River surface currents have been measured using coherent microwave systems from a bridge, a cableway, several riverbanks, a helicopter, and an airplane. In most cases, the microwave measurements have been compared with conventional measurements of near-surface currents and found to be accurate to within about 10 cm/s. In all cases, the basis for the microwave measurement of surface current is the Doppler shift induced in the signal backscattered from the rough water surface. In this paper, we outline the principles of the measurements and the various implementations that have been used to make microwave measurements of surface currents. Continuous-wave (CW) microwave systems have been used from a bridge to make long-term measurements of surface currents; these are compared with current-meter measurements and with time series of stage. A compact CW system has been developed and used on a cableway to measure surface currents at various distances across a river; these measurements have been compared with acoustic ones. Pulsed Doppler radars have been used to measure river surface currents from a riverbank, a helicopter, and an airplane. In the first two cases, comparisons with both current-meter and acoustic measurements have been made. We suggest that the CW system would be preferable to the pulsed Doppler radar to make such measurements from helicopters in the future. Finally, we consider the implications of our experiments for the measurement of surface currents from aircraft or satellites using interferometric synthetic aperture radars (INSARs). We find that a combination along-track, cross-track INSAR is necessary but that significant limitations are inherent in the technique.


Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is the most common form of muscular dystrophy in adults, characterised by multiple tissue involvement and caused by an expansion of a (CTG)n repeat within the 3'-UTR of the DMPK gene (19q13.3). Normal individuals contain between 5 and 35 CTG repeats, whereas the repeats in DM1 patients expand in the range of 50 to several thousands. Longer alleles are very unstable and generally always increase in size when transmitted from parent to child, explaining the phenomenon of anticipation defined by earlier age of onset and an increase in the severity of the symptoms.

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is a genetically heterogeneous, hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy of the peripheral nervous system. To date, 30 different loci have been mapped and mutations have been identified in more than 20 different genes. The DM1+CMT++ family is a very unusual three generation family in which all patients co-segregate both DM1 and CMT (LOD score = 7.03). It was postulated that either a single or two closely linked mutations near the APOC2 marker must be the cause of DM1 and CMT. Southern blot analysis of restriction digested genomic DNA revealed a fragment equivalent to a small CTG expansion (~200-400) at the DM1 locus, but an expanded allele could not be amplified by PCR. We postulated that the expanded repeats may have predisposed the repeat tract and the flanking regions to further DNA
instability, leading to a secondary deletion, insertion and/or rearrangement. These novel mutations might modify the expression of DMPK and/or nearby genes explaining the unusual clinical presentation. To identify the lesion in the DM1+CMT++ family, a variety of molecular approaches was performed. The molecular lesion identified was an insertionof a GC rich region within the CTG repeats. The allele was comprised of a variable number of CTGs at the 5'-end followed by (GGC)3 G (CCG)20 (CCGCTG)14 (CTG)35. Analysis of single molecule separated alleles revealed 3 that the interrupted 3'-end of the array was stable, while the CTG repeats at
the 5'-end were unstable. Postulated mechanisms to explain the DM1 and CMT symptoms in the family were: a novel RNA gain-of-function, and/or a novel effect on the downstream genes. Finding an imperfect CTG repeat allele in the DM1+CMT++ family led us to suggest that imperfect CTG repeat alleles may not be unique events and other DM1 patients may also contain similar alleles. To investigate this DNA samples from 14 DM1 patients with an unusual molecular diagnosis were analysed. The majority of these patients presented with an imperfect CTG repeat allele containing CCGCTG hexamers and/or CCG repeats. Five patients contained two or three higher order repeats containing between 18 and 30 bp such as ((CTG)5 (CCG)5), ((CTG)2 (CCGCTG)4) and ((CTG)5 (CCG)2 (CCGCTG)). These findings further suggest that imperfect CTG repeat alleles might not be as rare as was previously believed.

The results of this project point out the importance of performing a more detailed molecular characterisation of the DM1 patients, which could lead to the provision of more accurate prognoses and the development of effective therapies.


The information and data contained in this document were prepared by a technical committee of the Association. The committee and the Association assume no liability or responsibility in connection with the use of such information or data, including but not limited to any liability or responsibility under patent, copyright, or trade secret laws. The user is responsible for determining that this document is the most recent edition published.


The serotonergic system along with other brain neurotransmitter systems has been implicated in the modulation of cognitive function. Dysregulation or pathology in neurotransmitter systems is thought to underlie the cognitive impairments associated with normal ageing, a number of disease states and chronic drug abuse. Research into the influence of serotonergic systems on cognition has focussed on the modulation of other neurotransmitter systems by serotonergic input and the importance of serotonergic receptor subtypes for learning and memory. There is evidence supporting an action of serotonin to inhibit attentional processes, perhaps primarily through inhibition of dopaminergic function, but also via other neurotransmitter systems critical to attentional function such as the noradrenergic and cholinergic systems. Studies indicate that the serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors may impair aspects of attention, whilst acute tryptophan depletion to reduce serotonin synthesis and release, may enhance aspects of attention. These data have resulted in several researchers proposing general theories of serotonergic inhibition, particularly in respect to attention/arousal. However, differential effects may be seen from studies of the various serotonergic receptor subtypes, which have so far been targeted, indicating a general theory may not be sufficient to explain the data. The evidence presented in this thesis demonstrates that some of the paradigms used thus far to support general theories of serotonergic inhibition of attention/arousal may be flawed. Specifically, monoamine depletion studies may not be able to separate serotonergic and dopaminergic influences on cognition, whilst studies of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and chronic ecstasy use have not controlled well for influences of sleep on cognition. Furthermore, evidence from studies of the serotonin receptor subtypes may indicate effects specific to neuropsychological processes underlying measures of attention/arousal or differential effects on aspects of cognition, which may contradict a general theory of inhibition. In conclusion, general theories of inhibition are still sufficient to account for the majority of data. However, in further academic and clinical research, thorough investigation of cognition will be critical to the development of more detailed theory and the development of effective drug treatments for cognitive disorders. Furthermore, the consideration of confounding factors in research such as the influence of sleep on cognition and the competition between monoamines for transport, is critical to the understanding and interpretation of the scientific literature to date.


Although maternal smoking during pregnancy has been shown to be associated with an increased risk of offspring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Western countries, there is no empirical evidence in non- Caucasian. Purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring ADHD in Japanese population. A case-con- trol study design was adopted. A total of 90 pairs of children with ADHD and mothers as well as 270 corresponding control pairs were recruited throughout the study period. A psychiatrist interviewed all the mothers of children with ADHD and control children and elicited information regarding their lifestyles during pregnancy, including active and passive smoking or drinking habits, as well as psy- chosocial and perinatal factors. Diagnosis of ADHD was made by each physician in charge according to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Logistic regression analysis was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) with adjustments for other possible confounding fac- tors. Maternal active smoking during pregnancy was asso- ciated with an approximately twofold increased risk of offspring ADHD, even after adjusting for socioeconomic and perinatal confounding factors (OR 1.8 95% CI 0.9-3.6). However, the association was obviously attenuated when factors regarding parental psychopathological vulnerability were controlled (OR 1.3 95% CI 0.6-2.9). On the other hand, maternal passive smoking during pregnancy failed to show any material association with ADHD. These results suggested that a significant part of the association between Members of the Wakayama ADHD Study Group are listed in the Appendix.


The increasing number of clusters built by commercial, off the shelf hardware shows a new trend in scientific computing. Within this movement is the propagation towards Windows NT as an operating system on PCs, The UNIX environment and Windows NT differ in terms of administrative issues as well as programming techniques. In this paper, we describe the modification of PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) to enable interoperation with WIN32 (Windows NT 4/5 and Windows 95/98). PVM provides the functionality to harness the computing power of an WIN32 cluster environment. Our migration from UNIX to the WIN32 architecture not only shows where porting existing software is easy and where more generic modules have to be designed, but also the limitations.


This paper attempts to document changes in the wage levels of different categories of workers employed in various segments of the labour market during the period 1990-912006-07, according to the information given in the labour force surveys. Wage structure can be analysed from different angles. Here we look at the levels and trends in the broad categories of industry. Further subdivided along the demarcation of formal/informal, and by worker characteristics such as age, sex, education, and occupational categories. Largescale Manufacturing Industries, Banking Sector, and Civil Servants salary structure are subjected to investigation for disuring wage trends in the formal sector. The impact of unionism and of the labour and wage policies of various regimes and upon wage outcome is also assessed. There appears to be a consonance between money wage growth at the aggregate level of the economy and GDP growth. The former registered a positive growth, with the exception of the 1999-2002 period, when the latter had low growth. Time trend of average wage works out to 7.6 percent, which, adjusted for inflation, yields a 0.7 percent trend growth rate in real wages for the 1990-07 period. Real wage growth rate at the aggregative level is characterised by substantial diversity. One finds an inverse relationship between the level of wage rate and real wage growth. Thus workers in the informal sector and commodity producing sectors like Agriculture and Manufacturing suffered a real wage decline during the period under study. That the real wage gains were denied to the majority of the workers (60 percent or so) lying at the lower rung of the wage distribution rendered the wage structure iniquitous wherein duality further accentuated. The character of the regime tends to have its mark. During the 1990s, the political leadership notwithstanding, low GDP growth and Pressler Amendment appeared to have sympathetic attitude towards labour, which was visible in the virulence of trade unions as well as announcement of the Minimum Wage Policy during early 1990s. However, in the context of labour supply pressure and subdued economic performance, stagnation and decline in real wage could not be avoided. In contrast, there hardly has been any sizeable positive impact on the real wages of the informal sector workers since the turnaround of the economy in 2003. The governmental attitude was reflective of the follow-up of the imperatives of globalisation, weakening of trade unions, and introduction of the changes in the procedures governing the tripartite mechanism and formulation of labour and wage policy. The need to have a fresh look at the labour and wage policy to ensure sustenance and to address inequality issues can hardly be overemphasised.


The genus Alphavirus is one of two within the family Togaviridae and comprises approximately 30 species, including several pathogens of humans and other animals that are of medical, veterinary and economic importance. Most alphaviruses are maintained in nature by a biological transmission cycle between susceptible vertebrate hosts and blood-feeding arthropods such as mosquitoes. In common with many Old World alphavirus pathogens Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is the aetiological agent of a syndrome characterized by fever, skin rash and acute or chronic poly-arthralgia or arthritis. Whereas previously CHIKV outbreaks were sporadic and self-limiting, in 2004 it re-emerged in coastal Kenya and there followed a series of outbreaks that have continued until the present day, resulting in many millions of cases.
Inroads into understanding the pathogenesis of CHIKV disease were until recently hampered through the lack of a convenient small animal model capable of exhibiting symptoms similar to those observed in humans in response to viral challenge. By contrast, studies with other alphaviruses, most notably Sindbis and Semliki Forest viruses (SINV and SFV), have provided insights into many aspects of the infectious process including several key determinants of virulence.
In the present study a reverse genetics system was developed to investigate the pathogenesis of CHIKV disease, the virus replication cycle and its interactions with susceptible hosts. This tool was used to investigate the hypothesis that a CHIKV encoded virulence factor is located within the cleavage domain of the non-structural polyprotein precursor of the viral replicase. Results from this study indicate that a unique amino acid within this conserved site is instrumental in contributing the inhibition of the type 1 IFN response in infected hosts. It was also shown that the type 1 IFN response was induced at an earlier stage in mice challenged with virus containing an engineered mutation at this site and that joint-swelling was less severe than with wild-type virus.


We study the diffusion of small light particles in a solvent which consists of large heavy particles. The intermolecular interactions are chosen to approximately mimic a water�sucrose (or water�polysaccharide) mixture. Both computer simulation and mode coupling theoretical (MCT) calculations have been performed for a solvent-to-solute size ratio 5 and for a large variation of the mass ratio, keeping the mass of the solute fixed. Even in the limit of large mass ratio the solute motion is found to remain surprisingly coupled to the solvent dynamics. Interestingly, at intermediate values of the mass ratio, the self-intermediate scattering function of the solute, Fs(k,t) (where k is the wave number and t is the time), develops a stretching at long time which could be fitted to a stretched exponential function with a k-dependent exponent,\beta . For very large mass ratio, we find the existence of two stretched exponentials separated by a power law type plateau. The analysis of the trajectory shows the coexistence of both hopping and continuous motions for both the solute and the solvent particles. It is found that for mass ratio 5, the MCT calculations of the self-diffusion underestimates the simulated value by about 20%, which appears to be reasonable because the conventional form of the MCT does not include the hopping mode. However, for larger mass ratio, MCT appears to breakdown more severely. The breakdown of the MCT for large mass ratio can be connected to a similar breakdown near the glass transition.


Our knowledge of the behaviour of emulsions and the oil-water interface at the molecular level is relatively sparse when compared to the huge importance of these systems in everyday life. This thesis describes the development of several techniques that have the potential to extend this knowledge further. Ellipsometry is exquisitely sensitive to density variations across a fluid-fluid interface, but the interpretation of the ellipsometric response from the oil-water interface, both in the absence and presence of adsorbed species, is nontrivial. The responses from the interface between simple linear alkanes and water suggest that these interfaces are more complex than the air-water interface. The results are indicative of a "drying layer" and a model based on the hard sphere repulsion of a hydrocarbon surface is developed to explain these results. The conclusions from this study on the pristine oil-water interface are used as a basis for the interpretation of the ellipsometric response of a surfactant monolayer at the oil-water interface. The results suggest that the nonionic hydrocarbon surfactant C(_10)E(_8) forms a disordered monolayer with partially-hydrated headgroups. The structure of this film is largely independent of the nature of the superphase; whether air, hexadecane or triolein. The competitive adsorption of the milk proteins s-casein and s -lactoglobulin with C(_10)E(_8) at the hexadecane-water interface is also studied. At low and high concentrations of C(_10)E(_8), the measured ellipticity is indicative of an unperturbed protein and surfactant film, respectively. At intermediate concentrations, the measured ellipticity suggests a mixed surfactant/protein film. Raman spectroscopies deliver considerably more data than ellipsometry, but the difficulties of delivering and collecting light from a buried interface require more sophisticated experimental engineering. An attempt is made to sandwich a 100-nm- thick oil film between water and silica in order to probe the oil-water interface by evanescent wave Raman scattering employing a visible excitation source. Unfortunately this procedure has proved unsuccessful to date. The requirement for a thin oil film can be bypassed if the signal from the adsorbed species is enhanced. The design and construction of an ultra-violet resonance Raman microspectrometer is described to achieve this aim. This instrument also has the potential to probe proteins and peptides adsorbed in lipid bilayers. The commissioning and development of a combined in-situ confocal Raman- tribometer is also presented. This instrument is capable of determining the composition of emulsions under shear within a soft elastohydrodynamic contact, as well as the morphology of the soft, deformed surface and the thickness of the lubricating film.


Vehicle pooling is the sharing of journeys through different means of road transport like car, bike and many more vehicles. Sharing of journey is useful so that more than one person can travel by same vehicle. Vehicle pooling helps reduce travelling cost of fuel, tolls and maintenance. Also vehicle pooling helps in reducing traffic, save fuel, need of parking space and also pollution will be controlled. We intent on making web based and Android based application that will help people know whether there are any seats available for pool in the desired path so they can join the pool. This platform will help ease journey of users of 'Helping Wheels'. People will have 'Helping Wheels' application on their android phones and those not having android phones will use this service through its website. Also people will able to use this without worrying about security.


Objective: Since the seminal publication by Hennis et al that established Barbados as the amputation capitol of the world, there have been numerous initiatives to decrease the incidence of diabetes and diminish leg amputations by establishing better primary care programmes and improving public awareness. The industrialized world has experienced a 20 to 75% reduction in the incidence of major amputations during the past two decades. We hypothesized that the implementation of these global strategies would also significantly reduce the rate of amputations in Barbados. Method: A retrospective analysis was undertaken of patients who underwent a lower extremity amputation (LEA) between January 1 and December 31, 2009 at the Queen Elizabeth and Bay View Hospitals by the review of the operating logs and under the guidance of the Ethics Board. Results: A total of 226 LEA were performed in 2009 similar to the number performed in 1999. Diabetes was present in 85% of the amputees in 2009 compared to only 75% in 1999. The location of the LEA is shown in the Table. Conclusion: Despite public health and care-giver diabetes initiatives, there has been no improvement in leg amputations in Barbados. The data suggest that there may be an alarming worsening of the situation because although the numbers of LEA are similar over the decade, there is a much higher percentage of patients with diabetes. Furthermore, there is also a disturbing trend in 2009, with a lower number of minor amputations mirrored by a dramatic increase in proximal leg amputations (AKA/BKA). This may indicate that patients are presenting to their physicians at a later stage of their foot pathology. Further attempts at patient education and establishment of foot screening clinics may be required to reverse this trend.


Progressive esophageal carcinoma can infiltrate the surrounding tissues with subsequent development of a fistula, most commonly between the esophagus and the respiratory tract. The endoscopic placement of covered self-expanding metallic stents (SEMS) is the treatment of choice for malignant esophageal fistulas and should be performed immediately, as a fistula formation represents a potential life-threatening complication. We report the case of a 64-year-old male diagnosed with esophageal carcinoma, who had a 20Fr surgical gastrostomy tube inserted before chemo- and radiotherapy and was referred to our department for complete dysphagia, cough after swallowing and fever. The attempt to insert a SEMS using the classic endoscopic procedure failed. Then, a fully covered stent was inserted, as the 0.035" guide wire was passed through stenosis retrogradely by using an Olympus Exera II GIF-N180 (4.9 mm in diameter endoscope) via surgical gastrostomy, with a good outcome for the patient. The retrograde approach via gastrostomy under endoscopic/fluoroscopic guidance with the placement of a fully covered SEMS proved to be the technique of choice, in a patient with malignant esophageal fistula in whom other methods of treatment were not feasible.


This paper aims at presenting a new model-based flow targeting analog/RF circuits sizing with significant improvements of parametric yield at a very early stage in the design phase. The flow is then applied on a ST Microelectronics [2] LDO regulator design. In a first step, the regulator is modeled. In the second one, the design is optimally sized. The process parameters are then modeled, and finally the sensitivity of the design to the process is analyzed.


The author reports a young police cadet with a history of heavy running about 10 km per day for a few months, presenting with left shin pain especially during exercise. His first plain radiograph was not helpful and his MRI findings favored an infective or neoplastic process. However, three-phase bone scintigraphy suggested a stress fracture resulting in avoidance of a dispensable biopsy procedure.


Lower and Middle Ordovician rocks outcropping in the Cabaneros National Park (Central Iberian Zone) are being explored within a mapping project aimed at identifying geosites representative of the geological and paleontological heritage on this natural area. Ongoing field-work has led to the discovery of three fossil localities that bring out significant paleontological data relevant to the whole Iberian Massif. The oldest comes from the upper part of the Armorican Quartzite Fm. (Floian/middle Arenigian) and is a large ichnofossil identified as Tumblagoodichnus? isp., which probably represents a shallow burrow filled by collapse of sand from above, and dug as a temporary refuge by a large arthropod. The trace is 45 cm wide, much bigger than the large arthropod traces previously reported from the Iberian Ordovician (rare Cruziana reach up to 26 cm in width). The second fossil locality lies towards the middle part of the overlying Marjaliza Beds (Dapingian to lower Darriwilian/middle-upper Arenigian) and is represented by a thick coquina of paleotaxodont and paleoheterodont bivalves, apparently formed due to a catastrophic event (an exceptional storm?) that transported and entombed en masse millions of individuals now preserved as complete specimens with closed valves. This local abundance strongly contrasts with the scarcity of Arenigian bivalves preserved in the Cruziana sandstone facies of SW Europe. Finally, the youngest locality is a rich fossiliferous bed of lower Oretanian (Darriwilian) age recorded in the Navas de Estena Shales, where the brachiopod genus Eodalmanella (Ranorthidae) makes its second European occurrence and reinforces the Ibero-Bohemian paleobiogeographic affinities.


The present paper brings a new insight in the welfare state development analysis in Romania, considering the political influences, the macroeconomic challenges and the comparative position with the former communist states of Central and Eastern Europe. Although these countries have experienced the transition period to the market economy from similar circumstances, the main assumptions of this paper state different levels of economic openness and involvement in the globalisation process. According to the common features identified in the welfare states in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, this paper will synthesize the most important indicators of the welfare state dynamism in Romania, creating new links with the public and corporate interventions and offering a clear insight in the recent evolution of european social economic models. The main findings of this paper establish new links in the Romanian welfare state analysis, providing the necessary tools to adjust both the theory and practice through a constant remodeling of social and economic policies.


Max Weber and His Contemporaries provides an unrivalled tour d'horizon of European intellectual life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and an assessment of the pivotal position within it occupied by Max Weber. Weber's many interests in and contributions to, such diverse fields as epistemology, political sociology, the sociology of religion and economic history are compared with and connected to those of his friends, pupils and antagonists and also of those contemporaries with whom he had neither a personal relationship nor any kind of scholoarly exchange. Several contributors also explore Weber's attitudes towards the most important political positions of his time (socialism, conservatism and anarchism) and his own involvement in German politics. This volume contributes not only to a better understanding of one of the most eminent modern thinkers and social scientists, but also provides an intellectual biography of a remarkable generation. This book was first published in 1987.


List of Figures and Tables List of Abbreviations Introduction: Postcolonial migrations and identity politics: Towards a comparative perspective Ulbe Bosma, Jan Lucassen and Gert Oostindie Chapter 1. Postcolonial Immigrants in France and their Descendants: the Meanings of France's "Postcolonial Moment" James Cohen Chapter 2. Post Colonial Migrants in Britain: From Unwelcome Guests to Partial and Segmented Assimilation Shinder Thandi Chapter 3. Postcolonial Migrants in the Netherlands: Identity Politics versus the Fragmentation of Community Gert Oostindie Chapter 4. Post-colonial Portugal: between Scylla and Charybdis Margarida Marques Chapter 5. Return of the Natives? Children of Empire in Postimperial Japan Nicole Leah Cohen Chapter 6. Postcolonial Immigration and Identity Formation In Europe Since 1945: The Russian Variant Allison Blakely Chapter 7. The Puerto Rican Diaspora to the United States: A Postcolonial Migration Jorge Duany Bibliography Notes on the Contributors Index


The effect of the calcium blocker S-(+)-methyl 4,7-dihydro-3-isobutyl-6-methyl-4-(3-nitro-phenyl)thieno[2,3-b]pyridine- 5-carboxylate (S-312-d) on ischemic acute renal failure (ARF) was studied in rats. Ischemic ARF was induced by temporary (30-60 min) clamping of the left kidney 2 weeks after contralateral right nephrectomy. Plasma creatinine, creatinine clearance, urinary osmolality and fractional excretion of sodium were used to test the effectiveness of the drug. S-312-d (0.01-0.1 mg/kg b.wt. i.v.) administration before ischemia offered dose-dependent protection against the functional impairment induced by ischemia. This effect was accompanied by an increase in the survival rate of ischemic rats. S-312-d given after ischemia was not effective. The renal cortical edema induced by ischemia was significantly reduced by pretreatment with S-312-d. The increase in renal tissue calcium content observed after ischemia was also suppressed by S-312-d. Comparison with other established calcium blockers indicated S-312-d to be a good candidate for protection against ischemic ARF. These findings indicate that S-312-d may be clinically useful against renal ischemia.


Radio emission from solar flares offers a number of unique diagnostic tools to address long-standing questions about energy release, plasma heating, particle acceleration, and particle transport in magnetized plasmas. At millimeter and centimeter wavelengths, incoherent gyrosynchrotron emission from electrons with energies of tens of kilo electron volts to several mega electron volts plays a dominant role. These electrons carry a significant fraction of the energy released during the impulsive phase of flares. At decimeter and meter wavelengths, coherent plasma radiation can play a dominant role. Particularly important are type III and type III‐like radio bursts, which are due to upward- and downwarddirected beams of nonthermal electrons, presumed to originate in the energy release site. With the launch of Yohkohand the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory , the relationship between radio emission and energetic photon emissions has been clarified. In this review, recent progress on our understanding of radio emission from impulsive flares and its relation to X-ray emission is discussed, as well as energy release in flare-like phenomena (microflares, nanoflares) and their bearing on coronal heating.


Objective: To explore the better treatment option among thermal stimulation, swallow maneuvers and the combination of both options for treatment of patients with dysphagia.
Material and Method: An experimental study was conducted to find the better treatment option among thermal stimulation and swallow maneuvers for treatment of the patients with dysphagia. Three groups A, B and C were made, patients were taken through purposive sample technique and groups were allocated using dice roll method. Group A received thermal stimulation, B group had swallowing maneuvers and group C is given the combination of both. Outcomes were measured through the Function Outcome Swallowing Scale (FOSS). Data was collected from tertiary care units in Lahore and analysed by SPSS 16.
Results: Groups A, B and C are given thermal stimulation, swallow maneuvers and combination of both treatment options as a treatment option respectively. More beneficial results are seen in the C group, which was given the combination of swallow maneuvers and thermal stimulation.
Conclusion: On the basis of results is concluded that combination of thermal stimulation and swallow maneuvers are significantly more fruitful for the treatment of dysphagia.


Objectives. Hypertension as the primary reason for hospitalization is often used to indicate failure of the outpatient health-care system to prevent and control high blood pressure. Investigators have reported increased rates of these preventable hospitalizations for black people compared with white people; however, none have mapped them nationally by race. Methods. We used Medicare Part A data to estimate preventable hypertension hospitalizations from 2004–2009 using technical specifications published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Rates per 100,000 beneficiaries were age- and sex-standardized to 2000 U.S. Census data. We mapped county-level rates by race and identified clusters of counties with extreme rates. Results. Black people had higher crude rates of these hospitalizations than white people for every year studied, and the test for an increasing linear time trend for the standardized rates was significant for both black and white people; that is, the gap between the races increased over time. For both races, clusters of high-rate counties occurred primarily in parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Southern Alabama, and Louisiana. High rates for white people were also found in parts of Appalachia. Large differences in rates among black and white people were found in a number of large urban areas and in parts of Florida and Alabama. Conclusions. Racial disparities in preventable hospitalizations for hypertension persisted through 2009. The gap between black and white people is increasing, and these inequities exist unevenly across the country. Although this study was intended to be purely descriptive, future studies should use multivariate analyses to examine reasons for these unequal distributions.


This master thesis is devoted to understand urban housing affordability in China. The purpose of this thesis has been to investigate different approaches of studying housing affordability, and the policy and social complications of the measurement of Chinese urban housing affordability. The analysis is performed in three steps. The first part reviews articles and existing studies concerning the definition of housing affordability by Hui, 2001. Two approaches are used, and a new model is built based on the two to definitions of housing affordability. The second part presents data of Chinese housing affordability based on house price to income ratio-HPI ratio for Beijing and Shanghai. The income distribution is considered as the primary factor to use HPI ratio in this section. The third part examines reforms and policies regarding housing affordability, and analyzes the positive and negative roles of government in the homeownership based housing affordability development. The last part adjusts the social complications of housing affordability study, including better home quality and size, high saving rate and imbalance of demand and supply. In this section, Chinese social characteristics are studied with housing affordability. According to my study, housing affordability deteriorated after Chinese housing privatization. Low and middle income groups are suffering the most from it. Economic developed cites are suffering more than other cities. Government policies like social housing are not satisfying the needed groups. Housing provident fund is increasing the inequality among income classes.


As part of structural investigations of components of the molecular motor, dynein, we prepared the light chain, Robl1_mouse, with and without an N-terminal His-tag. We found that the His-tag introduced a spurious binding site for a second protein, IC74. We propose a molecular mechanism for functional interference by the His-tag.


Islamic regulation has a balanced management approach to food management and towards attaining sustainable food security. This approach includes many social, spiritual, resource supply, security, and institutionally-related perspectives. If harmonization between Allah9s 1 orders and Moslem behavior was maintained, either within or outside an Islamic state, food security would already be happening, succeeding, and sustaining, regardless of time or space. An institutional structure to maintain this harmonization with regard to food security management in an Islamic State was proposed, including three interconnected departments responsible for interrelated administration and duties: a Moslem Treasury Department, Department of Food Reserves, and Department of Social Affairs. The three departments would be governed by a Moslem Council of Consultants. A thorough discussion of the Islamic view of food security and related water policy implications was presented including the leading rules and specifications, the administrative aspects required, procedures used and guiding directions for proper development and planning.


In order to investigate the subsurface structure of the northern tip of the Chi-Chi earthquake fault, three electric resistivity image profilings were done in the northern Shihgang area where a large surface rupture was formed during the earthquake. The survey was conducted about three weeks after the Chi-Chi earthquake which occurred on 21 September, 1999 in central Taiwan. The pole-pole electrode configuration with electrode intervals of 6 meters was used for the profilings. Each profile consisted of 32 electrodes and 15 measured layers. The data were interpreted using the 2-D inversion, method. The investigation depth was about 80.90 meters. The results indicate that the fault zone is clearly displayed in the profiles with a steep resistivity gradient zone. They also indicate that the rupture is a reverse fault with a dip angle of about 60-80 degrees at the depth of 0-80 meters in the northern Shihgang area. The fault zone is about 30 meters wide on the ground surface and is about 10-15 meters wide at the depth of 30-80 meters. The rock sequences are similar on both sides of the fault. They are the Chinshui Shale overlain by layers of sand and gravel. It is inferred that the fault in the northern Shihgang area is a new branch of the Chelungpu fault. A low resistivity zone (6-13Ω-m) about 40-90 meters wide appeared adjacent to the fault zone on the footwall, and a high resistivity zone (36-100Ω-m) about 90 meters wide appeared adjacent to the fault zone on the hanging wall. Next to the high resistivity zone on the hanging wall, a low resistivity zone and a high resistivity zone each about 50-100 meters wide appeared one after the other. This low and high resistivity zoning may be correlated to the strain brought on by the seismic stress released in the earthquake, and also implies that the formations were severely and extensively disturbed on the hanging wall.


The right to host sport mega-events is bid on by cities and countries with the expectation that tourists, money, and prestige will follow. For better or for worse, the economic and social impacts of these events on the hosts are significant. International organizations award these events, with little risk and much benefit to themselves. Unfortunately, it is not always clear how international organizations ultimately decide which hosts are chosen for this high honour and even higher burden.International sporting organizations have various bidding processes for the right to host their premier events. Each process has its drawbacks, with an overall lack of objective criteria and transparency. These problems can lead to negative effects such as decreased competition, selection of sub-optimal bids, uninformed decision-making and concerns with corruption.While there is no "one size fits all" solution, there are "best practices" conducted by many organizations that can be adopted to create a more transparent and efficient bidding process. Overall, bidding processes should: (1) be written; (2) not be subject to easy alteration; (3) account for regional balance; (4) be accompanied by a published technical report; and (5) have a viable "exit strategy" in case of host failure. These modest steps will enable potential hosts to feel that the process is fair, and will enable the organizations to ensure they are getting the most qualified host.


Abstract Objectives To investigate the analgesic effect of interferential therapy (IFT) on experimentally induced anterior knee pain. Methods A double-blind placebo-controlled investigation was undertaken on 10 healthy subjects. Anterior knee pain was induced by an injection of hypertonic saline into the medial infrapatellar fat pad. Immediately, following the injection, subjects received 20 minutes of each of the following conditions: control, placebo IFT, 4 Hz IFT, or 100 Hz IFT, in random order on four separate days. Pain severity and the size of the painful region every 30 seconds were recorded until pain ceased. The location of the pain was recorded at 2, 7, and 12 minutes after the painful injection using a standardized figure of the knee divided into nine segments. Results There was no effect of condition on pain severity, size of painful area, maximum reported pain severity, maximum size of painful area, duration of pain, total pain severity, and the total size of the painful area (all P > 0.09). There was no interaction between time and condition on pain severity and size of painful area (P > 0.05). However, the location of pain was more dispersed at 7 minutes in the control condition (8/9 segments) compared with the placebo, 4 and 100 Hz conditions (2/9, 1/9, and 3/9 segments, respectively). Discussion This preliminary study indicates that IFT is not effective at reducing acute experimentally induced pain when the severity or size of the painful area is measured. However, IFT may be effective by limiting pain spreading from the source. Further research with a larger sample size is required.


An indefinite permittivity medium (IPM) has been fabricated and optically characterized in mid-infrared spectral range (10.7 µm-11.3 µm). Phase and amplitude transmission measurements reveal two remarkable properties of IPMs: (i) transmission of sub-diffraction waves (as short as λ/4) can exceed those of diffraction-limited ones, and (ii) sub-diffraction waves can propagate with negative refractive index. We describe a novel double-detector optical technique relying on the interference between sub-diffraction and diffraction-limited waves for accurate measurement of the transmission amplitude and phase of the former.


Inspired by the Supreme Court's embrace of developmental science in a series of Eighth Amendment cases, "kids are different" has become the rallying cry, leading to dramatic reforms in our response to juvenile crime designed to eliminate the incarceration of children and support their successful transition to adulthood. The success of these reforms represents a promising start, but the "kids are different" approach is built upon two flaws in the Court's developmental analysis that constrain the reach of its decisions and hide the true implications of a developmental approach. Both the text of the Court's opinions and the developmental and neuroscientific research on which the opinions rely reveal that the developmental approach is not coherently defined by the legal line between childhood and adulthood. This lack of alignment has led to calls to extend the age of juvenile exceptionalism to young adulthood. But extending the exceptionalist frame obscures the central role that immaturity plays in most offenders' full criminal careers and preserves a destructive fiction that youthful offenders are a distinctive, more sympathetic, and less corrupt subset of the millions of people charged with committing crimes. This Article argues that the developmental approach, followed to its logical conclusion, calls not for an age extension for juvenile exceptionalism but rather for a wholesale remaking of the entire criminal justice system in line with an abolitionist vision.


Aim: To assess the efficacy and safety of favipiravir in adults with moderate to severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: In this randomized, double-blind, multicenter, phase 3 trial, adults (21 80 years) with real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) confirmed SARS CoV 2 infection and presenting with moderate to severe COVID-19 and requiring hospitalization were randomized 1:1 to oral favipiravir (day 1: 1800 mg BID and days 2-10: 800 mg BID) (FPV) plus standard supportive care (SoC) versus placebo plus SoC (placebo). The primary endpoint was time to resolution of hypoxia. Results: In total, 353 patients were randomized to receive either FPV or placebo (175 and 178 in the FPV and placebo groups, respectively). Overall, 76% of the patients (240/315, 78% in FPV vs. 75% in placebo group) reached resolution of hypoxia on or before day 28. The median time to resolution of hypoxia was 7 days in the FPV group and 8 days in the placebo group. Treatment effect was not significant [Hazard ratio (HR) (95% CI): 0.991 (0.767, 1.280) (p=0.94)]. Patients in the lower NEWS-2 clinical risk subgroup were more likely to achieve shorter time to resolution of hypoxia with the median time to resolution of hypoxia of 6 days in FPV and 7 days in placebo group [HR (95% CI): 1.21 (0.847, 1.731) (p=0.29)]; shorter time to hospital discharge with a median time to discharge of 8 and 10 days in the FPV and placebo group, respectively [HR (95% CI): 1.47 (1.081, 1.997) (p=0.014)]; and shorter time to improvement by 1-point improvement over baseline in WHO 10-point clinical status score with the median time to improvement by 1-point from baseline of 6 and 7 days in the FPV and placebo group, respectively [HR (95% CI): 1.16 (0.830, 1.624) (p=0.38)] than higher NEWS-2 clinical risk subgroup. Treatment emergent adverse event (TEAEs) were experienced by 62/334 (19%) patients [35/168 (21%) patients in FPV and 27/166 (16%) in placebo group]. Hyperuricaemia/increased blood uric acid was reported in 9 (3%)/2 (1%) patients [8 (5%)/1(1%) patients in FPV and 1 (1%)/1(1%) in placebo group] ,which were of mild intensity and transient. Overall, 36 serious adverse events (SAEs) were reported, 20 in FPV and 16 in placebo group. Conclusion: The trial did not find favipiravir to be effective in moderate to severe, hospitalized COVID-19 patients; favourable clinical trends were observed in patients with lower NEWS-2 risk when early administration of favipiravir could be achieved.


Carbon nanomaterials are promising phosphors for white light emission. A facile single-step synthesis method has been developed to prepare zero- and two-dimensional hybrid carbon phosphors for the first time. Zero-dimensional carbon dots (C-dots) emit bright blue luminescence under 365 nm UV light and two-dimensional nanoplates improve the dispersity and film forming ability of C-dots. As a proof-of-concept application, the as-prepared hybrid carbon phosphors emit bright white luminescence in the solid state, and the phosphor-coated blue LEDs exhibit high colorimetric purity white light-emission with a color coordinate of (0.3308, 0.3312), potentially enabling the successful application of white emitting phosphors in the LED field.

publisher-specific, author manuscript: http://rsc.li/journals-terms-of-use


Abstract Mirtazapine augmentation to a serotonin-reuptake inhibitor has been proposed to boost antidepressant effects and more likely to induce manic switch. Such a combined antidepressant therapy strategy should be used carefully if the patient's refractoriness is attributable to mixed depressive features. Mixed depression is more difficult to be treated by antidepressant monotherapy and related to higher risk of manic switch during treatment. We report a case with no previous history of bipolar disorder, whereas developed full-blown psychotic manic symptoms soon after switch from fluoxetine to mirtazapine. The patient's premorbid characters and clinical presentations suggested an implicit bipolarity that predisposed her to a manic switch. Her manic switch was likely to be triggered by a simulated combined effect because of complex drug interactions during shifting from fluoxetine to mirtazapine. For patients in mixed depressive states, mood stabilizers are preferable to antidepressants.


The digital age offers unprecedented opportunities for firms to access new knowledge for innovation. Both academics and managers have identified crowdsourcing (CS) as one relevant way to do so. CS for innovation involves outsourcing problem-solving or creative tasks to the crowd. To benefit from CS, absorptive capacity (ACAP) is critical; this can be enhanced by prior knowledge and past experience with a partner. However, in the CS con-text, firms open themselves up to undefined, anonymous partners through the Internet, hence the development of ACAP becomes more difficult. The literature on ACAP describes how internal integration mechanisms encourage the absorption of knowledge but fails to clearly address the way in which uncommon knowledge is integrated. Although literature has acknowledged the beneficial role of a wider spectrum of influential internal and external mechanisms on uncommon knowledge, few empirical studies have addressed the distinctive effect of these mechanisms on the absorption of anonymous partners' knowledge. To fill this gap, this study identifies relevant integration mechanisms and how they impact upon different ACAP dimensions in the CS context. Five case studies reveal the distinctive influence of integration mechanisms depending on the nature of the CS activity. Our results extend research on ACAP in the little studied digital open context, investigating the absorption of uncommon knowledge from unidentified partners. From a managerial perspective, this study shows that managers need to pay attention to integration mechanisms in order to support the absorption of knowledge from the crowd. More precisely, our study suggests that the main focus should not be on external mechanisms, but also on internal mechanisms. Finally, we open up a new theoretical debate on how these mechanisms should be combined.


This study examined the influence of home background, peer group pressure and truancy among secondary school adolescent students of Delta State. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to serve as a guide to the study. Correlational survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study consists of all students in all public secondary schools in the area of the study. A sample of 266 students were used for the study using the simple random sampling technique. A 4 point likert scale questionnaire designed by the researcher was used for data collection. The questionnaire was validated by professionals in the area of research. Cronbach Alpha reliability was used to establish the reliability of the instrument with an r-value of 0.78. The statistical tools for answering the research questions and for testing the hypotheses were the Pearson r, coefficient of determination and the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between home background and truancy among secondary school students. Also, there is a significant relationship between peer pressure and truancy among secondary school students. The study also revealed that there is no significant relationship between gender and truancy among secondary school students. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that parents should learn to be close to their wards and as well take note of the friends that they associate with as this will help to reduce the level of peer influence on the development of truant behaviours among students, Teachers and parents should help in proper monitoring of student activities so as to help students to maximise their potentials to the fullest and to be well adjusted in all ramification of lives. Finally every parents and elder siblings should see themselves as role models that engender good behaviours to their children as the kind and form of mentoring given by parents contributes in the sharpening of adolescent attitudes and behaviours.


From Market Place to Superstore reflects on 21st century retail presentation of home furnishing consumer goods. In particular the artwork focuses on the lounge suite. Inside the Harvey Norman superstore, which stands on the site of a 19th century colonial marketplace, the retail space with its ironically palace-like dimensions is divided into a series of tableaux of methodically ordered furniture. Carefully chosen colour-coordinated accessories are arranged and lit by softly glowing lamps promoting seductively comfortable home scenarios. Glossy catalogues take the production line furniture beyond the store to demonstrate the almost seamless retail/home experience. Still life settings interact and merge with contemporary lifestyle expectations. Merchandise can be the substance of desire.

The research artwork sought to capture an art image from retailing, advertising and specific elements derived from popular commercial TV lifestyle programs. The concept of the work was to ascertain if the lounge-suite-as-image retained its aura of aesthetic expendability and collapsed into contemporary art when transferred to the white box of the gallery space. To this end digital photographs, miniaturised models, video and actual merchandise were installed in the gallery space. Using varying scales and tactility the viewer was asked to engage in an alternative retailing experience within the Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania at Inveresk.


Chaguaceda, F. 2020. Bottom-up and top-down regulation of heterogeneous lake food webs. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1906. 67 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-513-0876-0. Food webs are networks of organisms linked by trophic interactions that regulate the responses of ecosystems to environmental change. Such regulation is a result of the effects of resources on the abundance of their consumers (i.e. bottom-up effects) and/or the influence of consumers on the abundance of their resources (i.e. top-down effects). Lake food webs comprise pelagic and benthic production pathways and are largely affected by fluxes of resources from/to adjacent terrestrial ecosystems. These pathways are often coupled by mobile generalist consumers, potentially leading to indirect interactions among prey that arise when sharing a predator. In contrast, consumers can also undergo resource specialization that restricts their ability to couple resources at a given time. In this thesis, I observed that top-down control of predators on benthic and pelagic prey at increasing productivity was highly dependent on apparent mutualism that was driven by switching behaviour of generalist fish. That, in addition to bottom-up responses of benthic pathways at increasing productivity, had important consequences for the fluxes of energy and high quality polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) to terrestrial systems via insect emergence. I also found that PUFAs were highly regulated over the ontogeny of Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis). Mismatches with PUFA composition in prey may in turn affect resource specialization and the timing of ontogenetic diet shifts, altering the role of perch in the food web. Finally, browning, which is a phenomenon affecting many temperate and boreal lakes, did not affect bottom-up and top-down control in open-water lake food webs. Instead, browning affected prey selectivity, probably changing the pathways of energy transfer within the openwater food web. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that predictions of food web responses in lake ecosystems and their exports to adjacent terrestrial systems depend on the coupling of different pathways and subsequent indirect interactions among prey through shared predation. This could not be explained by classic food chain theory, but rather by a framework including resource coupling and resource specialization over the ontogeny of consumers. These observations must not be overlooked when constructing a comprehensive model of food webs across time and space.


Mapping the speed of climate change helps to explain and predict biodiversity patterns on land and in the sea. Current biodiversity patterns across the globe are the result of the interplay between past and current climates and the degree to which species respond to these conditions (1). Climate affects both evolutionary processes, such as how fast species diversify, and ecological processes such as range shifts and species interactions. Understanding the spatial distribution of climatic conditions over time is thus crucial for understanding current and likely future species distributions and biodiversity patterns. Two reports in this issue, by Burrows et al. on page 652 (2) and Sandel et al. on page 660 (3), investigate past and future shifts in climate space, with the aim to explain and predict biogeographical patterns.


Abstract Research shows that after-school programs with structured literacy components can contribute positively to children's success in school, improvement in their reading and also in general social skills, and that successful programs involve partnerships with the community and continually expanding outreach to parents and caregivers. This program report describes just such an after-school and summer enrichment program, with the aim of identifying which aspects of the program are replicable, the specific markers of its success, and perhaps even determine further ways of measuring that success. Key words: collaborative after-school programs, literacy achievement, one-onone tutoring, America Reads tutors Introduction The ten-year-old fourth grader reads aloud to her college tutor from a large book of pictures and texts about the aftermath of 9/11. She paraphrases some of what she has read and types it into the computer. She does this several times, then pauses to add a poem of her own and to format her new story on the computer, varying line lengths and typeface. When I stop to read what she has written, she enthusiastically leads me to her photograph on a nearby wall and to further samples of her work: a paragraph about her mother who works at a nearby medical center and also at Wal-Mart, a continuation of a story she read a week or so ago, and a short poem about colors. This is the site of Two Together, Inc., a highly regarded after-school literacy project in the South End of Albany, New York. I am struck by the interest and enthusiasm of the students, the cheerfulness of the space, and the children's eagerness to see their tutors. The activity space is filled with books and computers, the walls decorated with murals, photographs of the children, and samples of their work, as well as evidence of current special projects. I know this project's reputation in the school it serves and in the community and wanted to take a closer look. Two Together is an after-school literacy program that has been operating in a high-need community in Albany, New York since 1997. Modeled on a program developed in Manhattan by Dorothy Silverman in 1977, the Albany project was organized by Rena Button, the program's first president, with the help of a grant from Albany philanthropist Morris Silverman. Button and her board brought together the institutions that today are partners in the project: the Giffen Memorial Elementary School, the College of St. Rose, the YMCA, and Two Together. Two Together's mission is "to strengthen children's social, cultural, and intellectual growth by improving their reading skills, while at the same time ensuring that enjoyment is a fundamental part of that growth." The heart of the program is the one-to-one relationship between a caring tutor and a child. At the same time, the program has always been about outreach. An independent segment of the local YMCA's after-school network, the Two Together project makes good use of community resources and actively works to involve parents and caregivers of the children in the program. It is this combination of literacy tutoring and outreach that is a special feature of this program. I wanted to examine this interaction to see what aspects of the program were replicable and perhaps even determine further ways of measuring its success. Objectives As a longtime member of the larger educational community, I came to this project both as an advocate and, to use Knapp's term (1995), a "constructive skeptic." My major objective was to provide a detailed description of the project and to examine the component parts of the program to see how these parts interacted to contribute to student improvement in reading ability. Knowing that the board of Two Together was interested in expanding the project to other schools, I was particularly interested to see if it was possible to identify those aspects of the program essential to the successful replication of the project. …


The basic factors to be considered in derivation of conservative spillway design floods are examined. A possible classification of dams is presented with three categories of hazard conditions and associated spillway hydrologic design criteria. Procedures are included that permit an evaluation of the effect of impoundment depth on the peak discharge and the effect of impoundment volume on the transmission downstream of the artificial flood that would result from sudden failure of a dam. A brief review is presented of the considerations involved and the hydrologic procedures used in derivation of a spillway design flood for a large dam. Estimation of design storm rainfall and snowmelt, runoff determinations, hydrograph development, and flow routing through the reservoir are investigated.


Several countries have developed fire spread and simulation models with little attention being paid to the evaluation of existing fire simulation tools. In this study, NASA's LANDFIRE database at 30-metre pixel resolution derived from Landsat 5 and 7 imagery was utilised over the Woodacre and Glen Ellen regions near San Francisco, California to compare fire simulation models over two Californian landscapes representing different terrain and vegetation regimes. This paper includes a brief discussion of the models, their assumptions and limitations, how to assemble data to build landscape input datasets and also outlines interpretation of outputs/results. The outputs of these models are beyond two-dimensional static maps/images, and in turn provide the fire managers and field staff with three-dimensional interactive and immersive visualisation of the spatial variation of the terrain and wind/fire speed/direction and the fire growth areas across the wildfire perimeter. The assessment of FARSITE, FlamMap and WindWizard simulations revealed that these technologies offer appropriate capabilities to predict the fire growth process and assess resources at risk which holds promise for real-time simulation of wind-driven wildland fires. Australia needs to initiate and develop a national bushfire spread forecast system to guide Authorities and communities readiness for fire suppression actions and rescue operations.


Catalytic hydrotreatment is recognized as an efficient method to improve the properties of pyrolysis liquids (PO) to allow co-feeding with fossil fuels in conventional refinery units. The promising catalyst recipes identified so far are catalysts with high nickel contents (38 to 57 wt.%), promoted by Cu, Pd, Mo and/or a combination, and supported by SiO2, SiO2-ZrO2, SiO2-ZrO2-La2O3 or SiO2-Al2O3. To gain insights into the reactivity of the pyrolytic sugar (PS) and pyrolytic lignin (PL) fraction of PO, hydrotreatment studies (350 ◦C, 120 bar H2 pressure (RT) for 4 h) were performed in a batch autoclave. Catalyst performance was evaluated by considering the product properties (H/C ratio, the charring tendency (TGA) and molecular weight distribution (GPC)) and the results were compared with a benchmark Ru/C catalyst. All Ni based catalysts gave products oils with a higher H/C compared to Ru/C. The Mo promoted catalyst performed best, giving a product with the highest H/C ratio (1.54) and the lowest TG residue (0.8 wt.% compared to 12 wt.% for the fresh PS). The results further revealed that the PS fraction is highly reactive and full conversion was achieved at 350 ◦C. In contrast, the PL fraction was rather inert, and only part of the PL fraction was converted. The fresh and spent catalysts after the hydrotreatment of the PS and PL fractions were characterized by elemental analysis, powder X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM-EDX). The results revealed that the use of PS as the feed leads to higher amounts of coke deposits on the catalysts, and higher levels of Ni agglomeration when compared to experiments with PL and pure PO. This proofs that proper catalyst selection for the PS fraction is of higher importance than for the PL fraction. The Mo promoted Ni catalysts showed the lowest amount of coke and the lowest tendency for Ni nanoparticle agglomeration compared to the monometallic Ni and bimetallic Ni-Cu catalysts.


We present a novel approach to differential cost analysis that, given a program revision, attempts to statically bound the difference in resource usage, or cost, between the two program versions. Differential cost analysis is particularly interesting because of the many compelling applications for it, such as detecting resource-use regressions at code-review time or proving the absence of certain side-channel vulnerabilities. One prior approach to differential cost analysis is to apply relational reasoning that conceptually constructs a product program on which one can over-approximate the difference in costs between the two program versions. However, a significant challenge in any relational approach is effectively aligning the program versions to get precise results. In this paper, our key insight is that we can avoid the need for and the limitations of program alignment if, instead, we bound the difference of two cost-bound summaries rather than directly bounding the concrete cost difference. In particular, our method computes a threshold value for the maximal difference in cost between two program versions simultaneously using two kinds of cost-bound summaries---a potential function that evaluates to an upper bound for the cost incurred in the first program and an anti-potential function that evaluates to a lower bound for the cost incurred in the second. Our method has a number of desirable properties: it can be fully automated, it allows optimizing the threshold value on relative cost, it is suitable for programs that are not syntactically similar, and it supports non-determinism. We have evaluated an implementation of our approach on a number of program pairs collected from the literature, and we find that our method computes tight threshold values on relative cost in most examples.


The identification of courts as "open" and "public" institutions is commonplace in national and transnational conventions. But even as those attributes are taken for granted, the privatization of adjudication is underway. This paper explores how - during the last few centuries - public procedures came to be one of the attributes defining certain decision-making institutions as "courts." The political and theoretical predicates for such practices can be found in the work of Jeremy Bentham, a major proponent of what he termed "publicity," a practice he commended for various entities from the Panopticon for prisoners to the Parliament and courts for legislators and judges. Bentham argued the utility of publicity in enhancing accuracy, public education, and judicial discipline. Moving forward in time, I examine various contemporary techniques in several jurisdictions that shift the processes of adjudication toward privatization. Included are the devolving adjudication to less-public government entities such as administrative agencies; outsourcing to private providers; and reconfiguring the processes of courts to render them more oriented toward settlement. For those appreciative of the role courts play in developing and protecting human rights, these new practices are problematic because adjudication can itself be a site offering opportunities to engage in democratic practices. The odd etiquette entailed in public adjudication under democratic legal regimes imposes obligations on government and disputants to treat each other - before an observant and often times critical public - as equals. Public and private power can be constrained by such performative requirements. When decision making takes place in public, the application of law to fact can engender normative contestation predicated on popular input. This claim of public adjudication's democratic potential and utilities is, however, not an argument that the judgments provided and the norms developed will necessarily advance a shared view of the public welfare. Hence, while eager to re-engage Bentham, I offer different claims for publicity and less optimism about its consequences.


Abstract The existence of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in prostate cancer has profound implications for cancer prevention and/or treatment. The CSC population resides within the prostate tumor mass and they may be responsible for drug resistance, and for the recurrence of prostate cancer. Therefore, development of novel strategies to target CSCs by nontoxic agent resveratrol is an innovative and novel idea for the management of prostate cancer. Activation of Wnt, sonic hedgehog (Shh) and Notch pathways are required for the growth of numerous tissues and organs and recent evidence indicates that these pathways are often recruited to regulate self-renewal and metastasis of CSCs. The objectives of this study were to examine the molecular mechanisms by which resveratrol, an active compound in grapes and red vine inhibits self-renewal capacity of prostate CSCs. Our data demonstrated that resveratrol inhibited the expression of pluripotency maintaining transcription factors (Nanog, c-Myc and Oct-4), and spheroid formation by prostate CSCs. Inhibition of Nanog by shRNA enhanced the inhibitory effects of resveratrol on self-renewal capacity of CSCs. Resveratrol suppressed cell proliferation and induced apoptosis by inhibiting the expression of Bcl-2 and IAPs, and activating caspase-3. Interestingly, resveratrol also inhibited the transcriptional activities TCF/LEF, Gli and RBP-Jk. Furthermore, resveratrol inhibited epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by suppressing the expression of Snail, Slug and ZEB1 transcription factors, which correlated with significantly reduced CSC9s migration and invasion, suggesting the blockade of signaling involved in early metastasis. In conclusion, resveratrol can inhibit prostate cancer CSC characteristics by suppressing various signal transduction pathways, and can be used for the management of prostate cancer. Citation Format: Rakesh K. Srivastava, Mariana Rodova, Junsheng Fu, Dara Nall, Sharmila Shankar. Resveratrol inhibits prostate cancer stem cell characteristics by suppressing Wnt, sonic hedgehog, and Notch pathways [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Prostate Cancer Research; 2012 Feb 6-9; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(4 Suppl):Abstract nr A45.


Transportation planners predict that traffic congestion will increase dramatically in the future. With 63% of all congestion on urban freeways, much of it in high-density areas, traditional solutions such as lane additions, often may not be feasible. Automation is a proposed solution to this problem, as it increases freeway capacity without building new lanes. The technological capabilities for vehicle and highway automation are advancing, and with these advances the need for regional transportation systems modelling grows. This paper examines the impacts of urban freeway automation on regional travel behavior in the Sacramento, California region. An urban transportation systems model (MINUTP) is utilized to project the effects of automation on VMT, lane-miles of congestion, hours of delay, transit trips, average trip length, and auto occupancy rates. Four scenarios are examined: A 1989 Base Case, 2010 No-Build, 2010 Freeway Automation, 2010 New HOV Lanes, and 2010 Light Rail Expansion.


In 2008, an outbreak of pod rot of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) occurred on most of the peanut cultivars in the Old Yellow River drainage area, the largest peanut-growing region in China. Disease incidence reached as high as 90% in some fields, causing severe yield losses. The black rot of pods and blackened, nonrotting taproots is similar to symptoms of peanut black rot caused by Cylindrocladium parasiticum, but the reddish orange perithecia of C. parasiticum were not found on the taproots close to the surface of the soil. The foliage of affected plants was generally asymptomatic, but some plants turned greener. This pod rot disease was further investigated in 2008 and 2010. Twenty-three Fusarium-like isolates were obtained from symptomatic, surface-disinfested pods with a frequency of 82%. These isolates were fast growing, with flat, thin, and grayish white colonies when cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 28°C for 3 to 4 days. The hyaline, elongated to cylindrical conidia, aggregated in slimy heads on conidiogenous cells developed from undifferentiated hyphae when observed with the light microscope. The size of conidia (single celled or one septum) varied from 3 to 9 μm long and 1.5 to 3.5 μm wide on the basis of the measurement of 50 spores. Some conidia appeared slightly curved. Ascomata formed within 10 to 14 days, with a punctate appearance on the colony. The cerebriform ascomata were dark brown, pyriform, ostiolate, glabrous, 120 to 170 × 90 to 130 μm, and with necks 30 to 50 μm long. Asci measured 60 to 90 × 6 to 10 μm, were cylindrical to cylindric-clavate, thin walled, and had an apical ring. Ascospore arrangement was obliquely uniseriate or partially biseriate, very pale yellow to hyaline, ellipsoidal, and measured 8 to 12 × 4.5 to 6 μm. Some spores had a median transverse straight or curved septum and were slightly constricted at the septum, with 6 to 10 thin, transverse, hyaline flanges. Morphological characteristics of the isolates with ascomata dark brown and ascospores with 6 to 10 transverse hyaline flanges matched the description for Neocosmospora striata (1). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA was amplified from extracted template DNA with primer pairs ITS4/ITS5 and sequenced. A 591-bp amplicon (GenBank Accession No. HM461900) had 99% sequence identity with Fusarium solani (HQ607968 and HQ608009) and N. vasinfecta (GU213063), which indicated that these fungi belong to the genus Neocosmospora or Fusarium, although there is no direct sequence evidence that they are N. striata. N. striata has only been previously reported in Japan (2). This species is unique because of the dark brown ascomata and there is no comparable species (1). Koch's postulates were completed by surface-disinfesting 80 peanut pods of cv. Jihua 9813 and soaking them in conidial suspensions (105 conidia/ml) for 2 min. Another 80 other pods soaked in sterile water served as controls. All peanuts were incubated in moist petri dishes under darkness at 28°C. Symptoms similar to those originally observed in the field formed within 10 days on all inoculated peanut pods and not the controls. N. striata was reisolated from all affected peanut pods. To our knowledge, this is first report of N. striata causing peanut pod rot in China and the first description of the anamorph of the fungus. References: (1) P. F. Cannon et al. Trans. Br. Mycol. Soc. 82:673, 1984. (2) S. Udagawa et al. Trans. Mycol. Soc. Jpn. 16:340, 1975.


Background and Objectives: Since 2015, platelet products have been pathogen-inactivated (PI) at the Luxemburgish Red Cross (LRC) using Riboflavin and UV light (RF-PI). As the LRC should respond to hospital needs at any time, platelet production exceeds the demand, generating a discard rate of 18%. To reduce this, we consider the extension of storage time from 5 to 7 days. This study's objective was to evaluate the in vitro 7-day platelet-storage quality, comparing two PI technologies, RF-PI and amotosalen/UVA light (AM-PI), for platelet pools from whole-blood donations (PPCs) and apheresis platelets collected from single apheresis donation (APCs). Materials and Methods: For each product type, 6 double-platelet concentrates were prepared and divided into 2 units; one was treated with RF-PI and the other by AM-PI. In vitro platelet-quality parameters were tested pre- and post-PI, at days 5 and 7. Results: Treatment and storage lesions were observed in PPCs and APCs with both PI methods. We found a higher rate of lactate increase and glucose depletion, suggesting a stronger stimulation of the glycolytic pathway, a higher Annexin V binding, and a loss of swirling in the RF-PI-treated units from day 5. The platelet loss was significantly higher in the AM-PI compared with the RF-PI units. Conclusions: Results suggest that RF-PI treatment has a higher deleterious impact on in vitro platelet quality compared to AM-PI, but we observed higher loss of platelets with AM-PI due to the post-illumination amotosalen adsorption step. If 7-day storage is needed, it can only be achieved with AM-PI, based on our quality criteria.


Faults are primary focuses of both fluid migration and deformation in the upper crust. The recognition that faults are typically heterogeneous zones of deformed material, not simple discrete fractures, has fundamental implications for the way geoscientists predict fluid migration in fault zones, as well as leading to new concepts in understanding seismic/aseismic strain accommodation. This book captures current research into understanding the complexities of fault-zone internal structure, and their control on mechanical and fluid-flow properties of the upper crust. A wide variety of approaches are presented, from geological field studies and laboratory analyses of fault-zone and fault-rock properties to numerical fluid-flow modelling, and from seismological data analyses to coupled hydraulic and rheological modelling. The publication aims to illustrate the importance of understanding fault-zone complexity by integrating such diverse approaches, and its impact on the rheological and fluid-flow behaviour of fault zones in different contexts.


Purpose – The purpose of this article is to be a conceptual contribution to the special issue on "Is the Middle East the land of the future?". It aims to provide a holistic picture of the efforts of the Middle East towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), using investments in sports, as a galvanizing force. The paper concludes that, on the balance of probability, this might not be a given.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on personal observations and documentary analysis of numerous studies including those in this special issue.Findings – Although the Middle East has made "front page" news on most global media platforms – albeit for a variety of reasons, there are signs not to be too optimistic as to whether this geographic entity is, by default, the land of the future.Research limitations/implications – As a conceptual piece, this article cannot be generalized across the expanse of what constitutes the Middle East. Most of the observations are based on the most boisterous in the region – notably members of the Gulf Cooperation countries (GCC) and Turkey with its rising regional influence.Practical implications – While the Middle East may have been in the global spotlight, there remain challenges that cannot be so easily wished away. One such is the inability to leverage the investment in sports in a sustainable global partnership that spills over into other MDGs. There are persuasive arguments for deeper integration rather than what seems to be the fragmented sibling rivalry across the Middle East.Originality/value – This study provides a holistic framework for analyzing a region that has been bedeviled with unrest in recent years; and one that has, to a very large extent, weathered the storm of the Arab Spring and attracted global attention.


Plasmonic nanoparticles resonantly couple to and confine light below the diffraction limit. This mechanism has enabled a modern renaissance in optical materials, with potential applications ranging from sensing and circuitry to renewable energies and medicines. However, these plasmonic materials are typically constrained to dilute liquids or solid two-dimensional surfaces, thereby limiting their possibilities. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a plasmonic aerosol by transitioning liquid suspensions of gold nanorods into the gas phase and simultaneously measuring their optical spectra. By measuring and modeling the evolution of the longitudinal absorbance peak of the nanorods from the liquid to the gas phase, we find that the aerosols are optically homogeneous and thermodynamically stable. We show that by tailoring the aspect ratio of the nanorods, the aerosol absorbance peak is tunable from visible to mid-wave infrared wavelengths. We find the sensitivity of the absorbance peak wavelength to changes in the refractive index of the gas depends linearly on the aspect ratio and can be estimated from the geometric and material properties of the nanorod. For high aspect ratio nanorods the sensitivity becomes extremely large, which may be useful in aiding geoengineering challenges. This work establishes plasmonic aerosols, potentially enabling exciting opportunities for fundamental and applied research.


The Australian Rheumatology Association wrote to the MJA recently, advocating that the eponym "Reiter's syndrome" be expunged from the medical literature. They argued that the distinction of having one's name immortalised in an eponym should never be accorded to doctors involved in crimes against humanity. They considered that honouring the Nazi physician Reiter with his own eponym was a travesty. Eponyms have long been part of the tradition of medicine, connecting us with eminent minds of the past — those whose astute observations have added to the rich culture of medicine. Our early professional education exposed us to this tradition; remember the circle of Willis and Hunter's canal in anatomy? Starling's law of the heart and his hypothesis of capillary fluid flow in physiology? The Krebs cycle and the Henderson– Hasselbalch equation in biochemistry, or Virchow's triad and Koch's postulates in pathology? In our clinical years we were swamped in eponyms, such as those bearing the names of three of the giants of Guy's Hospital — Addison, Bright and Hodgkin — or those attached to diagnostic signs, such as the Babinski test, the Argyll Robertson pupil, or Sister Mary Joseph's nodule. However, recent times have heralded the phenomenon of "eponym cleansing". The Annals of Internal Medicine has advised that an eponym should not be used when a descriptive synonym is available. Others have drawn attention to the confusion created by the use of many eponyms with identical names or the redundancy of multiple eponyms describing the same condition. Howard Burchell, a former cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic, offered some sane advice: if an eponym is obfuscatory, it should be culled; if it enhances clarity and communication, it is richly deserved. He also suggested an addition to the Hippocratic oath: I shall not be the cavalier accoucheur of an eponym or the uncritical promoter of a new one.


PRIMARY AND FAMILY STIGMA OF MENTAL ILLNESS: COMPARING PERCEPTIOSN OF AFRICAN AMERICANS AND EUROPEAN AMERICANS Julia Rubinshteyn, M.S. Marquette University, 2015 Research has shown that stigma is a significant barrier to mental health treatment seeking, and that African Americans tend to have significantly lower rates of treatment seeking compared to European Americans (Wang et al., 2005). Stigma affecting the individual directly is called primary stigma (Corrigan & Kleinlein, 2005), whereas stigma affecting the individual's family members is referred to as family stigma. In the present study, a vignette was presented to 287 undergraduate students at Marquette University. The study examined attitudes of primary and family stigma toward a target based on race (European American or African American) and type of mental illness (drug dependence or schizophrenia). Participants completed the Attribution Questionnaire-27 (AQ-27), Family Questionnaire (FQ), Level of Familiarity Scale (LOF), Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS), Just World Scale (JWS), and Social Desirability Scale (SDS). MANOVAs were conducted to determine main effects and interaction effects of the target's race and type of mental illness on the stigma ratings for primary and family stigma of the target. In the primary stigma condition, it was found that there were higher stigma ratings for the target with drug dependence compared to the target with schizophrenia. No significant differences were found in stigma ratings based on the target's race or the interaction between race and mental illness. In the family stigma condition, the individual who had a family member with drug dependence yielded higher stigma ratings compared to the target whose family member had schizophrenia. No significant differences were found between stigma ratings based on the target's race or the interaction between race and mental illness of the family member. This study was the first to examine the relationship between race, mental illness, and family stigma ratings. Future studies can examine differences that include additional mental illnesses and additional ethnicities than the ones examined in the current study. Future studies can also further examine the impact of the race of the perceiver on stigmatizing attitudes.


The socioeconomic investigations of possible impacts of the proposed repository for high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, have been unprecedented in several respects. They bear on the public decision that sooner or later will be made as to where and how to dispose permanently of the waste presently at military weapons installations and that continues to accumulate at nuclear power stations. No final decision has yet been made. There is no clear precedent from other countries. The organization of state and federal studies is unique. The state studies involve more disciplines than any previous efforts. They have been carried out in parallel to federal studies and have pioneered in defining some problems and appropriate research methods. A recent annotated bibliography provides interested scientists with a compact guide to the 178 published reports, as well as to relevant journal articles and related documents.


The lamellibranch gill is used for various vital functions ranging from food capture to ion regulation. The foundation for many of these functions is the transport of water through the gill. This dissertation examines the organization of intrinsic gill muscles and the associated connective tissue in the freshwater bivalve Dreissena polymorpha with comparisons made to Corbicula fluminea and Toxolasma texasensis. Gill muscles can be divided into two groups: those associated with the connective tissue sheets that underlie external and internal gill epithelia; and those encased in connective tissue bands oriented perpendicular to the bases of gill filaments. The sets of muscles are oriented to serve complementary functions of drawing filaments together and of reducing ostial openings, thus affecting water flow through the gill. The supportive tissue in the gills of each of the three species is composed of a similar extracellular matrix with interspersed muscle fibers. These matrices consist of a periodic acid Schiff-positive tissue supported by small collagen fibrils as determined by morphological and biochemical examination. The ultrastructure of the muscle fibers associated with the connective tissue corresponds with a known type of smooth muscle. The gill muscles of D. polymorpha contract in response to acetylcholine and FMRFamide but relax with serotonin application. External calcium is required for muscle contraction and a proper balance between NaCl and KC1 is critical for the maintenance of maximal responsiveness. Acclimation to hyperosmotic conditions is dependent in part on the activity of a ouabainsensitive Na+/K+ ATPase. The gills of all three species show a common relationship between live gill area and dry body mass. Each of the animals have comparable ostial dimensions and possess the ability to control these dimensions through muscular tone. The similarity in structure and apparent function of the intrinsic gill muscles in each of the species examined suggests that the muscles are an important, conserved feature of the bivalve gill.


RNA profiling of maize kernel compartments revealed coexpression modules for each major cell type in the endosperm, including a module regulating differentiation of the basal endosperm transfer layer. Endosperm is an absorptive structure that supports embryo development or seedling germination in angiosperms. The endosperm of cereals is a main source of food, feed, and industrial raw materials worldwide. However, the genetic networks that regulate endosperm cell differentiation remain largely unclear. As a first step toward characterizing these networks, we profiled the mRNAs in five major cell types of the differentiating endosperm and in the embryo and four maternal compartments of the maize (Zea mays) kernel. Comparisons of these mRNA populations revealed the diverged gene expression programs between filial and maternal compartments and an unexpected close correlation between embryo and the aleurone layer of endosperm. Gene coexpression network analysis identified coexpression modules associated with single or multiple kernel compartments including modules for the endosperm cell types, some of which showed enrichment of previously identified temporally activated and/or imprinted genes. Detailed analyses of a coexpression module highly correlated with the basal endosperm transfer layer (BETL) identified a regulatory module activated by MRP-1, a regulator of BETL differentiation and function. These results provide a high-resolution atlas of gene activity in the compartments of the maize kernel and help to uncover the regulatory modules associated with the differentiation of the major endosperm cell types.


As ubiquitous systems have moved out of the lab and into the world the need to think more systematically about how there are realised has grown. This talk will present intradisciplinary work I have been engaged in with other computing colleagues on how we might develop more formal models and understanding of ubiquitous computing systems. The formal modelling of computing systems has proved valuable in areas as diverse as reliability, security and robustness. However, the emergence of ubiquitous computing raises new challenges for formal modelling due to their contextual nature and dependence on unreliable sensing systems. In this work we undertook an exploration of modelling an example ubiquitous system called the Savannah game using the approach of bigraphical rewriting systems.

This required an unusual intra-disciplinary dialogue between formal computing and human- computer interaction researchers to model systematically four perspectives on Savannah: computational, physical, human and technical. Each perspective in turn drew upon a range of different modelling traditions. For example, the human perspective built upon previous work on proxemics, which uses physical distance as a means to understand interaction.

In this talk I hope to show how our model explains observed inconsistencies in Savannah and ex- tend it to resolve these. I will then reflect on the need for intradisciplinary work of this form and the importance of the bigraph diagrammatic form to support this form of engagement.

Speaker Biography
Tom Rodden

Tom Rodden (rodden.info) is a Professor of Interactive Computing at the University of Nottingham. His research brings together a range of human and technical disciplines, technologies and techniques to tackle the human, social, ethical and technical challenges involved in ubiquitous computing and the increasing used of personal data. He leads the Mixed Reality Laboratory (www.mrl.nott.ac.uk) an interdisciplinary research facility that is home of a team of over 40 researchers. He founded and currently co-directs the Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute (www.horizon.ac.uk), a university wide interdisciplinary research centre focusing on ethical use of our growing digital footprint. He has previously directed the EPSRC Equator IRC (www.equator.ac.uk) a national interdisciplinary research collaboration exploring the place of digital interaction in our everyday world. He is a fellow of the British Computer Society and the ACM and was elected to the ACM SIGCHI Academy in 2009 (http://www.sigchi.org/about/awards/).


In the past ten years or so, mobile phone and Internet technologies have been instrumental in nearly every instance where people have gathered to demand political reform. With the help of 'new social media' applications, like Facebook and Twitter, Internet and mobile phone users can conduct real-time exchanges with millions of people across the globe. Following the Introduction, this Article begins, in Part II, with a discussion of how these tools were used by protesters around the world in 2011. Part III discusses how the same tools were used by governments, both democratic and authoritarian, to respond to the violence and mayhem during that year. In Part IV, I turn to a discussion of the relevant policy concerns, first in the American, then the Canadian, legal contexts. It is significant that Canada is the first country to complete an extensive investigation into Facebook's privacy practices. As a result, Facebook users across the world now enjoy stronger privacy protections for their personal information, in terms of how it is collected, used and disclosed. In conclusion, in Part V, I note that this case has important implications for other online social networking sites, even those based in other countries, which are collecting and using the personal information of Canadians in a way that does not comport with Canadian privacy laws.


Aim: Only limited information is available on the molecular characteristics of colorectal cancers diagnosed in patients 90 years and older. There are indirect suggestions that in cancers from very elderly patients, molecular genetic changes may be either more, or less prevalent; thus, raising the question as to the similarity in genetic changes found in colorectal cancers between very elderly and younger patients. We examined several molecular changes associated with colorectal cancers in 41 very elderly patients, and compared the results to the findings of a younger cohort, between ages 55 and 79 years. Methods: We evaluated MSI, loss of heterozygosity for APC and DCC genes, KRAS and BRAF gene mutations, and DNA methylation in colon cancer tissue samples using standard PCR techniques. Results: our data indicate that colorectal cancers from very elderly patients are more frequently right-sided and more likely to demonstrate microsatellite instability. If the cancers contain a KRAS mutation, it is less likely to be in the second codon position. Finally, KRAS 61 may be more frequent in the very elderly. Conclusions: Overall, the colorectal cancers from our very elderly patients, 90 years and older, have at least as many, if not more, molecular genetic changes than the cancers from younger.


As part of a performance verification exercise reverberation times (RT) were measured in several newly constructed school gymnasia, rectangular in plan with two variations in room size, all with similar finishes and constructions. Due to architectural constraints, the rooms have acoustically hard finishes below a height of 3 m. The room finishes are primarily acoustically reflective with the exception of continuous bands of absorptive upper wall paneling around the full perimeter of the rooms (exposed unpainted Tectum over mineral fibre insulation) and painted acoustic metal deck ceilings (fiberglass insulation in the perforated deck flutes). The initial RT measurements exceeded the design targets. Modeling using ODEON room acoustics prediction software was conducted to determine the quantity and placement of additional absorption required to bring the RT into compliance. After installation of an additional continuous band of absorptive paneling in the rooms at a height below the existing panels, the RT were re-measured. The midband average RT increased, with a 0.5 sec RT increase at 1000 Hz in one room and a 1 sec RT increase at 1000 Hz in another. Further investigation lead to the hypothesis of an insufficiently diffuse sound field and uninterrupted standing wave modes in the lower untreated portion of the room contributing to the unexpected results. RT were subsequently re-measured under 5 different conditions; an empty gym, addition of 5 people, and 3 levels of diffusion. Diffusion was varied by adding sheets of plywood (5, 10, 15 sheets) leaned against posts or each other. The addition of as few as 5 people or 5 plywood sheets was found to significantly reduce the measured RT, closer to the modeled predictions, with between a 0.6 sec and 1 sec reduction observed in the mid-band average RT from the empty condition.


A sociocultural stress and coping model to explain emotional distress among caregivers of family members who have dementia across ethnic and cultural groups is presented and explored in a sample of 41 African American and 128 non-African American caregivers. In this sample, African American caregivers reported lower levels of burden but equal levels of depression and anxiety. In the structural equation model, previous reports that African Americans' lower appraisal of caregiving as burdensome resulted in lower levels of emotional distress were confirmed. However, in this model, this pathway was counterbalanced by a tendency of African American caregivers to use emotion-focused coping and, therefore, increase emotional distress. African American caregivers were also younger and in poorer health, factors which tend to increase both burden and emotional distress outcomes. As suggested by the sociocultural stress and coping model, the influences of ethnic group variables on stress and coping processes are complex and multidirectional.