Abstract : The primary goal of this paper is to familiarize the reader with the building commissioning concept. Building commissioning gets its name from the process in which the Navy commissions ships and submarines by ensuring the vessel performs properly as intended before they are put out to sea. It is also similar to processes used in the Pacific Northwest and Canada as well as in the construction of factories and industrial facilities. Designing, specifying, and ensuring performance are the keys to realizing the benefits of building commissioning. Building commissioning is a relatively new process just coming into focus in the 1990's. The first National Conference on Building Commissioning was held in Sacramento in 1993. It developed out of a 1992 Commissioning Roundtable meeting, sponsored by the Bonneville Power Administration, among Pacific Northwest and California utility representatives, federal and state government personnel, and energy professionals. Participants at the Roundtable agreed that the industry needed to establish a regular, national forum for the discussion of building commissioning. The driving force behind the insurgence of building commissioning has been the lack of "quality" from decades of low-bid, lowest-cost, corner cuffing. This current philosophy of shortsighted practices continues to produce mediocre, minimum code buildings that really ended up costing more to build and even more to operate. "Total" or "Whole" building commissioning is a proven process to replace these unreliable construction practices of yesterday by basically insisting on quality assurance.


Momentum is a variant of gradient descent that has been proposed for its benefits on convergence. In a distributed setting, momentum can be implemented either at the server or the worker side. When the aggregation rule used by the server is linear, commutativity with addition makes both deployments equivalent. Robustness and privacy are however among motivations to abandon linear aggregation rules. In this work, we demonstrate the benefits on robustness of using momentum at the worker side. We first prove that computing momentum at the workers reduces the variance-norm ratio of the gradient estimation at the server, strengthening Byzantine resilient aggregation rules. We then provide an extensive experimental demonstration of the robustness effect of worker-side momentum on distributed SGD.


Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) sequences recorded in vivo are subject to a wide array of motion artifacts as the majority of these studies are performed within the coronary arteries of a beating heart. To eliminate these artifacts, an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is typically used to gate (collect) those frames recorded at the points in time associated with a particular fraction of the cardiac cycle. However, this technique may be suboptimal for a number of reasons, among which is the difficulty of determining the optimal fraction at which to gate. This value is generally nonobvious. To circumvent this problem, we introduce a frame-gating method for IVUS pullbacks that mimics ECG (i.e., in the sense that it selects only one frame per cardiac cycle), but will automatically choose the fraction of the cycle that renders the most stable gated frame set. Stability here is gauged by measuring interframe similarity. Our method operates exclusively on the imagery data and does not require ECG or any form of image segmentation or other high-level image analysis. To validate our algorithm, we compare its behavior versus true ECG gating.


Published data on the skeletal transformations of oxa-, aza-, bora- and polythia-cage compounds accompanied by replacement of one heteroatom by another, of a heteroatom by a carbon atom or of a carbon atom by a heteroatom are surveyed. Skeletal transformations of compounds with oxacage structures leading to compounds with carbocage structures are considered. The bibliography includes 65 references.


Background Older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are non-demented, but demonstrate cognitive dysfunction, and have significantly higher risk of progressing to dementia. A better understanding of more sensitive risk factors, such as combination of cognitive and psychological status, for progression of MCI to dementia may be crucial for prevention of development of dementia. Objective To examine MCI, depressive symptoms, and comorbid MCI and depressive symptoms as risk factors for development of dementia. Methods A total of 3,663 community-dwelling older people were included in this prospective longitudinal study. MCI was determined by age- and education-adjusted objective cognitive impairment using computerized comprehensive cognitive measures including memory, attention/executive function, and processing speed. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and defined by a GDS score of 6 or more. Results During the 24-month follow-up period, 72 participants (2.0%) developed dementia. Baseline MCI was significantly associated with an increased risk of incident dementia (hazard ratio [HR], 3.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.8-5.5) but depressive symptoms were not (2.0; 1.0-4.2) after adjusting for age, sex, education, prescribed medications, and walking speed. Participants with comorbid MCI and depressive symptoms at baseline had a higher risk of developing dementia (HR, 4.8; 2.3-10.5). Conclusion Although MCI and depressive symptoms may be associated with increased risk for incident dementia independently, comorbid MCI and depressive symptoms have a significantly greater impact on dementia development among community-dwelling older adults.


Computer modelling and simulation is an indispensable tool of the information age, used extensively in design, analysis, operations, decision-making, optimization, and education and training. Manufacturing, production and design relies upon simulation to develop efficient production systems and factories that produce quality products. Computer simulation allows scientists and engineers to understand and predict three-dimensional and time-dependent phenomena in science and engineering discipline. This talk will focus on challenges associated with modelling and simulation in the manufacturing sector and through a number of case studies highlights the benefits gained through the use of such technologies.


A ribbon-like magnetoelastic thick-film sensor can be considered the magnetic analog of an acoustic bell. In response to an externally applied magnetic field impulse the magnetoelastic sensor magnetically rings, in a bell-like fashion, emitting magnetic flux with a characteristic resonant frequency that is determined from a fast Fourier transform of the transient response captured using a pickup coil. The resonant frequency of the sensor changes in response to mass loading and, when immersed in liquid, interfacial shear forces associated with viscosity. We report on the use of magnetoelastic sensors to measure the viscosity and density of highly viscous liquids. When characterizing highly viscous liquids, to avoid over damping of the sensor due to the liquid mass load the sensor is suspended from a boat-like structure with one end of the sensor immersed a fixed distance into the liquid. Using this method liquid viscosities ranging from 1.3 to 12 P are measured.


Abstract Objective In this study, we aim to identify social typologies of pedestrian crashes considering demographics, health impacts, involved vehicle, temporality of the collision, and place of impact in Hermosillo, Mexico. Methods A socio-spatial analysis was performed by using local urban planning information and vehicles-pedestrian crashes records collected by the police department (N = 950) between 2014 and 2017. Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis were used to determine typologies. Geographical distribution of typologies was obtained with spatial analysis techniques. Results The results suggest there are four typologies, which portray the physical vulnerability of pedestrians, which reflect the vulnerability to collisions associated to the variables age, gender, and street speed limits. Findings show that children are more likely to be injured during weekends in residential zones (Typology 1), while older females are more likely to be injured during the first three days of the week (Monday – Wednesday) in the downtown area (Typology 2). Injured males during the afternoon in arterial streets represented the most frequent cluster (Typology 3). Also, males were likely to be severely injured by heavy trucks during nighttime in peri-urban areas (Typology 4). These findings indicate that vulnerability and risk exposure vary according to the type of pedestrian involved in the crash, which are linked to the types of places they visit. Conclusions The design of the built environment plays a major role in the number of pedestrian injuries particularly when it favors motor vehicles over pedestrians or non-motorized vehicles. Because traffic crashes are considered preventable events, cities must embrace a diversity of mobility modes and incorporate the appropriate infrastructures that safeguard the lives of all their travelers, especially pedestrians.


With the objective to evaluate the best preservation methods of 'Tommy-Atkins' mango pulp, this work was idealizated to testify two processing methods: ground pulp and sliced pulp conditioned respectively, in polyethylene plastic bag and polystyrene trays covered with polyvinyl chloride film with 12 mm of thickness, frozen and stored at -18oC. The results obtained demonstrated that ground pulp had reasonable aspects until 20 week while sliced pulp had reasonable aspects for 18 weeks, because it showed soft texture after this time; the content of soluble solids increased and the vitamin C decreased in both preservation forms; the pulp firmness in the sliced pulp varied with the storage time. In general the appearance, texture and flavor were affected by the storage time.


With the use of a full wave formulation, a study is made of radiation and propagation of electromagnetic waves in nonuniform cylindrical ducts excited by given azimuthally symmetric sources. For an infinitely long duct, the eigenfunction set involving both localized and non-localized waves is obtained for arbitrary values of driving frequency, external magnetic-field strength, plasma density, and its variation transverse to the duct axis. Using this set, the radiation characteristics of an annular current immersed in the duct are found for the whistler range. The subsequent propagation of excited waves is then analyzed in a duct whose parameters vary slowly along the external magnetic field. The applications of the results obtained are discussed.


The effects of five stake weights (50, 63, 75, 88 and 100 g) of three cassava cultivars (TMS 30572, TMS 91934 and NR 8083) on the growth and yield of cassava were studied for 2 years (1992/93 and 1993/94) in Nigeria. The leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), net assimilation rate (NAR), leaf area duration (LAD), harvest yield and harvest index (HI) were dependent on the weight of stake planted and were greatest at the stake weight of 88 g (875 kg/ha) irrespective of cassava cultivar. Variations in LAI, LAD and HI of stake weights between 75 and 100 g were non-significant. The profusely branching cassava cultivars, TMS 30572 and NR 8083, achieved greater LAI, CGR, NAR and LAD relative to the sparsely branching cultivar, TMS 91934. The significant growth and yield differences among the stake weights with the optimum at a stake weight of 88 g (875 kg/ha) indicates the need to adopt this stake weight for sustainable and improved growth and yield in cassava production.


This study was conducted to identify the differences in proteomic characteristics between Ca-enriched king oyster mushrooms and general king oyster mushrooms. A combined high-throughput proteomic approach was employed to determine the expression profiles and identity of proteins using 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. The overall distribution patterns of the proteins were quite similar, but many of the protein spot intensities varied. A total of 10 proteins, representing a significant difference in the quantities of protein betweenthe two types of mushrooms, were successfully identified. Among these proteins, eight kinds were increased in the Ca-enriched king oyster mushrooms and two kinds were decreased. This study showed that proteomic analysis can help define specific changes in protein level and composition, which can occur in mushrooms where Ca content may or may not be enriched.


The explosion in the volume of information and drastic increase in the number of users involved in mobile computing applications have brought radical challenges to data management and dissemination. Traditional request- reply style searching techniques no longer suffice. Instead, pub/sub-based selective dissemination has emerged as a better solution, providing loosely coupled and content-oriented communication among parties. At the same time, XML-based structural data has been widely adopted in recent mobile computing applications to provide semantically friendly representations of information entities. Therefore, the natural move to integrate and synergize the expressiveness of XML data with the effectiveness of the pub/sub paradigm elevates studies on providing scalability and flexibility in content dissemination over a ubiquitous and heterogeneous environment. In this paper, we propose a hypercubic event- dissemination overlay routing scheme that allows for dynamic changes in topology in the underlay network. This routing scheme utilizes our proposed structure-aware addressing approach that is optimized for the XML-based event-matching scheme. Using our proposed method, we are able to provide a robust yet efficient multilayer distributed pub/sub architecture optimized for the mobile network. Our method can be used in networks with various topologies, as long as key-based routing is applicable.


Objective: To describe a child who developed a skin reaction during gabapentin therapy and discuss how we evaluated the probability of an adverse drug reaction. Case Summary: An 8-year-old boy with a neurodegenerative disease of unknown origin and an epilepsy disorder developed an urticarial rash and irritability 10 and 4 days, respectively, after the start of gabapentin 20 mg/kg 3 times a day for epilepsy control. Otherwise, the child was well; no changes in other medication or diet had recently been made. After gabapentin discontinuation and administration of one dose of methylprednisolone 10 mg/kg intravenously and diphenhydramine 1 mg/kg every 4 hours via gastric tube, the rash disappeared over 3 weeks. Discussion: In contrast to other antiepileptic drugs, skin reactions to gabapentin are considered uncommon. In adults, reported prevalence of rash possibly related to gabapentin range from 1% to 10%. A postmarketing surveillance study reported gabapentin treatment failure as a consequence of rash in 0.4% of 3000 patients. The product monograph does not mention rash in children. In our patient, assessment using an objective causality scale revealed that the rash was probably caused by gabapentin. Conclusions: This case, and limited literature data, suggest that gabapentin may cause rash that is severe enough to necessitate discontinuation in a small percentage of children. Further research is needed to determine the actual incidence and severity of gabapentin-related rash in this population.


Fourteen infants ranging in age from 18 days to 10 months (median age = 4 months) underwent surgical repair of total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC) between September, 1988 and December, 1989. The anomalous drainage was supracardiac in nine, cardiac in two, infracardiac in one and mixed in one. One patient had a complex type of TAPVC. There were two hospital deaths, one a critically ill three week old infant with obstructed infracardiac TAPVC and the other with complex TAPVC. There was no late death. All twelve survivors are in NYHA functional Class 1. Postoperative echocardiography revealed unobstructed pulmonary blood flow in all of them. Surgical correction of TAPVC in infancy has been performed with gratifying results. A high index of suspicion, early diagnosis, prompt referral and an aggressive surgical approach are essential for success in this otherwise lethal condition.


The understanding of personal finance management becomes a pressing concern as individuals across most of the world live longer while simultaneously facing decreasing incomes and increasing income inequality. Study 1 examined time discounting as an individual differences predictor of income. The investigation of putative mechanisms revealed that the effect of time discounting on income is fully mediated by general education and financial literacy. Study 2 extended these findings by focusing on another metric of financial standing: creditworthiness as measured by FICO scores. Results indicated that education and financial literacy fully mediated the relationships between deliberative time discounting – thought to reflect controlled/reflective processing – and creditworthiness. In order to assess how individuals use assets, credits, loans, savings, and investments, we developed a measure of consumer banking competence (CBC) in which lower scores indicate undesirable banking practices and higher scores indicate desirable banking practices. Studies 3-5 demonstrate the newly-developed scale's internal consistency, validity, and reliability. Greater scores on the CBC were associated with greater individual and household income, specifically, with greater income from investments and capital gains. The data indicated that financial literacy and consumer banking competence represent two distinct yet viable indices of financial expertise. Whereas financial literacy seems to assess knowledge of finance, the CBC scale appears to assess behavioral practices in regard to money management. Study 6 demonstrated that the CBC fully mediated the relationships between financial literacy with income and creditworthiness. These results suggest that among the two indices of financial expertise – financial literacy vs. consumer banking competence – consumer banking competence may play a more proximal role to individual financial outcomes. Study 7 showed that conscientiousness, extraversion, and emotional stability carry implications for personal finance management. Results from Study 8 show that consumer banking competence explained variability in physical health beyond known correlates. By contrast, variability in financial literacy accounted for unique variability in subjective well-being beyond that explained by known correlates of the construct. Taken together the current findings indicate that managing personal finance represents a broad-ranging set of skills with implications for not only financial outcomes but also physical health and psychological well-being.


Lipoid pneumonia (LP) is an uncommon form of pneumonia that is characterized by the presence of intra-alveolar lipid and lipid-laden macrophages on microscopy. It categorized as exogenous lipoid pneumonia (ExLP) and endogenous lipoid pneumonia (EnLP). Exogenous lipoid pneumonia caused by inhalation of liposuction substances (animal fat, vegetable oil, or mineral oil), mostly, in adult cases, they were medicines for constipation or rhinopharyngitis. Most of these patients showed mild clinical manifestations, and chronic medical condition. There were reports of lipoid pneumonia being successfully treated with corticosteroids, immunoglobulins and whole lung lavage. We report a case of exogenous lipoid pneumonia characterized by high fever and acute medical condition. A 77-year-old woman with hypertension and diabetes mellitus, accepted paraffin oil treatment for "incomplete intestinal obstruction", then, an accident of aspiration happened, as she went through the history of coughing while eating, followed by persistent hyperthermia and increases of white blood cells (WBC). Chest CT showed progressive ground-glass opacities, accompanied with fusion of consolidation, her sputum etiological examination was negative, and the therapy of broad-spectrum antibiotic was invalid. The patient was subjected to bronchofibroscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). The bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) appeared colorless and transparent, and did not show a milky appearence. Total cell count of the BALF was 2.0×109 cell/mL, including 7.2% macrophages and 92.8% neutrophils. Cultures of the BALF were negative for bacterial, fungal, and mycobacterial pathogens. The BALF cytologic findings showed vacuolated lipid-laden macrophages (Oil Red O staining). These findings revealed exogenous lipoid pneumonia. There were reports of lipoid pneumonia being successfully treated with corticosteroids, immunoglobulins, and whole-lung lavage. So this patient was treated with methylprednisolone 120 mg/d for 3 days and 80 mg/d for 6 days, at the same time, immunoglobulins was given to infusion, but the daily peak temperature of the patients fluctuated between 38 and 39 degrees. Then, whole lung lavage was performed 28 days after admission. Unfortunately, acute pulmonary edema occurred during the operation, as the tracheal intubation problems, and 6 days later, the patient died at last. The clinical manifestations of exogenous lipid pneumonia vary greatly, from asymptomatic to life-threatening symptoms, and as febrile low fever is the main manifestation, but hyperthermia may also be the remarkable presentation.


In this study, we describe a new laundry system to wash clothes, including those contaminated with radionuclides, without using detergent. The main part of this system is electrolytic cell that consists of a cathode with a special coating of nickel, an anode of nickel, and a cation exchange membrane between the two electrodes. The electrolyte is supplied to the anode and the tap-water to the cathode. When an electricity of 5 volts and 25 amperes is applied to the electrodes, the processed water is produced from the cathode. This processed water containing no detergent was investigated experimentally with regard to its decontamination efficiency of radionuclides and detergency of soil as compared to the conventional washing using detergent. It was found that the processed water from this system has an ability to simultaneously remove radionuclides and soil from the cloth with good efficiency.


The presented review summarizes recent studies in the field of electro conductive textiles as an essential part of lightweight and flexible textile-based electronics (so called e-textiles), with the main focus on a relatively simple and low-cost dip-coating technique that can easily be integrated into an existing textile finishing plant. Herein, numerous electro conductive compounds are discussed, including intrinsically conductive polymers, carbon-based materials, metal, and metal-based nanomaterials, as well as their combinations, with their advantages and drawbacks in contributing to the sectors of healthcare, military, security, fitness, entertainment, environmental, and fashion, for applications such as energy harvesting, energy storage, real-time health and human motion monitoring, personal thermal management, Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) shielding, wireless communication, light emitting, tracking, etc. The greatest challenge is related to the wash and wear durability of the conductive compounds and their unreduced performance during the textiles' lifetimes, which includes the action of water, high temperature, detergents, mechanical forces, repeated bending, rubbing, sweat, etc. Besides electrical conductivity, the applied compounds also influence the physical-mechanical, optical, morphological, and comfort properties of textiles, depending on the type and concentration of the compound, the number of applied layers, the process parameters, as well as additional protective coatings. Finally, the sustainability and end-of-life of e-textiles are critically discussed in terms of the circular economy and eco-design, since these aspects are mainly neglected, although e-textile' waste could become a huge problem in the future when their mass production starts.


Since 1973, the balloon catheter test with a Swan-Ganz, Dotter-Lukas or Fogarty catheter has been attempted in our department in cases of atrial septal defect (ASD) and patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) during cardiac catheterization and operation. Accurate informations concerning size, number and location of ASD were obtained during cardiac catheterization studies by using the balloon catheter. The difference between the size of the defect measured at catheterization and at operation was less than 1 mm in diameter. Size of the defect ranged from 13 to 44 mm in diameter (25.7 mm on the average) and bacame larger with patient's age. Measurement of left-to-right shunt ratios before and after the temporary balloon occlusion of the defect was of help in making a preoperative diagnosis of ASD with multiple defects. Size of foramen ovale ranged from 3 to 13 mm in diameter (5.2 mm on the average) and was not related to age. Size of the ductus in cases with PDA was measured during cardiac catheterization by using the balloon catheter. The difference between the size of the ductus measured with the balloon technique at catheterization and with a measuring rule at operation was less than 4 mm in diameter. The difference revealed the extensibility of the ductus. The temporary balloon occlusion of the ductus aided in determining presence of other cardiac anomalies. In cases of isolated PDA, the murmur became inaudible with the occlusion of the ductus. A balloon catheter inflated with radiopaque dye was used for measurements at cardiac catheterization and at operation. Persistent arrhythmias or other adverse effects of this procedure were not observed.


The disparity between last-level cache and memory latencies motivates the search for efficient cache management policies. Recent work in predicting reuse of cache blocks enables optimizations that significantly improve cache performance and efficiency. However, the accuracy of the prediction mechanisms limits the scope of optimization. This paper proposes perceptron learning for reuse prediction. The proposed predictor greatly improves accuracy over previous work. For multi-programmed workloads, the average false positive rate of the proposed predictor is 3.2%, while sampling dead block prediction (SDBP) and signature-based hit prediction (SHiP) yield false positive rates above 7%. The improvement in accuracy translates directly into performance. For single-thread workloads and a 4MB last-level cache, reuse prediction with perceptron learning enables a replacement and bypass optimization to achieve a geometric mean speedup of 6.1%, compared with 3.8% for SHiP and 3.5% for SDBP on the SPEC CPU 2006 benchmarks. On a memory-intensive subset of SPEC, perceptron learning yields 18.3% speedup, versus 10.5% for SHiP and 7.7% for SDBP. For multi-programmed workloads and a 16MB cache, the proposed technique doubles the efficiency of the cache over LRU and yields a geometric mean normalized weighted speedup of 7.4%, compared with 4.4% for SHiP and 4.2% for SDBP.


Plasmonic metal nanoparticles are of great interest for light trapping in thin-film silicon solar cells. In this Letter, we demonstrate experimentally that a back reflector with plasmonic Ag nanoparticles can provide light-trapping performance comparable to state-of-the-art random textures in n-i-p amorphous silicon solar cells. This conclusion is based on the comparison to high performance n-i-p solar cell and state-of-the-art efficiency p-i-n solar cells deposited on the Asahi VU-type glass. With the plasmonic back reflector a gain of 2 mA/cm(2) in short-circuit current density was obtained without any deterioration of open circuit voltage or fill factor compared to the solar cell on a flat back reflector. The excellent light trapping is a result of strong light scattering and low parasitic absorption of self-assembled Ag nanoparticles embedded in the back reflector. The plasmonic back reflector provides a high degree of light trapping with a haze in reflection greater than 80% throughout the wavelength range 520-1100 nm. The high performance of plasmonic back reflector is attributed to improvements in the self-assembly technique, which result in a lower surface coverage and fewer small and irregular nanoparticles.


Poly-Si TFT (Thin Film transistor) fabricated below 170◦C using excimer laser crystallization of sputtered Si films was characterized. In particular, a gate insulator with a breakdown field exceeding 8 MV/cm was deposited by using ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition). A buffer layer possessing high thermal conductivity was inserted between the active channel and the plastic substrate, in order to protect the plastic substrate from the thermal energy of the laser and to increase adhesion of Si film on plastic. Using this method, we successfully fabricate TFT with a stable electron field-effect mobility value greater than 14.7 cm2/Vsec. key words: poly-Si, TFT, plastic substrate


The time has never been more fitting than now to prepare for a future involving intelligent machines since recent advances have cleared the way for a massive effort that will finally give computers a basic understanding of our world. As computers begin to acquire "common sense" intelligence, they will be transformed from information appliances into helpers, coaches and secretaries. But the most important role for computers and people over the next 5 to 10 years will be that of strident. Computers and people will be partners in a dialogue to understand our world and guide it to a peaceful and prosperous future.


Mast cells are immune sentinels that participate in the defense against bacteria and parasites. Resident within the joint, mast cells become activated in human rheumatoid arthritis and are implicated in the pathogenesis of experimental murine synovitis. However, their arthritogenic role remains undefined. Using a model of autoantibody-induced arthritis, we show that mast cells contribute to the initiation of inflammation within the joint by elaboration of IL-1. Mast cells become activated to produce this cytokine via the IgG immune complex receptor FcγRIII. Interestingly, mast cells become dispensable for the perpetuation of arthritis after delivery of IL-1, highlighting the contribution of this lineage to arthritis induction. These findings illuminate a mechanism by which mast cells can participate in the pathogenesis of autoimmune inflammatory arthritis and provide insights of potential relevance to human rheumatoid arthritis.


The database containing the library of industrial symbiosis case studies and linked exchanges has been developed as part of the activities carried out by the Centre for Industrial Sustainability, University of Cambridge, in the project MAESTRI 'Energy and resource management systems for improved efficiency in the process industries'. This project has been funded by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 programme. The dataset is a collection of information related to existing industrial symbiosis cases. Data have been gathered from publicly available sources (scientific papers, presentations, white papers, etc.), which are referenced in the dataset, and organised into different categories in order to make information more readable and easily accessible. The dataset is composed of two different and connected sections: a library of case studies and an exchanges database. The library of case studies describes each case according to a precise structure: a brief narrative of the case description is followed by five sections presenting related tacit knowledge content, such as triggering factors, preconditions and barriers. Each case in the library is identified by a numerical ID. All sources used to create the library content (scientific publications, whitepapers, industrial presentation, etc.) are also identified with a numerical ID. A combination of these two numerical IDs plus an additional sequential number univocally identifies each exchange found in the case studies. This numerical identifier serves as link between the case studies and the exchanges sections of the dataset. The exchanges database describes all the exchanges of resources from the cases included in the library of case studies. The information is categorised in two main sections, one related to companies involved and the other to materials exchanged. For each exchange, the industrial sector of the companies involved is identified using the NACE code, while the exchanged material is identified using the European Waste Classification, the European Classification of Products by Activities, and a CAS Registry Number ® in case its chemical composition is given. A description of the waste treatment is given wherever applicable, as well as some additional details regarding the synergy (final use of the exchanged flow, availability of flows' quantities and payment details in the original source, level of completion of the exchange). A more detailed description of the library and the database can be found in MAESTRI Deliverable D4.2, accessible here: https://maestri-spire.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/D4.2_MAESTRI-Prototype-library-of-case-studies_v1.0.pdf. An online version of the library and database is accessible from MAESTRI website, the Symbiosis Space: https://maestri-spire.eu/symbiosis-space/. This Space contains descriptions of each case and a downloadable spreadsheet with the data regarding the exchanges. The spreadsheet has VBA® macros to enable facilitated data queries.


The aim of this study was to understand the perceptions held by the Swedish stakeholders on the greening measures established in the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform 2014-2020. The study used the concepts of constructivism; 'what's the problem represented to be', policy analysis tool as a framework; and finally viewed the greening measures and the related components of the reform from a broader perspective of agriculture sustainability discussed by Stuart Hill. A total of eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders from across the board. Most of the stakeholders were at some capacity involved in the CAP reform negotiations or formulation at European Union (EU) and Member State level. During the analysis it was relevant to divide the stakeholders into 'production oriented' stakeholders: Jordbruksverket, LRF, Hushallningssallskapet, Greppa Naringen and 'environment oriented' stakeholders: SSNC, WWF Sweden and Ekologiska Lantbrukarna. One of the drivers for this reform was the 'problem' of biodiversity loss witnessed in farmland of EU whereas socio-economic challenges were a priority for Swedish Agriculture stakeholders. In order, to address the problem of biodiversity loss, the European Commission, developed the concept of broad based, mandatory greening measures to be implemented all across the EU.
The study concluded that the 'production oriented stakeholders' of Sweden believed that the greening measures would have a marginal impact on the current environment of the Swedish Agriculture. There was a sense of acceptance that enough is being done in Sweden in terms of environmental action in agriculture in comparison to other countries of EU and were therefore, indifferent and critical towards the objectives and complex implementation process of the greening measures respectively. On the other hand, the 'environment oriented stakeholders' of Sweden were very critical of the greening measures such as Ecological Focus Areas (EFA). Lack of clear objectives of certain greening measures; different geographical context of Sweden and need for context specific environmental measures; and the complicated implementation process of greening measures; were the reasons for this perception. From agricultural sustainability perspective defined by Stuart Hill, the study identified that certain elements of 'shallow sustainability' were adopted in the reform. It had an intent of moving towards further sustainability for instance, by bringing in crop diversification and EFA and attempting at 're-designing the agroecosystem'. However, it did not move towards further sustainability and stood somewhere in between 'unsustainable practices' and 'shallow sustainability' due to the greater influence of 'production oriented' values at EU level. Therefore, the importance towards 'production oriented' values held by the 'production oriented' stakeholders of Sweden - which were similar to the values held by the major EU level stakeholders during the policymaking process leading to dilution of the reform; in comparison to the 'environment oriented' values held by the 'environment oriented' stakeholders of Sweden affected how the CAP reform 2014-2020 was perceived in Sweden.


Polarization modulation in CdSe quantum dots is presented in the framework of the optically-induced nonlinearities of spin dichroism. The real and the imaginary parts of the phase retardation, which are induced from the nonlinear refractive index of the spin-degenerate fine states, are shown spectrally. The polarization modulation is also described in terms of the Jones vector, where the spectral dependences of the amplitude and phase are shown. The optically-induced elliptical polarization of a Gaussian pulse in a feasible condition of multi-quantum dot-layers is predicted precisely in terms of the rotational and the elliptical angles for increasing pulse area up to π, which is also mapped on a the normalized Poincaré sphere.


This essay is a call for carefully executed research that explores the impact of instructional practices on learning outcomes. Such research responds to the interests of NCA membership, to external pressures, and to our desire to improve our instructional efforts. Considerations relevant to selecting the outcome measures (including types of outcomes, longitudinal effects, and "real world" impact) are discussed. Caution is urged in designing such research to ensure its internal validity and external generalizability.


The article focuses on the local aspect of electoral support for candi- dates to the Senate, the upper house of Parliament of the Czech Republic. Sen- ate elections use a majority run-off system in single-member constituencies. First, the article describes the friends-and-neighbours effect, a process of elec- toral geography whereby voters prefer their own local candidate (i.e. a resident of the particular municipality or area) to opponents from geographically more distant localities. Second, the article examines the phenomenon of 'local vot- ing' in elections to the Czech Senate. The analysis covers all electoral contests from 1996 to April 2011, including by-elections (except in the four largest cities by population owing to a methodological problem). The data fi le comprises a total of 1420 candidates and their election results at the municipal level aggre- gated to three geographically defi ned areas. It specifi cally examines differenc- es in electoral support for a candidate in his/her home locality (municipality of residence), in a nearby neighbourhood up to 10 km away, and the rest of the constituency. Finally, the article focuses on the role of the home municipality's size and monitors how local voting affects the level of voter turnout.


The characteristics of services make each service brand unique and difficult for managers to pragmatically capture. The augmented services offering model may help identify sources of brand differentiation. Empirical application of this services offering model through 15 depth interviews with managers responsible for two financial services brands in the same organisation, reveals that the model helps managers realise the processes involved in delivering and marketing their brands. Certain elements of the model, e.g., buyer-seller interactions have more value to managers than other elements. The model had more relevance to senior managers who recognised its brand differentiation potential.


e246 www.ccmjournal.org March 2014 • Volume 42 • Number 3 Prophylactic Intra-Aortic Balloon Counterpulsation in Cardiac Surgery: Challenges in Planning the "Right" Trial To the Editor: In a recent issue of Critical Care Medicine, we read with great interest the article by Ranucci et al (1) evaluating the impact of prophylactic intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation (IABC) on the postoperative outcome of patients with reduced left-ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG). The authors report in this single-center randomized controlled trial that prophylactic IABC has no positive effects on postoperative major morbidity as defined by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. However, the present trial raises some concerns that we would like to address in this letter. As the authors state in their discussion, the inclusion criteria were mostly based on the poor LVEF. However, in all previous trials concerning prophylactic IABC, including the trials of Christenson et al (2–4) in the late 1990s, heterogeneous inclusion criteria with questionable implication on perioperative risk have been a major drawback. Inclusion criteria based on a modern and valid risk estimation instrument (e.g., European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation II) to really include high-risk patients would have been advantageous. The single-center trial was powered to detect a 50% relative risk reduction of the composite endpoint "major morbidity" (absolute risk reduction 40% to 20%). In our opinion, some of its components do not relate to IABC (e.g., sternal wound infection, need of reoperation, which is mostly due to bleeding). Prolonged mechanical ventilation and acute renal failure are perioperative surrogate variables. Their persistence after a certain time after operation (e.g., 30 d, 6 mo) would have been of interest. Operative mortality is the most relevant component of the primary endpoint. A primary endpoint that is more focused on patient-relevant criteria (30-d mortality, survival, and New York Heart Association stadium at 6 mo, 1 yr) would have been preferable. The authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest.


OBJECTIVE
Introduction: According to the World Health Organization, epilepsy is one of the most common diseases of the central nervous system, which affects 0.5 to 2% of the entire population The aim is comparison of prevalence, incidence and disability from nervous diseases and epilepsy among children of the Kharkiv region of Ukraine and the results are compared with global figures.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Materials and methods: Epidemiological indicators, namely the prevalence and incidence. For the comparative analysis, the statistical data of the last 5 years are used.

RESULTS
Review: The prevalence of epilepsy in Ukraine amounts to 25 695 children (3.21%), higher than the prevalence of cerebral palsy or neuroinfections, the average value for 5 years is 24 667 children (3.144%). In the Kharkiv region the number is 1 451 children (3.43%), 5-year average is 1 340 children (3.21%). The incidence of epilepsy in children in Ukraine is 3 306 children (0.43%), the average value for 5 years is 3 569 children (0.454%). In Kharkiv region the incidence is 252 persons (0.53%), an average is 201.2 children (0.468%).

CONCLUSION
Conclusions: Reliable epidemiological indicators will make it possible to improve the system of rendering specialized medical care to children with epilepsy, carry out a pharmaco-economic analysis, calculation and estimation of the costs for patients' treatment, which is especially important in the framework of the health care system reformation. Thus, the compilation of patients' registers with epilepsy is one of the urgent tasks to optimize the medical care.


The long-term effect of endoscopic laser treatment for early gastric cancer as a local curative procedure was reported. Forty-seven patients with endoscopically diagnosed early gastric cancer whose surgical risk was critical or who refused surgery were treated by either photocoagulative Nd: YAG laser (YAG) or photodynamic therapy (PDT) with argon dye laser and hematoporphyrin derivatives (HpD) or both and followed-up for more than 3 years. Thirty-one patients were initially treated by YAG. One patient was lost to follow-up. Sixteen of 30 cases (53%) treated by YAG were negative for cancer on biopsy for 9 to 73 months (mean 3 years and 7 months) after the initial treatment. Sixteen cases were initially treated by PDT. Eight of 14 cases (57%) treated by PDT with argon dye laser were negative for cancer on biopsy for 19 to 35 months (mean 1 year and 7 months). Ten of 13 cases treated by combined laser therapy were negative for cancer on biopsy for 12 to 77 months (mean 3 years and 2 months). Curative effect of YAG and PDT was expected in lesions of superficially elevated mucosal cancer (type) IIa less than 20mm and well demarcated superficially depressed mucosal cancer (type IIc) less than 10mm. PDT was superior to YAG in treating early gastric cancer, particularly when the margin of lesion is unclear, and depth of cancer invasion is estimated to be submucosal. Risks of lymph node metastasis in these lesions are reportedly minimal as well. Quality of life scores did not decrease when the patients were treated by lasers, but did so statistically significantly in the surgically treated group of patients. Therefore, we conclude that the endoscopic laser is the treatment of choice of treatment for early gastric cancer as a local curative procedure in the aged if they have a curable lesion as mentioned above. As a palliative treatment, 34 patients with neoplastic obstruction of the esophagus and stomach were treated by dilators with or without intubation of prosthesis tube and laser recanalization. Functional efficacy (ability to eat solid or semi-solid diet which could not be eater before treatment) was noted in 64% of 11 cases treated by dilators alone, 75% of 12 cases treated by intubation of prosthesis tube and 45% of 11 cases treated by lasers. There was a greater complication rate in the intubation group also. Patients with malignant stricture due to mediastinal lymph node metastasis were at higher risk of perforation.


The authors report a case of a 20-year old woman, with all the characteristics of the Wiskott-Aldrich-syndrome. The main signs of the disease were recurrent infections, eczema, thrombocytopenia and mild mucosal bleeding. The size of platelets was reduced. Storage pool disease was based on the abnormal platelet aggregation and the lack of dense bodies shown by electronmicroscopic examination. The disturbances of the lymphocytes, neutrophils and monocytes, which resulted in immunodeficiency, could be proven by the immunological tests. This X-linked recessive disorder appeared with typical signs in a heterozygous carrier woman. According to our knowledge, no similar case has been reported before.


"Ad-hoc-ra-cy": any form of organization that cuts across normal bureaucratic lines to capture opportunities, solve problems and get results. In this era of accelerating change, the people, organizations and even national economies most likely to succeed are those with the ability to adjust and adapt. According to Robert Waterman Jr, co-author of "In Search of Excellence", innovation has to become a way of life in organizations large and small. What they need is an environment that fosters the effective use of the ad hoc, problem-solving work groups outside the normal bureaucracy that so often stifles initiative. Drawing on 25 years' experience in management consulting, Waterman offers clear instructions on how to establish adhocracy and make it work. He is also the author of "The Renewal Factor" and "In Search of Excellence".


Are the cfa franc zone member's much closed by their currency or by their economic structure? This is the main question of this paper. In other words, the difficulty to have a common monetary policy and idiosyncratic national fiscal policies, for a monetary area, can be feasible in cfa franc zone? In fact, just after the cfa franc devaluation of January 1994, the cfa franc zone member's committed themselves to preserve the monetary stability into the area. Globally speaking, the results are significant testimony on the robustness of VAR methodology as an engine for the analysis of monetary policy effects, in fact, these results help to draw some lessons about the monetary transmission mechanism into the zone but also there are one of an unique proofs with sub-Saharan African's data of the neo-keynesian school's consistency.


Abstract Uromodulin-related autosomal-dominant tubulointerstitial kidney disease (ADTKD-UMOD) is a rare monogenic disorder that is characterized by tubulointerstitial fibrosis and progression of kidney function loss, and may progress to end-stage renal disease. It is usually accompanied by hyperuricaemia and gout. Mutations in the uromodulin gene (UMOD) resulting in malfunctioning of UMOD are known to be the cause of ADTKD-UMOD, which is assumed to be an endoplasmatic reticulum (ER) storage disease. As a case vignette, we report a 29-year-old female with a suspicious family history of chronic kidney disease presenting with progressive loss of renal function, hyperuricaemia and frequent urinary tract infections. Urinary tract infections and pyelonephritides may represent a clinical feature of uromodulin malfunction as it plays a protective role against urinary tract infections despite only sporadic data on this topic. ADTKD-UMOD was diagnosed after genetic testing revealing a missense mutation in the UMOD gene. Light microscopy showed excessive tubular interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy together with signs of glomerular sclerosis. Electron microscopic findings could identify electron dense storage deposits in the ER of tubular epithelial cells of the thick ascending loop. Immunohistological staining with KDEL (lysine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, leucine) showed positivity in the tubular cells, which likely represents ER expansion upon accumulation of misfolded UMOD which could trigger the unfolded protein response and ER stress. This review highlights pathophysiological mechanisms that are subject to ADTKD-UMOD.


The 110Pd double-β decay Q value was measured with the Penning-trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP to be Q=2017.85(64) keV. This value shifted by 14 keV compared with the literature value and is 17 times more precise, resulting in new phase-space factors for the two-neutrino and neutrinoless decay modes. In addition a new set of the relevant matrix elements has been calculated. The expected half-life of the two-neutrino mode was reevaluated as 1.5(6)×10(20) yr. With its high natural abundance, the new results reveal 110Pd to be an excellent candidate for double-β decay studies.


Optical properties of stratospheric aerosols and cirrus clouds and their radiative effects are currently important subjects of research worldwide. Those investigations are typical of developed countries, conducted by several highly specialized groups dedicated separately to instrumental observations, their interpretation in the context of the weather and climate, and the numerical simulation of their radiative effects. In Camaguey, Cuba, the Grupo de Optica Atmosferica de Camaguey [Optics Atmospheric Group of Camaguey (GOAC)] has been conducting all those research projects together for a little more than 20 years, following a self-designed long-term strategy. The results of the strategy applied by GOAC demonstrates that, even in the conditions of an underdeveloped country, it is possible to build local scientific and technical capacities for conducting state-of-the-art research for the benefit of society, both locally and worldwide.


Introduction: Motor vehicle accident is a major problem in Malaysia. The statistics shows an increasing number of accidents (year 1997 to 2007). Fatigue and drowsiness among the drivers has been identified as one of the main reasons behind fatal crashes and injuries especially driving in long and monotonous motorway. This study aims to determine the driver's driving performance and physiological change of EEG in association with external factors such as driving condition and environmental background factors in a prolonged simulation study. Result: The study showed that time-on-task effect had significantly deteriorated drivers' alertness and impaired driving performance in an extended driving period, when certain driving condition and environmental factors considered. Conclusion: This study shows that prolong driving had significantly induced drivers' fatigue level exclusively with monotonous environment. Extended driving period deteriorated drivers' performance, revealing that time-on-task effect could possibly put drivers on a higher risk to be involved in traffic accident.


Bilirubin can cause temporary or permanent sensorineural deafness in newborn babies with hyperbilirubinemia. However, the underlying targets and physiological effects of bilirubin‐induced damage in the peripheral auditory system are unclear. Using cochlear functional assays and electron microscopy imaging of the inner ear in neonatal guinea pigs, we show here that bilirubin exposure resulted in threshold elevation in both compound action potential (CAP) and auditory brainstem response (ABR), which was apparent at 1 hr and peaked 8 hr after drug administration. The threshold elevation was associated with delayed wave latencies and elongated interwave intervals in ABR and CAP. At 72 hr postinjection, these measures returned to control levels, except for the CAP amplitude. Cochlear microphonics remained unchanged during the experiment. Morphological abnormalities were consistent with the electrophysiological dysfunction, revealing fewer auditory nerve fibers (ANFs) in the basal turn, myelin sheath lesions of spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) and ANFs, and loss of type 1 afferent endings beneath inner hair cells (IHCs) without loss of hair cells at 8 hr posttreatment. Similar to the electrophysiological findings, morphological changes were mostly reversed 10 days after treatment, except for the ANF reduction in the basal turn. These results suggest that hyperbilirubinemia in neonatal guinea pigs impaired auditory peripheral neuromechanisms that targeted mainly the IHC synapses and the myelin sheath of SGNs and their fibers. Our observations indicate a potential connection between hyperbilirubinemia and auditory neuropathy. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Despite living in disadvantaged urban communities experiencing social and economic hardships, many children emerge with positive outcomes. Social-emotional competence and social support were hypothesized to have strong influences on academic trajectories during the critical period of academic skill acquisition. Participants were 282 third-grade students from six elementary schools in a Northwestern urban community. Beyond the importance of prior levels of academic competence, considerable variance in end-of-year academic outcomes was predicted by initial levels of academic social-emotional competence and improvements in social-emotional competence and perceived teacher support over the course of the year. Noteworthy is that findings were strongest for African-American students, but methodological caveats regarding research with underachieving minority youth were discussed. The findings suggest that school psychologists and others designing interventions to improve achievement of disadvantaged students should address social-emotional competencies and classroom climate, especially teacher support of students.


The aim of this study has been to attempt to create an ontology of cultural landscape and related concepts through the use of several forms of bibliometric analyses.

Cultural landscape is perceived as a transdisciplinary concept and the theoretical point of departure emphasizes this through a focus on the possibilities of communication between and beyond disciplines and existing structures.

Frequency distributions are presented in order to obtain an overview of the different concepts. Co-occurrences analyses are carried out on the different concepts and the results are presented in the form of bibliometric maps. The discussion focuses on the relations between the words and the concepts, as well as in the case of the concept of cultural landscape only, on the shifting relations between words over time, as well as on the intellectual structure of the discourse.

The heterogeneous quality of the field of cultural landscape studies makes the creation of an ontology difficult. What the study may contribute to, however, is an increased transparency as regards the structures of the discourses; this in turn may help to improve the conditions for transdisciplinary communication and collaboration.


Abstract Historical ecology is a practical framework for studying the management history of landscapes and how such knowledge can inform and help envision their durable futures. Combining evidence from the biological and physical sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities, historical ecology employs a broad spectrum of concepts and methods. The study of landscape of southwestern Burgundy (in central France) is an early example of this comprehensive approach to the combined study of human history with that of environments.


We provide limits on the alignment of galaxy orientations with the direction to the void center for galaxies lying near the edges of voids. We locate spherical voids in volume limited samples of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using the HB inspired void finder and investigate the orientation of (color selected) spiral galaxies that are nearly edge-on or face-on. In contrast with previous literature, we find no statistical evidence for departure from random orientations. Expressed in terms of the parameter c, introduced by Lee & Pen to describe the strength of such an alignment, we find that c0.11(0.13) at 95% (99.7%) confidence limit within a context of a toy model that assumes a perfectly spherical voids with sharp boundaries.


Introduction: Treatment of combined coronary artery surgery (CABG) and severe carotid
artery stenosis is still controversial. The decision of surgical priority can
change according to the severity of the coronary artery disease or carotid
artery disease at staged surgery. The aim of the study is to compare the
outcomes of simultaneous surgery (CEA + CABG) and CABG alone at our department. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the CABG and CEA +
CABG patients which were performed between 2010 and 2015. If the patients had simultaneous
another operation, they were excluded from the study. A total of 294 patients
(252 CABG patients and 42 combined surgery patients), were retrospectively
examined. Results: Two patients in CABG group and two patients in CABG +
CEA group developed stroke. There was no statistically significant
difference between the two groups in terms of early stroke rate (p > 0.05).
One patient in CEA + CABG group and three patients in CABG group died. The average
carotid clamp time was 19.93 ± 5.06 minutes. Aortic clamp times were 42.89 ±
6.38 minutes in CABG and 42.81 ± 5.70 minutes in CEA + CABG patients. Results
of the two groups were similar. Conclusion: Combined CEA and CABG can be
performed successfully and safely in patients.


Renewable energy sources are generally interfaced with the electric distribution and transmission grid via power converters. The displacement of the traditional generating plants requires the new resources to be involved in the grid control strategy. This has driven the research to the so called grid-supporting control strategies which allow power converters to be involved in the grid voltage and frequency regulation. This paper presents a performance based comparison of three families of converter control strategies: grid-forming, grid-following converters and virtual synchronous machines. The CIGRE medium voltage benchmark system is used as a test bench and the performance of the three strategies are compared each other and with those of a traditional reciprocating generator. The analysis is made thought real-time simulations.


The effect of cyclosporine A (CyA) on the pharmacokinetics of acyclovir in neonatal and adult rats was studied. CyA at 25 and 50 mg/kg for 2-week-old and adult rats, respectively, given as a subcutaneous injection, reduced growth of the 2-week-old rats and inhibited growth of adult rats. The plasma concentration of acyclovir after intravenous administration (20 mg/kg) to neonatal CyA-treated rats increased and the total body clearance decreased compared with the neonatal controls. The bioavailabilities of acyclovir for neonatal control and CyA-treated rats after oral administration were significantly different at 15.6 and 22.0%, respectively, but those for the adult control and CyA-treated rats were the same at 15.6 and 14.0%, respectively. Experiments using the everted sac method showed that the amount of acyclovir transferred was higher in neonatal CyA-treated rats than the controls, but there was no difference in adult rats. A good relationship was observed between the bioavailabilities (in vivo) and cumulative transferred amounts (in vitro) in CyA-treated and control rats. Lactase activity in the brush border membrane of the intestine in the neonatal CyA-treated rats was significantly higher than in the controls. These results suggest that the gastrointestinal maturation of CyA-treated neonates is suppressed, resulting in increased bioavailability of acyclovir, while the gastrointestinal absorption of acyclovir does not differ between adult CyA-treated and control rats.


Ordered arrays of cylinders, known as rod packings, are now widely used in descriptions of crystalline structures. These are generalized to include crystallographic packed arrays of filaments with circular cross sections, including curvilinear cylinders whose central axes are generic helices. A suite of the simplest such general rod packings is constructed by projecting line patterns in the hyperbolic plane ({\bb H}^2) onto cubic genus-3 triply periodic minimal surfaces in Euclidean space ({\bb E}^3): the primitive, diamond and gyroid surfaces. The simplest designs correspond to `classical' rod packings containing conventional cylindrical filaments. More complex packings contain three-dimensional arrays of mutually entangled filaments that can be infinitely extended or finite loops forming three-dimensional weavings. The concept of a canonical `ideal' embedding of these weavings is introduced, generalized from that of knot embeddings and found algorithmically by tightening the weaving to minimize the filament length to volume ratio. The tightening algorithm builds on the SONO algorithm for finding ideal conformations of knots. Three distinct classes of weavings are described.


The research aims to measure the financial sustainability of a sample of real estate companies registered on the Amman Stock Exchange for the period 2008-2020. The data required for the study included some financial indicators represented by distributed profits, retained earnings, fixed assets, total assets and liabilities, financial return, and profits before interest and taxes, which were mediated by building Standard models and research hypotheses testing, as well as the discrepancy in achieving sustainability rates acceptable by the research sample companies, which DuPont formula was used to measure financial sustainability. The econometric software Eviews-12 was used to estimate the required regression models, and the statistical software SPSS-27 to calculate correlations and other statistical tests, while Excel was used to implement the accompanying graphs for the analysis. The companies that meet certain conditions have been selected, including that these companies have been listed on the Amman Stock Exchange for a short period to have the ability to expect real estate activity in the long term in future. In light of our statistical results, we conclude that most business companies are financially sustainable and that they will not be exposed to the risks of financial unsustainability when they invest their resources in capital investments. Thus, we recommend companies increase the levels of capital investments, achieve more profits and returns, create new investment opportunities and improve the company's position, which contributes to enhancing the survival and continuity of companies.


The digital turn in anthropology and ethnography is not a sudden rupture to the field's epistemological quest. In recent years, after the digital turn and the evolution of Digital Humanities, there have been notable efforts to address the digital aspect of social reality by anthropologists. However, the focus has been predominantly on the observation of internet cultures and communities, mainly tackling phenomena that 'take place' in the digital realm, and on the techniques and issues that arise from conducting online research with limited theoretical ramifications of recent advancements on the technological field. We argue that the practical repercussions of the discussion around ethnographic writing modalitites has not yet been adequately addressed in Greece,which reflects a wider tendency for the anthropological lens to remain on the "observant" side and not partake in the active discussion of the knowledge production and representation. The research project "Ethnography and/as hypertext fiction: representing surrogate motherhood" (HYFRESMO), currently implemented at the Anthropology Department of Panteion University and funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation & the General Secretariat for Research and Technology, seeks to enable the creative accommodation of digital media in the field of anthropology. In conducting a 'traditional' fieldwork on new reproductive technologies (surrogate motherhood), which heavily rests on immediate contact and 'physical', 'real-life' communication with research interlocutors, and combining offline and online observation and communication with them, our methodological proposition does not radicalize the work already implemented by fellow anthropologists in the sense of data gathering or performing participant observation in the digital/cyber-sphere. On the contrary, in our endeavor to create a transmedia, non-text-oriented, fictional ethnographic account (during but mainly after ) the fieldwork experience, we propose that digital ethnographic representation becomes a very privileged under-researched terrain upon which to experiment on the transformative potential of the digital turn inthe humanities.


A high-temperature superconducting (HTS) cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC) suitable for high-field magnet applications and comprised of twisted-stacked coated-conductor tapes arranged around a helically slotted core has been recently proposed and tested, demonstrating full compatibility with existing cabling technologies. To form the desired shape of any coils for high-field magnet applications, any suitable CICC option needs to be bent. For a magnet design, it is then very important to characterize the bending behavior of the CICC and, in particular, to find the smallest bending radius achieved without performance degradation. To this aim, bending tests were carried out on 1-m-long dummy samples of five helical slots in an extruded aluminum core, in which four REBCO tapes and dummy stainless-steel tapes were mounted in each slot. A controlled bending moment has been applied to the HTS CICC samples at room temperature, and each individual superconducting tape has been electrically characterized as a function of bending radius by measuring the critical current and n-index values at 77 K in a self-field condition. Results are analyzed and explained with the help of a three-dimensional cable model implemented in ANSYS and analytical calculations. The experimental and numerical results presented in this paper will demonstrate that the twisted-stack slotted-core technology can meet the bending requirements of high-field magnet designs.


The Tianshan Mountains represent an important water source for the arid and semi‐arid regions of Central Asia. The discharge and glacier mass balance (GMB) in the Tianshan Mountains are sensitive to changes in climate. In this study, the changes in temperature, precipitation, and discharge of six glacierized watersheds of Tianshan Mountains were explored using non‐parametric tests and wavelet transforms during 1957–2004. On the basis of the statistical mechanics and maximum entropy principle model, the GMB at the watershed scale were reconstructed for the study period. The discharge and GMB responses to climate change were examined in different watersheds. The results showed that regional climate warming was obvious, especially after 1996. The warming trend increased gradually from east to west, and the increase in temperature was greater on the north slope than on the south slope. The changing trends in precipitation increased from eastern region to central region, and then, the trend decreased in the western region, although the value was higher than that in the eastern region. The discharge presented significant periods of 2.7–5.4 years and increased from east to west. Significant periodicity indicated that the discharge in the different watersheds exhibited obviously different patterns. The GMB losses were larger in south and east than in north. The large glaciers had more stable interannual variations in discharge, and large fluctuations in discharge will be observed as the glacier areas shrink. Precipitation was the dominant factor for discharge during the study period, although the influence of increasing temperatures on hydrological regimes should not be neglected in the long term. Systematic differences in discharge and the GMB in glacierized watersheds in response to climate change are apparent in the Tianshan Mountains.


P055 Table 1 Association between CE/HD scope and dysplasia detection Abstracts A42 Gut 2021;70(Suppl 3):A1–A76 on S etem er 4, 2023 by gest. P rocted by coright. http/gut.bm jcom / G t: frst pulished as 10.113utjnl-2021-B A S L.63 on 17 S etem er 221. D ow nladed fom


In this paper, a modified robust image encryption scheme is developed by combining block compressive sensing (BCS) and Wavelet Transform. It was achieved with a balanced performance of security, compression, robustness and running efficiency. First, the plain image is divided equally and sparsely represented in discrete wavelet transform (DWT) domain, and the coefficient vectors are confused using the coefficient random permutation strategy and encrypted into a secret image by compressive sensing. In pursuit of superior security, the hyper-chaotic Lorenz system is utilized to generate the updated secret code streams for encryption and embedding with assistance from the counter mode. This scheme is suitable for processing the medium and large images in parallel. Additionally, it exhibits superior robustness and efficiency compared with existing related schemes. Simulation results and comprehensive performance analyses are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness, secrecy and robustness of the proposed scheme. The compressive encryption model using BCS with Walsh transform as sensing matrix and WAM chaos system, the scrambling technique and diffusion succeeded in enhancement of secure performance.


R134a is widely used as a refrigerant in refrigeration systems, but this refrigerant has an impact on increasing global warming. This impact can be reduced by using dimethyl ether as an alternative refrigerant to replace R134a. In this research, the performance of dimethyl ether was tested as a substitute refrigerant for R134a in refrigeration system applications in the form of freezers. Tests were carried out by comparing the performance of the freezer when using refrigerant R134a and using dimethyl ether refrigerant. The use of dimethyl ether in the test was varied based on mass, namely 60 grams, 70 grams and 80 grams, or in percentages as much as 30%, 46.7% and 53.3% of the total mass of R134a. The results of this test indicate that the COP value for freezer performance is higher when using dimethyl ether than when using R134a, the efficiency is higher than refrigerant R134a, and the compressor power is lower than R134a. Testing for variations in the mass of dimethyl ether that approached the condition of R134a was at a mass of 70 grams, so that the amount of refrigerant filled with dimethyl ether as a substitute for R134a was reduced to 46,7% of the amount of R134a.


Elements of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review of the clinical data that supported the approval of the Biologics License Application (BLA) for belatacept for prophylaxis of organ rejection in adult patients receiving a kidney transplant are summarized. The article is not intended as a comprehensive summary of the entire belatacept data submission. Rather, the discussion is meant to illustrate aspects of the FDA's process for evaluating efficacy and safety, using belatacept as an example.


Limited scientific evidence about the safety and efficacy of traditional healing make it essential for policymakers to develop policies, regulations, and strategies to mitigate issues related to this practice. Such issues include hit-and-miss operation, incorrect diagnosis, improper dosage, low hygiene standards, and the dominant lack of statutory regulation for traditional healing practitioners and practices owing to the secrecy of some healing methods. On the other hand, the high cost of drugs and other critical considerations strengthen the belief persistence and reliance of people on traditional healing over modern medical treatments, a situation that makes it challenging for the government to define the policymaking parameters in this area. The focus of this descriptive-comparative study was to determine how persistent are the beliefs and reliance on traditional healing of students by obtaining quantitative results from a survey. A total of 277 students were surveyed using stratified proportionate random sampling. Data were gathered through a questionnaire and unstructured interviews. Descriptive statistics, dependent t-test, and one-way analysis of variance were the statistical tools used. Results showed that almost all respondents still manifest very strong belief persistence in faith healers (arbolaryo) and bone setters (hilot) and a great majority in those who cure illness caused by spirits (surhano/parasantigwar). The illnesses they usually consult with traditional healers were vomiting, sprain, and stomachache. Male respondents have stronger belief persistence than do their female counterparts. The belief persistence and reliance of students on traditional healing, even with the recent advances in science, technology, and innovation, as well as the upsurge of new interventions for diagnosis, prevention, and treatments, indicate that the popularity of traditional healing is not declining. These findings are particularly evident in some prevailing traditional healing practices.


OBJECTIVE
to validate the role of duplex scan in endoleak detection in postoperative surveillance of endoluminal abdominal aneurysm repair (EAAR).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
between April 1997 and March 1999, 103 patients were eligible for duplex and computed tomography (CT) scan after EAAR. Mean follow-up was 8 months (range 1-24 months). The study protocol comprised concurrent examination with colour-duplex and CT scan at 1, 6, and 12 months after EAAR, for a total of 198 concurrent examinations. All duplex scan examinations were performed by two vascular surgeons with the same machine (ATL HDI 3000). Interobserver agreement in endoleak detection (kappa=1) and in type of endoleak (kappa=0.7) was evaluated in 50 random duplex examinations. Endoleak detection was examined comparatively in duplex and CT scan, the latter being the gold standard. Sensitivity and specificity tests together with negative- and positive-predictive values (NPV and PPV) were calculated.

RESULTS
duplex scan was not feasible in one patient. On CT scan the endoleak rate was 4% at one month, 3% at 6 months, and 4% at one year. Overall, CT scan detected 12 endoleaks. With respect to endoleak detection, duplex scan revealed a great ability in ruling out false-negative results (sensitivity 91.7%, NPV 99.4%), but overestimated the presence of endoleak (specificity 98.4%, PPV 78. 6%). Regarding type of endoleak, the ability of duplex scan to identify the source of endoleak was low (sensitivity 66.7%).

CONCLUSIONS
duplex scan, if validated, appears to be a reliable means for excluding the presence of endoleak after EAAR.


Recent spatial cuing studies have shown that detection sensitivity can be increased by the allocation of attention. This increase has been attributed to one of two mechanisms: signal enhancement or uncertainty reduction. Signal enhancement is an increase in the signal-to-noise ratio at the cued location; uncertainty reduction is a reduction in the uncertainty associated with the location of the target. In displays with low uncertainty, cuing effects are typically found only if targets are backwardly masked. This phenomenon is known as the mask-dependent cuing effect. This effect was investigated in four experiments using the response signal paradigm, which controlled for speed-accuracy tradeoffs. For unmasked targets, cues failed to improve detection accuracy when uncertainty was absent (Experiment 1), but large cuing effects were obtained when uncertainty was present (Experiment 2). For masked targets, stronger cuing effects were obtained with a backward pattern mask (Experiment 3) than with a simultaneous noise mask (Experiment 4). We conclude that the cuing effects in simple detection with well-localized targets are due to a dynamic signal enhancement mechanism.


We construct a countable family of open intervals contained in (0,1] whose endpoints are quadratic surds and such that their union is a full measure set. We then show that these intervals are precisely the monotonicity intervals of the entropy of alpha-continued fractions, thus proving a conjecture of Nakada and Natsui.


A new simple and straightforward parameter-extraction method for a general transversal resonator array filter, which consists of parallel connected resonators in a circuit model, is proposed. Using this method enables one to effectively extract a direct source/load (S/L) coupling, as well as the external quality factor and the resonant frequency of each resonator path only from input reflection phase characteristics of the singly terminated even- and odd-mode networks, without using any complicated optimization techniques and coupling matrix calculations. One of the advantages noted here is that a frequency-dependent S/L coupling in practical physical filter models can be handled with this method. Furthermore, dissipation effects due to unloaded quality factors of the resonator paths is investigated based on a new closed-form formula derived in this paper. The effectiveness of the proposed extraction technique and equations is verified by the comparison with the optimization method results through applications to three planar filter examples. The proposed extraction technique is indispensable for recent advanced filter designs using a transversal array filter synthesis theory for quasi-elliptic function filters having multiple transmission zeros.


...................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ v TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. vii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... x


The enrichment of gluten-free (GF) baked products with dietary fibre (DF) seems to be necessary since it has been reported that coeliac patients have generally a low intake of DF due to their GF diet. Response surface methodology was used to optimize a fibre-enriched GF bread formulation based on corn starch, rice flour and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose. Maize fibre and water were the predictor variables (factors), and loaf specific volume, crumb firmness and crumb L value were the dependent variables (responses) used to assess the product quality. The optimal formulation, determined from the data, contained 6.5% maize fibre and 102.5% water, starch/flour base. The developed mathematical models for the measured responses could be successfully used for their prediction during baking. Shelf-life study of the optimized formulation revealed that bread stored under modified atmosphere packaging exhibited lower crumb firmness and moisture content values, and thus remained softer through storage. Scanning electron microscopy of the crumb showed a continuum matrix between starch and maize fibre, in the optimized formulation, obtaining a more aerated structure.


The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most famous passages in the Bible, but unfortunately it has a polemic interpretation in the reformed circles. This article analyzes two interpretations of the Sermon on the Mount from two well-known reformed figures, John Calvin and Martin Luther, to discover the heart of the problem. This article shows that Calvin's interpretation is more responsible than Luther's, but there is a beautiful legitimate application that readers can learn from Luther.
Keywords: Interpretation, Sermon on the Mount, John Calvin, Martin Luther, historical criticism, law and gospel.


At Phoenix Federal Correctional Institution in Arizona, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBP) completed a 1,584 m 2 (17,040 square feet) parabolic trough solar water heating system financed, installed and operated under an Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) with Industrial Solar Technology Corp (IST). The ESPC was developed under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The system incorporates a 87 m 3 (23,000 gallon) storage tank. The system delivered 1,161,803 kWh (3,964 million Btu) of solar heat from March 1, 1999 to February 29, 2000. This energy would have cost $77,805.74 if purchased from the utility (based on the monthly average $/kWh cost). Sale of this energy to the prison provided $70,025.18 in revenue to IST (a rate negotiated at 90 percent of the monthly average $/kWh utility cost). Thus, the prison saved $7,780.56 (the remaining 10 percent). A photograph of the collector system is presented in Figure 1. Results show that the system delivers heat reliably, with only minor operational problems which are listed and discussed. The system delivered a minimum of 80,315 kWh (274 Btu) in January 2000 to a maximum of 130,979 kWh (447 Million Btu) in October 1999. The prison pays IST for energy delivered by the solar system at a rate equal to 90 percent of the monthly average utility rate (10 percent guaranteed savings), over 20 years. Details of the establishment of the payment structure and the cost savings to the prison are discussed. Annual Emissions Savings are estimated by EPA multipliers [1] for Arizona as 627,374 kg/yr of CO 2 , 2,324 kg/yr of SO 2 and 2,297 kg/yr of NO x . Other benefits to the prison are also discussed, such as reduced operations and maintenance on the electric water heaters and a greater capacity to deliver hot water.


Accurate calculation of water use efficiency is critical in evaluating innovative crop management practices under limited moisture conditions. The use of a neutron moisture meter is advantageous where repeated, non-destructive measurements are needed, but it requires a particular calibration procedure in Vertisols. The purpose of this study was to produce a field procedure for unbiased volumetric moisture content calculations using a neutron moisture meter. Two methods of calibrating a neutron moisture meter in the field were compared. The methods differed in their soil sampling procedures. The first method employs undisturbed core and clod sampling adjacent to the access tubes. This method is destructive with respect to the access tube. The second method employs disturbed soil sampling using a screw auger a few meters from the access tubes. This method is less laborious and non-destructive. Undisturbed soil samples adjacent to the access tube are representative for the sphere of influence of the neutron moisture meter and their bulk density-moisture content relationships follow a normal one-dimensional shrinkage model. The precision of the calibration was increased by correcting for changes of bulk density with changes of water content. The two methods of calibrating gave highly significant (P < 0.001) correlation coefficients. The second calibration method, however, introduced a bias of 20% at the dry end of the moisture range. At wilting point this bias was 10%. Separate calibration equations were necessary for the different horizons of the soil. Based on the calibration with correction for bulk density effect, a polynomial function can be derived that relates neutron count ratio with gravimetric water content; thus, we assumed one-dimensional shrinkage. For volumetric moisture determinations at field level, gravimetric water content was converted to volumetric on the basis of a three-dimensional isotropic shrinkage model.


To the question what is the effect of pro-environmental solutions on the well-being of the individual the answer is that there are different schools of thought in environmental psychology, but all tend to find objective solutions. In my reflection I would like to focus on the subject and its design choices aimed at the well-being of the HOME environment. Currently, attention to wellbeing leads to "green" design choices. But behind the word green different meanings are stratified. We move from Passive house, not necessarily using natural materials; to that Zero Impact with recycled materials, not always high performance; to the biomorphic design where the fruition is often tiring, to Feng Shui increasingly in vogue in the West and finally to the biophilic design. There are different ways to get to the living well, which certainly has objective characteristics, but often ignores the subjective principle of I CARE (MY HOME). I CARE (MY HOME) defines the path to be taken where each design choice is dictated by a different meaning that the subject attributes to it. In this sense, one's home becomes regenerative and creates well-being. A domestic environment without subjective meaning simply becomes a beautiful environment. Considering the objective parameters what creates the ideal environment? Space? Shape? Distribution? Natural materials use? What is more regenerative? The window on a real park or a poster with a coniferous forest or a poster of an Arizona desert? The conclusion is that although a house is "objectively correct" to be "perfect" it must be empathic with those who experience it.


An investigation on the local structure of liquid and supercooled pure gallium at several temperatures is presented. Accurate EXAFS (Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure) spectra have been analysed by means of ab initio calculations of the multiple-scattering signals associated with two-atom and three-atom configurations. The extracted g2 (r) first-neighbour distribution of the liquid phase was found to be in excellent agreement with diffraction measurements. Clear evidence of nearly covalent bonds has been found in highly supercooled gallium where the asymmetric first-neighbour distribution is split into two resolved peaks. Analysis of the three-atom g3 (r1, r2, θ) distribution has shown evidence for nearly-equilateral and nearly-orthogonal configurations.


Abstract: The rapid bidirectional transport of dopamine β‐hydroxylase (DBH) in adrenergic axons provides a means of analyzing the life cycle of adrenergic storage vesicles. We compared the physical characteristics of DBH‐containing particles traveling to or returning from the terminal varicosities of ligated rat sciatic nerves. Density gradient centrifu‐gation and Sephacryl S1000 gel‐permeation chromatography were used to fractionate extracts from nerve segments proximal or distal to the ligatures. A series of experiments indicated the existence of at least two populations of rapidly transported DBH‐containing particles, a "light" 85‐nm particle and a larger "dense" 120‐nm particle. The 85‐nm particles were prevalent in unligated nerve, but accounted for only one‐third of the total anterogradely transported DBH activity accumulated after 18 h. The 120‐nm particles were barely detectable in unligated nerve, but they accumulated at twice the rate of the 85‐nm particles and accounted for the rest of the anterogradely transported particulate DBH activity. These two populations of particles were readily isolated from proximal nerve extracts by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. Similar‐appearing dense and light peaks of particulate DBH activity were obtained from distal nerve extracts. Much of the retrogradely transported DBH of the extracts, however, was associated with large particles (>300 nm) not resolved by Sephacryl SI000. Retrogradely transported exogenous NGF was found only in the dense sucrose gradient peak. We propose that the 85‐nm DBH‐containing particles correspond to "large dense‐cored vesicles," and that the 120‐nm particles are derived from the dense tubules visualized in adrenergic nerves by the chromaffin reaction.


Mean Field Games provide a powerful framework to analyze the dynamics
of a large number of controlled agents in interaction. Here we consider
such systems when the interactions between agents result in a negative
coordination and analyze the behavior of the associated system of
coupled PDEs using the now well established correspondence with the non
linear Schrödinger equation. We focus on the long optimization time
limit and on configurations such that the game we consider goes through
different regimes in which the relative importance of disorder,
interactions between agents and external potential vary, which makes
possible to get insights on the role of the forward-backward structure
of the Mean Field Game equations in relation with the way these various
regimes are connected.


The efficient recycling of the chromophore of visual pigments, 11-cis-retinal, through the retinoid visual cycle is an essential process for maintaining normal vision. RPE65 is the isomerohydrolase in retinal pigment epithelium and generates predominantly 11-cis-retinol (11cROL) and a minor amount of 13-cis-retinol (13cROL), from all-trans-retinyl ester (atRE). We recently identified and characterized novel homologues of RPE65, RPE65c, and 13-cis-isomerohydrolase (13cIMH), which are expressed in the zebrafish inner retina and brain, respectively. Although these two homologues have 97% identical amino acid sequences, they exhibit distinct product specificities. Under the same assay conditions, RPE65c generated predominantly 11cROL, similar to RPE65, while 13cIMH generated exclusively 13cROL from atRE substrate. To study the impacts of the key residues determining the isomerization product specificity of RPE65, we replaced candidate residues by site-directed mutagenesis in RPE65c and 13cIMH. Point mutations at residues Tyr58, Phe103, and Leu133 in RPE65c resulted in significantly altered isomerization product specificities. In particular, our results showed that residue 58 is a primary determinant of isomerization specificity, because the Y58N mutation in RPE65c and its reciprocal N58Y mutation in 13cIMH completely reversed the respective enzyme isomerization product specificities. These findings will contribute to the elucidation of molecular mechanisms underlying the isomerization reaction catalyzed by RPE65.


An innovative architecture for parallel interpretation of high-level machine languages has been described by Manwaring et al. (1994). Performance measurements of the architecture, obtained by running representative benchmark programs on a cycle level simulator, are presented. The results show that a speed up of about two is achieved compared to the traditional sequential machine language interpretation on a single processor.<<ETX>>


This special issue of Metrologia brings together contributions to the International Workshop on the Avogadro Constant and the Representation of the Silicon Mole, held in Turin, Italy, from 9 to 10 March 1994. It was organized by the Istituto di Metrologia "G Colonnetti" (IMGC) del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) and the Istituto di Fisica Generale "A Avogadro" (IFG) dell'Universita di Tonno. It was sponsored by the CNR, the University of Turin, the Regione Piemonte, and the Commission of the European Communities – DG XII. The workshop was a follow-up to previous international meetings held in Turin to commemorate Amedeo Avogadro, one in 1911 (the centenary of the publication of his hypothesis) and another in 1957 (the centenary of his death). On this occasion the workshop was motivated by the requirements of researchers engaged in the international project on the determination of the Avogadro constant by the x-ray crystal density method. Sixty-four participants representing eight countries attended the workshop. Doctoral students in metrology from Turin University and researchers working in adjacent fields were also present. The lectures were chosen so as to review the different aspects of this project, to illustrate progress in research, and to indicate future developments to scientists working in different fields of physics, metrology and technology. Complementary approaches to the NA determination based on electrical measurements were also reported and analysed. During the workshop, a number of specialist meetings allowed experts to discuss specific topics, to exchange information on results and techniques, and to improve the coordination of their activities. In their opening addresses, Prof. C Castagnoli (Director of the IFG) and Prof. L Crovini (Director of the IMGC) welcomed the participants and introduced the work in progress with a view to making a more precise determination of the Avogadro constant. They mentioned the expected influence of this work on the set of consistent values of the fundamental physical constants and on the definition of the mass unit. Dr T Quinn, Director of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, chaired the final discussion, drawing attention to the message of the workshop and its contribution to mass metrology. Grateful thanks are addressed to all lecturers and participants and to the guest editors and reviewers of the papers for their contribution to the success of the workshop.


Background and Purpose— There is limited information regarding the cerebrovascular safety of cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitors (coxibs) and noncoxib nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). We determined whether specific NSAIDs, including coxibs, are associated with risk of stroke. Methods— Retrospective cohort study among Tennessee Medicaid enrollees aged 50 to 84 years between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2004. Noninstitutionalized persons with continuous enrollment in Medicaid and no stroke or other serious medical illness in the year before cohort entry were included. The 7 most common NSAIDs were examined: celecoxib, rofecoxib, valdecoxib, ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, and indomethacin. Nonuse of NSAIDs was the reference group. Because new use is less susceptible to bias, we conducted a similar analysis confined to new users. The outcome was hospitalization for an incident cerebrovascular event: ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Results— The cohort included 336 906 persons, with 989 826 person-years of follow-up, and 4354 stroke hospitalizations. There were 4.51 strokes per 1000 person years in the nonuse group, 5.15 strokes per 1000 person years (adjusted HR 1.28, 95% CI 1.06, 1.53) with rofecoxib use, and 5.95 strokes per 1000 person years (adjusted HR 1.41, 95% CI 1.04, 1.91) with valdecoxib use. New use of rofecoxib and valdecoxib led to 6.06 (adjusted HR 1.46 95% CI 1.08, 1.98) and 6.19 (adjusted HR 1.39, 95% CI 0.74, 2.59) strokes per 1000 person years respectively. No other NSAID significantly increased the risk of incident stroke. Conclusions— Our results indicate an increased risk of stroke with current use of two highly selective coxibs, rofecoxib and valdecoxib, also shown to increase cardiovascular risk. These results also provide some reassurance about other specific NSAIDs regarding stroke risk.


Retinoblastoma (Rb) is a malignant tumor of the retina, occurring usually in children before age five. The heritable form acounting for about 40% of Rb making genetic analysis of RB1 gene is a important part of disease management. In previous study, we have successfully employed a method of direct sequencing for RB1 mutation screening from genomic DNA. However, given the large size of this gene and no reported mutation hotspots, the testing can be costly and time consuming method. To overcome this problem, we have developed a method to detect mutation from RB1 mRNA. Total RNA was isolated from blood leukocytes of a healthy individual and a Rb patient, cDNA was subsequently synthesized using reverse-transcriptase PCR. Whole cDNA of RB1 was amplified using six specific primer pairs and sequenced by Sanger method. The PCR products from healthy individual were showed as six specific bands on the agarose gel and could be used as the standard pattern of the normally spilced transcripts. Those of PCR products were sequenced successfuly and data can be aligned with the reference sequence of RB1 cDNA on the Genebanhk to identify nucleotide variants.  We also identified an upnormal splicing of RB1 gene in the Rb patient haboring a c. G1960>C mutation at the end of the exon 19 by amplification of  the RB1 cDNA fragments. Hence using RB1 mRNA test can reveal not only the silent/pathogenic mutations in the coding region of RB1, but also mutations that affect the normal spilcing of RB1 mRNA. This method reduces cost and time, can be used as the first step of RB1 analysis in Rb patients.