Among the consequences of discharging industrial wastes to land and water bodies, is the widespread accumulation and migration of toxic chemical mixtures in soil and groundwater resources. It is believed that the accumulation of contaminants in the environment constitutes a serious threat to ecological and human health. Bioremediation is an effective measure in dealing with such contaminations particularly those from petroleum hydrocarbon sources; moreover bioremediation is emerging as a promising technology for the treatment of soil and groundwater contamination. Therefore the goal of this study is discussing the theory and practice of biological remediation of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soils and assessing the effects of operational conditions and parameters such as: temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration and pH on the removal rate of the target contaminant which is handled in the designed reactor. Due to large production and consumption rate of diesel fuel in Iran and many other countries, diesel fuel has been selected as target contaminant. In this study TOC and COD testing methods have been used to measure and assess the removal rate of the contaminant in the reactor. The experimental results indicate that, considering the operational conditions the indigenous microorganisms which have been separated from the soil are able to remove 50 to 83 percent of the contaminant after 30 days. Thereafter on the base of the results and considering the laboratorial specifications and conditions applied in this project, the optimum values of temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration and pH were respectively determined as 35°C, 4mg/L and 7.


High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is a collection of two mobile telephony protocols, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA). Allowing networks based on the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System to achieve data rates of several megabits per second, these powerful protocols are ideal for applications ranging from file transfer to multimedia streaming.From basic concepts to research grade material, the HSDPA/HSUPA Handbook provides technical information on all aspects of HSDPA/HSUPA. With contributions from 30 experts from around the world, this comprehensive HSPA reference provides a global and authoritative perspective of this rapidly emerging technology.Investigates the relationship between HSDPA/HSUPA and UMTSDescribes the benefits of HSPA and its technical enhancementsExplains packet flows in HSDPAExplores migration issues associated with HSPAConsiders receiver designs and multi-user extensions to MIMO HSDPAPresenting information in a well-structured manner for ease of reference, this book presents accurate and up-to-date information on the full spectrum of topics related to HSPA technology, including future directions. The ideal desk reference for designers and planners of contemporary wireless communication networks, this book can also be adopted as a textbook for graduate and research-oriented courses that deal with HSPA.


Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a disorder characterized by partial or complete narrowing of the pharyngeal airway during sleep. In this study it was aimed to investigate the relation between OSAS and different variants of the ApoE gene, and to identify other risk factors that may affect the development of the disease. Materials and Methods: Fifty-two patients with OSAS and 50 healthy volunteers were enrolled into the study. After collecting the necessary information associated with OSAS from the individuals, DNA was isolated from blood. ε2, ε3 and ε4 variants of Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene were investigated using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: When the groups were compared with each other, age, body mass index, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein, triglyceride, neck circumference, waist circumference, apnea hypopnea index, Epworth sleepiness scale, smoking, and daytime sleepiness were found statistically significant. The ε2 variant was found statistically high in the control group. Also, waist circumference, triglyceride and LDL levels were found statistically low in individuals with the ε2 genotype. In addition, triglyceride levels were found statistically high in individuals with the ε4 genotype. Conclusion: The presence of the ε2 variant in healthy individuals may have a protective effect against OSAS. In addition, the relation between different variants of ApoE with LDL and triglyceride levels demonstrates the overlap of genotype and phenotype data.


Speaking in July 2011 on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of Kyrgyzstan's new constitution, then-President Roza Otunbaeva declared that the key task for the Kyrgyz citizenry was "to make a return to authoritarianism impossible." Her comment conveyed both a celebratory note about the eradication of the previous authoritarian regime and pointed to the key threat going forward. A multiparty parliament, a three-party coalition government, and a divided executive with a significantly weakened presidency are the main features of Kyrgyzstan's new political system, now two years old. It is a set-up that the authorities boldly call parliamentary rule. The June 2010 referendum on the constitution and parliamentary and presidential elections in October 2010 and October 2011 passed peacefully (contrary to many predictions) and generated some cautiously positive assessments. In light of the forceful overthrows of recent Kyrgyz rulers, however, and in the context of post-color revolution developments in Ukraine and Georgia, one may wonder whether Bishkek has achieved an equilibrium that will last or whether it has merely reached a temporary stage in a revolutionary/authoritarian cycle. Looking at certain key political features such as political fragmentation and elite dynamics, this memo argues that the current regime can best be characterized as one of "feckless pluralism" (to borrow a term from expert Thomas Carothers) and that this system can endure.


In this paper we review and critically present the state-of-the-art of inertial propulsion means, which may cause motion of the object to which they are attached. At the same time, we indirectly overview some other advanced propulsion systems by direct reference to the main bibliography. First we refer to the rotation of two synchronized masses that move along a circular path (Dean-drive). We prove that they can conditionally cause motion of the object and temporal lift. We also present some of our previous results concerning masses moving along a figure-eight-shaped path on the surface of a hemisphere, which also rotates around the axis of symmetry. We give particular attention to the proper synchronization that may instantly cause loss of weight or create such instability so as the object can be easily displaced by external means. Since the rotation is the key to the inertial propulsion, we discuss the role of the rotation in gyros as well as the possibility of the existence of an aetherometric mesh or the possible influence of time dilation, as claimed by others. This work is an extension of a one-hour presentation at the conference SPESIF-2011 (March 15-17, 2011, at University of Maryland, USA).


The present research work describes the synthesis of new heterocyclic compounds. The 2-Hydrazino benzoxazole pre-prepared was reacted with sodium nitrite and CuCN and afford the 2-cyano amine benzoxazole(1).Compound(1) react with sodium azide and ammonium chloride in DMF afford the 1-H-tetrazole-5-amino benzoxazole(2) ,ethyl chloroacetate react with compound (2) to give ethyl -2-(5-benzoxazol-2-ylamine)-1H-tetrazol-1-yl) acetate compound (3).Treatment (3)with thiourea or urea afforded compounds (4,5),p-bromo phenacyl bromide react with compounds (4,5) afforded (6,7),treatment (3) with hydrazine hydrate to afforded 2-(5-benzoxazol-2-ylamino)1-H-tetrazol-1yl) acetohydrazide compound (8) . Azomethines (9, 10) were prepared through reaction of compound (8) with aromatic aldehyde, then (9,10) converted to thaizolidinone derivatives (11,12) after treatment with HSCH 2 COOH . Reaction of compound (8) with phenyl iso thiocyanate and ethyl chloro acetate afforded compounds (13, 14) respectively. All compounds were confirmed by their melting point, FT-IR spectrum, 1 HNMR spectrum for some them.


Invariant (inv)NKT cells are a subset of autoreactive lymphocytes that recognize endogenous lipid ligands presented by CD1d, and are suspected to regulate the host response to cell stress and tissue damage via the prompt production of cytokines. We investigated invNKT cell response during the progression of chronic viral hepatitis caused by hepatitis B or C virus infection, a major human disease characterized by a diffused hepatic necroinflammation with scarring fibrotic reaction, which can progress toward cirrhosis and cancer. Ex vivo frequency and cytokine production were determined in circulating and intrahepatic invNKT cells from controls (healthy subjects or patients with nonviral benign or malignant focal liver damage and minimal inflammatory response) or chronic viral hepatitis patients without cirrhosis, with cirrhosis, or with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. invNKT cells increase in chronically infected livers and undergo a substantial modification in their effector functions, consisting in the production of the type 2 profibrotic IL-4 and IL-13 cytokines, which characterizes the progression of hepatic fibrosis to cirrhosis. CD1d, nearly undetectable in noncirrhotic and control livers, is strongly expressed by APCs in cirrhotic ones. Furthermore, in vitro CD1d-dependent activation of invNKT cells from healthy donors elicits IL-4 and IL-13. Together, these findings show that invNKT cells respond to the progressive liver damage caused by chronic hepatitis virus infection, and suggest that these cells, possibly triggered by the recognition of CD1d associated with viral- or stress-induced lipid ligands, contribute to the pathogenesis of cirrhosis by expressing a set of cytokines involved in the progression of fibrosis.


A consideration of colonial Bombay enriches the understanding of the activities and ideas of Christian missionaries and Orientalists in India and elucidates British conceptions of "the religions of India" and the production of colonialist knowledge. This article focuses on nineteenth-century Scottish missionary-Orientalists and examines how they and other Bombay-based Protestant missionaries understood the concept of religion, Christianity, and the structure, similitude and distinctiveness of "the religions" at the crucial moment when newly "discovered" religions were gaining recognition and a new vision of "world religions" was coming into being. It considers the writings on the religions and ethnographic scholarship of the Bombay Scottish missionaries, as well as their extensive and multifaceted interactions with Bombay's Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Parsi, Jewish, Roman Catholic and Andivasi communities. More specifically, it details the ways in which Bombay missionaries applied and related the concept of religion to diverse configurations of language, text, and practice that they understood as isomorphic species of the religion genus. By examining how Christian missionaries who were also Orientalists conceptualized a number of "religions" and interacted with numerous communities this article seeks to elucidate the presuppositions that shaped the ways in which Hinduism and the other "religions" of nineteenth-century Bombay were imagined.


ARCH and GARCH models directly address the dependency of conditional second moments, and have proved particularly valuable in modelling processes where a relatively large degree of fluctuation is present. These include financial time series, which can be particularly heavy tailed. However, little is known about properties of ARCH or GARCH models in the heavy–tailed setting, and no methods are available for approximating the distributions of parameter estimators there. In this paper we show that, for heavy–tailed errors, the asymptotic distributions of quasi–maximum likelihood parameter estimators in ARCH and GARCH models are nonnormal, and are particularly difficult to estimate directly using standard parametric methods. Standard bootstrap methods also fail to produce consistent estimators. To overcome these problems we develop percentile–t, subsample bootstrap approximations to estimator distributions. Studentizing is employed to approximate scale, and the subsample bootstrap is used to estimate shape. The good performance of this approach is demonstrated both theoretically and numerically.


Objectives: Health technology financing is often based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs), which are often the same ones used for licensing. Because they are designed to show the best possible results, typically Phase III studies are conducted under ideal and highly controlled conditions. Consequently, it is not surprising that technologies do not always perform in real life in the same way as controlled conditions. Because financing (and price paid) decisions can be made with overestimated results, health authorities need to ask whether health systems achieve the results they expect when they choose to pay for a technology. The optimal way to answer this question is to assess the performance of financed technologies in real-world settings. Health technology performance assessment (HTpA) refers to the systematic evaluation of the properties, effects, and/or impact of a health intervention or health technology in the real world to provide information for investment/disinvestment decisions and clinical guideline updates. The objective is to describe the development and principal aspects of the Guideline for HTpA commissioned by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. Methods: Our methods used include extensive literature review, refinement with experts across countries, and public consultation. Results: A comprehensive guideline was developed, which has been adopted by the Brazilian government. Conclusion: We believe the guideline, with its particular focus on disinvestment, along with the creation of a specific program for HTpA, will allow the institutionalization and continuous improvement of the scientific methods to use real-world evidence to optimize available resources not only in Brazil but across countries.


NiII-Metallation of dicyanovinylene-bis(meso-aryl)dipyrrin 1 under refluxed toulene conditions resulted in the formation of a bicyclic pyrrolizine ring to afford two isomeric bisNiII expanded porphyrinoid complexes 2a and 2b. Furthermore, acyclic NiII dipyrrin complex 3 was also isolated. The respective structures for 2a, 2b, and 3 were elucidated by X-ray diffraction analysis. Macrocycles 2a and 2b exhibited typical features of aromatic porphyrinoids showing their longest wavelength absorption bands in the near infrared region ranging from 1100 to 1600 nm.


The new cars of today are used cars of tomorrow and some people assume a competition between new and used markets. There are numerous, preconceived ideas and academic theories regarding the interactions between primary and secondary markets. To investigate the relations, we provide a macroeconomic analysis of the French, the British and the US car markets. We aim at answering the following questions. What are the interactions between the new and the second-hand car markets? Can we use the interactions to estimate the car prices of tomorrow? Our results indicate that the relations appear limited for France and the UK, whereas the US market faces a Scitovscky mechanism, defined by constant disequilibrium and multiple interactions between primary and secondary markets. Furthermore, they illustrate that the interrelations are not strong enough to fully explain and forecast market patterns.


This thesis describes different novel chemometric techniques applied to multispectral images for quality inspection on agricultural food products. These images do not only have a huge number of spectral bands which makes training set selection a challenging task, they also contain classes with small defects or abnormalities where objects of these classes are easily missed. For the segmentation and classification of multispectral images the unsupervised Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) clustering algorithm is often used. However, FCM has several known drawbacks which can effect the clustering outcome when applied to multispectral images which contain defects or diseases. One of the drawbacks of FCM, and many unsupervised techniques, is that the spatial information is not used during the classification of such multispectral images. Therefore, two modifications of FCM are presented which combine both spatially and spectrally information into the clustering process to improve image segmentation. Another drawback of FCM is that FCM tends to balance the number of points in each cluster, which results in underestimated defect classes as smaller defect classes are drawn to the larger clusters. A modification of FCM, called cluster insensitive FCM (csi-FCM), is presented in the thesis which overcomes this sensitivity. When the number of spectral bands increases, the huge amount of data in the multispectral images requires computational demands which makes unsupervised segmentation of multispectral images not feasible in most applications. Therefore, a new procedure called Feedback Multivariate Model Selection (FEMOS), is presented which automates the segmentation proces by combining supervised and unsupervised techniques. Chapter 6 presents an application where both multispectral images and RGB color images of French fries with different defects and diseases are evaluated. The explorative analysis of the multispectral images shows that defects are visible in the multispectral images while invisible in the RGB color images and thus for the human eye. The classification results show that the multispectral classification results outperform the RGB color images not only in terms of accuracy but also in terms of yield and purity. Finally, Chapter 7 describes the conclusions and some future aspects of multivariate imaging for agricultural product inspection.


In the Friedman Model of the universe, cosmologists assume that spacelike slices of the universe are Riemannian manifolds of constant sectional curvature. This assumption is justified via Schur's Theorem by stating that the spacelike universe is locally isotropic. Here we define a Riemannian manifold as almost locally isotropic in a sense which allows both weak gravitational lensing in all directions and strong gravitational lensing in localized angular regions at most points. We then prove that such a manifold is Gromov Hausdorff close to a length space Y which is a collection of space forms joined at discrete points. Within the paper we define a concept we call an "exponential length space" and prove that if such a space is locally isotropic then it is a space form.


Symptoms of stone fruits canker were observed in some part of Kerman province. Strains in which the gram reaction was negative were investigated based on physiological and biochemical characteristics. Some tested strains were positive for levan production, hydrolysis of tween 80, gelatin, casein, arbutin, catalase, fluorescent pigment production, tobacco HR and tolerant to 5% NaCl but negative for oxidase, urease, hydrolysis of starch, arginine dihydrolase, growth at 37 0 C, potato rot, indole production and reduction of nitrate to nitrite. These strains produced acid from glucose, fructose, cellobiose, sucrose, galactose, mannose, mannitol, xylose, sorbitol, inositol and arabinose but did not produce acid from lactose, maltose and D-tartarate. Thses strains prevented the growth of Geotrichum candidum by toxin production and PCR amplification with the syrB primers yielded the expected 720 bp fragment from all pathogenic strains. The electrophoretic profiles of the cell proteins of the strains were closely similar to reference strain, Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae(IBSBF 451). The pathogenicity of representative strains was improved by injection of suspension of 10 6 cell/ml to branches tip and flowing symptoms observation and reisolation of agent. The isolates were determinate as Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae based on phonotypical futures and sequences of ITS. Antibacterial effect of plant extracted was studied under laboratory conditions on bacterial isolates. The results were compared with effects of 13 well known antibiotics. Results indicating that among used antibiotics, Tetracycline, Oxytetracycline and Doxycycline have significant effect on the growth of all strains but, all the strains showed resistance to Penicillin, and. This study revealed that all the extracts have antibacterial effect and among them extracts of Ferula assa-foetida and Rosmarinus officinalis have the best effect that is comparable to the effect of Tetracycline.


In Parasites, Pathogens, and Progress, Robert McGuire and Philip Coelho integrate biological and economic perspectives into an explanation of the historical development of humanity and the economy, paying particular attention to the American experience, its history and development. In their path-breaking examination of the impact of population growth and parasitic diseases, they contend that interpretations of history that minimize or ignore the physical environment are incomplete or wrong. The authors emphasize the paradoxical impact of population growth and density on progress. An increased population leads to increased market size, specialization, productivity, and living standards. Simultaneously, increased population density can provide an ecological niche for pathogens and parasites that prey upon humanity, increasing morbidity and mortality. The tension between diseases and progress continues, with progress dominant since the late 1800s.Integral to their story are the differential effects of diseases on different ethnic (racial) groups. McGuire and Coelho show that the Europeanization of the Americas, for example, was caused by Old World diseases unwittingly brought to the New World, not by superior technology and weaponry. The decimation of Native Americans by pathogens vastly exceeded that caused by war and human predation. The authors combine biological and economic analyses to explain the concentration of African slaves in the American South. African labor was more profitable in the South because Africans' evolutionary heritage enabled them to resist the diseases that became established there; conversely, Africans' ancestral heritage made them susceptible to northern "cold-weather" diseases. European disease resistance and susceptibilities were the opposite regionally. Differential regional disease ecologies thus led to a heritage of racial slavery and racism.


This paper theoretically evaluated the adequacy or otherwise of the Positivist/Managerialist approach to organisational study in understanding organisations. The review of related literature revealed that positivism and managerialism through their scientific and quantitative characteristics help organisational researchers achieve an objective understanding of organisations which enables managers to make informed predictions about future expectations of business activities but the approaches do not take cognizance of the human experiences and subjective influences which more often than not exact great impact on organisational performance thereby making the decisions made following the outcome of positivist-managerialist oriented studies unrealistic and basically insufficient for understanding 21 century organisations. On the contrary, the literature shows that interpretivists/critics argue that organisational processes and activities can only be understood and interpreted in the light of the context in which they happen and by taking into account the subjective characteristics of the actors and conclusions are drawn from the real life experiences and context-based perspective of those actors. However the findings based on the interpretivist approach is ineffective for making predictions about future events and therefore often seen by managers as absolutely unnecessary and practically irrelevant for achieving predetermined goals. It was therefore concluded that none of the alternative approaches on their own can lead to a complete understanding of organisations hence the paper suggests a mixed method such that the scientific, quantitative qualities of positivism can complement the subjective, qualitative qualities of interpretivism and vice versa, for a better understanding of organisations while the search for the one-best approach continues.


INTRODUCTION
food security (FS) has become a global concern. However, despite the implementation of international policies to promote it, very little is being done to understand the food security, health and nutrition issues in young populations at the university level.

AIM
to explore the state of food security among two different student populations from private and public universities in Quito, Ecuador.

METHODS
this quantitative study includes students from most of the faculties. A total of 730 students were surveyed at the University of The Americas (private) and Central University of Ecuador (public), Quito, Ecuador.

RESULTS
according to our results, there is a wide socioeconomic difference among households and students from both institutions; almost 50% of the all surveyed population are food insecure due to the increase of food prices, household food spending and economic restrictions. The results show that student's populations with good food access are food insecure. But, also, food insecurity affects students from households with low income, to the point they have to skip at least a meal a week.

CONCLUSION
the findings here show that students from private universities are as food insecure as public university students, despite having better food access. Having good food access and food availability does not mean there is more food security among students.


This paper reports on progress on gas sensing using real-time correlation spectroscopy, where a gas is used to 'recognize' its own spectral absorption lines. Our recent results on methane detection using pressure modulation spectrometry are shown, and a new method of modulating the absorption of the gas in the reference cell section of an ammonia detection system is reported for the first time. The basic concept of correlation spectrometry involves the passage of light sequentially through two gas cells, a reference cell containing a known quantity of the gas to be detected, and a sampling cell where the presence of the gas is to be determined. An optical signal passing sequentially through the cells will suffer absorption in each of the cells. If the absorption in the reference cell is periodically modulated, then the total absorption depends on whether the gas absorption lines in the sampling cell correlate with those in the reference cell gas. If the absorption lines of the gases do not correlate strongly, then the modulation index of the optical signal is essentially unaffected by the presence of the different gas in the sampling cell. Therefore, the concentration of a specific gas in the sampling cell can be quantified by this means. Pressure modulation of the gas within the reference cell is achieved by the use of a novel acoustic resonator. This device provides a reasonable pressure ratio while being compact and easily driven. Unlike previous piston-compressors, the high modulation frequency of the resonator improves the tolerance to transients in the optical signal produced by the passage of dust through the optical beam. The system can be tailored to detect a desired gas by changing the reference gas and a broadband section filter. Results for methane are presented in this paper. A novel method for detection of ammonia gas is reported for the first time. This involves Stark modulation of the gas in the reference cell, by the application of an electric field. This method is applicable to gases with strong electric dipole moments, such as NH3, CO, NOx, and HC1.


Code refactorings are of pivotal importance in modern code review. Developers may preserve, revisit, add or undo refactorings through changes' revisions. Their goal is to certify that the driving intent of a code change is properly achieved. Developers' intents behind refactorings may vary from pure structural improvement to facilitating feature additions and bug fixes. However, there is little understanding of the refactoring practices performed by developers during the code review process. It is also unclear whether the developers' intents influence the selection, composition, and evolution of refactorings during the review of a code change. Through mining 1,780 reviewed code changes from 6 systems pertaining to two large open-source communities, we report the first in-depth empirical study on software refactoring during code review. We inspected and classified the developers' intents behind each code change into 7 distinct categories. By analyzing data generated during the complete reviewing process, we observe: (i) how refactorings are selected, composed and evolved throughout each code change, and (ii) how developers' intents are related to these decisions. For instance, our analysis shows developers regularly apply non-trivial sequences of refactorings that crosscut multiple code elements (i.e., widely scattered in the program) to support a single feature addition. Moreover, we observed that new developers' intents commonly emerge during the code review process, influencing how developers select and compose their refactorings to achieve the new and adapted goals. Finally, we provide an enriched dataset that allows researchers to investigate the context and motivations behind refactoring operations during the code review process.


What does sex radicalism look like—for queer theory but not only queer theory—in a critical dispensation tuned less to the liberatory promises of sex than to matters of biopower? This article takes up Henry David Thoreau's vexed relation to the ascetic imperatives of nineteenth-century capitalism in the context of his determination, as he says in Walden, to "love the wild not less than the good." It tracks Thoreau's interest in the wild as part of his career-wide effort to imagine carnal life away from the forms of biopolitical coding and optimization that he understood to be captivating his body more and more completely. As against these imperatives of maximized bodily instrumentalization—crosswired to whiteness, labor, reproductivity—Thoreau tests out the possibilities of a more errant carnality, a "wildness" that, I argue, both is and is not an expression of what, by the end of the nineteenth century, would be called "sexuality." Doing so, he helps us bring into focus some of the knotty conceptual dilemmas of our own queer theoretical moment, in which the impulse to nurture traditions of sex radicalism sits sometimes uneasily alongside renderings of sex as a key element of imperial racialization and biopoliticized control.


Resetable devices are a novel semi-active approach to managing structural response energy. Recently developed devices allow independent control of each chamber enabling unique approaches to sculpting the structural hysteresis loops and behaviour. This paper creates a non-linear model of experimental prototypes that is fully generalisable, and does so in a step-by-step fashion adding each non-linear affect individually. Non-linearities that can significantly affect performance, including valve size, mass flow rate and friction are characterised experimentally and modeled. The results are validated against experimental data for cases of all forms of device control, as well as for several experimental cases utilizing external pressurized sources to enhance the force capacity. Force capacity, using a pressurised reservoir and/or accumulator increased force capacity of these devices from 100-600%, increasing the potential of these designs and approach to seismic energy dissipation. Final model results have less than 5% error compared to nonlinear experimental data. There is a strong correlation between the fundamental nonlinear dynamics modelled and the experimental results, validating the overall model and approach. The overall results and approach are fully general for application to the design or analysis of similar device systems.


A growing proportion of citizens rely on social media to gather political information and to engage in political discussions within their personal networks. Existing studies argue that social media create "echo-chambers," where individuals are primarily exposed to like-minded views. However, this literature has ignored that social media platforms facilitate exposure to messages from those with whom individuals have weak ties, which are more likely to provide novel information to which individuals would not be exposed otherwise through offline interactions. Because weak ties tend to be with people who are more politically heterogeneous than citizens' immediate personal networks, this exposure reduces political extremism. To test this hypothesis, I develop a new method to estimate dynamic ideal points for social media users. I apply this method to measure the ideological positions of millions of individuals in Germany, Spain, and the United States over time, as well as the ideological composition of their personal networks. Results from this panel design show that most social media users are embedded in ideologically diverse networks, and that exposure to political diversity has a positive effect on political moderation. This result is robust to the inclusion of covariates measuring offline political behavior, obtained by matching Twitter user profiles with publicly available voter files in several U.S. states. I also provide evidence from survey data in these three countries that bolsters these findings. Contrary to conventional wisdom, my analysis provides evidence that social media usage reduces mass political polarization.


BACKGROUND
We report on prognostic factors and long-term survival of non-metastatic breast cancer patients treated at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH and RC) in Pakistan.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This retrospective cohort study is based on a review of 2829 pathologically confirmed non-metastatic breast cancer patients managed from January 1995 to May 2009. Median age was 45 years. Stage at presentation: Stage I (9%), stage II (59%), and stage III (32%). Infiltrating ductal carcinoma (92%) constituted the most prevalent histological subtype. Estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR) and Her2-neu were positive in 49%, 50%, and 26%, respectively. A mastectomy was performed in 67% and conservative surgery in 33% of the patients. Post-operative radiotherapy was delivered in 85% of the cases. Ninety percent of the patients received chemotherapy and mainly consisted of anthracycline-based regimens + taxanes. Hormonal manipulation was done in ER/PR positive patients.

RESULTS
The 5- and 10-year overall survival (OS) was 70% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 68.2-71.8%) and 54% (95%CI: 51.2-56.8%), while disease free survival (DFS) was 65% (95% CI: 63-67%) and 52% (95% CI: 49.2-54.8%), respectively. Recurrence following primary treatment was seen in 35% of the patients. On multivariate analysis T stage, number of axillary nodal involvement, tumor grade, ER status and family history, were found to be independent predictors for OS and DFS.

CONCLUSIONS
Over 90% of non-metastatic breast cancer patients present with stagesII and III disease and a significant proportion develop distant metastasis accounting for overall long-term outcome inferior to developed countries. Efforts should be directed to raise the level of health awareness and screening programs to improve early detection in Pakistan.


We demonstrate experimentally a degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) geometry in waveguides that permits the simultaneous determination of the optical Kerr nonlinear refractive index, the nonlinear absorption, and the nonlinear response time of thin-film materials. The geometry consists of two counterpropagating guided pump beams in a planar waveguide. The probe beam simply passes through the thin film and is not guided. By measuring the DFWM signal energy and the guided pump energy at the waveguide output, one can observe several effects simultaneously. Each effect has a different sensitivity to the nonlinearity and, used together, these effects increase the accuracy in determination of the complex n2. This technique was tested on dialkylaminonitrostilbene films. Good agreement was found between the numerical simulations and experimental data. Therefore the technique appears to be a useful characterization technique that yields, in a single setup with basic laboratory equipment, all the relevant parameters of the optical Kerr nonlinearity of thin-film planar waveguides.


This article has two purposes: to present a rationale for using quality literature with at-risk students and to present effective strategies with which to do so. Instruction for at-risk students is often inappropriate for two major reasons. First, at-risk students are often mistakenly assumed to be students with low abilities and low levels of experience. Second, the educational goals for at-risk students are often inappropriately low.


[1] Typhoon Morakot (2009), a devastating tropical cyclone (TC) that made landfall in Taiwan from 7 to 9 August 2009, produced the highest recorded rainfall in southern Taiwan in the past 50 years. This study examines the factors that contributed to the heavy rainfall. It is found that the amount of rainfall in Taiwan was nearly proportional to the reciprocal of TC translation speed rather than the TC intensity. Morakot's landfall on Taiwan occurred concurrently with the cyclonic phase of the intraseasonal oscillation, which enhanced the background southwesterly monsoonal flow. The extreme rainfall was caused by the very slow movement of Morakot both in the landfall and in the postlandfall periods and the continuous formation of mesoscale convection with the moisture supply from the southwesterly flow. A composite study of 19 TCs with similar track to Morakot shows that the uniquely slow translation speed of Morakot was closely related to the northwestward-extending Pacific subtropical high (PSH) and the broad low-pressure systems (associated with Typhoon Etau and Typhoon Goni) surrounding Morakot. Specifically, it was caused by the weakening steering flow at high levels that primarily resulted from the weakening PSH, an approaching short-wave trough, and the northwestward-tilting Etau. After TC landfall, the circulation of Goni merged with the southwesterly flow, resulting in a moisture conveyer belt that transported moisture-laden air toward the east-northeast. Significant mesoscale convection occurred on a long-lived east-west-oriented convergence line and on the mountain slope in southern Taiwan. This convective line was associated with large low-level moisture flux convergence caused by the northwesterly circulation of Morakot and the southwesterly flow. It is thus suggested that the long duration of Typhoon Morakot in the Taiwan area, the interaction of southwest monsoon and typhoon circulation, the mesoscale convection, and the presence of terrain are the key factors in generating the tremendous rainfall.


The problematic nature of the right of a homosexual parent to vest custody over a child is biarticulated: the nature and extent of custody disputes as well as the issues of discrimination based on sexual orientation are relevant. Homosexual orientation is emotional and controversial, all the more when it is accompanied by custody disputes. In this context the constitutional protection given to human rights and the constitutional provisions containing constitutional values are of paramount importance. The contents of these provisions have direct consequences for custody disputes and homosexual parenthood. In the pre-constitutional dispensation, the court gave judgement in Van Rooyen v Van Rooyen 1994 2 SA 325 (W) on the awarding of access rights to a homosexual parent. With regard to the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 108 of 1996 and trends in relevant foreign law, the decision in the Van Rooyen case is subjected to criticism. Since the commencement of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 200 of 1993, no South African court has given judgement on this issue. The aim of this contribution is to set out an autochthonous frame of reference considering the provisions of the Constitution, case law and comparative foreign law in an attempt to resolve the issue under discussion.


We consider a broad class of semilinear SPDEs with multiplicative noise driven by a finite-dimensional Wiener process. We show that, provided that an infinite-dimensional analogue of Hormander's bracket condition holds, the Malliavin matrix of the solution is an operator with dense range. In particular, we show that the laws of finite-dimensional projections of such solutions admit smooth densities with respect to Lebesgue measure. The main idea is to develop a robust pathwise solution theory for such SPDEs using rough paths theory, which then allows us to use a pathwise version of Norris's lemma to work directly on the Malliavin matrix, instead of the "reduced Malliavin matrix" which is not available in this context.
On our way of proving this result, we develop some new tools for the theory of rough paths like a rough Fubini theorem and a deterministic mild Ito formula for rough PDEs.


This thesis examines the way in which warfare is portrayed in a corpus of Old French chronicles, epics and romances. Depictions of war and combat are frequent in twelfth- and thirteenth-century French texts, and it is our hypothesis that these scenes are valuable sources of information, both for the factual details of medieval warfare and for contemporary perceptions of it. The discussion is divided into four main parts. Chapter H provides a contextual framework for the study of war in Old French literature by examining the ideals and reality of medieval warfare; it covers both practical and conceptual aspects. Our literary analysis begins in chapter III with the examination of a corpus of Old French chronicles; we seek to establish whether these ostensibly factual accounts of campaigns provide accurate and realistic representations of war, and we also examine the status of chronicles as entertaining narratives. Chapter IV analyses the depictions of war and combat in a selection of chansons de geste, seeking to establish whether "epic exaggeration" serves a particular narrative purpose in these scenes; chapter V examines a corpus of Old French romances, exploring the theme of war with a view to discovering whether this most "fictional" of our genres portrays combat in a realistic manner. Throughout the thesis we seek to examine both how war is depicted and why it should be portrayed in that particular manner. We conclude that, far from being repetitive or stereotyped, the scenes of war in our corpus are carefully-constructed episodes which form a vital and integral part of our narratives; we also suggest that, in order to understand them fully, the modem reader needs both a knowledge of the reality of medieval warfare and an appreciation of the literary conventions and cultural codes with which the author and audience were working.


Bending tester in reciprocating motion is adopted to study the fatigue resistance and fatigue life of indium tin oxide (ITO) films deposited on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrate with various prestrain levels. A commercial micro-compression tester and ANSYS-Workbench software are used to determine the stress versus strain curves, and thus the strain energy of a fixed volume in the specimen. A bending tester without a cycle limitation is designed to carry out ITO-film fatigue life tests. Two points symmetric with respect to the specimen's central line are set to measure the film's electrical resistance variation with the number of cycles in reciprocating motion. The number of cycles in the bending tests corresponding to the fatigue life of ITO film is determined on the bases of both the strain at which 63% of the material fails and the electrical resistance which has 10% rise w.r.t. the initial one before bending test. The mean electrical resistance increases with increasing number of cycles and prestrain applied to the PET substrate. Of the four substrate prestrains tested (0%, 2%, 4%, and 6%), the change in electrical resistance between the beginning and end of the test was highest for the PET-6%/ITO specimen regardless of the maximum acceleration of the tester. With the same substrate's prestrain and at the same maximum acceleration, the number of cycles for fatigue life predicted by these two models are fairly close. Increasing either the substrate prestrain or the jig's acceleration decreases the alternating stress and increases the strain during reciprocating motion, lowering the fatigue life of the film. The strain energy defined for a fixed volume in the specimen is found always asymptotic to a constant value. The number of cycles corresponding to the beginning of this constant strain energy is found close to those of fatigue cycles predicted by the models mentioned above. The strain energy method is thus provided as an effective way to predict the fatigue life of the specimens without fatigue limit in the curve.


Abstract This study focuses on the relationship between menstruation and the schooling experience of female adolescents in Peru from an ecological and gender approach. Qualitative data were collected from rural and urban areas through individual interviews and participatory activities with 277 participants, including adolescents and key informants. The participants were chosen through convenience sampling in 11 schools. The results were tripartite: (1) most adolescents experience fear and shame related to menstruation because of gender meanings about the menstrual body; (2) there is bullying and aggression associated with menstruation by male peers in the school grounds; and (3) the issues of menstruation in the institutional context are not sufficiently addressed in public policy, teacher training and provision of sanitation facilities. Therefore, a critical revision of the gender norms that place female adolescents at a disadvantage in school grounds is urgent in addition to improving water and sanitation infrastructure and maintenance.


Antigen-specific suppressor factor produced by metabolically active in vitro-induced suppressor cells, upon further antigenic stimulation, act on nylon wool nonadherent, Ly-2-negative target cells within helper cell population, resulting in suppression of both the IgM and IgG antibody responses. Thus the target is an Ly-1+ T cell, possibly the helper cell. All the mouse strains tested so far have been able to produce the factor, and when tested in CBA or B10 mice, there seems to be no genetic restriction involved e.g., nonsyngeneic suppressor factors suppress as well as do the syngeneic factors. Comparison of the properties of suppressor factor with those of extracts of suppressor cells yield differences in origin, target of action and effect, indicating that these are different molecules. The heterogeneity of suppressor pathways is discussed.


This thesis will give an overview about the connection of physics and economy in special view of human behavior in traffic scenarios. Main topic is the human decision making process in a two-route-choice scenario. In three main Experiments, human players had to decide between two routes which connect two cities. The first experiment is defined by a pure Nash-equilibrium and 18 participants, the second experiment is similar, but alternating construction sites on both routes were added. Experiment 1 and 2 are played over 200 periods. The third experiment is a minority game with mixed equilibria and 9 participants. Experiment 3 was played over 100 periods. Furthermore the first experiment was extended to a larger group of players up to 90 persons. For every experiment two treatments with 6 observations were played. The treatments differ in the given information to the participants before they choose between the two routes. In the first treatment the information about the own travel time was given, additionally in the second treatment the information about travel times on both routes were given. The second part of the thesis describes the statistical data and illustrates the results. Two main results are that the equilibrium was not stable in the experiments, the fluctuations persists to the end of every observation. Further on two player types were found and explained in this chapter. In the third part of this thesis an extended payoff-sum model is described and explained. Simulations using this reinforcement learning model were run and show the reproducibility of the empirical data. In the conclusions the main results are shown and discussed.


In this article the authors explore and critique education and teacher education as disciplines against the backdrop of teaching as a form of human flourishing connected to the virtue of eudaimonia, a kind of happiness. Their concern is with flourishing as a human being who teaches and in teaching expresses and moves toward fulfilling his or her essence or goodness. Questions are raised about how the quest for disciplinary status may negatively affect teacher well‐being by narrowing and flattening what it is teachers do when teaching, thus undermining the very reasons why teachers choose to teach.


According to the Brookings Institution, it has taken the Senate longer to confirm subcabinet nominees with each successive administration since President Kennedy's (Loomis 2001). Political scientists have spent little time analyzing why this is the case (see Nokken and Sala 2000; McCarty and Razaghian 1999; Binder and Maltzman forthcoming; and Mackenzie 2001 for some notable exceptions). Yet because confirming nominees includes many elements of the legislative process--such as policy, politics, and procedure--it is a natural laboratory that requires more attention. During the first six months of 2001, I served on the Presidential Transition and on the White House staff, helping to coordinate the Senate confirmations for members of the Bush administration. This experience provided me a ringside seat to many of the power relationships political scientists study and debate. This article draws on what I saw and experienced during my White House tenure, using it as a participatory window to examine and shed new light on several key questions vigorously debated among political scientists. Moreover, I was on hand in the midst of the Jeffords party switch that tipped the balance of control in the Senate, and this provided me with an invaluable pretest-posttest environment to observe the confirmation process under conditions of unified and split party government. This article focuses on three issues currently actively debated among political scientists: (1) Do parties matter? (2) Is the slowness of the confirmation process another form of legislative gridlock, and do institutional rules play a role in this phenomenon? and (3) How do presidents influence Congress through the confirmation process, and do these strategies change under conditions of unified versus split party control? Do Parties Matter? Yes. Well ... Some of the Time The role of political parties in the Congress has been actively debated over the past decade. And while most of the theoretical and empirical research has focused on the role of parties in the House of Representatives, party leaders in the Senate play a unique and important role in the Republican and Democratic caucuses. Some scholars argue forcefully and persuasively that parties do not have an independent impact on the behavior of legislators (see, for example, Krehbiel 1991, 1993; Krehbiel and Wiseman 2001; Mayhew 1974). Instead, members act in accordance with their policy preferences, and political party leaders in Congress adopt the positions of the median legislator in their caucus. So instead of manipulating legislators to adopt nonmedian "party leadership" positions, leaders adopt policy to comport with the median position of the caucus. Bond and Fleisher (2000, 31) summarized the views of scholars like Keith Krehbiel, who have said that because they are "too weak to ensure cohesion of their members, the majority does not have a great advantage over the minority," and that therefore parties can be ignored. Others believe parties are much more consequential (see, for example, Aldrich and Rohde 2000; Cox and McCubbins 1992; Sinclair 1983, 1997). These scholars argue the tools available to majority and minority party leaders are not the same and that majority party leaders systematically use this asymmetry in power (agenda control, rules of debate, and timing of votes) to skew policy away from the median chamber position and toward the median of the majority party (Bond and Fleisher 2000, 32). Studying the Senate confirmation process provides some new insights into this debate. Help from the President's Party Whether or not party leaders pack any political potency, the president and the White House staff think and behave as if they do. In the first few months of the Bush administration, White House officials routinely called on Senate Republican party leaders to help shake loose troubled nominees and hasten their path toward confirmation. …


OBJECTIVE
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to be abnormally expressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and associated with the progression of HCC. LncRNA LINC00511 (LINC00511) has been confirmed to act as a tumor promoter in several tumors. However, as a novel lncRNA, the specific effect of LINC00511 is still largely obscure. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of LINC00511 in HCC behaviors and to elucidate the mechanism by which this occurs.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The expressions of LINC00511 in HCC tissues and cell lines were evaluated by qRT-PCR. The correlations between LINC00511 expression and the clinicopathological parameters and prognosis of HCC patients were determined using several statistical methods. CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, flow cytometry cell cycle, apoptosis assay, EdU assay, wound healing assay, and transwell assay were used to investigate the role of LINC00511 on the malignant phenotypes in vitro. Insights into the potential mechanisms of ceRNAs were determined by bioinformatics analysis, dual-luciferase reporter assays and RT-PCR.

RESULTS
LINC00511 expression was significantly up-regulated in HCC tissues and cell lines, and its high expression was distinctly associated with nodal metastasis, vascular invasion, and clinical stage. Furthermore, statistical assays revealed that HCC patients with higher LINC00511 expression levels had worse overall survival rates. Importantly, the multivariate analysis confirmed that LINC00511 expression was an independent prognostic factor of the overall survival in patients with HCC. Functionally, the inhibition of LINC00511 significantly suppressed the capability of proliferation, migration, and invasion in HCC cell lines. Bioinformatic tools predicted that miR-424 both targeted the 3'-UTR of LINC00511, which was confirmed using the luciferase reporter assay and RT-PCR.

CONCLUSIONS
LINC00511 plays an important role in the malignant progression of HCC via modulation of miR-424.


This thesis challenges the notion that little light can be shed on Exeter's 'middling' and 'poorer' sorts in the period 1550-1610, defined as 'the chorus' by Wallace MacCaffrey in his book Exeter 1540-1640. It selects data from midto latesixteenth and early seventeenth century urban archives, defines the strengths and weaknesses of that data and captures it in a digitised database. It uses this data to test which of the methodologies of prosopography, collective and individual biography, social network analysis and occupied topography are most appropriate for analysis of the city's social structure and individuals' lived experiences. It subsequently selects collective and individual biography for use with the randomly incomplete data set presented by the archives. Using the database to create group and individual biographies, it then introduces elementary quantitative analyses of the city's social structure, starting by describing broadly the distinguishing characteristics of the leading actors and the chorus. Following on from this, it describes several groups who form part of the chorus, including the more civically active, alongside those with less data against their names. It investigates family and household dynamics and reveals how these are reflected through the occupation of baker. It continues by examining the post-mortem intentions of those who bequeathed goods and explores the lives of a selection of craftsmen, merchants, tailors and widows viewed through in-depth biographies created from the comparatively rich data associated with death. It also makes explicit that the lack of a particular document type compromises the degree of success in connecting the chorus to the cityscape using occupied topography methodologies. It reveals the challenges of recreating the notion of neighbourhood in the city's west quarter around St Nicholas Priory, then the town house of the wealthy Hurst family. It concludes that it is possible to outline a new model, that of the 'categorised, connected citizen', which challenges the validity of MacCaffrey's construct of a bi-partite society, one side of which is a murky unknown quantity about whom no 'striking assertions' can be made. This new model acknowledges the dynamism, individuality and interactivity of Exeter's inhabitants, and contents that it is a better one for enabling historians to treat respectfully people they cannot yet fully understand.


Web browsing posses a major share among the activities on the Internet. Heavy usage of web browsing makes the Web Quality of Experience (QoE) one of the critical factor in deciding the overall success of network services. Amongst others, Web QoE can be effected by the delays in network that can result in higher application download times. An effort has been made to map applications level download times to Quality of Experience. A subjective analysis on how the user takes into account the domain of web browsing has been carried out. For this purpose a testbed was developed at Blekinge Institute of Technology on which different users were tested. Specific sequences of delays were introduced on the network which resulted in desired application download times. Regression analysis was performed and a mapping between user QoE and application download times was carried out. Based on the results conclusions were made which are presented here.


Phase unwrapping represents a crucial step in processing phase data obtained with techniques such as synthetic aperture radar interferometry, speckle interferometry, and magnetic resonance imaging. The so-called branch-cut approaches form an important class of phase unwrapping algorithms. In 1996, Costantini proposed to transform the problem of correctly placing branch cuts into a minimum cost flow problem [Proceedings of the Fringe '96 Workshop (European Space Agency, Munich, 1996), pp. 261-272]. The critical point of this new approach is to generate cost functions that have to represent all the a priori knowledge necessary for phase unwrapping. Any function transforming a priori knowledge into a cost function is called a cost generator. Several types of algorithms ranging from heuristic approaches to generators based on probability-theory interpretations were suggested. A problem arising from the growing diversity of algorithms is to find a criterion for the equivalence of different cost generators. Two cost generators are equivalent if they produce cost functions with the same minimal flow for every residue configuration on every image with all possible a priori knowledge. Comparing the results of different cost generators on test scenes can show only their non-equivalence. We solve this problem by proving the following mathematical classification theorem: Two cost generators are equivalent if and only if one can be transformed into the other by multiplication by a fixed constant.


This study is the first to examine Question Time (QT) in a Latin American congress. Its main goals seek to discover the extent to which QT in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies is different from, or similar to, the House of Commons in the UK Parliament, and if findings and theories of studies conducted on other parliaments apply or not to Mexico's Congress. A contrastive analysis reveals significant differences in terms of frequency of sessions, rules, and organisation, but not in how oral questions are used to bend the rules of the game. By using the methodology of Discourse Analysis, two QT sessions in the Chamber of Deputies are examined. At a macro-level, the structure of a type of speech referred to as stance-taking delivered by deputies, just prior to the questioning, is examined to identify its genre. At a micro-level, the analysis is on the discourse strategies deputies and government ministers use to interact. Overall, findings and theories on other Westminster-type systems apply to the Mexican Congress. However, the study yields different results compared to other work on parliaments because Mexico has a multi-party system, while in other parliaments there is, basically, a two-party system. Three types of opposition are identified, each one using their own discourse strategies: anti-system, neutral and loyal. While deputies and government ministers play their corresponding assigned roles as questioners and respondents, the analysis shows such roles allow them to do much more than to enquire or to respond, thus using QT for political purposes. Verbal abuse is also examined. Findings show that although the nature of QT is adversarial, when there is a pre-existing familiarity between a deputy and a government minister conflict escalates. What is considered unparliamentary language and the unspoken red lines that have to be crossed for a session to end prematurely differ between the House of Commons in the UK Parliament and Mexico's Congress.


High-resolution emission spectra of several europium complexes with β-diketones, dipyridyl, and phenanthroline have been examined at 77°K in microcrystals. The Stark splitting of the 7F levels in the ground multiplet and the relative intensities of the individual 5D0→7F transitions can be used for theoretical correlation with the ligand field parameters, transition probabilities, molecular structure, and Eu-ligand bonding. The fluorescence spectra of the bis-aqua, tris, tris-aqua, tetrakis, and mixed chelates with the bidentate ligands are discussed in relation to molecular configuration.


Analysts are selective about which forecasts they update and, thus, convey information about current quarter earnings even when not revising the current quarter earnings (CQE) forecast. We find that (1) textual statements, (2) share price target revisions, and (3) future quarter earnings forecast revisions all predict error in the CQE forecast. We document several reasons analysts sometimes omit information from the CQE forecast: to facilitate beatable forecasts by suppressing positive news from the CQE forecast, to herd toward the consensus, and to avoid small forecast revisions. We also show that omitting information from CQE forecasts leads to lower forecast dispersion and predictable returns at the earnings announcement.


Calcium phosphate nanofibers with a diameter of only a few nanometers and a cotton-ball-like aggregate morphology have been reported several times in the literature. Although fiber formation seems reproducible in a variety of conditions, the crystal structure and chemical composition of the fibers have been elusive. Using scanning transmission electron microscopy, low dose electron (nano)diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy, we have assigned crystal structures and chemical compositions to the fibers. Moreover, we demonstrate that the mineralization process yields true polymer/calcium phosphate hybrid materials where the block copolymer template is closely associated with the calcium phosphate.


This thesis analyzes the drama and prose fiction of the upper-middleclass
Communist writer Patrick Hamilton (1904-62), drawing on a
considerable amount of primary material. Part of the purpose of the
thesis is to restore Hamilton's reputation as a writer of significance by
effecting a judicious critical assessment of his unjustly neglected
oeuvre. It is argued that throughout his work are discernible traces of a
crisis of hegemony which afflicted the British ruling order in the interwar
period and of which one aspect is of special relevance here -- viz., a
certain problematization of Victorian and Edwardian codes of English
bourgeois masculinity engendered by the Great War and its shell-shocked
aftermath and peculiarly operative among those ex-Public School writers
who, like Hamilton, were born around the mid-1900s, and became
prominent in the 1930s. One, well-known, consequence of this crisis was
a sexualized transfer of allegiance by some bourgeois literary
intellectuals to the Soviet Union and the working-class; another was a
gravitation towards (crypto-) Fascism. From the time of his 1926 novel,
Craven House. Hamilton sought to anatomize the potential for fascistic
'evil' latent in the southern English petty bourgeoisie. It is demonstrated
that his fictional analyses were rendered more profound by his
intellectual assimilation of Marxism from 1933 onwards. It is also
shown that the specific appeal of Soviet Marxism for this writer resided
in its quasi-religious capacity to satisfy a craving for authenticity in a
social world characterized by deceitful quotidian role-playing and, in the
drama especially, to facilitate the unmasking of villainy and subserve an
obsession with revenge. Congenial to this brand of Marxism, it is
contended, is the monologic tradition of the realist novel, to which
Hamilton's fiction almost invariably conforms. The Protestant discourse
of confession which nurtures that tradition is often discernible in the
impulse to confess which tends to characterize the rendition of the
sexual in Hamilton's texts and, in general, his problematic representation
of gender and sexuality is closely scrutinized. It is concluded that,
despite its demonstrable limitations and inherent problems, much of
Hamilton's work can be rendered valuable to a contemporary radical
audience.


Background : The main purpose of this research is to survey relation between mental health, sensation seeking and coping style with cigarette smoking. Material and Methods: Sample of this study were 312 boy students, who selected by simple randomly among total boys of Mohaghegh Ardabili university in 2013-14. This study is a correlation study. Data were collected with using the demographic characteristics Questionnaire, mental health of Goldberg, sensation-seeking of Arnet and Lazarus's & Folkman coping style Questionnaires. Results : The result showed that %37.8(n=118) of samples were cigarette smoker and %62.2 (n=194) were non cigarette smokers. The results of discriminant analysis showed that among variables, seeking social support, avoid, the high sensation seeking, coping confrontation, somatization symptoms, responsibility and depression can predict to join the group of male students smokers and nonsmokers. Seeking social support was the best predictor to be in group of cigarette smoker and non-smoker boy student. Conclusion : This study showed the sensation seeking, coping styles and mental health are effective in approach to cigarette smoking.


St. Lucie Inlet, located on the lower east coast of Florida, was cut across a barrier island in 1892 and jetties were constructed on the north and south sides of the inlet in 1926 and 1981, respectively. The inlet flood and ebb tidal shoals have acted as sinks, accumulating approximately 28.8 million cubic meters of sediment since the inlet was cut. This sand removal from the active nearshore system has caused severe long-term beach recession rates exceeding 9 m/yr on Jupiter Island immediately downdrift (south) of St. Lucie Inlet. This erosion is greatest on the north end of Jupiter Island and has rendered the northern portion of the island literally uninhabitable and the northern 11 km now consists of public lands managed by various federal and state agencies. The Town of Jupiter Island extends over a 12 km shoreline segment, commencing from the southerly limit of the public lands. Long-term shoreline change conditions range from 2 m/yr recession at the north Town limit to nearly a stable shoreline at the south limit. Since 1973, the Town has engaged in a concerted and expensive program of beach nourishment with cumulative placement exceeding 6 million cubic meters. The sediment, obtained from an offshore source, is finer than the native which results in two undesirable effects: (1) the equilibrium profile slope is milder than the native, thereby resulting in less additional dry beach width per unit volume placed, and (2) it appears that the longshore 'spreading out' rates are greater than would occur with coarser sediment. The latter conclusion is based on computations with the usually adopted sediment transport factor of 0.77. A hypothetical periodic beach nourishment scenario is considered using coarser sediment and predictions of volume remaining in the area placed presented versus time. Monitoring has proven that the nourishment program has been a boon to sea turtle nesting, presumably through the provision of a wider beach.


This paper analyzes the forced response of swirl-stabilized lean-premixed flames to acoustic forcing in a laboratory-scale stratified burner. The double-swirler, double-channel annular burner was specially designed to generate acoustic velocity oscillations and radial fuel stratification at the inlet of the combustion chamber. Temporal oscillations of equivalence ratio along the axial direction are dissipated over a long distance, and therefore the effects of time-varying fuel/air ratio on the flame response are not considered. Simultaneous measurements of inlet velocity and heat release rate oscillations were made using a hot wire anemometer and photomultiplier tubes with narrowband OH*/CH* interference filters. Time-averaged CH* chemiluminescence intensities were measured using an intensified CCD camera. Results show that flame stabilization mechanisms vary depending on stratification ratio for a constant global equivalence ratio. For a uniformly premixed condition, an enveloped M-shaped flame is observed. For stratified conditions, however, a dihedral V-flame and a detached flame are developed for outer stream and inner stream fuel enrichment cases, respectively. Flame transfer function (FTF) measurement results indicate that a V-shaped flame tends to damp incident flow oscillations, while a detached flame acts as a strong amplifier relative to the uniformly premixed condition. The phase difference of FTF increases in the presence of stratification. More importantly, the dynamic characteristics obtained from the forced stratified flame measurements are well correlated with unsteady flame behavior under limit-cycle pressure oscillations. The results presented in this paper provide insight into the impact of nonuniform reactant stoichiometry on combustion instabilities, which has not been well explored to date.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. Remotely activated cameras are increasingly used worldwide to investigate the distribution, abundance and behaviour of animals. The number of studies using remote cameras in urban ecosystems, however, is low compared to use in other ecosystems. Currently, the time and effort required to classify images is the main constraint of this monitoring technique. To determine whether, or not, citizen science might help overcome this constraint, we investigated the engagement, accuracy and efficiency of citizen scientists providing crowd-sourced classifications of animal images recorded by remote cameras in Wellington, New Zealand. Classifications from individual citizen scientists were in 84.2% agreement with the classifications of professional ecologists. Aggregating the classifications from three citizen scientists per image, and excluding false triggers and unclassifiable classifications increased their overall accuracy to 97.6%. Classifications by citizen scientists also improved if animal movement was highlighted in the images. The likelihood of citizen scientists correctly classifying images was influenced by their previous accuracy, their self-assessed confidence, and the species reported. Weighting the citizen scientist classifications based on their ability to correctly identify animals reduced from 3 to 2 the number of classifications required per sequence to classify >95% of the photographs containing cats. Citizen science is an accurate and efficient approach for classifying remote camera data from urban areas, where most of the animals are familiar to the participants. We demonstrated how appropriate tools and accounting for the accuracy of citizen scientists, allows project managers to maximise the effort of citizen scientists while ensuring high-quality data.


We show how, in general equilibrium models featuring increasing returns, imperfect competition and endogenous markups, changes in the scale of economic activity affect income distribution across factors. Whenever final goods are gross-substitutes (gross- complements), a scale expansion raises (lowers) the relative reward of the scarce factor or the factor used intensively in the sector characterized by a higher degree of product differentiation and higher fixed costs. Under very reasonable hypothesis, our theory suggests that scale is skill-biased. This result provides a microfoundation for the secular increase in the relative demand for skilled labor. Moreover, it constitutes an important link among major explanations for the rise in wage inequality: skill-biased technical change, capital-skill complementarities and international trade. We provide new evidence on the mechanism underlying the skill bias of scale.


Abstract In the existing literature, compensation is often understood to be an inferior source of cohesion in military organisations. Through an investigation of the militias who fought for Charles Taylor's government of Liberia, this paper makes three claims. Firstly, the organisation of these forces was looser than is often claimed in previous literature, which assumes tight and often coercive military patrimonialism. Consequently, the militias did not enjoy the interpersonal bonds of solidarity that have dominated recent cohesion literature. Secondly, since Taylor chose to suppress attempts to build cohesion around ethnicity, it played a subordinate role in unifying the militias. Thirdly, Taylor instead relied on military contracting and compensation, which allowed for the broad mobilisation of forces. The combination of militias' hopes of inclusion into the state patrimony and insufficient resources to realise this left the cohesion of the militias fragile. Ultimately, this paper questions both whether Taylor had any choice but to resort to compensation in a context with a weak state and fragmented social organisation, and also whether the strategy is as inefficient as often thought.


Abstract Two systems in the brain that are involved in emotional and economic decision-making are described. The first is an evolutionarily old emotion-based system that operates on rewards defined by the genes such as food, warmth, social reputation, and having children. Such decisions are often based on heuristics, such as being highly sensitive to losses, because a single loss might influence one's reproductive success. This is a multidimensional system with many rewards and punishers, all of which cannot be simultaneously optimized. The second route to decision-making involves reasoning, in which it is assumed that utility can be accurately assessed and logical reason can be applied, though the human brain is not naturally computationally good at logical assessment. When decisions are taken, all those factors apply, and in addition there is noise introduced into the system by the random firing times of neurons for a given mean firing rate. The implications for economic decision-making are described. In macroeconomics, it is assumed that the economy behaves like one "representative" agent who can take rational and logical decisions, and who can maximize utility over a constraint. Given the neuroscience of decision-making, the situation is more complex. The utility function may be multidimensional, the reward value along each dimension may fluctuate, the reasoning may be imperfect, and the decision-making process is subject to noise in the brain, making it somewhat random from occasion to occasion. Moreover, each individual has a different set of value functions along each dimension, with different sensitivities to different rewards and punishers, which are expressed in the different personalities of different individuals. These factors underlying the neuroscience of human decision-making need to be taken into account in building and utilizing macroeconomic theories.


News for inclusion in this section … activities of schools and departments of journalism, staff appointments and changes, curricular developments and the like … must reach Professor Miller, School of Journalism, Syracuse University, by the first of the month preceding publication. News for the June issue must reach him by May 1.


In the paper we present measurements of transport physical parameters such as thermal conductivity, diffusivity and specific heat capacity and dc electrical conductivity as well as the mechanical values E*, tg δ for rubber compounds filled by different ratio of silica - carbon black fillers. From presented results it is possible to see that proper filler concentration (rubber blend - silica - carbon black) rising all thermal parameters as well as mechanical properties represented by complex Young's modulus and so, maintains the good mechanical parameters of the blend and finally it also lowers the electrical resistance. All trends are favourable for the improvement of useful rubber blends properties.


Microsoft Excel is the world's most-popular spreadsheet program--used by schools, offices, and home users. In Excel 2007, Microsoft has completely redesigned the user interface, making it more intuitive and more attractive. But anyone needing to get started quickly without learning all the ins and outs of the software still needs a handy guide. And with Creating Spreadsheets and Charts in Microsoft Excel 2007: Visual QuickProject Guide they've got one. Excel expert Maria Langer walks readers through the new interface and teaches them the tools they will use throughout the project. From there, she helps them create their first workbook, using formulas, adding formatting, adding a visually rich chart. Readers also learn how to effectively print their spreadsheets and charts--something that's much more confusing than it sounds! Along the way all readers will learn how to create attractive, professional, and effective Excel documents. Each book in the Visual QuickProject Guide series now has a companion website featuring sample project files--making it even easier for users to work through each project as they read through the book. Other features on the companion website may include articles on getting the most out of the topic, a database of frequently asked questions, excerpts from the book, general tips, and more.


Biological response to iron fertilization in the Polar Frontal Zone of the Southern Ocean (EisenEx)Philipp Assmy1, Joachim Henjes1, Christine Klaas2 & Victor Smetacek11Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany2Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 10, 07745 Jena, GermanyDuring EisenEx - the second in situ iron fertilization experiment conducted in HNLC (High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll) waters of the Southern Ocean - an iron-enriched ocean eddy was followed over a period of three weeks in austral spring 2000. The aim of this experiment was to assess the impact of iron fertilization on the pelagic community and the processes within the food web driven by changes in plankton distribution and abundance. The diatom, large microzooplankton (in particular acantharians and tintinnids) and small mesozooplankton (copepodids and nauplii) community was quantified inside and outside the iron enriched patch.Inside the fertilized patch the diatom assemblage increased six-fold in abundance and four-fold in biomass. Outside the patch (control stations) diatom abundance remained constant whereas biomass doubled. Empty intact and broken diatom frustules were quantified as indicators of grazing pressure (i.e. mortality). Diatom debris increased three-fold inside and doubled outside the patch. Empty diatom frustules doubled inside and remained constant outside the patch. Acantharian abundance increased by a factor of 3 in the fertilized patch but only slightly outside the patch. This is of major interest, because acantharians are indirectly responsible for the formation of barite which is found in sediments and is suggested to be a paleo-indicator of high productivity regimes. The total abundance of the tintinnids ciliates (i.e. full and empty loricae) doubled inside the iron- enriched patch compared to no change outside the patch. Moreover the numbers of empty loricae, an indicator of grazing pressure on tintinnids, increased about 2.2-fold inside the fertilized patch with no change outside the patch. This suggests that particularly inside the iron enriched eddy, grazing pressure intensified highly on tintinnid ciliates and completely compensated tintinnid population growth in the course of the experiment. Copepodid numbers increased significantly (by a factor of ~ 3.6) inside the patch with a ~ 2.1-fold increase in the adjacent water mass. Nauplii numbers slightly increased in patch (by a factor of 1.7) in contrast to no changes out patch.Our results confirm the stimulation of diatom growth by iron addition in the Southern Ocean. Our results also indicate that a significant seasonal increase in diatom biomass occurs in the Polar Frontal Zone (PFZ) despite low iron conditions, consistent with satellite observations. Grazing pressure intensified more heavily inside the patch compared to out patch values due to greater food availability in the fertilized patch. Furthermore grazing pressure seems to be an important factor determining diatom productivity and assemblage composition in this area of the Southern Ocean.Key words: Southern Ocean, iron fertilization, diatoms, micro- and mesozooplankton, grazing


Most students faced with writing a research paper probably start at the same place - Google. This new, cutting-edge edition of the highly acclaimed "College Student's Research Companion" is designed to save your students from fruitless and random Web searching. With up-to-date guidance for utilizing both the library and the Internet (including Google), students will learn to easily and effectively find the best information in all formats, print and electronic. Quaratiello begins with library organization basics, including how to use the OPAC, and moves through to the use of reference books, periodical indexes, online databases, and popular search engines and Web portals. She also covers how to evaluate information once it is found. Each chapter includes invaluable exercises that reinforce the instruction and guidance. Written in an easy, breezy style and filled with real-world examples, illustrative diagrams, and screen shots, this is the ideal text for teaching today's students.


Stress responses in plants imply spatio-temporal changes in enzymes and metabolites, including subcellular compartment-specific reallocation processes triggered by sudden changes in environmental parameters. To investigate interactions of primary metabolism with abiotic stress, the gin2-1 mutant, defective in the sugar sensor hexokinase 1 (HXK1) was compared to its wildtype Landsberg erecta (Ler) based on time resolved, compartment specific metabolome and proteome data obtained over a full diurnal cycle. The high light sensitive gin2-1 mutant was substantially delayed in subcellular redistribution of metabolites upon stress, and this correlated with a massive reduction in proteins belonging to the ATP producing electron transport chain under high light, while fewer changes occurred in the cold. In the wildtype, compounds specifically protecting individual compartments could be identified, e.g. maltose and raffinose in plastids, myo-inositol in mitochondria, but gin2-1 failed to recruit these substances to the respective compartments, or responded only slowly to high irradiance. No such delay was obtained in the cold. At the whole-cell level, concentrations of the amino acids, glycine and serine, provided strong evidence for an important role of the photorespiratory pathway during stress exposure, and different subcellular allocation of serine may contribute to the slow growth of the gin2-1 mutant under high irradiance. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Research data management (RDM) includes all processes and measures which ensure that research data are well-organised, documented, preserved, stored, backed up, accessible, available, and re-usable. Corresponding RDM systems or repositories form the technical framework to support the collection, accurate documentation, storage, back-up, sharing, and provision of research data, which are created in a specific environment, like a research group or institution. The required measures for the implementation of a RDM system vary according to the discipline or purpose of data (re-)use. In the context of RDM, the documentation of research data is an essential duty. This has to be conducted by accurate, standardized, and interoperable metadata to ensure the interpretability, understandability, shareability, and long-lasting usability of the data. RDM is achieving an increasing importance, as digital information increases. New technologies enable to create more digital data, also automatically. Consequently, the volume of digital data, including big data and small data, will approximately double every two years in size. With regard to e-science, this increase of data was entitled and predicted as the data deluge. Furthermore, the paradigm change in science has led to data intensive science. Particularly scientific data that were financed by public funding are significantly demanded to be archived, documented, provided or even open accessible by different policy makers, funding agencies, journals and other institutions. RDM can prevent the loss of data, otherwise around 80-90 % of the generated research data disappear and are not available for re-use or further studies. This will lead to empty archives or RDM systems. The reasons for this course are well known and are of a technical, socio-cultural, and ethical nature, like missing user participation and data sharing knowledge, as well as lack of time or resources. In addition, the fear of exploitation and missing or limited reward for publishing and sharing data has an important role.
This thesis presents an approach in handling research data of the collaborative, multidisciplinary, long-term DFG-funded research project Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio 32 (CRC/TR32) "Patterns in Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Systems: Monitoring, Modelling, and Data Assimilation". In this context, a RDM system, the so-called CRC/TR32 project database (TR32DB), was designed and implemented. The TR32DB considers the demands of the project participants (e.g. heterogeneous data from different disciplines with various file sizes) and the requirements of the DFG, as well as general challenges in RDM. For this purpose, a RDM system was established that comprises a well-described self-designed metadata schema, a file-based data storage, a well-elaborated database of metadata, and a corresponding user-friendly web interface. The whole system is developed in close cooperation with the local Regional Computing Centre of the University of Cologne (RRZK), where it is also hosted.
The documentation of the research data with accurate metadata is of key importance. For this purpose, an own specific TR32DB Metadata Schema was designed, consisting of multi-level metadata properties. This is distinguished in general and data type specific (e.g. data, publication, report) properties and is developed according to the project background, demands of the various data types, as well as recent associated metadata standards and principles. Consequently, it is interoperable to recent metadata standards, such as the Dublin Core, the DataCite Metadata Schema, as well as core elements of the ISO19115:2003 Metadata Standard and INSPIRE Directive. Furthermore, the schema supports optional, mandatory, and automatically generated metadata properties, as well as it provides predefined, obligatory and self-established controlled vocabulary lists. The integrated mapping to the DataCite Metadata Schema facilitates the simple application of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for a dataset.
The file-based data storage is organized in a folder system, corresponding to the structure of the CRC/TR32 and additionally distinguishes between several data types (e.g. data, publication, report). It is embedded in the Andrew File System hosted by the RRZK. The file system is capable to store and backup all data, is highly scalable, supports location independence, and enables easy administration by Access Control Lists. In addition, the relational database management system MySQL stores the metadata according to the previous mentioned TR32DB Metadata Schema as well as further necessary administrative data.
A user-friendly web-based graphical user interface enables the access to the TR32DB system. The web-interface provides metadata input, search, and download of data, as well as the visualization of important geodata is handled by an internal WebGIS. This web-interface, as well as the entire RDM system, is self-developed and adjusted to the specific demands.
Overall, the TR32DB system is developed according to the needs and requirements of the CRC/TR32 scientists, fits the demands of the DFG, and considers general problems and challenges of RDM as well. With regard to changing demands of the CRC/TR32 and technologic advances, the system is and will be consequently further developed. The established TR32DB approach was already successfully applied to another interdisciplinary research project. Thus, this approach is transferable and generally capable to archive all data, generated by the CRC/TR32, with accurately, interoperable metadata to ensure the re-use of the data, beyond the end of the project.


Background: The health status of a population sample living in Parona (Pavia) was surveyed to evaluate the association between exposure to active and passive smoke and chronic respiratory symptoms. Methods : 483 subjects were studied. The protocol included a questionnaire administrated by a physician, pulmonary function test and blood analysis. Results : 124 subjects were current smokers, 104 subjects were past smokers and 252 were non-smokers. Sixty two (12.9%) of the subjects had pathological PFT: 48 (10%) had airflow obstruction and 14 (2.9%) had restriction of lung volumes. The prevalence of pathological tests was significantly higher in males than in females (p < 0.05). Most of pathological tests have been found in smokers: the prevalence was 16.9% in current smokers, 14.4% in quitters, 11.8% in ETS-exposed people and 9.4% in ETS-non-exposed. The frequency of pathological PFTs was significantly higher in subjects exposed (p< 0.05). The mean value of FVC% predicted tended to be lower in smokers, intermediate in ETS exposed subjects. Conclusions : Chronic respiratory symptoms were reported significantly more often by smokers. The prevalence of pathological pulmonary function tests was significantly higher and FVC tended to be lower in subjects exposed to active and/or passive smoking than in non-exposed. Our results demonstrate the health impact of smoke on the general population of a low polluted area. Besides smoking cessation, lowering ETS exposure could represent one of the most important tool to improve respiratory health, and may contribute to prevent and reduce progression to COPD .


Objective In this study, the amplitude and time distribution of power output in a variety of competitive cycling events through the use of a new mathematical analysis was examined: exposure variation analysis (EVA). Design Descriptive field study. Setting Various professional road cycling events, including; a 5-day—eight-stage tour race, a 1-day World Cup event and the Australian National Individual Time Trial Championships. Participants 9 elite female cyclists (mean (SD), mass = 57.8 (3.4) kg, height = 167.3 (2.8) cm, Vo2peak = 63.2 (5.2) ml kg−1 min−1). Interventions None. Main outcome measurements The variation in power output and the quantification of the total time and acute time spent at various exercise intensities during competitive professional cycling were examined. Predefined levels of exercise intensity that elicited first ventilation threshold, second ventilation threshold and maximal aerobic power were determined from a graded exercise test performed before the events and compared with power output during each event. Results EVA exposed that power output during the time trial was highly variable (EVASD = 2.81 (0.33)) but more evenly distributed than the circuit/criterium (4.23 (0.31)) and road race events (4.81 (0.96)). Conclusion EVA may be useful for illustrating variations in the amplitude and time distribution of power output during cycling events. The specific race format influenced not only the overall time spent in various power bands, but also the acute time spent at these exercise intensities.


While it is incontrovertible that the inner Galaxy contains a bar, its structure near the Galactic plane has remained uncertain, where extinction from intervening dust is greatest. We investigate here the Galactic bar outside the bulge, the long bar, using red clump giant (RCG) stars from UKIDSS, 2MASS, VVV, and GLIMPSE. We match and combine these surveys to investigate a wide area in latitude and longitude, |b|<9deg and |l|<40deg. We find: (1) The bar extends to l~25deg at |b|~5deg from the Galactic plane, and to l~30deg at lower latitudes. (2) The long bar has an angle to the line-of-sight in the range (28-33)deg, consistent with studies of the bulge at |l|<10deg. (3) The scale-height of RCG stars smoothly transitions from the bulge to the thinner long bar. (4) There is evidence for two scale heights in the long bar. We find a ~180pc thin bar component reminiscent of the old thin disk near the sun, and a ~45pc super-thin bar component which exists predominantly towards the bar end. (5) Constructing parametric models for the RC magnitude distributions, we find a bar half length of 5.0+-0.2kpc for the 2-component bar, and 4.6+-0.3kpc for the thin bar component alone. We conclude that the Milky Way contains a central box/peanut bulge which is the vertical extension of a longer, flatter bar, similar as seen in both external galaxies and N-body models.


We present the experimental observation of scalar multipole solitons in highly nonlocal nonlinear media, including dipole, tripole, quadrupole, and necklace-type solitons, organized as arrays of out-of-phase bright spots. These complex solitons are metastable, but with a large parameters range where the instability is weak, permitting their experimental observation.


One issue in mathematics initial teacher education (ITE) is how to best support students to use digital technologies (DTs) to enhance their teaching of mathematics. While most ITE students are probably using DTs on a daily basis for personal use, they are often unfamiliar with using them for educative purposes in New Zealand primary school settings. Our mathematics education programme is finding ways to address this issue, beginning with a small research project. The study's aim is to support ITE students to develop critical thinking, confidence, knowledge and skill using DTs in teaching and learning. This paper arises from the larger action research study that sought 40 Year two ITE students' perceptions about the mathematical content of particular Digital Learning Objects (DLOs) promoted by the Ministry of Education, and how these might be used with learners in the classroom. Key research methods were survey instruments, field notes and classroom observations. Findings from two questions in student perception surveys (centred on any mathematics concepts and skills they thought the relevant DLOs would support children's learning, plus how these same DLOs could be used in primary classrooms) suggest that they would mainly use the DLOs to consolidate ideas already taught or learned.


Introduction: Omphaloplasty is a crucial procedure during abdominoplasty surgery. Although it is currently considered an important step, omphaloplasty was not always performed during abdominoplasties, and the umbilicus was sometimes discarded together with the fat flap. Various techniques were used to preserve the umbilicus and underwent modifications with time to allow for an increasingly natural result. Method: The proposed "Y"/"V" technique consists of modeling the umbilical stump to perfectly fit in the same place where the umbilicus was located. The umbilical island, after being modeled, is sutured, resulting in a "Y"/ "V" image, which gives rise to the name. Results: A low number of complications (11.34%) were observed when analyzing the postoperative follow-up data. Suture dehiscence, umbilical stenosis, color alterations in the scar, and keloid scars were the complications observed, which were surgically corrected six months postoperatively. Conclusion: The proposed technique is simple to implement, with low rates of complications and results in a more natural aspect of the neoumbilicus scar. Further studies are required to prove its effectiveness in comparison to the other techniques that are currently in use. ■ ABSTRACT