We discuss the development of beamline U3A at NSLS for AXAF telescope witness mirror reflectivity calibrations in the 1- 2 keV energy range. The beamline was originally constructed as a white light beamline and has been upgraded with the addition of a monochromator to meet the needs of the AXAF calibration program. The beamline consists of an upstream horizontally focussing gold coated elliptical mirror, a differential pumping section, a sample/filter chamber, a monochromator and a downstream filter set. The mirror is set at a 2 degree incident angle for a nominal high energy cutoff at 2 keV. The monochromator is a separated element, scanning, double crystal/multilayer design having low to moderate energy resolution. A fixed exit beam is maintained through the 7-70 degree Bragg angle range by longitudinal translation of the second scanning crystal. Tracking is achieved by computer control of the scan motors with lookup table positioning of the crystal rotary tables. All motors are in vacuum and there are no motional feedthroughs. Several different multilayer or crystal pairs are co-mounted on the monochromator crystal holders and can be exchanged in situ. Currently installed are a W/Si multilayer pair, beryl, and Na-(beta) alumina allowing energy coverage from 180 eV to 2000 eV. Measurements with Na-(beta) alumina and beryl show that beam impurity less than 0.1 percent can be achieved in the 1-2 keV energy range. Measured resolving powers are E/(Delta) E equals 60 for W/Si, 500-800 for (beta) alumina and 1500 to 3000 for beryl. Initial results suggest that signal to noise and beam purity are adequate in the 1-2 keV region to achieve the 1 percent calibration accuracy required by AXAF. This allows overlap of Ir MV edge data taken on x-ray beamline X8A and with low energy data taken on ALS beamline 6.3.2.


The economists of neoclassical school aiming to give economics the status of an exact discipline, made a distinction between the study of facts and the study of values, emphasising that the primary domain of economic science is studying facts. From Marshall, over Pigou and Robinson, economic science has attained the status of the science of choice or science of rational decision-making. In the orthodox model of rational decision making, the role of transaction costs in the economic development of society is interpreted incorrectly. The purpose of this paper is to prove that the declining efficiency of the institute in the short-term increases the specific transaction costs, while their long-term increase in efficiency reduces specific and increases general transaction costs.


New localities of Bryocrumia vivicolor (Broth. & Dixon) W.R.Buck, a monotypic species, is first reported from Japan and Taiwan. Some old specimens of B. vivicolor were discovered at the herbarium of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory (NICH). These old specimens were from 4 regions in Japan, which are Oita, Miyazaki, Wakayama and Hyogo Prefecture, and 2 regions in Taiwan , which are Mt. Anma-shan and Mt. Li.


Abstract New data are reported on the diet of the long‐finned pilot whale, Globicephala melas, based on stomach contents recovered from whales involved in a mass stranding on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay, South Island, on 23 January 2008. The stomachs of 11 whales were examined, from which identifiable prey remains were recovered from six, four females and two males (3.1–5.4 m in length). Prey remains comprised exclusively cephalopod beaks (1–46 beaks per whale), attributed to two genera in two orders: arrow squid, Nototodarus spp. (Teuthoidea: Ommastrephidae), and common octopus, Pinnoctopus cordiformis (Octopoda: Octopodidae). The stomachs of eight whales were infested with parasitic nematodes, with two ulcerated; the stomachs of five whales did not contain any prey remains. These data complement and are comparable to the only other information available for this species from this region, reported from whales mass‐stranded at this same location in December 2005. Lower beak rostral length versus mantle length and biomass regression equations for Nototodarus spp. are reviewed, highlighting the importance of the use of species‐specific regression equations for reconstructing both cephalopod mantle length and biomass from lower beak remains in dietary studies.


2 Abstract: The biochemical and haematological indices of birds fed with varying dietary inclusions of siam weed (Chromolaena odorata) leaf meal (SWLM) were determined using 24 laying hens in their eighth month of lay in an eight week trial. Four diets were formulated for the purpose of this study. Diet 1 served as the control diet and had no SWLM inclusion. SWLM was introduced at 2.5%, 5.0% and 7.5% in diets 2, 3 and 4 respectively. The haematological and biochemical investigations revealed no statistical differences (P=0.05) among the mean values of treatments 1, 2 and 3. However the mean value of treatment 4 (7.5% SWLM inclusion level) was statistically different (P<0.05) from the others. The numerical values of mos t haematological indices showed an initial increase up to treatment 3 followed by a decrease in treatment 4. Almost all haematological indices studied (PCV, RBC count, Hbc, MCHC, MCH, MCV and ESR) progressively increased up to diet 3 (5% SWLM inclusion) after which there was a decline indicating a probable acceptance limit of 5% SWLM dietary inclusion in layers diets without any serious health implication.


The analysis of trends in curriculum and textbook development in recent decades has unambiguously shown that educational design is going on the way of deepening the integrity of school subjects. Unfortunately, however, outboard of education there are still real interdisciplinary conglomerates that can powerfully support students' personal development (for example, civil, intercultural, health and environmental education). Changes in the learning content are prioritized with regard to so-called structural integration. Scientific publications on integration in teaching continue to focus on issues and analyses at the level of structural integration. This can be explained not only by the fact that usually the people involved in the research work are professionals related to certain school subjects but it is also due to the vagueness of the functional integration and "taking the research risk" not to enter the field of study. It is known that a great deal of didactics (especially in the past) were careful not to enter the field of study openly. It seemed to have been "mined" over the same decades when the theme of integrity was almost a taboo topic in scientific literature and few dared to talk about it.In our view, functional integration certainly stands higher than structural integration. It not only covers different parts of the subject knowledge by uniting them, but also offers integrative mechanisms through which the person goes on the way of knowledge integration.The publication presents the author's attempt to elaborate a model for the assessment of textbooks (learning sets) in terms of their ability to support learning integration. The grounds for creating this model, its peculiarities and content are presented.The defined criteria and indicators for the assessment of textbooks (learning sets) include the already mentioned two aspects of didactic integration but are focused primarily on student learning which, like any other behavior, can be presented as a whole by interrelated components (dimensions): intellectual (cognitive), social, emotional and physical (physiological). The synthesis of these dimensions (components) of human behavior provides a starting point to explore what project is set in the textbook (learning set) for the student's learning, how integrally his presumable learning is.


The applications of graphene-based materials in catalysis are limited by their strong tendency to aggregate, which may lead to a decrease in active sites. Herein, we propose a facile and controllable strategy to fabricate a series of heterogeneous catalysts with a unique nanostructure wherein CuOx-decorated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets are incorporated into a solid matrix composed of poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The resultant materials are self-supported films and could be directly used as catalysts for the liquid-phase oxidation of styrene without the requirement for extra substrates. The employment of PVP-CMC (PC) as the support for CuOx-decorated rGO sheets successfully inhibits their aggregation. Benefiting from the dispersion of copper species, these films exhibit good catalytic activity and recyclability under mild reaction conditions. Especially, they can be conveniently removed from the reaction mixture by tweezers due to their structural stability. For catalyzing multiple reactions with high efficiency and facile recyclability, this study offers a universal strategy to design heterogeneous catalysts based on graphene materials and provides a promising platform.


Optical interconnects have attracted considerable attention for use in short-reach communication links within high-performance electronic systems, such as data centers, supercomputers, and data storage systems. Multimode polymer waveguides, in particular, constitute an attractive technology for use in board-level interconnects as they can be cost-effectively integrated onto standard PCBs and allow system assembly with relaxed alignment tolerances. However, their highly multimoded nature raises important concerns about their bandwidth limitations and their potential to support very high on-board data rates. In this paper, we report record error-free (BER <; 10-12 ) 40 Gb/s data transmission over a 1-m-long multimode polymer spiral waveguide and present thorough studies on the waveguide bandwidth performance. The frequency response of the waveguide is investigated under a wide range of launch conditions and in the presence of input spatial offsets, which are expected to be highly-likely in real-world systems. A robust bandwidth performance is observed with a bandwidth-length product of at least 35 GHz×m for all launch conditions studied. The reported results clearly demonstrate the potential of this technology for use in board-level interconnects, and indicate that data rates of at least 40 Gb/s are feasible over waveguide lengths of 1 m.


We criticize some conceptual weaknesses in the recent literature on coalitional TUgames and propose, based on our critics, a new definition of dual TU-games that coincides with the one in the literature on the class of super-additive games. We justify our new definition in four alternative ways: 1. Via an adequate definition of ecient payo vectors. 2. Via a modification of the Bondareva-Shapley duality. 3. Via an explicit consideration of \coalition building". 4. Via associating general TU-games to coalition-production economies. Rather than imputations, we base our analysis on a modification of aspirations.


Carbon nanotube (CNT) is considered as an ideal material for thermal management in electronic packaging because of its extraordinary high thermal conductivity. Fabricated onto a silicon substrate to form micro-channels, the CNT based cooling fins show high heat dissipation efficiency. A series of 2D and 3D CFD simulations have been carried out for CNT based micro-channel cooling architectures based on one and two dimensional fin array in this paper using COMSOL 4.0a software. Micro-channels are generally regarded as an effective method for the heat transfer in electronic products. The influence of various fluids, micro-fin structures, fluid velocity and heating powers on cooling effects have been simulated and compared in this study. Steady-state thermal stress analyses for the forced convection heat transfer are also performed to determine maximum allowable stress and deflections for the different types of cooling assembly.


The mesopelagic fishes Muller's pearlside (Maurolicus muelleri) and northern lanternfish (Benthosema glaciale) were studied in near-surface water during their diel vertical migrations. The fish apparently alternated between swimming predominantly vertically and horizontally, although many fish were descending slowly (∼1 cm s −1 ) during horizontal swimming. Vertical swimming speeds during rapid ascents and descents were typically 10-30 cm s −1 , corresponding to several body lengths s −1 . Horizontal swimming paths varied extensively, some fish following a rather straight track, others displaying pronounced smooth or sharp turns. Horizontal swimming speeds appeared to be in the same range as the vertical swimming speeds during ascents and descents, but were less reliably estimated as this component was more affected by noise than the vertical component. Both the advantages and limitations of the split-beam tracking technique in behavioural studies are discussed in light of these observations.


The wide utilization of copper in agriculture and industrial processes in addition to many other uses associated with human activities causes both point and non-point source pollution of the environment with copper. Although copper is relatively non-toxic to mammals and essential micronutrient necessary for a wide variety of prokaryotic and eukaryotic metabolic activities, is toxic to all organisms if present in elevated concentrations. Copper pollution in agricultural posing soils can adversely affect the living part of soil organic matter serious threat to sustained food and fiber production.


Several shrapnels have been detected in the vicinity of Vela SNR by the ROSAT all-sky survey. We present here the spectral properties of shrapnel 'A' observed with the ASCA satellite. A prominent Si-K emission line with relatively weak emission lines from other elements have been detected, revealing that the relative abundance of Si is a few ten-times higher than those of other elements. Combining with the ROSAT PSPC results, we obtained the electron temperature, kTe, to be 0.33 ± 0.01 keV. The total mass of shrapnel 'A' is estimated to be ∼ 0.01M⊙. If it is an ejecta of a supernova explosion, the interstellar matter (ISM) would be swept up in the leading edge while the ejecta material would be peeled off in the trailing edge, which should be confirmed by future observations.


This paper presents an algorithm for generating the medial axis transform (MAT) of 3D objects with free-form boundaries. The algorithm proposed uses the exact representation of the part and generates an approximate rational spline description (to within a defined tolerance) of the MAT. The algorithm generates the MAT by a tracing technique that marches along the object boundary. The level of approximation is controlled by the choice of the step size in the tracing procedure. Criteria based on distance and local curvature of boundary entities are used to identify the junction points and the search for these junction points is done in an efficient way. The algorithm works for multiply-connected objects as well. Results of implementation are provided.


We introduce an agent-based acquaintance model in which social links are created by processes in which there is no explicit homophily. In spite of the homogeneous nature of the social interactions, highly-clustered social networks can arise. The crucial feature of our model is that of variable transitive interactions. Namely, when an agent introduces two unconnected friends, the rate at which a connection actually occurs between them depends on the number of their mutual acquaintances. As this transitive interaction rate is varied, the social network undergoes a dramatic clustering transition. Close to the transition, the network consists of a collection of well-defined communities. As a function of time, the network can also undergo an incomplete gelation transition, in which the gel, or giant cluster, does not constitute the entire network, even at infinite time. Some of the clustering properties of our model also arise, but in a more gradual manner, in Facebook networks. Finally, we discuss a more realistic variant of our original model in which network realizations can be constructed that quantitatively match Facebook networks.


* A member's open interest limit at aggregate (all contracts) level will be either the absolute number indicated above or 15% of the total market open position in the commodity whichever is higher. In case of delivery (near) month, a member's open interest limits will be either the absolute number indicated above or 15% of the total near month open position in the commodity, whichever is higher.


Finite-context models have been used for DNA sequence compression as secondary, fall back mechanisms, the generalized opinion being that models with order larger than two or three are inappropriate. In this paper we show that finite-context models can also be used as the main encoding method, and that they are effective for model orders at least as higher as thirteen. Moreover, we propose a new model updating scheme that takes into account inverted repeats, a common characteristic in DNA sequences.


A detailed questionnaire concerning life history of headache and its characteristics was administered to 1,809 nonmedical volunteers. Questions dealt with severity of headache, the nature of preceding and accompanying phenomena (nausea, visual scotomata, neurologic symptoms), precipitating factors, and history of other illness. For the total sample and in the 25 to 39 age group, severe or disabling headaches were significantly more frequent in women and mild headaches were significantly more common in men. Migraine characteristics were common with mild headache. An association between hypertension and severe headache was found in women, between asthma and severe headache in men.


A method is presented for the design of drilled shafts that are employed as a retaining wall. The method considers the height of the wall, the soil characteristics, the diameter and reinforcing of the drilled shaft, the clear spacing between drilled shafts, and the length of the shaft (a).


Realism is one of the approaches that has long been considered as the dominant paradigm in the study of international politics and has played an important role in shaping it. So, it has been criticized by many theoretical schools of international relations. To address these challenges, neorealism led by Kenneth Waltz sought a methodical and scientific reading of realism that conformed to conventional scientific principles and had the ability to explain international relations. The result of Waltz's attempt was neorealism based on the assumptions of positivism. Opposite to positivist views for the analysis of international politics are the religious theories of international relations. Islamic theory is the most important high-powered religious theory for understanding, explaining, and interpreting international politics. This article seeks to express the meta-theoretical foundations of both neorealist and Islamic theory and to take steps to develop the theoretical framework of the Islamic theory of international relations.


Adopting the concept of "legitimation crisis" as formulated by Jurgen Habermas (1975), this paper examines how the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011-2012— short lived in popular media, but still alive—has challenged the core logic of the American administrative state and, by extension, signals increasingly prevalent and tectonic challenges to the organization and management of late capitalism in a post9/11 world. This paper will examine, in particular, the extensive coordination of police reaction to key Occupy protest events, and how this reaction—militarized police response tactics—was in place as early as 1999 to quash any popular resistance keyed to the Iraq War or world trade policies favored by U.S. trade officials. The militarization of police is now indicative of an emerging ethos of systemic disturbances (analogous to the Solidarity Movement in Poland and similar resistances elsewhere among Soviet satellite states) with the potential to cascade rapidly into escalating and reciprocal state legitimation crises. This paper finds that the first wave of the Occupy movement of 2011-2012 and the state's (media, police, political) reaction is a harbinger of increasing symbiosis between police militarization and state terrorism surveillance directed domestically.


Immunology and microbiology research are essential for human and animal health. Unlike many other health fields, they do not usually centre around the curing or helping individual patients but focus on the microscopic scale instead. These fields are interesting from a gender perspective because two theories seeking to explain gender differences in career choices in the USA (people/things and communal/agentic goals) might produce conflicting expectations about their gender balances. This article assesses the gender shares of journal articles and gendered citation rates of five subfields of the Scopus Immunology and Microbiology broad category 1996-2014/18, for research with solely US author affiliations. Only Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (38% female) had not reached gender parity in publishing by 2018. There was a female first author citation advantage in Parasitology but a disadvantage in Immunology. Immunology, Parasitology and Virology, had female last author citation disadvantages, but all gender effects were much smaller (<5%) than that of an extra author (10%-56%). Citation differences cannot therefore account for the current underrepresentation of women in senior roles.


POROUS MEDIUM CONVECTION AT LARGE RAYLEIGH NUMBER: STUDIES OF COHERENT STRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, AND REDUCED DYNAMICS by Baole Wen University of New Hampshire, September, 2015 Buoyancy-driven convection in fluid-saturated porous media is a key environmental and technological process, with applications ranging from carbon dioxide storage in terrestrial aquifers to the design of compact heat exchangers. Porous medium convection is also a paradigm for forced-dissipative infinite-dimensional dynamical systems, exhibiting spatiotemporally chaotic dynamics if not "true" turbulence. The objective of this dissertation research is to quantitatively characterize the dynamics and heat transport in two-dimensional horizontal and inclined porous medium convection between isothermal plane parallel boundaries at asymptotically large values of the Rayleigh number Ra by investigating the emergent, quasicoherent flow. This investigation employs a complement of direct numerical simulations (DNS), secondary stability and dynamical systems theory, and variational analysis. The DNS confirm the remarkable tendency for the interior flow to self-organize into closelyspaced columnar plumes at sufficiently large Ra (up to Ra ' 10), with more complex spatiotemporal features being confined to boundary layers near the heated and cooled walls. The relatively simple form of the interior flow motivates investigation of unstable steady and xxxvii Abstract xxxviii time-periodic convective states at large Ra as a function of the domain aspect ratio L. To gain insight into the development of spatiotemporally chaotic convection, the (secondary) stability of these fully nonlinear states to small-amplitude disturbances is investigated using a spatial Floquet analysis. The results indicate that there exist two distinct modes of instability at large Ra: a bulk instability mode and a wall instability mode. The former usually is excited by long-wavelength disturbances and is generally much weaker than the latter. DNS, strategically initialized to investigate the fully nonlinear evolution of the most dangerous secondary instability modes, suggest that the (long time) mean inter-plume spacing in statistically-steady porous medium convection results from an interplay between the competing effects of these two types of instability. Upper bound analysis is then employed to investigate the dependence of the heat transport enhancement factor, i.e. the Nusselt number Nu, on Ra and L. To solve the optimization problems arising from the "background field" upper-bound variational analysis, a novel twostep algorithm in which time is introduced into the formulation is developed. The new algorithm obviates the need for numerical continuation, thereby enabling the best available bounds to be computed up to Ra ≈ 2.65×104. A mathematical proof is given to demonstrate that the only steady state to which this numerical algorithm can converge is the required global optimal of the variational problem. Using this algorithm, the dependence of the bounds on L(Ra) is explored, and a "minimal flow unit" is identified. Finally, the upper bound variational methodology is also shown to yield quantitatively useful predictions of Nu and to furnish a functional basis that is naturally adapted to the boundary layer dynamics at large Ra.xxxviii time-periodic convective states at large Ra as a function of the domain aspect ratio L. To gain insight into the development of spatiotemporally chaotic convection, the (secondary) stability of these fully nonlinear states to small-amplitude disturbances is investigated using a spatial Floquet analysis. The results indicate that there exist two distinct modes of instability at large Ra: a bulk instability mode and a wall instability mode. The former usually is excited by long-wavelength disturbances and is generally much weaker than the latter. DNS, strategically initialized to investigate the fully nonlinear evolution of the most dangerous secondary instability modes, suggest that the (long time) mean inter-plume spacing in statistically-steady porous medium convection results from an interplay between the competing effects of these two types of instability. Upper bound analysis is then employed to investigate the dependence of the heat transport enhancement factor, i.e. the Nusselt number Nu, on Ra and L. To solve the optimization problems arising from the "background field" upper-bound variational analysis, a novel twostep algorithm in which time is introduced into the formulation is developed. The new algorithm obviates the need for numerical continuation, thereby enabling the best available bounds to be computed up to Ra ≈ 2.65×104. A mathematical proof is given to demonstrate that the only steady state to which this numerical algorithm can converge is the required global optimal of the variational problem. Using this algorithm, the dependence of the bounds on L(Ra) is explored, and a "minimal flow unit" is identified. Finally, the upper bound variational methodology is also shown to yield quantitatively useful predictions of Nu and to furnish a functional basis that is naturally adapted to the boundary layer dynamics at large Ra.


We examined in detail biochemical characteristics of 10 normotensive individuals (6 females; age range, 11-43 yr) with glucocorticoid-suppressible hyperaldosteronism (familial hyperaldosteronism type I) in an attempt to understand the development of hypertension in this disorder. All were normokalemic (median plasma potassium, 3.7 +/- 0.4 mmol/L SD), and upright plasma aldosterone levels (478 +/- 333 pmol/L) were within the normal range (140-1110 pmol/L) in nine subjects. However, upright PRA levels (3.3 +/- 30.5 pmol/L x min) were suppressed (<13 pmol/L x min), and the aldosterone to PRA ratio (169.0 +/- 308.3) was elevated (>65) in all but one subject. All subjects had elevated 24-h urinary levels of 18-oxo-cortisol (34.3 +/- 11.2 nmol/mmol creatinine; normal range, 0.8-6.5 nmol/mmol creatinine). Plasma aldosterone failed to rise by at least 50% during 2 h of upright posture in five of seven subjects, or during a 1-h infusion of angiotensin II (2 ng/kg x min) in each of six subjects so studied. Serial, second-hourly (day-curve) aldosterone levels correlated tightly with cortisol (r = 0.79-0.97, P < 0.01 to 0.001), but not with PRA (r = 0.13-0.40, not significant) levels in each of six subjects, and plasma aldosterone suppressed to less than 110 pmol/L during 4 days of dexamethasone administration (0.5 mg 6 hourly) in each of two studied, consistent with ACTH-regulated aldosterone production. In conclusion, biochemical evidence of excessive, abnormally regulated aldosterone production is present not only in hypertensive individuals with familial hyperaldosteronism type I, but also in those who are normotensive. The absence of hypertension in such individuals, therefore, cannot be attributed to lack of biochemical expression of the hybrid gene.


Managing the disposal of infectious animal carcasses from routine and catastrophic disease outbreaks is a global concern. Recent research suggests that burial in lined and aerated trenches provides the rapid pathogen containment provided by burial, while reducing air and water pollution potential and the length of time that land is taken out of agricultural production. Survival of pathogens in the digestate remains a concern, however. A potential answer is a 'dual'-barrier approach in which ammonia is used as a secondary barrier treatment to reduce the risk of pathogen contamination when trench liners ultimately leak. Results of this study showed that the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of NH3 is 0.1 M (~1,468 NH3-N mg/L), and 0.5 M NH3 (~7,340 NH3-N mg/L) for ST4232 & MRSA43300, respectively at 24 h and pH = 9±0.1 and inactivation was increased by increasing NH3 concentration and/or treatment time. Results for digestate treated with NH3 were consistent with the MICs, and both pathogens were completely inactivated within 24 h.


A model has been developed to determine the brightness distribution of vacuum arc cathode spots. The model calculates the specific radiation from the particular spot regions. It is shown that the line radiation from neutrals is a major component of the emitted radiation. Since the distribution of neutrals is not directly related to the current transfer through the cathode surface, current density measurements based on photography of the radiating plasma cloud are questionable. Different experimental techniques of spot investigation (photography with various exposure times, streak investigation) yielding different results for the spot diameter are described briefly. Simulation of these techniques shows that the experimental results can be consistently explained by assuming the following spot parameters: possible spot substructures (fragments) with diameters smaller than 10 mu m and separations of 10-30 mu m, elementary time of fragment motion of a few nanoseconds and fragment displacement of a few micrometers.


A large amount of sludge is generated from the neutralization of acid mine drainage (AMD) in Japan, which may cause severe environmental problems. This study showed there is potential to reuse such sludge in ceramic materials by thermal treatment. We sampled and characterized two types of iron-rich Japanese AMD sludge. Their phase compositions in the temperature range of 9001200°C were identified by X-ray diffraction. ¡-Fe2O3 was the main crystalline phase in all sludge samples after thermal treatment. This can be used in ceramic enamels, porcelain bodies, and ferrite ceramics production. The results of leaching tests using acetic acid solution and distilled water as extraction fluids suggested that the stability of AMD sludge can be increased to a certain degree by thermal treatment; however, amorphous aluminosilicates formed by Al and Si impurities at lower temperatures weakened its stability. The enhanced mobility and volatilization of As impurity by thermal treatment also limits the application of AMD sludge. Applications that are insensitive to Al and Si impurities and products with higher arsenic stability are required when using sludges with high contents of impurities. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.M-M2018848]


Eight male subjects first watched either a videotaped sequence that was violent and arousing in nature or one that was arousing but less violent. Subjects then observed either a second videotape or a sequence of aggressive acts or no videotape. Subjects who were shown the second videotape were told that the aggressive acts they saw were either justified or not justified by previous events. Other subjects were given no information regarding justification of the observed aggression. It was found that subjects who had first seen an arousing but less violent tape were subsequently more aggressive toward an antagonist if they had also observed justified violence than if they had seen nonjustified violence. Subjects who had first watched the violent videotape showed no differences in aggression as a function of the justification of the second set of aggressive acts. Analysis of blood pressure data showed that prior exposure to violence attenuated arousal in response to subsequently observed aggression, but that the context in which aggression was seen as justified or nonjustified did not influence arousal. The results are discussed in terms of differential sensitivity to cues that inhibit or disinhibit aggression as a result of previous exposure to violence.


1 The problem We consider the problem of distributing a VBR video stream over a multicast tree (i.e. from a source to N destinations) where the branches of the tree are non-homogeneous. In practice, such a tree appears in a packet network such as the Internet in which branches have diierent characteristics (bandwidths, buuer space, etc). Typical VBR video sources used in the Internet (e.g. the video coders in IVS 14] and NV 7]) can control the rate at which they send packets into the network by adjusting parameters in the video coder. The problem then is for a video source to choose an appropriate output rate (byòutput rate', we mean either the maximum output rate or some average output rate). This output rate characterizes the bandwidth requirements of the source. Clearly, the choice of the output rate will impact the level of congestion, expressed e.g. in terms of delay and loss patterns, experienced on the tree. Since the network is heterogeneous, we can expect this level of congestion to be widely diierent on diierent branches. The source might then choose its output rate so that only a small fraction of the branches of the tree are congested. For example, if the fraction is equal to 10%, then the output rate is set so that no more than 10% of the receivers are congested. If the fraction is equal to 0%, then the output rate is set low enough so that no part of the tree is congested. This solution is easy to implement, but both choices of the fraction above have limitations. In the rst case, the video delivered to some of participants will be of low quality (since packet losses and/or delays will be high on some branches of the tree). The second case is safest, but it results in disturbing the bulk of the participants. In practice, it is not clear how to choose an adequate value for this fraction. In IVS, we set the fraction to a few percent 2, 3]. Ideally, however, the source should be able to single out the parts of the multicast tree that experience congestion. In order not to disturb the bulk of participants in the tree, these branches should be treated separately. Two possible solutions include video gateways , and using some form of layered coding. Video gateways or layered coding schemes are not new ideas. Our contribution is to …


Comprehensive health care for working people requires a deeper insight into the relationship between work load and biological reactions. This is necessary to be able to adequately influence the field of industrial medicine. The incidence of both hypertension and borderline-hypertension in a group of 200 face workers with complex work load as well as 150 pithead metal workers aged between 25 and 45 was measured over a period of 5 years (1981-1986). The hypertension incidence was 0.90% in the group of face workers and 1.46% with the pithead metal workers, while the incidence of borderline-hypertension was 1.30% for the face workers and 2.12% for the pithead metal workers. A statistically significant difference between those people working above ground and those working underground was not apparent. No relationship was found between age, Broca-index, habit of smoking, shift work, the total time away from home and the development of an increase in blood pressure. Both a hypertension incidence totalling 1.14% and an incidence of borderline-hypertension of 1.66% were found in the test group aged between 25 and 45. This roughly corresponded to the nationally statistical level and was in line with the relevant literature. There was no discernable effect with regard to developing hypertension and borderline-hypertension, respectively, as a result of complex work load in the test group. The incidence rates require regular blood pressure tests on normotensive miners and pithead workers, respectively, as a prerequisite for early detection and registering as well as an adequate therapy of both hypertension and borderline-hypertension.


An intellectual auto/biographical sketch of the relationship between Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht and Luiz Costa Lima, from the 1970s to the present, from Costa Lima's work on the imaginary, to Gumbrecht's work on presence.


Background The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare state that falls account for 41% of all hospitalised injuries. In Melbourne City, at various train stations there are extremely long escalators and alarmingly one sign previously displayed states there are approximately 2–3 falls/week. Methods A general convenience survey [n=125] was distributed to ascertain the percentage of people who've fallen down stairs and/or escalators. Additional questions related to rain, high risk footwear, poor lighting and how many falls they have had. Following on from that regardless of whether or not they'd had a fall, survey participants were asked about fear of falling and/or whether they felt uncomfortable around crowds on stairs or escalators. Results 82 survey forms were returned. 29% of people had fallen, with 16% of those people indicating rain, 16% in either high heels or thongs, while 25% indicated poor visibility. of those whom had fallen the estimate of the number of falls down stairs or escalators ranged from 1–20, with the average being 3 falls. 39% of respondents irrespective of whether or not they had fallen had a fear of falling, while 43% felt uncomfortable around crowds. The age groups were 33% [20–29 yrs], 8% [30–39 yrs], 17% [40–49 yrs], 19% [50–59 yrs] and 23% [older than 60 yrs]. Conclusion Falls down stairs or escalators is relatively common, in addition to a large percentage of people having a fear or feeling uncomfortable. Learning Outcomes Crowd control at events should include supervisors near stairs or escalators.


In the article the questions of prognostication of tax revenues of budget at the regional level are examined. The theoretical aspects of tax prognostication are investigated, its significance is substantiated. Two basic variants of practical work organization on tax prognostication on regional level are described. Is carried out the analysis of tax prognostication experience in one of the largest regions of Russian Federation - Sverdlovsk region, the key tendencies and problems are revealed. Recommendations regarding the improvement of tax prognostication in the region are substantiated.


Myelinolysis is characterized by a non inflammatory demyelination, affecting the central portion of the pons. Clinical features usually reflect damage to the descending motor tracts and include spastic tetraparesis, pseudobulbar paralysis, and the locked-in syndrome. We describe the case of a 58-year-old man, who developed a pontine and extrapontine myelinolysis, without hyponatremia, after an anaphylactic shock. Follow up demonstrated improvement of the clinical signs after a few days and the normalization of the MRI three months later. Our observation shows that a paucisymptomatic and spontaneously regressive myelinolysis can be the consequence of a state of shock.


Children's exposure to violence is common and can lead to mental health problems and delinquent behaviors. Because many interventions have focused on specific violence types or symptoms and been difficult to implement in real-world settings, the evidence base is still emerging. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Safe Start Promising Approaches (SSPA) initiative focused on preventing and reducing the impact of children's exposure to violence through interventions in ten diverse communities. The evaluation examined the effectiveness of the SSPA interventions to address issues for children and families exposed to violence. The ten sites were diverse in their intervention approaches, types of violence exposure targeted, and implementation settings. To evaluate each approach's effectiveness in reducing violence's harmful effects, RAND researchers partnered with the community-based sites to develop a rigorous controlled evaluation design for each intervention, with either a randomized control group or a comparison group selected on similar characteristics. The longitudinal analyses found that families in both the intervention and comparison groups had positive gains on many outcomes, but there was no evidence that the intervention groups improved more. Among those who received Safe Start services, one site produced large, significant improvements in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and another site produced medium, significant effects on several outcomes (child self-control, posttraumatic stress disorder, and behavior; caregiver depression; and family conflict). Although the initiative added to knowledge about how to address the problem, there was no clear case for using a particular intervention to help these children and their families.


Inelastic neutron scattering measurements have been performed on the ferrimagnet Dy2Co17 in order to investigate the low-energy part (between 2 and 15 meV) of the magnetic excitations. The results are interpreted in terms of Heisenberg exchange and anisotropy parameters in a model Hamiltonian using linear spin-wave theory. The exchange and anisotropy parameters resulting from the authors' analysis are compared with the parameters derived from high-field magnetisation data measured earlier.


The United Kingdom has a long history of fishing, reflecting its position as an island with a relatively long coastline and proximity to the productive fishing grounds of the European continental shelf (notably the North Sea, the English Channel and the West of Scotland). The UK's fisheries are heterogeneous and this is reflected in its complex fleet structure. The shape of the modern UK fleet is the product of technological and market changes together with political developments, in particular the loss of access to traditional distant-water grounds (particularly Iceland and Greenland) in the 1970s and the development of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) by the European Community (EC) (which the UK joined in 1972). Under the CFP (see below) there have been national quotas for most stocks since the early 1980s, coupled with a succession of fleet-reduction programmes (the so-called MAGPs) or multi-annual guidance programmes.


Aim
To assess the 5-year healthcare resource utilization (HRU) and direct payer costs following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCTs) in acute lymphoblastic leukemia pediatric patients using data from two large US administrative databases.

Patients & methods
Among the 209 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, HRU and costs were described over the up to 5 years after the HSCT.

Results
HRU and costs following the HSCTs were substantial. The highest average costs and most intensive HRU were observed within the first year following the HSCTs (49 outpatient visits; 29 laboratory service visits; 68 inpatient days), with a first year cost of US$683,099 and substantial costs over the following years.

Conclusion
HRU and direct costs associated with allogeneic HSCTs are substantial.


We examined with time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) various substances in vitreous proliferative tissues excised from patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy or proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Amounts of elements, vitamins and fatty acids were measured with TOF-SIMS and then the average ratio of the count of spattered ions of each element and organic substance to the total count of spattered ions was calculated. The average ratios of Fe, Ca, Al, Zn and Cu ion counts to the total count of spattered ions were significantly larger in proliferative diabetic retinopathy than in proliferative vitreoretinopathy. The average ratios of each of vitamin A fragment-1 and palmitic acid ion counts to the total count of spattered ions were significantly larger in proliferative diabetic retinopathy than in proliferative vitreoretinopathy. The fact that diabetic and non-diabetic preretinal proliferative tissues contain organic substances suggests that these proliferative tissues are derived from the retina, especially the deep retina, probably the photoreceptor cell and/or retinal pigment epithelium. The presence of Zn and Cu also suggest the same process. Diabetic proliferative tissues rich in organic substances are thought to grow more than do non-diabetic tissues, because vitamins A and E, and fatty acids are necessary for the maintenance of cell structure and the proliferation of tissue. Analysis of biological specimens by TOF-SIMS is expected to provide valuable information.


Pro-inflammatory T cells mediate autoimmune demyelination in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, the factors driving their development and MS susceptibility are obscure. We investigated how miRNAs, newly described as post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression, contribute to pathogenic T cell differentiation in MS. We profiled miRNA expression in naïve CD4+ T cells of healthy (n=8) and untreated MS (n=22) donors. miR-128, miR-27a/b and miR-340 were increased in naïve CD4+ T cells from MS patients. miR-128, -27a/b and -340 directly suppressed the pro-Th2 factor Bmi1, resulting in decreased GATA-3 expression. miR-340 additionally suppressed the Th2 cytokine IL-4. Overall, these miRNAs suppressed Th2 and enhanced pro-inflammatory Th1 responses. In addition, transfection of myelin-specific T cells with these miRNAs worsened EAE while treatment of MS patient cells with miRNA inhibitors led to the restoration of Th2 responses. These findings link miR-128, -27ab and -340 overexpression in MS patients' naïve CD4+ T cells to the pro-inflammatory T cell differentiation observed in MS and illustrate the biological significance and therapeutic potential of these miRNAs.


To the Editor—We concur with van de Laar et al. [1] that sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected men who have sex with men (MSM) appears to be increasing. Similar outbreaks have been reported in other parts of the world [2– 4]. These reports have demonstrated an association with other sexually transmitted infections. However, it is unclear whether this increasing incidence is occurring exclusively among HIVinfected MSM or whether this apparent exclusivity simply reflects a lack of data from HIV-uninfected MSM. Regular HCV screening is not currently recommended for MSM without HIV infection, and unlike HIV-infected MSM, these individuals are unlikely to have had the opportunity for HCV infection to be suspected on the basis of results of routine liver function tests [5]. The aim of our analysis was to describe the incidence of HCV infection among MSM who attended the only public sexual health clinic in Brighton, United Kingdom, between 2000 and 2006. We have been performing HCV screening regularly since 2000 among all MSM attending our clinic, regardless of their HIV status. In this analysis, we included all MSM with 2 clinic visits during the study period who had a negative result of their first HCV antibody test. The follow-up interval began on the date of their first HCV antibody test and ended on the date of their first positive HCV test result, 6 months after their most recent clinic visit, or on 31 December 2006, whichever occurred first. Poisson regression analysis was used to assess the impacts of HIV status at the time of the initial HCV test and calendar year on the rate of new HCV infections. We excluded MSM with a history of injection drug use (IDU). A total of 6124 MSM were seen at least twice in our clinic over the study period, of whom 3536 met the eligibility criteria. Forty-four patients were excluded because the result of their first HCV antibody test was positive, and 2544 were excluded because they had not been tested for HCV. Over the study period, 25 MSM had incident HCV infection, for an incidence rate of 3.7 cases per 1000 personyears (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.3– 5.2). Nine diagnoses of incident HCV infection occurred among individuals without HIV infection (rate, 5 cases per 3335 person-years, or 1.5 cases per 1000 person-years [95% CI, 0.5–3.5]) or with an unknown HIV status (rate, 4 cases per 1971 person-years, or 2.0 cases per 1000 person-years [95% CI, 0.6 –5.2]) at the time of their first HCV test, whereas 16 diagnoses of incident HCV infection per 1361 person-years (11.8 cases per 1000 person-years [95% CI, 6.7–19.1]) occurred among individuals known to have HIV infection. The number of new HCV diagnoses increased annually during 2003–2006, with incidence rates of 1.6 cases per 1000 person-years (95% CI, 0.2– 5.7) in 2003, 2.4 cases per 1000 personyears (95% CI, 0.7– 6.1) in 2004, 3.5 cases per 1000 person-years (95% CI, 1.3–7.6) in 2005, and 9.0 cases per 1000 personyears (95% CI, 4.8 –15.4) in 2006. During the study period, incidence rates increased annually among MSM known to have HIV infection at the time of their first HCV test (5.9, 11.1, 11.4, and 17.5 cases per 1000 person-years, respectively, during 2000 –2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006) and among those whose HIV status was unknown or negative (0, 0.7, 1.5, and 5.8 cases per 1000 person-years, respectively, during 2000 –2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006). Multivariable Poisson regression analysis confirmed that HIV status at the time of the first HCV test and calendar year were independently associated with incident HCV infection. Rate ratios were 7.01 (95% CI, 2.55–19.26) for MSM with known HIV infection and 1.49 (95% CI, 0.40 –5.58) for MSM with an unknown HIV status, compared with MSM without HIV infection (global P .0001). Rate ratios were 2.37 (95% CI, 0.43–12.97) for 2004, 3.12 (95% CI, 0.63–15.49) for 2005, and 6.79 (95% CI, 1.52–30.24) for 2006, compared with 2000 –2003 (global P .02). The high rate of HCV transmission among HIV-infected MSM who were non-IDUs concurs with the findings reported by van de Laar et al. [1] and others. However, to our knowledge, this is the first report of significant sexual transmission of HCV to MSM whose HIV status was either negative or unknown at the time of their first HCV test. Although some of these MSM subsequently received a diagnosis of HIV infection at the time of their first positive HCV test result, HIV infection had not been diagnosed when they were screened for HCV. It remains unclear why HIV-infected MSM appear to have a greater risk than HIV-uninfected men for acquiring HCV. MSM with HIV infection have higher seminal HCV loads than HIV-uninfected MSM and are more likely to transmit HCV [6]. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that many MSM "serosort" (i.e., they have unprotected anal sex only with partners whose HIV-infection status is the same as their own), which may contribute to the imbalanced incidence rate 1 5 A P R I L


Two Egyptian soybeans varieties, Giza111 and Crawford were selected for the current study. Their seeds were exposed to three doses of gamma-radiation 150, 200, and 250 Gy in order to study their mutagenic effects in the treated seeds and two following generations at various levels. In the first generation (M1), two doses (150 and 200 Gy) were the most effective in enhancement of some agronomic traits like number of stem branches, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod and weight of 100 seeds and crop yield. Analysis of protein profiles using SDS-PAGE showed variation among the treatments in each variety, where a total of 38 protein bands were recorded. Three of which were unique bands, one unique band of size 37 kDa was found in the treated seeds before germination (M0) in Crawford at 250 Gy treatment. The other two unique bands (102 and 162 kDa) were found in M2 generation in Crawford at 150 Gy and Giza111 at 200 Gy, respectively. ISSR analysis using five primers gave a total 39 ISSR bands, 30 of which were polymorphic and 4 were unique bands. The primer HB14 amplified 6 DNA bands, 2 were unique bands (895 &1050 bp), both in M1 generation of Giza111 at 150 Gy, while primer 844 and 862 amplified only one unique band both found in M0 Giza111 control. They have a molecular size of 888 and 900 bp, respectively. Although, UBC-827 amplified the highest number of bands (8) no unique bands were found.


The objective of the project was to model a Kuka LWR 4+ in a component-based manner, and implement
its dynamic model from 20-sim to Gazebo in a e�ort to set up the means for simulating a robot with
co-simulation support. With Gazebo, simulated robots can be ran with the same software as their real
counterparts, and the 20-sim import opens up bond graph support to gain insight in the dynamics of
the systems.
Dynamic modeling was mostly successful. A model of a robotic arm was realized using the serial-link
structure approach, upholding the component-based goal. The arm was simulated, and kinematically
behaved as expected in accordance to the model. However, simulation times were quick to get imprac-
tically long with the use of explicit integration methods. This poses a problem, since c-code generation
only supports explicit methods.
With Gazebo's plug-in functionality, and 20-sim's class generation, importing dynamic models into
Gazebo was a success. Design and testing of the software components was done successfully for the case
of a simple mass-spring, and then extended upon to handle an arm of arbitrary number of links.
In a comparison with an actual Kuka LWR 4+, the dynamic model did not give results that corre-
sponded with the real arm.


A fast converging blind adaptive multiuser detector is proposed in this paper. In the proposed method, the convergence of the blind adaptive detectors for weak power users is accelerated by successively canceling the interference of the strong power signals from the received signal. The order and channel parameters for the interference cancellation are determined from the steady state of the detectors. Numerical results presented show that satisfactory performance can be achieved in various environments.


Leak, perforation, and fistula are the three main types of transmural defects in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Evolution of interventional endoscopic\ techniques as well as widespread use of laparoscopic and bariatric surgical procedures has contributed to the rising incidence of GI defects. The basic principle for management of leaks and fistula is to provide a barricade to the flow of luminal contents across the defect. This can be achieved either by a surgical or endoscopic method. Minimally invasive closure techniques such as clipping, stenting, suturing, and endoscopic vacuum therapy have revolutionized the management of GI defects. This chapter deals with endoscopic techniques and their present status in the management of luminal GI leaks and fistula.


A buffer fund scheme has been proposed as a means of stabilizing producer revenue in the Australian beef industry. In this paper the economic consequences of such a policy are evaluated and the conditions under which the scheme would be successful in achieving its principal aim are indicated. In addition to effects on the stability of producer revenue, consequences of the policy for total producer revenue and its distribution among producers are indicated. Finally, the effects on consumers, at home and abroad, and taxpayers are estimated.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The utility of the Decipher biopsy test in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-targeted biopsies from men with favorable-risk prostate cancer has not been evaluated. We sought to assess the association between Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2 (PI-RADSv2) score, the Decipher score and histologic grade of carcinoma in biopsy tissue among low- to intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients. METHODS: MRI-ultrasound targeted biopsy of regions of interest and concurrent 12-core systematic biopsy was performed on 291 men with Gleason grade group (GG) 1 and 2. We compared Decipher score with PI-RADS scores and biopsy Gleason GG. Subgroup analyses were performed to evaluate patients who underwent radical prostatectomy, and men with Decipher testing from a targeted biopsy core. RESULTS: One hundred three patients with GG1 and GG2 had biopsy Decipher testing. There was no significant difference in the median Decipher scores among the three mpMRI categories. Patients with GG2 vs. GG1 in the setting of PI-RADS 4 and 5 had higher genomic scores (p = 0.01), but no significant difference was noted in patients with PI-RADS ⩽3. The rate of genomic higher-risk disease on a targeted biopsy from PI-RADS 5 was higher in GG2 (75%) vs. GG1 (11.1%; p = 0.01) (Figure 1). Among 14 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy, no downgrading was detected. CONCLUSIONS: High-risk genomic classification can be seen across all combinations of PI-RADS categories and Gleason GG1 and GG2, confirming a potential utility for Decipher testing in men with low- to favorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer. The Decipher biopsy genomic test related to Gleason GG independent of PI-RADSv2 score, which may be beneficial when incorporating this genomic marker into a nomogram or a clinical decision-making model. Figure. No caption available. Source of Funding: None


Work on resilience engineering has stimulated an ever growing interest illustrated by the increasing number of publications on the subject. While at the same time, the older notion of safety culture continues to interest scientists and practitioners. The purpose of this article is to build a managerial approach of safety culture which takes in resilience engineering. It first describes the epistemological background of this approach based on intervention-research. This aims at introducing the notion of "rational myth" that describes the principles on which organized action bases itself at a given time. Secondly, the article identifies and presents three managerial principles on which risk mastering is centered: the principle of responsibility, the principle of anticipation and the principle of resilience. It then shows that the notion of safety culture as historically defined after the Chernobyl disaster and taken into account by managers can be analyzed as a rational myth for risk mastering including these three principles. It illustrates this by an example taken from an intervention led in partnership with the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis. The article finally concludes that developing safety culture is more adapted to risk mastering principles than engineering resilience.


[reaction: see text] High mannose glycans composed of alpha (1-->2) and alpha (1-->6) branched sugars are important components of the HIV-associated envelope glycoprotein, gp120. These substructures can be efficiently prepared in solution from glycosyl iodide precursors requiring only a slight excess of the iodide donor, which offers advantages over solid-phase methods that require more than 5 equiv of donor. During the reaction, excess iodide is converted to a glycal that is not easily separated from the desired disaccharide. To overcome this difficulty, a phase-trafficking methodology that relies upon nucleophilic interception of the 1,2 anhydrosugar resulting from oxidation of the glycal has been developed.


The aim of the current study is to characterize the adhesion bonding of intumenscent coating on steel substrate with respect to its mechanical, phisycal and chemical properties, before and after a fire test. Carbon steel was used as the substrate material and its surface was sand blasted to ensure strong bodning between the steel substrate and the intumescent coating. A primer coating was applied on the steel substrate prior to applying the intumescent to further strengthen the bonding. The coated steel substrates were subjected to fire in a furnace.


While antibiotic resistance is increasing rapidly, drug discovery has proven to be extremely difficult. Antibiotic resistance transforms some bacterial infections into deadly medical conditions. A significant challenge in antibiotic discovery is designing potent molecules that enter Gram-negative bacteria and also avoid active efflux mechanisms. Critical analysis in rational drug design has been hindered by the lack of effective analytical tools to analyze the bacterial membrane permeability of small molecules. We design, fabricate, and characterize the nanofluidic device that actively loads more than 200 single bacterial cells in a nanochannel array. We demonstrate a gigaohm seal between the nanochannel walls and the loaded bacteria, restricting small molecule transport to only occur through the bacterial cell envelope. Quantitation of clindamycin translocation through wild-type and efflux-deficient (ΔtolC) Escherichia coli strains via nanofluidic-interfaced liquid chromatography mass spectrometry shows higher levels of translocation for wild-type E. coli than for an efflux-deficient strain. We believe that the assessment of compound permeability in Gram-negative bacteria via the nanofluidic analysis platform will be an impactful tool for compound permeation and efflux studies in bacteria to assist rational antibiotic design.


A two-dimensional detonation in H2–O2 system is simulated by a high-resolution code based on the fifth-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme in the spatial discretization and the 3th-order additive Runge–Kutta schemes in the time discretization, by using a detailed chemical model. The effect of a concentration gradient on cellular detonation is investigated. The results show that with the increase of the concentration gradient, the cell instability of detonation increases and gives rise to the oscillation of average detonation velocity. After a long time, for the case of the lower gradient the detonation can be sustained, with the multi-head mode and single-head mode alternating, while for the higher gradient it propagates with a single-head mode.


Based on VOXEL-MAN software and our previous work on merging acupoint information with the dataset of the male Visible Human, we have refined the segmentation method for muscles and visualized the anatomical structure of meridians. In interactive segmentation, we obtain additional information on connectivity and texture. We also apply surface fitting to track muscle contours on data slices where the threshold segmentation method is hard or impossible to apply. With these processes, the original segmentation method, mainly via threshold, is improved to deal with more complex situations. We also constructed meridians, which are supposed to be composed by groups of acupoints. For that we used the location of these acupoints and interpolation methods


Non-small cell lung carcinoma is a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. There are gender and smoking associated differences both in tumour types and clinical outcome. Squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) are more frequent among smoking men while females develop adenocarcinomas (ADCA). NSCLC among never smokers are mainly ADCA, and occurs mostly in females. The present thesis elucidates the role of estrogen receptor (ER) and epidermal growth factor receptor family (EGFR/HER2-4) in NSCLC in the perspective of gender and histology as well as the influence of smoking on those biomarkers. A recently developed technique, tissue micro array (TMA), was employed.The question of how much of a tumour tissue that needed to be included in a TMA for biomarker analysis was analyzed by a statistical approach. Data indicates a sample size of three cylinders of tumour tissue with a diameter of 0.6 mm each as being appropriate and cost-effective. In order to optimally use the up to thousands of different tumour samples within a TMA, it would be optimal to serially cut and store slides before performing in situ detection of proteins and nucleic acids. Applying up to date methodology, and by evaluation with image analysis, data are presented that shows that such handling of TMA slides would be possible without any loss of biomarker information. ERα is more frequently observed in ADCA and in females and a local estradiol synthesis is supported by the presence of aromatase. ERβ is identified as a positive prognostic marker in ADCA. Smoking is associated to increased levels of ERβ mRNA. EGFR over expression is associated with a ligand. Independent phosporylation of ERα. HER-4 intracellular domain may also act as a co-activator to ERα in ADCA, especially among neversmokers. The question of ER and EGFR family signalling crosstalk as a potential target for combined targeted therapy is raised.


Purpose of review To assess the influence of antiplatelet drugs (APDs) in outpatients' perioperative care and to propose up-to-date management of those patients. Recent findings Evidence is spreading on the risk of adverse cardiovascular events (ACEs) when APD therapy is discontinued, specifically in patients with coronary stents. Conversely, maintaining such treatments throughout the operative period appears usually safe. Bridging with low-molecular-weight heparins poorly protects against ACEs. In outpatients, major surgical bleeding is rare, but sometimes a minor hemorrhage may jeopardize the success of a surgical procedure. Despite the paucity of properly sized randomized trials in this setting, recommendations have been issued by scientific societies and can be used as guidelines. Variability in APD efficiency is now better appraised, and research on versatile bedside testing of platelet function is active. New drugs are expected to be launched in the near future, all this aiming at improving individualized drug dosage and therefore both safety and efficiency of APD therapies. Summary In surgical patients APD therapy should be maintained in all situations in which the risk of surgical bleeding is low, which is usually the case in the ambulatory setting. In clearly identified cases in which bleeding might threaten either the patient's life or the success of the surgical procedure in patients at high risk of ACE, the discontinuation protocol must be established in conjunction with the cardiologist and the APD therapy resumed as soon as possible. Bridging with low-molecular-weight heparins is not recommended.


Sir William Petty (1623-1687), the founder of the method of "political arithmetick," was a trained physician and anatomist. Receiving medical education both in England and on the continent, he later turned away from an academic career and a medical practice in favour of dealing with political and social matters, becoming one of the first advocates of quantifying social phenomena in order to better govern a population. Offering his services to both Oliver Cromwell and Charles II, Petty sought to reform and transform society (in Ireland in particular), while considering the physician's treatment of natural bodies and the political advisor's treatment of the body politic to be analogous enterprises. In doing so, he did not refrain from suggesting serious interventions into social life – something that his contemporary peers did not consider compatible with their medical backgrounds. This article attempts to investigate how Petty's proposals could have differed so much in their scope and content from those of his colleagues, while remaining true to their largely shared Baconian and Harveyan origins.


Queue management schemes at the routers and congestion avoidance schemes at the end points cooperate to provide good congestion solutions in computer networks. While queue management schemes are still being developed, research on congestion avoidance has come a long way to serve the bandwidth requirement of the networks (e.g. high speed networks, data centers, etc.) at the order of 10Gbps. Because of considerable lack on the evaluation research work, there is no consensus on the choice of the queue management algorithms over these networks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that presents experimental evaluation of the effect of various queue management schemes on high speed TCP variants in realistic 10Gbps network environment. Evaluation of queue management schemes such as Drop-tail, RED, CHOKe, and SFB are presented for popular high speed TCP variants such as TCP-RENO, HSTCP, and CUBIC over CRON [1], a real 10Gbps high speed network testbed. Performance results are presented for several important metrics of interests such as link utilization, fairness, delay, packet drop rate, and computational complexity. The presented work supports further research work on the design and deployment issues of queue management schemes for high speed networks.


Type 2 diabetes has long been called the epidemic of the XXI century. It is the most common type of diabetes. One of the main causes of premature mortality, primarily due to serious complications, which for many years, developing "deceitfully" and asymptomatic. Despite the dynamic growth of the pharmaceutical industry and diabetes care for all patients is not possible to achieve target glycemic index values. It is emphasized that in type 2 diabetes by lifestyle, proper diet and regular physical activity are non-pharmacological treatment methods for maintaining good health. In many scientific studies noted, the close relationship of systematic traffic with less risk of developing the disease. That is why ongoing search for alternative methods of conducting physical training in patients with type II diabetes that are both attractive, safe and providing the highest benefits. Exercise on rehabilitation - reconditioning tables can be an attractive alternative to influence the metabolic control in patients with type 2 diabetes.

AIM
The aim of the study was to evaluate of the effectiveness of increased physical activity with the use of rehabilitation-reconditioning tables on selected parameters of carbohydrate management in patients with type 2 diabetes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A group of 50 women during their stay at the sanatorium were examined in aspects of biochemical blood parameters - glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin on the first and last day of 15- days training session (with a Sunday break) on 8 rehabilitationreconditioning tables with a total duration of 64 minutes. In addition, daily fasting blood capillary glucose levels were measured. To assess the level of physical activity of respondents used the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (ang. International Physical Activity Questionnaire - IPAQ) in Polish, in a condensed form (IPAQ Short Form).

RESULTS
The analysis of the study shows that exercise for rehabilitation and reconditioning tables are an effective non-pharmacological treatment of type 2 diabetes. The exercise cycle used on rehabilitation and reconditioning tables caused a reduction of glucose and glycated hemoglobin levels in treated people.

CONCLUSIONS
The study showed that training on rehabilitation and reconditioning tables is an attractive alternative to exercise influence on metabolic control in patients with type 2 diabetes, characterized by low physical activity, high BMI. Due to age related problems, a different type of physical activity is often impossible to these patients.


Figures from the UK Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that, from 2002 to 2008, medical students were between 4.5 and 7.2 times (depending on the year) as likely to come from the wealthier socioeconomic groups 1 to 3 as from groups 4 to 7. (However, up to 25% of successful applicants don't declare their social background on their UCAS form.) Selection to a medical course should not depend on the applicants' financial status. However, with "grade inflation" at A level, choosing between applicants often involves other criteria that may depend on ability to pay. The selection process for many medical courses may favour applicants who undertake activities outside those paid for by the state education system, and some such activities are a mandatory requirement.

The hidden, upfront cost of a medical school application may include the following (2008-9 prices). Many medical schools require applicants to sit the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) or the Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT) in addition to A level examinations. These cost £60 (€70; $96) and £32.10 respectively. Bursaries are available for poorer students to cover the cost of UKCAT. This year 2000 bursaries were distributed among 23 000 students who took the test …


Mass tourism is a critical agent of change, with a proven capacity of forging new landscapes and thoroughly modifying the internal structure of a community. Thornbury, a rural settlement located in South-western Ontario, is on the brink of such shift: With the emergence of a new culture of tourism and the introduction of 'upscale' resort developments, its physical conditions are rapidly being reconfigured and the character of its social landscape is on the precipice of being irrevocably altered. These luxury vacation facilities occur in a dispersed fashion on the fringe – a condition which has not only initiated a radical modification and decentralization of social and economic activity, but has also resulted in the decline of traditional neighbourhood ties. Likewise, this occurrence has introduced an influx of newcomers who advance an identity and lifestyle clearly distinct from that of Thornbury's quiet community of rural citizens and retirees. In this context, these newly arrived inhabitants soon become dwellers of "limited liability"– those who reside within a community, but do not identify with it – as Thornbury lacks the infrastructure and amenities to support potential exchanges and direct interest to the qualities of traditional civic life. As such, the thesis will examine the question of: What is the role of architecture in sustaining local identity in an altered social fabric? Or, more specifically, how can social relations in a transformed community be advanced through the use and design of public spaces? The work will attempt to outline the trajectory of urban change and understand the factors that account for present circumstances. The outcome of the research will generate a series of responsive designs that hinge upon the idea of uplifting ordinary landscapes and everyday ruralism. Essentially, the proposed strategy is one in which rurality is integral to the solution: Methods which harness rural assets and refashion them in a progressive manner will be utilized to inspire the formation of a new local culture while establishing an interface between opposing population segments. Overall, this study is intended to serve as a template to be used by communities in Ontario for mitigating the effects of changing rural geographies. The concept of PIERS, BRIDGES & SHEDS is proposed as a place-specific design solution for Thornbury. In part, the aim is to express the notion of 'disappearance and renewal' by reviving the lost typology of community sheds and make visible aspects of local culture in a manner that is both reminiscent of the village's character and heritage. The intent is also to craft dynamic spaces that promote authentic community and integration which, by extension, will induce the revitalization and re-entry of the downtown core. This scheme will potentially enable this small tourist community to mediate, defend and propagate its traditional character and appeal under conditions of rapid change.


Purpose of the study. To analyze retrospectively our own experience of using intramural dexamethasone injections during endoscopic bougienage of recurrent or very tight (refractory) benign cicatricial strictures of the esophagus and esophageal anastomoses. Materials and methods. From 2013 to March 2021, this method was applied in 43 patients (26 — men, 17 — women) with peptic (11), cicatricial (8), burn (6) esophageal strictures and strictures of anastomoses (18) prone to restenosis. Dexamethasone was injected into the constricted area with a needle passed through the endoscope biopsy channel as an addition to supportive bougienage. Results. After dexamethasone injections, 41 (95.3%) of 43 patients achieved a satisfactory lumen diameter, at which the symptoms of dysphagia disappeared for a long time without relapse. In most patients, the lumen in the stricture zone stabilized at a diameter of 8–18 mm (average 13 mm). With strictures of the esophagus, it was possible to achieve a diameter of 8–14 mm (average 11 mm), and with strictures of the anastomoses — 10–18 mm (average 14 mm). Conclusion. With the tendency of stricture to restenosis, the standard algorithm for endoscopic bougienage, developed in the endoscopy department of the "Petrovsky National Research Center of Surgery", was supplemented with intramural injections of dexamethasone. This combined endoscopic treatment made it possible to increase the diameter of the bougie and the intervals between bougienage due to the stabilization of the scar frame and to complete the endoscopic treatment with a satisfactory result in 95.3% of patients.


Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) is one of the main constraints for rice cultivation intensification in Africa leading to high yield losses [1]. Six major strains, with a well defined geographical distribution, have been identified and were characterized by a large range of pathogenic properties (infection abilities and symptom intensities) on the rice and few wild grasses [2]. Originated from Tanzania, the genetic diversity is maximal in this area where three out of six of the major strains are circulating [3]. It has been demonstrated that some agricultural practices, as seedbed to field transplantation and elimination of the wild rice and grasses, can influence the RYMV prevalence in fields [2]. However, no study has analyzed at the field scale the consequences of these agro-ecological modifications on the diversity and the dynamics of the viral populations. Thus, the main objective of this work is to measure the effects of the rice cultivation intensification (changes of the cultural practices, from traditional to intensive cultivation) and the environmental variability (cultivated and wild host diversity) on the RYMV populations in order to better understand the emergence, the propagation and the maintenance of the viral strains at the field scale. For that, the RYMV prevalence was first investigated in Tanzania in an "intensive" rice plantation and some surrounding "traditional" farms, taking in account the cultivation mode, the irrigation level, the rice phenological stage, the density and the diversity of the hosts (wild and cultivated). A distribution map of the RYMV in this area was build and we observed that the irrigation enhances the RYMV prevalence. Then, the analysis of the genetic diversity identified isolates belonging to the three major strains of East Africa in the same plantation. Finally, while no genetic structure of the virus diversity has been highlight between cultural practices, the analysis of the samples by depth sequencing is on progress in order to characterize and to compare precisely the intra-host genetic diversity and structure depending to the cultivation mode and to the host (wild or cultivated). Altogether, this study will allow us to understand the diversification processes and the flow of the viral populations at the field scale in order to participate to the improvement of the control strategies against the RYMV. (Resume d'auteur)


Introduction Alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS) is a medical condition characterized by regular and excessive consumption of alcohol. ADS is a brain disorder wherein people consume alcohol despite knowing the physical, social, and financial consequences. Zinc and magnesium are microelements that are essential in the proper functioning of human physiological and biological processes. However, the homeostasis of these microelements' is disturbed among ADS patients. The present study aims to assess Zinc and magnesium activities among ADS patients and age-matched controls. Methods The study included 100 ADS patients and an equal number of the control group and was conducted between August and September 2021. The study was performed after acquiring approval from the institutional ethics committee. All the study cases were patients attending the department of Psychiatry, RVM Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre who were diagnosed with ADS. Both groups used the colorimetric method on ERBA Chem 5+ semi autoanalyzer to estimate serum zinc and magnesium levels. Results Among the 100 cases of ADS, 84 (84%) were males, and 16 (16%) were females. Patients were between the age group of 20 and 68 (mean: 42.8 years). Of the 100 controls, 84 (84%) were males, and 16 (16%) were females with a mean age of 43.1 years. The activities of Zinc among ADS patients and the control group were 88.53±18.7 μg/dL and 144.9±38.47 μg/dL (p<0.0001), respectively. The activities of magnesium among the ADS patients and the control group were 1.96±0.46 mg/dL and 2.88±0.4 mg/dL (p<0.0001), respectively. Conclusions The activities of Zinc and magnesium have been noted to be significantly lower among ADS patients. Because both these microelements play a vital role in human cells' metabolic and physiologic activities, therapeutic interventions to compensate for such deficiencies while managing ADS patients may prove beneficial.


The research described in this present study was part of a larger effort focused on developing a dual substrate, dual fermentation process to produce Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). The focus of this study was developing and optimizing a strategy for feeding a mixture of SCFAs (simulated ARF) and maximizing PHA production in a cost-effective way. Three different feeding strategies were examined in this study. The substrate evaluated in this study for the growth phase of R. eutropha was condensed corn solubles, a low-value byproduct of the dry-mill, corn ethanol industry. The culture was grown to high cell densities in nitrogen-supplemented condensed corn solubles media in 5 L bioreactors. The overall growth rate of R. eutropha was 0.2 h−1. The 20 mL ARF feeding every 3 h from 48 to 109 h strategy gave the best results in terms of PHA production. PHA productivity (0.0697 g L−1 h−1), PHA concentration (8.37 g L−1), and PHA content (39.52%) were the highest when ARF was fed every 3 h for 61 h. This study proved that condensed corn solubles can be potentially used as a growth medium to boost PHA production by R. eutropha thus reducing the overall cost of biopolymer production.


We show that Haefliger's cohomology for etale groupoids, Moore's cohomology for locally compact groups and the Brauer group of a locally compact groupoid are all particular cases of sheaf (or Cech) cohomology for topological simplicial spaces.


Name of founding work in the area. Adaptation is key to survival and evolution. Evolution implicitly optimizes organisims. AI wants to mimic biological optimization { Survival of the ttest { Exploration and exploitation { Niche nding { Robust across changing environments (Mammals v. Dinos) { Self-regulation,-repair and-reproduction 2 Artiicial Inteligence Some deenitions { "Making computers do what they do in the movies" { "Making computers do what humans (currently) do best" { "Giving computers common sense; letting them make simple deci-sions" (do as I want, not what I say) { "Anything too new to be pidgeonholed" Adaptation and modiication is root of intelligence Some (Non-GA) branches of AI: { Expert Systems (Rule based deduction)


The retroreflection characteristics of metal surfaces sprayed with different mixture of Si3N4 powder and plastic powder were evaluated by an automatic system developed at our laboratory, which normally used to measure the absolute retroreflectance of various surfaces without any reference standard. The preliminary results obtained seem to indicate that the characterization of the retroreflection distribution can be controlled as needed by selecting the sample surface material and/or its mixture. This property may be used in analysis of target signatures.


This paper presents the results of drainage capillary pressure and relative permeability measurements made on cores having different bulk volumes ranging from 0.5 to 12 cm3. The aim of the experiments was to provide reliable experimental data which can be used to validate the predictive value of micro-CT based network models for capillary pressure and relative permeability. The micro-CT based network models use realistic networks constructed from the X-ray images of the rock samples having a typical bulk volume of 0.3 cm3. Experimental data for drainage capillary pressure were obtained using the centrifuge technique. The results of the largest cores were verified by the data obtained on the same sample using the porous plate technique. Relative permeability data were obtained by history matching the unsteady state displacement data. Homogeneous model sandstones (Berea and Bentheim) and carbonate (Mt. Gambier) were used in the experiments. Air-brine and oil-brine fluid-systems were used for drainage capillary pressure and relative permeability measurements, respectively. The relative permeability data were compared with those predicted from empirical and geometry based models using capillary pressure data. Good agreement was obtained for the drainage capillary pressure measured on all samples used. The residual saturations obtained from the cores used in the displacement experiments were also in good agreement. The models were found to predict relative permeability of oil and water with varying degrees of success. For water relative permeability, the Pirson model predicts the experimental data successfully while the Corey, Corey-Brooks/Burdine and van Genuchten/Burdine models predict the data of oil relative permeability better than the others. The results demonstrate for the first time that reliable drainage capillary pressure and relative permeability measurements can be made on small model sandstone and carbonate cores of representative scales used in micro-CT-imaging.


Six dogs with cerebellar dysplasia, in which the cerebellar vermis was hypoplastic, are described. Clinical signs in these dogs were noted around 2 weeks of age and included ataxia, dysmetria, and intention tremors. A variable portion of the caudal cerebellar vermis was absent in each dog; portions of the cerebellar hemispheres and flocculus also were absent in some of them. Neurons in certain brain stem nuclei that project to the cerebellum were either chromatolytic or vacuolated. Cerebellar vermian hypoplasia of dogs is analogous to the Dandy-Walker syndrome of human beings.


Background This work presents a forecast model for non-typhoidal salmonellosis outbreaks. Method This forecast model is based on fitted values of multivariate regression time series that consider diagnosis and estimation of different parameters, through a very flexible statistical treatment called generalized auto-regressive and moving average models (GSARIMA). Results The forecast model was validated by analyzing the cases of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis in Sydney Australia (2014–2016), the environmental conditions and the consumption of high-risk food as predictive variables. Conclusions The prediction of cases of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis infections are included in a forecast model based on fitted values of time series modeled by GSARIMA, for an early alert of future outbreaks caused by this pathogen, and associated to high-risk food. In this context, the decision makers in the epidemiology field can led to preventive actions using the proposed model.


Abstract Background: Platelets are critical for maintaining hemostasis, but inappropriate platelet activation can lead to pathogenic thrombosis. It has been demonstrated that the platelet integrin αIIbβ3 is essential for platelet aggregation and is also a major target antigen in immune thrombocytopenias (e.g. ITP). Current monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against this protein complex have been generated using traditional methods involving cross-species immunization (e.g. mouse proteins into rat hosts). These approaches may generate a limited repertoire of anti-β3 mAbs since the antigenicity of the protein and the variety of epitopes targeted are based on amino acid sequence differences between the two species and integrin family members are highly conserved. Additionally, studies in murine models of ITP are hampered by the use of xenogeneic antibodies rather than syngeneic antibodies. Methods: We developed a method to generate mouse anti-mouse β3 integrin mAbs utilising β3 gene deficient mice (β3−/−) immunized with wild-type platelets. To generate antibodies specific to the PSI domain (HPA-1 region) of β3 integrin, β3−/− mice were immunized with the recombinant murine PSI domain of β3 integrin. Platelet binding and specificity were determined by flow cytometry and western blot. In vitro effects on platelet function were measured using aggregometry. Different doses of mAbs (5, 10, and 15 μg/mouse) were injected intravenously to induce thrombocytopenia in vivo. Results: A total of twelve mAbs were generated against native β3 integrin (JAN A1, B1, C1, D1 and DEC A1 and B1, 9D2, M1) or recombinant PSI domain (PSI A1, B1, C1, E1). The mAbs were specific for β3 integrin; no binding was observed using β3−/− platelets. Isotyping showed that DEC A1 and DEC B1 are IgG3, PSI E1 is IgG2b, and all other mAbs are IgG1. The anti-PSI domain mAbs recognized linear epitopes and the anti-native β3 mAbs recognized conformational epitopes. All mAbs, with the exception of JAN A1 and B1, cross-reacted with human platelets. JAN C1, JAN D1, DEC A1, 9D2, M1, and all anti-PSI antibodies inhibited mouse platelet aggregation. These antibodies, except DEC A1, 9D2 and M1, also inhibited human platelet aggregation. One anti-PSI domain antibody (PSI B1), however, directly induced human platelet aggregation in the absence of agonist in platelet rich plasma but not in PIPES buffer. This suggests that PSI B1 may initiate conformational changes in β3 integrin and promote fibrinogen binding. Six anti-β3 mAbs (JAN A1, B1, C1 and D1, 9D2 and M1) induced severe dose-dependent thrombocytopenia in mice, while the anti-PSI domain mAbs induced only a mild decrease in platelet count. Interestingly, the two IgG3 mAbs (DEC A1 and B1) did not induce thrombocytopenia. Conclusion: This approach to generating mouse anti-mouse β3 integrin mAbs using β3−/− mice was successful. Different anti-β3 mAbs had different effects on platelet aggregation, and on the induction of thrombocytopenia. These mAbs may be useful reagents for research in thrombosis and immune thrombocytopenia and as novel anti-thrombotic therapeutics.


Hybridization of somatic cells in vitro, first described in 1960 by Barski, Sorieul, and Cornefert,' has since been shown to occur in mixed cultures of many different pairs of cultured mouse cells. A recent review2 lists 12 different "crosses" of mouse cells resulting in the formation of viable hybrids. This list includes crosses between cells of permanent lines as well as crosses between the latter and freshly explanted normal diploid cells. In this paper we describe the first interspecific cross giving rise to rapidly multiplying mononucleate somatic hybrids.3 The two cell types involved are: (1) clone LM(TK-)lD, a 5-bromodeoxyuridine-resistant thymidine kinase-deficient subclone of mouse L NC Ac ,f cells, kindly given to us by Dr. S. Kit; (2) recently explanted Wistar rat % ) V c0 embryo diploid cells. 1g 8 > C The detection and identification of ,$ t! tti<6 the hybrids was facilitated by the 6b:L £use of a recently established selective technique for the isolation of hybrids A 4 .Ji, C' between biochemically deficient L hp4 &P2cells and normal mouse cells5 and by '4 an ¢ ^the characteristically different karyotypes of the "parental" cells. The karyotype of the mouse cells (Fig. 1)


Lithostratigraphic, chronostratigraphic, sedimentological and petrological data from the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Morrison and Cloverly Formations in central Wyoming allow detailed characterization of the early history of the central part of the Cordilleran foreland basin. The Morrison is divisible into three informal members : (1) a lower sandstone, deposited by a complex coastal dune-foreshore-fluvial system during retreat of the Suntlance sea ; (2) a middle
mudstone, deposited by muddy fluvial and ephemeral lacustrine systems during a period of regional, seasonal aridity ; and (3) an upper sandstone, deposited by a sandy fluvial system of variable sinuosity. The overlying Cloverly Formation is divisible into two informal members : (1) a lower mudstone (previously considered as part of the Morrison Formation), deposited by muddy fluvial and lacustrine systems ; and (2) an upper chert-pebble conglomerate and sandstone, deposited primarily by gravel-dominant braided rivers. Palynological data and a
single fission-track date indicate that the lower part of the middle Morrison mudstone is early to middle Oxfordian and the upper part of the lower Cloverly mudstone is Valanginian. Morrison sandstones are subarkosic, with average %QFL = 9 1,6,3 arid %QmFLt = 83,6, 1 1. Cloverly sandstones are cherty litharenites and sublitharenites, with average %QFL = 99.6, 0,0.4 and %QmFLt = 82,0,18 (Gazzi-Dickinson point-counting method). Palaeocurrent data and sandstone compositions indicate a complex provenance including exrrabasinal sources in
lower Mesozoic and upper Palaeozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Cordillera and intrabasinal sources of Proterozoic clasts in south-central Wyoming. Cloverly sandstone compositions in the eastern part of the study area were influenced by short-term fluvial reworking within the basin. The thickness of the composite-Morrison-Cloverly succession is practically constant over a
distance of several hundred km east of the Idaho-Wyoming thrust belt, and its internal chronostratigraphic zones are subparallel. On the other hand, equivalent strata in the Gannett Group of the thrust belt are at least three times thicker. This indicates that the Morrison and Cloverly in central Wyoming were deposited within the overfilled part of the foreland basin. Preliminary regional correlation indicates that coarse-grained lithofacies in these rocks are significantly time-transgressive, generally becoming younger toward the E and NE. Overfilling of the early Cordilleran foreland basin in central Wyoming was accomplished by progradation from the W and S. In spite of their three-dimensional (3D) complexity, the Morrison and Cloverly Formations generally confirm theoretical model predictions for overfilled foreland basins.


Hyperfunction of Th2 cells and aberrant glycosylation of IgA have been proposed independently as factors in the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy (IgAN), the most common form of glomerulonephritis. To investigate the relationship between Th2 cytokines and IgA glycosylation in the genesis of IgAN, we induced IgAN in C3HeB and BALB/c mice by oral immunization and intranasal challenge with Sendai virus. Although both strains of mice developed microhaematuria and glomerular IgA immune deposits to similar degrees, only BALB/c mice developed significant renal insufficiency. More profound reductions of terminal galactosylation and sialylation occurred in Sendai virus‐specific IgA from BALB/c versus C3HeB mice, and splenocytes from immunized BALB/c mice produced more Th2 and less Th1 cytokines compared to C3HeB mice when stimulated with antigen in vitro. Furthermore, the decreased glycosylation of IgA elicited by Th2 cytokines in vitro was blunted by the addition of IFN‐γ. We conclude that increased production of Th2 cytokines can lead to abnormalities in IgA glycosylation, which in turn promote heightened phlogistic responses to IgA immune complexes lodging in the glomerulus. We suggest that a relative or absolute increase in Th2 cytokine production in response to mucosal infection is a significant pathogenic factor in human IgAN.


The design problem of state feedback robust variance controller which guarantee the closed-loop steady-state variance to be less than a given upper bound and some H∞ performance is concerned for a class of Markov jump systems which mode is not available completely. Based on LMI method, system variance has been analyzed and the existence conditions for such controllers are proposed and proved. A parameterized representation of a set of desired controllers is characterized in terms of the feasible solutions to a set of LMIs.


The purpose of this paper is to examine the recent organizational restructuring in Japan in the framework of organizational economics, assuming that the product/market portfolio of the firm is fixed. How does a firm set about organizing its internal divisions? I first summarize some stylized facts on corporate diversification strategy and multi-divisional (M-form) organization in large Japanese firms from different perspectives. I then analyse the problem of choosing an organizational form. In particular, I argue that, precisely because of its related diversification, the multi-business Japanese firm adopting the M-form finds it difficult to differentiate its diverse businesses internally.


A Rhesus D positive infant, born at 37 weeks of gestational age, admitted for neonatal passive immune thrombocytopenia was given 3 intravenous anti-Rhesus D immunoglobulin infusions at 3 weeks of age. This thrombocytopenia which had not responded to conventional therapy improved after the third of anti-Rhesus D immunoglobulin infusion, but the efficacy of this treatment could not be proven in this case report. However, the tolerance was good. No side-effects (jaundice, severe anemia) were observed.