an important summary of English child and adolescent mental health service provision and intervention (Davies, 2013). Health inequalities and the social determinants of health are not, as Sir Michael Marmot so rightly states, a footnote to the determinants of health, they are the main issue (Strategic review of health inequalities in England post 2010, 2010). Anyone privileged to work in the field of child mental health knows that nowhere is this more relevant than in the lives of children who have mental health problems. So what has to be believed and acted upon?


The embodied environmental and socioeconomic impacts of building construction are rarely considered within industry. Renewable and certified resources will continue to provide a viable low impact supply chain for construction, yet the use of such low impact building materials (LIBM) remains a small proportion of the current market. Structural engineers should be encouraged to use LIBM and consider the impacts of building construction, and so the research aim was to create an informed and responsible approach for structural engineers to reduce the embodied impacts of their projects. The limited amount of academic literature on the consideration of embodied impacts within construction and the use of LIBM prompted a two-phase research methodology. The first Problem Exploration phase developed a rich understanding of the current context of embodied impacts within construction through an analysis of data gathered from an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings identified three key aspects to consider when developing an Embodied Impact Reduction Approach (EIRA); the alignment of the project-life cycle with influence, the limitation of time and costs, and the importance of support and education within the approach created. The second Action phase developed EIRA using the findings and supplementary data gathered from focus groups, which highlighted that EIRA should be flexible so as to be relevant to the breadth of projects that BuroHappold Engineering, who partially sponsored the research, work on. EIRA runs parallel to the RIBA Plan of Work, adapting to the different objectives, level of detail and information available at each project stage. Three components were developed; the Material Design Sheets, Carbon Calculator, and the Option Appraisal Support Technique (tOAST). tOAST was implemented on five projects to test its applicability, which identified that greater understanding of embodied impacts plus their relative importance to each other is required. Another key issue was the availability of appropriate embodied environmental data.


From the point of the EU law, the CJEU has the exclusive competence to interpret the EU legal norms and decide upon validity of the legal acts adopted by the EU institutions because it is the most effective method to ensure the unilateral interpretation of the EU law and to prevent its fragmentation. Thus, it can be presumed that all disputes between the Member States regarding the EU law must be solved by the CJEU. The paper aims at finding the answer to the question whether international courts under the international law must refuse their jurisdiction in cases where disputes of the Member States relate with the EU law. With the view of this aim, arguments arising from the international law (for instance, prohibition of intervening into affairs of another legal system, prohibition of abuse of laws), on the basis of which an international court should decline its jurisdiction, and applicability of such arguments to the situation discussed is assessed and an independent approach is formulated.


Automatic failure-path inference (AFPI) is an application-generic, automatic technique for dynamically discovering the failure dependency graphs of componentized Internet applications. AFPI's first phase is invasive, and relies on controlled fault injection to determine failure propagation; this phase requires no a priori knowledge of the application and takes on the order of hours to run. Once the system is deployed in production, the second, noninvasive phase of AFPI passively monitors the system, and updates the dependency graph as new failures are observed. This process is a good match for the perpetually-evolving software found in Internet systems; since no performance overhead is introduced, AFPI is feasible for live systems. We applied AFPI to J2EE and tested it by injecting Java exceptions into an e-commerce application and an online auction service. The resulting graphs of exception propagation are more detailed and accurate than what could be derived by time-consuming manual inspection or analysis of readily-available static application descriptions.


Particle-based simulations running on large highperformance computing systems over many time steps can generate an enormous amount of particle- and field-based data for post-processing and analysis. Achieving high-performance I/O for this data, effectively managing it on disk, and interfacing it with analysis and visualization tools can be challenging, especially for domain scientists who do not have I/O and data management expertise. We present the H5hut library, an implementation of several data models for particle-based simulations that encapsulates the complexity of HDF5 and is simple to use, yet does not compromise performance.


In modern conditions, the issues of achieving a balance between family obligations and work functions are becoming increasingly relevant. Such a balance between two important spheres of human activity can be achieved only if the main provisions of the concept of decent work are implemented in Russia, and in the conditions of forced mass transition to remote work, it is subject to serious risks. The purpose of the study is to identify the key problematic aspects of combining family functions and work activities of employees in the context of finding a balance between these categories, through the prism of criteria for decent work and achieving sustainable development Goals. To achieve the stated goal of this work, the authors analyzed the key indicators of the concept of decent work in Russia, as well as conducted an author's study of the family-work balance, which allowed us to formulate a portrait of an employed person who successfully combines work and family functions.


Students who want to be English language teachers enter teacher preparation programs viewing, teaching and learning from their own experience as students as pointed out by many researchers (e.g., Curtner-Smith, Hastie, & Kinchin, 2008; Richardson, 1996; Russell, 2008, Schweisfurth 2015). They want to teach the way they were taught while they were at the universities. Often, they have a role model, a teacher who serves as a guide an inspiration for them. After they graduate and start working as English teachers, what they face, in reality, sometimes overlaps with the information they were given as students. So, their beliefs about teaching alter and change depending on their teaching contexts. Relating theory and practice enables pre-service teachers to transfer the necessary knowledge and skills gained at the university level on actual teaching practice (Bell & Robinson, 2004). Awareness and enhancing educational processes require an understanding of teachers' views and actions. They are closely linked to teachers' strategies for coping with challenges and difficulties in their daily teaching routines and at the same time they influence students' motivation about the learning process. The purpose of this paper is to address the importance of teachers' beliefs and actual classroom practices about the importance of teaching prepositions in their classes. Also, the concept of face, loosing or saving face be it of the teachers or students is introduced in this paper. Cases when teachers' beliefs converge or diverge with real class practices are discussed pointing out the factors that influence teaching practices. Teachers' beliefs and current practices are important for understanding and improving the educational processes. The authors will compare the teachers' beliefs and their actual practices in English classes and how is the concept of face employed in EFL classes. For the purpose of this paper, three English teachers out of 20 were randomly selected during a training seminar provided By British Council, Albania. The concept of face is examined through three English teachers who teach at a primary school and are observed how they provide explanation, regarding prepositions, to their students. The findings show that the concept of face is not introduced to students in any class or subject. It is recommended that students should be taught about the concept of face, types of face, how they are related to individuals and the influence that the concept of face has on teachers' daily teaching routines. Moreover, there is no study on the concept of face in the Albanian context and especially in the EFL classes. So, in the future other studies are needed to stress the importance of the concept of face in the Albanian culture.


The establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the midst of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina was seen by many as a radical innovation in security thinking and practice. This article examines the security implications of international justice in the Balkans by situating the analysis within the broader context of international interventions in the region. The article starts by elaborating a distinctive conception of 'security' that emerges from the pursuit of international justice, addressing questions such as security for whom, security from what and security by what means. It then examines the jurisprudence of the ICTY to determine whether judicial practice has tended to promote this distinctive approach to security. The final section explores the interactions of international justice and liberal peace interventions in the Balkans, focusing in particular on peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. The article argues that the revival of international justice, half a century after the Nuremberg Trials can be understood as signalling a shift in security paradigms from statism to human rights, while also giving rise to deep tensions between them. These tensions are most clearly expressed in the interactions of international justice with other security instruments of the liberal peace, which are often employed by the international community in situations where international crimes occur.


This interdisciplinary project involved science and social studies educators in an experientially-based program that emphasized the interrelationships among energy, environment, economics, and politics. The influence of the institute on teachers' attitudes and understandings relative to these areas was examined. Results showed significant shifts in teachers' attitudes and opinions toward energy resources and policy-making. The teachers' understandings of the interrelationships among energy, environment, and public policy were enhanced so they could formulate philosophical positions and make informed decisions regarding these issues. Introduction Finding solutions to our energy needs concerns all segments of the American society. Issues related to types of energy, costs, and environmental impacts will continue to be primary concerns well into the twenty-first century. Will the American public turn away from gasoline-powered automobiles in favor of those powered by natural gas or electric motors? Will we develop an efficient form of mass transportation? How will our houses be heated and cooled? What kinds of energy sources will run our business and industries? What will be the roles of businesses, industry, the federal government and the educational system in the decision making process? The awareness of energy related issues and the major impact it has on our society has prompted educators to begin exploring the topic with students. Students need to investigate the energy decisions facing our country along with all the other countries of the world if our society is to survive. The need for energy education in the schools caused a group of science and social studies educators to develop and implement a national interdisciplinary program in energy education that includes the development of energy related teaching materials. The project, titled Energy, Environment, and Policy Choices: Summer Institutes for Science and Social Studies Educators, was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The three year grant provided the funds to establish the Center for Energy Education (CEE). The CEE is a troika linking the United States Department of Energy, the University of Oklahoma, and the Close Up Foundation(1). Beginning at the Energy Center on OU's campus, 57 program participants from across the country examined concepts and issues related to energy and environment, and how the interdependence of energy and environment significantly influences daily life. During the second week of the institute, participants went to Washington, D.C., to examine the processes government officials use to make critical decisions involving interrelationships between energy, environment, and public policy. The experiences and activities of the summer institute integrated the highly technological data of the rapidly changing energy field with the environmental impacts of energy utilization and its economic and political impacts. Participants engaged in discussions and activities that illustrated the complex interrelationships among energy, environment and public policy. Such experiences were designed to help these teachers attain an understanding of these interrelationships and to formulate ideas and opinions needed to make informed, logical decisions, the knowledge prepared teachers to help their students learn about energy and environment issues and develop thinking processes necessary to make informed decisions that affect society. Theoretical Foundations and Purposes Previous research in energy education has explored attitudes and opinions about energy resources, environmental issues and socioeconomic concerns (Jackson, 1985). This research focused on individuals' opinions of energy as "technocentric" or "ecocentric" (O'Riordan, 1976). Technocentrism is the view that the biosphere has unlimited resources, and technology should continue to develop to tap such resources, solve related environmental problems, and to foster economic growth and sustain the quality of life (in material terms). …


Stars that blow up and bug out When stars move at speeds that will launch them out of our Galaxy, eyes often turn to our core supermassive black hole as the slingshot responsible. For at least one hypervelocity star, however, the galactic center remains innocent. Geier et al. traced back the trajectory of a compact helium star, US 708, and deduced a different origin in a binary. In this scenario, US 708 acted as the mass donor in a type Ia supernova pair, which spun US708 to the point of ejection. By knowing this star's exotic past, we learn both about its specific history and about the nature of all type Ia supernovae. Science, this issue p. 1126 Reconstruction of the trajectory for a star escaping the Milky Way points to an origin in a close binary pair. Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) travel with velocities so high that they exceed the escape velocity of the Galaxy. Several acceleration mechanisms have been discussed. Only one HVS (US 708, HVS 2) is a compact helium star. Here we present a spectroscopic and kinematic analysis of US 708. Traveling with a velocity of ~1200 kilometers per second, it is the fastest unbound star in our Galaxy. In reconstructing its trajectory, the Galactic center becomes very unlikely as an origin, which is hardly consistent with the most favored ejection mechanism for the other HVSs. Furthermore, we detected that US 708 is a fast rotator. According to our binary evolution model, it was spun-up by tidal interaction in a close binary and is likely to be the ejected donor remnant of a thermonuclear supernova.


The development of composite materials (CM) in the systems "metal-refractory compound" is one of the up-to-date trends in design of novel materials aimed at operating under the conditions of significant loads at high temperature. To design such material, NiAl, which is widely used for deposition of protective coatings on parts of gas-turbine engines, was selected for a matrix. To strengthen a NiAl under the conditions of intense wear and a broad temperature range (up to 1000 °C), it is reasonable to add refractory inclusions. Introduction of refractory borides into matrix leads to a marked increase in metal wear resistance. In order to research the behavior of the designed composites at high temperatures and to study the influence of oxides on the friction processes, the authors carried out high temperature oxidation of CM of the above systems at 1000 °С for 90 min. It was determined that all of the composites were oxidized selectively and that the thickness of oxide layers formed on the boride inclusions is 3 – 7 times that on the oxides formed on the NiAl matrix. The mechanism of wear of gas-thermal coatings of the NiAl – МеB2 systems was studied for conditions of high temperature tribotests using the «pin-on-disc» technique. The obtained results indicate that introduction of TiB2, CrB2 and ZrB2 leads to their more intense oxidation during high temperature tribotests as compared to the matrix. The oxides formed on refractory borides act as solid lubricants, which promote a decrease in wear of the contact friction pairs. For more detailed investigation of the effect of tribo-oxidation products on the friction processes, tribotests were conducted for prior oxidized (at 900 °С) coatings NiAl – 15 wt.% CrB2 (TiB2, ZrB2).DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.22.1.8093


Biofilm is a compact coating formed on various artificial and physiologic surfaces by a population of microorganisms which in this habitat establish a close cooperation, exploiting both the physical interactions that stabilize the community and chemical cooperation, engaging numerous agents to modify the environment, i.e., to influence the acidity, nutrient acquisition, or oxygen availability. Microorganisms can also communicate using quorum-sensing molecules carrying specific messages. Some microbes temporarily dominate, while others are constantly replaced by different community members. But these co-operations or competitions have a deep sense—they serve to protect the whole community against the defense system of the host to assure survival. The oral cavity is inhabited by diverse microorganisms, including bacteria, but also yeast-like fungi from the genus Candida that stay under a tight control of the host as long as its immune system is not weakened; then these relatively mild commensals convert to dangerous pathogens that start the invasion often in collaboration with other microbes. Elongated hyphal forms of fungal cells favor the biofilm type of growth and communication with other microbes supporting immune resistance of the biofilm. In this chapter, we discuss the mechanisms of interactions between bacteria and C. albicans in the oral cavity, their communication, host responses, and possible strategies of anti-biofilm treatment.


Abstract An important prerequisite for the renewal of Finland's industrial and economic base is the ability of the universities to promote the renewal of the knowledge base. The UNI project studied ways in which changes in external funding mechanisms and recent governance changes in Finnish universities have changed the framework conditions influencing innovativeness and innovation in university research. Innovation here refers to novel approaches and potentially, breakthrough research, requiring risk-taking. The UK provided a comparative perspective for the study. This report reprints four separate policy briefs and reports that the UNI project has produced and provides an overall concluding chapter for them. A major conclusion of the study is that, so far, there has not been much impact from the recent policy changes on intellectual innovation in research in Finland. University governance influences research content very indirectly and is mediated by multiple other factors, meaning that policy changes are not, at least in the short run, translated into changed research content. As far as research funding organisations are concerned, Finland has not had a funding organisation that encourages risk-taking and intellectual innovation in research. Recent policy changes have not fundamentally altered this situation. In the UK, the established practice of performance measurement of universities seems to narrow notions of appropriate research content and standards of performance and is becoming an ominous factor in reducing variety and risk-taking in university research. This phenomenon is further developed in the UK, but Finland seems now to be 'catching up'. In industry-university collaboration short-term commissions and most of Tekes' industrial collaboration support draw on existing knowledge and know-how and are not intended to promote highly innovative and high-risk activities. More flexible and longer-term contracts can in principle promote such research activities provided that the knowledge they produce will be in the public arena since scientific breakthroughs, to bear fruit, require a great deal of further development and wide adoption of the novel concepts, methods etc. by the scientific community.


John Hill (1986) argues that cinema is not just simply an economic industry. In his work on British Cinema, he emphasizes that we need to understand the idea of the relations of production or the political economy of the industry in which the products are produced. The film industry we had earlier (circa 1930s - 1970) was one of the
main culture industries in Malaysia. The industry however is a structure that comes out of a competitive liberal market, which in turn is due to the expansion of capitalism and the process of colonization. This paper argues that film industry is an economic institution and in the case of the Malaysian film industry, economy was a crucial factor which determined its development. Another essential factor is the function of the state in regulating and controlling the industry. In a neo-capitalist state like Malaysia, the
interplay between capitalism and its forces, the function of the state, and the legacy of the dominant ideology are important and should not be underestimated and I would argue that any analysis of Malaysian cinema must be located within and grounded on a wider analysis of the capitalist economic and social system, politics and the role of the state. Based on this line of argument this paper is set to examine and locate the film industry against the historical background which gives rise to a new kind of direction and a new form of cinema, loosely termed as the 'independent' production. The term 'independent' however, seems to be problematic. With the new kind of development in the industry that happened in the last 5 years or so, spearheaded by the production of short films and feature films that are 'different' in comparison to the mainstream production, the term 'indies' has changed significantly.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To examine the relationship between perceived social support, uncertainty, and their individual and combined effects on quality of life (QOL) among Latina breast cancer survivors.

DESIGN
Descriptive, correlational study.

SETTING
Selected private hospitals in Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Manhattan and the American Cancer Society units of Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Queens, New York.

SAMPLE
89 Latina breast cancer survivors ages 30-86 years.

METHODS
Participants completed a personal data sheet, the Social Support Questionnaire, the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale-Community form, and the Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index-Cancer Version III at home and returned the questionnaires to the investigators via postage-paid envelope.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Perceived social support, uncertainty, and QOL.

FINDINGS
A significant positive correlation was noted between perceived social support and total QOL. A significant negative correlation was found between uncertainty and QOL. Social support predicted 15.1% of QOL variance, and uncertainty predicted 10.4% of additional QOL variance. Together, these two variables predicted 20.5% of QOL variance.

CONCLUSIONS
Perceived social support and uncertainty play a pivotal role in managing or maintaining QOL in Latina breast cancer survivors.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Social support, uncertainty, and QOL are essential variables that should be acknowledged when delivering health care to Latina breast cancer survivors. Nurses cognizant of Latina breast cancer survivors' issues and concerns in areas of social support and uncertainty are in a unique position to enhance QOL.


This paper presents a scalable and low power low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoder design for the next generation wireless handset SoC. The methodology is based on high level synthesis: PICO (program-in chip-out) tool was used to produce efficient RTL directly from a sequential un-timed C algorithm. We propose two parallel LDPC decoder architectures: (1) per-layer decoding architecture with scalable parallelism, and (2) multi-layer pipelined decoding architecture to achieve higher throughput. Based on the PICO technology, we have implemented a two-layer pipelined decoder on a TSMC 65nm 0.9V 8-metal layer CMOS technology with a core area of 1.2 mm2. The maximum achievable throughput is 415 Mbps when operating at 400 MHz clock frequency and the estimated peak power consumption is 180 mW.


As we know nutrients are necessary for the development and proper functioning of the human organism. Bioavailabilities of nutrients are the major concern rather than the supply of an adequate amount of nutrients in the diet. Many of the researches have been shown that the consumption of probiotics along with dairy foods buffers the acidity of the stomach and increases the bacterial survival rate into the intestine. A dairy product with probiotics also provides many of essential nutrients, including protein and calcium. From all the necessary nutrients the calcium having a major role in the human body including the development of bone and teeth are also regulating enzymes and many more. Calcium is the most essential nutrient, about 99% of calcium found in teeth and bone in the body and only 1% is found in serum. A numbers of researches have shown that adequate amount of calcium intake leads to reduce risk of fracture, Osteoporosis and Hypoglycaemia and diabetes in some population. Many of the researches suggested that the Probiotics having a significant role in improvement of calcium uptake and absorption, hence the present review gives information about the relationship of probiotics and calcium, ensuring higher bioavailability of calcium and promising a better bone health. Here, the review study showed a significant role of probiotics in calcium absorption and thus the bioavailabilities. Moreover, it is focused on glimpse of various studies and in-vitro models associated with the phenomena of calcium absorption and uptake.


An alcohol not full-filled high-birefringence photonic crystal fiber (HiBi-PCF) temperature sensor based on an optical fiber Sagnac interferometer (OFSI) is demonstrated and investigated in detail. A new phenomenon that the resonant dip wavelengths of the temperature sensor blueshift with temperature increasing is observed, which is contrary to that of the previously reported alcohol filled HiBi-PCF OFSI temperature sensor. By considering the influences of the group birefringence and the thermo expansion of alcohol, this phenomenon is explained very well. The temperature sensitivity of the proposed sensor is about -1.17 nm/°C and is only one-sixth of that of the alcohol full-filled HiBi-PCF OSFI.


Smart grid takes advantage of communication technologies for efficient energy management and utilization. It entails sacrifice from consumers in terms of reducing load during peak hours by using a dynamic energy pricing model. To enable an active participation of consumers in load management, the concept of home energy gateway (HEG) has recently been proposed in the literature. However, the HEG concept is rather new, and the literature still lacks to address challenges related to data representation, seamless discovery, interoperability, security, and privacy. This paper presents the design of a communication framework that effectively copes with the interoperability and integration challenges between devices from different manufacturers. The proposed communication framework offers seamless auto-discovery and zero-configuration-based networking between heterogeneous devices at consumer sites. It uses elliptic-curve-based security mechanism for protecting consumers' privacy and providing the best possible shield against different types of cyberattacks. Experiments in real networking environment validated that the proposed communication framework is lightweight, secure, portable with low-bandwidth requirement, and flexible to be adopted for dynamic energy management in smart grid.


The debate over the causes of the Muslim world lagging behind the ascent of Western Europe and failing to evolve adequate institutional and financial tools to counter the challenges of Modernity is of keen interest to economic historians. Works addressing this complex issue by two leading Turkish scholars, Professors Timur Kuran and Murat A‡izakA§a, provide a focus for discussion of this debate and are here summarized and the authors' divergent theses contrasted. At the heart of the debate is the question whether Islamic religious and legal structures inadvertently or directly hindered Muslim societies in the Middle East over the past several centuries from modernising their economic and financial systems. Furthermore, is there a viable alternative form of capitalism found in Islam? Several critical responses or contrasting views (M. Shahid Ebrahim, et al ., 2012) are briefly presented, along with the implications for Islamic economics.


The functional aspects of thyroid, endocrine pancreas and parathyroid glands in differing age and reproductive states of dwarf goat were studied while observing their structure at differing age and circulatory pattern of the hormones in normal and experimentally altered conditions.

Estrumate (125 µg cloprostenol/head) synchronized females exhibited 19.79 ± 0.67 days estrous and 148.11 ± 0.81 days gestation length. Increase in body weight during pregnancy and drop following parturition was correlated with the number of fetuses. Male kids had; greater birth weight, better survival and fast growth.

Right thyroidal lobe is morphologically less developed than left one with increasing follicular and reducing epithelial cell size with advancing age.

Markedly elected TSH eight hours postnatal was restored to birth level on second day with gradual increase up to fifteenth day, thereafter reduced on sixth weed and without further change up to three months of age. Except a rise at 40th hour and between 5th to 15th day in T3 and an elevation in T3:T4 ratio on the second day, both of THs and their ratio showed consistent reduction after birth to three months of age. The results expound that peripheral metabolism was established postnatally on the second day with stimulated pace up to 5th day however at lower magnitude afterwards.

THS and thyroxine both increased around estrus and decreased during early diestrus, later only TSH decreased T3 reduced at estrus, increased during metestrus in PGF2I± synchronized cycle but reduced in natural cycle, however, increased during diestrus in both category of the cycles. Changes in plasmatic T3 resembled with T3:T4 ratio during different phases of the cycle. Plasma TSH and T4 decreased with unaltered T3 and increased T3:T4 ratio after conception. T4 and T3 both did not change but TSH increased and T3:T4 ratio decreased up to about 50 day of gestation. TSH did not change while THs and their ratio increased during late phase of mid pregnancy. TSH was decreased to its nadir while oppositely THs and their ratio increased to their highest concentration around 100 days gestation. Thereafter, TSH remained unaltered a week prepartum; whereas thyroid hormones and their ratio decreased continuously till parturition. Reduced TSH after kidding, was rehabilitated in a week and remained unaltered during the 1st month but reduced during the 2nd and 3rd month of lactation. T4 and T3 level increased up to mid and reduced afterwards in late lactation. T3:T4 ratio did not vary from T3 pattern throughout lactation except an abrupt elevation during the first week.

Exogenous TRH enhanced TSH and PRL release effectively with no effect on GH Plasmatic TSH increased maximally, thirty minutes after 3 µg/kg and at an hour after 18 µg/kg and at an hour after 18 µg/kg, whereas PRL fifteen minutes after 3amd 18 µg/kg and an hour after 9 µg/kg. thereafter, both hormones decreased up to three hours in all groups T4 and T3 elevated regularly up to three hours in all three groups. T3:T4 ratio increased after TRH but independently to the doses. TSH administration (0.5 µg/kg) enhanced THs to their extreme level two hours after, which reduced almost to pretest level at 24th hour. T3:T4 ratio increased more in TSH infected group than control bucks.

After ten days of Bt4 and Bt3 administrations (200 µg/kg/day) hemoglobin level was greater in T4 treated group only but in T3 group too after 20 days of the treatments. Plasmatic levels of total and different fractions of lipids lessened and glucose increased during the treatment period and recovered after the withdrawal of the treatments. During IVGTT, glucose utilization was prompt in THs treated goats, because of enhanced secretion of insulin.

Triangular shaped stratified pancreas had two type of islets; insulin dominant islets were in abundance near the liver and glucagon dominant near duodenum or mid part of the pancreas AŸ-cell averaged at about 40% and I±-cell about 15% of total cell population without age related change.

Glucose and insulin at 16th hour after birth were noticeably greater than their levels just after birth. Birth level of glucose was restored on first day but insulin and glucagon on third day. Afterwards, glucagon reduced up to three weeks then increased sharply up to 12 weeks. Insulin and glucose both were increased for 15 days later kept on decreasing up to twelve weeds of age.

Plasma glucose increased without variation in glucagon and insulin around estrus. However, insulin exhibited a pulsatile increase in early diestrus and glucagon reduced in late diestrus. Glucose and glucagon were reduced and insulin increased after conception. Later elevated insulin level remained unaltered for ninety days, it enhanced further to a peak around 105 days and reduced afterwards but elevated consistently near parturition. Glucose level fluctuated for the 100 days of gestation but reduced during late pregnancy and increased before parturition. Glucagon increased steeply throughout gestation which decreased near parturition and was restored in a week of lactation. Glucose and glucagon reduced and insulin increased consistently with advancing lactation.

Absorption of orally loaded glucose (1.0 g/kg) and subsequently its clearance was quicker in kids, lactating and pregnant goats. The loading increased plasmatic insulin up to 11/2 hour in kids and transitionally at on hour in pregnant goats only. Intravenously loaded blucose (two injections of 100 mg/kg with ten mints interval) was utilized adequately by adults, however, in females, its clearance was accelerated in lactation and slowed down in pregnancy. Goats at different age and reproductive stages failed to achieve pretest glucose level in two hours. Glucose-stimulated insulin release was greater in kids than adults and in pregnant and lactating than NPNL females. The clearance of released hormone was prompt in kids, pregnant and lactating goats.

Postinsulin (1.0 unit/kg b.w.) hypoglycemia was prompt in kids and lactating goats than in adult males and NPNL and pregnant females. Glycemica level was restored in kids and NPNL females with no appreciable change in two hours during lactation and pregnancy. The administration of glucagon (20 µg/kg) caused greater hyperglycemia in kids and pregnant goats. Released glucose was utilized efficiently by kids and lactating only. Intravenous glibenclamide administration reduced glucose concentration and stimulated insulin release which depended on the pretest glucose level and dose of the drug. Only high dose (5.0 mg/kg b.w) caused significant reduction in glycemia due to greater insulin release.

Calcitocytes were slightly larger in young than in adult animals averaging about 7% of total thyroidal cells without any age associated change. Two pairs of parathyroid gland were present containing densely populated chief cells at the periphery, more pronounceable at old age.

Elevated PTH-m up to 24 hours and calcium at 8th hour after birth were reduced to birth levels around 40th hour. PTH-m again increased up to a week and did not change further whereas calcium showed regular reduction, with peaks on 7th and 21st day, up to three months of age CT markedly increased during 8 and 48 hours except a drop at 32nd hour, after that it reduced up to 21st day noticeably (with peaks on 4,7 and 11th day) and slightly up to three months.

Circulatory calcium an CT decreased after estrus and increased maximally with peaks levels on 8th day for CT and 9th day before the next estrus. PTH-m level gradually increased during pro-, estrus and early metestrus phases but diminished during late metestrus with no change afterwards. Plasmatic CT reduced with no change in calcium and PTH-m for two months of pregnancy. Subsequently CT remained as such except a transitional increase between 100-125 day of gestation and around parturition whereas calcium and PTH-m increased gradually up to about 100th day and subsequently reduced till the end of gestation. Calcium increased positively for the fifteen days and negatively during rest of lactation with slight deviation. CT elevated at kidding was; restored in two days, did not change considerably for a month, remained elevated during 2nd month and reduced during 3rd month of lactation. Reduction in PTH-m onset before parturition continued after kidding for a week, increased up to 15th day, then reduced up to 56 days and again increased up to end of lactation.

Increased plasmatic calcium following infusion of calcium gluconate (50 mg elemental calcium/kg b.w) was cleared efficiently by kids and pregnant goats only. Plasma CT increased tremendously after the load in kids and early lactating goats, however, was metabolized slowly in kids and NPNL females. The loading had reduced PTH-m markedly in kids and early lactating females.


DOI: 10.12762/2018.AL14-08 T he design of vibration absorbers is a challenging task for complex real-life structures. Although several technological solutions have now reached maturity, a need for better efficiency in terms of added mass, broadband frequency range and level of reduction requires the study of new ideas and concepts coming from nonlinear dynamics. In this paper an introduction to a class of absorbers called Nonlinear Energy Sinks (NES) is proposed to highlight their potential for vibration mitigation. After a reminder of the different categories of vibration control, some principles of NES and their relationship with linear absorbers are presented. Two experimental NES prototypes are studied and the results have shown interesting capacities for vibration mitigation.


Epileptic encephalopathies with continuous spike-and-waves during sleep (CSWS) are characterized by cognitive or language impairment, and are occasionally associated with pathogenic variants of the GRIN2A gene. In these disorders, speech dysfunction could be either related to cerebral dysfunction caused by the GRIN2A deleterious variant or intense interictal epileptic activity. Here, we present a patient with apraxia of speech, clearly linked to severity of epilepsy, carrying a GRIN2A variant. A 6-year-old boy developed acute regression of expressive language following epileptic seizures, leading to complete mutism, at which time EEG revealed CSWS. MEG showed bilateral superior parietal and opercular independent CSWS onsets and PET with fluorodeoxyglucose demonstrated significant increase in relative glucose metabolism in bilateral superior parietal regions. Corticosteroids induced a regression of CSWS together with impressive improvement in speech abilities. This case supports the hypothesis of a triggering role for epileptic discharges in speech deterioration observed in children carrying a deleterious variant of GRIN2A. When classic antiepileptic drugs fail to control epileptic activity, corticosteroids should be considered. Multimodal functional neuroimaging suggests a role for opercular and superior parietal areas in acquired epileptic opercular syndrome. [Published with video sequences on www.epilepticdisorders.com].


The international branch campus has emerged as a popular form of transnational higher education but to date little research has been undertaken on student perceptions and experiences, other than the student feedback evaluations conducted by institutions. This research employed a survey questionnaire to investigate student perceptions of study at international branch campuses in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the country which hosts the largest number of branch campuses globally. Across the seven dimensions examined – programme effectiveness, quality of lecturers and teaching, student learning, assessment and feedback, learning resources, use of technology, and facilities/social life – it was found that students are largely satisfied. The findings refute many of the criticisms of international branch campuses in the literature, regarding quality, political or ideological issues.


A baryonic decay of the $B_c^+$ meson, $B_c^+\to J/\psi p\overline{p}\pi^+$, is observed for the first time, with a significance of $7.3$ standard deviations, in $pp$ collision data collected with the LHCb detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $3.0$ fb$^{-1}$ taken at center-of-mass energies of $7$ and $8$ $\mathrm{TeV}$. With the $B_c^+\to J/\psi \pi^+$ decay as normalization channel, the ratio of branching fractions is measured to be \begin{equation*} \frac{\mathcal{B}(B_c^+\to J/\psi p\overline{p}\pi^+)}{\mathcal{B}(B_c^+\to J/\psi \pi^+)} = 0.143^{\,+\,0.039}_{\,-\,0.034}\,(\mathrm{stat})\pm0.013\,(\mathrm{syst}). \end{equation*} The mass of the $B_c^+$ meson is determined as $M(B_c^+)=6274.0\pm1.8\,(\mathrm{stat})\pm0.4\,(\mathrm{syst})\,\mathrm{MeV}/c^2$, using the $B_c^+\to J/\psi p\overline{p}\pi^+$ channel.


Biological adaptation is a powerful mechanism that makes many disorders hard to combat. In this paper we study steering such adaptation through sequential planning. We propose a general approach where we leverage Monte Carlo tree search to compute a treatment plan, and the biological entity is modeled by a black-box simulator that the planner calls during planning. We show that the framework can be used to steer a biological entity modeled via a complex signaling pathway network that has numerous feedback loops that operate at different rates and have hard-to-understand aggregate behavior. We apply the framework to steering the adaptation of a patient's immune system. In particular, we apply it to a leading T cell simulator (available in the biological modeling package BioNetGen). We run experiments with two alternate goals: developing regulatory T cells or developing effector T cells. The former is important for preventing autoimmune diseases while the latter is associated with better survival rates in cancer patients. We are especially interested in the effect of sequential plans, an approach that has not been explored extensively in the biological literature. We show that for the development of regulatory cells, sequential plans yield significantly higher utility than the best static therapy. In contrast, for developing effector cells, we find that (at least for the given simulator, objective function, action possibilities, and measurement possibilities) single-step plans suffice for optimal treatment.


The heat localization approach has promised a new route to solar steam generation with a higher efficiency than that of the current bulk heating approaches. In this approach, the material structure localizes the absorbed solar energy, forms a hot spot, and wicks the fluid to the hot spot for steam generation. The non-equilibrium nature of this approach minimizes energy losses leading to its superior performance compared to equilibrium approaches. However, to date, the generated steam is only at ambient pressure and not suitable for high pressure applications. Herein, we report development of a flexible artificially-networked material structure that is highly efficient for ambient and high pressure steam generation with integrity for large-scale and varied geometrical implementations. This flexible material is composed of a porous polymer skeleton coated with exfoliated graphite and artificially-networked 3D veins. The porous skeleton and the interconnected veins are developed in two distinct fabrication steps. The structure generates steam in the temperature range of 100–156 °C and at the pressure range of 100–525 kPa under solar irradiation. This material structure promises a robust and highly efficient approach for solar steam generation for both ambient pressure applications (e.g. solar ponds and desalination) and high pressure applications (e.g. power generation, solar cooling technologies, and hygiene systems).


In February 2001, the European Commission published a White Paper proposing that a single new system of chemical regulation should be applied throughout the Member States of the European Union. The proposed Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) system was to include both new and existing chemicals, with the aim of ensuring that sufficient pertinent data were made available to enable human health and the environment to be protected. The policy was founded on the principle of sustainable industrial development, and ambitiously attempted to incorporate the needs and views of key stakeholder organisations, such as industry, trade associations, consumer groups, environmentalists, animal welfarists and Member State governments. During the period between the publication of the White Paper and the on-line publication of consultation documents, as part of a public consultation exercise, in May 2003, many of these key stakeholder organisations produced material in support of or critical of the White Paper, either in part or as a whole. In this paper, we have attempted to review this extensive material and to present it in the context of the current chemical regulatory system that the REACH system will replace. Emphasis is placed on the impact of the new policy on the number of animals used in the testing regimes within the REACH system and the inclusion of alternative methods into the legislation. Although supportive of the overriding aims of the new policy, FRAME believes that the fundamental concept of a risk-free environment is flawed, and that the new REACH system will involve the unjustifiable use of millions of laboratory animals. The new policy does include alternative methods, particularly for baseset substances. Nevertheless, alternative testing methods that are already available have been excluded and replaced with outdated in vivo versions. There is also insufficient detail with regard to the further development and validation of alternative methods, particularly for substances of high concern, such as endocrine disrupters or reproductive toxins, for which no alternative testing methods currently exist.


In this paper we have proved that the assertion on the existence of residual motion of the Earth rotation axis within the Earth is a result of erroneous interpretation of the zenith distance (angle) measurements with instruments using as a reference the plumb-in line or artificial horizon. The functional relationship between the plumb-in line deviation and Moon's perigee position has been established for an arbitrary point on the rotating Earth surface. This relationship manifests itself as variations in the gravitational acceleration vector direction and magnitude at the observation point or, in other words, as periodical deviations of the plumb-in line (local vertical). The results of our work show that it is necessary to revise some postulates of metrology, gravimetry, astronomy, geophysics and satellite navigation.


Study objective: To determine the frequency of relapse of asthma in young adults in remission at 18 years of age, during a follow-up period of 8 years, and to identify possible prognostic markers for relapse. Design: Longitudinal study of birth cohort (n 1,037) born in New Zealand in 1972–1973. Setting: University hospital research clinic. Measurements: Participants were assessed at 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 21, and 26 years of age using a respiratory questionnaire (all ages), spirometry (all ages), bronchodilator response (18 years and 26 years of age), methacholine challenge (9, 11, 13, 15, and 21 years of age), and allergen skin-prick testing (13 years and 21 years of age). Results: Approximately one third of study members (35%) with asthma in remission at 18 years of age relapsed by 21 years or 26 years of age. Atopy and lower FEV1/FVC ratio at 18 years of age were significant independent prognostic factors for relapse in multiple logistic regression analyses. Increased responsiveness to methacholine (provocative concentration 10%) at 21 years of age were more common among those with relapse, but the positive and negative predictive values for a previous positive methacholine challenge test result at 15 years of age were low. Asthma after relapse was generally mild (mean FEV1 97.1% predicted). Totally new adult asthma developed by 26 years of age in 9% of study members who had no asthma or wheezing at any time up to 18 years of age. Conclusions: Subsequent relapse of previously diagnosed asthma in remission at 18 years of age occurs in one in three young adults. Such relapse is not easily predicted, especially by measurements of airway responsiveness. A history of asthma currently in remission should not be used to prejudice employment opportunities for young adults. (CHEST 2005; 127:845–850)


Aim To determine risk factors for poor visual outcome following cataract surgery in Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada (VKH) disease. Methods Retrospective review of all VKH patients who underwent cataract surgery, for demographics, initial corticosteroid dose, treatment outcome, quiescence at time of cataract surgery, perioperative corticosteroid prophylaxis, preoperative best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), cataract surgery technique, intraocular lens implanted, additional surgical procedures, complications and BCVA at 6 and 12 months postsurgery. Results 28 of 105 VKH patients (50 eyes) had cataract surgery. The mean age at surgery was 55±13 years. The mean duration of postoperative follow-up was 89.8 months (range 8–252 months). At 12 months postsurgery, no patients lost more than two lines of their preoperative acuity. Forty-one eyes (82%) improved by two or more Snellen lines. Thirty-four eyes (68%) had a BCVA of 20/40 or better. Sixteen eyes (32%) had a poor visual acuity, nine (18%) from pre-existing macular lesions, two from cystoid macular oedema, one from posterior capsule opacification and four from disease recurrence. Recurrent inflammation was the only significant risk factor for poor visual outcome (p=0.004, χ2 test). Conclusion Recurrent inflammation is a critical poor prognostic factor for cataract surgery in VKH, but with appropriate management, good visual outcomes can be achieved.


On March 28, 1839, a coroner's inquest presented at the rural Iredell County, NC farm of Mr. John Hoover, to investigate the alleged death of "one Mira a female slave the property of… the said John Hoover…". An examination of the freshly exhumed body of Mira, then but one short day dead, led to only one conclusion: Mr. Hoover was "taken into penal custody on the spot, under the capital charge of murder." In trial before the North Carolina Superior Court, Iredell County, Hoover was convicted of the charge and sentenced to hang. This stark verdict was affirmed summarily by the North Carolina Supreme Court in early 1840, Mr. Hoover being publicly executed in May of that year, for "the murder of his own female slave…". The scant, 3-page 5-paragraph opinion of Mr. Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin for the Court has garnered little academic attention over the years, the few scholars addressing it generally hailing its "progressive stance" in favor of slaves facing institutional mistreatment, reflecting the court's consistent "liberality toward slaves in all cases involving their personal security as human beings…". Not so fast. For if law was rightly used to hurry Mr. Hoover off into eternity for the taking of a human life, it must not be missed that it was law – the common law of human slavery – that uniquely devalued that life in such a way as to deliver it to that man for the easy taking. In exempting the 'slave' victim from the protection of the common law of battery as the state Supreme Court had done in State v. Mann 10 years prior, could it not have imagined the inevitable results where such physical 'correction' was wholly undergirded by law? If the law turned a blind eye to every fierce stroke against the flesh of a human being within the legally created and garrisoned institution of 'slavery' in the midst of a republican democracy, how could it legitimately be concerned with the one stroke that extinguished that legally diminished life? With regard to the broader matter of justice at the heart of this singular event, what is really going on here? This paper seeks to look carefully at this unique opinion in the context of the developed and developing common law of slavery of that day, recovering a very different view of its ultimate place in the edifice of the relevant legal culture constraining and animating the society in question. Turning from the case's factual importance to its artifactual significance and value, the paper seeks to consider the place of law in both refining and defining culture, to its benefit or, here, to its ultimate confusion and distress, it is suggested. Though the case at its heart is small in scope and regional in focus, this study suggests that it in fact implicates a much larger and more visceral story, one of intellectual significance and of contemporary importance and application. Sampling from a broad area of intellectual inquiry – legal history, law and society, jurisprudence, justice and the like – the study attempts to place the case at the significant crossroads of law and culture, asking questions of it that are both far-reaching and contemporarily significant. In this way, in sampling broadly from a host of relevant social interests, it should appeal to a broad reading audience.


It is a well-known fact that theoretical methodologies play a crucial role to assure an adequate structural assignment of gas-phase clusters. Particularly, in heavy-element containing clusters the inclusion of relativistic effects (scalar and spin–orbit coupling) can significantly affect their chemistry. Therefore, these effects become the keystone on their structural determination. In our work, the way in which relativistic effects were treated, as well as their influence in the process of an adequate identification of lowest-energy isomer (the global minima – "GM" – energy structure), were evaluated in small lead clusters. The potential energy surfaces of small Pbn (n = 3–10) clusters was explored by means of the gradient embedded genetic algorithm program (GEGA). Subsequently, the most stable isomers were re-optimized incorporating relativistic effects through two different approximations: (i) using relativistic effective core potentials (RECPs) or pseudopotentials, which mimics the scalar and spin–orbit coupling relativistic effects (SR and SO) of the core electrons; and (ii) using relativistic Hamiltonians (with proper all-electron basis sets), like, the zeroth-order regular approximation (ZORA) to the Dirac equation, in which the scalar (SR) and spin–orbit coupling (SOC) relativistic effects were also included. The results evidence that methodologies including SOC effect allow to identify the GM energy structure correctly in all the studied cases. Besides, the GEGA algorithm, using a modest RECP, provides good initial structures that become GM after re-optimization at the SOC level.


Pyrethroid insecticides are highly toxic to many aquatic organisms. The aim of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of the commercial products Cyperkill 25 EC (active compound 250 g/l cypermethrin) and Decis Mega (active compound 50 g/l deltamethrin) for European non-indigenous marbled crayfish Procambarus virginalis, red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii, signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus, spiny-cheek crayfish Orconectes limosus and yabby Cherax destructor. These data will provide a baseline for potential programmes to eradicate alien crayfish from Europe (EU Regulation No. 1143/2014; Commission Implementing Regulation No. 2016/1141) and are also relevant globally. The 96hLC50 values of Cyperkill 25 EC were 0.09, 0.17, 0.18, 0.19 and 0.30 µg/l for spiny-cheek crayfish, red swamp crayfish, marbled crayfish, signal crayfish and yabby, respectively. In the same order, the 96hLC50 values of Decis Mega were 0.76, 0.16, 0.21, 0.03 and 0.27 µg/l. The toxicity of the insecticides was similar and species-specific, possibly reflecting the size difference of the tested animals. This study shows that cypermethrin and deltamethrin are highly toxic to the tested crayfish species at low concentrations. This high sensitivity, along with the low accumulation in the food chain and short-term persistence in the aquatic environment, suggests that they are suitable biocides for eradicating crayfish in the wild. Stagnant, closed water bodies with newly emerging invaders are ideal sites for possible application, although local conditions must be considered.


Strains of Cryptococcus neoformans vary in resistance to phagocytosis in vitro. The binding of isolated capsular polysaccharide (CPS) to a capsule-free mutant of C. neoformans confers resistance to phagocytosis. The importance of capsule composition to differences among strains in susceptibility to phagocytosis was evaluated. CPSs from five strains of C. neoformans serotype A, designated 6, 15, 98, 110, and 145, which had previously been isolated and characterized as to molecular size, composition, and binding properties, were evaluated for relative antiphagocytic potencies. In the presence of 5% normal isologous serum, murine thioglycolate-elicited peritoneal macrophages phagocytized (i.e., attached to or engulfed) 80% of 51Cr-labeled cells of C. neoformans 602, a capsule-free mutant. Added CPS inhibited the uptake of these yeast cells. CPS from strain 110 was most potent, followed in decreasing order of inhibitory activity by CPSs from strains 6, 145, 98, and 15. The presence of 100 micrograms of strain 110 CPS per ml reduced uptake of cells of strain 602 from 80 to 50%. CPS had no effect on the uptake of 51Cr-labeled Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Cells of strain 602 that were preincubated with CPS and then washed were more resistant to phagocytosis than nonpretreated control cells, indicating the importance of bound, not free, CPS. Added CPS did not affect the uptake of wild-type, encapsulated cells of C. neoformans. Addition of endotoxin had no effect on phagocytosis. CPSs from strains of C. neoformans serotype A varied widely in their abilities to inhibit the uptake of capsule-free cells. The antiphagocytic activity of CPS did not correlate with the ability to bind to capsule-free mutant but was somewhat related to the capsule size of the strain from which the CPS was isolated.


STUDY OBJECTIVE: To establish an updated prevalence and incidence figure for multiple sclerosis on 1 July 1993, to determine the fate of the 374 patients prevalent in 1990, and to establish the origin of incident patients. DESIGN: Case ascertainment was from several sources including departmental records, local branches of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, general practitioners, nursing homes, and residential facilities for the disabled. Data collection was by personal interview using a standardised questionnaire and by retrospective analysis of departmental case notes. A prospective incidence register of newly diagnosed patents was maintained from 1990. SETTING: The Cambridge Health District of East Anglia covering 340,910 hectares in area and a population of 290,700. PATIENTS: Altogether 441 patients prevalent on 1 July 1993 were identified, of whom 328 were contacted so that clinical data could be collected. Seventy patients (16%) either declined to take part or access was denied by their general practitioner; 8 (2%) had died; and 35 (8%) were too ill or failed to respond to several requests for contact. MAIN RESULTS: A comprehensive re-evaluation of the south Cambridgeshire multiple sclerosis register revealed a prevalence of 441/290,700 population (152/10(5)) for all disease classifications on 1 July 1993. This represented an increase of 18% from 1990 and was a result of 138 additions and 71 deletions from the original list of 374 patients. The sex ratio of prevalent patients was 2.6 F:M, the mean age at disease onset was 31.7 years, and the mean age was 49 years. Mortality for 1990-93 was 3.3/10(5)/year and prospective maintenance of an incidence register recorded 96 new diagnoses for all classifications of multiple sclerosis over the five year period 1990-94 (6.6/10(5)/year). CONCLUSIONS: The increase in prevalence mainly resulted from improved case ascertainment identifying a further 58 patients who had been prevalent in 1990. Comparisons with other serial studies within the United Kingdom show similarities in proportional increase with successive studies indicating that serial survey may in part account for the observed latitudinal gradient within the United Kingdom. However, the observed prevalence (152/10(5)) in this second survey still falls short of the figure estimated from incidence and mortality data (186/10(5)).


In this paper, we report a novel synthesis and selective bioseparation of the composite of Fe3O4 magnetic nanocrystals and highly ordered MCM‐41 type periodic mesoporous silica nanospheres. Monodisperse superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanocrystals were synthesized by thermal decomposition of iron stearate in diol in an autoclave at low temperature. The synthesized nanocrystals were encapsulated in mesoporous silica nanospheres through the packing and self‐assembly of composite nanocrystal–surfactant micelles and surfactant/silica complex. Different from previous studies, the produced magnetic silica nanospheres (MSNs) possess not only uniform nanosize (90 ∼ 140 nm) but also a highly ordered mesostructure. More importantly, the pore size and the saturation magnetization values can be controlled by using different alkyltrimethylammonium bromide surfactants and changing the amount of Fe3O4 magnetic nanocrystals encapsulated, respectively. Binary adsorption and desorption of proteins cytochrome c (cyt c) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) demonstrate that MSNs are an effective and highly selective adsorbent for proteins with different molecular sizes. Small particle size, high surface area, narrow pore size distribution, and straight pores of MSNs are responsible for the high selective adsorption capacity and fast adsorption rates. High magnetization values and superparamagnetic property of MSNs provide a convenient means to remove nanoparticles from solution and make the re‐dispersion in solution quick following the withdrawal of an external magnetic field.


Historically, exercise scientists and practitioners believed that continuous, steady exercise at a single moderate intensity was most beneficial for health, but recent findings suggests that higher intensity interval training may be more beneficial for many health and performance-based outcomes. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the metabolic and ventilatory responses to a brief, intense interval protocol using a treadmill in the active and passive mode. Methods: Twelve physically fit participants (30.5±6.2y; 175.9±9.9 cm; 79.1±18.2 Kg) completed three exercise sessions. In the first session, biometric and demographic data were obtained prior to the performance of a peak VO2 treadmill test using a single speed, variable incline protocol. In sessions 2 and 3, participants performed an intense, 4-minute exercise protocol. The interval protocol consisted of eight repetitions, each 20 seconds in length with 10 seconds rest between with a 15% incline. The interval exercise was performed in an active or passive treadmill mode. During the active mode (ACT), participants controlled the speed of the treadmill belt using an electronic control board mounted on the front of the treadmill. During the passive mode (PAS), participants controlled the speed of the treadmill belt by exerting greater effort against the belt with their legs. In each condition, the participants were encouraged to exert a maximal effort; the ACT and PAS conditions were performed in random order on separate days. Continuous oxygen consumption (VO2), carbon dioxide production (VCO2), Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER), and Ventilation (VE) were collected during all sessions using a metabolic cart and data were compared using a factorial ANOVA with repeated measures using mode (ACT vs PAS) and interval (8 intervals). Results: VO2 peak in the participants tested was 44.4±4.5 mL.kg-1.min-1. There was a significant mode by interval interaction for VO2 (p=0.003). VO2 was elevated compared to baseline in both conditions, but PAS was greater than ACT at intervals 2 (∆3.55 mL.kg-1.min-1; p=0.003) and 3 (∆3.40 mL.kg-1.min-1; p=0.004). There was a significant interaction for RER (p<0.001). RER was elevated compared to baseline in both conditions, but PAS was greater than ACT at intervals 3 (∆0.12; p<0.001), 4 (∆0.12; p<0.001), and 5 (∆0.07; p=0.03). Finally, there was a significant interaction for VE (p=0.004). VE was elevated compared to baseline in both conditions, but PAS was greater than ACT at intervals 2 (∆10.7 L/min; p=0.009), 3 (∆18.2 L.min-1; p<0.001), 4 (∆12.6 L/min-1; p=0.003), 5 (∆10.2 L/min; p=0.01), and 6 (∆8.5 L/min; p=0.04). Conclusions: The results indicate that participants completing self-selected sprints in the PAS mode exert greater metabolic effort in earlier, but not late intervals compared to ACT. This could be due to the extreme fatigue resulting from anaerobic work in PAS. Future studies should determine if participants training using ACT or PAS sprinting adapt strategies to improve metabolic efficiency or gain capabilities to exert greater metabolic effort during a single session of treadmill exercise.


Leptin plays a role in foetal growth. Osteocalcin, a bone specific protein, reflects bone formation rate. This study aims to investigate the effect of leptin and osteocalcin on physical growth of newborns. About 40 full-term and 41 preterm healthy babies were included. Umbilical cord samples were analysed for leptin and osteocalcin. Anthropometric measurements were taken on newborns. Leptin was significantly higher in full terms compared to preterms with no significant difference in osteocalcin. A significant positive correlation existed between leptin and anthropometric measurements in both groups. Osteocalcin was positively correlated in full terms and negatively correlated in preterms with most measurements. A positive correlation between leptin and osteocalcin was found in full terms only. The study documented the association of leptin and osteocalcin with physical growth of full-term babies. This was true regarding leptin in preterms, but not osteocalcin which could be explained by excess bone turnover in preterms.


THE UNEXPECTED WAR Canada in Kandahar Janice Gross Stein and Eugene Lang Toronto: Viking, 2007. 304pp, $35.00 cloth (ISBN 978-0670067220)As Afghanistan continues to generate headlines in Canada, many have come to wonder how and why Canada became engaged in such a difficult and seemingly intractable mission. This is the question that Janice Gross Stein, one of Canada's foremost thinkers on international security, and Eugene Lang, a former chief of staff for two Liberal defence ministers, set out to answer in The Unexpected War.The Unexpected War argues that, as a result of incremental decisionmaking, Canada slid into a war in southern Afghanistan it did not expect. The polished messages that the government delivered on Canadian goals, objectives, and achievements in Afghanistan hid the fact that most policy-including the decision to deploy forces to Kandahar-was the outcome of tradeoffs made incrementally and in the absence of complete information. Understanding the context is therefore essential. According to Stein and Lang, the Liberal government's cautious and incrementalist approach led Canada to accept a high-risk mission in Kandahar.Stein and Lang argue that Canada-US relations strongly informed Canada's involvement in Afghanistan. Following 9/11, Canada sent the elite JTF2 special forces and the 3rd battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian light infantry, on a short-term mission to root out Al Qaeda and the Taliban. It also dispatched navy vessels to the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. "Early in, early out" was the mantra for the government, which wanted both to support the US and to minimize the burden on the Canadian military that had been decimated by years of cutbacks. In 2002 and 2003, Canada came under strong pressure to participate in the US-led invasion of Iraq. Although the Chretien government and most of the Canadian public opposed the Iraq War, there was nevertheless a sense that Ottawa needed to prove to Washington that it was serious about security. The "Afghanistan solution," which prescribed a lead Canadian role in the international security and assistance force (ISAF) in Kabul, fit the bill. It also freed up American resources for Iraq. Although the Department of National Defence (DND) initially resisted Canada's participation in ISAF, it eventually became a leading advocate of the mission. In 2005, ballistic missile defence became another controversial issue in Canada-US relations. Many of the key players in Paul Martin's minority government supported Canadian participation in missile defence, but given the heated domestic controversy around the issue, Martin decided to stay out of the American program. In order to repair the resulting damage to Canada-US relations, the government again looked to Afghanistan. Ottawa agreed to take charge of a provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in Kandahar. However, Martin still believed that Afghanistan was but a distraction from his real foreign policy priorities, notably in Haiti and Sudan.Stein and Lang identify General Rick Hillier, the chief of the defence staff, as a key player in Canada's involvement in Afghanistan. They describe him as brilliant, energetic, visionary, and focused on delivering results. The government's 2005 international policy statement called for greater Canadian leadership in international affairs. Hillier took this objective seriously, but, unlike Martin's cabinet, understood that true leadership required Canada to commit resources, assume risks, and, at times, take casualties. Stein and Lang highlight the perennial contradiction in trying to establish a prominent international role for Canada while trying to avoid the attendant costs.The Unexpected War is critical of Ottawa's handling of the mission in Afghanistan. According to Stein and Lang, DND repeatedly misjudged the country's political and military environment. Its officials strongly favoured Canadian participation in the Iraq War, believing that Canadian involvement would only last six weeks. …


Abstract
A cross sectional study was carried out at the Kamel Ibraheem Model School for Girls and Abdullah
Ibn Abbas School for Boys, Shendi, Sudan, to assess the nutritional status for middle adolescents
using anthropometric measurements, from August to November 2016. Eighty one participants were
selected using a stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a questionnaire and a body
mass index equation. Results revealed that 37% of the participants were knowledgeable about the
important element of nutrition during the adolescent period, according to priorities of proteins,
carbohydrate and fats. More than half of the study group found underweight with differences between
sexes in nutritional status. However, there was no significant relationship found between the body
mass index and number of meals taken.
Keywords: Assessment, nutrition, anthropometrics, mass , adolescent, body mass index.


Market structures that capture the strategic interaction between the actors is an oligopoly market. When making decisions, each oligopolistic and even consider trying to guess what decision has been/will be run by its rival. During consideration, conjecture, an oligopoly actions influence the expectations of the opponent, the activities that constitute the strategic behavior. Non cooperative games is llikely to make the oligopolist 'trapped' in a prisoner's dilemma situation especially if the interaction of the time (one-shot) then the 'game' ends. How is the role of information if the interaction Cournot and Bertrand took place repeatedly? Under conditions of complete information, is there any process to the prosoner's dilemma? This study conducted experiments to 8 players who act as competing companies. Experiments conducted on Cournot model and the Bertrand models. The experimental results show that the availability of information about the opponent's action in experimental Cournot and Bertrand market, making the market more competitive marketplace that benefits consumers on the one hand, but on the other hand bring producers into the prisoner's dilemma situation.


The proposed bridge between Chiang Khong and Houay Xay will form the remaining crucial link of the Asian Highway 3, connecting Bangkok to Kunming, a project highly anticipated in the Greater Mekong Subregion's (GMS) development. With China funding half the cost of the bridge, it signifies a strong player in the economic borderland. The article seeks to uncover the locals' thoughts and feelings of the bridge to raise awareness of 'voices' from the Thai-Lao border in relation to the further destinations the bridge will serve. The local perceptions of the proposed bridge are used to provide a form of comprehension of anticipatory cross-border geopolitical relations between the Thai-Lao border and China. Drawing on the concepts of critical geopolitics, anti-geopolitics and geoeconomics, it concludes by underscoring the need to listen to local perceptions at the Thai-Lao border as they signal potential ill-feelings that could jeopardise future cross-border geopolitical ties and trade.


The quantum-field model described by non-Hermitian, but a ${\cal PT}$-symmetric Hamiltonian is considered. It is shown by the algebraic way that the limiting of the physical mass value $m \leq m_{max}= {m_1}^2/2m_2$ takes place for the case of a fermion field with a $\gamma_5$-dependent mass term ($m\rightarrow m_1 +\gamma_5 m_2 $). In the regions of unbroken $\cal PT$ symmetry the Hamiltonian $H$ has another symmetry represented by a linear operator $ \cal C$. We exactly construct this operator by using a non-perturbative method. In terms of $ \cal C$ operator we calculate a time-independent inner product with a positive-defined norm. As a consequence of finiteness mass spectrum we have the $\cal PT$-symmetric Hamiltonian in the areas $(m\leq m_{max})$, but beyond this limits $\cal PT$-symmetry is broken. Thus, we obtain that the basic results of the fermion field model with a $\gamma_5$-dependent mass term is equivalent to the Model with a Maximal Mass which for decades has been developed by V.Kadyshevsky and his colleagues. In their numerous papers the condition of finiteness of elementary particle mass spectrum was introduced in a purely geometric way, just as the velocity of light is a maximal velocity in the special relativity. The adequate geometrical realization of the limiting mass hypothesis is added up to the choice of (anti) de Sitter momentum space of the constant curvature.


Studies have shown that in South Africa HIV and AIDS has become an important contributing factor to maternal and infant mortality. There is an increase in spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, perinatal and infant mortality, intrauterine growth retardation and low birth weight. TB exacerbates this problem as a common opportunistic infection of HIV especially in this region of Africa.

In response to these problems the South African Health Department has updated the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) Policy. If successfully implemented the proposed programme will improve the both maternal and child health and will assist government to progress towards attaining survival targets it has set itself for 2015.


This paper argues that the analytical tools for conceptual and contextual literacy need to be made explicit in the first year curriculum especially for non graduate entry LLB programs. The paper explains rationale for the subject, the evolution of the syllabus and evaluates the experience of facilitating student learning in the subject so far.

At JCU Legal Concepts subject introduces students to a broad overview of the concepts applicable to basic areas of the law. Thus the subject offers a preparatory foundation for further three years of study. Legal Concepts is one of six subjects in the foundational JCU First Year Experience program. Other subjects are Legal Research, Writing and Analysis, Legal Institutions and Processes, Law, Society and Change and Contract 1 and 2.

Law, Society and Change and Legal Concepts complement each other. Law, Society and Change introduces students to social science concepts such as: ideology, discourse, social construction, power, the state, the market, kinship and family, identity, class, race, ethnicity, caste, gender, sex, sexuality, colonialism, globalization. The subject enables students to view the law through the prism of society not vice versa. They are able to critique the law in terms of the social context in which it is made and in which it operates. For instance, to ask how relevant, given the large variety of forms that intimate relationships take, are marriage laws in Australia? Or to explore how hierarchies of esteem such as race or sexuality are constructed by law as an expression of dominant ideologies?

The Legal Concepts subject, the focus of this presentation, introduces the core jurisprudential concepts of a common law legal system, namely the concepts of:

- Personality,
- Liability,
- Property,
- Contract,
- Fiduciary obligations,
- Rights,
- Sovereignty and good process such as natural justice, constitutionalism and the Rule of Law.

These concepts are selected because of the importance and breadth of areas of law they underpin.

The 'law jobs' that the areas of law reflecting the concept are contextualized so that each concept is critiqued in terms of its relevance and possible obsolescence in the face a dimension of technological, political, cultural, economic or ecological change. This contextualized critique exposes areas of mismatch between, for instance, western liberal notions of property and Indigenous normative schemes, classical contract law and e-commerce, the concept of Westphalian sovereignty and the new challenges to global governance posed say by climate change, and so on. The two subjects are designed to complement each other by providing a foundation jurisprudential and social science conceptual vocabulary.


Increasing the stability of perovskite solar cells is a major challenge for commercialization. The highest efficiencies so far have been achieved in perovskite solar cells employing mesoporous TiO2 (m-TiO2). One of the major causes of performance loss in these m-TiO2-based perovskite solar cells is induced by UV-radiation. This UV instability can be solved by replacing TiO2 with SnO2; thus developing a mesoporous SnO2 (m-SnO2) perovskite solar cell is a promising approach to maximise efficiency and stability. However, the performance of mesoporous SnO2 (m-SnO2) perovskite solar cells has so far not been able to rival the performance of TiO2 based perovskite solar cells. In this study, for the first time, high-efficiency m-SnO2 perovskite solar cells are fabricated, by doping SnO2 with gallium, yielding devices that can compete with TiO2 based devices in terms of performance. We found that gallium doping severely decreases the trap state density in SnO2, leading to a lower recombination rate. This, in turn, leads to an increased open circuit potential and fill factor, yielding a stabilised power conversion efficiency of 16.4%. The importance of high-efficiency m-SnO2 based perovskite solar cells is underlined by stability data, showing a marked increase in stability under full solar spectrum illumination.


"It is plain that almost all kinds of atramentum are made of Earth and Water. At first they were liquid and afterwards solid, and still they can be redissolved, by heat and moisture." Albertus Magnus (1205–1280) Book of Minerals (transl. D. Wyckoff, 1967)

The observation of "efflorescences," or the flowering of salts, associated with periods of dryness in soils, in closed-basin lakes, in rock outcrops, and in mines and mine wastes has been noted since early antiquity. The formation of metal-sulfate salts, in connection with the mining of metals, was a phenomenon well known to the early Greek and Roman civilizations. Alum, most commonly potash alum KAl(SO4)2 · 12H2O, which is from the Latin alumen , was extensively mined and used by goldsmiths, dyers, paper manufacturers, and physicians in ancient civilizations. It forms from the oxidation of pyrite in shales and slates and from oxidation of sulfurous gases in geothermal areas. The Greeks and the Romans described stalactites of atramentum (soluble metal-sulfate salts) that formed within mines and along rock faces (Agricola 1546, 1556). Furthermore, the toxic effects of these salts on animals were also noted. For example, in De Natura Fossilium , Agricola (1546) stated "….I mention the congealed acid juice which usually produces cadmia . It is white, hard, and so acrid that it can eat away walls, grills and even destroy all living matter." Cadmia is thought to be derived from the oxidation of zinc, cobalt, and arsenic sulfides, such as cobaltite. He goes on to say that "Pyrite, unless it contains sulphates, is either a golden or silver color, rarely any other, while cadmia is black, yellow brown, or gray. The former will cure gatherings while the latter is a deadly poison and will destroy any living substance. It is used …


Over the last twenty years, advanced communication technologies have become pervasive throughout Western society. These technologies have not only revolutionised the delivery of public and private services, they have shaped consumers' expectations about service quality. This guide (written for managers who have an interest in expanding their approach to public engagement, rather than IT professionals) assesses the value that new communications and computing technology can bring to interactions with a range of potential stakeholders. An engaging, provocative and thorough survey of available technologies and potential applications, this is a 'must read' for policy and program practitioners who are considering options for electronic engagement.


The prescription of patients with coronary artery disease is a long one: 20% take 7 drugs or more every day, and patients aged 65 years or higher often take more than 10 drugs daily. This situation reflects the current trend in research and development of new drugs usually evaluated on top of the current standard of care. The pharmaceutical industry hardly supports drug withdrawal trials, whose investigators are always Academics supported by too rare public funding (1). As a result, except for bivalirudin, few drugs or strategies have been developed to replace older ones, or reduce the duration and number of treatments. Along with adverse events and socio-economic level, this increased number of life-long treatments on prescription is one of the reasons for poor compliance and drug discontinuation that occur in 20% to 40% of patients. More alarming, high risk patients seem to have the lowest observance, especially among active smokers and diabetic patients, with important ischemic and economic consequences (2). Studies evaluating interruption of aspirin demonstrated that what is true for the heart is also valid for the brain: it leads to a significant increase of recurrent myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke and cardiovascular death. However, the risk of spontaneous aspirin discontinuation after a long term use was not well documented before the study of Sundstrom et al. published in recent issue of Circulation (3).