Objective A video analysis of 201 National Rugby League (NRL) matches to document all signs of possible concussion during the 2014 season. Setting All match play from the 2014 NRL season. Participants All professional players participating in the 2014 season Outcome measures The total frequency of six concussion signs (unresponsiveness/loss of consciousness, slow to get up, clutching head, unsteadiness of gait, vacant stare, and seizure). Main results The concussion interchange rule was used 156 times, with 60 medically diagnosed concussions. The incidence rate for concussion was 17.26 (95% CI=13.44–22.16) per 1,000 player match hours, or approximately one concussion every 3.35 games. There were 127,062 tackles reviewed in the 201 matches, for an average of 632.1 tackles per match. Being slow to get up was observed 2,240 times, clutching the head 361 times, unsteadiness of gait 102 times, vacant stare 98 times, possible loss of consciousness (LOC) 52 times, and a seizure 4 times. Of the 2,240 instances of being slow to get up following a tackle, only 2.7% of those cases involved a medically diagnosed concussion. Of the 52 instances in which a player appeared to have brief LOC, 50 players were removed under the concussion interchange rule (96.2%). Of those 50, 24 were medically diagnosed as having sustained a concussion (48%). Conclusions Reviewing match video footage can be a useful addition to the sideline assessment of concussion. Competing interests Andrew Gardner has a clinical practice in neuropsychology involving individuals who have sustained sport-related concussion (including current and former athletes). He serves, in a voluntary capacity, as a member of the Australia Rugby Union (ARU) concussion advisory group. He has received travel funding from the Australian Football League (AFL) to present at the Concussion in Football Conference in 2013. Previous grant funding includes the NSW Sporting Injuries Committee, the Brain Foundation and the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), supported by Jennie Thomas. He is currently funded through the HMRI, supported by Anne Greaves. Grant Iverson has been reimbursed by the government, professional scientific bodies, and commercial organisations for discussing or presenting research relating to mild TBI and sport-related concussion at meetings, scientific conferences, and symposiums. He has a clinical and consulting practice in forensic neuropsychology involving individuals who have sustained mild TBIs (including professional athletes). Christopher Levi none.


Background In Spain wards usually order medicines electronically. Urgent or restricted medicines can be handwritten and are dispensed immediately. Purpose To measure the time taken for technicians to dispense medicines in the pharmacy and to analyse handwritten prescriptions for drugs. Materials and methods The study was conducted in a tertiary hospital. All handwritten orders were collected for 2 weeks from 8:00 to 15:00. This data was recorded: department, number of medicines, order arrival time, time taken to prepare the medicine, time of collection, whether or not a pharmacist consultation was necessary and the reason and whether it was justified as urgent. Results 178 orders were received (18 a day) averaging 1.5 ± 1.0 drugs each (range: 1–6). Most orders were received on Tuesday and Friday and from 13:00 to 14:00, followed by 9:00 -10:00. Departments with more orders were ICU, Paediatrics, Emergency and Psychiatry. The time taken to prepare the medicines was 10 min (range: 0–125: 65% of them <10 min). 48% needed a pharmacist consultation before being dispensed, mainly due to restricted-use drugs (54%). Other reasons were: medicines not stocked in our hospital and compounding required for individual patients. Once prepared, the orderly took on average 9 min (from 0 min to more than 24 h) to pick up the medicines. Finally we found that 57% were not justified as urgent handwritten orders. 7% of the orders were not dispensed. Conclusions By ISMP Medication Safety Self-Assessment for Hospitals 2007 standards, most orders were dispensed in a short time (<10 min). Although many of them were collected on the spot, others were not collected that day. It is noteworthy that about half of the orders were not justified as urgent, with the consequent disadvantage for the Department's organisation. The most common causes of delay in preparation were that the orderly did not let the technician know the order had arrived and the high number of orders that needed a pharmacist consultation. No conflict of interest.


Power moments for accumulated rewards defined on Markov and semi-Markov chains are studied. A model with mixed time-space termination of reward accumulation is considered for inhomogeneous in time rewards and Markov chains. Characterization of power moments as minimal solutions of recurrence system of linear equations, sufficient conditions for finiteness of these moments and upper bounds for them, expressed in terms of so-called test functions, are given. Backward recurrence algorithms for funding of power moments of accumulated rewards and various time-space truncation approximations reducing dimension of the corresponding recurrence relations are described.


Study finds new designer drug is potent treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemiaMore potent and highly selective therapy effective in treating Gleevec-resistant disease. A laboratory study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has shown that a potent and highly selective therapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) may ultimately be more effective than Gleevec®, the current standard of care. The researchers report in the February issue of Cancer Cell that the new compound, AMN107, is about 20 times more potent than Gleevec and is effective in treating Gleevec-resistant disease in model systems. Discovered by and in development with Novartis Pharma AG, AMN107 is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor. "While Gleevec represents a major treatment advance for CML - approximately 95 percent of patients treated with Gleevec achieve remission - there clearly is a need for therapies that produce longer remissions, are active against advanced disease, and can be used when Gleevec loses effectiveness," says Dana-Farber's James Griffin, MD, senior author of the study. Gleevec shuts down CML by blocking the function of Bcr-Abl, the abnormal tyrosine kinase protein in the leukemic cells that causes them to grow too quickly. However, it does not bind very tightly to this protein, and patients can develop a resistant type of Bcr-Abl that no longer binds to Gleevec at all. Using rational drug design to circumvent these shortcomings, researchers at Novartis determined the crystal structure of Bcr-Abl, and then constructed compounds that would lock into the receptor more securely than Gleevec. Investigators at Dana-Farber tested the new compounds to measure their effectiveness against CML in laboratory cell cultures and mice with the disease. Data from the study published in Cancer Cell showed that in experiments with laboratory samples of CML cells, AMN107 killed the cells more effectively than Gleevec. In follow-up studies with mice with a human form of CML, AMN107 produced lengthier remissions than Gleevec and triggered remissions in animals in which the disease had become resistant to Gleevec. Side effects in the animals were minimal. Synthesized in August 2002, AMN107 entered early Phase I clinical studies in May 2004 - 21 months later. Data presented last December at the American Society of Hematology showed that AMN107 had demonstrated significant clinical activity in the most challenging setting: Gleevec resistant accelerated and blast crisis CML patients. "We're very encouraged by the results so far," remarks Griffin, who is also a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "This is an elegant example of how rational drug design -- developing drugs based on a molecular understanding of cell structures and processes -- can be used to attack human diseases." The findings contribute to a larger Dana-Farber research effort, dubbed the "Kinase Project," which seeks to identify abnormal tyrosine kinases - enzymes that spark or halt growth - in cancer cells and test agents known to act against them. The Cancer Cell study's lead author is Ellen Weisberg, PhD, of Dana-Farber. Co-authors include researchers at Dana-Farber, Novartis, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Children's Hospital Boston. The preclinical study was conducted as part of a research collaboration between Novartis Pharma AG and Dana-Farber. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a principal teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School and is among the leading cancer research and care centers in the United States. It is a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute.


Abstract School managers, teachers, students, as well as their parents are faced with increasingly frequent attempts to integrate the diversity of pupils as a result of integration policies at national and European level. Educational needs of impaired persons require special attention. Is necessary to make steps should be taken to ensure access to education for each category of disabled person as part of the education system. Legislative framework in the field of special education Romania takes into account the legislation created by the international bodies on the education of persons with special educational needs, to which Romania has adhered. This paper presents aspects regarding the organization of educational support services dedicated to children, students and young people with special educational needs in mainstream schools in accordance with Romanian law; it also underlines the international legal framework of reference. This paper is part of a wider project that focuses on teacher training to optimize the integration of SEN pupils into the mainstream school; we used data collection methods, such as social document study and focus-group. An integrated and tailored approach is needed for children with SEN (special educational needs); focus-groups organized with primary school and gymnasium children, as well as with support teachers, revealed a number of adaptation issues from both sides (pupils with SEN and students with no problems). On the other hand, the itinerant teachers are assaulted by a series organization problems and it becomes impossible to provide support and assistance to children with special needs who are growing in numbers.Training of teachers is one of the most important pillars in the integration of all those involved in education, it is the way to optimize service organizations. Teacher training must respond to the real and complex needs of the beneficiaries, based on exploratory learning.In the final, will be presented and analyzed the main important problems faced by both teachers and pupils in the current educational context.


As a professional Flash developer, nobody knows more about Flash MX 2004 than you or at least they better not! To make sure they don't, you need this task-based guide. By applying the popular Visual QuickStart format--easy, step-by-step instructions and loads of visual aids--to more complex topics, this guide offers the quickest, easiest way to get up to speed on the advanced Flash features that can make or break a project. You'll find straight-ahead, concise explanations of all the animation, navigation, and interactivity techniques you'll need to master to create dynamic Web sites with Flash. You'll also find complete coverage of all that's new in Flash MX 2004: essential ActionScript 2.0 commands and standards, expanded support for rich media, a streamlined user interface, and more. By emphasizing methodology and problem solving over features inventories and long, techie discussions, this guide teaches Flash the way you use it--dynamically, interactively, and to get a job done!


The Internet of Things (IoT)—sensors and actuators connected by networks to computing systems—has received enormous attention over the past five years. A new McKinsey Global Institute report, The Internet of Things: Mapping the value beyond the hype, attempts to determine exactly how IoT technology can create real economic value. Our central finding is that the hype may actually understate the full potential—but that capturing it will require an understanding of where real value can be created and a successful effort to address a set of systems issues, including interoperability. To get a broader view of the IoT's potential benefits and challenges across the global economy, we analyzed more than 150 use cases, ranging from people whose devices monitor health and wellness to manufacturers that utilize sensors to optimize the maintenance of equipment and protect the safety of workers. Our bottom-up analysis for the applications we size estimates that the IoT has a total potential economic impact of $3.9 trillion to $11.1 trillion a year by 2025. At the top end, that level of value—including the consumer surplus—would be equivalent to about 11 percent of the world economy.


The collection of time series data increases as more monitoring and automation are being deployed. These deployments range in scale from an Internet of things (IoT) device located in a household to enormous distributed Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) producing large volumes of data at high velocity. To store and analyze these vast amounts of data, specialized Time Series Management Systems (TSMSs) have been developed to overcome the limitations of general purpose Database Management Systems (DBMSs) for times series management. In this paper, we present a thorough analysis and classification of TSMSs developed through academic or industrial research and documented through publications. Our classification is organized into categories based on the architectures observed during our analysis. In addition, we provide an overview of each system with a focus on the motivational use case that drove the development of the system, the functionality for storage and querying of time series a system implements, the components the system is composed of, and the capabilities of each system with regard to Stream Processing and Approximate Query Processing (AQP). Last, we provide a summary of research directions proposed by other researchers in the field and present our vision for a next generation TSMS.


In the current frequency allocation scheme, the radio spectrum is found to be heavily underutilized in time, frequency and space dimensions or any of their combination. To improve spectrum utilization, the unused contiguous or non-contiguous portion of the radio spectrum (spectrum hole) can be accessed opportunistically using cognitive radio technology provided it is interference free to the local users of the network.
To reliably detect the spectrum holes, which is necessary to limit the interference, cognitive radio is required to have high time and frequency resolutions to detect radio technologies (e.g. GSM 900, 2.4 GHz WLAN) at the packet level in the transmitted channel to avoid misinterpretation of occupancy states in time and frequency. In addition, having high sensitivity and instantaneous dynamic range can enable cognitive radio to detect weak received signals and their detection in the presence of strong received signals. Besides these requirements, a large sensing bandwidth can increase the chances to find spectrum holes in multiple radio technologies concurrently.
A chirp channel sounder receiver has been developed according to the aforementioned requirements with a bandwidth of 750 MHz to provide reliable detection of received signals in two frequency ranges; 1) 250 MHz to 1 GHz, 2) 2.2 GHz to 2.95 GHz. The developed receiver is capable of finding spectrum holes having a duration of 204.8 μs and a transmitted channel bandwidth up to 200 kHz. To explore the spectrum holes in the space dimensions, six chirp channel sounder receivers have been developed to form a homogeneous test-bed, which can be deployed and controlled independently.
To experimentally validate the ability of the built receiver, short term spectrum occupancy measurements have been conducted to monitor 2.4 GHz WLAN traffic from a real wireless network to quantify the spectrum utilization and duration of spectrum holes in the time domain. It has been found that the radio spectrum is underutilized and empirical distribution of the duration of the spectrum hole can be modelled using lognormal and gamma distributions for prediction using a two state continuous time semi-Markov model.
To experimentally validate the receiver's capabilities in both the supported frequency ranges, long term spectrum occupancy measurements with 750 MHz sensing bandwidth have been performed and received signals have been detected at frame or packet level to quantify spectrum utilization. It has been found that the radio spectrum is highly underutilized at the measurement location and exhibits significant amount of spectrum holes in both time and frequency.
To experimentally validate the functionalities of the homogeneous test-bed, short term spectrum occupancy have been performed to monitor 2.4 GHz WLAN traffic from a real wireless network. The experiment has been conducted using multiple receivers to quantify the amount of cooperation individual or multiple cognitive radio users can provide for reliable detection of spectrum holes in time, frequency and space. It has been found that the space dimension influences strongly the statistics of cooperation parameters.


Energy consumption by computers and electronics is currently 15% of worldwide energy output, and growing. Aggressive scaling of the fully-electronic transistor, which is the fundamental computational element of these devices, has led to significant and immutable energy losses. Ohmic nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) logic switches have been recognized as a potential transistor replacement technology with projected energy savings of one to three orders of magnitude over traditional, fully-electronic transistors. However, the use of conventional, adhesive contact materials (i.e. metals) in NEMS switches electrical contacts leads to permanent device seizure or the formation of insulating tribofilms that inhibits commercialization of this technology. Of critical need is a method to efficiently identify and interrogate low adhesion, chemically stable electrical contact material pairs under conditions and scales relevant to NEMS logic switch contacts. This thesis presents the development of two electrical contact testing methods based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) to interrogate electrical contact materials under contact forces and environments representative of NEMS logic switch operating conditions. AFM was used to mimic the interaction of Pt/Pt NEMS logic switch electrical interfaces for up to two billion contact cycles in laboratory timeframes. Contact resistance before cycling significantly exceeded theoretical predictions for clean Pt/Pt interfaces due to adsorbed contaminant films and increased up to six orders of magnitude due to cycling-induced insulating tribopolymer growth. Sliding of the contact with microscale amplitudes lead to significant recovery of conductivity through displacement of the insulating films. Based on this observation, AFM was then used to investigate the role of load, shear, electrical bias, and environment on the electrical robustness of Pt/nitrogen-incorporated ultrananocrystalline diamond (N-UNCD) and Pt/Pt interfaces. N-UNCD was selected because similar diamond films have demonstrated low adhesion, chemical inertness, and compatibility with NEMS logic device fabrication. Pt/N-UNCD interfaces subjected to low loads during sliding demonstrated significant increases in contact resistance due to insulating film formation that was not observed at larger loads. Taken in concert, these finding demonstrate the capability of AFM to investigate nanoscale electrical contact phenomena without the need for time-consuming and expensive integration of unproven materials in NEMS logic switches. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics First Advisor Robert W. Carpick This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/935 Second Advisor Gianluca Piazza


Semi-arid barren soils of North Gujarat region, clayey loamin nature, were collected and analyzed for their physical, chemical properties and also for microbial diversity. Results showed great variety in soilmicrobial diversity with physiochemical properties. The bacterial flora is described by total count & total Biomass (C & N) distribution in different soil layer. Total number of microorganisms is not related to geographic or internal soil patterns but to content of organicmatter (C&N). Distributions of bacterial community shows individual patterns of soil profiles and are not related to overall geographic patterns.


Exact and rigorous solutions of the ground-state problem for the classical Heisenberg model with nearest-neighbor interactions on two- and three-dimensional lattices composed of zigzag (triangular) ladders are obtained in a very simple way, with the use of a cluster method. It is shown how the geometrical frustration due to the presence of triangles as structural units leads to the emergence of incommensurate spiral orderings and their collinear limits. Interestingly, these orderings are determined by a single angle (along with the signs of the interactions between neighboring spins); therefore, the term "single-angle spiral orderings" is proposed.


Anomalous Hall Effect (AHE) measurements have previously been used to measure the magnetization of L10-FePt [1] and Co/Pt multilayer nanodots [2]. The high sensitivity allows us to measure the magnetization reversal behaviour of sub-100-nm dots. In this work, we investigate the magnetization reversal of 180 nm Co80Pt20 dots, with a focus on the switching field distribution (SFD) of individual dots in an array. Fig. 1 shows hysteresis curves of an array of Co80Pt20 dots measured by AHE. Several steps and plateaus, due to the independent reversal of individual dots, are clearly visible. By consecutively measuring several hysteresis curves, one can observe different switching field values for a single dot (inset Fig. 1). A mathematical model was derived to calculate the effect of thermal activation on this SFD, which depends mainly on the anisotropy, switching volume and the magnetization reversal mechanism of the dot. The SFD was determined from 1000 curves and coincides with the modelled distribution (Fig. 2). By investigating different dots in the array, we conclude that there is a difference in reversal mechanism between weak and strong dots in the array.


We analyze hypernuclei coming from fragmentation and multifragmentation of spectator residues obtained in relativistic ion collisions. These hypernuclei have a broad distribution in masses and isospin. They reach beyond the neutron and proton drip lines, and they are expected to be stable with respect to neutron and proton emission. This gives us the opportunity to investigate the properties of exotic hypernuclei, as well as the properties of normal nuclei beyond the drip lines, which can be produced after weak decay of such hypernuclei.


Stochastic local search (SLS) algorithms have proven to be very competitive in solving hard computational problems. This paper investigates the foundations of SLS algorithms. We develop a simple SLS algorithm, MarkovSLS, with three search operators: greedy, noise, and restart. The search operators are controlled by probability parameters, leading to soft (probabilistic) rather than hard (deterministic) restarts. We consider two special cases of the MarkovSLS algorithm: SoftSLS and AdaptiveSLS. In SoftSLS, the probability parameters are fixed, enabling analysis using standard homogeneous Markov chains. We study the interaction between the restart and noise parameters in Soft-SLS, and optimize them analytically in addition to the traditional empirical approach. Experimentally, we investigate the dependency of SoftSLS's performance on its noise and restart parameters, validating the analytical results. AdaptiveSLS dynamically adjusts its noise and restart parameters during search. Experimentally, on synthetic and feature selection problems, we compare AdaptiveSLS with other algorithms including an analytically optimized version of SoftSLS, and find that it performs well while not requiring prior knowledge of the search space.


This article examines the correlation between migrant remittances received by communities in El Salvador and the level of extreme poverty. Data from the 2004 national household survey (EHPM) in El Salvador was used to create regression models to determine the incremental impact of remittances on poverty levels across the 262 municipalities of El Salvador. The results revealed that dollar amount of remittances had a statistically significant inverse relationship with level of extreme poverty in municipalities. The regression analyses showed that an average increase of $100 of reported remittance earnings per month per person is correlated with a decrease in the level of extreme poverty of 24% in a given community. This article explains this relationship, along with the effect of other related quality of life and economic indicator variables and examines the complex nature of migration, migrant remittances and impacts in remittance-receiving communities in El Salvador.


There are increasing numbers of people who are now using smartphones. Consequently, there is a risk of addiction to certain web applications such as social networking sites (SNSs) which are easily accessible via smartphones. There is also the risk of an increase in narcissism amongst users of SNSs. The present study set out to investigate the relationship between smartphone use, narcissistic tendencies and personality as predictors of smartphone addiction. The study also aimed to investigate the distinction between addiction specificity and co-occurrence in smartphone addiction via qualitative data and discover why people continue to use smartphones in banned areas. A self-selected sample of 256 smartphone users (Mean age = 29.2, SD = 9.49) completed an online survey. The results revealed that 13.3% of the sample was classified as addicted to smartphones. Higher narcissism scores and neuroticism levels were linked to addiction. Three themes of social relations, smartphone dependence and self-serving personalities emerged from the qualitative data. Interpretation of qualitative data supports addiction specificity of the smartphone. It is suggested smartphones encourage narcissism, even in non-narcissistic users. In turn, this increased use in banned areas. Future research needs to gather more in-depth qualitative data, addiction scale comparisons and comparison of use with and without SNS access. It is advised that prospective buyers of smartphones be pre-warned of the potential addictive properties of new technology.


Terrestrial plant macrofossils from permafrost deposits at the Bol'shoy Lyakhovsky Island, New Siberian Archipelago, Arctic Siberia, revealed the existence of subarctic forest tundra with dominating Alnus fruticosa, Betula fruticosa, B. nana, and Ledum palustre during the last interglacial (Fig. 1). The reconstructed palaeovegetation resembled today's southern subarctic shrub tundra near the tree line occurring about 350 km SW of the study site. This low shrub tundra was however interspersed with arctic/alpine upland communities and grasslands in a more open landscape and thus differing from modern tundra in this region. Accordingly, the climate was characterised by increased evaporation, which resulted in the local persistence of steppe and meadow vegetation, the occurrence of halophytic plants reflecting salt accumulation, and littoral pioneer species, indicating fluctuating lake levels. The massive presence of southern, boreal, today extralimital plants, especially among aquatics, indicates an extended growing season and summer temperatures during the last interglacial of at least 12 °C, thus 8 °C higher than today. Such an increase in temperature in contrast to the current warm stage in arctic Siberia is not explainable by the global warming during the Eemian Interglacial alone but must be superposed by regional effects. All the climatic implications point to more continental conditions and consequently to a lower oceanic influence. Accordingly, the interglacial marine transgression possibly advanced during the Eemian not as far as it did during the Holocene.Considering an Eemian global sea level exceeding the current one by 5.5 to 6 m (Dumas et al., 2006), there are only two possible causes of that difference: a tectonic shelf subsidence or a subsidence due to thermoerosion of the ice-rich permafrost both occurring after the last interglacial(Eemian). Thermoerosion took place during both interglacials the current and the last one (Andreev et al., 2004) and thus it fails to be the only reason for an inundation happening no earlier than during the early Holocene about 7500 years BP (Bauch et al., 2001; Romanovskij et al., 2000). As continuation of the Gakkel Ridge, the Laptev Shelf region undergoes an intense neotectonic spreading, which involves a quick subsidence (Drachev et al., 1998; Nikolaev et al., 1985). The subsidence of the extremely shallow shelf region (less than 50 m water depth over hundreds of km offshore) resulted obviously for the first time during the Holocene in such a far reaching coastline shift. The shift of the main runoff direction of the Lena River in the Delta from W to NE and E within the Late Quaternary is evidence of the high speed of tectonic shelf subsidence (Schwamborn et al., 2002).The Holocene marine transgression, up to 600 km to the south, had a decisive impact on the climate of the whole region, which was the most important refugium of tundra steppe and the associated mammal fauna during interglacials (Boeskorov, 2006; Sher, 1997; Yurtsev, 1982). Due to the maritime influence reaching then far inland, cloudiness and precipitation rose, resulting in decreased summer temperatures and soaked soils and causing the displacement of steppes and meadows by tundra wetlands.


Abstract—In this paper, there is concentration on collaborative transportation planning (CTP) among multiple carriers with pickup and delivery requests and time windows. This problem is a vehicle routing problem with constraints from standard vehicle routing problems and new constraints from a real-world application. In the problem, each carrier has a finite number of vehicles, and each request is a pickup and delivery request with time window. Moreover, each carrier has reserved requests, which must be served by itself, whereas its exchangeable requests can be outsourced to and served by other carriers. This collaboration among carriers can help them to reduce total transportation costs. A mixed integer programming model is proposed to the problem. To solve the model, a hybrid algorithm that combines Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing (GASA) is proposed. This algorithm takes advantages of GASA at the same time. After tuning the parameters of the algorithm with the Taguchi method, the experiments are conducted and experimental results are provided for the hybrid algorithm. The results are compared with those obtained by a commercial solver. The comparison indicates that the GASA significantly outperforms the commercial solver.


The growth in the size of the hedge funds industry has led some in-vestors to worry about a decline in alphas, associated with reduced arbitrage opportunities in international financial markets. We introduce a multivariate components model for returns and net relative inflows into hedge funds, accounting for time-varying market premia. We estimate alpha as an unobserved component variable of the econometric model. We then assess whether several categories of hedge funds do produce extra profits and whether the flows of funds into the industry are dynamically related to returns. Our results point to a positive correlation between past returns and future flows, while the evidence concerning the linkage between past flows and future returns is mixed. However, we do not find any structural decline in alpha for most hedge fund categories.


In this chapter, we present an MD analysis of Brazilian Portuguese, based on the Brazilian Register Variation Corpus, comprising 48 different spoken and written registers. The previous literature on text varieties in Brazilian Portuguese focuses on specific aspects of one or at most a few varieties at a time and, therefore, does not present a comprehensive picture of register use in Brazilian Portuguese. In this study, we attempt to fill this gap by employing the MD framework, which enabled us to account for a large number of different registers, based on a wide range of linguistic features. The analysis revealed six dimensions of variation, which are presented and discussed in this chapter.


Background: There is a need for more effective methods of industrial wastewater treatment. Methods: Cosmetic wastewater was collected and subjected to H2O2/Fe3O4/Fe2O3/Fe0 and UV/H2O2/Fe3O4/Fe2O3/Fe0 process treatment. Results: Total organic carbon (TOC) was decreased from an initial 306.3 to 134.1 mg/L, 56.2% TOC removal, after 120 min of treatment for 1:1 H2O2/COD mass ratio and 500/500/1000 mg/L Fe3O4/Fe2O3/Fe0 catalyst doses. The application chromatographic analysis allowed for the detection and identification of pollutants present in the wastewater. Identified pollutants were removed during the treatment processes. Processes carried out at a pH greater than 3.0 were ineffective. The UV process was more effective than the lightless process. Conclusions: The applied processes are effective methods for wastewater treatment. Chromatographic results confirmed the effectiveness of the treatment method. The kinetics of the process were described by the modified second-order model. On the basis of ANOVA results, the hypothesis regarding the accuracy and reproducibility of the research was confirmed.


Recent years have seen a lot of work towards extending the established AGM belief revision theory with respect to iterating revision, preserving conditional beliefs, and handling sets of propositions as new information. In particular, novel postulates like independence and evidence retainment have been brought forth as new standards for revising epistemic states by (sets of) propositional information. In this paper, we propose a constructive approach for revising epistemic states by sets of (propositional and conditional) beliefs that combines ideas from nonmonotonic reasoning with conditional belief revision. We also propose a novel principle called enforcement that covers both independence and evidence retainment, and we show our revision operator to comply with major postulates from the literature. Moreover, we point out the relevance of our approach for default reasoning.


Abstract Natural zeolites have traditionally been used as supplements in animal nutrition with positive effects in terms of either faster growth or reduced incidence of diseases and death. The discovery that natural zeolites may act as drugs or coadjutants in pharmaceutical preparations has greatly enlarged the field of their applications in many sectors of biology and medicine, opening unexpected horizons for either basic or applied research. This review updates the state of the art of research in this sector, focusing on clinoptilolite-rich materials, with two main purposes: (1) trying to rationalize this subject, which is extremely variable and heterogeneous, and (2) raising doubts about unsuitable uses of natural zeolites in the light of their known properties and expected behaviour.


BACKGROUND
In Belgium a patient can only be compulsorily admitted to a psychiatric hospital if he is a danger to himself or others (law concerning coercion in Belgium, 26/06/1990).

AIM
To explore the relationship between psychosis and danger, and to analyse the various interpretations of the 'dangerousness' criterion in the context of psychotic disorders and the underlying ethical positions.

METHOD
We studied the literature by means of PubMed, PsycINFO, manuals and references and used the search terms: 'coercion', 'commitment of mentally ill', 'dangerous behaviour', and 'psychotic disorders'. results The correlation between psychosis and danger is limited but is strengthened by comorbid substance abuse and non-compliance. The clinical assessment of danger does not have a firm scientific basis. The underlying ethical position determines when danger is regarded as being serious enough to justify coercion.

CONCLUSION
Danger is a problematical criterion for coercion. We propose a model that weighs up the likelihood of danger against the expected pros and contrasts of coercion and the extent to which the disorder can be treated. The fluid nature of the 'dangerousness' criterion and the principle of proportionality call for a more varied arsenal of coercive measures which are less drastic than compulsory admission.


Background: Cost effective next generation sequencing technologies now enable the production of genomic datasets for many novel planktonic eukaryotes, representing an understudied reservoir of genetic diversity. O. tauri is the smallest free-living photosynthetic eukaryote known to date, a coccoid green alga that was first isolated in 1995 in a lagoon by the Mediterranean sea. Its simple features, ease of culture and the sequencing of its 13 Mb haploid nuclear genome have promoted this microalga as a new model organism for cell biology. Here, we investigated the quality of genome assemblies of Illumina GAIIx 75 bp paired-end reads from Ostreococcus tauri, thereby also improving the existing assembly and showing the genome to be stably maintained in culture. Results: The 3 assemblers used, ABySS, CLCBio and Velvet, produced 95% complete genomes in 1402 to 2080 scaffolds with a very low rate of misassembly. Reciprocally, these assemblies improved the original genome assembly by filling in 930 gaps. Combined with additional analysis of raw reads and PCR sequencing effort, 1194 gaps have been solved in total adding up to 460 kb of sequence. Mapping of RNAseq Illumina data on this updated genome led to a twofold reduction in the proportion of multi-exon protein coding genes, representing 19% of the total 7699 protein coding genes. The comparison of the DNA extracted in 2001 and 2009 revealed the fixation of 8 single nucleotide substitutions and 2 deletions during the approximately 6000 generations in the lab. The deletions either knocked out or truncated two predicted transmembrane proteins, including a glutamate-receptor like gene. Conclusion: High coverage (>80 fold) paired-end Illumina sequencing enables a high quality 95% complete genome assembly of a compact ~13 Mb haploid eukaryote. This genome sequence has remained stable for 6000 generations of lab culture.


Objective- To find out the best choice for complete recovery of digital dermatitis using four individual topical treatments. Design- clinical field trial Animal- 550 dairy cows Procedure- The trials were begun in March and finished in August 2005 in a dairy farm including 550 milking cows in the vicinity of Tehran .The prevalence of digital dermatitis (DD) was 23%. 126 cows with DD were selected (Median Lameness Score of 3 "4-ordinal scale") and allocated randomly in one of the four following groups of treatment regarding the lesion scoring of 3. A.Topical spray of lincomycin HCL (n=41), B. Topical dressing with Solka Hoofgel (n=32), C. Topical dressing with Solka Hoofgel + bandage (n=22) and D. Surgical removal of mass and following dressing of wounds with Solka Hoofgel + bandage (n=31). The measurements were statistically analyzed based on non parametric analysis of Variance "Kruskal Wallis " test at each observation at a 0.05 level of significance and analysis of Covariance to compare the slopes of each linear equation. Results- After treatment in all groups the size of lesions decreased in a few days, especially in groups C and D. The speed of wound healing were statistically significance in group C and D the rate of wound healing is also was shown to be more grater than groups A and B. Conclusion and Clinical Relevance- Dressing of DD lesion with Solka Hoofgel when accompanied with bandage application either in active form or after surgical removal of the chronic tissues significantly reduce the lesion size with complete re-epithelialization in a short period of time.


Health MetricsThe Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation contends that it has created the most detailed and authoritative report ever on the state of the world's health. The so-called Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 study, largely bankrolled by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will appear in the largest issue of The Lancet ever published. Its authors hope that it will have a major impact on how policymakers, donors, and researchers allocate resources to help people lead healthier, longer lives. But questions remain: How much credence will it have with fellow scientists and policymakers? How did GBD 2010 arrive at its results? And how does the study fit with similar efforts by the World Health Organization?


This study assessed and compared formally and informally trained dressmakers with regard to their use of dart principles in pattern making and garment designing. The descriptive research design was used for the study with a sample size of 50 dressmakers selected from three districts in the central region of Ghana. The instruments used for data collection were a semi-structured interview guide and an observation check list. The data collected were analysed with the help of descriptive and inferential statistics using the Predictive Analytical Software for windows version 22. The results of the study revealed significant differences between formally and informally trained dressmakers with regard to the application of dart principles manipulation and contouring, but not added fullness.  Generally, the formally trained dressmakers performed better than the informally trained ones with the application of the three dart principles assessed in this study. It was therefore recommended that the dressmakers and tailors association incorporate a little theory on the preliminary stages involved in garment designing such as dart use into the framework they use in training apprentices. This will enable apprentices who will establish their own apparel production industry in the future treat preliminary stages with much importance.

 Key words: Dressmakers, training, dart principles, pattern making, garment designing.


Identification and dynamical attribution of multidecadal climate undulations to either variations in external forcings or to internal sources is one of the most important topics of modern climate science, especially in conjunction with the issue of human‐induced global warming. Here we utilize ensembles of twentieth century climate simulations to isolate the forced signal and residual internal variability in a network of observed and modeled climate indices. The observed internal variability so estimated exhibits a pronounced multidecadal mode with a distinctive spatiotemporal signature, which is altogether absent in model simulations. This single mode explains a major fraction of model‐data differences over the entire climate index network considered; it may reflect either biases in the models' forced response or models' lack of requisite internal dynamics, or a combination of both.


By bioturbating and bio-irrigating the sea floor, macrobenthic organisms transport organic matter and oxygen from the surface to deeper layers, thereby extending the habitat suitable for smaller infauna. Next to these engineering activities, competition, disturbance and predation may also affect the spatial distribution of these smaller organisms. In a controlled laboratory experiment, we studied the effects of 3 functionally different macrobenthic species on the vertical distribution of nematodes. Abra alba, a suspension-deposit feeding bivalve reworking the sediment randomly, Lanice conchilega, a suspension-deposit feeding, tube-irrigating polychaete and Nephtys hombergii, a burrowing predatory polychaete, were added in single-species treatments to sediment from a coastal subtidal station in the Belgian part of the North Sea, sieved (1 mm) to remove macrofauna. After 14 d, the control treatment without macrobenthos was found to be detrimental to nematode density and diversity, which points to the importance of macrobenthic engineering to sustain the smaller components of the food web. Nematode densities were highest at the sediment surface in all treatments, but subsurface density peaks were observed in A. alba (to 3 cm depth) and L. conchilega (to 7 cm depth) microcosms. In the A. alba treatment, the dominant non-selective deposit feeders and the epistrate feeders shifted downwards probably to avoid disturbance and exploitative competition by the bivalve siphons at the surface, while they might have benefited from the faecal pellets deposited in the subsurface. In the L. conchilega treatment, the several dominant species were redistributed over depth layers, indicating polychaete-mediated habitat extension from surface into depth. Nematode communities seemed hardly affected by the presence of N. hombergii. These results reveal that functionally contrasting macrobenthic engineering effects shape nematode communities in different ways, which may maintain the role of nematodes in ecosystem functioning. The present study therefore highlights the need for conservation of macrobenthic functional diversity.


This article offers an account of a pioneering project in the lexicographic description of recent Anglicisms in Serbian, the main result of which was the publication of a dictionary, entitled Du yu speak anglosrpski? Recnik novijih anglicizama (Vasic et al. 2001). The discussion includes the following topics: (a) a typological identification of this dictionary, (b) a detailed presentation of a checklist of twenty-five problems which the authors had to address and the solutions which they implemented, regarding strategic decisions about the dictionary and aspects of its macrostructure, microstructure and graphic design, (c) a critical appraisal of the merits, demerits and implications of this dictionary and the entire project, and (d) an assessment of the future prospects of the dictionary.


BACKGROUND
The role of fluid resuscitation in the treatment of children with shock and life-threatening infections who live in resource-limited settings is not established.

METHODS
We randomly assigned children with severe febrile illness and impaired perfusion to receive boluses of 20 to 40 ml of 5% albumin solution (albumin-bolus group) or 0.9% saline solution (saline-bolus group) per kilogram of body weight or no bolus (control group) at the time of admission to a hospital in Uganda, Kenya, or Tanzania (stratum A); children with severe hypotension were randomly assigned to one of the bolus groups only (stratum B). All children received appropriate antimicrobial treatment, intravenous maintenance fluids, and supportive care, according to guidelines. Children with malnutrition or gastroenteritis were excluded. The primary end point was 48-hour mortality; secondary end points included pulmonary edema, increased intracranial pressure, and mortality or neurologic sequelae at 4 weeks.

RESULTS
The data and safety monitoring committee recommended halting recruitment after 3141 of the projected 3600 children in stratum A were enrolled. Malaria status (57% overall) and clinical severity were similar across groups. The 48-hour mortality was 10.6% (111 of 1050 children), 10.5% (110 of 1047 children), and 7.3% (76 of 1044 children) in the albumin-bolus, saline-bolus, and control groups, respectively (relative risk for saline bolus vs. control, 1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09 to 1.90; P=0.01; relative risk for albumin bolus vs. saline bolus, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.78 to 1.29; P=0.96; and relative risk for any bolus vs. control, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.13 to 1.86; P=0.003). The 4-week mortality was 12.2%, 12.0%, and 8.7% in the three groups, respectively (P=0.004 for the comparison of bolus with control). Neurologic sequelae occurred in 2.2%, 1.9%, and 2.0% of the children in the respective groups (P=0.92), and pulmonary edema or increased intracranial pressure occurred in 2.6%, 2.2%, and 1.7% (P=0.17), respectively. In stratum B, 69% of the children (9 of 13) in the albumin-bolus group and 56% (9 of 16) in the saline-bolus group died (P=0.45). The results were consistent across centers and across subgroups according to the severity of shock and status with respect to malaria, coma, sepsis, acidosis, and severe anemia.

CONCLUSIONS
Fluid boluses significantly increased 48-hour mortality in critically ill children with impaired perfusion in these resource-limited settings in Africa. (Funded by the Medical Research Council, United Kingdom; FEAST Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN69856593.).


Purpose – This paper examined how New Zealand auditors could be motivated to step up current practice and prioritise the consideration of environmental matters in the audit of financial reports. Institutional Theory is the relevant theory for framing the research. Design/methodology/approach – This research is qualitative. Twenty-seven New Zealand auditors were interviewed using semi-structured questions covering the research topic. Findings – The interview evidence indicate that a legislated mandate enforced by the New Zealand Government is the most powerful driver of change to current audit practice. All other drivers and strategies for further advancing current practice identified by the interviewees would easily follow on from the legislative mandate. Practical implications – Understanding what the potential drivers and strategies for further development in financial auditors' current practices would (1) assist in aligning financial audit practices with current audit practices of public sector auditors; (2) assist the audit profession and financial auditors to benchmark improvements to current audit. If the changes are implemented, then the New Zealand auditing profession would be meeting overseas expectations for auditors' role in environmental risk assessment and management in corporate governance. Originality/value – This research will contribute (1) generally to qualitative research in audit practice; (2) specifically to the extant literature and will also add a geographical variation to existing literature, making a timely contribution to the international literature on audit practice at both theoretical and professional practice levels.


Few areas of monetary economics have been studied as extensively as the transmission mechanism. The literature on this topic has evolved substantially over the years, following the waxing and waning of conceptual frameworks and the changing characteristics of the financial system. In this paper, taking as a starting point a brief overview of the extant work on the interaction between capital regulation, the business cycle and the transmission mechanism, we offer some broader reflections on the characteristics of the transmission mechanism in light of the evolution of the financial system. We argue that insufficient attention has so far been paid to the link between monetary policy and the perception and pricing of risk by economic agents - what might be termed the "risk-taking channel" of monetary policy. We develop the concept, compare it with current views of the transmission mechanism, explore its mutually reinforcing link with "liquidity" and analyse its interaction with monetary policy reaction functions. We argue that changes in the financial system and prudential regulation may have increased the importance of the risk-taking channel and that prevailing macroeconomic paradigms and associated models are not well suited to capturing it, thereby also reducing their effectiveness as guides to monetary policy.


Continuous and automated co-registration and geo-tagging of images from multiple bands of Liss-4 camera is one of the interesting challenges of Resourcesat-2 data processing. Three arrays of the Liss-4 camera are physically separated in the focal plane in alongtrack direction. Thus, same line on the ground will be imaged by extreme bands with a time interval of as much as 2.1 seconds. During this time, the satellite would have covered a distance of about 14 km on the ground and the earth would have rotated through an angle of 30". A yaw steering is done to compensate the earth rotation effects, thus ensuring a first level registration between the bands. But this will not do a perfect co-registration because of the attitude fluctuations, satellite movement, terrain topography, PSM steering and small variations in the angular placement of the CCD lines (from the pre-launch values) in the focal plane. This paper describes an algorithm based on the viewing geometry of the satellite to do an automatic band to band registration of Liss-4 MX image of Resourcesat-2 in Level 1A. The algorithm is using the principles of photogrammetric collinearity equations. The model employs an orbit trajectory and attitude fitting with polynomials. Then, a direct geo-referencing with a global DEM with which every pixel in the middle band is mapped to a particular position on the surface of the earth with the given attitude. Attitude is estimated by interpolating measurement data obtained from star sensors and gyros, which are sampled at low frequency. When the sampling rate of attitude information is low compared to the frequency of jitter or micro-vibration, images processed by geometric correction suffer from distortion. Therefore, a set of conjugate points are identified between the bands to perform a relative attitude error estimation and correction which will ensure the internal accuracy and co-registration of bands. Accurate calculation of the exterior orientation parameters with GCPs is not required. Instead, the relative line of sight vector of each detector in different bands in relation to the payload is addressed. With this method a band to band registration accuracy of better than 0.3 pixels could be achieved even in high hill areas.


Purpose To report experience with a recently approved peripheral chronic total occlusion (CTO) crossing device in the superficial femoral (SFA), popliteal, and below-the-knee (BTK) arteries. Methods Thirteen patients (all men; mean age 68.6±7.9 years) from the XLPAD registry ( ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01904851) were treated between April 2012 and August 2013 with the TruePath device after an unsuccessful guidewire crossing attempt. More than half of the patients had diabetes mellitus. Most lesions were TASC classification type C (n=5) or D (n=6), with mean lesion length 169.8±83.3 mm; 12 lesions were de novo and severely calcified. Procedure success was defined as successful revascularization of the CTO. Technical success was placement of a guidewire beyond the distal CTO cap into the true lumen without the need for a re-entry device. Results All CTOs were successfully crossed using the TruePath, but 3 subintimal recanalizations required the use of a re-entry device (77% technical success). Eight lesions were stented, while the remaining were treated with balloon angioplasty and/or atherectomy. Average fluoroscopy time was 41.1±18.3 minutes, during which a mean 200.0±46.2 mL of iodinated contrast were used (radiation dose area product 211.2±202.6 Gy*cm2). There were no periprocedural complications. Significant improvement was seen in the 6-month ankle-brachial index (p=0.018) and Rutherford class (p=0.019). The 6-month clinically indicated target vessel revascularization rate was 8%. Conclusion TruePath facilitated successful crossing of infrainguinal CTOs following an unsuccessful guidewire recanalization, with significant improvement in symptoms and no complications.


We analyze the effects of taxation in two-sided matching markets where agents have heterogeneous preferences over potential partners. Our model provides a continuous link between models of matching with and without transfers. Taxes generate inefficiency on the allocative margin, by changing who matches with whom. This allocative inefficiency can be non-monotonic, but is weakly increasing in the tax rate under linear taxation if each worker has negative non-pecuniary utility of working. We adapt existing econometric methods for markets without taxes to our setting, and estimate preferences in the college-coach football market. We show through simulations that standard methods inaccurately measure deadweight loss.


It is probably fortunate that systems of education are constantly under the fire of general criticism, for if education were left solely in the hands of teachers the chances are good that it would soon deteriorate. Medical education, however, is less likely to suffer from such stagnation, for whenever the lay public stops criticizing the type of modern doctor, the medical profession itself may be counted on to stir up the stagnant pool and cleanse it of its sedimentary deposit. The most common criticism made at present by older practitioners is that young graduates have been taught a great deal about the mechanism of disease, but very little about the practice of medicine—or, to put it more bluntly, they are too "scientific" and do not know how to take care of patients. One is, of course, somewhat tempted to question how completely fitted for his life work the practitioner of


During spermatogenesis, development of spermatogonia into elongated spermatids takes place in the seminiferous epithelium of the adult mammalian testis. Specifically, post-meiotic germ cell maturation occurs in a unique microenvironment sequestered from the systemic circulation by the blood-testis barrier (BTB), which is formed by adjacent Sertoli cells. Therefore, an intact BTB, as well as sta- ble Sertoli-germ cell adhesion, are important criteria for successful spermatogenesis. To date, numerous factors have been shown to in- fluence spermatogenesis, and among them is the well-studied nitric oxide (NO)/guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) signaling cascade. The enzymes of this pathway, namely nitric oxide synthase, soluble guanylate cyclase and cGMP-dependent protein kinase, have all been shown to regulate cell junctions in the testis. Likewise, recent findings have shown that this signaling cascade also plays a critical role in the regulation of Sertoli-germ cell adhesion. In this mini-review, we briefly discuss the regulatory role of each protein component of the NO/cGMP pathway in the context of testicular junction dynamics, as well as their importance in fertility and male con- traception.


Appropriate excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) balance is essential for normal cortical function and is altered in some psychiatric disorders, including autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Cell-autonomous molecular mechanisms that control the balance of excitatory and inhibitory synapse function remain poorly understood; no proteins that regulate excitatory and inhibitory synapse strength in a coordinated reciprocal manner have been identified. Using super-resolution imaging, electrophysiology, and molecular manipulations, we show that cadherin-10, encoded by CDH10 within the ASD risk locus 5p14.1, maintains both excitatory and inhibitory synaptic scaffold structure in cultured cortical neurons from rats of both sexes. Cadherin-10 localizes to both excitatory and inhibitory synapses in neocortex, where it is organized into nanoscale puncta that influence the size of their associated PSDs. Knockdown of cadherin-10 reduces excitatory but increases inhibitory synapse size and strength, altering the E/I ratio in cortical neurons. Furthermore, cadherin-10 exhibits differential participation in complexes with PSD-95 and gephyrin, which may underlie its role in maintaining the E/I ratio. Our data provide a new mechanism whereby a protein encoded by a common ASD risk factor controls E/I ratios by regulating excitatory and inhibitory synapses in opposing directions. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The correct balance between excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) is crucial for normal brain function and is altered in psychiatric disorders such as autism. However, the molecular mechanisms that underlie this balance remain elusive. To address this, we studied cadherin-10, an adhesion protein that is genetically linked to autism and understudied at the cellular level. Using a combination of advanced microscopy techniques and electrophysiology, we show that cadherin-10 forms nanoscale puncta at excitatory and inhibitory synapses, maintains excitatory and inhibitory synaptic structure, and is essential for maintaining the correct balance between excitation and inhibition in neuronal dendrites. These findings reveal a new mechanism by which E/I balance is controlled in neurons and may bear relevance to synaptic dysfunction in autism.


Whistler mode chorus waves are particularly important in outer radiation belt dynamics due to their key role in controlling the acceleration and scattering of electrons over a very wide energy range. The key parameters for both nonlinear and quasi‐linear treatment of wave‐particle interactions are the temporal and spatial scales of the wave source region and coherence of the wave field perturbations. Neither the source scale nor the coherence scale is well established experimentally, mostly because of a lack of multipoint VLF waveform measurements. We present an unprecedentedly long interval of coordinated VLF waveform measurements (sampled at 16384 s−1) aboard the two Van Allen Probes spacecraft—9 h (0800–1200 UT and 1700–2200 UT) during two consecutive apogees on 15 July 2014. The spacecraft separations varied from about 100 to 5000 km (mostly radially); measurements covered an L shell range from 3 to 6; magnetic local time 0430–0900, and magnetic latitudes were ~15 and ~5° during the two orbits. Using time‐domain correlation techniques, the single chorus source spatial extent transverse to the background magnetic field has been determined to be about 550–650 km for upper band chorus waves with amplitudes less than 100 pT and up to 800 km for larger amplitude, lower band chorus waves. The ratio between wave amplitudes measured on the two spacecraft is also examined to reveal that the wave amplitude distribution within a single chorus element generation area can be well approximated by a Gaussian exp(−0.5 · r2/r02), with the characteristic scale r0 around 300 km. Waves detected by the two spacecraft were found to be coherent in phase at distances up to 400 km.


Rumex acetosa L. (common sorrel) is a dioecious, wind pollinated plant with an XX/XY1Y2 sex chromosome system. Sex-ratio in the populations of dioecious plants is rarely even; generally it is skewed towards one gender. Rumex populations showed female sex-ratio bias at all of the stages of development, but the difference in sex proportion was smaller in earlier stages (Stehlik et al. 2008). Moreover, sex-ratio bias varied in different populations of the same species (Zarzycki & Rychlewski 1972). The possible causes of unequal proportion of males and females are: certation, sex-dependent germinability of seeds, and/or difference in mortality of gametophytes, embryos, and plants (BA'ocka-Wandas et al. 2007). The plants originating from two distant populations in S Poland (Dobranowice and Wieliczka) were isolated and pollinated in a controlled condition to minimize the influence of certation. The pollinations were following: DW – ♀ from Dobranowice and ♂ from Wieliczka, WD – ♀ from Wieliczka and ♂ from Dobranowice, and DD – ♀ from Dobranowice and ♂ from Dobranowice. Seeds obtained from each experiment were collected and examined for sex by PCR. Two pairs of PCR primers that amplify sequences located in Y chromosomes were used: RAY-f and RAY-r (Korpelainen 2002), and UGR08-r and UGR08-f (Mariotti et al. 2009). To confirm the good quality of isolated DNA an amplification of autosomal sequence using R730-a and R730-b primers were carried out (Navajas-Perez et al. 2005). The same set of primers was successful in our previous studies on sorrel (Kwolek & Joachimiak 2010). Sex ratios of WD and DW seeds were similar, but clearly differed from the observed in DD seeds (Tab. 1). Progeny produced by parents from different populations showed much larger proportion of females than progeny of parents originated from the same population. The finding requires further investigations to verify the results and to explain the mechanisms underlying the observed phenomenon.


Copyright © 2014 Tawfik A. Saleh. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In accordance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights © 2014 are reserved for SCIRP and the owner of the intellectual property Tawfik A. Saleh. All Copyright © 2014 are guarded by law and by SCIRP as a guardian.


Based on data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth covering years 2000 through 2008, it is evident that both male and female workers in medium/larger establishments receive not only higher wages but also have a higher probability of participating in benefit programs than those in smaller establishments. This reinforces the well-documented 'size' effect. Further, the firm size wage effects are much larger for men than women. The union wage effect decreases with establishment size for both genders. This supports the argument that large nonunion firms pay higher wages to discourage the entrance of unions (i.e., the 'threat' effect argument). In addition, the union wage premium is higher for males for small and medium firm sizes relative to females. This implies that unions in the large establishments may have a role to play in achieving a narrowing of the gender union wage gap. In other words, the threat of unionization could reduce union wage premiums for both genders as firm size increases. Given the presence of noticeable gender differences in estimated union effects on the different components of the compensation structure, unions should not treat both genders similarly with respect to wages and benefits.


BACKGROUND
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; e.g. abuse, neglect, and parental loss) have been associated with increased risk for later-life disease and dysfunction using adults' retrospective self-reports of ACEs. Research should test whether associations between ACEs and health outcomes are the same for prospective and retrospective ACE measures.

METHODS
We estimated agreement between ACEs prospectively recorded throughout childhood (by Study staff at Study member ages 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15) and retrospectively recalled in adulthood (by Study members when they reached age 38), in the population-representative Dunedin cohort (N = 1,037). We related both retrospective and prospective ACE measures to physical, mental, cognitive, and social health at midlife measured through both objective (e.g. biomarkers and neuropsychological tests) and subjective (e.g. self-reported) means.

RESULTS
Dunedin and U.S. Centers for Disease Control ACE distributions were similar. Retrospective and prospective measures of adversity showed moderate agreement (r = .47, p < .001; weighted Kappa = .31, 95% CI: .27-.35). Both associated with all midlife outcomes. As compared to prospective ACEs, retrospective ACEs showed stronger associations with life outcomes that were subjectively assessed, and weaker associations with life outcomes that were objectively assessed. Recalled ACEs and poor subjective outcomes were correlated regardless of whether prospectively recorded ACEs were evident. Individuals who recalled more ACEs than had been prospectively recorded were more neurotic than average, and individuals who recalled fewer ACEs than recorded were more agreeable.

CONCLUSIONS
Prospective ACE records confirm associations between childhood adversity and negative life outcomes found previously using retrospective ACE reports. However, more agreeable and neurotic dispositions may, respectively, bias retrospective ACE measures toward underestimating the impact of adversity on objectively measured life outcomes and overestimating the impact of adversity on self-reported outcomes. Associations between personality factors and the propensity to recall adversity were extremely modest and warrant further investigation. Risk predictions based on retrospective ACE reports should utilize objective outcome measures. Where objective outcome measurements are difficult to obtain, correction factors may be warranted.


Purpose : A correlational research was conducted to reveal the correlation between critical thinking and creative thinking skills on students' cognitive learning results in inquiry learning strategy and to reveal the contribution of critical thinking skills and creative thinking skills to students' cognitive learning results. Method: The population of this research was students of Biology Education Study Program in the Education and Teacher Training Faculty of Jambi University, Indonesia in the semester of 2017/2018 academic year. The instrument used was an essay test to measure students' critical and creative thinking skills, and their cognitive learning results. The data were analyzed  using multiple regression analysis with the assistance of SPSS version 16 for Windows program at 5% level. Findings: The results showed that: (1) there was a significant correlation between critical thinking skills and creative thinking skills on cognitive learning results, (2) the contribution of critical thinking skills and creative thinking skills simultaneously to cognitive learning results was 72.80%, (3) the effective contribution of creative and critical thinking skills to cognitive learning results was 64.91% and 7.89% respectively. Implications for Research and Practice : Lecturers can consider inquiry strategies as an alternative learning, especially for new students in universities to empower critical thinking skills and creative thinking skills, based on research results, that may have a big contribution to cognitive learning results.


We have developed a fully integrated micro power generator, based on a hydrogen fuel cell. Key to the power generator is an on-board hydrogen production with a passive microfluidic control valve that provides self-regulating operation. Critical integration issues are identified and regimes established for efficient power generation. Preliminary results demonstrate the ability of our device to operate smoothly, with quick - order seconds - response for fluctuating power demands. Energy densities in excess of 150 Whr/L and peak powers of 369.2 W/L are promising for packaging the integrated hydrogen fuel cell into Power MEMS.


Avocado native "Mexicano" (Persea americana var drymifolia) has been a really important species in agricultural and indigenous medicine. In the agricultural world, it has been the germplasm source for the generation of economically important cultivars like Hass and it is the main source of rootstocks for the world production of Hass avocado fruit. In spite of its importance, little is known about the molecular network of seed-fruit development. The aim of this work was to know the expressed genes (ESTs) during the early avocado native "Mexicano" seed development. Using total RNA we constructed cDNA libraries of fourth months seed development, sequencing, assembling and bioinformatic analysis was made. For validation, a semi-quantitative PCR experiments with the most abundant genes were made. About 5005 ESTs from the 5' representing 1653 possible unigenes were isolated. After assembling process, we have 171 genes that are closely related to Nelumbo nucifera sequences. The transcriptome is dominating by one bHLH transcription factor, three metallothioneins and snakin, suggesting its main role in seed development. Until now, there are no molecular studies in avocado seed development.


Neurofibromatosis 2 ( NF2 ) was first identified as the tumor suppressor gene mutated in NF2 hereditary cancer syndrome (1). In this syndrome, patients develop multiple tumors of the nervous system including schwannomas, meningiomas and ependymomas that often require treatment with surgery or radiotherapy. While inherited mutations in NF2 leading to NF2 syndrome are relatively uncommon (with an incidence of approximately 1 in 25,000), somatic NF2 mutations are also observed in sporadic tumors (2). Specifically, NF2 gene inactivation has been reported in a significant proportion of sporadic meningiomas, vestibular schwannomas and malignant mesotheliomas (3-6).


With data storage and sharing services in the cloud, users can easily modify and share data as a group. To ensure shared data integrity can be verified publicly, users in the group need to compute signatures on all the blocks in shared data. Different blocks in shared data are generally signed by different users due to data modifications performed by different users. For security reasons, once a user is revoked from the group, the blocks which were previously signed by this revoked user must be re-signed by an existing user. The straightforward method, which allows an existing user to download the corresponding part of shared data and re-sign it during user revocation, is inefficient due to the large size of shared data in the cloud. In this paper, we propose a novel public auditing mechanism for the integrity of shared data with efficient user revocation in mind. By utilizing the idea of proxy re-signatures, we allow the cloud to resign blocks on behalf of existing users during user revocation so that existing users do not need to download and re-sign blocks by themselves. In addition, a public verifier is always able to audit the integrity of shared data without retrieving the entire data from the cloud, even if some part of shared data has been re-signed by the cloud. Moreover, our mechanism is able to support batch auditing by verifying multiple auditing tasks simultaneously. Experimental results show that our mechanism can significantly improve the efficiency of user revocation.


5G radio access technology is envisioned to operate from sub-1 GHz to 100 GHz using a wide range of deployment options and to support diverse services. This paper proposes OFDM numerology and frame structure for 5G radio access. The numerology is proposed keeping in view realistic propagation channel measurements, mobility, effect of phase noise, and implementation complexity. The frame structure is proposed for both FDD and TDD. The proposed frame structure is flexible, scalable, and fulfills low latency requirements.


While cephalopods serve critical roles in ecosystems and are of significant interest in scientific studies of the nervous system, medicinal toxins, and evolutionary diversification. The absence of a genomic library and the lack of comprehensive gene analysis present challenges to conducting efficient and thorough research. One difficulty in advancing cephalopod genomics is the presence of inhibitors (such as ink) that impede the amplification of DNA samples with PCR. We tested the hypothesis that Sepia bandensis (dwarf cuttlefish) ink inhibits PCR by running PCR reactions with and without the back addition of ink to Turbo fluctuosus (marine sea snail) DNA with the inclusion of the appropriate positive and negative controls. The experimental results show that ink added to T. fluctuosus DNA extracted using two kit-based extraction methods or phenol chloroform extraction prevents the amplification of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) mitochondrial gene. Also, while modern extraction methods like quaternary amine resin and silica column isolation failed to produce genomic products viable for PCR from S. bandensis, phenol chloroform extraction eliminated the inhibitors and resulted in successful amplification. The results of this investigation could further cephalopod genomic studies and serve as a model for experiments aiming to determine the cause of PCR inhibition.


A data distributor has given sensitive data to a set of supposedly trusted agents (third parties). Some of the data are leaked and found in an unauthorized place (e.g., on the web or somebody's laptop). The distributor must assess the likelihood that the leaked data came from one or more agents, as opposed to having been independently gathered by other means. We propose data allocation strategies (across the agents) that improve the probability of identifying leakages. These methods do not rely on alterations of the released data (e.g., watermarks). In some cases, we can also inject "realistic but fake" data records to further improve our chances of detecting leakage and identifying the guilty party.


Total polyphenols content (TPC) is an important measure of phytochemicals in cocoa beans due to its numerous health benefits. This work attempts to measure the total polyphenols content in cocoa beans by using a novel approach of integrating near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and electronic tongue (ET). 110 samples of cocoa beans with different polyphenol content were used for data acquisition by NIRS and ET. The optimum individual characteristic variables were extracted and scaled by normalization in principal component analysis (PCA). Support vector machine regression (SVMR) was used to construct the model. The performance of the final model was evaluated according to: correlation coefficient (Rpre), root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) and bias in the prediction set. Compared with a single technique (NIRS or ET), the data fusion was superior for the determination of TPC in cocoa beans. The optimal data fusion model was achieved with: Rpre = 0.982, RMSEP = 0.900 g g−1 and bias = 0.013 in the prediction set. The overall results demonstrate that integrating NIRS and ET is possible and could improve the prediction of TPC in cocoa beans.


Spirituality and Theology, Essays in Honor of Diogenes Allen. Edited by Eric O. Springsted. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1998. ix + 150 pp.$17.00 (paper). This Festschrift in honor of Diogenes Allen includes ten essays by contributors with backgrounds in theology or philosophy, including philosophical theology and philosophy of religion. Several of the contributors also have pastoral experience. The purpose of the collection is to draw out the relatedness of theology and spirituality in the spirit of Allen, who is Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Princeton Theological Seminary. The Introduction notes that Allen has maintained a distinctive position within the philosophy of religion by insisting on this synthesis of theology and spirituality, and that "he has led as many retreats as he has read papers to academic societies" (3). In this regard, the collection addresses the most unfortunate tendency for the pastoral life of faith and the world of academic theological reflection to diverge rather sharply from one another, with each holding tenaciously and separately to their own particular issues and vocabularies. This separation of Christian prayer and theological reflection works to the mutual detriment of all the Church, and represents a sad departure from the statement by Evagrius of Pontus (346-399) that "to be a theologian is to pray truly and to pray truly is to be a theologian" (8). The recovery of this synthesis certainly deserves a place of priority in the hearts of all who pray and all who reflect on God. Indeed, a theologically grounded Church can engage greater depth of meaning in its community life, thereby being less vulnerable to partisan reactions and superficial judgments. Similarly, the spiritual life of faith can bring the grounding of reality and lived experience to theological reflection, which could otherwise become centered on itself and its own disagreements, and detached from the pastoral life of the Church. Allen's witness, which is celebrated bv this collection of essays, identifies a vital issue for the future of the Church's life and theology. There are some wonderful essays in this collection. Stanley Hauerwas's "Christians in the Hands of Flaccid Secularists" considers the marginalization of theology in the modern university, in which departments of religious studies "are often comprised of people who are willing to study a religion on the condition either that it is dead or that they can teach it in such a way as to kill it" ( 19). By way of strong contrast, Hauer vas urges that theology is an office in service to the Church community. …


— In this paper, a new collaborative tracking algorithm is put forward to track multiple objects in video streams. First, we suggest a robust color-based tracker whose model is updated by online learned contextual information. A recursive method is performed to improve the estimation accuracy and the robustness to cluttered environment. Then, we extend this tracker to multiple targets. In order to avoid the problem of ID switch in long term occlusion, we design a hierarchical tracking system with different tracking priorities. First, the algorithm employs an adaptive collision prevention model to separate the nearby trajectories. When the inter-occlusion happens, the holistic model of tracker splits into several parts, and we use the visible parts to perform tracking as well as occlusion reasoning. In case where the targets have close appearance models, a trajectory monitoring approach is employed to handle the occlusion. Once the tracker is fully occluded, the algorithm will re-initialize particles around the occluder to capture the re-appeared target. Experimental results using open dataset demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal. Besides, comparison with several state of arts trackers has also been performed.


Many embedded systems contain resource constrained microcontrollers where applications, operating system components and device drivers reside within a single address space with no form of memory protection. Programming errors in one application can easily corrupt the state of the operating system and other applications on the microcontroller. In this paper we propose a system that provides memory protection in tiny embedded processors. . Our system consists of a software run-time working with minimal low-cost architectural extensions to the processor core that prevents corruption of state by buggy applications. We restrict memory accesses and control flow of applications to protection domains within the address space. The software run-time consists of a Memory map: a flexible and efficient data structure that records ownership and layout information of the entire address space. Memory map checks are done for store instructions by hardware accelerators that significantly improve the performance of our system. We preserve control flow integrity by maintaining a Safe stack that stores return addresses in a protected memory region. Cross domain function calls are redirected through a software based jump table. Enhancements to the microcontroller call and return instructions use the jump table to track the current active domain. We have implemented our scheme on a VHDL model of ATMEGA103 microcontroller. Our evaluations show that embedded applications can enjoy the benefits of memory protection with minimal impact on performance and a modest increase in the area of the microcontroller.


A regional field and geochemical study has allowed the identification of three primary units within the Proterozoic basement of the Valley of a Thousand Hills. The Nagle Dam Formation incorporates several chemically distinct orthogneiss series, characterised by limited intragroup fractionation, and derived from discrete sources. Intrusive into the gneisses are the megacrystic A-type granites of the Mgeni batholith, comprising the biotite granites of the Ximba Suite; the hornblende granites and charnockite of the Mlahlanja Suite; and the medium grained leucogranite of the Nqwadolo Suite. Petrogenetic modelling indicates that these are predominately cumulates. A general model for the A-type granites suggests that they were derived through variable MASH processes on an original within plate type basalt. Enclaves within the Mgeni batholith form a distinct series, the Valley Trust Formation, comprising a nongenetic orthogneiss association of amphibolite and crustal sourced quartzo-feldspathic gneiss and locally derived paragneisses. Interaction between the biotite granite and the pelitic enclaves generated a biotite garnet granite. Geothermobarometry suggests temperatures of metamorphism to a maximum of no°c for the Nagle Dam Formation and c.850°C at a pressure of 6 kb for the Valley Trust Formation. Potential ma~atic temperatures of c.760°C at 5 kb are derived for the Mgeni batholith. High Mn garnets within late veins indicate subsequent intrusion at higher levels. Derivation of a tectonic model for the Valley of a Thousand Hills is assisted by a revaluation of the chemical tectonic discrimination plots as source or initiator discriminators. These indicate an origin for the Nagle Dam Formation in an arc environment, while the bimodal orthogneiss association of the Valley Trust Formation and the A-type character of the Mgeni batholith suggests their evolution during extensional events. Geothermobarometry defmes an isothermal decompression path, possibly generated during a collision event, superimposed on which is a potential midcrustal heating event, resultant on the intrusion of the Mgeni batholith. These data can be integrated with revised lithotectonic data from the southern portion of the Natal Province to derive a regional model. This comprises: the collision of a number of arcs with associated splitting to form backarcs, sedimentation, and failed rift systems; syn-collisional S-type magmatism, contemporaneous with isothermal decompression of the region; and a series of pulses of post-orogenic granites. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGES CHAPTER


The recent improvement of the system of social services aims at bringing them up to the man, to make that a person, who needs social care, would receive the necessary services at his home or community and, in such a way, would remain in his normal environment as long as possible. The following scientific problem, which is formulated through the question, "How do the recipients of social services at home assess the provided services?", is raised. A qualitative research strategy was used. To collect the data of the study, the method of a semi-structured interview was used. The findings were analysed by applying the method of content analysis. The study was conducted in the March of 2016. 9 recipients of social services at home, who live in one of the largest Lithuanian cities and receive the services of assistance at home or social care at a person' s home, participated in the study.The study revealed what kind of a worker, who provides services at home, the recipients of the service wish, how the recipients of services are engaged in the process of the provision of social services at home, how a service recipient profits from services at home as well as some negative aspects of the provision of social services at home and the expectations of service recipients when improving the provision of the services at home. The analysis of the experiences of the recipients of social services at home revealed that the service recipients place great importance on the interoperability with the workers who provide the services. It is important to the service recipients that a worker, who provides the services, would have a calling to do the work he does, that he would be educated and possessing the necessary qualifications for the job he performs and good communication skills. The recipients of social services at home are already engaged in the process of the provision of the services during the assessment of their need by providing them with an opportunity to identify their needs and to choose the services they need themselves. In such a way, the recipients of the services are engaged in the decision making regarding the planning, provision, assessment and continuity of the services. To the recipients of social services at home, the provision of the services at home is important because of the possibility to live in their own home, to receive the needed assistance and psychological support which provides them with the feeling of security, usefulness and certainty. The recipients of social services at home are dissatisfied with the frequent change of the workers, who provide the services, the unaffordability of the services, the fact that the transport service is not always available due to a shortage of the means of transport and the lack of information on this service. The expectations of the recipients of social services at home, when improving the provision of the social services at home, are linked to the satisfaction of communication needs, the reduction of the workload of the workers, who provide the services at home, and the rarer change of them, informal communication of the workers with them and the expansion of the scope of services, taking into consideration not only the satisfaction of basic personal needs, but also the area of the organisation of more active, more substantive and more interesting leasure time.


Competitiveness and survivability of many companies today does not only depend on their products and development processes. It also strongly depends on how effective the organizations are in managing emergency software problems. Despite this, there is only one process model dealing with software emergencies. It is CM 3 : Emergency Problem Management. In this paper, we evaluate CM 3 : Emergency Problem Management using three real-life emergency case scenarios. Our results show that the emergency processes strongly vary from case to case. Despite this, they could be easily mapped on the CM 3 : Emergency Problem Management constituents.


Geometric models have received increasing attention in medical imaging for tasks such as segmentation, reconstruction, restoration, and registration. In order to determine the best configuration of the geometric model in the context of any of these tasks, one needs to perform a difficult global optimization of an 'energy' function that may have many local minima. Explicit models of geometry, also called deformable models, snakes, or active contours, have been used extensively to solve image segmentation problems in a non-Bayesian framework. Researchers have seen empirically that multi-scale analysis is useful for convergence to a configuration that is near the global minimum. In this type of analysis, the image data are convolved with blur functions of increasing resolution, and an 'optimal' configuration of the snake is found for each blurred image. The configuration obtained using the highest resolution blur is used as the solution to the global optimization problem. In this article, we use explicit models of geometry for a variety of Bayesian estimation problems, including image segmentation, reconstruction and restoration. We introduce a multi-scale approach that blurs the geometric model, rather than the image data, and show that this approach turns a global, highly nonquadratic optimization into a sequence of local, approximately quadratic problems that converge to the global minimum. The result is a deterministic, robust, and efficient optimization strategy applicable to a wide variety of Bayesian estimation problems in which geometric models of images are an important component.


Chitosan has been identified as an excellent rainfastness aid for a model agrochemical. We use fluorescent labelling and microscopy to show that chitosan deposits on Vicia faba leaves are able to resist wash off by rain, both in a lab-scale test and via simulated rain. Furthermore, via the same methods it has been demonstrated that the rainfastness of azoxystrobin, a common fungicide which is fluorescently active, can be improved by formulating with chitosan. These findings via fluorescent microscopy were in agreement with a quantitative LC-MS/MS method in which the exact quantity of active ingredient on a leaf surface was determined before and after a rain wash. The potential of chitosan as a rainfastness aid is further supported by positive comparison with a commercial tank-mix standard, with almost 100% retention of the model active ingredient achieved in both cases after 1 hour of washing with 10 mm h−1 intensity rain.


Optical contrast on the surface of mesoscale air–dielectric structures was evaluated with collection-mode near-field scanning optical microscopy. When air holes (300 nm) were smaller than the incident wavelength (400 or 600 nm), the optical field was concentrated in the dielectric region. When air holes (1000 nm) were larger than the incident wavelength (400 or 600 nm), there was topographic edge enhancement. After confirmation with finite-difference time-domain simulation, we conclude that light diffracted off topographic edges is a major contributor to contrast in collection-mode near-field optical images.


Diseases of the Colon & ReCtum Volume 57: 12 (2014) the term "evidence-based medicine" was first coined by sackett and colleagues as "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of the current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients." the key to practicing evidence-based medicine is applying the best current knowledge to decisions in individual patients. medical knowledge is continually and rapidly expanding and reading all of the medical literature is impossible for an individual clinician. for clinicians to practice evidence-based medicine, they must have the skills to read and interpret the medical literature so they can determine the validity, reliability, credibility, and utility of individual articles, ie, critical appraisal skills. Generally, critical appraisal requires that the clinician have some knowledge of biostatistics, clinical epidemiology, decision analysis, and economics as well as clinical knowledge. the Canadian association of General surgeons and the american College of surgeons jointly sponsor a program entitled "evidence Based Reviews in surgery". the primary objective of this initiative is to help practicing surgeons improve their critical appraisal skills. evidence Based Reviews in surgery has a module covering topics in colorectal surgery. each academic year, 6 clinical articles are chosen for review and discussion. the articles are selected not only for their clinical relevance to colorectal surgery, but also to cover a spectrum of methodological issues important to surgeons; for example, causation or risk factors for disease, natural history or prognosis of disease, quantifying disease (measurement issues), diagnostic tests and the diagnosis of disease, and the effectiveness of treatment. Both methodological and clinical reviews of the article are performed by experts in the relevant areas and posted on the evidence Based Reviews in surgery-Colorectal surgery eBRs-CRs) website. in addition, a listserv discussion is held where participants can discuss the monthly article. members of the Canadian association of General surgeons (CaGs) and the american College of surgeons (aCs) can access eBRs-CRs through the Canadian association of General surgeons website (www.cags-accg.ca), the american College of surgeons website (www.facs.org/education/ebrs. html), the Canadian society of Colon and Rectal surgeons website (www.cscrs.ca), and the american society of Colon and Rectal surgeons website (www.fascrs.org). all journal articles and reviews are available electronically through the website. surgeons who participate in the monthly packages can receive 6 continuing medical education and/or maintenance of Certification credits by completing an evaluation and a series of multiple choice questions each month. for further information about eBRs-CRs, readers are directed to the CaGs, aCs, Canadian society of Colon and Rectal surgeons, and american society of Colon and Rectal surgeons websites or should email the administrative coordinator, marg mcKenzie, at firstname.lastname@example.com in addition to making the reviews available through the CaGs and the aCs websites, a condensed version of the reviews will be published in the Diseases of the Colon & Rectum. evidence Based Reviews in surgery is useful in improving your critical appraisal skills, keeping abreast of new developments in colorectal surgery, and, most importantly, you are able to obtain 6 continuing medical education credits each month from anywhere that you have access to a computer. Comments about evidence-based reviews in surgery may be directed to email@example.com


Multifocal childhood TB remains underestimated. It can occur at any age. Usually on a plot of immunosuppression especially HIV infection, but it can also occur in immunocompetent children. This is a retrospective and prospective study over a period of 11 years between January 2004 and July 2015. During that period, 1 122 children are hospitalized Pneumo-pediatric department at the Moulay Youssef hospital in Rabat. Amongthem, 35 patients (3.11%) are achieved multifocal tuberculosis. We show through this work the frequency of multifocal tuberculosis in immunocompetent children and the different reported damages while noting the difficulty of diagnosis in front of clinical polymorphism