Bisphenol A (BPA) is used in the manufacture of plastics, to produce reusable drinking bottles, infant feeding bottles and other food storage containers. EFSA was asked to evaluate a dietary developmental neurotoxicity study in rats (Stump, 2009) and recent scientific literature (2007–2010) in terms of relevance for the risk assessment of BPA. The impact of these studies on the current Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) of 0.05 mg BPA/kg body weight (b.w.)/day as set by EFSA in 2006 was assessed. Advice on the Danish risk assessment underlying the Danish ban of BPA in food contact materials for infants aged 0–3 years is included. Overall, based on this comprehensive evaluation of recent toxicity data, the Panel on food contact materials, enzymes, flavourings and processing aids (CEF) concluded that no new study could be identified, which would call for a revision of the current TDI. This TDI is based on the No-Observed-Adverse-Effect-Level (NOAEL) of 5 mg/kg b.w./day from a multi-generation reproductive toxicity study in rats, and the application of an uncertainty factor of 100. This factor is regarded as conservative based on all information on BPA toxicokinetics. The Panel noted that some studies conducted on developing animals have suggested other BPA-related effects of possible toxicological relevance, in particular biochemical changes in brain, immune-modulatory effects and enhanced susceptibility to breast tumours. These studies had several shortcomings. At present the relevance of these findings for human health cannot be assessed. Should any new relevant data become available in the future, the Panel will reconsider this opinion. A minority opinion is expressed by a Panel member and presented in an Annex to this opinion.


PURPOSE
To prospectively compare tumor volume, relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and short-term changes of these parameters as predictors of time to malignant transformation and time to death in patients with low-grade gliomas (LGGs).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Patients gave written informed consent for this institutional ethics committee-approved study. Patients with histologically proved LGGs underwent conventional, perfusion-weighted, and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging at study entry and at 6 months. At both time points, tumor volume, maximum rCBV, and ADC histogram measures were calculated. Patient follow-up consisted of MR imaging every 6 months and clinical examinations. To investigate the association between MR imaging variables and time to progression and time to death, a Cox regression curve was applied at study entry and at 6 months. The models were corrected for age, sex, and histologic findings.

RESULTS
Thirty-four patients (22 men, 12 women; mean age, 42 years) with histologically proved LGGs (eight oligodendrogliomas, 20 astrocytomas, and six oligoastrocytomas) were followed up clinically and radiologically for a median of 2.6 years (range, 0.4-5.5 years). Tumor growth over the course of 6 months was the best predictor of time to transformation, independent of rCBV, diffusion histogram parameters, age, sex, and histologic findings. When only single-time-point measurements were compared, tumor volume helped predict outcome best and was the only independent predictor of time to death (P < .02).

CONCLUSION
Six-month tumor growth helps predict outcome in patients with LGG better than parameters derived from perfusion- or diffusion-weighed MR imaging. Tumor growth can readily be calculated from volume measurements on images acquired with standard MR imaging protocols and may well prove most useful among various MR imaging findings in clinical practice.


The paper studies the issues of the need to create a learning organization in the context of an unstable environment and the concept of lifelong education. It was revealed why and in what direction companies need to be transformed in order to remain competitive, what undermines the building of a learning company; the influence of unskilled personnel was identified. In this context, the present factors that contribute to higher organizational productivity were highlighted, and an algorithm for organizational changes was proposed, which is a complex system of measures seeking to create a learning organization and increase the company's adaptability. In the paper, based on an expert survey, a methodological approach was substantiated and the essence of the tools that were used to build and develop a self-learning organization was considered. The methodological approach included the following elements: assessment of the current state and prospects of the enterprise to introduce the concept of a self-learning organization; social network analysis; analysis of staff's ability to teamwork; evaluation of the socionic type of employees; formation of specific measures and tools that could ensure the continuous development and training of staff.


In a paper published in BJSM (June 2016), World Rugby employees Ross Tucker and Martin Raftery and a third coauthor Evert Verhagen took issue with the recent call to ban tackling in school rugby in the UK and Ireland. That call (to ban tackling) was supported by a systematic review published in BJSM. Tucker et al claim that: (1) the mechanisms and risk factors for injury along with the incidence and severity of injury in youth rugby union have not been thoroughly identified or understood; (2) rugby players are at no greater risk of injury than other sports people, (3) this is particularly the case for children under 15 years and (4) removing the opportunity to learn the tackle from school pupils might increase rates of injuries. They conclude that a ban 'may be unnecessary and may also lead to unintended consequences such as an increase in the risk of injury later in participation.' Here we aim to rebut the case by Tucker et al. We share new research that extends the findings of our original systematic review and meta-analysis. A cautionary approach requires the removal of the tackle from school rugby as the quickest and most effective method of reducing high injury rates in youth rugby, a public health priority.


Global trade and payments data, although absolutely essential to an understanding of the pattern and direction of world commerce, are not completely unambiguous. Compilers of such data face numerous problems of definition and measurement of particular components of nations' aggregate external accounts.


This paper presents a general model for temporal reasoning, capable of handling both qualita tive and quantitative information. This model allows the representation and processing of all types of constraints considered in the literature so far, including metric constraints (restricting the distance between time points), and qualitative, disjunctive, constraints (specifying the relative position between temporal objects). Reasoning tasks in this unified framework are formulated as constraint satisfaction problems, and are solved by traditional constraint satisfaction techniques, such as backtracking and path consistency. A new class of tractable problems is characterized, involving qualitative networks augmented by quantitative domain constraints, some of which can be solved in polynomial time using arc and path consistency.


The zoonotic origin of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is still unknown. Animal experiments have shown that non-human primates, cats, ferrets, hamsters, rabbits and bats can be infected by SARS-CoV-2. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 RNA has been detected in felids, mink and dogs in the field. Here, we describe an in-depth investigation of outbreaks on 16 mink farms and humans living or working on these farms, using whole genome sequencing. We conclude that the virus was initially introduced from humans and has evolved, most likely reflecting widespread circulation among mink in the beginning of the infection period several weeks prior to detection. At the moment, despite enhanced biosecurity, early warning surveillance and immediate culling of infected farms, there is ongoing transmission between mink farms with three big transmission clusters with unknown modes of transmission. We also describe the first animal to human transmissions of SARS-CoV-2 in mink farms. One sentence summary SARS-CoV-2 transmission on mink farms.


Abstract. Retrievals of cloud ice mass and humidity from the Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) and the Odin-SMR (Sub-Millimetre Radiometer) limb sounder are presented and example applications of the data are given. SMILES data give an unprecedented view of the diurnal variation of cloud ice mass. Mean regional diurnal cycles are reported and compared to some global climate models. Some improvements in the models regarding diurnal timing and relative amplitude were noted, but the models' mean ice mass around 250 hPa is still low compared to the observations. The influence of the ENSO (El Nino–Southern Oscillation) state on the upper troposphere is demonstrated using 12 years of Odin-SMR data. The same retrieval scheme is applied for both sensors, and gives low systematic differences between the two data sets. A special feature of this Bayesian retrieval scheme, of Monte Carlo integration type, is that values are produced for all measurements but for some atmospheric states retrieved values only reflect a priori assumptions. However, this "all-weather" capability allows a direct statistical comparison to model data, in contrast to many other satellite data sets. Another strength of the retrievals is the detailed treatment of "beam filling" that otherwise would cause large systematic biases for these passive cloud ice mass retrievals. The main retrieval inputs are spectra around 635/525 GHz from tangent altitudes below 8/9 km for SMILES/Odin-SMR, respectively. For both sensors, the data cover the upper troposphere between 30° S and 30° N. Humidity is reported as both relative humidity and volume mixing ratio. The vertical coverage of SMILES is restricted to a single layer, while Odin-SMR gives some profiling capability between 300 and 150 hPa. Ice mass is given as the partial ice water path above 260 hPa, but for Odin-SMR ice water content, estimates are also provided. Besides a smaller contrast between most dry and wet cases, the agreement with Aura MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder) humidity data is good. In terms of tropical mean humidity, all three data sets agree within 3.5 %RHi. Mean ice mass is about a factor of 2 lower compared to CloudSat. This deviation is caused by the fact that different particle size distributions are assumed, combined with saturation and a priori influences in the SMILES and Odin-SMR data.


Abstract Background: The use of acupuncture to treat dysfunction and disease and its integration into western medicine continues, as the scientific basis of acupuncture is becoming better understood. While acupuncture is considered a safe therapeutic intervention when given by appropriately trained practitioners, adverse reactions can occur even in the hands of an experienced acupuncturist. There has been little attempt to standardize nomenclature or to classify adverse reactions to acupuncture (ARAs). Objectives: To review the physiological effects of acupuncture and their contribution to commonly reported ARA and to propose a conceptual framework for ARAs according to their likely neurophysiological mechanisms. Major findings: A three-tiered framework for the classification of ARAs is presented in line with current definitions of drug adverse reactions. Many ARAs reported in the current literature fit with the first and second levels of the framework. This clearly demonstrates an important safety distinction between an ARA and negative outcomes due to practitioner error. The third level of ARA, type A or type B can be used to categorize the majority of ARAs. Conclusion: The classification of ARAs based on their neurophysiology may lead to clearer definitions, improved terminology usage, ARA identification, and reporting if adopted by clinicians. A western conceptual framework is proposed for the classification of common ARAs in keeping with the codifications established with drug adverse reaction reporting.


Herencia (meaning "inheritance" or "heritage") is the first anthology to bring together literature from the entire history of Hispanic writing in the United States, from the age of exploration to the present. The product of a ten-year project involving hundreds of scholars nationwide, Herencia is the most comprehensive literary collection available, spanning over three centuries and including writers from all the major Hispanic ethnic communities, and writing from diverse genres. Here is the voice of the conqueror and the conquered, the revolutionary and the reactionary, the native and the uprooted or landless. Of course, readers will find pieces by such leading writers as Piri Thomas, Luis Valdez, Isabel Allende, Oscar Hijuelos, and Reinaldo Arenas. But what really distinguishes this anthology is its historical depth and its rich, complex portrait of Hispanic literature in the United States. Beginning with Cabeza de Vaca's account of his explorations in the New World, the anthology includes a passage from La Florida, a narrative historical poem of 22,000 verses, written by Franciscan friar Alonso de Escobedo; an attack on Mexican stereotypes in the nascent movie industry, written by Nicasio Idar, editor of Laredo's La Cronica; and an essay about Coney Island written by revolutionary Jose Marti. Embracing Chicano, Nuyorican, Cuban American, and Latino writings, the voices of immigrants and the voices of exiles, Herencia makes a vital contribution to our understanding not only of Hispanic writing in the United States, but also of the great contribution Hispanics have made to the United States.


In this imaginative new work, Adam Lowenstein explores the ways in which a group of groundbreaking horror films engaged the haunting social conflicts left in the wake of World War II, Hiroshima, and the Vietnam War. Lowenstein centers Shocking Representation around readings of films by Georges Franju, Michael Powell, Shindo Kaneto, Wes Craven, and David Cronenberg. He shows that through allegorical representations these directors' films confronted and challenged comforting historical narratives and notions of national identity intended to soothe public anxieties in the aftermath of national traumas. Borrowing elements from art cinema and the horror genre, these directors disrupted the boundaries between high and low cinema. Lowenstein contrasts their works, often dismissed by contemporary critics, with the films of acclaimed "New Wave" directors in France, England, Japan, and the United States. He argues that these "New Wave" films, which were embraced as both art and national cinema, often upheld conventional ideas of nation, history, gender, and class questioned by the horror films. By fusing film studies with the emerging field of trauma studies, and drawing on the work of Walter Benjamin, Adam Lowenstein offers a bold reassessment of the modern horror film and the idea of national cinema.


Records and 2,634 pairs of radiographs (anteroposterior and lateral) of 610 patients with Perthes disease were reviewed. The evolution of the disease was divided into seven stages (stages Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb, and IV) based on plain radiographic appearances. Intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility of this new classification system was assessed. The duration of each stage of the disease was noted. The stages at which epiphyseal extrusion and widening of the metaphysis occurred and the stages at which metaphyseal and acetabular changes appeared were identified. The shape and the size of the femoral head, the extent of trochanteric overgrowth, and the radius of the acetabulum were assessed in hips that had healed. The new classification system of the evolution of Perthes disease was reproducible and helped to identify when crucial events occur during the course of the disease. The median duration of each stage varied between 95 and 335 days. Epiphyseal extrusion and metaphyseal widening was modest in stages Ia, Ib, and IIa but increased dramatically after stage IIb. More than 20% extrusion occurred in 70% of the hips by stage IIIa. Metaphyseal changes were most frequently encountered in stage IIb, while acetabular changes were most prevalent in stage IIIa. At healing, only 24% of untreated patients had spherical femoral heads, while 52% had irregular femoral heads. The timing of epiphyseal extrusion, metaphyseal widening, and the appearance of adverse metaphyseal and acetabular changes suggest that femoral head deformation occurs by stage IIIa in untreated hips. Hence, if containment were to succeed, it should be achieved before this stage.


Oral health is an important aspect of the overall health status of an individual. DNA damage has been associated with oral health and dental factors due to the increased of oxidative stress (OxS). DNA damage can produce a wide range of effects on human health. These effects could appear immediately, but others do not become evident much later. Chronic diseases have been study to understand their mechanisms, clinical implica - tions, and the development of secondary disease such as cancer. Periodontitis is one of the most common oral diseases. It is an inflammatory chronic infectious disease, which is characterized by the loss of supporting tissues and tooth loss caused by periodonto pathogens and long-term release of reactive oxygen species (ROS); thus, oxidative stress is increased during periodontitis. Oxidative stress can produce DNA damage, including the oxidation of nucleosides, which could cause DNA strand break. This oxidative dam - age leads the formation of micronuclei (MN) a marker of nuclear damage. Also, oxidative stress increased 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine levels which are the most common stable product of oxidative DNA damage.


This study develops a model of macroeconomic and political determinants of public support for European integration. The research is conducted on pooled cross-sectional time-series data from five European Union member states between 1978 and 1994. The method used in this analysis is a Generalized Least Squares - Autoregressive Moving Average approach. The factors hypothesized to determine a macroeconomic explanation of public support for integration are inflation, unemployment, and economic growth. The effect of the major economic reform in the 1980s, the Single European Act, is hypothesized to act as a positive permanent intervention. The other determinants of public support are the temporary interventions of European Parliament elections and the permanent intervention of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. These are hypothesized to exert a negative effect. In a fully specified model all variables except economic growth and European Parliament elections demonstrate statistical significance at the 0.10 level or better.


This study evaluates four primary-school ELT textbook series used across mainland China from the perspective of psycholinguistics-based SLA. The textbook evaluation aims to determine whether the sequence of grammatical structures introduced as teaching objectives in the series is compatible with the L2 learning sequence stipulated in Processability Theory (PT). The results show a partial consistency between the sequence of grammatical structures in the series and the PT-based learning path. The sequence of structures in the initial stages follows the developmental trajectory of L2 English, while the pedagogical teaching orders of several structures in the later stages differ from their sequences in PT. This may be associated with the theme-based guidelines adopted in the textbooks. Pedagogical suggestions are also provided in terms of the learners' development readiness and the issue of heterogeneity in L2


Infrared shells and bubbles are ubiquitous in the Galaxy and can generally be associated with Hii regions formed around young, massive stars. In this paper, we use high-resolution 3D SPH simulations to explore the effect of a single O7 star emitting photons at 10 49 s −1 and located at the centre of a molecular cloud with mass 10 4 M ⊙ and radius 6.4 pc; the internal structure of the cloud is characterised by its fractal dimension,D (with 2.06D6 2.8), and the variance of its (log-normal) density distribution, σ 2 (with 0.366σ 2 6 1.42). Our study focuses on the morphology of the swept-up cold gas and the distribution and statistics of the resulting star formation. If the fractal dimension is low, the border o f the Hii region is dominated by extended shell-like structures, and these break up into a small number of massive high-density clumps which then spawn star clusters; star formation occurs relatively quickly, and delivers somewhat higher stellar masses. Conversely, if the fractal dimension is high, the border of the Hii region is dominated by a large number of pillars and cometary globules, which contain compact dense clumps and tend to spawn single stars or individual multiple systems; star formation occurs later, the stellar masses are somewhat lower, and the stars are more widely distributed.


Exfiltration from sewers is widespread and emerging legislation may require water service providers to identify, and rectify, its sources in sewerage systems. This paper describes exfiltration test apparatus and a series of experiments undertaken using sewage to gain a better understanding of the influence of sewage solids and sediments on leakage rates. An overview of the results obtained is given, which demonstrates that most previous estimates of exfiltration leakage rates were too high due to a lack of appreciation of the "self-repairing" action of sewage and sewage associated solids. Exfiltration rates of 0.1% of the sewer flow or 0.001 I/s have been recorded for defects up to 6 mm wide.


Interannual variations in background tropospheric trace gases (such as carbon monoxide, CO) are largely driven by variations in emissions (especially wildfires) and trans- port pathways. Understanding this variability is essential to quantify the intercontinental contribution to US air quality. We investigate the interannual variability of long-range trans- port of Asian pollutants to the Northeast Pacific via measure- ments from the Mt. Bachelor Observatory (MBO: 43.98 N, 121.69 W; 2.7 km a.s.l.) and GEOS-Chem chemical trans- port model simulations in spring 2005 vs. the INTEX-B cam- paign during spring 2006. Measurements of CO at MBO were significantly enhanced during spring 2005 relative to the same time in 2006 (the INTEX-B study period); a de- cline in monthly mean CO of 41 ppbv was observed between April 2005 and April 2006. A backtrajectory-based meteoro- logical index shows that long-range transport of CO from the heavily industrialized region of East Asia was significantly greater in early spring 2005 than in 2006. In addition, spring 2005 was an anomalously strong biomass burning season in Southeast Asia. Data presented by Yurganov et al. (2008) using MOPITT satellite retrievals from this area reveal an average CO burden anomaly (referenced to March 2000- February 2002 mean values) between October 2004 through April 2005 of 2.6 Tg CO vs. 0.6 Tg CO for the same period a year later. The Naval Research Laboratory's global aerosol transport model, as well as winds from NCEP reanalysis, show that emissions from these fires were efficiently trans- ported to MBO throughout April 2005. Asian dust trans- port, however, was substantially greater in 2006 than 2005, particularly in May. Monthly mean aerosol light scattering coefficient at 532 nm ( sp) at MBO more than doubled from 2.7 Mm 1 in May 2005 to 6.2 Mm 1 in May 2006. We also evaluate CO interannual variability throughout the western US via Earth System Research Laboratory ground site data and throughout the Northern Hemisphere via MOPITT and TES satellite observations. Both in the Northeast Pacific and on larger scales, we reveal a significant decrease (from 2- 21%) in springtime maximum CO between 2005 and 2006, evident in all platforms and the GEOS-Chem model. We attribute this to (a) anomalously strong biomass burning in Southeast Asia during winter 2004 through spring 2005, and (b) the transport pattern in March and April 2006 which lim- ited the inflow of Asian pollution to the lower free tropo- sphere over western North America.


This research article aims to explain the changes of livelihoods strategies in a village in the Northeast region of Thailand after the introduction of rubber as cash crop. Northeast region is considered a new rubber growing area of Thailand, the world's largest rubber exporter. A village in Udornthani province was selected as a case study for a qualitative research conducted in 2012-2013. In order to get a full understanding of these changes, the research studied livelihood changes in the village over the last 62 years or since the village establishment. We have classified livelihood strategies into three periods, based on the dominant mode of production and livelihoods. The first period was the livelihoods before cash crops, in which people were involved in subsistence mode of production. The second period was marked by the introduction of cash crops and market economy into the village in the early 1960s. During this period, subsistence economy had been transformed into market oriented. Forest lands were changed into cash crop farms, so much that the natural capital lost its balance and became less dependable. The third period, starting in 2001, was the rubber period, the focus of this research. Rubber came to the northeastern region as a result of the promotion of the state. Strong research, development and extension supports that used to work well in the Southern region were applied to promote rubber growing here. However, the adoption of rubber was not without problems. People had to adjust themselves to the capitalist standardized farming practices of rubber. In addition, there was a misbalance of and unequal access to capital assets, particularly financial capital. Within the changing socio-economic context and constraining status of capital assets and access, rural households adopted integrated livelihood strategies, including 1) economic diversification or pluri-activities to reduce risks and increase income 2) maintaining rice cultivation to guarantee food security 3) keeping the ownership of agricultural land as an important capital asset 4) investment in higher education of the younger generation of the household. The article also discusses the implication of these livelihood strategies on rural society, and provides policy and research recommendation.


The human male and female reproductive cycles are controlled by the interaction of hormones from the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary with hormones from reproductive tissues and organs. In both sexes, the hypothalamus monitors and causes the release of hormones from the pituitary gland. When the reproductive hormone is required, the hypothalamus sends a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) to the anterior pituitary. This causes the release of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) from the anterior pituitary into the blood. Note that the body must reach puberty for the adrenals to release the hormones that must be present for GnRH to be produced. Although FSH and LH are named after their functions in female reproduction, they are produced in both sexes and play important roles in controlling reproduction. Other hormones have specific functions in the male and female reproductive systems.


Be stars are rapidly rotating B-type stars that possess a gaseous disk formed by matter released from the rapidly rotating, central star. The disk produces the characteristic observational features of these objects: hydrogen emission lines, particularly Hα, infrared excess, and continuum polarization. Gravitational darkening is a phenomenon associated with stellar rotation. It causes a reduction of the stellar effective temperature towards the equator and a redirection of energy towards the poles. Rotation also distorts the star, increasing its equatorial radius. It is an important physical effect in these star-disk systems because the photoionizing radiation from the star is essentially the sole energy source for the disk. The effect of gravitational darkening on models of the thermal structure of Be star disks is systematically studied for a wide range of Be star spectral types, rotation rates, and disk densities. Additionally, the effects of rapid rotation on model Hα lines, spectral energy distributions (SED) and photometric colours are investigated. To achieve this, gravitational darkening has been added to the bedisk and beray codes to produce circumstellar disk models and synthetic observables that include the change in the effective temperature with latitude and the non-spherical shape of the star. The effect of gravitational darkening on disk temperature is generally significant for rotation rates above 80 % of critical rotation. The bulk of the disk material becomes cooler with rotation. For example in a dense disk surrounding a B0V central star rotating at 95 % of its critical velocity, the density-averaged disk temperature is ≈ 2500 K cooler than its non-rotating counterpart. The effect of gravity darkening on observables such as the Hα line, spectral energy distributions, and colours is found to be primarily through the change in the stellar surface brightness with rotation.


Unidirectional (UD) composites are the most competitive materials for the production
of high-end structures. Their field of application spreads from the aerospace up to
automotive and general industry sector. Typical examples of components made of
unidirectional reinforced composite materials are rocket motor cases, drive shafts or
pressure vessels for hydrogen storage. The filament winding technology, the pultrusion
process and the tape placement are processes suitable for the manufacturing
using UD semi-finished products. The demand for parts made of UD composites is
constantly increasing over the last years. A key feature for the success of this technology
is the improvement of the manufacturing procedure.
Impregnation is one of the most important steps in the manufacturing process. During
this step the dry continuous fibers are combined with the liquid matrix in order to create
a fully impregnated semi-finished product. The properties of the impregnated roving
have a major effect on the laminate quality, and the efficient processing of the
liquid matrix has a big influence on the manufacturing costs.
The present work is related to the development of a new method for the impregnation
of carbon fiber rovings with thermoset resin. The developed impregnation unit consists
of a sinusoidal cavity without any moving parts. The unit in combination with an
automated resin mixing-dosing system allows complete wet-out of the fibers, precise
calibration of the resin fraction, and stable processing conditions.
The thesis focuses on the modeling of the impregnation process. Mathematical expressions
for the fiber compaction, the gradual increase of the roving tension, the
static pressure, the capillarity inside the filaments of the roving, and the fiber permeation
are presented, discussed, and experimentally verified. These expressions were
implemented in a modeling algorithm. The model takes into account all the relevant
material and process parameters. An experimental set-up based on the filament
winding process was used for the validation of the model. Trials under different conditions
have been performed. The results proved that the model can accurately simulate
the impregnation process. The good impregnation degree of the wound samples
confirmed the efficiency of the developed impregnation unit. A techno economical
analysis has proved that the developed system will result to the reduction of the
manufacturing costs and to the increase of the productivity.


The aim of this study was to report a case of isolated corneal squamous cell carcinoma in a patient with unilateral dry eye symptoms. The case was a 48 years old man with history of thermal corneal injury on his left eye two years ago with decreased visual acuity and dry eye symptoms a short time after, which was treated with the diagnosis of dry eye and had no improvement in symptoms. Examination revealed hypertrophy of near total corneal epithelium, without limbal and conjunctival involvement. The surface of the lesion was irregular with punctate epithelial erosions. The patient was underwent excisional biopsy which was revealed severe corneal dysplasia (carcinoma in situ). After excision, the patient was treated with Fluorouracil and there was no sign of recurrence till the time of last follow-up examination. Dry eye symptoms were disappeared completely. We conclude that, in the case of unilateral chronic dry eye which was resistant to the treatment with signs of corneal epithelial involvement, isolated corneal neoplasia should be considered even without limbal or conjunctival involvement.


We consider a well-known model for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) with variable dielectric permittivity, based on a parabolic equation with singular nonlinearity. We study the touchdown or quenching phenomenon. Recently, the question whether or not touchdown can occur at zero points of the permittivity profile f, which had long remained open, was answered negatively in Guo and Souplet (2015 SIAM J. Math. Anal. 47 614–25) for the case of interior points, and we then showed in Esteve and Souplet (2017 arXiv:1706.04375) that touchdown can actually be ruled out in subregions of Ω where f is positive but suitably small. The goal of this paper is to further investigate the touchdown localization problem and to show that, in one space dimension, one can obtain quite quantitative conditions. Namely, for large classes of typical, one-bump and two-bump permittivity profiles, we find good lower estimates of the ratio ρ between and its maximum, below which no touchdown occurs outside of the bumps. The ratio ρ is rigorously obtained as the solution of a suitable finite-dimensional optimization problem (with either three or four parameters), which is then numerically estimated. Rather surprisingly, it turns out that the values of the ratio ρ are not 'small' but actually up to the order  ∼0.3, which could hence be quite appropriate for robust use in practical MEMS design. The main tool for the reduction to the finite-dimensional optimization problem is a quantitative type I, temporal touchdown estimate. The latter is proved by maximum principle arguments, applied to a multi-parameter family of refined, nonlinear auxiliary functions with cut-off.


The structural design of buildings and streets in man-made outdoor environments determine the possible locations of other objects like cars or people. Cars drive or park on the streets, and people walk on the sidewalks. Their space of interaction is limited and aligned to these man-made structures. In this report, we describe how 3D locations of objects can be estimated in a single view image. We gather statistics to analyze the locations of cars and people and show how their alignment to man-made structures creates regularities, which can be used to predict their locations. We show which prior knowledge of the analyzed scene is necessary for different ways of statistical prediction of object locations and evaluate the prediction performance on a data set with urban outdoor scenes.


Thrombin activated fibrinolysis inhibitor, shortly known as TAFI, is a carboxypeptidase found in plasma. It is activated majorly by thrombomodulin associatedthrombin. It stabilizes clots and inhibits their lysis by decreasing their plasminogen binding sites. Besides, it activates protein C which is necessary to halt thrombin generation. Thus, it is more regulatory than inhibitory in function. Existing as three forms TAFI, TAFIa and TAFIi, assay methods of the same are not well standardized. However, TAFI is associated with conditions like hemophilia, venous thrombosis, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, chronic liver disease and even disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). This review will throw light on the role, mechanisms and involvement of TAFI in associated pathological conditions.


Two well-known fluorescent molecules: fluorescein sodium salt (FSS) and 2,7-dichloro fluorescein (DCF) were tried to prove the efficiency, trustability and repeatability of ISNAG fluorimeter by using discrete and continuous flow injection analysis modes.A linear range of 0.002-1 mmol/L for FSS and 0.003-0.7 mmol/L was for DCF, with LOD 0.0018 mmol/L and 0.002 mmol/L for FSS and DCF respectively, were obtained for discrete mode of analysis. While the continuous mode gave a linear range of 0.002-0.7 mmol/L and 0.003-0.5 mmol/L for FSS and DCF respectively, the LOD were 0.0016mmol/L and 0.0018 mmol/L for FSS and DCF respectively. The results were compared with classical method at variable ? ex for both fluorescent molecules at 95% confidence level. The comparison data shows that ISNAG fluorimeter is the choice with excellent extended detection and a wider applicability.


This paper contributes to two strands of literature on empirical models of trade flows and trade policy. The first and the older strand is that of gravity models of bilateral trade flows going back to Hans Linneman (1966) and Tinbergen (1962) and its recent applications, particularly by Adams et al (2003) and De Rosa (2007) in analyzing the impact of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs). Our focus is on applying the gravity model to analyze India's trade flows (exports and imports) with its trading partners around the world and to examine the impact of various PTAs in which India or its trading partner or both are members. Clearly this is of interest, since, from 1991 India is aggressively negotiating and concluding PTAs of which South Asian preferential trade (and later free trade) agreement is the most prominent. We find that India is not well served by its pursuit of PTAs and should instead push for multilateral trade liberalisation by contributing to conclusion of the Doha round of negotiations with an agreement beneficial to all WTO members. The second and the more recent strand is the analysis of trade flows using data on exports of individual firms. It is well known that in all countries of the world relatively few firms participate in world trade, thus suggesting that characteristics of a firm (such as its size and productivity) are relevant besides country level barriers on trade matter for participation in world trade. This strand is rapidly growing. Ours is one of the very few attempts at modeling and estimating the decision of Indian firms on their participation using firm level data. The paper reports on our preliminary results. We have also collected primary data from a sample survey of firms to explore this issue deeper. While these data are yet to be fully analyzed, nevertheless some preliminary descriptive tables summarizing them are included in an Appendix.


The concept of major rock-stratigraphic units of interregional scope was introduced in 1948 (Longwell, 1949). It is now possible to restate the concept and to define more explicitly the sequences delimited by interregional unconformities in the continental interior of North America. The sedimentary record of the North American craton from late Precambrian to present is characterized by six major unconformities. These interregional unconformities subdivide the cratonic stratigraphic column into six sequences—major rock-stratigraphic units (of higher than group, megagroup, or supergroup rank) which can be identified, where preserved, in all cratonic interior areas. At the cratonic margins the bounding unconformities tend to disappear in continuous successions, and the cratonic sequences are replaced by others controlled by events in the marginal basins and eugeosynclinal borders. Although the time values of the unconformities vary widely because of differences in degree of nondeposition and amount of erosion, the approximate dates of the regressional maxima represented are: (1) very late Precambrian, (2) early Middle Ordovician, (3) early Middle Devonian, (4) "post-Elvira" Mississippian, (5) early Middle Jurassic, and (6) late Paleocene. A seventh major regression is now in progress.


Set against the backdrop of the 1848 Revolution, A Sentimental Education is the story of young lawyer Frederic Moreau's infatuation with the demurely exotic Madame Arnoux. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.


Although Parkinsonian tremors typically disappear during sleep and are reduced during relaxation periods, the effects of hypnosis on this type of movement disorder have been generally ignored. We observed a patient's severe Parkinsonian tremor under hypnosis and monitored it with EEG and EMG studies. The patient was taught self-hypnosis and performed it three to four times daily in conjunction with taking medication. The results suggest that daily sessions of self-hypnosis can be a useful therapeutic adjunct in the treatment of Parkinsonian tremors.


The interaction between the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and the geomagnetic field at the dayside magnetopause leads to transfer of momentum and energy which changes the magnetospheric configuration, but only after a certain time. In this study we quantify this time, to advance our understanding of the causes for the delayed response of the magnetosphere. We study the response and reconfiguration time of the inner magnetosphere to IMF By reversals. A superposed epoch analysis of magnetic field measurements from four Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite spacecraft at different local times both for negative to positive IMF By reversals and for positive to negative reversals is presented. The magnetospheric response time at geosynchronous orbit to the sudden change of IMF By is less than 15 (∼10) min from the bow shock (magnetopause) arrival time, while the reconfiguration time is less than 46 (∼41) min. These results are consistent with a By component induced on closed magnetic field lines due to the asymmetric loading of flux following asymmetric dayside reconnection when IMF By≠0. Our results also confirm our earlier studies that nightside reconnection is not required for generating a By component on closed field lines.


This paper reports on the preparation and characterization of nanostructured Re and Co–Re/Al2O3/NiAl(110) surfaces designed as model catalysts for operando studies of Fischer–Tropsch synthesis. Scanning tunneling microscopy on pure Re particles identified strong Re–Al2O3 support interaction, resulting in uniform nucleation and growth on random point defects. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the strong interaction through a shift in the binding energy, in addition to size-dependent final state effects. Co–Re particles were prepared by sequential deposition of the two metals, resulting in core–shell structures in which the shell was (strongly) enriched with the metal deposited second. Annealing of bimetallic particles allowed for elemental redistribution, as was concluded from the XPS data and supported by modeling. The annealing also resulted in sintering of bimetallic clusters. Interestingly, the thermal stability of the Co–Re surfaces prepared by sequential deposition of Co, followed by Re, was...


In few-shot domain adaptation (FDA), classifiers for the target domain are trained with accessible labeled data in the source domain (SD) and few labeled data in the target domain (TD). However, data usually contain private information in the current era, e.g., data distributed on personal phones. Thus, the private data will be leaked if we directly access data in SD to train a target-domain classifier (required by FDA methods). In this paper, to prevent privacy leakage in SD, we consider a very challenging problem setting, where the classifier for the TD has to be trained using few labeled target data and a well-trained SD classifier, named few-shot hypothesis adaptation (FHA). In FHA, we cannot access data in SD, as a result, the private information in SD will be protected well. To this end, we propose a target-oriented hypothesis adaptation network (TOHAN) to solve the FHA problem, where we generate highly-compatible unlabeled data (i.e., an intermediate domain) to help train a target-domain classifier. TOHAN maintains two deep networks simultaneously, in which one focuses on learning an intermediate domain and the other takes care of the intermediate-to-target distributional adaptation and the target-risk minimization. Experimental results show that TOHAN outperforms competitive baselines significantly.


An enema technique was developed to obtain dietary information on northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) at sea. The enema apparatus consisted of a hand pump and a soft PVC tube connected to a plastic tank filled with seawater. The tube was inserted into the fur seal's anus, and fecal samples flushed out into a polyethylene bag enveloping the posterior of the fur seal. The efficacy of the enema sampling was tested on 23 fur seals captured and killed off the Pacific coast of northern Japan in April 1998. Twenty of 23 enema samples contained hard prey items such as fish otoliths and squid beaks. The average number (+ SD) of hard prey items retrieved from the whole large intestine was 26.9 + 33.0% for fish otoliths, 37.3 + 38.5% for squid upper beaks, and 43.3 + 40.9% for squid lower beaks. Size distributions of these prey items retrieved from the enema samples were similar to that remaining in the large intestines. These results indicated that the enema technique could provide dietary information that is comparable to intestinal contents and scat analysis. Combination of the enema technique with a pelagic live capture method using gillnets could provide a nondestructive way to investigate the feeding ecology of individual fur seals migrating offshore.


The strength of fiber-reinforced composites is often dependent on the strength of the fiber-matrix interface bond. Thermal, chemical, and other means have been used to modify the surface of fibers, resulting in increased fiber-matrix interface bond strength. One potential mechanism for improving interfacial strength is through increased surface roughness. It is desirable to develop physics-based models capable of predicting the effect of surface treatment on interfacial bond strength. It is anticipated that experimental, numerical, and analytical efforts will be needed to contribute toward this endeavor. A shear-lag approach has been used to model the transfer of load from fiber to matrix in fiber pull out, microbond, and axisymmetric macrobond tests. However, the shear lag parameter, β, must be fitted to experimental results to use this approach. Finite element analyses could be useful in interpreting experimental results, and predicting the effect of surface roughness on load transfer. However, shear lag models do not capture the singularity that is present along the fiber-matrix interface at the free surface of the matrix, meaning that finite element and shear lag analyses do not agree near the location that fiber-matrix debond is most likely to begin. In this paper, a numerical approach is presented that allows the shear lag parameter, β, to be extracted from finite element results. This allows a bridge between numerical and analytical approaches that does not currently exist. Axisymmetric finite element analyses of fiber pull out and axisymmetric macrobond configurations are discussed in light of this approach. The effect of the different boundary conditions in these two test configurations are considered for a range of ratios for matrix and fiber Young's moduli. It is anticipated that this approach will be essential in future research efforts to simulate the effect of fiber surface texture on pull out strength.


OBJECTIVE
The current treatment of chordomas is associated with significant morbidity, high rates of local recurrence, and the potential for metastases. Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) as a primary treatment could reduce the need for en bloc resection to achieve wide or marginal margins. Spinal SRS outcomes support the exploration of SRS's role in the durable control of these conventionally radioresistant tumors. The goal of the study was to evaluate outcomes of patients with primary chordomas treated with spinal SRS alone or in combination with surgery.

METHODS
Clinical records were reviewed for outcomes of patients with primary chordomas of the mobile spine and sacrum who underwent single-fraction SRS between 2006 and 2017. Radiographic local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), overall survival (OS), symptom response, and toxicity were assessed in relation to the extent of surgery.

RESULTS
In total, 35 patients with de novo chordomas of the mobile spine (n = 17) and sacrum (n = 18) received SRS and had a median post-SRS follow-up duration of 38.8 months (range 2.0-122.9 months). The median planning target volume dose was a 24-Gy single fraction (range 18-24 Gy). Overall, 12 patients (34%) underwent definitive SRS and 23 patients (66%) underwent surgery and either neoadjuvant or postoperative adjuvant SRS. Definitive SRS was selectively used to treat both sacral (n = 7) and mobile spine (n = 5) chordomas. Surgical strategies for the mobile spine were either intralesional, gross-total resection (n = 5) or separation surgery (n = 7) and for the sacrum en bloc sacrectomy (n = 11). The 3- and 5-year LRFS rates were 86.2% and 80.5%, respectively. Among 32 patients (91%) receiving 24-Gy radiation doses, the 3- and 5-year LRFS rates were 96.3% and 89.9%, respectively. The 3- and 5-year OS rates were 90.0% and 84.3%, respectively. The symptom response rate to treatment was 88% for pain and radiculopathy. The extent or type of surgery was not associated with LRFS, OS, or symptom response rates (p > 0.05), but en bloc resection was associated with higher surgical toxicity, as measured using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 5.0) classification tool, than epidural decompression and curettage/intralesional resection (p = 0.03). The long-term rate of toxicity ≥ grade 2 was 31%, including 20% grade 3 tissue necrosis, recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, myelopathy, fracture, and secondary malignancy.

CONCLUSIONS
High-dose spinal SRS offers the chance for durable radiological control and effective symptom relief with acceptable toxicity in patients with primary chordomas as either a definitive or adjuvant therapy.


Much has been written about the role of government regulation in facilitating automobile-oriented sprawl. Zoning codes reduce walkability by artificially segregating housing from commerce, forcing businesses and multifamily landlords to surround their buildings with parking, and artificially reducing density. The "smart growth" movement seeks to reverse these policies, both through regulation and through more libertarian, deregulatory policies. The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent cities have in fact chosen the former path, and to discuss the possible side effects of prescriptive smart growth and green building regulations. In particular, this paper focuses on attempts to make cities more pedestrian-friendly (as opposed to smart growth policies designed to restrict the location of suburban development).This article focuses on the zoning regulations of twenty-four mid-sized cities (that is, cities with between 500,000 and 1 million residents); I chose this sample because it is large enough to reflect the policies of a reasonably diverse number of cities, yet small enough to be manageable. In addition, I focus on three types of regulation: parking, density, and "green building."


The coastal zone is the interface through which land-ocean exchanges in the Arctic are mediated and it is the region of most high-latitude human activities. The coastal margin hosts a complex interaction of marine, terrestrial and atmospheric processes that are extremely vulnerable to predicted environmental changes and anthropogenic stressors. These coasts are typically permafrost-dominated and suffer from rapid erosion with serious implications for ecosystems and communities.Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD) is a multi-disciplinary, multi-national program of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the International Permafrost Association (IPA) and a regional project of IGBP-LOICZ (International Geosphere-Biosphere Program Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone). The overall objective of ACD is to improve our understanding of circum-Arctic coastal dynamics as a function of environmental forcing, coastal geology and permafrost and morphodynamic behavior. A major focus has been on the development of a circum-Arctic coastal classification in GIS (Geographical Information System) format to visualize and analyze the current status of the Arctic coastal region and its sensitivity to environmental changes.The entire circum-Arctic coastline has been segmented into homogenous elements and each element has been classified according to a coastal classification template, which includes information on morphology, composition and erosion rate. Numerous local expert groups of the ACD project were involved in the segmentation and classification procedure. Subsets of available data for various parameters, summarized under the term environmental forcing, such as winds, waves, currents, sea-level, water and air temperatures, sea ice, etc., have been extracted and formatted for inclusion in the circum-Arctic GIS.Based on the ACD project and the ICARP II Arctic Coastal Working Group, an expression of interest for an Arctic Circum-Polar Coastal Observatory Network (ACCO-Net) has been submitted for the International Polar Year (IPY). ACCO-Net has been selected as lead project for the IPY cluster Coasts and Margins Arctic and the full proposal has been officially endorsed by the IPY Joint Committee. The ACD GIS presented in this poster will provide an excellent base for circum-Arctic coastal monitoring suggested by the ICARP II Arctic Coastal Working Group and to be implemented within the IPY project ACCO-Net.


The corrosion of SiCp / 6061 A1 in 3% NaCl solution, at pH values of 3.8, 7.2 and 10.2, has been studied using SEM and combined scanning Auger electron/ X-ray microscopy. The MMC, fabricated by powder metallurgy, contains approximately 15 percent (volume) SiC as < 10 mum particles. Scatter diagrams are applied to analyze elemental maps created by scanning Auger microscopy. The experiments reveal that some impurity elements such as Fe, Ti etc., introduced during fabrication, form intermetallic compounds and that these are the dominant factors causing micro-galvanic corrosion. The Auger maps show, by inspection, that oxygen is enriched after exposure around these intermetallics. This has been confirmed by using scatter diagrams to analyze the data contained within the map. The phenomenon is probably caused by the dissolution of aluminium, resulting in the deposition of porous corrosion products such as Al(OH)3 and AlOOH. Because of a low overpotential for oxygen reduction, the intermetallic compounds are expected to act as cathodes. This is confirmed by the finding of magnesium hydroxide on the surface of the intermetallics after exposure of the specimen in MgCl2 solution. It is shown that the onset of this deposition can be used to estimate the cathodic current density at the cathode. Current density at the SiC particles, estimated by this method is negligible, suggesting that the principal cause of corrosion is found in the interaction between the aluminium alloy and the intermetallics. The same method is used for SiC, / 6061 A1 MMC. Intermetallic particles are found much more likely to be located at a fibre / matrix interface, and they are still a sensitive factor for localized corrosion. There is some Cr in the Fe-containing intermetallics in this matrix, this type of intermetallic is not very susceptible to micro-galvanic corrosion. Another different aspect is that the reinforcing material in SiCf / 6061 A1 MMC is directly associated with the micro-corrosion cell. The reinforcing SiC fibre belongs to the SCS series which consists of three different layers. The SiC is grown on a carbon core by chemical vapour deposition and a protective coating is applied on the outside of the fibre. This coating is mainly composed of carbon which is slightly enriched in silicon at the surface. In this investigation we found that carbon core and carbon coating act as cathodes and form a galvanic cell with surrounding aluminium alloy. This is confirmed by the magnesium decoration method. Electrochemical techniques are also used. Several kinds of SiC fibres and graphite fibres are cathodically polarized in 3% NaCl solution. By comparison with the anodic polarization curve of A1 alloy, the galvanic cells between A1 alloy and carbon core or protective coating are confirmed. There is no galvanic effect between A1 and pure SiC. Al3Fe is extracted from intermetallic enriched A1 alloy, and the electrochemical performance of this intermetallic is investigated.


Background: Pregnant women inhabiting urban slums are a "high risk" group with limited access to health facilities. Hazardous maternal health practices are rampant in slum areas. Barriers to utilization of health services are well documented. Slums in the same city may differ from one another in their health indicators and service utilization rates. The study examines whether hazardous maternal care practices exist in and whether there are differences in the utilization rates of health services in two different slums. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in two urban slums of Aligarh city (Uttar Pradesh, India). House-to-house survey was conducted and 200 mothers having live births in the study period were interviewed. The outcome measures were utilization of antenatal care, natal care, postnatal care, and early infant feeding practices. Rates of hazardous health practices and reasons for these practices were elicited. Results: Hazardous maternal health practices were common. At least one antenatal visit was accepted by a little more than half the mothers, but delivery was predominantly home based carried out under unsafe conditions. Important barriers to utilization included family tradition, financial constraints, and rude behavior of health personnel in hospitals. Significant differences existed between the two slums. Conclusion: The fact that barriers to utilization at a local level may differ significantly between slums must be recognized, identified, and addressed in the district level planning for health. Empowerment of slum communities as one of the stakeholders can lend them a stronger voice and help improve access to services.


Translocalities/Translocalidades is a path-breaking collection of essays on Latin American, Caribbean, and United States–based Latina feminisms and their multiple translations and cross-pollinations. The contributors come from countries throughout the Americas and are based in diverse disciplines, including media studies, literature, Chicana/o studies, and political science. Together, they advocate a hemispheric politics based on the knowledge that today, many sorts of Latin/o-americanidades—Afro, queer, indigenous, feminist, and so on—are constructed through processes of translocation. Latinidad in the South, North and Caribbean "middle" of the Americas, is constituted out of the intersections of the intensified cross-border, transcultural, and translocal flows that characterize contemporary transmigration throughout the hemisphere, from La Paz to Buenos Aires to Chicago and back again. Rather than immigrating and assimilating, many people in the Latin/a Americas increasingly move back and forth between localities, between historically situated and culturally specific, though increasingly porous, places, across multiple borders, and not just between nations. The contributors deem these multidirectional crossings and movements, and the positionalities engendered, translocalities/ translocalidades .

Contributors. Sonia E. Alvarez, Kiran Asher, Victoria (Vicky) M. Banales, Marisa Belausteguigoitia Rius, Maylei Blackwell, Cruz C. Bueno, Pascha Bueno-Hansen, Mirangela Buggs, Teresa Carrillo, Claudia de Lima Costa, Isabel Espinal, Veronica Feliu, Macarena Gomez-Barris, Rebecca J. Hester, Norma Klahn, Agustin Lao-Montes, Suzana Maia, Margara Millan, Adriana Piscitelli, Ana Rebeca Prada, Ester R. Shapiro, Simone Pereira Schmidt, Millie Thayer


Active smoking has been identify as a major risk factor for accelerated decline of respiratory function, development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, i.e. chronic bronchitis and emphysema) and causally related to lung cancer. @@ In adolescents, smoking increases in the number and severity of respiratory illness, decreased physical fitness, adverse changes in blood cholesterol levels, more school absenteeism, and appears to reduce the rate of lung growth and the maximum lung function that can be achieved compared with non-smokers. @@ Although the effects take some time to develop and are not immediately apparent after beginning the smoking habit. Studies show that, some measurable smoking related changes in respiratory function can be detected as early as 1 to 2 years after smoking is started. The rise in the prevalence of smoking in adolescents in recent years has implications for future adult smoking rates and health costs. Therefore understanding the impact of smoking at young age may help public health policy makers to develop strategy to prevent or delay adolescent smoking. @@ The present study was carried out to determine the effect of short-term smoking habits on respiratory health in young college students. @@ The study population consisted of 1170 first year Navarra college students between 18 and 19 years of age with a mean age of 19 (range 18 to 35 years) Ten subjects were excluded from this analysis due to missing data for gender. This resulted in a total sample of 1160. Male (N = 416,35.9%) Female (N = 744, 64.1%). Subjects were categorized either as daily-smokers, occasional-smokers, and non-smokers based on self-reported smoking status. Of the 1160 samples, 44 had missing smoking data. Smoking status was validated using biological markers such as serum cotinine and breath carbon monoxide (CO). Breath CO was performed using Bedfont EC-50 smokerlyzer model (Bedfont instruments, Kent, UK). Serum samples were obtained after centrifugation and they were shipped in dry ice and sent by special courier to Bielefeld School of Public Health Laboratory, Germany, where serum cotinine was measured by radioimmunoassay. The effect of smoking on respiratory health was assessed by pulmonary function test (PFT) after adjusted for age, height gender and weight. Pulmonary function test was performed using calibrated pneumotachograph spirometer (Datorspyr 100, Sybel 5121 Barcelona) in accordance with the American Thoracic Society (1987) European Respiratory Society (1993) and the Spanish Society of Respiratory Disease and Thoracic Surgery (1985) standards. Casan (1985) reference values for pulmonary function test for this population were used. @@ Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS program version 10.0 (SPSS Inc. Chicago, Illinois, USA). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compared the means of the nine different spirometric indices for smoking and non-smoking groups with both Scheffe and Tukey post-hoc tests for comparisons. Multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the relation between cigarette smoking and spirometric parameters. @@ The results were considered statistically significant if the p value was less than 0.05. @@ Of the 1116 respondents, 32,7% (N=365) were daily-smokers, 17,7% (N= 198) occasional-smokers, and 49,6% (N= 553) non-smokers. The overall smoking prevalence was 50, 4%. Because no significant difference was found between occasional-smokers and non-smokers in the regression analysis for the pulmonary function tests, for this reason, smokers were considered as a single group. The mean pulmonary function values (expressed as volume of air in liters or L/s) of all the pulmonary function tests (FVC, FEV1, FEV.05, FEV1/FVC%, FEF25-75%, MEF25%, MEF50%, MEF 75%,) were significantly lower in smokers as compared to non-smokers (p<0.05). Except for FVC which no significant differences in the group means were observed. The following results were obtained for the pulmonary function tests between smokers and non-smokers after exclusion of occasional-smokers. FVC (3.80 vs. 3.89), FEV1 (3.14 vs. 3.33), FEV.05 (2.30 vs.2.48), FEV1/FVC% (85.97 vs. 88.25), FEF25-75% (3.65 vs. 4.07), MEF25% (2.19 vs. 2.44), MEF50% (4.16 vs. 4.66), MEF 75% (5..56 vs.6.25). @@ Based on the results of this study, it is concluded that, cigarette smoking is associated with a decrease in respiratory function and appeared to start at an earlier age in smokers. Although the duration and intensity of smoking in this age group, may have a weak impact to cause respiratory health abnormalities often observed among older smokers. The results emphasize the need for effective measures to prevent adolescent smoking


From his many births to his deathbed deeds, this authoritative biography unites the Buddha of history with the Buddha of legend in a bid to reveal the lasting spiritual relevance at the heart of the Buddhist tradition. Acclaimed scholar John Strong examines not only the historical texts, but also the supernatural accounts that surround this great religious figure, uncovering the roots of many Buddhist beliefs and practices. Accompanied by helpful charts and tables, and drawing on a vast array of primary sources, the text also features such key topics as: biographical accounts from all the Buddhist schools, an analysis of the Buddha's enlightenment, the life of the Buddha as depicted by Buddhist art and rituals, and the relics of Siddhartha Gautama, and how they continue his story, even after his lifetime.


In this paper, a novel robust field-weakening control strategy is proposed for surface-mounted permanent-magnet motor drives to achieve fast dynamic response and minimum copper loss over four-quadrant operation regions. First, a closed-form solution of the maximum available torque-producing current is proposed for calculating the corresponding bounds in real time to achieve both fast response and automatic field-weakening control. Second, the partial field-weakening concept and the classification of ten operation regions for four-quadrant operations are proposed. It is seen that consideration of the stator resistance is crucial to achieve the fastest response. Third, a robust tuner based on the proposed virtual maximum phase voltage amplitude together with a minimum copper-loss controller based on the partial field-weakening concept is proposed to achieve minimum copper loss over the entire operating range. Fourth, a dc-link voltage sensorless control version is also proposed which is very useful in electrical vehicle applications. Finally, a digital-signal-processor-based prototype driver is also constructed to verify the validity of the proposed control strategy.


Isotope mass balance in lake systems is strongly correlated with several climatic factors such as temperature, evaporation, precipitation and air moisture. On the other hand, the sedimentary budget of lake basins driven by climate, tectonic and/or human impact is an essential pool of environmental records. Precipitation, springs and lake water δD and δ18O isotope data were used in order to understand the key factors for the hydrological balance of Balkan lakes in West Macedonia. In general, it is concluded that the open lake Ohrida and the semi-closed lake Kastoria are more buffered hydrological as karst systems and less sensitive to evaporation effect, in contrast to the closed lake system of Prespes that present a strong dependence on climate seasonality. Based on oxygen isotopes in bulk sediments, it is concluded that in Kastoria lake basin an increased run-off on the land surface, probably under a more humid period, in 2.4 kyr BP disturbed the transition to a drier regime from mid/late Holocene to present.


The recently proposed ADIIS and LIST methods for accelerating self-consistent field (SCF) convergence are compared to the previously proposed energy-DIIS (EDIIS) + DIIS technique. We here show mathematically that the ADIIS functional is identical to EDIIS for Hartree-Fock wavefunctions. Convergence failures of EDIIS + DIIS reported in the literature are not reproduced with our codes. We also show that when correctly implemented, the EDIIS + DIIS method is generally better than the LIST methods, at least for the cases previously examined in the literature. We conclude that, among the family of DIIS methods, EDIIS + DIIS remains the method of choice for SCF convergence acceleration.


The aim of the study was to acquire knowledge that can be used to refine radical hysterectomy to improve quality-of-life outcome. Data were collected in 1996–1997 by means of an anonymous postal questionnaire in a follow-up study of two cohorts (patients and population controls). We attempted to enroll all 332 patients with stage IB–IIA cervical cancer registered in 1991–1992 at the seven departments of gynecological oncology in Sweden and 489 population controls. Ninety three (37%) of the 256 women with a history of cervical cancer who answered the questionnaire (77%) were treated with surgery alone. Three-hundred fifty population controls answered the questionnaire (72%). Women treated with radical hysterectomy, as compared with controls, had an 8-fold increase in symptoms indicating lymphedema (25% reported distress due to lymphedema), a nearly 9-fold increase in difficult emptying of the bladder, and a 22-fold increase in the need to strain to initiate bladder evacuation. Ninety percent of the patients were not willing to trade off survival for freedom from symptoms. Avoiding to induce long-term lymphedema or bladder-emptying difficulties would probably improve quality of life after radical hysterectomy (to cure cervical cancer). Few women want to compromise survival to avoid long-term symptoms.


Abstract: One of the more important divergences between the common and civil laws relates to the enforceability of penalties in contracts. Put simply, the common law rejects penalties as being repugnant to the compensatory nature of contract damages. The civil law enforces penalty clauses as a manifestation of freedom of contract, unless the stipulated damages are determined to be manifestly excessive. This article compares these two approaches and finds the civil law rule to be the superior one. It uses insights from law and economics and, more importantly, from behavioural law and economics (BLAE) to show that penalties can be used to encourage parties to make more rational decisions. In summary, BLAE shows that penalties serve numerous functions other than punishing a party for non-performance. Penalties serve to signal the reliability of a party to provide additional resources to improve the chance of timely performance and to allocate the risk of loss to the most efficient insurer. It concludes that the common law's law of liquidated damages (penalties) should be rejected and the enforceability of penalties should only be limited by the doctrine of unconscionability.


The dynamics of the large dune systems adjacent to lowlands and to the oceanic coastline in Uruguay is likely to be affected both by sea level rise and wind circulation patterns. A simple eolian sand transport model, which relates wind friction, frequency and direction to sand transport, was used to estimate annual sand transport as a measure of the impact of potential climate changes on the stability of dune systems and beaches. The model was adjusted to local conditions using real wind-matrix and eolian-transport data from the past 5 decades. The climate change scenarios considered assume a positive or negative 10% change in the frequency of the South Atlantic Anticyclone winds, since its position determines the near-surface wind circulation pattern. Results obtained at the Cabo Polonio study area indicate that, in the medium and long term, coastal recession is likely to occur due to a decrease in coastal dunefield activity induced by changes in wind pattern. It was also observed that, should current anthropogenic impact in the area remain unchanged, the situation would be equally serious even under a non-climate-change scenario. This is due to the fact that the forestation process that has taken place over the past 20 yr has caused the immobilization of a significant portion of the dune system, preventing natural sand transfer to the coast. In recent years a still insufficient deforestation effort, intended to stop coastline recession, has taken place.


Periodic driving of strongly correlated systems has led to outstanding discoveries from light-induced superconductivity to time crystals. To gain insights into the fundamental nature of these phenomena, we have recently studied the effects of an external periodic driving in a well-controlled yet simple many-body platform consisting of a Bose-Einstein condensate inside a high-finesse optical cavity. This system hosts a competition between a homogeneous condensate phase and a self-organized density wave phase, which manifests in a superradiant phase transition as the intensity of a transverse pump beam is increased. We demonstrate dynamical control of this phase transition by periodic driving of the pump laser. Furthermore, we discover the emergence of genuine dynamical phases, namely a discrete time crystalline phase and nonequilibrium density wave orders. Accompanying experimental results confirm our theoretical predictions about light-induced control in the atom-cavity system.


During routine dissection we observed a high origin of the right testicular artery from the abdominal aorta in a middle-aged formalin-fixed male cadaver of indigenous Kenyan descent. The artery arched above the right renal vein to course through a hiatus in the inferior vena cava at its confluence with the right renal vein. In this case, the renal artery gave long tortuous segmental branches, one of which did not pass through the hilum but pursued a course towards the superior pole of the kidney. The high origin and arching of the testicular artery has previously been reported. However, its association with the course of the testicular artery through a hiatus in the inferior vena cava together with the long tortuous course of the renal artery and a polar segmental artery is, to the best of our knowledge, a unique finding that should be noted. The possible embryologic basis for this variation as well as its clinical significance is discussed.


Dollar spot disease is a major concern for golf courses nationwide, resulting in poor turf quality and significant damage to playing surfaces. To manage this disease effectively, fungicides need to be applied regularly. This management strategy represents a significant cost to turfgrass managers and may impact the economics of the industry in North Dakota. In the summer of 2011, small, circular, sunken brown patches of dead turf approximately 5 cm in diameter and resembling dollar spot disease were observed on a creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) variety trial at the North Dakota State University Agricultural Experiment Station in Fargo, ND. Fresh individual leaf specimens with distinct lesions having straw colored centers and reddish brown margins were collected. Leaves were surface disinfected in a 0.05% sodium chloride solution for 60 s, rinsed three times in sterile distilled water, then placed onto potato dextrose agar (PDA). Three isolates were obtained from the disease infested leaves with similar morphology to that described for Sclerotinia homoeocarpa F.T. Bennett (1). Fungal colonies were initially colorless followed by the development of sparse white columnar aerial mycelia with cinnamon colored bases. Hyphae were 5 to 8 μm wide and thin walled with dense granular contents and septations at irregular intervals. Fourteen days after culturing, dark brown to black mycelial stroma developed. A single representative isolate was selected to conduct inoculations. Inoculum was produced by placing six 5-mm-diameter plugs of PDA with actively growing mycelium into an Erlenmeyer flask with 40 g of sterile millet seed. The inoculum was incubated for 14 days at ambient temperature (20 to 25°C). Three creeping bentgrass cultivars, Crenshaw, Declaration, and L-93, were inoculated (two pots per cultivar). Following inoculation, the pots were misted with water, sealed in separate plastic bags, and placed in the dark for 48 h. For the next 5 days, plants were placed for 8 h outside of bags on a bench with full spectrum fluorescent bulbs, followed by 16 h in plastic bags in the dark. Finally, pots were placed on a bench for 48 h. Signs and symptoms of S. homoeocarpa developed on all pots, whereas the controls remained asymptomatic. The same fungus was reisolated from grass leaves, satisfying Koch's postulates. To confirm the identity of the fungus, the internal transcribed spacer was amplified using the ITS4 and ITS5 primers (2). The amplicon was sequenced, generating a 549-bp sequence (Accession No. JQ735942) with 100% similarity to sequences of S. homoeocarpa in GenBank (Accession Nos. GQ924924.1, GQ924923.1, and EU123801.1). To our knowledge, this is the first confirmed report of dollar spot in North Dakota. References: (1) F. T. Bennett. Ann. Appl. Biol. 24:236, 1937. (2) T. J. White et al. PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications. Academic Press Inc., New York, 1990.


A general model has been developed for the output power optimization of fiber-coupled laser-diode end-pumped lasers by including the thermal effect into the analysis. The optical path difference (OPD) distribution has been derived as a function of the pump-beam quality, focus position of pumping light, and pump radius at the focal plane under the assumption that the end faces of the crystal are thermally insulated. With the derived OPD, the diffraction losses arising from thermal-induced spherical aberration have been estimated by the strehl intensity ratio. The practical example of a Nd:YVO4 laser pumped by a 1.2 W fiber-coupled laser diode is considered to illustrate the utility of the present model. Experimental results have shown a fairly good agreement with the theoretical predictions.


Detection of abnormalities and defects in rotating machines is of prime importance for
industry and equipment. It avoids the occurrence of unplanned down time of machines that
causes serious damage and costly downtime. Several condition monitoring techniques have
been applied to improve the plant reliability and reduce the downtime. Generally, bearing
represents the commonly used part in all rotating machines and equipment. Various rotating
machine problems are encountered during plant and equipment operation. These include
overload, unbalance, misalignment and over speed. Any of these problems can cause the
bearings to deteriorate. It is therefore necessary to detect and diagnose the bearing faults in
order to avoid serious problems which could lead to catastrophic machine failure.
This thesis explores the effectiveness of acoustic emission (AE) technique for incipient
detection of faults related to bearings. To understand the pattern of acoustic signals a series
of measurements are performed in an experimental test rig which is developed to examine
the bearings health condition. Initially a number of experiments are conducted for a
collection of healthy bearings. Each bearing is tested at various motor speeds and loads.
Consequently, significant amounts of acoustic data are recorded as reference.
Measurements are extended for poorly lubricated and seeded defect bearings which are
created by electrical discharge machine. Comparison of the results indicated that the
amplitudes of AE signals provide valuable information regarding bearings health condition.
On the other hand, fast Fourier transforms implemented for the acquired time domain
signals have significantly distinguished between the normal, onset, and defective bearings.
The study shows the importance of couplant grease in the transmission ability of the high
frequency acoustic signals.
The AE technique is implemented 111 an industrial plant to monitor and diagnose the
operating condition of the rotating machinery. A couple of AE measurements are conducted
on motors and pumps used in chemical process plant. The results obtained discriminate
between the machines working at normal conditions and that start to deteriorate.
Statistical methods are used to recapitulate the data obtained to demonstrate the
significance and valuable characteristics of acoustic signals. In this regards, the statistical
analyses are carried out for the time domain acoustic data acquired from the experimental
test rig. The results clearly differentiate between normal and defective bearings.


In the field of artificial intelligence, Adaptive Learning Technique refers to the combination of artificial neural networks. In this research paper the Adaptive Learning Technique has been implemented to carry out the Detection and Localization of Sound (S). In this technique two methods are used to detect the pure sound, In the first method wiener filter are used to reduce the amount of noise in a signal and minimize the mean square error (M.S.E), And in the second method wiener with bacterial foraging optimization are used for effectiveness in sound. These proposed methods are compared and the results reveal its superiority.


We goal of the work is to derive four-voice music pieces from given musical plans, which describe the harmonic flow and the intentions of a desired composition. We developed the experimentation platform COMPOzE for intention based composition. COMPOzE is based on constraint programming over finite domains of integers. We argue that constraint programming provides a suitable technology for this task and that the libraries and tools available for the constraint programming system Oz effectively support the implementation of COMPOzE. This work links the research areas of automatic music composition on one hand and finite domain constraint programming on the other, and contributes the tool COMPOzE, which practically demonstrates the potential of constraint programming to open up new areas of application for automatic music composition.


Life coaching lacks a clear ontology of its range and depth. What is clear though is that people seek life coaching to make changes in their lives. One kind of change is frequently demonstrated in Gestalt psychology: when looking at a picture, perception dictates what you see as 'figure' and what as 'ground' and it is not possible to see both simultaneously. Then a 'switch' happens and the perception of figure and ground reverses, resulting in an 'Aha' moment. In this research I was interested to explore whether the psychological 'Aha' moment is fundamental to the transformational change sought by the 'Co-Active' model of life coaching (Whitworth et al, 1998). A phenomenological methodology was used that reduced first-person accounts to common themes through a grounded theory analysis. Co-Active coaches gathered data from client participants: diaries captured the lived experience of the Aha moment, and questionnaires and interviews conveyed the lingering effects of the moment on beliefs and behaviour. Each phase – diaries, questionnaires and interviews, informed the next. Findings reveal that the 'Aha' moment is experienced somatically and emotionally as well as cognitively, with the striking of many chords across a spectrum of consciousness from body, to mind, to soul, to spirit (Wilber 1989). The more chords it strikes, the greater the resonance and degree of cognitive and behavioural change.


Numerous methods have been proposed for probabilistic generative modelling of 3D objects. However, none of these is able to produce textured objects, which renders them of limited use for practical tasks. In this work, we present the first generative model of textured 3D meshes. Training such a model would traditionally require a large dataset of textured meshes, but unfortunately, existing datasets of meshes lack detailed textures. We instead propose a new training methodology that allows learning from collections of 2D images without any 3D information. To do so, we train our model to explain a distribution of images by modelling each image as a 3D foreground object placed in front of a 2D background. Thus, it learns to generate meshes that when rendered, produce images similar to those in its training set. A well-known problem when generating meshes with deep networks is the emergence of self-intersections, which are problematic for many use-cases. As a second contribution we therefore introduce a new generation process for 3D meshes that guarantees no self-intersections arise, based on the physical intuition that faces should push one another out of the way as they move. We conduct extensive experiments on our approach, reporting quantitative and qualitative results on both synthetic data and natural images. These show our method successfully learns to generate plausible and diverse textured 3D samples for five challenging object classes.


Abstract Disclosing personal information to another person has beneficial emotional, relational, and psychological outcomes. When disclosers believe they are interacting with a computer instead of another person, such as a chatbot that can simulate human-to-human conversation, outcomes may be undermined, enhanced, or equivalent. Our experiment examined downstream effects after emotional versus factual disclosures in conversations with a supposed chatbot or person. The effects of emotional disclosure were equivalent whether participants thought they were disclosing to a chatbot or to a person. This study advances current understanding of disclosure and whether its impact is altered by technology, providing support for media equivalency as a primary mechanism for the consequences of disclosing to a chatbot.


Changing trends in travel pattern, recreational and adventure tourism which consist of
various enjoyable activities are rapidly growing and becoming more popular. As such,
Malaysia is promoting fishing activities as one of the divisions under recreational tourism
due to the vast potential and selection of fishing locale which have diverse species of fish
in accordance with the equatorial climate of the country. This study aimed to explore the
potential, impact of developments and the sustainable approach that have been
implemented in order to preserve the natural resources as well as maintaining the
numbers of incoming visitors to Kenyir Lake. Qualitative approach with semi-structured
interview with fishing experts was undertaken to get valid data on the development and
sustainable strategies that have been executed at the research area. Findings clearly
revealed that, fishing tourism has a big potential to attract more tourists to the country
and there are identical data on the positive and negative impacts of the development
within the Kenyir Lake area. There are many strategies being implemented by Central
Terengganu Development Authorities (KETENGAH) and Malaysia Fishing Association
(PeMM) together with knowledgeable anglers who strive to preserve Kenyir Lake for
future generations to come.


Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique has been used for the prediction of voltage THD (Total Harmonic Distortion), mainly from input and output measurements of three phase, squirrel cage induction motors fed from a pulse width modulation inverter voltage supply. The induction motors have different construction, different power and produced by different firm. A sinusoidal pulse-width modulation (SPWM) inverter feeding three-phase induction motors were tested up to first thirty harmonic voltage components at different loads. The results show that the artificial neural network model produces reliable estimates of voltage THD.


The Amoeba project is a research effort aimed at understanding how to connect multiple computers in a seamless way [16, 17, 26, 27, 31]. The basic idea is to provide the users with the illusion of a single powerful timesharing system, when, in fact, the system is implemented on a collection of machines, potentially distributed among several countries. This research has led to the design and implementation of the Amoeba distributed operating system, which is being used as a prototype and vehicle for further research. In this article we will describe the current state of the system (Amoeba 4.0), and show some of the lessons we have learned designing and using it over the past eight years. We will also discuss how this experience has influenced our plans for the next version, Amoeba 5.0. Amoeba was originally designed and implemented at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, and is now being jointly developed there and at the Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica, also in Amsterdam. The chief goal of this work is to build a distributed system that is transparent to the users. This concept can best be illustrated by contrasting it with a network operating system, in which each machine retains its own identity. With a network operating system, each user logs into one specific machine—his home machine. When a program is started, it executes on the home machine, unless the user gives an explicit command to run it elsewhere. Similarly, files are local unless a remote file system is explicitly mounted or files are explicitly copied. In short, the user is clearly aware that multiple independent computers exist, and must deal with them explicitly. In contrast, users effectively log into a transparent distributed system as a whole, rather than to any specific machine. When a program is run, the system—not the user—decides upon the best place to run it. The user is not even aware of this choice. Finally, there is a single, system-wide file system. The files in a single directory may be located on different machines, possibly in different countries. There is no concept of file transfer, uploading or downloading from servers, or mounting remote file systems. A file's position in the directory hierarchy has no relation to its location. The remainder of this article will describe Amoeba and the lessons we have learned from building it. In the next section, we will give a technical overview of Amoeba as it currently stands. Since Amoeba uses the client-server model, we will then describe some of the more important servers that have been implemented so far. This is followed by a description of how wide-area networks are handled. Then we will discuss a number of applications that run on Amoeba. Measurements have shown Amoeba to be fast, so we will present some of our data. After that, we will discuss the successes and failures we have encountered, so that others may profit from those ideas that have worked out well and avoid those that have not. Finally we conclude with a very brief comparison between Amoeba and other systems. Before describing the software, however, it is worth saying something about the system architecture on which Amoeba runs.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Schizophrenia is a debilitating illness with a chronic impact on social function and daily living. Although various antipsychotics are available, there are still many challenges and unmet needs. Thus, many compounds with diverse mechanisms have been investigated, but all approved antipsychotics still require interactions with dopamine D2 receptors. Areas covered: We searched for investigational drugs using the key words 'dopamine' and 'schizophrenia' in American and European clinical trial registers (clinicaltrials.gov; clinicaltrialsregister.eu). Published articles were searched in PubMed, Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), the Web of Science and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials Library. Expert opinion: The prospect of developing a dopamine antagonist is hopeful. Brexpiprazole and cariprazine, which were agents listed as 'investigational dopamine antagonists,' just received FDA approval. Novel agents such as BL 1020, ITI-007, and JNJ-37822681 have solid published data available, and agents such as L-THP, Lu AF35700, S33138, and SB-773812 are under vigorous investigation. However, the expected benefits of the newly developed antagonists may not be great because they offer little enhanced efficacy for negative symptoms, cognition and functional outcomes.


This paper presents a model of endogenous growth in the presence of habit formation in consumption. We argue that in addition to the traditional disutility effects of habitual consumption, the past history of consumption represents a past record of transactions as well. As a result, the knowledge acquired in the process of past consumption leads to efficiency gains in allocating time to other activities. In particular, the investment technology in broad household capital can be seen as benefiting from the habitual consumption knowledge, while being subject to the costly new consumption pathways learning. These learning-by-consuming effects imply a faster speed of convergence to the steady state growth rate in consumption and a higher steady state ratio of capital to habits. Alternatively our model allows for the case where new consumption is associated with the accumulation of broad capital, as is consistent with the case where consumption goods can also be used in production. In this case convergence to steady state growth rate is slower.


Fracture systems or networks always control the stability, deformability, fluid and gas storage capacity and permeability, and other mechanical and hydraulic behavior of rock masses. The characterization of fracture systems is of great significance for understanding and analyzing the impact of fractures to rock mass behavior. Fracture trace data have long been used by engineers and geologists to character fracture system. For subsurface fractures, however, boreholes, wells, tunnels and other cylindrical samplings of fractures often provide high quality fracture trace data and have not been sufficiently utilized. The research work presented herein is intended to interpret fracture traces on borehole walls and other cylindrical surfaces by using stereology. The relationships between the three-dimension fracture intensity measure, P32, and the lower dimension fracture intensity measures are studied. The analytical results show that the conversion factor between the three-dimension fracture intensity measure and the twodimension intensity measure on borehole surface is not dependent on fracture size, shape or circular cylinder radius, but is related to the orientation of the cylinder and the orientation distribution of fractures weight by area. The conversion factor between the two intensity measures is determined to be in the range of [1.0, π/2]. The conversion factors are also discussed when sampling in constant sized or unbounded fractures with orientation of Fisher distribution. At last, the author proposed estimators for mean fracture size (length and width) with borehole/shaft samplings in sedimentary rocks based on a probabilistic model. The estimators and the intensity conversion factors are tested and have got satisfactory results by Monte Carlo simulations.


A novel method for obtaining a single shot multi-point high dynamic range pulse contrast measurement is presented. We use Dammann gratings to generate multiple beamlets by division of amplitude on ultrashort laser pulses. The analysis results show that this method can achieve high dynamic range in pulse contrast measurement on a single shot by using photomultiplier tube (PMT) detectors and the long working distances to minimize cross talk between channels. Some distortion of pulse shape is also analyzed detailedly with the Dammann grating and its compensation grating, which may degrade the pulse contrast measurement in some degree by pulse stretching and spectrum clipping.


There is a gap between the discipline of economics and the public it is supposedly about and for. This gap is reminiscent of the divide that led to movements for the public understanding of and public engagement with the natural sciences. It is a gap in knowledge, trust, and opinions, but most of all it is a gap in engagement. In this paper we ask: What do we need to think about ― and what do we need to do ― in order to bring economics and its public into closer dialogue? At stake is engaged, critical democracy. We turn to the fields of public understanding of science and science studies for our approach, finding three themes of particular relevance: understanding, expertise, and audience. We then discuss participatory budgeting (PB) as an example of fertile ground for engagement. We argue that with an economic-engagement focus, activities such as PB could be extended into the public-economics gap and provide avenues for an economic equivalent of participatory science: a form of participatory economics.


The low specificity and high risk of intracranial hemorrhage associated with currently approved thrombolytic therapies limit their efficacy in recanalizing occluded vessels. Here, a nanoscale thrombolytic agent is demonstrated by immobilizing tissue plasminogen activator molecules (tPA) over 20 nm clustered iron oxide nanocubes (NCs). The resulting nanoconstructs (tPA–NCs) are capable of dissolving clots via both direct interaction of tPA with the fibrin network (chemical lysis) and localized hyperthermia upon stimulation of superparamagnetic NCs with alternating magnetic fields (AMFs) (mechanical lysis). In vitro, as compared to free tPA, the proposed nanoconstructs demonstrate a ≈100‐fold increase in dissolution rate, possibly because of a more intimate interaction of tPA with the fibrin network. The clot dissolution rate is further enhanced (≈10‐fold) by mild, localized heating resulting from the exposure of tPA–NCs to AMF. Intravital microscopy experiments demonstrate blood vessel reperfusion within a few minutes post tail vein injection of tPA–NCs. The proposed nanoconstructs also exhibit high transverse relaxivity (>400 × 10–3 m−1 s−1) for magnetic resonance imaging. The multifunctional properties and the 3 orders of magnitude enhancement in clot dissolution make tPA–NCs a promising nano‐theranosis agent in thrombotic disease.