We demonstrate a radio frequency (RF) phase-encoded signal generator as well as a user-defined RF arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) based on a soliton crystal micro-comb generated by an integrated MRR with a free spectral range of ~49 GHz. Owing to the soliton crystal's robust and stable generation as well as the high intrinsic efficiency, RF phase-encoded signal generators and AWGs with simple operation and fast reconfiguration are realized. The soliton crystal micro-comb provides 60 wavelengths for RF phase-encoded signal generators, achieving a phase encoding speed of 5.95 Gb/s and a high pulse compression ratio of 29.6. Over 80 wavelengths are employed for the AWGs, achieving tunable square waveforms with a duty cycle ratio ranging from 10% to 90%, sawtooth waveforms with tunable slope ratios from 0.2 to 1, and symmetric concave quadratic chirp waveforms. Our system has great potential to achieve RF and microwave photonic signal generation and processing with low cost and footprint.


ABSTRACT China is undergoing its long-awaited industrial revolution. There is no shortage of commentary and opinion on this dramatic period, but few have attempted to provide a coherent, in-depth, political-economic framework that explains the fundamental mechanisms behind China's rapid industrialization. This article reviews the Embryonic Economic Development theory put forth by Wen (2016a). This article reviews the Embryonic Economic Development theory put forth by Wen . It illuminates the critical sequence of developmental stages since the reforms enacted by Deng Xiaoping in 1978: namely, small-scale commercialized agricultural production, proto-industrialization in the countryside, a formal industrial revolution based on mass production of labor-intensive light consumer goods, a sustainable 'industrial trinity' boom in energy/motive power/infrastructure, and a second industrial revolution involving the mass production of heavy industrial goods. This developmental sequence follows essentially the same pattern as Great Britain's Industrial Revolution, despite sharp differences in political and institutional conditions. One of the key conclusions exemplified by China's economic rise is that the extent of industrialization is limited by the extent of the market. One of the key strategies behind the creation and nurturing of a continually growing market in China is based on this premise: The free market is a public good that is very costly for nations to create and support. Market creation requires a powerful 'mercantilist' state and the correct sequence of developmental stages; China has been successfully accomplishing its industrialization through these stages, backed by measured, targeted reforms and direct participation from its central and local governments.


The cost of capital is the minimum rate of return that an investment project must earn in order to cover its funding costs and any tax liabilities. Australian studies on this subject have produced a wide range of estimates. This paper demonstrates that a wide range of outcomes can result from often arbitrary assumptions used in constructing measures of the cost of funds. The paper suggests that any conclusions drawn about intertemporal trends or international comparisons of the cost of capital should be treated with care. For managers, it serves as a reminder that the use of simple invariant rules-of-thumb for investment decisions may be inappropriate. In particular, changes of tax regime and inflation should be taken into account in setting 'hurdle rates' for investment proposals.


Personalized PageRank expresses link-based page quality around user selected pages. The only previous personalized PageRank algorithm that can serve on-line queries for an unrestricted choice of pages on large graphs is our Monte Carlo algorithm [WAW 2004]. In this paper we achieve unrestricted personalization by combining rounding and randomized sketching techniques in the dynamic programming algorithm of Jeh and Widom [WWW 2003]. We evaluate the precision of approximation experimentally on large scale real-world data and find significant improvement over previous results. As a key theoretical contribution we show that our algorithms use an optimal amount of space by also improving earlier asymptotic worst-case lower bounds. Our lower bounds and algorithms apply to the SimRank as well; of independent interest is the reduction of the SimRank computation to personalized PageRank.


Unfavorable environmental conditions such as salt stress, drought and extreme temperature can affect tomato growth and final yield. But, natural genetic variation exists among tomato cultivar and related wild species for tolerance to abiotic stresses. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the recombinant inbred lines of tomato for seed germination traits under salt stress, high temperature and non-stress growth conditions. A total of 101 recombinant inbred lines along with their two parents were tested in a randomized complete design with two replications under salt stress, high temperature and non-stress conditions. Significant (P<0.05) differences were observed among the recombinant inbred lines for all germination parameters under all growth conditions. Higher genetic variation was observed under stress than non-stress condition due to exposed to stress environment. Germination was more delayed in salt stress at -0.5 MPa of NaCl than in high temperature stress of 35 0 c and non-stress conditions. But, the magnitude of response to stress varied among the recombinant inbred lines of tomato. In most cases, average germination trait values of the recombinant inbred lines were intermediate between the values of the two parents across the three growing conditions. However, transgressive segregation was also observed in the population which could due to combination of alleles from both parents for the expression of the studied phenotypes. Out of the 101 recombinant inbred lines, about five and three number of genotypes showed faster and earlier to uniform seed germination under salt and high temperature respectively. Overall, a recombinant inbred line of 291 showed faster seed germinated and performed almost for all germination traits than related wild species of pimp under three growth conditions. This genotype may be selected at early stage tomato establishment under both stress conditions. Furthermore, exploring from wide array of genetic variation and underlying the mechanism response to stress can help breeding for abiotic tolerance. Keywords : Germination, genetic variation, salt stress, high temperature, tomato


Cotton containing dead and/or immature fibers is a major concern in the dyeing and finishing of textile products. in an un-dyed state, entangled fiber clusters are generically classified as neps. It is only after the application of dye, when some neps remain un-dyed, that the more specific classification of "white speck" is used. The high volume instrument (HVI) fiber property measurement system is important in marketing and general quality assessment of the cotton crop; however, hVi is not precise enough to address immature/ dead fiber content. The objective of this pilot study was to examine the relationship between the AFIS (Uster's Advanced Fiber Information System) fiber properties and white speck occur rence on dyed yarn. Relationships between key fiber properties, such as length, nep count, and maturity, and the occurrence of white specks were investigated. Ten bales of cotton with a range of micronaire values were sampled (10 samples per bale) and analyzed using AFiS with 3 replications of each counting 3,000 fibers. Each sample was then processed into yarn and dyed using the same procedure. White specks were quantified on dyed yarn using a white speck yarn counting method. This preliminary study demonstrated a promising relationship between the AFIS fiber properties and the white speck occurrence. Fiber fineness and fiber nep per gram were highly correlated with white speck occurrence on the dyed yarn.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the values of the bronchoarterial ratio and bronchial wall thickness, as viewed during high-resolution CT, relate to age and smoking status in asymptomatic healthy subjects.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
High-resolution CT was performed prospectively in 85 subjects without cardiopulmonary disease. The subjects were divided into three groups according to age: 29 subjects were 21-40 years old; 29 subjects, 41-64 years old; and 27 subjects, 65 years or older. Both bronchoarterial ratios, defined as the diameter of the bronchial lumen divided by the diameter of its accompanying artery, and the T/D ratio, defined as wall thickness (T) divided by the total diameter of the bronchus (D), were measured at the segmental and subsegmental levels of the apical and posterior basal segments. Each calculated ratio was evaluated according to age and smoking status.

RESULTS
Significant correlation was found between the bronchoarterial ratio and age (r = 0.768, p < 0.0001), with the bronchoarterial ratio increasing with age and exceeding 1 in 41% of subjects older than 65 years. No significant correlation was seen between the T/D ratio and age. No significant differences in bronchoarterial ratio and T/D ratio were seen between smokers and nonsmokers in subjects overall; but in the elderly group, the T/D ratio was significantly higher in smokers than in nonsmokers (p = 0.021).

CONCLUSION
The bronchoarterial ratio is influenced by aging. The normal bronchoarterial ratio in a substantial number of subjects older than 65 years overlaps with the ratio considered to represent bronchiectasis. Thus, when this ratio is used for the quantitative analysis of pulmonary and cardiovascular disease, the influence of age should be considered.


Abstract. Coherent processing of radio-echo sounding data of polar ice sheets is known to provide an indication of bedrock properties and detection of internal layers. We investigate the benefits of coherent processing of a large azimuth beamwidth to retrieve and characterize the orientation and angular backscattering properties of the surface and subsurface features. MCRDS data acquired over two distinct test areas in Greenland are used to demonstrate the specular backscattering properties of the ice surface and of the internal layers, as well as the much wider angular response of the bedrock. The coupling of internal layers' orientation with the bed topography is shown to increase with depth. Spectral filtering can be used to increase the SNR of the internal layers and mitigate the surface multiple. The variance of the bed backscattering can be used to characterize the bed return specularity. The use of the SAR-focused RES data ensures the correct azimuth positioning of the internal layers for the subsequent slope estimation.


L-Carnitine (,-hydroxy-,y-trimethylaminobutyric acid) is a small water soluble molecule important in mammalian metabolism; it is essential for the normal oxidation of fats by the mitochondria and is involved in the transesterification and excretion of acyl-CoA esters, the oxidation of branched chain a-ketoacids, and removal of potentially toxic acylcarnitine esters from within mitochondria. L-Carnitine is found in both plasma and tissue as free carnitine or bound to fatty acids as acylcarnitine derivatives. Quantitative reductions in total and/or acylcarnitine concentrations and changes in the concentration of different acylcarnitine species are known to occur in a number of inherited and acquired disorders. The measurement of free and acylcarnitine is now a standard method for the investigation of children with certain inherited metabolic disorders of intermediary metabolism. More recently the identification of abnormal acylcarnitines by tandem mass spectrometry is being used for the purposes of newborn screening. Treatment with exogenous L-carnitine has been advocated for a number of inherited and acquired disorders. It is the purpose of this article to review conditions effecting infants and children that involve L-carnitine metabolism and to discuss the efficacy of L-carnitine in their treatment.


Nutrition transition is said to be one of the major causes of rising incidences of non-communicable diseases in Indian population. One of the major changes observed in dietary patterns is consumption of processed foods and eating away from home. This has impacted the nutritional status of populations across many regions. The objective of the study was to map out the consumption trends of processed and catered foods among selected rural population from South India. The study population were 500 respondents from five different villages of Mysore district, which answered a structured questionnaire regarding general background information, major driving forces for purchase of processed foods, and types and frequency of consumption of such foods. The data were collected and classified age wise. The results revealed that the study population mostly belonged to Hindu religion, the literacy and income levels were very low, and majority were non-vegetarians. The primary driving force for purchase of processed foods were mothers followed by media influence. Price and quality of foods were influencing factors for purchase whereas saving of time was major reason for selection of such foods. Snack foods were major items of daily purchase by majority of respondents. The study shows that dietary transition in terms of purchase of processed foods was also observed in rural population. Corresponding author: Jamuna Prakash, Professor, Department of Studies in Food Science and Nutrition, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysore-570 006, Karnataka, India, Tel: 0821-2419634; E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Received Date: November 15, 2015 Accepted Date: December 03, 2015 Published Date: December 10, 2015


Objective To examine whether behavioural strategies designed to improve children's sleep problems could also improve the symptoms, behaviour, daily functioning, and working memory of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the mental health of their parents. Design Randomised controlled trial. Setting 21 general paediatric practices in Victoria, Australia. Participants 244 children aged 5-12 years with ADHD attending the practices between 2010 and 2012. Intervention Sleep hygiene practices and standardised behavioural strategies delivered by trained psychologists or trainee paediatricians during two fortnightly consultations and a follow-up telephone call. Children in the control group received usual clinical care. Main outcome measures At three and six months after randomisation: severity of ADHD symptoms (parent and teacher ADHD rating scale IV—primary outcome), sleep problems (parent reported severity, children's sleep habits questionnaire, actigraphy), behaviour (strengths and difficulties questionnaire), quality of life (pediatric quality of life inventory 4.0), daily functioning (daily parent rating of evening and morning behavior), working memory (working memory test battery for children, six months only), and parent mental health (depression anxiety stress scales). Results Intervention compared with control families reported a greater decrease in ADHD symptoms at three and six months (adjusted mean difference for change in symptom severity −2.9, 95% confidence interval −5.5 to −0.3, P=0.03, effect size −0.3, and −3.7, −6.1 to −1.2, P=0.004, effect size −0.4, respectively). Compared with control children, intervention children had fewer moderate-severe sleep problems at three months (56% v 30%; adjusted odds ratio 0.30, 95% confidence interval 0.16 to 0.59; P<0.001) and six months (46% v 34%; 0.58, 0.32 to 1.0; P=0.07). At three months this equated to a reduction in absolute risk of 25.7% (95% confidence interval 14.1% to 37.3%) and an estimated number needed to treat of 3.9. At six months the number needed to treat was 7.8. Approximately a half to one third of the beneficial effect of the intervention on ADHD symptoms was mediated through improved sleep, at three and six months, respectively. Intervention families reported greater improvements in all other child and family outcomes except parental mental health. Teachers reported improved behaviour of the children at three and six months. Working memory (backwards digit recall) was higher in the intervention children compared with control children at six months. Daily sleep duration measured by actigraphy tended to be higher in the intervention children at three months (mean difference 10.9 minutes, 95% confidence interval −19.0 to 40.8 minutes, effect size 0.2) and six months (9.9 minutes, −16.3 to 36.1 minutes, effect size 0.3); however, this measure was only completed by a subset of children (n=54 at three months and n=37 at six months). Conclusions A brief behavioural sleep intervention modestly improves the severity of ADHD symptoms in a community sample of children with ADHD, most of whom were taking stimulant medications. The intervention also improved the children's sleep, behaviour, quality of life, and functioning, with most benefits sustained to six months post-intervention. The intervention may be suitable for use in primary and secondary care. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN68819261.


Malaria is transmitted through female Anopheline mosquitoes where gamete fusion and meiosis occurs, and humans where parasites proliferate asexually. We describe a powerful approach to identify the genetic determinants of parasite fitness across both invertebrate and vertebrate life-cycle stages in human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum using bulk segregant analysis (BSA). We combined experimental genetic crosses using humanized mice, with selective whole genome amplification and BSA at multiple developmental stages in both mosquito and vertebrate host to examine parasite competition and identify genomic regions under selection. We generated crosses between artemisinin resistant (ART-R, kelch13-C580Y) and ART-sensitive (ART-S, kelch13-WT) parasite clones recently isolated from Southeast Asian patients. We then quantified genome-wide changes in allele frequency in the parasite progeny population from infected midgut and salivary glands of Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, infected livers, emerging merozoites and aliquots of in vitro cultured progeny parasites at intervals over 30 days. Three striking results emerge: we observed (i) a strong skew (>80%) towards alleles from the ART-R parent in the mosquito stage, that dropped to ∼50% in the blood stage as selfed ART-R parasites were selected against; (ii) highly repeatable skews in allele frequencies across the genome in blood stage parasites; (iii) particularly strong selection (selection coefficient (s) ≤ 0.18/asexual cycle) against alleles from the ART-R parent at loci on chromosome 12 containing MRP2 and chromosome 14 containing ARPS10. This approach robustly identifies selected loci and has strong potential for identifying parasite genes that interact with the mosquito vector or compensatory loci involved in drug resistance.


For biomedical applications, such as single cell manipulation, it is important to fabricate microstructures that can be powered and controlled wirelessly in fluidic environments. In this letter, we describe the construction and operation of truly micron-sized, biocompatible ferromagnetic microtransporters driven by external magnetic fields. Microtransporters were fabricated using a simple, single step fabrication method and can be produced in large numbers. We demonstrate that they can be navigated to manipulate single cells with micron-size precision without disturbing the local environment.


In worms, Eph destabilizes PTEN, which influences either PI3K or MAPK signaling to regulate life span and reproduction, respectively. PTEN is a tumor suppressor that is frequently mutated in cancers and has both lipid phosphatase and protein phosphatase activities. The lipid phosphatase activity is well characterized and serves to terminate or limit signaling through the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway. The protein phosphatase substrates and functions are less well understood. Brisbin et al. found that the Caenorhabditis elegans homolog of PTEN (DAF-18) interacted with the receptor tyrosine kinase Eph (VAB-1) in a yeast two-hybrid screen and then showed that the interaction between the two proteins did not require the kinase activity of VAB-1 but was stabilized by phosphatase-inactive mutant forms of DAF-18. In vitro kinase assays with recombinant VAB-1 and DAF-18 or various mutant forms showed that VAB-1 could phosphorylate the C-terminal region of DAF-18 (the part that interacted with VAB-1) when it was expressed as a fragment, but not full-length DAF-18. Additionally, full-length DAF-18 decreased the autophosphorylation of VAB-1 in the kinase assay, but a phosphatase-inactive mutant did not. VAB-1 and DAF-18 were present in worm germline precursor cells, oocytes, and a subset of neurons. Although transcripts for DAF-18 were not affected, the abundance of DAF-18 was lower in embryo lysates or tissues in which VAB-1 was overexpressed; in vab-1 worms, DAF-18 was increased, suggesting that VAB-1 destabilized DAF-18. VAB-1 and DAF-18 both regulated life span, with VAB-1 decreasing life span and DAF-18 increasing it; vab-1 or DAF-18–overexpressing animals exhibited increased life span and sensitivity to dauer formation (a form of worm hibernation). Although this function for DAF-18 most likely is through its lipid phosphatase activity and ability to inhibit PI3K signaling, which is known to regulate life span, DAF-18 appeared to function differently in the reproductive system. Worms lacking VAB-1 function exhibited increased egg laying, and an increased proportion of eggs were unfertilized compared with wild type. Combining vab-1 with daf-18(ok480) rescued the egg-laying phenotypes; however, mutations in genes encoding components of the insulin and PI3K pathway did not show egg-laying phenotypes and failed to rescue vab-1. Instead, VAB-1 and DAF-18 appeared to regulate the activation state of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) with vab-1 worms exhibiting activated MAPK in more oocytes in the gonad than wild type. In daf-18 mutants or double vab-1, daf-18 mutants, MAPK activity was restricted to at most two oocytes. Thus, PTEN appears to function with Eph, and the two proteins may inhibit each other's activity and thereby regulate either PI3K or MAPK signaling. S. Brisbin, J. Liu, J. Boudreau, J. Peng, M. Evangelista, I. Chin-Sang, A role for C. elegans Eph RTK signaling in PTEN regulation. Dev. Cell 17, 459–469 (2009). [Online Journal]


With the adoption of Delaware's general incorporation statute in 1899, and New Jersey's ill-fated (and short-lived) turn toward a more regulatory approach to corporate law, Delaware triumphed in the corporate chartering business. Delaware's ascendance in the corporate law market has endured for over a century, notwithstanding state competitors and the looming presence of -- and occasional intervention by -- the federal government on certain corporate law subjects. Various explanations are provided as to why Delaware continues to dominate, and various assessments have been offered as to whether, overall, Delaware's corporate law jurisprudence is beneficial or detrimental for investors. These explanations and assessments typically focus on what Delaware has done well over the years to retain its prominence, not on what, deliberately or fortuitously, it has failed to do.
This chapter addresses Delaware's remarkable silence on a central aspect of corporate governance: the various legal issues associated with executive corporate officers. Unlike the case with corporate directors, where Delaware has resolved a host of issues over many decades, Delaware has yet to provide an answer to certain basic questions pertaining to officers. These include: whether the business judgment rule applies to officers; what the applicable standard of care is for officers; why, if officers are employees and agents of the company and not of shareholders, investors can bring direct actions; the nature and contours of officer disclosure and oversight duties; whether officers may consider noninvestor stakeholders; and whether the Unocal and Revlon standards apply to officers.
This statutory and case law silence, however puzzling and long-running, and whatever its reasons -- which are described -- has served Delaware well. By not articulating legal rules that some might regard as too lax and others as too severe, but instead saying very little at all, Delaware has allowed the subject of officers to largely be addressed in other ways. These include board of director interactions with officers via ex ante employment agreements and ex post severance arrangements, increased federal regulation and sanctioning of certain officer-related conduct, litigation conducted outside Delaware, but relatively little Delaware litigation that promulgates clear rules. This chapter addresses these various dimensions of Delaware's sparse law on officers, the reasons for the scarcity, and how silence on such an important subject has contributed, ironically, to Delaware's historical preeminence. At the same time, Delaware's eventual resolution of officer-related issues is unlikely to weaken its now long-established hegemony.


Purpose: To construct a phantom designed to test deformable image registration algorithms, by developing a set of deformable thermoplastic materials that mimic tissue for both kilovoltage and megavoltage computed tomography. Methods: A material formulation was developed to represent muscle, water, and adipose using two polyurethanes capable of deforming in boiling water to produce anatomical deformations. The CT Hounsfield Units (HU) were tuned by doping the polyurethanes with a primary additive to increase the HU and a secondary additive to decrease it. To mimic actual bone, a plastic mixture whose HU was controlled by a tertiary additive was formulated to remain rigid in boiling water. A phantom prototype representing a central sagittal head and neck slice was constructed using the optimized materials. To ensure the phantom was anthropomorphic, its geometry was designed by contouring the major anatomical sites of a patient. The phantom was constructed so it could be opened along the sagittal midsection where a grid of 300 nonradioopaque markers were placed with 5mm spacing. The grid served as a nonradioopaque means of characterizing the 3D magnitude of a deformation with an optical camera. Results: The phantom materials were successfully tuned to be both kV and MV compatible and made to represent different tissues. The phantom constructed from these materials exhibited a similar HU contrast to an actual patient and was successfully deformed around the neck section, producing a clinically realistic deformation of several mm in magnitude. Conclusion: Using the formulated set of materials, an anthropomorphic phantom depicting different tissue types was built and deformed in 3D in a clinically realistic fashion. By measuring the positional changes of the optical markers, the constructed phantom can be used to physically verify deformable image registration algorithms. The work was supported in part by a UC Proof of Concept Program Commercialization Gap Grant.


In a series of recent works, we have generalised the consistency results in the stochastic block model literature to the case of uniform and non-uniform hypergraphs. The present paper continues the same line of study, where we focus on partitioning weighted uniform hypergraphs---a problem often encountered in computer vision. This work is motivated by two issues that arise when a hypergraph partitioning approach is used to tackle computer vision problems: (i) The uniform hypergraphs constructed for higher-order learning contain all edges, but most have negligible weights. Thus, the adjacency tensor is nearly sparse, and yet, not binary. (ii) A more serious concern is that standard partitioning algorithms need to compute all edge weights, which is computationally expensive for hypergraphs. This is usually resolved in practice by merging the clustering algorithm with a tensor sampling strategy---an approach that is yet to be analysed rigorously. We build on our earlier work on partitioning dense unweighted uniform hypergraphs (Ghoshdastidar and Dukkipati, ICML, 2015), and address the aforementioned issues by proposing provable and efficient partitioning algorithms. Our analysis justifies the empirical success of practical sampling techniques. We also complement our theoretical findings by elaborate empirical comparison of various hypergraph partitioning schemes.


To overcome the inefficiency of the rigid frequency allocation in traditional wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks, the idea of slicing the optical spectrum for elastic and flexible bandwidth allocation has attracted significant interest recently. The resulting network, namely, the spectrum-sliced elastic optical path (SLICE) network, can facilitate both the super-wavelength and sub-wavelength traffic accommodation by allocating an appropriate number of sub-carriers. Compared to traditional wavelength routed WDM networks (WRNs), SLICE networks have the advantages of higher spectrum efficiency (through the elimination of spectrum gaps or guard-bands when possible) and better signal quality (by overcoming various impairments), thanks to the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing technology. To accommodate traffic demands in SLICE networks, the process of routing and spectrum allocation (RSA) has to be employed, which is different from and more challenging than the traditional routing and wavelength assignment problem in WRNs. In this work, we comprehensively study the RSA problem assuming the presence of known static or off-line traffic. We formally define the static RSA problem and show the NP-hardness of the optimal RSA problem. Integer linear programing models are then formulated to achieve different optimization goals in SLICE networks. We further analyze the lower/upper bound of the spectrum resources (i.e., sub-carriers) in SLICE networks with uniform traffic demands. To efficiently resolve the RSA problem in a large-scale network, we also propose two efficient algorithms, namely, the shortest path with maximum spectrum reuse algorithm, and the balanced load spectrum allocation algorithm, to minimize the required number of sub-carriers in a SLICE network. Our results show that the proposed algorithms can match the analysis and approximate the optimal solutions from the integer linear programing model.


As internet penetration continues to grow across the globe, the potential pool of skilled and talented individuals and organizations that can be contacted or engaged in a commercial or professional arrangement expands. This flexible pool of resources can be utilised via a variety of methods and has been made more accessible by the growth of rich interactive media and social networking tools, which are frequently deployed both professionally and socially. This paper reviews the literature and recent uses of Open Innovation techniques which can facilitate corporate entrepreneurship. There is clear evidence to show that these techniques enable and accelerate entrepreneurial processes in addition to enabling greater agility in product and service development. The ability to access diversity and create new knowledge will be a key driver of success for many organizations and will support the development of entrepreneurial economies.


Communities face complex problems that are best addressed by integrating the perspectives of multiple disciplines, yet many forms of engaged scholarship remain disciplinarily specific. Universities struggle to bring together highly disparate disciplines linking knowledge with action to address community problems. Sustainability is an important example of a complex, urgent problem that is best addressed by integrating multiple disciplines. In the United States, a unique multi-year initiative, Maine's Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI), addresses sustainability problems by working  across disciplines on engaged research. Scholars, representing multiple disciplines and most of the higher education institutions in the state, working with their community partners, are addressing sustainability problems related to landscape change, specifically urbanization, forest ecosystem management, and climate change. This initiative is composed of over two dozen interdisciplinary, engaged research projects that include diverse stakeholders (e.g., nongovernmental organizations, communities, policy organizations, and governmental leaders) as members of the research teams. Reflecting on the challenges of involving multiple disciplines in research projects, we discuss SSI as an exemplar of interdisciplinary, engaged campus initiatives. The scale and reach of the initiative (on-campus and statewide), the number of disciplines and stakeholders involved in the project, and the conversations around engaged scholarship occurring at the University of Maine capture the challenges and opportunities of moving the scholarship of engagement beyond the isolated work of individual disciplines .


The global evolution of the postcolonial era across diverse spatio-temporal zones generated a highly debatable paradigm: did postcoloniality generate a new epistemological and ontological framework that disentangled from the colonial patterns or did these patterns continue with the preexisting colonial ideologies? With the end of colonization in India, the physically visible colonial empires of patriarchy were replaced by what we can refer to as "metaphysical empires", which are physically invisible, but which operate ideologically in a very systematic and convincing manner, reproducing many of the hierarchies entrenched during the colonial period. The interpretation of postcolonial histories has been fractured with gendered, inter-racial, caste and communal hierarchies that have promoted specific (his)tories and have demolished innumerable narratives by women. Even existing historical narratives by women in India are mostly written from a patriarchal gaze, underpinned with definite caste, communal, geographical, demographical and racial preferences, demonstrating the hegemony of patriarchy and the assurance of persistent patriarchal-colonial ideologies, through the self-centered socio-political designs of indigenous groups. As the theoretical backdrop, this essay explores the documentary focused on the contemporary Anglo-Indian women residents of Bow Barracks in Calcutta. The project sought to record and archive the undocumented socio-historical narratives of those women. The film was funded by the Journal of International Women's Studies, Bridgewater State University, Massachusetts.


Humane use of preclinical large animal cancer models plays a critical role in understanding cancer biology and developing therapeutic treatments. Among the large animal candidates, goats have great potentials as sustainable sources for large animal cancer model development. Goats are easier to handle and cheaper to raise. The genome of the goats has been sequenced recently. It has been known that goats develop skin, adrenal cortex, breast and other types of cancers. Technically, goats are subject to somatic cell nuclear transfer more efficiently and exhibit better viability through the cloning process. Towards the development of a goat cancer model, we created a transgenic goat fetal fibroblast (GFF) cell as the donor cell for SCNT. Human mutated K-ras (hK-rasG12D) was chosen as the transgene, as it is present in 20% of cancers. Both hK-rasG12D and a herpes simplex viral thymidine kinase (HSV1-tk) reporter genes, flanked by a pair of LoxP sites, were knocked in the GFF endogenous K-ras locus through homologous recombination. Following Cre-mediated activation (with a 95% activation efficiency), hK-rasG12D and HSV1-tk were expressed in the transgenic GFF cells, evidently through the presence of corresponding mRNAs, and confirmed by HSV1-tk protein function assay. The hK-rasG12D expressing GFF cells exhibited enhanced proliferation rates and an anchorage-independent growth behavior. They were able to initiate tumor growth in athymic nude mice. In conclusion, after activating hK-rasG12D gene expression, hK-rasG12D transgenic GFF cells were transformed into tumorgenesis cells. Transgenic goats via SCNT using the above-motioned cells as the donor cells have been established.


International students confront a range of challenges during their transition to living and studying in Australia. Despite these challenges over 80% of international students reported high satisfaction with their life and study within Australia. This qualitative study reports on the experiences of 53 first year international students at ECU. Participants were students from across a range of study areas who responded to an online or face to face survey. Participants were required to respond to four questions which were analysed thematically to provide a summary of their experiences. Survey questions included their positive and negative experiences of being a first year student at ECU and changes that they suggested be considered by the university. Thematic analysis revealed a range of issues, most of which were reflected in previous research, however a range of ECU specific issues were also revealed, for example, resources and timetabling. This introductory research has provided initial data for developing future research. The cognitive nature of the survey may have limited the responses of participants. It is recommended that future research consider interviews with international students to review social and emotional issues.


A minimization problem modeling geometrically exact generalized continua of micromorphic type is considered. The solution consists of two fields, the elastic deformation φ of a given body and a tensorial field P which can model different additional features needed for a more reliable description of solids. For the solution of this minimization problem, a staggered algorithm is introduced which decouples the original problem into two separate problems. In each of these subproblems, one of the variables, φ or P, respectively, is kept fixed and the subproblem is solved for the remaining variables, i.e., P or φ, respectively. Each of the problems is discretized with finite elements. Numerical results are presented for a cubic and a cylindrical geometry (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


The paper presents the flood characterisation of the Haor region in the north-east of Bangladesh. The region consists of a system of Haors, each of which is a saucer-shaped depression and interconnected by a river system. A portion of the Haor area, known as the deeply flooded area, consisting of about 15 Haors, was chosen as the study area. A 1D2D model, with one-dimensional model for the rivers and a two-dimensional model for the Haors, was developed. Flood hydrograph characteristics such as the rising curve gradient, flood magnitude ratio (with respect to the average discharge) and time to peak were assessed for different river floods. Using these characteristics an integrated flood index (FI) was developed. The FI is an aggregated indicator based on the flood hydrograph characteristics and indicates the relative overall severity of a flood. The spatial and temporal variations of the index were investigated as well. The computed FI at different locations of the region and for different flood hazard frequencies provide a broad understanding of the flooding characteristics of the region. The developed methodology can also be applied to other river basins to analyse flooding risk provided some historical flood data are available.


New architectures of the dual chain InCaP MMIC power amplifiers withouuwith automatic bias current control (ABC2) have been developed for improving efficiency in the low-power region while maintaining the high linearity for all Pout regions. For low standby current less than 25 mA, the amplifiers initially operate using small HBT arrays. For small chip sue, high load impedance in low-power region, and efficient power combining in high-power region, phase-compensating L-C matching circuits using lowpass and high-pass networks are used. A new simple power detection and bias current control circuit is employed to the power amplifier, resulting in automatic gain control for Pout variation. The fabricated (ABC2) power amplifier module shows good ACPR more -48 dBc over all Pouts, and high efficiency of 6 % PAE (conventional 3.5~4%) at Pout=9 dBm, and 37.5 % PAE at Pout=28 dBm.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To explore the feasibility of combined aerobic and resistance training (CART) as a safe method of improving cardiometabolic health among cancer survivors.
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DESIGN
Descriptive and longitudinal pilot study for exercise intervention.
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SETTING
University campus in Los Angeles, California.
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SAMPLE
A multiethnic population of cancer survivors (N = 11) was recruited by convenience sampling and physician referral.
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METHODS
Consenting participants were prescribed CART for one hour per day, three days per week for 13 weeks.
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MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Components of cardiometabolic health were measured, including resting heart rate (HRrest), blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference, body fat percentage, and android fat percentage at baseline and after 13 weeks of training. Fasting blood glucose, insulin, adiponectin, leptin, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and C-reactive protein (CRP) also were assessed at baseline and after 13 weeks of training.
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FINDINGS
More than half of the participants reported living with at least two other chronic diseases or conditions in addition to a cancer diagnosis. Five of six African American and Hispanic participants reported the presence of at least two risk factors for metabolic syndrome, compared to one of five Caucasian participants. After 13 weeks of training, participants experienced an average decrease in waist circumference. Decrease in waist circumference was associated with a decrease in CRP. A relationship also was suggested between number of exercise sessions attended and improvement in HRrest.
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CONCLUSIONS
A CART intervention among cancer survivors should continue to be explored in a larger sample to establish efficacy and effectiveness at improving cardiometabolic health. Because of the higher risk of comorbidity among cancer survivors in comparison to cancer-free adults, improving cardiometabolic health is as important as monitoring cancer recurrence. A need exists for increased attention to the post-treatment cardiometabolic health of cancer survivors and also for examining potential cardiometabolic health disparities among non-Caucasian cancer survivors.
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IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
CART may be a plausible alternative to reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome and improve cardiometabolic health among cancer survivors. Additional studies that continue to explore the efficacy and effectiveness of CART may provide more information to help nurses and physicians determine whether the cancer survivorship care plan should include an exercise-based alternative to intervene on cardiometabolic health.


Synthetic backcrossed-derived bread wheats (SBWs) from CIMMYT were grown in the north-west of Mexico (CIANO) and sites across Australia during 3 seasons. A different set of lines was evaluated each season, as new materials became available from the CIMMYT crop enhancement program. Previously, we have evaluated both the performance of genotypes across environments and the genotype x environment interaction (G x E). The objective of this study was to interpret the G x E for yield in terms of crop attributes measured at individual sites and to identify the potential environmental drivers of this interaction. Groups of SBWs with consistent yield performance were identified, often comprising closely related lines. However, contrasting performance was also relatively common among sister lines or between a recurrent parent and its SBWs. Early flowering was a common feature among lines with broad adaptation and/or high yield in the northern Australian wheatbelt, while yields in the southern region did not show any association with the maturity type. Lines with high yields in the southern and northern regions had cooler canopies during flowering and early grain filling. Among the SBWs with Australian genetic backgrounds, lines best adapted to CIANO were tall (>100 cm), with a slightly higher ground cover. These lines also displayed a higher concentration of water-soluble carbohydrates in the stem at flowering, which was negatively correlated with stem number per unit area when evaluated in southern Australia (Horsham). Possible reasons for these patterns are discussed. Selection for yield at CIANO did not specifically identify the lines best adapted to northern Australia, although they were not the most poorly adapted either. In addition, groups of lines with specific adaptation to the south would not have been selected by choosing the highest yielding lines at CIANO. These findings suggest that selection at CIMMYT for Australian environments may be improved by either trait based selection or yield data combined with trait information. Flowering date, canopy temperature around flowering, tiller density, and water-soluble carbohydrate concentration in the stem at flowering seem likely candidates.


Previous research on farm labor demand is reviewed to empirically explore what has been learned over the past 50 years. Following the example of Hamermesh, studies were differentiated by numerous factors. A meta-regression analysis of estimated demand wage elasticities was conducted to more clearly identify any systematic factors that influence such estimates. Results of the analysis show that the magnitudes of own-price demand elasticities are affected by differences including type and area of labor market, methodology, and the time period covered by the data. Understanding variations due to model specification is important when interpreting current and future agricultural labor and policy research.


Participation in regular physical activity has a variety of health benefits including increased levels of function and independence for people who are ageing. The inclusion of motor learning principles into exercise programs is proposed to increase functional benefits. The presence of these principles in the Feldenkrais Method (FM) suggests this may be a beneficial program for the ageing population. Objective: A proof of concept study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of an eight week movement class based on the FM when compared to a generic balance class. Method: A pseudo-randomized controlled pilot study was conducted in an Australian community based organization of healthy people post-retirement, n=22. Self-perceived health and functional status were measured by the Short-Form 36 (SF-36) and Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) respectively. Objective functional assessment, by a blinded assessor, included the Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT), Functional Reach Test (FRT), Single Leg Stance time (SLS) and Walk on Floor Eyes Closed (WOFEC) measures. Results: There was a significant time effect for all measures except the WOFEC. Post hoc analysis demonstrated significant improvements for both the FM and generic groups in the SF-36, PSFS and FRT and for the FM group only in the SLS test. Conclusions: Classes based on the FM are effective in improving health and functional measures in a healthy ageing population, equally so with the generic class. Considerations for future research include a randomized controlled trial in a rehabilitation setting, with a larger sample size and appropriate measures to detect relevant change in functional levels.


Aims. We study the physical properties of an active region (AR) jet in order to probe the mechanisms responsible for it. Methods. We report 2007 January 15/16 observations of a recurring jet situated on the west side of NOAA AR 10938. Multiwavelength data from all three instruments onboard Hinode were analysed. This paper focuses on one instance of a jet observed with the Hinode/EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS). Using EIS raster data we measured the temperatures, Doppler shifts, density, and filling factor. Results. A strong blue-shifted component and an indication of a weak red-shifted component at the base of the jet was observed around Log Te = 6.2. The up-flow velocities exceeded 150 km s −1 . The jet component was seen over a range of temperatures between 5.4 and 6.4 in Log Te .U sing Fexii λ186 and λ195 line ratios, we measured densities above Log Ne = 11 for the high-velocity up-flow component. We found that the density of the high-velocity up-flow increases with velocity. We estimate the filling factor in the jet upflow to be <0.03. With the Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope (SOT), we observed recurrent (quasi periodic) magnetic flux cancelations just before the recurrent jet emission was seen in images taken with the X-ray Telescope (XRT). Conclusions. The high-velocity up-flows, together with the density dependence on velocity, support an evaporation scenario for the acceleration of this jet. The high density and small filling factor, coupled with the high Doppler velocities are strongly suggestive of multiple small-scale magnetic reconnection events being responsible for the production of both EUV and X-ray jets.


Gender differences in coping strategies and self-rated disability and handicap were explored in individuals with noise-induced hearing loss. The study group consisted of 60 male and 33 female patients, consecutively presenting at the hearing clinics in two hospitals in the western part of Sweden. The females were older and had worse average hearing thresholds over the low frequencies (0.5, 1 and 2 kHz) in the better ear than the males. However, all subjects rated their hearing loss as "moderate" to "severe". The patients responded to the Communication Strategies Scale, CSS, measuring "maladaptive behaviour", "verbal strategies" and "non-verbal strategies" and the Hearing Disability and Handicaps Scale, HDHS, which is composed of four factorially derived subscales: "speech perception", "non-speech sounds", "interpersonal distress" and "threat to the self-image". Pure-tone audiometry and sociodemographic data was also assessed. Despite differences in pure-tone audiometry, there were no significant differences between gender in perceived disability or handicap. Significant gender differences in coping were found. The women used "maladaptive behaviour" and "verbal strategies" significantly more often than the men. This is in agreement with results of an interview-study of women with NIHL, showing that the perceived emotional temperature in a specific situation guided the choice of coping strategy. The gender difference in coping could also be related to, and explained by, the conversational goal (transactional or interactional).


Earlier 2020 briefs identified annual growth rates for world population of 1.7 percent per year based on United Nations projections and per capita income growth in low- and middle-income economies of 2.9 percent as the major driving forces for growth in agricultural demand. These growth rates would probably result in a food demand increase of 2.5 3.0 percent, which should then be matched by agricultural production. Over the period 1970 90, production grew 2.3 percent annually, but most experts agree that major efforts will be needed to sustain a growth rate of about 2 percent in the future. Though most of this production growth will be realized within the regions, some food will have to be imported, and international trade will play an increasingly important role. Drawing on a recent study of European Union (EU) agriculture, this brief focuses on the EU-12 members in 1994 and discusses the consequences of possible further reforms of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on its agriculture and its potential as an agricultural exporter.


Vascular endothelial growth factor/vascular permeability factor (VEGF/VPF) induces endothelial cell migration and proliferation in culture and is strongly angiogenic in vivo. VEGF synthesis has been shown to occur in both normal and transformed cells. The receptors for the factor have been shown to be localized mainly in endothelial cells, however, the presence of VEGF synthesis and the VEGF receptor in cells other than endothelial cells has been demonstrated. Neoangiogenesis in cartilage growth plate plays a fundamental role in endochondral ossification. We have shown that, in an avian in vitro system for chondrocyte differentiation, VEGF was produced and localized in cell clusters totally resembling in vivo cartilage. The factor was synthesized by hypertrophic chondrocytes and was released into their conditioned medium, which is highly chemotactic for endothelial cells. Antibodies against VEGF inhibited endothelial cell migration induced by chondrocyte conditioned media. Similarly, endothelial cell migration was inhibited also by antibodies directed against the VEGF receptor 2/Flk1 (VEGFR2). In avian and mammalian embryo long bones, immediately before vascular invasion, VEGF was distinctly localized in growth plate hypertrophic chondrocytes. In contrast, VEGF was not observed in quiescent and proliferating chondrocytes earlier in development. VEGF receptor 2 colocalized with the factor both in hypertrophic cartilage in vivo and hypertrophic cartilage engineered in vitro, suggesting an autocrine loop in chondrocytes at the time of their maturation to hypertrophic cells and of cartilage erosion. Regardless of cell exposure to exogenous VEGF, VEGFR-2 phosphorylation was recognized in cultured hypertrophic chondrocytes, supporting the idea of an autocrine functional activation of signal transduction in this non-endothelial cell type as a consequence of the endogenous VEGF production. In summary we propose that VEGF is actively responsible for hypertrophic cartilage neovascularization through a paracrine release by chondrocytes, with invading endothelial cells as a target. Furthermore, VEGF receptor localization and signal transduction in chondrocytes strongly support the hypothesis of a VEGF autocrine activity also in morphogenesis and differentiation of a mesoderm derived cell.


In the 1990s, New York City implemented a particularly vigorous brand of localized order-maintenance policing. Such targeted enforcement of borderline offenses led to a skyrocketing rate of non-felony arrests in affected (predominantly poor and minority) communities and, consequently, created a crisis of systemic legitimacy within these communities. Notably, however, enforcement was increasingly heavy-handed only on the policing end. By contrast, when it came to plea bargaining, prosecutors were providing more and more lenient no-time or short-time pleas to reduced (often non-criminal) charges. In this essay, I offer a novel (and at least partial) explanation for this leniency trend. My explanation is a heretofore unrecognized plea-bargaining influence that I call grassroots plea bargaining. By grassroots plea bargaining, I mean a bottom-up pressure that in certain circumstances may lead prosecutors to reduce plea prices in order to purchase communal acquiescence to police policies that otherwise lack public support. In short, as police ramp up enforcement, prosecutors may feel the need to pull back on the punishment throttle to ensure that affected communities accept - or at least tolerate - hard-nosed police tactics.


The purpose of this quantitative research was to measure Latino dual language program participants' attitudes and beliefs about their two-way program, language proficiency, intentions to enroll in post-secondary education, secondary coursework, and work/career orientations. The significance of the study is that it provided additional research as educational policy makers are continually seeking methodologies and programs that increase educational outcomes for Latino students, specifically for second language learners. This study meets a critical need in the dual language education field by providing updated data analysis on the impacts of dual language programs on participants as well as a comparative analysis for non-dual language participants. Dual language research has primarily focused on K-6 students attending dual language programs. This study specifically targeted students that have participated in a dual language program for 6+ years and analyzes differences between the comparison groups. The study included 78 Latino high school students in a western state. The results of the study indicated that native Spanish speakers that attended a dual language program for six or more years have higher levels of Spanish proficiency and bilingual skills than their native Spanish speaking peers that did not attend a dual language program. There were no significant findings between the two groups on self-reported academic outcomes, post-secondary intentions, or career interests. Implications for practice include: the need for more STEM offering as there was a strong interest in STEM related careers from both groups of Latino respondents, an interest in a career in education from dual language respondents, and the need for more dual language programs to serve ELL students. Recommendations for further research include: continued research in the area of secondary dual language participants in relation to academic outcomes and post-secondary enrollment.


This study searches the nursing barriers in the management of the acute pain. After the ethical cares, a structured questionnaire was applied containing eleven closed questions and four open questions for thirty three nurses of the Fortaleza' hospital postoperative, betweeng may and april/2000. The collected data were contained in tables and analyzed with simple descriptive statistics to evidence the theoretical-methodological barriers related to the acute pain's nursing management. The ignorance of those elements can be associated among the unspecializated in the area and the long time of academic formation. Keywords: Acute pain – nurse – postope.


This paper extends finance theory under risk to account for borrowing behavior under financial stress conditions. As the financial stress level for the firm increases, the role of credit or unused borrowing capacity changes. With a strong equity position, credit is valued as a reserve to avoid liquidation costs resulting from the sale of fixed assets to meet cash flow obligations. As the financial stress on the firm increases the model demonstrates the firm's willingness to reduce credit reserves and increase its financial leverage in order to increase its probability of survival. These results are derived in a tractable framework by describing risky alternatives in terms of expected values and variances.


Despite progress in interdisciplinary research, difficulties remain. In this paper, we argue that scholars, educators, and practitioners need to critically rethink the ways in which interdisciplinary research and training are conducted. We present epistemological pluralism as an approach for conducting innovative, collaborative research and study. Epistemological pluralism recognizes that, in any given research context, there may be several valuable ways of knowing, and that accommodating this plurality can lead to more successful integrated study. This approach is particularly useful in the study and management of social-ecological systems. Through resilience theory's adaptive cycle, we demonstrate how a focus on epistemological pluralism can facilitate the reorganization of interdisciplinary research and avoid the build-up of significant, but insufficiently integrative, disciplinary-dominated research. Finally, using two case studies—urban ecology and social-ecological research in Alaska—we highlight how interdisciplinary work is impeded when divergent epistemologies are not recognized and valued, and that by incorporating a pluralistic framework, these issues can be better explored, resulting in more integrated understanding.


It is widely recognized that landmines pose a significant threat to the development and recovery of post-conflict societies. What is less well understood is the impact that these weapons have on the everyday lives and wellbeing of affected people and the environments in which they live. This thesis therefore seeks to deepen this understanding by presenting the findings from community-level qualitative research undertaken in Cambodia, one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. I argue that it is essential to consider the effect that landmines have on people, the environments in which they live, and the relationships between people and environment. In order to explore this, I build on the notion of 'wellbeing ecology' introduced by White & Jha (2014). Wellbeing ecology is a place-sensitive approach that considers the inter-connected and dynamic social, economic, emotional, physical and spiritual relationships that people have with each other and their environments over time. By their very presence, landmines represent a threat to both social and natural systems. They also reconstitute people's experience of place. I explore this in particular through the notion of contaminated landscapes, which draws on and takes forward work on therapeutic landscapes in health geography. My data reveals that local people and mine action actors understand the effects of landmines differently. While mine action actors focus predominantly on material impact, local people conceptualise landmine impact in a more holistic way, referring to its social, emotional, spiritual, psychological and physical meanings. Data from the village highlights the importance of place for wellbeing, revealing that living in a contaminated landscape negatively affects people's quality of life materially, relationally and subjectively. This demonstrates how a wellbeing ecology approach can usefully add to the understanding of the experience of living with landmines and the effect this has on quality of life.


Climate change and other anthropogenic drivers of biodiversity change are unequally distributed across the world. Despite the implications for biodiversity change, it is unknown if the geographic patterns of drivers differ between the terrestrial and marine realm. Using global datasets on human population density, land and resource exploitation, pollution, species invasions, and climate change, we found stronger positive correlations among drivers in the terrestrial than in the marine realm, leading to areas of especially intense human impact on land. Climate change tended to be negatively correlated with other drivers in the terrestrial realm whereas the opposite was true in the marine realm. We show that different regions of the world are exposed to distinct 'anthropogenic threat complexes', comprising suites of drivers of varying intensities. Our global analysis highlights the broad conservation priorities needed to mitigate the drivers shaping biodiversity responses to anthropogenic change.


Abstract Here we report a nomenclature and classification for the astrophyllite-supergroup minerals. The HOH block is the main structural unit in all astrophyllite-supergroup structures; it consists of three H-O-H sheets where the T4O12 astrophyllite ribbons occur in the H sheets. In each structure, HOH blocks alternate with I (Intermediate) blocks along [001]. The twelve minerals of the astrophyllite supergroup are divided into three groups based on (1) the type of self-linkage of HOH blocks, i.e. (a) HOH blocks link directly where they share common vertices of D octahedra, or (b) HOH blocks do not link directly; and (2) the dominant cation of the O sheet (the C group: C7 apfu). In the astrophyllite group (HOH blocks connect via D-XPD-D bridges, Fe2+ is dominant at C7), there are six minerals: astrophyllite, niobophyllite, zircophyllite, tarbagataite, nalivkinite and bulgakite. In the kupletskite group (HOH blocks connect via D-XPD-D bridges, Mn2+ is dominant at C7), there are three minerals: kupletskite, niobokupletskite and kupletskite-(Cs). In the devitoite group (HOH blocks do not connect via D-XPD-D bridges), there are three minerals: devitoite, sveinbergeite and lobanovite. The general formula for the astrophyllite-supergroup minerals is of the form A2pBrC7D2(T4O12)2IXOD2XOA4XPDnWA2, where C [cations at the M(1-4) sites in the O sheet] = Fe2+, Mn, Na, Mg, Zn, Fe3+, Ca, Zr, Li; D (cations in the H sheets) = [6,5]Ti, Nb, Zr, Sn4+, [5]Fe3+, Mg, Al; T = Si, minor Al; A2pBrIWA2 (I block) where p = 1,2; r = 1,2; A = K, Cs, Ba, H2O, Li, Rb, Pb2+, Na, □; B = Na, Ca, Ba, H2O, □; I represents the composition of the central part of the I block, excluding peripheral layers of the form A2pBrWA2, e.g. (PO4)2(CO3) (devitoite); XOD = O;XOA = OH, F; XPD = F, O, OH,H2O,□, where n = 0, 1, 2 for (XPD)n; WA=H2O, □.


The Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation (PRWORA) Act of 1997 marked a significant change in US welfare policy. Under the terms of this legislation, welfare recipients are limited to 24 consecutive months of monetary benefits, not to exceed 60 months over an individual's lifetime. The primary intent of PRWORA is to force people off of welfare roles and into the work force. However, it may also have created a second effect; namely that wel- fare recipients treat the 60 months of welfare benefits as a stockpile of wealth. If so, recipients might strategically move on and off of the welfare roles in order to increase the length of time before one exhausts his or her total lifetime benefits. This leads to a high number of "welfare spells", each relatively short in duration. We present an empirical analysis using data from three counties in Washington State to test whether (and how) an individual's ability to maxim- ize welfare spells varies by their potential employment opportunities and their socio-economic characteristics. We find that socio-economic characteristics such as race and gender, family structure and educational attainment all significantly influence welfare spells. Additionally, welfare spells differed significantly by county, indicating that local labor market conditions specific to those counties are also important in decisions to "bank" welfare benefits.


Ovigerous females of Cancer setosus are present year-round throughout most of this species extended distributional range along the Chilean/Peruvian Pacific coast (46°S 2°S). However, their annual number of egg-masses remains speculative and as such hasnt been considered in latitudinal comparisons of this species reproduction. To reveal the effect of temperature on egg-mass production and egg-development female C. setosus were held in through-flow aquaria under natural seasonal temperature conditions (16 23 °C) in Antofagasta (23°S), Northern Chile (06/2005 - 03/2006), and at three fixed temperatures (09/2006 - 02/2007) in Puerto Montt (41°S), Central-Southern Chile. Female crabs uniformly produced up to 3 viable egg-masses within 4 1/2 months in Antofagasta and in Puerto Montt (at 19.3 °C). The second oviposition followed the first, and the third the second, after 62.5 d (± 7.6, N = 7) and 73.5 d (± 12.5, N = 11) in Antofagasta and 64.4 d (± 9.8, N = 5) and 67.0 d (± 2.8, N = 2) in Puerto Montt. At the two lower temperatures in Puerto Montt of 15.9 °C and 12.1 °C the production of a second egg-mass was observed after 82.8 d (± 28.9; N = 4) and 137 d (N = 1) respectively. The duration of egg- development from oviposition until larval hatching decreased from 65 d at 12.5 °C to 22.7 d at the observed upper temperature threshold of 22.0 °C. Based on the derived relationship between temperature and the duration of egg-development (y = 239.3175e-0.107x; N = 21, r2 = 0.83) and reports on monthly percentages of ovigerous females from field studies the annual number of egg-masses of C. setosus was calculated. This analysis revealed an annual output of about one egg-mass close to the species northern and southern distributional limits in Casma (9°S) and Ancud (43°S), respectively, while around Coquimbo (29°S) about two and in Concepcion (36°S) more than 3 egg-masses are produced per year.


Journals favor rejection of the null hypothesis. This selection upon tests may distort the behavior of researchers. Using 50,000 tests published between 2005 and 2011 in the AER, JPE, and QJE, we identify a residual in the distribution of tests that cannot be explained by selection. The distribution of p-values exhibits a camel shape with abundant p-values above 0.25, a valley between 0.25 and 0.10 and a bump slightly below 0.05. The missing tests (with p-values between 0.25 and 0.10) can be retrieved just after the 0.05 threshold and represent 10% to 20% of marginally rejected tests. Our interpretation is that researchers might be tempted to inflate the value of those almost-rejected tests by choosing a "significant" specification. We propose a method to measure inflation and decompose it along articles' and authors' characteristics.


The review on psychoactive substance use among truck drivers by Girotto et al 1 is important from the occupational health perspective, but also has consequences from the broader public health perspective. After commenting on the review's methodology related to its findings, this commentary pays attention to both perspectives.

Relevant papers for inclusion in the review were searched systematically and results of the included studies were synthesised independently by two researchers. The authors wisely decided to stratify the results from studies relying on self-reported information and those using biological samples. Still, the observed prevalence of intake of psychoactive substances showed a very large range in both strata. For example, self-reported alcohol intake varied from 9.9% ('while driving', Pakistan) up to 91.0% ('current', Brazil), and the use of amphetamines analysed from biological samples ranged from 0.2% (Norway) to 82.5% (Thailand). Apart from empirical variation across different truck driver populations (differences actually present), the authors correctly state that these …


In this paper, we propose an efficient dynamic workload balancing strategy which improves the performance of high-performance computing system. The key idea of this dynamic workload balancing strategy is to minimize execution time of each job and to maximize the system throughput by effectively using system resource such as CPU, memory. Also, this strategy dynamically allocates job by considering demanded memory size of executing job and workload status of each node. If an overload node occurs due to allocated job, the proposed scheme migrates job, executing in overload nodes, to another free nodes and reduces the waiting time and execution time of job by balancing workload of each node. Through simulation, we show that the proposed dynamic workload balancing strategy based on CPU, memory improves the performance of high-performance computing system compared to previous strategies.


The paper focuses on the role of a "caring" faculty who believes that being dedicated, thoughtful, and passionate is as important as being professionally competent. A caring faculty understands, encourages and supports students' individuality and is willing to listen and provide advice. The paper discusses the role of the "caring" professor in creating a positive environment where students feel comfortable being themselves, enjoying and appreciating the total experience of learning. The paper addresses relevant topics that supports teacher-students' relations, and as a consequence, does improve the learning environment. The aforementioned topics include: development of critical rationale for good teaching, taking account of learning styles, and how to teach responsively. In this environment, students feel that they are important, that their needs can be met, and that others experience joy and satisfaction in helping them meet their needs. In concluding, the author presents his own reflections as an engine...


Virus-immune cytotoxic T cells can inhibit effectively growth of vaccinia virus in acutely infected target cells in vitro by destroying infected target cells before infectious virus progeny is assembled. Together with the fact that virus-specific T cells are demonstrable after 3 days, very early during infection, and with strong circumstantial evidence from adoptive transfer models in vivo, these data suggest that in some virus infections T cells may in fact act cytolytically in vivo to prevent virus growth and spread and be an important early antiviral effector mechanism.


THE NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONING OF MEN RESIDING IN A HOMELESS SHELTER Sara Murray Hegerty, M.A. Marquette University, 2010 The number of homeless individuals in the U.S. has continued to increase, with men comprising the majority of this population. These men are at substantial risk for neuropsychological impairment due to several factors, such as substance misuse, severe mental illness, untreated medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, liver disease, HIV/AIDS), poor nutrition, and the increased likelihood of suffering a traumatic brain injury. Impairments in attention, memory, executive functioning, and other neuropsychological domains can result in poor daily functioning and difficulty engaging in psychological, medical, or educational services. Thus, knowledge of the neuropsychological functioning of homeless men is critical for those who work with this population. Yet data in this area are limited. This study aimed to describe the functioning of men residing in an urban homeless shelter across the domains of attention/concentration, memory, executive functions, language, sensory-motor abilities, general intelligence, and reading ability. Particular areas of impairment included attention, visual memory, cognitive flexibility, balance/coordination, and fine motor control. Correlational analyses found that educational background and ethnicity were linked to test performance, and the results of cluster analysis found two distinct subgroups based on neuropsychological functioning: an "average" group and a "low average/impaired" group. Caveats in interpreting test scores, particularly in the domain of language, are discussed, along with possible explanations for differences between African American and non-African American participants. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that clinicians and other service providers working with men residing in homeless shelters consider the possibility of neuropsychological impairment when developing treatment plans. Specific recommendations for each subgroup are discussed. Future research in this area might also explore the utility of offering skill-enhancing interventions within homeless shelters, such as workshops to improve organizational and planning skills. Further, the development of adequate norms for neuropsychological tests that are to be used with homeless individuals is recommended, given the possibility of low educational attainments and below average reading skills in this population.


This article focuses on a pressing issue of national importance related to attorney conduct (or misconduct). The Litigation Privilege is a long-recognized immunity fashioned for attorneys to enable them to perform their functions as zealous advocates and litigators, without having to consider prospective non-client lawsuits aimed at their conduct in the course of representation. However, recent case law purports to expand the Litigation Privilege outside of its traditional contexts, posing a nationwide threat to attorney ethical standards. Broad readings of what sorts of legal assistance constitute "litigation" for the purposes of the application of the Litigation Privilege have recently been handed down by key courts, and the battle over whether fraudulent conduct on the part of attorneys may be covered under the Litigation Privilege continues to rage. This article analyzes these issues critically, asserting that these broad readings of the Litigation Privilege must be curtailed. Such attorney misconduct should not be shielded from aggrieved non-client redress. This article is a timely, nationally relevant contribution on the importance of "ethical lawyering" and how a fundamental legal doctrine should best effectuate its objectives.


Due to the dynamic inter-relationship between human society and water resources, decision-making is a tricky task in water management sectors. In this study, multi-criteria analysis has been used as a decision support tool for the selection of a sustainable option in a regional channel improvement in Bangladesh. The Malnichara channel flows across the north-eastern divisional city of the country, and is responsible for storm water conveyance to the downstream Surma River. The channel was observed to be at risk due to anthropogenic activities such as encroachment, sewage and solid waste disposal and the filling up of natural depression basins. Using the multi-criteria analysis, three alternatives for channel improvement (sodding natural channel, lined natural channel and concrete box culvert) were evaluated with respect to ten indicators, grouped into four sustainability criteria (technical, economic, environmental and social). Sodding natural channel was found to be the optimal alternative, though the selection was sensitive to social criteria. Such a straightforward tool can efficiently be used to ensure sustainability of the channel through stakeholders' involvement in decision-making.


The theory of signal detectability is introduced and audiological methods derived from the theory are discussed. In particular the two inter':al forced choice (2.I.F.C.) procedure in conjunction with an automatic threshold seeking method is selected for detailed study. Sequential strategies and decision rules for the location of specific points on a psychometric function are introduced as the basis of the automatic threshold seeking method.
To aid in the study of the resultant 2.I.F.C. automatic threshold seeking procedure the advantages of computer models of the human auditory system at threshold are considered. Details of models, based on the properties of pseudo random binary sequences (p.r.b.s.), are then presented. The models consist of an hardware electronic simulation of the auditory threshold and a digital computer program simulation or software model of the hardware system. Tests to confirm the feasibility of the models are undertaken. A software simulation of the complete 2.I.F.C. automatic threshold seeking system, incorporating the threshold model, is then examined, and the properties of the system discussed.
Design considerations of a 2.I.F.C. automatic threshold seeking experimental facility are then outlined. This is followed by the description of an experiment incorporating the hardware threshold model to assess the feasibility of the experimental facility. Details of subjective tests with the experimental facility are then presented. Statistical comparisons of subjective and model dorived data are undertaken to confirm, within the limitations discussed, the validity of the auditory threshold models.
The concluding chapter examines the use of an on line general purpose digital computor in this area of research and explores an alternative method of study for future research.


As federal efforts to enact a major health care overhaul heat up, it is tempting to look to history for guidance on how to negotiate a successful path to reform. We have ample cautionary tales to draw upon – almost 100 years and counting of failed attempts at health reform. Proponents of reform have paid considerable attention to avoiding the mistakes of the 1993–94 Clinton era effort, for example. There has been less consideration given to whether policy successes offer lessons for reformers. The sheer scale of an effort aiming to rearrange 17 percent of the U.S. economy defies easy analogy. Nonetheless, a recent success on a long-standing health policy issue may be worth reflecting on at this key junction in health reform.

In autumn of 2008, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity (MHPAE) Act was enacted into law. Efforts to achieve parity in insurance benefits for mental health and substance abuse date back almost 50 years to the John F. Kennedy administration. The intent of the MHPAE Act is to end historical differences in coverage provisions in private health insurance by equalizing behavioral and general medical benefits. Parity has long been viewed as a means of improving efficiency and fairness by reducing insurers' ability to select patients based on their risk in private health insurance markets.

Historical analogies are imperfect. One can easily come up with more differences than similarities when comparing parity to health reform. Health reform involves many more groups and dollars and, unlike parity, is highly salient with the public. Parity does not expand coverage to the uninsured, will have no real impact on the federal budget or Medicare, and includes an escape clause for businesses that experience a two percent premium increase attributable to the policy, a provision with no analogy in health reform. Despite these and numerous other differences, the successful enactment of parity by Congress after many failed attempts offers three lessons of relevance to health reform architects.

First, the parity experience suggests that reformers' ability to identify a strategy to address cost concerns can create the political leverage necessary to allow policymakers to seriously contemplate insurance expansion. During the 1990s, actuarial estimates of the cost impact of parity produced widely disparate projections ranging from a 1 percentage point to an 11 percentage point increase in total premiums that led Congress to believe that there was unknown financial risk. Failure to enact parity during this period was largely attributed to uncertainty over the cost of parity legislation. This concern was addressed as newer evidence emerged on the cost of parity in the context of managed care. Research on states' experiences with parity and on the effects of a parity directive in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program consistently demonstrated that the policy had little impact on spending under managed care but did increase consumer risk protection by lowering family out-of-pocket costs.1 This new evidence resulted in the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scoring parity legislation at a much lower cost than in the past beginning in 2001. It also convinced employers and insurers that comprehensive parity would not break the bank.

Albeit on a much larger scale, current uncertainty in Congress about how to pay for health reform is reminiscent of early cost concerns related to expanding mental health coverage. The market shift from indemnity insurance to managed care created a readily available method for enacting parity without driving up costs; resolving the dilemma of how to assemble a viable combination of financing and cost containment provisions poses a more daunting challenge for health reformers. However, the parity experience suggests that the sooner congressional architects can agree upon a strategy for financing reform, the sooner attention will shift back to negotiating the contours of insurance expansion.

Second, ironing out the most acrimonious differences among stakeholders early in the legislative process and behind closed doors can improve the odds of successful reform. A great achievement of parity is that it is viewed as a legislative triumph both by mental health and addiction treatment advocates and by the business community that had opposed it for decades. Its passage is the product of successful efforts within the Senate to bring competing interests into dialogue in a private venue rather than engaging in the more common process of "shuttle diplomacy" with congressional staff serving as intermediaries. At the behest of longtime parity champion Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM), the ranking majority and minority Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee members Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Michael Enzi (R-WY) invited business and insurance groups to participate in closed-door meetings to explore promising areas of compromise on parity. Provider and consumer groups eventually joined these discussions with the goal of crafting a joint bill that most groups could support. This process was instrumental to the shape of the parity bill that emerged from the Senate HELP committee, clearing the way for passage by the full Senate and eventual agreement on a Senate-House conference bill, which, in an unexpected 11th hour legislative maneuver, became the vehicle for the $700 billion financial bailout law signed by President Bush in October 2008.

Despite the rhetorical appeal of transparency in the current reform debate, our view is that a similar process of resolving contentious issues with interest groups behind closed doors could prove instrumental to improving the odds of successful health reform. There are some encouraging signs that this lesson is being heeded in the Senate. Based in some part on the success of the process leading to enactment of parity described above, this model of negotiating with interest groups in private was replicated on a larger scale in the form of the Workhorse Group, a set of stakeholders invited to participate in closed-door sessions on health reform in the Senate HELP Committee. These negotiations were critical to shaping the bill language adopted by the committee. While one of the great failures of the 1993–94 health reform debate was the inability of a single committee of jurisdiction in the Senate or the House to find sufficient common ground to successfully vote a bill out of committee, the Senate HELP Committee voted its bill out in July. This sign of progress is due in part to efforts to confront heated issues with interest groups early on and, to the extent possible in the context of the media frenzy over health reform, in a manner shielded from intense public scrutiny.

Finally, parity enactment provides a sobering reminder that the implementation phase matters. Given the major hurdles to moving health reform through Congress, some may argue that it is premature to worry about implementation. Yet, the experience with parity suggests that health reform architects ignore the rulemaking process at their peril. Rulemaking involves federal agencies making administrative determinations about how to interpret legislative language. In the case of parity, this process involved a request for comments posted in the Federal Register in late April 2009 from the three regulatory agencies charged with implementing the law, to be followed this fall by the issuance of proposed and final rules.

After observing the collaborative process among interest groups over the final shape of the parity law, one might have anticipated a united front in the rulemaking phase. Instead, groups' public comment letters have been focused narrowly on advancing self-interested and often conflicting aims. Provider groups have raised concerns about fees. Business groups want clarification that they have both latitude in managing care and the option of offering separate (but equal) deductibles and catastrophic limits for behavioral health benefits. Consumer groups are seeking the broadest interpretation of parity that extends to benefit management as well as treatment settings. In essence, the rulemaking process has created a contentious second bite at the apple for groups that had been temporarily united under a shaky alliance to win passage of the law.

Political scientists have long observed this tendency of interest groups to re-fight policy battles at the rulemaking stage,2 and this phenomenon is familiar to those who have studied the politics of Medicare coverage policy3 or Medicare payment reform,4 for example. Given the way health reform is taking shape, a best guess is that many key legislative provisions will be skeletal in their detail. This suggests that implementation will be even more important in the context of health reform, and anticipating and nailing down potential areas of contention ahead of time will be crucial.

In sum, we contend that three key lessons from parity are relevant, albeit on a larger scale, to health reform. First, the sooner congressional leaders can reach agreement on a package of provisions to finance proposed reforms, the better chance they will have to gain buy-in on the structure of insurance expansions. Second, resolving key conflicts with interest groups early and in private could improve the odds of successful reform. Finally, anticipating the issues likely to come up in implementation prior to bill passage could be helpful in averting a second round of political wrangling and uncertainty in the rulemaking phase.


On December 31, 1991, the Aquino government issued a one-year notice of termination to the US naval facilities in Subic Bay in the Philippines. The notice sealed the fate of the remaining US base in the Southeast Asian region. It ended almost a century of direct US military presence in the Philippines.


Graph Contrastive Learning (GCL) has emerged to learn generalizable representations from contrastive views. However, it is still in its infancy with two concerns: 1) changing the graph structure through data augmentation to generate contrastive views may mislead the message passing scheme, as such graph changing action deprives the intrinsic graph structural information, especially the directional structure in directed graphs; 2) since GCL usually uses predefined contrastive views with hand-picking parameters, it does not take full advantage of the contrastive information provided by data augmentation, resulting in incomplete structure information for models learning. In this paper, we design a directed graph data augmentation method called Laplacian perturbation and theoretically analyze how it provides contrastive information without changing the directed graph structure. Moreover, we present a directed graph contrastive learning framework, which dynamically learns from all possible contrastive views generated by Laplacian perturbation. Then we train it using multi-task curriculum learning to progressively learn from multiple easy-to-difficult contrastive views. We empirically show that our model can retain more structural features of directed graphs than other GCL models because of its ability to provide complete contrastive information. Experiments on various benchmarks reveal our dominance over the state-of-the-art approaches.


Abstract A sodium-cooled, 500-MW(electric) prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) is under construction in Kalpakkam, India. The PFBR core houses various subassemblies that are supported vertically inside the core by the sleeves provided in the grid plate. A small radial gap exists between the grid plate sleeve and the foot to facilitate easy handling of subassemblies. It is natural that there will be some leakage flow through this radial gap into the hot and cold pools of the PFBR. To minimize this leakage flow, top and bottom labyrinths are provided on the foot of the subassemblies. The total leak flow rate permitted from the top labyrinth is 195 kg/s, whereas the leak flow rate allowed through the bottom labyrinth is 436 kg/s. Labyrinth-type sealing devices have been developed by carrying out experimental studies. Based on various parametric studies, the labyrinth geometry was optimized. It was found that apart from the clearance between the foot and sleeve, important parameters affecting pressure drop are groove profile, groove pitch, groove-depth-to-width ratio, etc. Taking into account the outcome of these studies, helical square grooved labyrinths have been designed and manufactured for PFBR. This paper presents the details of the similarity criteria followed, experimental methodology applied, and results obtained from the experiments along with their transposability to reactor conditions.


As commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), General Stanley McChrystal discarded a century of management wisdom and pivoted from a pursuit of mechanical efficiency to organic adaptability. In this book, he shows how any organization can make the same transition to act like a team of teams - where small groups combine the freedom to experiment with a relentless drive to share their experience. Drawing on a wealth of evidence from his military career and sources as diverse as hospital emergency rooms and NASA's space program, McChrystal frames the existential challenge facing today's organizations, and presents a compelling, effective solution.


Cognitive radio (CR) has emerged as one of effective methods to enhance the utilization of existing radio spectrum. Main principle of CR is that secondary users (SUs) are allowed to use the spectrum unused by primary users (PUs) without interfering PU's transmissions. In this paper, PUs operate on a slot-by-slot basis and SUs try to exploit the slots unused by PUs. We propose OSA protocols in the single channel and we propose an opportunistic spectrum access (OSA) protocols in the multi-channel cognitive radio networks with one control channel and several licensed channels where a slot is divided into contention phase and transmission phase. A slot is divided into reporting phase, contention phase and transmission phase. The reporting phase plays a role of finding idle channels unused by PUs and the contention phase plays a role of selecting a SU who will send packets in the data transmission phase. One SU is selected by carrier sense multiple access / collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) with request to send / clear to send (RTS/CTS) mechanism on control channel and the SU is allowed to occupy all remaining part of all idle channels during the current slot. For mathematical analysis, first we deal with the single-channel case and we model the proposed OSA media access control (MAC) protocol by three-dimensional discrete time Markov chain (DTMC) whose one-step transition probability matrix has a special structure so as to apply the censored Markov chain method to obtain the steady state distribution. We obtain the throughput and the distribution of access delay. Next we deal with the multi-channel case and obtain the throughput and the distribution of access delay by using results of single-channel case. In numerical results, our mathematical analysis is verified by simulations and we give numerical results on throughput and access delay of the proposed MAC protocol. Finally, we find the maximum allowable number of SUs satisfying the requirements on throughput and access delay.


Preoperative autologous blood donation is commonly used to reduce exposure to homologous blood transfusions among patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of autologous transfusion on patients' hematocryte value, intra and postoperative blood loss, hospitalization time, the development of infective complications and other factors. Materials and Methods: Between June 2001 to April 2002, 208 patients were underwent cardiac surgery in cardiac surgery ward in Imam Khomeini Medical Center. One or more blood units donate from 104 Patients before cardiopulmonary bypass and heparin injection, and transfused to them after CPB and Protamin injection (autologous Group, group 1). 104 patients underwent cardiac surgery routinely (control group, group 2). Results: Mean of age was 55.9±8.6 in group 1 and 56.6±9.3 in group 2 (P=NS). 73 male and 31 females were in group 1 and 79 males and 25 females were in group 2 (P=NS). Smoking, familial history, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, renal failure, hypertension, stroke, and history of myocardial infarction was similar in two groups. Severity of angina, urgency operation, number vessels disease, duration of cardiopulmonary bypass, duration of aortic cross clamp time, use of internal thoracic artery graft, and number of grafts was similar in both groups. Mean of bleeding post operation was 548 cc in group 1 and 803 cc in-group 2 (P=0.003). Bleeding that need to operation was 1.8% in group 1 and 8.6% in group 2 (P=0.002). Wound infection, mediastinitis, renal failure, ventilatory prolonged, stroke, need to Intra-aortic Balloon Pump (IABP), intraoperative bleeding, and hospital stay was similar in both groups. Mean of extubationt time was 10.2 hours in group 1 and 14.8 hours in group 2 (P=0.001). Conclusion: Preoperative and intra-operative donations are safe and continue to contribute uniquely to blood conservation, providing important options in comprehensive blood conservation programs in current pediatric open-heart surgery.


Planning and operating railway transportation systems is an extremely
hard task due to the combinatorial complexity of the underlying discrete
optimization problems, the technical intricacies, and the immense size of
the problem instances. Because of that, however, mathematical models
and optimization techniques can result in large gains for both railway cus-
tomers and operators, e.g., in terms of cost reductions or service quality
improvements. In the last years a large and growing group of researchers
in the OR community have devoted their attention to this domain devel-
oping mathematical models and optimization approaches to tackle many
of the relevant problems in the railway planning process. However, there
is still a gap to bridge between theory and practice, with
a few notable exceptions. In this paper we address three success stories,
namely, long-term freight train routing (part I), mid-term rolling stock
rotation planning (part II), and real-time train dispatching (part III). In
each case, we describe real-life, successful implementations. We will dis-
cuss the individual problem setting, survey the optimization literature,
and focus on particular aspects addressed by the mathematical models.
We demonstrate on concrete applications how mathematical optimization
can support railway planning and operations. This gives proof that math-
ematical optimization can support the planning of rolling stock resources.
Thus, mathematical models and optimization can lead to a greater effi-
ciency of railway operations and will serve as a powerful and innovative
tool to meet recent challenges of the railway industry.