: The subject of research in this paper is the kinematic analysis of the slider-crank mechanism of an internal combustion (IC) engine. The piston, connecting rod and crankshaft are the most important moving parts of an IC engine. The performance of IC engines largely depends on the design of the mentioned parts. Special attention should be paid to the kinematic analysis of the slider-crank mechanism, when constructing IC engines. Properly performed kinematic analysis is a prerequisite for the design of an efficient IC engine. Today, there are many software packages that make it much easier for engineers to perform fast and efficient kinematic analysis of machine assemblies. This paper presents the use of kinematic analysis software on the example of a slider-crank mechanism, an IC engine.


The gradual shear acceleration of energetic particles in gamma-ray burst (GRB) jets is considered. Special emphasis is given to the analysis of universal structured jets, and characteristic acceleration timescales are determined for a power-law evolution and a Gaussian evolution of the bulk flow Lorentz factor γb with angle ϕ from the jet axis. The results suggest that local power-law particle distributions may be generated and that higher energy particles are generally concentrated closer to the jet axis. Taking several constraints into account, we show that efficient electron acceleration in gradual shear flows, with maximum particle energy successively decreasing with time, may be possible on scales larger than r ~ 1015 cm, provided the jet magnetic field becomes sufficiently weak and/or decreases rapidly enough with distance, while efficient acceleration of protons to ultrahigh energies >1020 eV may be possible under a wide range of conditions.


Aim: The Objective of this study was to assess the effect of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) on treatment outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) patients in the Central Development Region of Nepal.
Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted in central Nepal. The study population of n=408 was consecutively recruited from treatment centers of all 19 districts of central Nepal. The TB cases (n=306) and TB with DM (n=102) cases were followed up for the estimation of blood glucose level, HbA1c level, and sputum examination on 2, 5, and 6 months after TB treatment started. The Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) was performed to identify the risk ratio among TB and TB with DM cases on treatment outcome.
Results: Our study identified that the magnitude of treatment failure among the tuberculosis cases was 19.7% (95% CI: 17.44-21.95). The GEE analysis observed that factors associated with the treatment failure had uncontrolled DM (HbA1C ≥7 %) (adj.RR=5.24, 95% CI: 2.58-10.62, P value <0.001), aged ≥ 45 (adj.RR= 6.13, 95% CI: 2.55-14.76, P value <0.001), had inadequate financial status (adj.RR= 2.33, 95% CI: 1.07-5.06, P value 0.033) and had prior TB (adj.RR=2.33, 95% CI: 1.09-4.97, P value 0.028) respectively.
Conclusion: The prevalence of worsening TB treatment among patients with TB and DM was significantly higher than those who had TB only. Poor glycaemic control, increasing age, inadequate financial status, and previous history of tuberculosis were strong predictors of worsening tuberculosis treatment outcomes.


This paper investigates the acoustic behavior of underwater air-filled resonators that could potentially be used in an underwater noise abatement system. The resonators are similar to Helmholtz resonators without a neck, consisting of underwater inverted air-filled cavities with combinations of rigid and elastic wall members, and they are intended to be fastened to a framework forming a stationary array surrounding a noise source, such as a pile driving operation, a natural resource production platform, or an air gun array. Previous work has demonstrated the potential of surrounding noise sources with arrays of large stationary encapsulated bubbles that can be designed to attenuate sound levels over any desired frequency band and with levels of reduction up to 50 dB [Lee and Wilson, Proceedings of Meeting on Acoustics 19, 075048 (2013)]. Open water measurements of underwater sound attenuation using resonators were obtained during a set of lake experiments, where a low-frequency electromechanical sound source was surrounded by different arrays of resonators. The results indicate that air-filled resonators are a potential alternative to using encapsulated bubbles for low frequency underwater noise mitigation.


Early typical gesture development is characterised by deictic gestures, which gradually integrate with speech. Relatively little, however, is known about gesture development in atypical populations. This study traces in detail the pattern of gesture development in children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) prior to the two word stage of language acquisition with a specific focus on development, professional and parental input, and adult-child interaction. It extends previous research by combining linguistic and psychological methodologies to provide an in-depth, detailed, longitudinal profile from different perspectives.
Eight participants with ASD were recruited, aged between 2;0 and 3;6 years and were followed for up to eight months during their attendance on a first intervention programme designed to facilitate social and communication skills. The participants' vocabulary and gestural repertoire were assessed on commencement and completion of the project using the Gesture Checklist created for this study using normative data collected from fifty four typically developing children aged 6 to 24 months. During attendance on the programme the participants were recorded weekly alternating between nursery and home. The video data was analysed using micro-genetic and qualitative methods.
The study found that a) development: compared to typically developing children the participants were found to be delayed in both vocabulary and gesture, corresponding to the varying impact of their respective impairments, b) input: the adults adapted their gestures to the participants, but gesture was not sensitive to the participant's developmental level, c) interaction: the adults used several different communication strategies to support the child's interaction, the -professionals showing a greater range than the parents.
The study provides a more detailed and in-depth account of gesture development in children with ASD than earlier work, and extends our knowledge of gestural input and gesture in interaction, thus contributing to our wider understanding of both gesture development and its role in communication.


The role of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and polyamines in kidney growth during the postnatal development of mice and the influence of testosterone were investigated. A marked sexual dimorphism in renal size was evident after the 3rd week of life, corresponding with the rise in circulating testosterone and the increase in renal ODC and urinary excretion of putrescine in male mice. Renal putrescine and spermidine gradually decreased during the first 3 weeks of life and did not correlate with ODC activity. Treatments with alpha-difluoromethylornithine, and ODC-specific inhibitor, and the antiandrogen flutamide during weeks 4 and 5 showed that both compounds decreased renal ODC activity but only flutamide impaired kidney growth, suggesting that renal growth in mice is regulated by androgens but is independent of the induction of ODC activity.


Epidemics or diffusion models are popular as a potentially effective solution to capture information diffusion in online social networks (OSNs). Moreover, these models have been widely studied in the context of mobile ad-hoc networks, wireless sensor networks and peer-to-peer technologies for security and information diffusion purposes. In this paper, we describe a formal probabilistic model for information diffusion in online social networks. We consider specifically how new behaviours spread from user to user through an OSN. We use PRISM for the formal analysis of the diffusion process on a fixed OSN topology. We show some experiemental results pertaining to the speed and the probability of infection cascade as global properties considered in the formal analysis of the diffusion model


OBJECTIVE
To examine the efficacy and safety of implantation of the device with combined cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) and implantable cardioversion defibrillation (ICD) capabilities.

METHODS
Eleven patients aged 48 - 80 (71.6 +/- 9.5) years, 7 male and 4 female, were included in the study. All patients had either a history of aborted sudden cardiac death, ventricular tachyarrhythmia, or induced ventricular tachycardia during cardiac electrophysiological study, whose left ventricular ejection fractions were 35% or less and QRS durations were 120 or longer. The patients were implanted a Medtronic INSYNC II MARQUIS(TH) 7289. All left ventricular leads were implanted in left lateral or left posterior lateral side-branches of coronary sinus. The procedures were performed in general anesthesia status. The AV interval was optimized guided by ECHO in all the patients in the day after the procedure.

RESULTS
All procedures were successfully completed without major complications. The fluoroscopy time was 19 - 73 (44.7 +/- 19.9) min. Atrial lead amplitude, resistance and threshold were 0.5 - 3.5 (2.47 +/- 0.77) mV, 410 - 749 (590 +/- 126) Omega and 0.9 - 3.0 (1.37 +/- 0.71) V respectively. Right ventricular septal lead amplitude, resistance and threshold were 6.8 - 15.8 (11.00 +/- 3.48) mV, 387 - 750 (586 +/- 116) Omega and 0.4 - 1.0 (0.69 +/- 0.21) V respectively. The amplitude, resistance and threshold of left ventricular leads were 1.2 - 25 (15.37 +/- 5.15) mV, 423 - 812 (602 +/- 125) Omega and 0.3 - 5.0 (1.62 +/- 1.59) V respectively. The defibrillation thresholds (DFT) of 20 J were obtained in 3 patients, 6 J in 3 patients, and 15 J, 12 J and 3 J in one patient respectively. One of the 11 patients with failed old device did not obtain successful DFT after lead and device replacement and was defibrillated externally during DFT test. The another one did not obtain successful DFT because of abnormal ST-T changes in ECG. All devices were programmed to maximum of 30 J and discharged from the hospital in 48 hours except the one who failed to obtain DFT. The patients with mitral regurgitation improved after the AV optimization.

CONCLUSIONS
Implantation of device with CRT and ICD features is safe even in aging patients. The long time outcomes of the clinical efficacy of this combined device remain to be observed.


A new form of fullerene-type carbon, named carbon nanoflasks, is described in this paper, using Co(CO)3NO, a special precursor, in their synthesis. Upon its decomposition, the Co(CO)3NO is not only a source of carbon, but also gives rise to fcc cobalt particles, whose size can grow from several nanometers to hundreds of nm in the course of the decomposition. After a careful purification process, the percentage of cobalt-filled carbon flasks can be as high as 30%. The width of the flask tube-necks ranges from 50 nm to over 100 nm, while the body of the flask ranges from 100 nm to 500 nm, and in some cases reaches over 1 Im. HRTEM reveals that the graphitic layers of the flask walls are usually over 100 nm thick, and are much thicker than the flask cap. After an acid treatment of the sample, opened and empty carbon flasks can be easily obtained. XRD, TEM, SEM, XPS, AFM, and SQUID measurements were employed in the characterization of the flasks. An explanation of the formation of the carbon nanoflasks is proposed in this paper.


Information and communication technologies (ICT) have not had the predicted effect of substantially altering work and work-based travel patterns. Some researchers argue that one of the reasons may be the inability of ICT to effectively replicate characteristics of face-to-face communication. To examine the differences between computer-mediated and face-to-face communication, this article explores theories of face-to-face communication and synthesizes lessons from studies of virtual and face-to-face teams and groups. Findings on the comparative production outcomes and performance of virtual versus face-to-face teams are mixed, suggesting that it is not clear whether face-to-face communication is necessarily superior to computer-mediated communication for many collaborative processes. Planning can gain from a better understanding of the advantages and limitations of computer-mediated communication so that it may more effectively implement virtual strategies.


A large AC loss is generated in armature windings composed of a REBa2Cu3Oy (REBCO, RE = rare earth, Eu, Gd, etc.) wire in a fully superconducting synchronous generator. In aircraft applications, liquid nitrogen is suitable for cooling windings because of its specific heat capacity and dielectric strength. The evaporation of liquid refrigerant significantly decreases the dielectric strength, which results in an increase in the risk of accidents by discharging. For safe operation, the temperature in the generator is set below the boiling point of nitrogen (∼77 K). We calculated the temperature rise caused by the AC loss and others by applying a method that estimates the AC loss from the experimental results. This paper addresses the electromagnetic-thermal analysis in finite element method to calculate the temperature rise and proves the feasibility of a fully superconducting generator cooled by liquid nitrogen, that is, the temperature is maintained below 77 K. The output power is 10 MW. The temperature of liquid nitrogen was assumed to be 65 K, and its flow speed was set as a parameter. Additionally, we confirmed that designing a method that determines the number of parallel conductors of REBCO windings considering the temperature rise can enhance the output power density.


Staphylococcus capitis is a coagulase-negative species (CoNS) of Staphylococcus. It causes antimicrobial resistance for nosocomial infections as well as for community-acquired infections. This case report involves a 51-year-old, married Saudi patient. He got admitted to the male medical ward of Aseer Central Hospital, with severe chest infection. Clinical examination, X-ray, and laboratory investigations were performed which involved bactech, culture media, antibiotic sensitivity test using disk diffusion [minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)] and molecular [polymerase chain reaction (PCR)] for detection of CoNS of Staphylococcus species and detection of the mecA gene. Laboratory data were recorded in special formats and analyzed by statistical computer program (SPSS). Results showed the resistance of isolated S. capitis to many commonly used antibiotics.


Abstract Extradural hematomas (EDH) represent one of common imaging findings in cases sustaining traumatic brain injury. Bilateral extradural haematoma is considered rare and even rarer in elder people male. Bilateral extradural hematoma is usually acute, and generally associated with severe traumatic head injury. Mirror-image extradural hematomas (MEDH) constitute a special type of bilateral extradural hamatomas, which is placed anatomically symmetrically on both the sides of the intracranial compartment, requires prompt diagnosis and emergent surgical intervention as it carry high mortality if evacuation of hematoma is not carried out expeditely. The mortality rate still remains higher in comparison to unilateral single extradural hematomas. The postoperative outcome depends on preoperative neurological status, total volume of blood, accurate diagnosis and prompt shifting to neurosurgical facility, expatiation of surgical procedure, pre- hospital care. Authors report a case of a - 65-year-old man who presented with acute simultaneous bilateral extradural haematomas following road traffic accident, underwent bilateral trephine craniotomy and simultaneous evacuation on both side led to good recovery.


Sex assignment of children born with ambiguous genitalia is a difficult and responsible decision based on limited empirical evidence regarding future development of gender identity/role, sexual orientation, and sexual functioning. Sex of assignment and rearing has appeared to be a prognosticator of future gender identity, usually better than the other criteria of sex (chromosomes, gonadal tissue, prenatal and postnatal hormonal profiles). The decision to assign a sex is guided by the prognosis of the "optimal" sex for the newborn, of which the elements are an overall sex-appropriate appearance with a stable gender identity; good sexual function, preferably combined with reproductive function if attainable; minimal medical procedures; and a reasonably happy life given the limitations. The limited follow-up studies indicate that this is a reasonable policy, although a limited number of subjects will experience gender dysphoria later in life and will cross over to the other sex. This is more often the case in subjects assigned to the female sex with considerable prenatal or postnatal androgen exposure. Children in this predicament must receive guidance well into adulthood. It may be difficult to engage in sexual relations when the anatomy of the genitalia (often operated upon) is not fully normal.


A study was carried out among primigravid women attending a secondary level hospital in a district of North India. The objective of the study was to determine seroprevalence rate of Toxoplasma gondii infection using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. Associations between toxoplasma seropositivity and selected variables (socio-demographic and biologically plausible variables) were also studied. Five hundred three women were enrolled from the antenatal clinic between August, 1996 and September, 1997. Of these, 210 women (41.75%) were seropositive for Toxoplasma gondii infection. These results indicate that a large number of the study subjects were vulnerable to toxoplasma infection. If these infections had occurred during the pregnancy, their foetuses would have been at high risk of infection. There was no statistically significant association between toxoplasma seropositivity and the variables studied except, in the case of type of meat usually consumed. There is a need to provide health education to pregnant women in order to prevent primary toxoplasma infection during pregnancy.


] This is a draft of a paper to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, in Montreal, Canada, at 10:30 am on August 11, 2006 at the session on World Systems organized by Farshad Araghi. It is a product of the Global Elites Research Group based at the Institute for Research on World-Systems, and has included among its members for 2005-06 Kenneth Barr, Anders Carlson, Christopher Chase-Dunn, Rebecca Giem, Shoon Lio, Yvonne Hsu, Linda Kim, Jonathan Krause, Kirk Lawrence, Richard Niemeyer, Thomas Reifer, Christopher Schmitt, Nuray Terzi, and Jessica Tiu. The group has been supported by the Sociology Program of the National Science Foundation Grant


The authors report the case of a patient with a serious recurrence of pulmonary embolism with echocardiographic evidence of a floating serpentine thrombus of the right atrium. The outcome was rapidly satisfactory with disappearance of signs of acute cor pulmonale and lysis of the right atrial thrombus after infusion of two thrombolytic agents: Rt PA and streptokinase. There is no evidence in the literature to indicate that one form of treatment, i.e. surgical thrombectomy or thrombolysis, is markedly superior to the other. Thrombolysis appears to be a useful alternative to surgery. The use of Rt PA and of the combination of two thrombolytics has not been published previously and merits confirmation.


This paper has performed fatigue and nondestructive test of bogie frame for Korean tilting train. Before the fatigue test, static tests were carried out. From the test, the structural safety was investigated using Goodman diagram. After the static test, the fatigue test were conducted under tilting load conditions. The fatigue test was conducted for 10×10 6 cycles. During the fatigue test, the nondestructive tests using magnetic particle and liquid penetrant were performed at 6×10 6 cycle and 10×10 6 cycle. From the crack detection tests, it was known that there was no fatigue crack in the bogie frame.


David Malouf's novels An Imaginary Life and Remembering Babylon explore the figure of an otherness that both disrupts and eludes the familiar and habitual. Both novels situate this figure of otherness at the very edge of the cultural landscape, undermining the neat division of self and other, in effect rewriting frontier narratives of conquest and exploration. Such narratives structure their writing in terms of a journey into the wilderness or outback whereby an experience of the lack of sense and meaning serves mainly to assert the subject's capacity to express its developing understanding of the world around it. As the writing of Malouf's novels draws subjectivity to a fugitive terrain where the terms of self-understanding recede into the infinite murmur of an apparent senselessness, the figure of otherness comes to speak a language of creative self-learning. And yet this figure of otherness in An Imaginary Life tends to disappear into the folds of a Rousseauian concept of Nature that works to stage a transcendental recuperation of both self and other. Remembering Babylon does not share this romantic conception of otherness, and could be read as a rewriting of the earlier novel. Emphasis would be placed on how subjectivity comes to stage itself as the scene of a learning of the cultural landscape.


The problem of tracking a desired trajectory in the state space of an n -link robotic manipulator with bounds on the allowable input torque is considered. Using a so-called optimal decision strategy (ODS), a pointwise optimal control law is derived which, at each time t , minimizes the deviation between the vector of joint accelerations and a desired joint acceleration vector, subject to the input constraints. The design of the optimal control law is reduced to the solution of a quadratic programming problem which is solved using the primal-dual method. The solution gives an on-line feedback control scheme for trajectory following in the presence of input constraints. In addition, we extend the above optimal decision strategy to the case where the controller design is based on a simplified model or where the plant itself is imprecisely known. The resulting torque optimization scheme may be incorporated into any existing control scheme to account for input bounds. This has important implications for the problem of deriving robust control schemes that take into account parameter uncertainty and model simplification. Simulations are presented for the case of a three-link manipulator with bounded torque, and our results are compared to the computed torque method. Our simulations show that by optimally adjusting the input torque to each joint when one or more of them saturates, significant improvement in tracking performance can result.


This paper examines the equilibrium real exchange rate of the Chinese Yuan against the US Dollar within the framework of the FEER model. Quarterly data for the postreform period 1982-2009 are used. We make three important contributions to the literature. First, we allow for endogenous structural breaks in all cointegration relationships. Second, our study highlights macroeconomic fundamentals that affect savings and investment and, hence, the sustainable current account in the mediumterm. Third, we construct a unique set of quarterly data. We find structural breaks in all trade and the sustainable current account equations, with the break dates corresponding to important policy changes in China. The misalignment rates show that the real exchange rate was overvalued in most years until 2003, followed by undervaluation during 2004-2009. However, the average misalignment rates and revaluation required to correct this undervaluation are not as large as suggested by previous studies, with the undervaluation rate declining sharply in 2009. We further simulate misalignment rates using a sustainable current account of three percent. Our findings suggest such exogenous input leads to results biased towards larger undervaluation.


Index modulation (IM) is an attractive concept for next generation communication systems. However, as an emerging technique, there are still some challenges need to be tackled in this frontier. In this paper, we consider two aspects of IM, which are diversity and detection complexity. Specifically, we propose a linear precoding assisted index modulation (LPIM) scheme for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. We commence by analyzing the diversity and coding gains of the proposed scheme. Moreover, a detailed codebook design criterion is proposed. Then, our LPIM codebook is designed based on the maximum diversity and coding gain criteria. In contrast to the signaling model of the existing full diversity precoder designed for OFDM, we introduce a modeling method to link the zero-valued IM symbols to the origin of a Lattice for implementing our full diversity precoder designed for OFDM-IM. Both analytical and computer simulation results are provided for characterizing the attainable performance of OFDM-LPIM, demonstrating that it is capable of achieving full diversity as well as an attractive coding gain. However, the maximum-likelihood (ML) detection complexity of OFDM-LPIM is excessive, hence a low-complexity generalized iterative residual check detector (GIRCD) is proposed, which is inspired by the existing sparse recovery algorithms. Finally, computer simulation results are provided for demonstrating that GIRCD can provide a beneficial trade-off between bit error ratio performance and complexity.


Invasive infection, usually arising from the burn wound itself, remains the primary danger to the seriously burned man (Table). The offending organism is most often Pseudomonas aeruginosa , although the frequency of and mortality from such sepsis has recently been reduced by effective surface antibacterial agents. 1,2 The onset of Pseudomonas burn sepsis is often insidious, perhaps even more so when the patient is treated with 0.5% aqueous silver nitrate. The organism is notoriously resistant to tolerable anti-bacterial agents, whether administered locally or systemically. Delayed diagnosis and the low therapeutic index of presently available antibiotics are very likely responsible for the high mortality associated with Pseudomonas burn wound sepsis. However, dilute solutions of silver nitrate, when optimally applied, uniformly control the bacteria at the site of invasion, the burn wound itself. Furthermore, every strain isolated from our patients has remained sensitive in vitro to 0.5% aqueous silver nitrate. The delay in


SUMMARY Optimum forest cover is not a new concept. It was part of the suggested policies to achieve sustainable forest management at a 1996 meeting of the UN/FAO Intergovernmental Panel on Forests. It has not been actively pursued by many countries however, but since deforestation is being singled out as one of the major contributing factors to degrading global climatic conditions, this concept may take on new meaning. This research devised a methodology for determining the optimum forest cover for a degraded watershed in south-central Jamaica. The model suggested a spatial pattern in the upper portions of the watershed which increased the forest cover from 16.76 % to 37.47 %. This significantly reduced runoff where the forest cover was optimized and simulated in a hydrological model. This technique will give direction to forest management and conservation in Jamaica and will form part of the decision support system for the country's planners.


Abstract In recent years, cyclic peptides gave gained increasing attention owing to their pH tolerance, heat stability and resistance to enzymatic actions. The increasing outbreaks of antibiotic resistant pathogens and food spoilage have prompted researchers to search for new approaches to combat them. The increasing number of reports on novel cyclic peptides from lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is considered as a breakthrough due to their potential applications. Although an extensive investigation is required to understand the mechanism of action and range of applications, LAB cyclic peptides can be considered as potential substitutes for commercially available antibiotics and bio preservatives. This review summarizes the current updates of LAB cyclic peptides with emphasis on their structure, mode of action and applications. Recent trends in cyclic peptide applications are also discussed.


Hermeneutical aspect of reference embraces a relation to reality in its broadest sense. This aspect of reference explains how some concepts employed in scientific theories and historical and fictional text, which are considered as "non-existant", transform our experience of reality. Epistemological aspect of reference should not be separated from ontological and hermeneutical aspects.


The Le Dantec serogroup of rhabdoviruses comprises Le Dantec virus from a human with encephalitis and Keuriliba virus from rodents, each isolated in Senegal. The Kern Canyon serogroup comprises a loosely connected set of rhabdoviruses many of which have been isolated from bats, including Kern Canyon virus from California, Nkolbisson virus from Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Cote d'Ivoire, Kolente virus from Guinea, Mount Elgon bat and Fikirini viruses from Kenya, and Oita virus from Japan. Fukuoka virus isolated from mosquitoes, midges, and cattle in Japan, Barur virus from a rodent in India and Nishimuro virus from pigs in Japan have also been linked genetically or serologically to this group. Here, we analyze the genome sequences and phylogenetic relationships of this set of viruses. We show that they form three subgroups within a monophyletic group, which we propose should constitute the new genus Ledantevirus.


The capability of ADVs (Acoustic Doppler Velocimeters) to estimate suspended sediment concentration (SSC) has been widely investigated using commercial glass microspheres of the same size or well-sorted fractions in experimental studies. In the natural environment, sediment samples may be composed of different types of sediments having various types of grain size distribution.

This study aims to analyze experimentally the effect of clay ratio in sediment content on acoustic response. Modification of scattering and attenuation characteristics for different clay ratios is evaluated theoretically. In laboratory experiments, four different sediment mixtures constituting non-cohesive sand and cohesive clay materials were prepared with clay ratios of 0, 5, 10 and 15% by dry mass. A-10 MHz acoustic Doppler velocity profiler (ADVP, The Nortek Vectrino Profiler) was used in controlled laboratory environments under a wide range of concentration conditions up to 10 g/L. Acoustic backscatter measurements were made by immersing the ADVP in a well-mixed circulation tank filled with mixtures with known concentration and sediment composition. The backscattered signals were recorded at 100 Hz, from which 1.5-min ensemble averages were obtained. For each sediment mixture, calibration curves representing the relationship between SSC and acoustic backscatter were obtained based on the sonar equation. Acoustic estimates of suspended sediment parameters obtained for mixtures with different clay contents are compared to identify the effect of increasing clay content on the acoustic signal.

The experimental results showed that the slope of the calibration curve decreases with increasing validity range as the clay ratio of the mixture increases. Under the fixed SSC condition, the backscatter strength is greater for the mixture with a lower clay ratio. The theoretical analysis indicated that changing clay content modifies the scattering and attenuation properties compared to the mono-size suspension with the same mean size. Introducing clay material in a mixture affects the scattering properties more significantly than the attenuation properties. Therefore, information on the form of the sediment distribution and the sorting of sediments in suspension is crucial for acoustic estimates of suspended sediment parameters.

Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) with project number 218M428.


This article reviews the research findings from a student evaluation of a pilot study of peer-led group supervision for undergraduate social work students at a university in the UK. The definition, purpose and concept of peer-led group supervision are considered and the pilot model and intended learning outcomes described. The student evaluation provides positive feedback that this group setting allowed for support, knowledge exchange and an opportunity to discuss learning from placement experiences. Constructive student feedback enables further discussion in regard to the logistical set-up of this group learning environment and the role of an observing Practice Educator/link tutor. Recommendations are made for how this model can be developed in the future to further the learning opportunities for social work students using this peer-led group supervision model.


During cementing operation with oil-based drilling fluids, the casing and well wall are in the "oil wet" environment, and the cement slurry cannot achieve good cementation with the second interface, which seriously affects the cementation quality of the cementing interface. Therefore, it is very important to select a flushing fluid with good performance and high flushing efficiency for cementing operation with an oil-based drilling fluid. An integrated measurement system of interface parameters and a rotating liquid interface tension tester is selected in the room. A set of evaluation methods of wetting reversal is developed to evaluate the wetting reversal ability of type A and type-B flushing fluids on site to optimize the reasonable type and concentration of the flushing fluid. The experimental results show that under the same concentration, the surface tension and interfacial tension of type A flushing solution are lower than those of type-B; that is, the hydrophilic effect of type A flushing solution is better than that of type-B. The wettability reduction of type A is better than that of type-B. The wetting reversal ability of type A flushing solution with a surfactant concentration of 30% is better than that of type-B. The evaluation methods include surface tension, interface tension, dewetting ability, and oil washing ability of the flushing fluid, and the evaluation of the wetting reversal ability is carried out on the basis of the sandstone, sheet metal (steel for three open casings on site), and slide glass (as a reference). Then, according to the optimal concentration of the flushing fluid, a mixing experiment of the two kinds of flushing fluids is carried out to evaluate the ability of wetting reversal, and compared with the experimental results of A and B, the reasonable flushing fluid formula is finally selected. A proper analysis of the adaptability of the evaluation method of the flushing fluid is conducive to the reliable evaluation of the performance of the flushing fluid and the enhancement of the operator's ability to grasp the cementing quality. To guide the field practice has a very important practical significance, but it also has a guiding role for the development of new pre-liquid products.


Nowadays, quantum simulation schemes come in two flavours. Either they are continuous-time discrete-space models (a.k.a Hamiltonian-based), pertaining to non-relativistic quantum mechanics. Or they are discrete-spacetime models (a.k.a Quantum Walks or Quantum Cellular Automata-based) enjoying a relativistic continuous spacetime limit. We provide a first example of a quantum simulation scheme that unifies both approaches. The proposed scheme supports both a continuous-time discrete-space limit, leading to lattice fermions, and a continuous-spacetime limit, leading to the Dirac equation. The transition between the two can be thought of as a general relativistic change of coordinates, pushed to an extreme. As an emergent by-product of this procedure, we obtain a Hamiltonian for lattice-fermions in curved spacetime with synchronous coordinates.


Ferdinand Fouque's study of the Santorini archipelago in the Aegean Sea was first published in French in 1879. It quickly became known as a valued resource, not only on Santorini but also on volcanoes, their characteristics, and the remarkable archaeological artifacts that Fouque discovered under the volcanic rock of Santorini's most famous eruption. In short, the work proved invaluable to geologists and archaeologists alike. For geologists, Fouque's detailed analysis of the volcano provided the first well-documented evidence that large volcanic depressions, such as the one forming the bay of Santorini, are the result of wholesale collapse following voluminous eruptions of ash and pumice. In the field of archaeology, Fouque discovered the buried city of Akrotiri and began the excavations that showed the first evidence of an advanced bronze-age civilization in the Aegean. (Like Pompeii, Akrotiri was buried by a major volcanic eruption which, according to one popular theory, was also responsible for the sudden demise of the Minoan civilization on Crete.) He was the first to use the petrographic microscope to study the sources of clay used in ancient ceramics and discovered the nature of "Egyptian blue"pigment. Fouque's studies laid the foundation for much of the intense research carried out on the island today, but because the book is exceedingly rare-more often cited than read-his remarkable observations and insights have gone largely unnoticed. Now noted volcanologist Alexander R. McBirney provides the first annotated English translation of the original French text of 1879. Most of the original work's illustrations are included, among them a fourteen-page color insert, and a large, full-color geological map of the Santorini islands. Also included are a brief biography of Fouqe and a summary of more recent geological and archaeological studies at Santorini.


Abstract A new species of spore, Costatoperforosporites friisiae sp. nov., is described from the Early Cretaceous (late Aptian–early Albian) deposits of Catefica in the Lusitanian Basin, western Portugal. Although the morphology of the muri is clearly of the Cicatricosisporites type, the presence of micropores on these sculptural elements and within the intervening grooves is a particularly distinctive feature and more typical of spores that have been attributed previously to Costatoperforosporites. As a result, this genus is emended not only to accommodate Costatoperforosporites friisiae but also to differentiate it more clearly from other, similar, murornate genera. It is considered to represent the family Anemiaceae. So far, Costatoperforosporites friisiae has only been encountered in the Catefica palynoflora. The presence of many other pteridophyte spores, especially of schizaealean derivation, together with abundant cheirolepidiacean remains at this locality, strongly suggests a warm, moist climate and diverse source vegetation.


ACHONDROPLASIA is generally regarded as a disfiguring, but otherwise innocuous, condition derived from a well defined anomaly of cartilaginous development. The only clinical complication of achondroplasia generally recognized is that occasionally seen in obstetric practice, in which the disproportion between a normalsized fetus and a dwarfed pelvis may necessitate cesarean section. In this paper we wish to call attention to the occurrence of lesions of the spinal cord in achondroplastic adults. We shall try to demonstrate the etiologic relation between the basic developmental disorder and the neurologic syndrome and shall point out means of preventing or curing this incapacitating condition. It has been stressed in the past that achondroplasia affects chiefly the extremities and the skull, accounting for the characteristic shortness of the limbs and the peculiar shape of the skull. The achondroplastic spine has been commonly regarded as "practically normal" in size and shape except for an "exaggerated lumbar


This article introduces a new method to support critical media literacy, learning and research in higher education. It acts as a response to an unprecedented profusion of visual information across digital media that contributes to the contemporary post-truth era, marked by fake news and uncritical consumption of the media. Whereas much has been written about the reasons behind and the character of the post-truth, less space has been dedicated to how educators could counteract the uncritical consumption of images from the perspective of semiotics. This article adopts a unique semiotic approach to address the stated gap. It discusses in depth the meaning making of pictures, digital photographs and material objects that photographs can embody. It does so by focusing on three aspects of a pictorial sign: (1) the materiality of its representation and representational elements, (2) its object (what the sign refers to) and (3) its descriptive interpretations. These three aspects inform the signification analysis within the proposed production-signification-consumption (PSC) method, exemplified with digital photographs. Understanding and analysing images via the PSC method draw attention to how humans create, interpret, (re)use, consume and respond to online and offline communication signs. The method can contribute to the development of critical media literacy as an engagement with post-digital semiotics, much needed in an age of global ecological and social crises, uncertainty and fast consumption of digital content.


In 2006, the Central West and Western Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs) began a program of research in collaboration with the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW), landholders and other partners on the serious issue of invasive native scrub (INS, also known as woody weeds). Nine research projects were implemented with the support of research organisations. The research projects relied heavily on the support of landholders across the Cobar Peneplain. However, native vegetation management and INS have a long and turbulent history in parts of central west and western NSW. The INS research program faced barriers of distrust of government, community cynicism and lack of faith in research processes. Through open communication, transparent processes and a program of community engagement, the program has successfully engaged landholders to implement a series of research projects.


Abstract. Along the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, convective dust storms are a
considerable source of mineral dust to the atmosphere. Reliable predictions
of convective dust events are necessary to determine their effects on air
quality, visibility, and the radiation budget. In this study, the Weather
Research and Forecasting Model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) is used to
simulate a 2016 summertime dust event over the Arabian Peninsula and examine
the variability in dust fields and associated vertical transport due to the
choice of convective parameterization and convection-permitting versus
parameterized convection. Simulations are run at 45 and 15 km grid
spacing with multiple cumulus parameterizations, and are compared to a 3 km
simulation that permits explicit dry and moist convective processes. Five
separate cumulus parameterizations at 15 km grid spacing were tested to
quantify the spread across different parameterizations. Finally, the impact
these variations have on radiation, specifically aerosol heating rates is
also investigated. On average, in these simulations the convection-permitting case produces
higher quantities of dust than the parameterized cases in terms of dust
uplift potential, vertical dust concentrations, and vertical dust fluxes.
Major drivers of this discrepancy between the simulations stem from the
convection-permitting case exhibiting higher surface wind speeds during
convective activity; lower dust emission wind threshold velocities due to
drier soil; and more frequent, stronger vertical velocities which transport
dust aloft and increase the atmospheric lifetime of these particles. For
aerosol heating rates in the lowest levels, the shortwave effect prevails in
the convection-permitting case with a net cooling effect, whereas a longwave
net warming effect is present in the parameterized cases. The spread in dust
concentrations across cumulus parameterizations at the same grid resolution
(15 km) is an order of magnitude lower than the impact of moving from
parameterized towards explicit convection. We conclude that tuning dust
emissions in coarse-resolution simulations can only improve the results to
first-order and cannot fully rectify the discrepancies originating from
disparities in the representation of convective dust transport.


Human interaction with touch screens requires physical touch and hence results in contamination of these surfaces, resulting in the necessity of cleaning. In this study we discuss the three bodies of this problem and how each component contributes and can be controlled. Utilizing a standard fingerprint machine and a standard cleanability test, this study examines the influence of parameters such as the wiping speed and pressure, the material and surface area of the cloths, and the surface energy of the contaminated surfaces. It was shown that fingerprint contamination undergoes shear banding and hence is not easily removed. The degree of material removal depends on the position of the shear plane, which is influenced by surface energies and shear rates.


Sol modified with diethanolamine was used for the preparation of thick lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films. The deposited films crystallized in the perovskite structure by heating above 600°C. Thick film with 3 µm single-coating thickness was obtained using a dip-coating of sol containing PZT powder. The resultant thick films were porous and the pores could not be filled with a cover coating of powder-free sol. The dielectric properties of the thick and porous films prepared using powder-containing sols were poor, although they exhibited ferroelectric polarization–electric field (P–E) hysteresis. Using the powder-free sol, a film with thickness >1 µm was realized on the Sn-doped In2O3(ITO)/glass substrate by a single deposition. The resultant film was dense and about 5.6 µm thick after five depositions. The film showed a saturated ferroelectric P–E hysteresis curve and the dielectric constant, loss tangent, and remanent polarization were 840, 0.03, and 34 µC/cm2, respectively.


We have previously proposed the idea of performing a card-drawing experiment of which the outcome potentially decides whether the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) should be closed or not. The purpose is to test theoretical models such as our own model that have an action with an imaginary part that has a similar form to the real part. The imaginary part affects the initial conditions not only in the past but even from the future. It was speculated that all the accelerators producing large amounts of Higgs particles such as the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) would mean that the initial conditions must have been arranged so as not to allow these accelerators to work. If such effects existed, we could perhaps cause a very clear-cut "miracle" by having the effect of a drawn card to be the closure of the LHC. Here we shall, however, argue that the closure of an accelerator is hardly needed to demonstrate such an effect and seek to calculate how one could perform a verification experiment for the proposed type of effect from the future in the statistically least disturbing and least harmful way. We shall also discuss how to extract the maximum amount of information about such as effect or model in the unlikely case that a card preventing the running of the LHC or the Tevatron is drawn, by estimating the relative importance of high beam energy or high luminosity for the purpose of our effect.


This paper presents a global methodology and optimization options for dimensioning the WDM optical layer in future transport networks. Several optimization processes are discussed and compared with results on the same study case, the European Optical Network. In particular, the results show the significant benefits of wavelength conversion and the advantages of "least number of hops" path routing among the various path routing strategies for wavelength channels. The connection rerouting optimization process, which requires a more algorithmic approach, is described along with the different criteria used to choose the optimized parameters (load on the link, fiber utilization ratio, etc.). The results on the European Optical Network case study illustrate that a global point of view should be adopted when optimizing these parameters as some processes can lead to worse dimensioning results.


The purpose of this study is to discuss the definition, thought, principles, and characteristics of the ecotourism. This descriptive research describes the principles, status of Sitakunda ecotourism and explores the opportunities in this suburban city. Bangladesh is trying to develop several eco-parks for her natural balances as they able to create half a dozen by this time. But the concepts of eco-park are not following appropriately as the standard of infrastructures, facilities and principles of Eco Park. However, this descriptive research tried to unearth the condition of Sitakunda eco-park in the light of its principles, characteristics and socio economic mobility and importance.


Bilateral vestibular loss (BVL) is a disorder of the balance sensory organs in the inner ear; it can cause falls which may have grave consequences, particularly among elderly. This chapter presents the iterative user-centered design of a vibrotactile feedback mechanism for substituting the balance sense. Six wearable prototypes were created to compare the suitability of different body parts (foot, ankle, knee, waist, shoulder, upper arm) for perceiving this type of feedback and to compare different encoding mechanisms (number, intensity, and rhythm of vibrations). In a second iteration, two of these wearable devices (for the ankle and the waist), in two feedback encoding mechanisms (directional and non-directional) were improved and evaluated. Based on the combined studies and interviews conducted with patients and specialists, it is argued that vibrotactile non-directional balance feedback should be applied to ankles, and that such devices should be integrated in training systems.


This paper proposes a simple PWM scheme which alleviates the neutral point voltage fluctuation problem of the three level inverter applications. The new scheme employs modified version of well known multi-level sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) scheme. This modification shows a great potential of reducing neutral point voltage fluctuation and retained better sinusoidal shape at the output. This method avoids the requirement of high capacity DC link capacitors, which are unavoidable in most of the present three-level inverter industrial applications. Moreover the new PWM scheme is less complex than most of the other available neutral point clamping control methods.


Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a multifunctional cytokine that plays a role in regulation of hematopoiesis. Because IL-6 is coinduced with colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) by various cell types in response to stimulation with IL-1, we investigated whether IL-6 is involved in the IL-1-induced production of CSF by human bone marrow (BM) cells in long-term culture or human fibroblasts. We showed that IL-6 does not induce CSF production by these cells. Neither addition of exogenous IL-6 nor neutralization of endogenous production of IL-6 by an anti-IL-6 monoclonal antibody (MoAb) diminished the IL-1-induced colony-stimulating activity (CSA), indicating that IL-6 did not act synergistically with IL-1. Finally, IL-6 did not influence the kinetics of IL-1-induced CSA production by human fibroblasts. We conclude that IL-6, either alone or in combination with IL-1, does not induce CSF production by human BM stromal cells or fibroblasts.


We report the discovery of an X-ray periodicity of ∼265.3 ms from a deep XMM-Newton observation of the radio-quiet γ-ray pulsar, PSR J2021+4026, located at the edge of the supernova remnant G78.2+2.1 (γ-Cygni). The detected frequency is consistent with the γ-ray pulsation determined by the observation of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope at the same epoch. The X-ray pulse profile resembles the modulation of a hot spot on the surface of the neutron star. The phase-averaged spectral analysis also suggests that the majority of the observed X-rays have thermal origins. This is the third member in the class of radio-quiet pulsars with significant pulsations detected from both X-ray and γ-ray regimes.


This paper presents methods based on chemometrics analysis to select the optimal model for variety discrimination of ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) tablets by using a visible/short-wave near-infrared spectroscopy (Vis/NIRS) system. The tablet varieties used in the research include Da na kang, Xin bang, Tian bao ning, Yi kang, Hua na xing, Dou le, Lv yuan, Hai wang, and Ji yao. All samples (n=270) were scanned in the Vis/NIR region between 325-1075nm using a spectrograph. Principal component artificial neural network (PC-ANN) was used to identify the tablet varieties. In PC-ANN models, the scores of the principal components were chosen as the input nodes for the input layer of ANN. Independent component analysis (ICA) was executed to select several optimal wavelengths based on loading weights. The absorbance values log (1/R), corresponding to the wavelengths of 481nm, 1000nm, 460nm, 572nm, 658nm, 401nm, 998nm, 996nm, 468nm and 661nm were then chosen as the input data of artificial neural network (IC-ANN), and the discrimination rate was reached at 95.6%, which was better than PC-ANN. The results indicated that ginkgo tablets discrimination was good based on the both methods.


Background The role of primary care in STI-control has long been neglected. Although national STI surveillance often thrives on data of STI-Clinics, recent research in the Netherlands shows that approximately 70% of all STI-related consultations are in General Practice (GP). More attention for sexual health in primary care is warranted. Methods In 2004 the Dutch College for Family Physicians (NHG) added a guideline about the "STI consultation" to their list of GP certified "standards of care". The guideline describes care for patients with complaints of STI, for patients with questions about STI (test request), and also describes pro-active testing policies for persons visiting the health centre for a not-STI related reason. The guideline is currently being updated. Implementation of the guideline is facilitated by regional "expert" GP, united in the GP-advisory group on STD, HIV and Sexuality (the Expert group Sexual Health (SeksHAG). Such Expert Groups within the GP institutional body are relatively new and also exist, for example, diabetes and Asthma/COPD. Results Annually approximately 1500 GP receive a continuous education session on STI facilitated by the GP expert in their region. Previous research showed moderate impact on testing habits and case detection. Qualitative interviews describe insight in personal barriers as a positive gain in training sessions. Prescribing habits of GP for Gonococcal infections are legging behind, half of GP prescribing ciprofloxacin, for which resistance is well above 40%. Discussion A substantial but often hidden proportion of STI consultations take place in general practice. More interventions on STI-care in GP are recommended. An expert group within the national GP body can enhance attention for quality of care. The new emerging paradigm within primary care to focus not only on disease (pathogenesis) but also on health (salutogenesis) might open new avenues for sexual health counselling. New technology also has potential: continuous education sessions have limited impact on prescribing habits for infrequent conditions with fast changing resistance patterns like gonoccocal infections; learning GP to use more and better their electronic prescription expert-system based on patient ICPC code (Prescriptor) is a better option and now available in most GP operating systems in the Netherlands.


Author(s): Karimi Bidhendi, Alireza | Advisor(s): Heydari, Payam | Abstract: With thousands new cases of spinal cord injury reported everyday, many people suffer from paralysis and loss of sensation in both legs. Beside the healthcare costs, such a state severely deteriorates the patients' quality of life and may even lead to additional medical conditions. Therefore, there is a growing need for cyber-physical systems to restore the walking ability through bypassing the damaged spinal cord. This goal can be achieved by monitoring and processing patient's brain signals to enable brain-directed control of prosthetic legs. Among several existing methods to record brain signals, electrocorticography (ECoG) has gained popularity due to being robust to motion artifacts, having high spatial resolution and signal to noise ratio, being moderately invasive and the possibility of chronic implantation of recording grids with no or minor scar tissue formation. The latest property is of particular importance for the whole system to be a viable fully implantable solution. Furthermore, the implanted system has to operate independently with no or minimal need of external hardware (e.g. a bulky personal computer) to be individually and socially accepted. To implement a fully implantable system, low-power and miniaturized electronics are needed to reduced heat generation, increase battery life-time and be minimally intrusive. These requirements indicate that many of the system's components should be custom-designed to integrated as much functionality as possible in a given real estate. This thesis presents silicon tested prototypes of several building blocks for the envisioned system, namely, ultra low-power brain signal acquisition front-ends, a low-power and inductorless MedRadio transceiver, and a fast start-up crystal oscillator. Brain signal acquisition front-ends provide low noise amplification of weak ECoG biosignals. MedRadio transceiver enables communication between the implant and end effectors or base station (e.g. prosthetic legs or desktop computer). Crystal oscillator generates the reference signal for other system's components such as analog to digital converter. Novel techniques to improve important performance parameters (power consumption, low noise operation and interference resilience) have been introduced. Electrical, in-vitro and in-vivo experimental measurements have verified the functionality and performance of each design.


The purpose of this thesis is to examine the influence of e-commerce on the small-size companies in Sweden. This thesis describes the drivers for e-commerce adoption and investigates the barriers and benefits faced from the companies when starting the process of implementation. A qualitative research was performed and an abductive approach was used, where the research findings and the theoretical background were connected by going back and forward in the process of analysis. Interviews with small companies in Varmland Country, Sweden were conducted in order to answer the research questions. This study shows that Swedish companies have relatively well-developed e-commerce strategies comparing to other counties, but the gap between small and large companies is still visible. The decisions for e-commerce adoption are dependent on the knowledge of the owner /manager and e-commerce is extensively used as a marketing tool. Main benefits of e-commerce adoption are improved internal efficiency and increased information exchange. The results suggest that companies value less than before the cost factor and consider the lack of knowledge as a main barrier. At the same time many companies are not motivated enough to make improvements, because of lack of customer demand.


In this correspondence, we study the downlink throughput maximization for orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access (OFDMA) systems in the presence of feedback channel capacity constraints. We establish an information-theoretic lower bound on the capacity of feedback channel and build the corresponding test channel that achieves this lower bound. Based on the derived test channel, we formulate two optimization problems that maximize the downlink throughput with quantized channel state information (CSI): i) one problem where throughput is defined with the ergodic throughput and ii) the other problem with the outage throughput, from which we can see the performance limit for given limit feedback channels. We solve the throughput maximization problem through an iterative approach, which achieves the optimal ergodic throughput and the near-optimal outage throughput. Numerical results show that the downlink throughput with a limited feedback of CSI can be close to that with perfect CSI by exploiting correlation properties of downlink CSI for quantization.


Abstract 3-(Adamantan-1-yl)-4-(4-fluorophenyl)-1-{[4-(2-methyoxyphenyl)piprazin-1yl]-methyl}-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazole-5-thione (AFT) was synthesized and spectroscopic investigations have been made experimentally and theoretically. The electrostatic potential maps and frontier orbital visualizations were used to comment of molecular polarity and stability in AFT. In AFT, thione group, methoxyphenyl ring, and triazole are the strongest repulsion and attractive reactive sites. The chemical descriptors in different solvents and NLO properties are predicted. For different solvents and gas phase, UV-vis theoretical spectra are being used to assess the electronic transition. Solvation free energy in water (hydration free energy) indicates good solubility of AFT in an aqueous medium, factor that corroborates the biological activity, in as much as that bioorganic processes occur in aqueous medium. Solvation produces a lowering of absorption in the UV-vis region. After evaluating the drug likeness properties, the title compound was examined for its analgesic activity by means of molecular docking and MD simulations. The MD simulations and docking studies suggested inhibitory activity against analgesic protein glutamate receptor.


This paper proposes a Genetic Programming based algorithm that can be used to design optimal controllers. The proposed algorithm will be named a Multiple Basis Function Genetic Programming (MBFGP). Herein, the main ideas concerning the initial population, the tree structure, genetic operations, and other proposed non-genetic operations are discussed in details. An optimization algorithm called numeric constant mutation is embedded to strengthen the search for the optimal solutions. The results of solving the optimal control for linear as well as nonlinear systems show the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed MBFGP as compared to the optimal solutions which are based on numerical methods. Furthermore, this algorithm enriches the set of suboptimal state feedback controllers to include controllers that have product time-state terms.


Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) have been the subject of research and design applications for several decades. While some large-scale applications have been realized, prohibitively high costs and multiple technical complexities persist. A main cause of these challenges is a lack of system-level design and engineering ofphotovoltaic (PV) systems coupled with traditional methods of building construction. PV installation remains a highly specialized construction practice and is typically completed by skilled experts in the field who deal with intricate electrical connections like wiring to batteries and inverters. This complicated installation process, in addition to other soft costs like permitting and system components, account for approximately fifty percent of the overall cost of a solar power system. The installation of photovoltaic systems must be simplified and streamlined to make PV more cost effective. Furthermore, existing BIPV strategies fail to address two key concerns that have negatively impacted the power output and efficiency of the system: optimal tilt angle and high cell temperature. Low cell efficiency will continue to hinder BIPV's penetration in the market without design strategies that ensure higher yields. This thesis presents the design, development, and construction of two novel BIPV products. One is integrated with masonry construction, and the other is integrated with pre-fabricated panel construction. An experimental methodology was developed in order to test and analyze the effectiveness of the systems' design strategies for providing an optimal tilt angle, cooling and heat recovery capabilities, and finally, financial viability. Preliminary results reveal that the optimal geometry of the system provides 30% more power compared to vertically oriented wall systems. Secondly, the strategy for cell cooling provides the system with on average 9% more power. Lastly, the integration of these systems during construction can decrease overall costs by as much as 17% compared to typical PV systems. Thesis Supervisor: John Fernandez Title: Associate Professor of Architecture and Building Technology and Engineering Systems


Abstract. Seasonal measurements of glacier mass balance provide
insight into the relation between climate forcing and glacier change. To
evaluate the feasibility of using remotely sensed methods to assess seasonal
balance, we completed tandem airborne laser scanning (ALS) surveys and
field-based glaciological measurements over a 4-year period for six
alpine glaciers that lie in the Columbia and Rocky Mountains, near the
headwaters of the Columbia River, British Columbia, Canada. We calculated
annual geodetic balance using coregistered late summer digital elevation
models (DEMs) and distributed estimates of density based on surface
classification of ice, snow, and firn surfaces. Winter balance was derived
using coregistered late summer and spring DEMs, as well as density measurements
from regional snow survey observations and our glaciological measurements.
Geodetic summer balance was calculated as the difference between winter and
annual balance. Winter mass balance from our glaciological observations
averaged 1.95±0.09 m w.e. (meter water equivalent), 4 % larger than those derived from
geodetic surveys. Average glaciological summer and annual balance were 3 %
smaller and 3 % larger, respectively, than our geodetic estimates. We find
that distributing snow, firn, and ice density based on surface classification
has a greater influence on geodetic annual mass change than the density
values themselves. Our results demonstrate that accurate assessments of
seasonal mass change can be produced using ALS over a series of glaciers
spanning several mountain ranges. Such agreement over multiple seasons,
years, and glaciers demonstrates the ability of high-resolution geodetic
methods to increase the number of glaciers where seasonal mass balance can
be reliably estimated.


Melatonin is the chief secretory product of the pineal gland and is synthesized enzymatically from serotonin. These indoleamine derivatives play an important role in the prevention of oxidative damage. Lactoperoxidase (LPO; EC 22.214.171.124) was purified from bovine milk with three purification steps: Amberlite CG-50 resin, CM-Sephadex C-50 ion-exchange, and Sephadex G-100 gel filtration chromatography, respectively. LPO was purified with a yield of 21.6%, a specific activity of 34.0 EU/mg protein, and 14.7-fold purification. To determine the enzyme purity, SDS-PAGE was performed and a single band was observed. The Rz (A412/A280) value for LPO was 0.9. The effect of melatonin and serotonin on lactoperoxidase was determined using ABTS as chromogenic substrate. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values for melatonin and serotonin were found to be 1.46 and 1.29 μM, respectively. Also, the inhibition constants (Ki) for melatonin and serotonin were 0.82 ± 0.28 and 0.26 ± 0.04 μM, respectively. Both melatonin and serotonin were found to be competitive inhibitors.


Our goal is to understand the so-called trade-off between fairness and accuracy. In this work, using a tool from information theory called Chernoff information, we derive fundamental limits on this relationship that explain why the accuracy on a given dataset often decreases as fairness increases. Novel to this work, we examine the problem of fair classification through the lens of a mismatched hypothesis testing problem, i.e., where we are trying to find a classifier that distinguishes between two "ideal" distributions but instead we are given two mismatched distributions that are biased. Based on this perspective, we contend that measuring accuracy with respect to the given (possibly biased) dataset is a problematic measure of performance. Instead one should also consider accuracy with respect to an ideal dataset that is unbiased. We formulate an optimization to find such ideal distributions and show that the optimization is feasible. Lastly, when the Chernoff information for one group is strictly less than another in the given dataset, we derive the information-theoretic criterion under which collection of more features can actually improve the Chernoff information and achieve fairness without compromising accuracy on the available data.


Experimental results obtained in PBX-M suggest that IBW can be used to induce locally a transport barrier and improve core confinement. Using similar neoclassical-like particle and ion energy diffusivity values as inferred inside the IBW-induced core barrier, the CH-mode performance is assessed for TFTR high performance D - T plasmas. By controlling the barrier location, Q-factors in the range can be obtained with a total stored energy of MJ.


The four countries of Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark are participating in a joint project which includes performing instrumented crack arrest experiments on A533-B steel. The primary aim of this study is to determine the dynamic fracture properties during propagation and arrest. Dynamic finite-element methods calculations were used to analyze earlier reported experiments on the transverse wedge-loaded compact crack arrest (CCA) specimen, in order to obtain guidance for future experiments regarding measuring technique, material characterization, and the crack-tip model. The computations indicate that the dynamic effects on the stress-intensity factor are small for the CCA specimen. It is also shown that proper determination of the displacement controlled boundary conditions can be made by measuring displacements at the load line. Computations were also made with the material treated as elastic-viscoplastic. It was found that nonlinear material behavior is likely to be important for A533-B steel at least at room temperature and higher temperatures.


Planar leaky-wave antenna (LWA) designs that utilize a printed surface wave (SW) source are presented. Specifically, by the addition of a periodic arrangement of width-modulated microstrip lines on top of a grounded dielectric slab (GDS), a sinusoidally modulated reactance surface (SMRS) can be realized, providing appropriate conditions for leaky wave (LW) radiation. In addition, a transition section near the SW source improves antenna matching, while also, controlling the leakage rate and aperture distribution. A numerically computed dispersion diagram (DD) for the periodic structure is also calculated in terms of Mathieu functions. Full-wave simulations and measurements are in agreement with the developed numerical model and results suggest that these LWAs can offer broadside radiation as well as continuous beam scanning with radiation efficiencies of more than 85%. In addition, the investigated width-modulated microstrip lines offer ease of fabrication and may also be useful in the design of new periodic structures for wave guidance and other low-cost printed circuits and antennas.


SUMMARY The sweat bee Megalopta (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), unlike most bees, flies in extremely dim light. And although nocturnal insects are often equipped with superposition eyes, which greatly enhance light capture, Megalopta performs visually guided flight with apposition eyes. We examined how light limits Megalopta's flight behavior by measuring flight times and corresponding light levels and comparing them with flight trajectories upon return to the nest. We found the average time to land increased in dim light, an effect due not to slow approaches, but to circuitous approaches. Some landings, however, were quite fast even in the dark. To explain this, we examined the flight trajectories and found that in dim light, landings became increasingly error prone and erratic, consistent with repeated landing attempts. These data agree well with the premise that Megalopta uses visual summation, sacrificing acuity in order to see and fly at the very dimmest light intensities that its visual system allows.


It has been shown that the blood-brain barrier (BBB) can be locally disrupted by focused ultrasound (FUS) in the presence of microbubbles (MB) while sustaining little damage to the brain tissue. Thus, the safety issue associated with FUS-induced BBB disruption (BBBD) needs to be investigated for future clinical applications. This study demonstrated the neuroprotective effects induced by low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) against brain injury in the sonicated brain. Rats subjected to a BBB disruption injury received LIPUS exposure for 5 min after FUS/MB application. Measurements of BBB permeability, brain water content, and histological analysis were then carried out to evaluate the effects of LIPUS. The permeability and time window of FUS-induced BBBD can be effectively modulated with LIPUS. LIPUS also significantly reduced brain edema, neuronal death, and apoptosis in the sonicated brain. Our results show that brain injury in the FUS-induced BBBD model could be ameliorated by LIPUS and that LIPUS may be proposed as a novel treatment modality for controllable release of drugs into the brain.


iii Abstract of a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of PhDof a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of PhD CROP FARM DEVELOPMENT IN THE BRAZILIAN "CERRADO" REGION: AN EX-ANTE EVALUATION by Rui F. Veloso Natural resource use planning In an area such as the "Cerrado" region In the Midwest of Brazil Is a challenge. Any planning framework for analysing Investment opportunities in such a region must emphasize sustainable development. This implies a shift from the traditional single agricultural expansion objective approach, to a multiple objective approach such as that described in this thesis. The main objective of this study was to develop an appropriate planning framework for quantifying the effects of new crop farm development proposals for the "Cerrado" region, from a multiple objective perspective. Its practical Implementation depends on the following: the generation of specific experimental data on rice, maize, wheat and soybean crops and reliable climate and soils data to calibrate corresponding crop models that are incorporated Into a planning framework; the development of experiences concerning environmental quality and social Impact analysis by Brazilian researchers; and training of planning framework users for the enlightenment of policy makers. The study was carried out from the point of view of systems theory, and the chosen research approach integrates a set of different modelling techniques within the developed planning framework. The application of a such planning framework for the Paracatu "Planicie" area was orientated to the final selection (among nine alternatives) of the most appropriate farming system for adoption. However, by manipulating the models which were integrated into the planning framework, and parameters and data related to prices, crop yields, farm sizes, Interest rates, credit and others, a range of policy types can be represented and their effects assessed. The results presented illustrate the potential of the planning framework developed here, as a policy analysis tool for farm development. In the conclusions, some insight Is provided Into aspects concerning the incorporation of this planning framework Into a comprehensive decision support system.


Sphingolipids are now considered not only as constitutional components of the cellular membrane but also as essential bioactive factors regulating development and physiologic functions. Ceramide is a vital intermediate of sphingolipid metabolism, synthesized by de novo and salvage pathways, producing multiple types of sphingolipids and their metabolites. Although mutations in gene-encoding enzymes regulating sphingolipid synthesis and metabolism cause distinct diseases, an abnormal sphingolipid metabolism contributes to various pathologic conditions, including kidney diseases. Excessive accumulation of glycosphingolipids and promotion of the ceramide salvage and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) pathways are found in the damaged kidney. Acceleration of the sphingosine kinase/S1P/S1P receptor (SphK/S1P/S1PR) axis plays a central role in deteriorating kidney functions. The SphK/S1P/S1PR signaling impairment is also found during pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). This mini-review discusses the current state of knowledge regarding the role of sphingolipid metabolism on kidney diseases, and the possible involvement of preeclampsia and IUGR conditions.


The relationship between government revenue and expenditure is an important subject in public economics especially for Iran, which is suffering from persistent budget deficits. Regarding theoretical studies, there are essentially four schools of thought on the direction of causation between government expenditure and revenue. The main purpose of this study is to investigate theLong and short Run relationship between government revenue and government expenditure in Iran that covers data from 1987- 2011 by use of Toda-Yamamoto approach. Since the Iranian economy has been subjected to a multitude of structural changes and regime shifts during the sample period, time series' properties of the data are first analysed by Zivot-Andrews (1992) and Lee – Strazicich (2003,2004) model. The results of the Zivot and Andrews and Lee – Strazicich models indicate that all series under investigation are non-stationary at level. However, it is evident from the results of Zivot and Andrews and Lee – Strazicich tests that government revenue and expenditure are stationary at first difference because null hypotheses of unit roots for all the variables are rejected at 1 percent significance level. Taking into account the resulting endogenously determined structural breaks, the Saikkonen and Luetkephol (2000), Gregory and Hansen, cointegration approach and Auto regressive distributed lag are then employed to determine the long-run Relationship between Government Expenditure (GE) and Government Revenue (TR). This cointegration technique accommodates potential structural breaks that could undermine the existence of a long-run relationship between Government Expenditure and Government Revenue. The results of this paper support the Freidman (1978) hypothesis that government revenues cause expenditure and revenues have a positive causal impact on government expenditure.


Lung cancer generally has an unfavorable prognosis. For those with resectable disease, the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy has the potential to reduce tumor volume, address micrometastatic disease early, and improve outcomes. Randomized trials comparing neoadjuvant platinum-based regimens with surgery alone were able to demonstrate the feasibility and safety of this modality. These trials supported evidence found in phase II trials that utilized third-generation chemotherapies. Still, limitations to these studies exist, such as the inclusion of various disease stages in one study, inter- and intratrial variability of the chemotherapy regimens used, and lack of phase III data comparing neoadjuvant to adjuvant chemotherapy. These heterogeneous factors make it difficult to offer firm recommendations about neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Other matters of contention include the role of postoperative radiation and the concern for increased postoperative complications, especially when a right pneumonectomy is being considered after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. To clarify these issues, well-structured phase III trials comparing adjuvant to neoadjuvant chemotherapy are needed.


Privacy protection methods, such as differentially private mechanisms, introduce noise into resulting statistics which often results in complex and intractable sampling distributions. In this paper, we propose to use the simulation-based"repro sample"approach to produce statistically valid confidence intervals and hypothesis tests based on privatized statistics. We show that this methodology is applicable to a wide variety of private inference problems, appropriately accounts for biases introduced by privacy mechanisms (such as by clamping), and improves over other state-of-the-art inference methods such as the parametric bootstrap in terms of the coverage and type I error of the private inference. We also develop significant improvements and extensions for the repro sample methodology for general models (not necessarily related to privacy), including 1) modifying the procedure to ensure guaranteed coverage and type I errors, even accounting for Monte Carlo error, and 2) proposing efficient numerical algorithms to implement the confidence intervals and $p$-values.


Abstract Malta's position at the centre of the Mediterranean attracted various conquerors and settlers, but in its present form Maltese has its origins in the Arabic dialect introduced by the Muslim conquest around the year 1000. Lexical Latinisation started early under Norman rule and kept increasing steadily up to the twentieth century thanks to contact with Chancery and spoken Sicilian up to the sixteenth century, and then with Italian which was introduced by the Knights of Malta. This article traces the historical developments and their influence on the Maltese language, providing statistics concerning the composition of the lexicon and the various methods by which it can be analysed. A look at the present situation explains how Maltese and English bilingualism in the schools and in society is affecting the spoken variety which is often marked by code-switching.


The diversity of melanoma patterns greatly impairs the interpretation of malignant cells in effusion samples. The presence of melanin pigments greatly helps determine the histogenetic origin of the tumor, but unfortunately many cases do not exhibit this feature. We reviewed cases with a definitive diagnosis of melanoma in order to identify some useful characteristics of the morphologic examination of effusions. We also subjected the effusions to the HMB45 immunoreaction to determine the diagnostic usefulness of this monoclonal antibody. The study was performed on 21 effusion samples containing malignant cells, and the main cytologic findings were similar to those on other neoplasms except for the presence of melanin pigment. The HMB45 immunoreaction was very sensitive, confirming the diagnosis in 14 of 18 cases (77.8%). Melanin pigments seem to be useful markers for melanoma in effusions, and HMB45 can be used as an ancillary method in the differential diagnosis.


Airborne radar tracking in moving ground vehicle scenarios is impacted by sensor, target, and environmental dynamics. Moving targets can be assessed with 1-D High Range Resolution (HRR) Radar profiles with sufficient signal-to-noise (SNR) present which contain enough feature information to discern one target from another to help maintain track or to identify the vehicle. Typical radar clutter suppression algorithms developed for processing moving ground target data not only remove the surrounding clutter but also a portion of the target signature. Enhanced clutter suppression can be achieved using a multi-channel signal subspace (MSS) algorithm which preserves target features. In this paper, we (1) exploit extra information from enhanced clutter suppression for automatic target recognition (ATR), (2) present a gain comparison using displaced phase center antenna (DPCA) and MSS clutter suppressed HRR data; and (3) develop a confusion-matrix identity result for simultaneous tracking and identification (STID). The results show that more channels for MSS increase ID over DCPA, result in a slightly noisier clutter suppressed image, and preserve more target features after clutter cancellation


Objective. The aim of this study is to estimate the inter- and intra-observer agreement of the Weiss and Milch classification systems in radiological studies of fractures of the lateral humeral condyle in pediatric patients. Methods. An agreement study was performed with non-probability sampling of consecutive cases with a sample size of a hundred radiological studies, which were evaluated by three experienced orthopedic surgeons and three resident physicians; following a thorough comparison of both inter- and intra-observer agreements during six weeks based on the Fleiss' kappa index, which was used to determine the inter- and intra-observer agreement rates of both classifications. Results: The overall reliability of the entire group of evaluators for the Milch classification in the inter-observer evaluation was κ = 0.13, 95% CI 0.08−0.18, and the intra-observer evaluation was κ = 0.08, 95% CI 0.06−0.11. As for the Weiss classification, the overall evaluation had an inter-observer agreement of κ = 0.53, 95% CI 0.50−0.57, and an intra-observer agreement of κ = 0.22, 95% CI 0.20−0.24. Conclusions: In the present study, the Weiss classification system demonstrated greater agreement than the Milch classification; however, the latter may require the use of complementary studies such as an arthrography to enhance classification accuracy. Level of Evidence II, Diagnostic Studies – Investigating Diagnostic Examination.
Key words: Pediatric, lateral condyle fractures, agreement study, kappa index.


Adapting generic speech recognition models to specific individuals is a challenging problem due to the scarcity of personalized data. Recent works have proposed boosting the amount of training data using personalized text-to-speech synthesis. Here, we ask two fundamental questions about this strategy: when is synthetic data effective for personalization, and why is it effective in those cases? To address the first question, we adapt a state-of-the-art automatic speech recognition (ASR) model to target speakers from four benchmark datasets representative of different speaker types. We show that ASR personalization with synthetic data is effective in all cases, but particularly when (i) the target speaker is underrepresented in the global data, and (ii) the capacity of the global model is limited. To address the second question of why personalized synthetic data is effective, we use controllable speech synthesis (CSS) to generate speech with varied styles and content. Surprisingly, we find that the text content of the synthetic data, rather than style, is important for speaker adaptation. These results lead us to propose a data selection strategy for ASR personalization based on speech content.


Chronic, untreated oral disease adversely affects one's systemic health, quality of life, and economic productivity. This study evaluated the effect of rehabilitative dental treatment on the oral-health-related quality of life and employment of welfare recipients. Three hundred and seventy-seven participants in a novel welfare dental program received oral examinations, questionnaires, and rehabilitative dental treatment. Seventy-nine percent of participants exhibited improvement in their oral-health-related quality-of-life scores following dental treatment. Improved OHIP-14 change scores were associated with being Caucasian or African-American, initial poor general health, severity of treatment urgency, worse baseline oral-health-related quality-of-life scores, subsequent patient satisfaction with the Dental Program, and resolution of their chief complaint (all p < 0.04). Those who completed their dental treatment were twice as likely to achieve a favorable/neutral employment outcome (OR = 2.01, 95%CI = 1.12, 3.62). Thus, oral health improved the quality of life and employment outcome for this welfare population.


ABSTRACT This quantitative study examined differences in the coming-out process between self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) participants in five age cohorts. An Internet survey and convenience sampling strategy was used to recruit 1,131 participants (ages 18 to 85). Participants provided demographic information and information about their home environment growing up, completed the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Identity Scale (LGBIS) (Mohr & Fassinger, 2000), and shared ages that they achieved important milestones in the coming-out process. ANCOVA of differences between men and women in the five cohorts on the age that significant milestones were achieved resulted in significant findings for all comparisons (p < .001). In post hoc analysis, 52% of the 450 pairwise comparisons were significant at at least the .05 level. Generally speaking, two significant trends were found in this sample: (a) that the average age of achieving milestones has decreased over time; and (b) that a gender gap in the age of achieving milestones between men and women has disappeared. The current study supports and extends research that suggests a strong connection between social acceptance of LGB people and coming out at younger ages.


The title compound, C15H12O3S, was prepared by alkaline hydrolysis of ethyl 2-{1-(methylsulfanyl)naphtho[2,1-b]furan-2-yl}acetate. The crystal structure is stabilized by CH2—H⋯π interactions between the methyl H atoms of the methylsulfanyl substituent and the central benzene ring of the naphthofuran system, and by inversion-related intermolecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds between the carboxyl groups.


In this brief, a low-power flip-flop (FF) design PTLFF: Pass Transistor Logic Flip Flop is presented. The pro-posed design successfully adopts two measures to overcome the problems associated with existing P-FF designs. The first one is reducing the number of nMOS transistors stacked in the discharging path. The second one is supporting a mechanism to conditionally enhance the pull down strength when input data is "1." long discharging path problem in conventional explicit type pulse-triggered FF (P-FF) designs and achieves better speed and power performance. Based on post-layout simulation results using TSMC CMOS 90-nm technology, the proposed design outperforms the conventional P-FF design by using only 17 transistors. The average power delay is reduced to 3.57 μW.


Recent work on QoS in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) has shown that bandwidth needs to be reserved in a distributed manner by also including interfering nodes. However, in practice, QoS protocols have difficulties to locally determine the set of nodes that actually interfere with a given transmission. To solve this problem, it is not uncommon to consider all nodes within a distance of k hops (k-neighbors) as interfering nodes. In this paper we use Monte-Carlo methods to study the correlation between the k-neighborhood of a node and the set of interfering nodes. We compute expected values for both reservation recall -the fraction of interfering k-neighbors to all interferers -and reservation precision -the fraction of interfering k-neighbors to all k-neighbors. The two metrics reflect the quality of a reservation and the loss of resources due to over-reservation. We further investigate the impact of different physical layer properties (e.g., fading) and network settings (e.g., network density) on the quality of the reservations. Our results indicate that existing reservation techniques to ensure QoS are inadequate and that new techniques are needed to efficiently implement QoS in MANETs.


This study analyzed dynamic causal relationship among Eumseong pork, Jeju pork and Jeju black pork scalding wholesale prices. Two different methods were used for the stationarity test: (1) ADF, PP, KPSS test without considering breakpoint and (2) Zivot-Andrews test considering breakpoint. The three pork wholesale prices were found to be non-stationary and FMD shock did not affect non-stationarity of the three series. Although Eumseong pork, Jeju pork and Jeju black pork wholesale prices are non-stationary in levels, Johansen cointegration test and VECM (vector error correction model) showed that the three prices were cointegrated, which implied that there existed a long- and short-run equilibrium relationship among the three prices. Granger-causality tests showed that the Jeju pork prices had a strong causal effect on the eumseong pork prices, but there was not any causal relationship between the Jeju black pork prices and the Eumseong pork prices. Furthermore the variance of Jeju black pork wholesale prices was different from the that of Eumseong and Jeju pork wholesale prices, and both Jeju black pork. Therefore the Jeju black pork wholesale prices should be excepted from the national average pork wholesale prices.


The use of N fertilizer in agriculture is a major source of Nitrous Oxide, an important greenhouse gases. Market-based instruments, such as incentives or taxes, may help reduce Nitrous Oxide emission by changing Nitrogen application rate. Using a dynamic programming approach, we found that changing corn price or fertilizer price have effects on both farm profit and Nitrogen application rate. However, farm profit and Nitrogen rate always change in the same direction when affected by either input or output prices. Furthermore, as the corn price is relatively higher than the fertilizer price, changing the corn price is more effective in influencing Nitrogen rate, and thus Nitrous Oxide emission. This analysis can provide policymakers with useful information when designing Market-based tools to help reduce Nitrous Oxide emissions and mitigate global warming.


In a recent case-control study among UKAEA employees an elevated incidence of prostate cancer was associated with potential exposure to 51Cr, 65Zn, 60Co, 59Fe and 3H. The authors highlighted 65Zn as the most likely carcinogen because zinc is concentrated in the prostate gland and the effective doses from its Auger electrons may be very high at short range. However, predictions from BEIR V models are that a radiation dose to the prostate of at least 17 Sv would be required to account for the observed risk of cancer. The authors calculate that the maximum conceivable intakes of 65Zn over a 10 year period would only produce a dose of 216 mSv to the prostate gland even if they exaggerate the degree of concentration and the damaging effects of Auger electrons. Using more realistic assumptions, the authors arrive at a dose of only 7.2 mSv which is a factor of over 1000 too low. Similar calculations for the other radionuclides again leave the dose well short of that required to explain the observed risk. It is concluded that 65Zn and the other activation products are merely markers for a working environment in which the risk is raised for other unidentified reasons.


A case of benign multilocular cystic nephroma in a 12 month old male infant is reported. The patho-anatomical features of this rare renal lesion are demonstrated. Its possible histogenesis and relationship to nephroblastoma are discussed.


This article examines the actorness of the European Union in the security policy field. Applying and adapting criteria developed by Bretherton and Vogler – namely criteria regarding structure, effect and international status – the European Union is described as a 'collective actor'. Collective actorness is dissimilar to that of a classical international unit, i.e. the state, but implies that some coherence, cooperation and a certain amount of collective action can be expected. Also, of relevance for the measurement of actorness is the extent of participation in global governance and recognition in international law. After testing the EU on seven criteria, it can be discerned that a certain collective actorness is present, even if problems regarding a 'common voice' and the coherence of internal policies still exist.


Dehydroascorbic acid (DHA), the oxidized form of vitamin C, is transported across the microvillous surface of the human placental syncytiotrophoblast by the D-glucose transporter. The existence of this mechanism suggests that maternal hyperglycemia may influence placental transfer of vitamin C. Therefore, we examined the effect of monosaccharides, equilibrated across the membrane, on the uptake of 0.5 mmol/L DHA by placental membrane vesicles. Relative to uptake in the absence of monosaccharide, the rate of DHA uptake was enhanced by up to 90% in the presence of 3-O-methyl-D-glucose equilibrated across the membrane. Comparable results were obtained with D-glucose and D-galactose. An inward-directed monosaccharide concentration gradient inhibited DHA uptake. However, with elevated equilibrium concentrations of monosaccharide, the magnitude of such uptake inhibition was reduced. Relative to DHA uptake at normal blood glucose concentrations (5 mmol/L), the results suggest that moderate maternal hyperglycemia does not alter, but that severe hypo- or hyperglycemia decreases, placental uptake of DHA from the maternal circulation.