The atomic force microscope (AFM) is a powerful tool for imaging and manipulating matter at the nanoscale. An optimal control problem is proposed for the control of AFMs which includes the design of a sample‐profile estimate signal in addition to the set‐point regulation and resolution objectives. A new estimate signal for the sample profile is proposed and it is proved that the transfer function between the profile signal and the estimate signal is unity. The main contribution in comparison to existing designs is that there is no bandwidth limitation on estimation of sample profiles! Experimental results are presented to corroborate these results. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Background: Effective vaccine cold chain management and well main- tained equipment are the keys to safe vaccine storage and delivery. Methodology: A facility based explanatory sequential mixed method was used. The quantitative method used an institutional based cross sectional study design to assess the vaccine cold chain management in all (27) health facilities. Then, a phenomenological study design was employed among key informants and content analysis was performed using NVivo 11 plus. Results: Proper vaccine storage was observed in 17 (63%) health centers and only 13 (48.1%) health facilities had satisfactory cold chain infrastructure, while 17 (63%) had good cold chain practices. Placement of vaccines during immunization session, checking the signs of damage, storage of food or any drugs other than vaccines, checking, availability of deep freezer, cold box and functional thermometer has a significant association with vaccine storage. Key informants stated that cold chain infrastructure, temperature monitoring, stock management and immunization practice affect vaccine storage. Conclusion: The availability of cold chain equipment in health facilities was below average and the practice of cold chain management in health facilities was average. Improving the availability of the cold chain equipment and undertaking regular support and follow up are recommended.


Odontomas are the commonest hamartomas as well as odontogenic tumor. They are a malformation in which dental tissues are represented in more or less disorderly pattern. They prevent the eruption of the teeth and mostly asymptomatic in nature. Usually they are discovered on routine radiographic examination. The odontomas which erupt in oral cavity are called as erupted odontomas and are rare in nature. This paper focuses on another case of erupted complex odontoma which adds on to the previous mentioned erupted odontomas in the literature


To assure maximum economic benefits and the energy performance of solar water heating systems, the proper sizing of components and operating conditions need to be optimized. In recent years, a number of studies to design optimally solar water heating systems have been tried. This paper presents a design method for optimizing the various capacity-related and installation-related design variables based on life cycle cost using a genetic algorithm. The design variables considered in this study included the types and numbers of solar collector and auxiliary heaters; the types of storage tanks and heat exchangers; the solar collector slope; mass flow rates of the fluid on the hot and cold sides. The suggested method was applied for optimizing a solar water heating system for an elementary school in Seoul, South Korea. In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed optimization method was assessed by analyzing the obtained optimal solutions of six case studies, each of which was simulated with different solar fractions. It is observed that a trade-off between the equipment cost and the energy cost results in an optimal design that yields the lowest life cycle cost. Therefore, it could be helpful to apply the optimal solar water heating system by comparing the various design solutions obtained by using the optimization method instead of the engineer"s experience and intuition.


This paper describes the development of a three-dimensional digitizer, by means of the use of artificial vision and laser reference techniques, for the modeling of the boot tree by means of the application of CAD techniques.<<ETX>>


This paper proposed that the flow characteristic of electronic expansion valve should be adapted to the evaporator superheat gain to refrigerant flow rate under different working conditions. Two native methods of geometry modeling of electronic expansion valve head were introduced. By analysis of them, some shortcoming was detected and a universal modeling method of electronic expansion valve head was put forward. Through this model, the flow characteristic of EEV and the influence factors can be investigated more deeply.


Recent published data have indicated a decline in inappropriate antibiotic use for pediatric respiratory tract infections across the United States; however, the southeast experienced a decline but to a lesser degree compared with other regions. A review of antibiotic prescribing practices was undertaken in two large Memphis area general pediatrics practices to determine if these nationally collected data are truly representative of this region. Randomly selected charts in the seven offices of these two practices were reviewed for respiratory tract infection visits for every other year starting in 1992 and finishing in 2002. Approximately 2750 visits were reviewed. Antibiotics were considered inappropriate for viral respiratory tract syndromes including episodes of pharyngitis with a negative throat swab or no swab for group A streptococcus. Overall, the common cold/viral pharyngitis accounted for 40% of all visits, with 43% of these visits resulting in an antibiotic prescription. Acute otitis media accounted for 28% of visits and sinusitis for 11%, which remained constant over the study period. The proportion of patients receiving an inappropriate antibiotic for any condition fell from 34% in 1992 to 15% in 2002 (p < .0001), mirroring the decline across the US. The proportion of visits with a prescription fell but remained quite high over the study period (82% in 1992 falling to 67% in 2002, p < .0001)). The data demonstrate that prescribing for patients diagnosed with viral syndromes has declined. However, high overall prescribing rates persist, suggesting overdiagnosis of bacterial syndromes occurs. Ongoing interventions to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use should focus on teaching appropriate diagnosis of otitis media and sinusitis.


is the higher proportion of inhabitants linked to the chief himself by bonds of kinship or retainer service. Whether this type of system occurs among the western Bamileke is not known, but M. Hurault's work will suggest lines along which research should be conducted. The book contains no bibliography, and the author directs the reader to the massive bibliography appended to M. Tardits's Les BamiUki de I'Ouest Cameroun.


In this paper we look at real-time computing issues in large vocabulary speech recognition. We use the French broadcast audio transcription task from ETAPE 2011 for this evaluation. We compare word error rate (WER) versus overall computing time for hidden Markov models with Gaussian mixtures (GMM-HMM) and deep neural networks (DNN-HMM). We show that for a similar computing during recognition, the DNNHMM combination is superior to the GMM-HMM. For a realtime computing scenario, the error rate for the ETAPE dev set is 23.5% for DNN-HMM versus 27.9% for the GMM-HMM: a significant difference in accuracy for comparable computing. Rescoring lattices (generated by DNN-HMM acoustic model) with a quadgram language model (LM), and then with a neural net LM reduces the WER to 22.0% while still providing realtime computing.


An anion-stimulated, ouabain-insensitive Mg2+ATPase activity has been found in fresh homogenates prepared from capsules and epithelia of bovine lenses. Approximately equal activity was observed in the presence of HCO3- or of Cl-. The stimulation of each anion obeys saturation kinetics, with an optimum at approximately 20 mM Cl- or HCO3-. Whereas SCN- inhibits anion-activated ATPase in most other tissues, it failed to inhibit Cl- - or HCO3--stimulated ATPase activity in the bovine lens. On the contrary, SCN- proved a potent activator of the enzyme. However, in keeping with other tissues, OCN- and the diuretic drugs, furosemide and ethacrynic acid are inhibitory. ATP is the primary substrate for the enzyme, which also shows some activity on GTP, ITP, and even ADP. Little Na+/K+-dependent ATPase activity was observed in the fresh homogenate, but it increased in lyophilized preparations. In contrast, the lyophilized preparations showed no anion-dependent ATPase activity. It is postulated that active bicarbonate ion transport in the lens may be mediated by this anion-dependent ATPase.


Abstract In this paper the climatology and structure of, and possible reasons for, tropical cyclones of different sizes are examined. The climatology of tropical cyclone sizes confirms that tropical cyclones of the western North Pacific are characteristically twice as large as their Atlantic counterparts, and also reveals that the typical size of tropical cyclones varies seasonally and regionally and is only weakly correlated with cyclone intensity (maximum surface wind or minimum surface pressure). Rawinsonde composities of large and small tropical cyclones show that large cyclones have much more relative angular momentum (RAM) than small cyclones, while the differences in RAM between intense and weaker cyclones of equivalent size are less. Some of the implications of this observance are discussed, and a hypothesis that cyclones grow as a result of an increased convergence of angular momentum forced by their environment is presented.


Tested the hypothesis that explicit identification of message ambiguity as a reason for failure in referential communication could help young children to gain understanding about the need for unique reference in communicative acts, in both experimental and natural settings. In the experiment each of 47 children aged 5-2 to 6-5 selected and then described clothes for a doll so that the experimenter could choose matching items. Ambiguous instructions from the children were consistently responded to with one of three reactions by the experimenter: (1) she guessed an item, (2) she asked 'Which one?' waited and chose or (3) she made explicit why she could not make a unique choice on the basis of the child's message. Both before and after this manipulation children were assessed for their understanding that messages can be ambiguous and can cause communication failure. Children accorded the third treatment improved most both in understanding and in reducing the ambiguity of their messages.

A similar assessment of understanding was made of 36 6-year-old children of whom recordings of interaction in the home had been made over several previous years. Children whose mothers had made explicit their lack of understanding of their child's utterances were more advanced than those whose mothers had not.


Neural Architecture Search has achieved state-of-the-art performance in a variety of tasks, out-performing human-designed networks. However, many assumptions, that require human definition, related with the problems being solved or the models generated are still needed: final model architectures, number of layers to be sampled, forced operations, small search spaces, which ultimately contributes to having models with higher performances at the cost of inducing bias into the system. In this paper, we propose HMCNAS, which is composed of two novel components: i) a method that leverages information about human-designed models to autonomously generate a complex search space, and ii) an Evolutionary Algorithm with Bayesian Optimization that is capable of generating competitive CNNs from scratch, without relying on human-defined parameters or small search spaces. The experimental results show that the proposed approach results in competitive architectures obtained in a very short time. HMCNAS provides a step towards generalizing NAS, by providing a way to create competitive models, without requiring any human knowledge about the specific task.


Background. The sensation of a wide vagina is a common problem for women after childbirth. As its etiology is unknown, there is no uniform management strategy. We hypothesized that, rather than vaginal laxity, the cause was level 3 pelvic support deficiency. Methods. This retrospective study compared preoperative and postoperative genital hiatus length, perineal length, and total vaginal length in patients treated with perineoplasty for the sensation of a wide vagina. A telephone survey was used to determine postoperative patient and male partner satisfaction rates. Results. Mean age of patients was 48 (26–68) years; mean body mass index (BMI) was 25.3 (17.6–33.2); and mean parity was 2.5 (2–5). Preoperative and postoperative genital hiatus, perineal length, and total vaginal length were 4.62 and 3.18 (p < 0.01), 3.06 and 4.04 (p < 0.01), and 9.43 and 9.43 (p = 0.882), respectively. At the 6-month follow-up, the success rate of the perineoplasty procedure was 87.9%; according to a visual analog scale, partner satisfaction rate was 92.6%. Ten percent (n = 4) of patients said they experienced dyspareunia during sexual intercourse at the introitus of the vagina. Conclusion. With low dyspareunia rates, low complication rates, high patient satisfaction, and satisfactory anatomical success, perineoplasty can be considered successful for treatment of the sensation of a wide vagina.


Abstract The Elysian thrust fault has been identified as a blind thrust fault (Davis et al., 1989; Hauksson and Jones, 1989) representing a potentially serious seismic hazard to the metropolitan Los Angeles and its neighboring areas. We have simulated time histories, peak ground accelerations and their uncertainties using a semi-empirical method for a M W = 7.0 earthquake on the Elysian thrust fault using a flat-layered crustal structure. The accelerograms from the 4 October 1987 Whittier-Narrows aftershock (10h:50m; M L = 5.3) are used to represent the source functions of each subfault on the fault surface. To account for the velocity variation in the surface sediments, we compared simulated ground motions using two separate shearwave velocities, 0.6 km/sec and 0.9 km/sec, respectively, in the top layer of the crustal model. The use of such a simple crustal model is validated by modeling the accelerograms recorded during the 1 October 1987 Whittier-Narrows mainshock ( M L = 6.0). The duration and the relative frequency content observed on these accelerograms are successfully modeled. At some stations, the simulated peak accelerations agree well with the observed values; however, at some sites, the simulated and observed values differ by a factor of 2 to 3. The variation is attributed to a laterally varying crustal structure that is significant for small earthquakes. Additional site specific study is needed for an improved prediction of the observed peak accelerations. For large magnitude earthquakes, the near-source peak ground acceleration appears to be controlled by the source-receiver geometry relative to the fault, as well as the location of asperities on the fault surface. This is validated by simulating the peak acceleration data of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake recorded within 30 km of the source. For our simulations on the Elysian thrust fault, an additional component is added to the uncertainty by analyzing several asperity models. Finally, an analytical representation is given to the simulated average peak horizontal ground accelerations, Y ( R ), which is expressed by ln ( Y ( R ) ) = ( 5.38 ± 0.085 ) + ( − 2.09 ± 0.0268 ) ln ( R + 8.0 ) ± 0.343 in the range of 7.5 ≤ R ≤ 35 km ( R is the closest distance to the seismogenic rupture zone). This functional form predicts a rapid fall-off rate for the simulated ground motions compared with the fall-off rate predicted by the other published empirical attenuation relations. We use the finite-difference method to investigate the effects of irregular structure on ground motions resulting from point sources on the Elysian Park fault. The response computed at several depths beneath the basin suggests that the response is dominated by the initial direct arrivals for sources located interior to the basin. When the receivers are located at one end of the basin, and the seismic sources are located at the opposite edge, the characteristic features on the seismograms are the long durations caused by the trapped energy within the basin. The level of trapped energy decreases as the depth of the source increases. Thus, the fault model becomes important in determining the level of peak ground motions and shaking duration.


The aim of this article is to provide guidance to perioperative practitioners on some of the legal and professional issues associated with their practice. It is anticipated that students and practitioners new to the perioperative environment will find this article can assist them in relating the issues discussed to their own practice. More experienced practitioners can refresh their knowledge of these issues.


We study the evolution of cylindrical tubes in a hot QGP, described by the equation of state of the MIT bag model. These tubes are treated as perturbations in the energy density of the system which is formed in heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC. We start from the equations of relativistic viscous hydrodynamics in three spatial cylindrical dimensions and perform an expansion of these equations in a small parameter, conserving the nonlinearity of the viscous hydrodynamical formalism. We show that these perturbations are described by a three-dimensional cylindrical nonlinear wave equation which has an analytical solution. Under certain assumptions, this equation becomes the Burgers equation. We estimate the typical expansion time of the tubes.


Title Evaluation of the Compounds Responsible for Radical-scavenging Activity of Some Fish Species : Abstract of the Dissertation and the Summary of the Examination Results Author(s) Anuradha, Bhadra; 的場, 輝佳; 小城, 勝相; 池原, 健二; 高村, 仁知 Citation 博士学位論文 内容の要旨および審査の結果の要旨, vol.21, pp.56-59 Issue Date 2004-08 Description 博士(学術),博課第231号,平成16年3月24日授与 URL http://hdl.handle.net/10935/1212 Textversion publisher Nara Women's University Digital Information Repository


The dependence of the second-order rate constants for replacement of H2O in aquahydroxocobinamide by azide at 25.0 °C, ionic strength l= 1.0 mol dm–3(KCl) in the range pH 9–12 showed that dihydroxocobinamide is inert to substitution. The kinetics of substitution of bound H2O in aquahydroxocobinamide by L = cyanide, azide, pyridine, N-methylimidazole or 3-aminopropan-1-ol was investigated as a function of ligand concentration and temperature by stopped-flow spectrophotometry at pH 12.0 and a constant l of 2.0 mol dm–3(except for 3-aminopropan-1-ol where l= 1.0 mol dm–3 because of the limited solubility of the ligand). The observed pseudo-first-order rate constants (corrected, where appropriate, for protonation of the N-donor atom of L, and the presence of inert dihydroxocobinamide) showed the onset of saturation with ligand concentration for all ligands, with the exception of 3-aminopropan-1-ol. The saturation effect proves that the reaction proceeds through a dissociative activation pathway. Furthermore, the observation that the saturation rate constant, ksat(and its activation parameters ΔH‡ and ΔS‡), depends on the identity of L indicates that incoming L participates in the transition state. This allows the mechanism of the reaction to be identified as a dissociative interchange.


This paper explores some of the characteristics of traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural practices that contribute to effective family functioning, and how these practices can have positive effects on children and communities. The approach is to gather the views of Aboriginal families and compare these perspectives with supporting evidence drawn from the literature. The findings suggest that, provided the necessary social conditions are in place, culture can be a protective force for children, families and communities. Key Messages Aboriginal kinship relations reflect a complex and dynamic system that is not captured by existing non- Indigenous definitions of family. Emerging evidence supports some of the strengths of traditional Aboriginal culture in family functioning and raising children, yet conventional academic wisdom can be incompatible with traditional Aboriginal knowledge systems. The strengths of Aboriginal cultural traditions, as they apply to family life and raising children, revolve around four interrelated themes, including: –    Theme 1: A collective community focus on child rearing helps children—The values of interdependence, group cohesion and community loyalty are key features of Aboriginal family and community life, where raising children is considered to be a shared responsibility of all community members. –    Theme 2: Children need the freedom to explore and experience the world—Aboriginal communities offer their children every opportunity to explore the world around them, to help them develop the necessary skills to successfully negotiate their pathways to adulthood. –    Theme 3: Elderly family members are important to family functioning—The elderly are highly respected for their contributions to family life in Aboriginal communities, particularly in helping children to understand the practical aspects of life and society. –    Theme 4: Spirituality helps families cope with challenges—Families and communities who engage in spiritual practices benefit from a greater sense of identity, and individuals are more likely to connect with, support and help protect one another.


Pastoralism faces major challenges that compromise its practice and drive actors into a vicious circle of vulnerability, marginality and poverty. Women in pastoralist communities in northern Benin have increasingly less access to cow's milk, their main socio-economic resource. Herd loss, large-scale migration and difficult livestock mobility make Fulani households more precarious and further weaken the socio-economic conditions of women. This ethnographic study analysed how the advent of professional associations in this context helped Fulani women to influence gender power relations and (re)negotiate better access to resources. The study approach moved away from male-centred ideology, with the premise that a more processual analysis of the complexity of social relationships between men and women could enable better understanding of ideas and actions of Fulani women in various spheres of society, as they are embedded in greater diversity of socio-cultural and power relationships. Fieldwork was carried out in three districts in northern Benin (Gogounou, Banikoara and Nikki) where Professional Groups of Female Herders of Ruminants (GPFERs) were set up and developed over the last two decades. Semi-structured and open-ended interviews as well as focus group discussions were conducted with Fulani women and men of various ages, educational level and membership status. Fulani women and their groupings were followed in daily activities over one year, as part of participant observation. Results reveal that: (i) GPFERs are not homogeneous entities that embrace and reflect the development brokerage-based aspirations of the male Fulani leaders who put them in place. Rather, they are structures modified and renegotiated by women to serve various purposes of emancipation and empowerment vis-à-vis men; (ii) Despite the influence of men in the establishment and functioning of the groups, Fulani women take advantage of support and capacity building by external development actors to promote socio-economic activities (crop farming, agroprocessing, livestock fattening, petty trade), diversify their livelihoods and improve their incomes; (iii) GPFERs enable Fulani women to strengthen their contribution to household social needs (food, health and education) and gain political power at local and regional level. These findings are useful for decision-making on food security, women's empowerment and sustainable development in pastoral areas.


The article entitled Edgar G. Ulmer — Roger Corman — Stuart Gordon. Movie adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat" is a comparative analysis of three adaptations of a gothic short story. The attempt at finding inspirations from romantic poetics in the works of film directors, created in different decades and answering the question of how is it possible to transfer assumptions of romantic literature into movie language, was made in this text. In the movie from 1934, Edgar G. Ulmer connects gothic poetics with modernism aesthetics. He also adds historical context, referring to events in the First World War. On the other hand, taking classic literature became an opportunity for Roger Corman to play with convention. He expresses it in the adaption from 1962, in which terror gives space to humour. Stuart Gordon in turn, creates a post-modern variation based on a theme of The Black Cat, making Poe himself the main character of the movie from 2005. The important criterion of interpretation includes the motives of the Byronic hero, cat, madness and crime. Analysis of different ways to re-interpret the gothic short story leads to conclusions about filmmakers' attitude to literary prototype. Also, the cultural context of individual adaptations was pointed out.


Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a public health concern and a burden on the older adult population. Management among older adults can be arduous because of potential complications, especially in various long-term care settings. This manuscript outlines recent updates in geriatric care concerning DM and will discuss guidelines for management of DM in older adults, specifically in long-term care. It is crucial to analyze comorbidities and develop individualized treatment goals to improve overall quality of care.


Abstract The essay – an elaborated version of my academic farewell speech [Abschiedsvorlesung] – discusses three theses: 1. Histories and history as well as history of philosophy and philosophy of history can only be staged as narratives. "True" stories enact the past and deliver schemes for anticipating the future; insofar history and future constitute the semantics of the present. 2. "Systematic" philosophy analyses the temporal narratives which store the historical experiences and eliminates their temporality in a process of transforming narratives into arguments. The most important step in this transformation consists in isolating the key notions of the narratives and in arranging these key notions in a "timeless" systematic order. 3. History of philosophy and philosophy of history restage, however, the temporal narrative, which systematic philosophy wants to eliminate from philosophy. This operation produces an unsolvable paradox where the claim of timeless truth and that of unescapable temporality are both valid. It throws up questions such as: how can it be possible for philosophical truths to lose their credit? Do timeless truths exist, and if so what do they mean? Do these paradoxes lead to schadenfreude on the part of the historian of philosophy, who knew it all along, or should one see these unsolvable complexities as a chance to enjoy the richness of possibilities which history unfolds? The essay chooses the second alternative.


Multi-packet reception (MPR) technology provides a means of boosting wireless network capacity without requiring additional spectrum. It has received widespread attention over the past two decades from both industry and academic researchers. Despite the huge promise and considerable attention, provable good algorithms for maximizing network capacity in MPR-capable wireless networks are missing in the state of the art. One major technical obstacle is due to the complicated non-binary nature of the link independence; something which appears intractable with existing graph-theoretic methods. In this paper, we present practical polynomial-time approximation algorithms for variants of capacity optimization problems in MPR-capable wireless networks which achieve constant approximation bounds for the first time ever. In addition, polynomial-time approximation schemes are developed for those variants in wireless networks with constant-bounded MPR capabilities.


Twenty-three Swedish Red and White, Swedish Friesian and crossbred repeat-breeder heifers and 15 day 7 embryos produced by 11 of these heifers were subjected to cytogenetic analysis. Three heifers were found to have abnormal karyotypes; two were heterozygous for the 1/29 translocation, and one was an X-trisomy. Chromosomal anomalies which might account for embryonic death and subsequent repeat-breeding could not be detected in the embryos, however, seven out of the 15 could not be karyotyped due to the lack of cells in metaphase. The possibility of chromosomal anomalies in these embryos could not be ruled out. Three embryos produced by the heifers carrying the translocation were among those which lacked cells in mitosis. Two unfertilized ova were recovered from the X-trisomy heifer suggesting that fertilization failure rather than embryonic death was the cause of repeat-breeding. In the light of this study and similar studies in other species, it is suggested that investigations at earlier stages of development are needed.


Phase diagrams predicted by the Redlich–Kwong equation of state (EOS) and classical mixing rules are discussed at the transitional states between different types of phase behavior. Mixtures containing molecules of different sizes have been considered in the analysis. Zero- and infinite-pressure reference states for the estimation of the Gibbs energy of mixing are presented. These reference states constitute hypothetical states that have been found valuable for analyzing the key features of critical lines ending at these limiting conditions. An expression for predicting the possibility of critical immiscibility at infinite pressure was developed. This expression can be useful for determination of the existence of liquid–liquid critical lines in binary systems and may be applied to every cubic EOS of van der Waals type when classical mixing rules are used. The zero-pressure approach was used for analyzing the existence of the critical lines that intersect the zero-pressure line in a P–T projection. Special attention has been given to the possibility of predicting closed loops of liquid–liquid immiscibility. Closed loops were detected at the transition from Type V to Type III, but they do not correspond to the traditional topology observed in systems of Type VI and VII. The relation of the calculated diagrams to the systems with real pure component critical properties showing closed loops of liquid–liquid immiscibility is also discussed.


The present work tries to investigate and exploit the maximum energy delivered by a solar photovoltaic, to power a double star induction motor (DSIM) through two voltages inverters of five levels NPC structure. The proposed cascade consists of two photovoltaic's sources-two inverters voltages of five-level NPC structure-DSIM. This study shows the volatility of the input voltages of the two inverters and then the instability of supply voltages of the machine, due to the nature of the source issued by the photovoltaic generators. The results also show significant levels of ripple magnitudes with a large response time. In order to stabilize the input voltages of the multilevel inverters, a bridge clamping has been proposed. Using this bridge, the voltages become stable, thus improving the performance of the DSIM. These results are very promising for high power and high voltage in the field of electric traction.


ABSTRACT Detection of methicillin (meticillin)-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization was assessed using combined nose and groin swabs in two commercial PCR assays (the Xpert MRSA assay and the BD GeneOhm MRSA assay). Compared to routine culture, both had similar sensitivities (87.0% versus 84.8%, respectively) and specificities (93.8% versus 92.7%, respectively). Combined PCR assays provide a rapid and more-complete assessment of colonization at a cost similar to that of single-site analysis.


Analogous to the thiol-ene and phosphane-ene polymerizations, radical-mediated iodo-ene reactions are described here that proceed via alternating propagation and chain transfer (i.e., APT) reactions between perfluoroiodide- and vinyl-bearing monomers. The thermal polymerization of a diiodo/tetraene formulation yielded a cross-linked, homogeneous polymer that was approximately seven times as radiopaque as aluminum owing to its high iodine content. Visible-light photopolymerizations of model iodo-ene monomers were monitored using mid-IR spectroscopy, revealing that the perfluoroiodide functional group consumption exceeded that of the vinyl, a discrepancy that decreased with increasing irradiation intensities and hence polymerization rates. The functional group conversions in resin formulations with a large initial perfluoroiodide excess exacerbated secondary side reactions that led to off-stoichiometric functional group consumption; nevertheless, photopolymerization of resin formulations with excess vinyl stoichiometry proceeded according to the ideal APT mechanism.


Topological conditions, which are both sufficient and necessary for the testability of linear passive dynamic circuits, are proposed in this paper. Prior to actual diagnosis via multifrequency measurements, according to the topology of the faulty circuit/system, one can determine whether or not all the element parameters are uniquely identified. Moreover, topological formula of the Jacobian matrix used in solving nonlinear equations is given.<<ETX>>


Small‐angle neutron scattering study of the solution of fullerene C60 in carbon disulfide is presented. The dependence of cluster state in the solution on the preparation procedure is reported. The effect of larger value of the measured radius of gyration of a particle in solution is discussed. It is shown that it cannot be described by the existence of C60 solvates, or excluded volume effect. We attribute the effect of higher Rg to the existence of small clusters in solution and estimate their amount.


Abstract Data presented indicate that severe thunderstorm areas may become anchored to intense, boundary- layer convergence zones. In such cases. the mean cloud-layer wind vector has little relation to the movement of regions of large hail, wall clouds and tornadoes. Suggestions for improving severe thunderstorm warnings are offered based on this possibility.


Semantic Interoperability, the holy grail for integrated eHealth services, seems an illusive goal without consistent use of terminology. Some argue that if a single terminology system, such as SNOMED Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) is endorsed for large-scale eHealth deployment throughout the Europe Union (EU), citizens would reap significant benefits in quality of care and patient safety. What is not evident is the assumptions, costs, benefits, and time frame associated with such a decision. This workshop starts with an introduction to the way the International Health Terminologies Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO) offering SNOMED-CT works. Then, a discussion on the state of play with terminology management within and across European Member States, and around the world, aims to engage the audience in fruitful discussion and debate on best practices and prospects. The second part of the workshop, starting with use cases and tools for semantic interoperability, reflects on key elements of a socioeconomic framework for the analysis of costs and benefits associated with the adoption of SNOMED CT as the unique terminology system throughout Europe.


Tree pruning is a silvicultural operation that aims to improve wood quality, but care must be taken regarding the timing and height of the lift to ensure that tree growth is not negatively affected. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of different pruning heights on height and diameter growth of Eucalyptus grandis × Eucalyptus urophylla. The experiment was done in a one year old stand which was planted at 9 × 3 m spacing, managed under a silvopastoral regime, and located in Joao Pinheiro, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Pruning treatments removed branches carrying the lower green crown as follows: 0% (unpruned), 20, 40, and 60% of total tree height. Diameter at breast height (DBH at 1.3 m) and total height of all trees in the sample plots were measured prior to pruning and one year after pruning. Compared to the unpruned control, pruning significantly reduced mean DBH and total height in the 40 and 60% treatments but not in the 20% treatment. Thus, it was concluded that when pruning operation is done before canopy closure not more than 20% of lower green crow should be removed to avoid tree growth reduction.

 Key words: Silvopastoral regime, silvicultural intervention, forest management.


Objectives: To find out the frequencies of different diseases causing pancytopenia based on bone marrow aspirate and biopsy.Material and Methods: Total of 126 cases were studied by examining their medical records, basic hematological investigations like Complete Blood Count (CBC), reticulocyte count, peripheral smears, bone marrow aspirates and biopsy findings. Patients were included irrespective of age groups and gender while patients on cytotoxic drugs or radiotherapy were excluded.Results: Among the 126 cases studied, age of the patients ranged from six months to 90 years with male to female ratio of 2.7:1. The maximum number 88 (70%) cases occurred below the age of 40 years, with majority of cases occurringin 2nd and 3rd decades. The most common presenting symptoms were pallor in 32 cases (25.4%) and fever in 20 cases (16%) followed by bleeding manifestations. Non-malignant etiology was seen in 85 (67.5%) patients and malignant causes were seen in 41 (32.5%) cases. Hypoplastic bone marrow was the most common cause seen in 33 (23.9%) patients, followed by megaloblastic anemia in 26 (20.63%) patients and acute leukemia in 20 (15.87%)of cases. Mean hemoglobin was 6.86 ±1.98. Mean Total leucocyte count was 2.30 ±0.948, whereas the mean platelet count was 39.40 ±31.37.Conclusion: The present study concludes hypoplastic bone marrow as the commonest cause of pancytopenia followed by megaloblastic anemia.


Japanese commentators have written much in elucidation of this work, and the commentary here owes a lot to them, as Dr. Sargent acknowledges. He has, however, added considerable explanations of his own to make things easier for the non-Japanese reader. His translation has as its object' to bring out the meaning clearly ' and avoid stylistic experiments, and not only has this object been achieved but also the English version has a slightly caustic quality which fits in well with the subject matter. We should therefore be very grateful for the appearance of this book on at least two counts. First, the information it contains will make it indispensable not only for the study of the Eitai-gura but also for the literary and social history of the period—information made readily available by the full index. Secondly it will introduce to those unable to read the original the colourful life of the merchants in the late seventeenth century.


The zigzag grating is one of the newly proposed optical dispersive elements which has an excellent diffraction characteristics and has important applications in the spectrum measurement and analysis. The simulation results of the diffraction pattern of the zigzag grating for X ray are presented using a new numerical method based on the convolution theorem, and comparison of its diffraction pattern with those of the traditional grating and sinusoidal grating are studied. It is seen from the results that all higher order diffractions of the zigzag grating are suppressed below the level of four orders of magnitude compared with the first order diffraction, which is superior to the traditional grating, being consistent with the theoretical expectations. Moreover, the impact caused by the absorber is analyzed, which eventually confirms that the zigzag grating has perfect practical application feasibility. The conclusions provide a potential alternative for the physical design of the zigzag gating, which is expected to replace the traditional transmission grating in applications to the soft X-ray spectrum measurement.


Significant advances in our understanding of the pathogenesis and microbiology of intraabdominal sepsis have been made over the past 15 years. There has also been progress in various aspects of diagnosis and treatment of these infections. Computed tomography and ultrasonography have simplified the diagnosis of an intraabdominal abscess, and percutaneous drainage of abscesses has become an acceptable alternative to surgery. Novel surgical approaches have been tried, but their true role is not yet defined. A broader selection of less-toxic antimicrobial agents is now available as treatment for intraabdominal infection. The role of superinfecting pathogens is more clearly defined. Patients who would have died of this infection in a previous era now survive because of an array of supportive therapies.


Ozothamnus spp. are globally important plants in the cut foliage industry. Highly regarded for its grey foliage, Ozothamnus hookeri 'Sussex Silver' is grown commercially in Ireland for domestic and European markets. Much is known about Ozothamnus spp. yield potential in Australian climates. However more research is required to fully understand the potential of this cut foliage crop when grown in Ireland's temperate climate. This study investigates the effects of pruning timings and regimes on the stem and spray yield of Ozothamnus hookeri 'Sussex Silver' on young and mature plantations grown in the South East of Ireland. The effect of tip-pruning on the type of stems produced, and the impact of rejuvenation pruning on a mature O.hookeri 'Sussex Silver' plantation were also examined. Ozothamnus hookeri 'Sussex Silver' plants were pruned in March or June using three pruning regimes: 'hard pruning' to 200 mm, 'light pruning' to 500 mm, or tip-pruning which involved removal of the top 5cm of each stem. Yields of saleable stems and sprays were calculated for each plant and results indicated that higher yields of saleable single stems and sprays are obtained when O. hookeri 'Sussex Silver' was pruned in March rather than in June, regardless of whether it was pruned to 200 mm or 500 mm. Upon comparing younger and mature O. hookeri 'Sussex Silver' plantations, it was found that the younger plantation produced almost twice as many saleable stems as the mature plantation showing that the age of O. hookeri 'Sussex Silver' plants may impact yield. Interestingly, tip pruning did not consistently produce more sprays than single stems and rejuvenation pruning did not produce any harvestable stems in the subsequent year. These results suggest that O. hookeri 'Sussex Silver' is a commercially viable product, which could be grown successfully in Ireland; however, growers need to be aware that a managed pruning regime on younger plantations is required to obtain maximum yield from this cut foliage plant.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate quantitative ultrasonography for objective monitoring of the healing process and prognostication of repair quality in equine superficial digital flexor (SDF) tendons.

ANIMALS
6 horses with standardized surgical lesions in SDF tendons of both forelimbs.

PROCEDURES
Healing was monitored for 20 weeks after surgery by use of computerized ultrasonography. Pixels were categorized as C (intact fasciculi), B (incomplete fasciculi), E (accumulations of cells and fibrils), or N (homogenous fluid or cells). Four scars with the best quality of repair (repair group) and 4 scars with the lowest quality (inferior repair group) were identified histologically. Ratios for C, B, E, and N in both groups were compared.

RESULTS
During 4 weeks after surgery, lesions increased 2- to 4-fold in length and 10-fold in volume. Until week 3 or 4, structure-related C and B ratios decreased sharply, whereas E and N ratios increased. After week 4, C and B ratios increased with gradually decreasing E and N ratios. At week 12, C and B ratios were equivalent. After week 12, C ratio increased slowly, but B ratio more rapidly. At week 20, C ratio remained constant, B ratio was substantially increased, and E and N ratios decreased. Values for the inferior repair group were most aberrant from normal. Ratios for C differed significantly between repair and inferior repair groups at weeks 16 and 18 and for B beginning at 14 weeks.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Computerized ultrasonography provided an excellent tool for objective monitoring of healing tendons in horses and reliable prognostication of repair quality.


Sir: We have reported a child with arginase deficiency who had a disturbance of central monoamine metabolism which resembled that seen in patients with phenylalanine hydroxylase (PH) deficiency.1 Cutler2 suggests that in both disorders the amine changes might be secondary to a decreased activity of dihydropteridine reductase (DHPR). Inherited deficiency of this enzyme, which recycles tetrahydrobiopterin, the cofactor for the aromatic amino acid hydroxylases, leads to defective amine synthesis3 and in addition' to an increase in the concentrations of total biopterins in urine,4 CSF,5 and blood,6 due mainly to accumulation of dihydrobiopterin. If Cutler's proposal was correct one might expect a similar increase in biopterins to occur in patients with arginase or phenylalanine hydroxylase deficiencies when the plasma arginine or phenylalanine concentrations were raised. Patients with PH deficiency do show a rise in biopterins which is proportional to the rise in phenylalanine. We have demonstrated, however, that the rise in the CSF is due to tetrahydrobiopterin in PH deficiency and dihydrobiopterin in DHPR deficiency,7 indicating that the mechanism for the rise is likely to be different in the two disorders. At the time of investigation of the patient with arginase deficiency, methods were not available for measurement of the individual biopterin species in CSF. CSF total biopterins were, however, measured using Crithidia assay8 (3-8 and 2-1 ng/ml, control mean 3-7 ng/ml s.d. + 0-8) and using HPLC following manganese dioxide oxidation9 (6-0 and 5 4 ng/ml, control mean 4 78 s.d. + 1 75). These normal values contrast with the increase in biopterins in CSF found using the Crithidia assay in four patients with PH deficiency (range 54-16 ng/ml) and one patient with DHPR deficiency (range 9-11 ng/ml), and similarly using the HPLC assay in one patient with PH deficiency (19 1 ng/ml) and two patients with DHPR deficiency (range 9 1-18 9 ng/ml). Whole blood total biopterins (4-8-6-0 ng/ml) and DHPR activity (135-141 umol/min/l) were also normal in the patient with arginase deficiency and did not alter when the hyperargininaemia was corrected. In PH deficiency, whole blood DHPR activity is also unaffected.10 Indeed whole blood DHPR activity is used to distinguish between deficiency of this enzyme and PH. ' 0 These results do not support the idea that arginine and phenylalanine inhibit DHPR activity in subjects with arginase or PH deficiency.


[Purpose] This study aimed to verify the relationship between foot range of motion and the amount of physical activity in diabetic patients. [Participants and Methods] There were twenty-eight male patients with diabetes (age ranged from 50 to 69 years old) and 10 healthy, non-diabetic male individuals within the same age range in the diabetes group and control group, respectively. The passive ranges of motion of the following joints were measured in the right foot of each participant: the ankle joint, the first metatarsophalangeal joint, and the subtalar joint. The amount of daily physical activity was estimated using the short Japanese version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. [Results] The mean range of motion of the ankle joints in the diabetic and control groups was 55.4 ± 8.4° and 69.1 ± 9.2°, respectively, whereas the mean range of motion of the first metatarsophalangeal joints in the diabetic and control groups was 82.9 ± 9.6° and 96.3 ± 8.9°, respectively. The diabetic group showed a significantly higher restriction in joint range of motion than did the control group. The amount of physical activity was a contributing factor toward the ankle range of motion according to multiple regression analysis. [Conclusion] We determined that the range of motion in the ankle joints of diabetic patients was affected by their level of physical activity.


The administration of progesterone increases the degree of liver cirrhosis in rats treated with CCl4 and ethanol. Pseudolobulation with large amount of interstitial fibrosis are obtained after only 6 weeks of treatment. The ability of progesterone to suppress collagenase activity is supposed to be responsible of the strong increase of cirrhosis.


We discuss the nature of the velocity dispersion versus size relation for molecular clouds. In particular, we add to previous observational results showing that the velocity dispersions in molecular clouds and cores are not purely functions of the spatial scale but involve surface gas densities as well. We emphasize that hydrodynamic turbulence is required to produce the first condensations in the progenitor medium. However, as the cloud is forming, it also becomes bound, and gravitational accelerations dominate the motions. Energy conservation in this case implies |Eg |∼ Ek, in agreement with observational data, and providing an interpretation for two recent observational results: the scatter in the δv–R plane, and the dependence of the velocity dispersion on the surface density δv 2 /R ∝ � . We argue that the observational data are consistent with molecular clouds in a state of hierarchical and chaotic gravitational collapse, i.e. developing local centres of collapse throughout the whole cloud while the cloud itself is collapsing, and making equilibrium unnecessary at all stages prior to the formation of actual stars. Finally, we discuss how this mechanism need not be in conflict with the observed star formation rate.


As religion has retreated from its position and role of being the glue that holds society together, something must take its place. Utilising a focused and detailed study of Straight Edge punk (a subset of punk in which adherents abstain from drugs, alcohol and casual sex) Punk Rock is My Religion argues that traditional modes of religious behaviours and affiliations are being rejected in favour of key ideals located within a variety of spaces and experiences, including popular culture. Engaging with questions of identity construction through concepts such as authenticity, community, symbolism and music, this book furthers the debate on what we mean by the concepts of 'religion' and 'secular'. Provocatively exploring the notion of salvation, redemption, forgiveness and faith through a Straight Edge lens, it suggests that while the study of religion as an abstraction is doomed to a simplistic repetition of dominant paradigms, being willing to examine religion as a lived experience reveals the utility of a broader and more nuanced approach.


The gene Yr5 in wheat has generally been known to confer resistance to Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici races worldwide. However, a few reports indicated that some isolates of the stripe rust pathogen were virulent on the wheat genotypes with Yr5 in India, Australia, and China (Nagarajan 1986; Wellings and McIntosh 1990; Zhang et al. 2020). In April 2020, a stripe rust infection was observed on Triticum spelta 'Album' (TSA), the Yr5 donor, provided by Turkey Seed Gene Bank in a wheat breeding field at the experimental station of Akdeniz University in the Antalya province of Turkey. The sample was tested on the seedlings of the Yr single-gene lines in the Avocet S (AvS) background including Yr5 near-isogenic line (AvSYr5NIL), TSA, and susceptible bread wheat variety 'Morocco' according to the procedure reported by Wan et al. (2014), and found to be highly virulent on Morocco with infection type (IT) 9 and virulent on AvSYr5NIL and TSA with IT 7. To confirm this novel finding, single-pustule isolates derived from this sample were obtained from TSA and re-tested on the differentials and TSA. The Yr5-virulent isolate yielded similar infection types on these plants further verifying previous results. The single-pustule isolates were determined to be avirulent (Avr) (IT 0 to 6) on AvSYr1NIL, AvSYr8NIL, AvSYr9NIL, AvSYr10NIL, AvSYr32NIL, and AvSYr43NIL and virulent (Vr) (IT 7 to 9) on AvSYr5NIL, AvSYr6NIL, AvSYr7NIL, AvSYr17NIL, AvSYr24NIL, AvSYr27NIL, AvSYr44NIL, AvSYrSpNIL, and TSA. The isolates were identified as a new race and temporarily named TRVR20-5 based on its Avr/Vr pattern. Furthermore, to confirm the presence of Yr5, the genomic DNA of fresh leaves of AvSYr5NIL and TSA used in the virulence testing were isolated using NucleoSpin Plant II (Macherey-Nagel, Germany) according to the manufacturer's procedure. The genomic DNA samples were amplified with the primers STS-7 (5'-GTACAATTCACCTAGAGT-3') and STS-8 (5'-GCAAGTTTTCTCCCTATT-3') (Chen et al. 2003) using a thermal cycler (T-100, BioRad, USA), and the resulting PCR products were digested with DpnII and visualized on an agarose gel. AvSYr5NIL and TSA had the fragment linked to the resistance allele (308 bp) whereas AvS and Morocco had the fragment linked to the susceptible allele (181 bp). Thus, both wheat genotypes were confirmed to carry Yr5, and the new Pst race virulent to Yr5 was confirmed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a Pst race virulent to Yr5 in Turkey, where stripe rust epidemics have occured in 2 out of every 5 years with 1-5% crop losses in over 25% of the wheat growing areas (Chen 2020). In a nutshell, monitoring the Pst races virulent to Yr5 with a potential to cause devastating epidemics worldwide is crucial due to the fact that international wheat breeding programs have been using Yr5 to develop wheat cultivars with resistance to stripe rust.


This paper assesses the level of achievement of horizontal and vertical coordination needed to facilitate the governance of the Italian coast at national and regional scales. A questionnaire survey envisions a sectoral management of the coast and the lack of a uniform national strategy, even though a more integrated picture is found at regional scale. However, horizontal and vertical coordination is quite inhomogeneous between Regions, and different are the mechanisms put in place to accomplish it. Overall, it emerges a greater difficulty in coordinating policies and sectors at horizontal scale (i.e. same level of government) rather than at vertical level (different scales of government). To overcome the limited horizontal cooperation, some Regions have developed institutions based on an inter-sectoral coordination, committee or an advisory body. Others opted for an internal proactive collaboration that may resolve conflicting interests between General Directorates, without the mediation of any third party (advisory board). From the questionnaire survey emerges that several Regions have promoted pilot site projects to address specific sectoral issues, but only Emilia-Romagna has developed an integrated plan for the coastline to achieve integration across sectors. In addition, Emilia-Romagna and Toscana Regions have been promoting a bottom-up participatory vision for the coastal governance through forums or other discursive platforms to facilitate local participation. These Regions are also extending coastal management into the maritime spatial planning, a strategy recognised by the European Commission as the best compelling way to facilitate sectoral and institutional coordination and fully implement ICZM in Europe.


The present study investigates the Millon Behavior Health Inventory basic coping styles, mental absorption (Tellegen Absorption Scale), sensation seeking (Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking, AISS) and affect inhibition (Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, MC-SDS), in a group of abstainers from alcohol (n = 55) compared to an age-equivalent group of moderate drinkers (n = 176). The abstainers had significantly higher scores on one of the repressive coping styles (respectful) and significantly lower scores on sociability. There were no differences on the other basic coping styles. The abstainer group had lower AISS scores and higher MC-SDS scores. There were no significant differences between abstainers and drinkers in mental absorption. The results suggest that abstainers from alcohol may have adopted an affect-inhibiting, passive-ambivalent coping style associated with denial of hostility, rigid impulse control and social conformity.


Pure metals solidify with a solidification front that is very well defined and a clearly delineated solid-liquid interface. Ductile cast iron solidification is characterised by a very thin solidified skin and appearance of different phases. The outer skin is formed being very thin in ductile iron; the expansion occurs due to graphite nucleation into the casting forces to the mould walls. With proper care taken while designing and during melt processing stage, quality ductile iron castings can be produced with minimal risering. With recent developments in sensing and storing instruments, it is now possible to see and measure structural transformations within the solidification in ductile iron castings very precisely. The shape of a cooling curve measured by a thermocouple mounted on a thermal analysis sample cup reflects the solidification process of the melted cast alloy for the given solidification conditions. By analysing particular cooling curve, the solidi- fication start, eutectic arrests, recalescence, amount of undercooling and end of freezing temperature temperatures are generated. The thermal analysis data so generated will be used to study composition, soundness, chill and microstructure by analysis of cooling curve. The cooling rates measured in degrees per second at different stages of solidifica- tion sequence will be analysed and correlated with the properties of the castings to be produced from the same melt.


As a Wisconsin historical marker explains: After 1837 the vast timber resources of northern Wisconsin were eagerly sought by settlers moving into the mid-Mississippi valley. By 1847 there were more than thirty saw-mills on the Wisconsin, Chippewa, and St. Croix river systems, cutting largely Wisconsin white pine. During long winter months, logging crews felled and stacked logs on the frozen rivers. Spring thaws flushed the logs down the streams toward the Mississippi River. Here logs were caught, sorted, called and rated. Between 1837 and 1901 more than forty million board feet of logs floated down the great River to saw-mills. The largest log raft on the Mississippi was assembled at Lynxville in 1896. It was 270 feet wide and 1550 feet long, containing two and one-fourth million board feet of lumber. The largest lumber raft on the river originated on Lake St. Croix in 1901. Somewhat smaller in size, 270 feet wide and 1450 feet long, it carried more lumber, nine million board feet. The last rafting of lumber on the Mississippi came in 1915, ending a rich, exciting and colorful era in the history of Wisconsin and the Great River. Edward A. Mueller's extraordinary collection of over two hundred contemporary photographs and illustrations depicting the river rafting era are accompanied by short histories and anecdotes that preserve the story of the rafters, the workboats that literally helped build a nation after the Civil War.


Upper Carboniferous plant-bearing beds crop out in a coal basin along the Berre river, near Corbieres. The beds, from bottom to top, include red conglomerates with elements of Ordovician schist, arkosic schists and argillites, sandy schists, conglomerate, arkose-sandstone, and a second bed of red conglomerate with Ordovician elements unconformably overlying the series below. This sequence unconformably overlies Ordovician schists with no evidence of beds representing Gotlandian-Dinantian deposits. The beds thicken rapidly from northeast to southwest and are overlain unconformably by the middle Triassic Muschelkalk dolomites which are in turn overlain by the upper Triassic Keuper marls. The discordance of the Mesozoic on the Carboniferous and the similarity between the upper- and lowermost beds in the basin suggest that the Carboniferous beds represent a fold overturned to the south and eroded prior to deposition of the Triassic. Plant remains collected from the sandy schists suggest a Stephanian age. Abundant Sphenopteris and Pecopteris are among the significant genera represented.


BackgroundMalaria, caused by Plasmodium, is one of the three major infectious diseases that seriously endangers public health. Resistance to anti-malarial drugs and insecticides has made the prevention and control of malaria shown little improvement in the last four years. This study aimed to explore the changes in microRNA (miRNA) expression profiling of malaria patient and predict malaria-related miRNA by bioinformatics methods to provide theoretical basis for further verification of the correlation between specific miRNAs and immune regulation of malaria.MethodsSerum of patients infected by Plasmodium falciparum and healthy people from Myanmar border area was collected. miRNA expression profiling was obtained by RT-qPCR. Then the differentially expressed miRNA was screened and target genes were predicted by four miRNA databases (TargetScan, DIANA-microT, miRDB, and miRTarbase) and an intersection of target genes was obtained by Venn analysis. GO and KEGG analysis were performed for the overlapping target genes via Metascape. The results were further visualized by Cytoscape. Finally, Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of predicted overlapping target genes was built by STRING.ResultsAmong the 341 tested serum miRNAs, 64 were differentially expressed in malaria patients (P<0.05), 27 miRNAs were up-regulated and 37 miRNAs were down-regulated. The miRNA with the most significant difference was hsa-miR-106b-5p (FC=14.871, adjusted.P.value<0.01); GO and KEGG analysis found that its overlapping predicted target gene set was remarkably enriched in biological functions such as GO:0007264~small GTPase mediated signal transduction, GO:0051056~regulation of small GTPase mediated signal transduction, GO:0051020~GTPase binding, GO:0048514~blood vessel morphogenesis(P<0.01) and signal pathway such as hsa04144: Endocytosis, hsa01521:EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance, hsa05212:Pancreatic cancer (P<0.01); Besides, a PPI network containing 39 predicted target genes of hsa-miR-106b-5p was constructed, and 5 hub genes VEGFA, STAT3, RACGAP1, OCRL, and RBBP7 have been selected.ConclusionThe bioinformatics analysis results indicated that hsa-miR-106b-5p has a great relationship with malaria, it plays a part in inhibiting the emergence of ARTs resistance in Plasmodium and tumor progression, which may be achieved by regulating vascular morphogenesis, endocytosis, and VEGFA. The underlying mechanism needs to be further elucidated. We believe that this finding will facilitate an in-depth research on the association between malaria and miRNA.


In the recent times, the rates of cyber-crimes have been surging prodigiously. It has been proven incredibly easy to create fake documents with powerful photo editing soft-wares being as pervasive as ever. Documents can be scanned and forged within minutes with the help of these softwares that have tools readily available just to do that. While photo manipulation software is handy and ubiquitous, there are also means to deftly investigate these morphed documents. This paper lays a foundation on investigation of digitally manipulated documents and provides a solution to distinguish original document from a digitally morphed document. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) was created for detection of digitally tampered images. This method has accuracy of 96.4% and has proven to be efficient and handy.


Vibration is an important parameter to judge the safety, integrity and efficiency of an engine installation in any aircraft. Certification authorities usually require proof that the engine installation meets the specified requirements of the engine Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). This paper describes a method for vibration measurement and trend analysis of a Light Transport Aircraft (LTA) turbo prop engine. In the process, a transducer mounting bracket is designed and analyzed for mode shapes using commercial software ANSYS and the results have shown that the natural frequency is within the safe limits. Architecture of the data acquisition system and the signal processing are clearly elaborated. The engine vibration level measured for different power settings on the aircraft is within the limits specified by the engine OEM. Thus, the vibration measurement system developed has been successfully meeting the requirement and the data is used for engine health monitoring. Keywords— Vibration measurement, condition monitoring, data acquisition, signal processing, trend analysis


This article explores the evocative power of sonic and performative aspects of a set of actions taken by Catholic quilombolas (inhabitants of quilombos) in north-west Maranhao, Brazil, in the context of the religious celebration of their community's patron-saint Santa Teresa de Jesus. Its aim is to explore the principal ways in which the itinerant drummers employ sound, movement and performance to respond to the unsettled conditions of everyday life. In line with this volume's orienting questions, this article sheds light on some of the main evocations that emerge from engaging with sound in the context of a quilombo religious festivity and the impacts these may have upon people's lives in 'conflict circumstances'. The discussion focuses on the outings of the itinerant group (batuque) for the collection of donations (joia), and on the ways in which these ritualistic acts, which are heuristically called 'performative religious praxis', visibly and acoustically manifest Catholicism in a religiously contested territory. It is argued that in the joia outings Catholic resistance to the growing influence of local Pentecostal churches and quilombola resilience to land competitors are channelled through the batuque's musical performance. In those instances, it is posited that in the joia outings, the space considered as the Saint's land is moulded, acted upon, reconfigured, and constituted by the batuque for the entire Catholic community.


Resonant pump polarizability response spectroscopy (RP-PORS) was used to study the isotropic and anisotropic solvent structural relaxation in solvation. RP-PORS is the optical heterodyne detected transient grating (OHD-TG) spectroscopy with an additional resonant pump pulse. A resonant pump excites the solute-solvent system and the subsequent relaxation of the solute-solvent system is monitored by the OHD-TG spectroscopy. This experimental method allows measuring the dispersive and absorptive parts of the signal as well as fully controlling the beam polarizations of incident pulses and signal. The experimental details of RP-PORS were described. By performing RP-PORS with Coumarin 153(C153) in CH(3)CN and CHCl(3), we have successfully measured the isotropic and anisotropic solvation polarizability spectra following electronic excitation of C153. The isotropic solvation polarizability responses result from the isotropic solvent structural relaxation of the solvent around the solute whereas the anisotropic solvation polarizability responses come from the anisotropic translational relaxation and orientational relaxation. The solvation polarizability responses were found to be solvent-specific. The intramolecular vibrations of CHCl(3) were also found to be coupled to the electronic excitation of C153.


This paper introduces the implementation of a continuous time ΣΔ modulator with reduced jitter sensitivity for the first time to our knowledge. A previously published low power, 1.5V modulator with 12 bit resolution has been redesigned concerning the feedback D/A converter to implement a feedback pulse similar to switched capacitor modulators. A reduction of the jitter sensitivity by more than a decade could be obtained with this approach. The technique presented here has the potential to overcome one of the most severe concerns when building continuous time ΣΔ modulators compared to discrete time implementations.


SUMMARY: Salmonella typhimurium tolerated the replacement of about 70% of the thymine in the DNA by 5-bromouracil (BU). In phage PLT-22 transduction, the presence of BU in the donor DNA had no effect on the linkage relationship of two contransduced markers and did not conclusively alter the ratio of complete transductants to abortive transductants. The yield of transductants per plaque-forming unit was more than doubled by the treatment of the donor bacteria and phage with BU. However, more than half of the BU-treated phage particles, detected by electron microscopy, did not form plaques; when the multiplicity of infection was calculated from the titre of physical particles, the frequency of transductants was normal. It is concluded that recombination was not affected by the substantial incorporation of BU into the donor DNA. Treatment of the recipient bacteria with BU slightly modified recombination by decreasing the frequency of transductants by about 40% and the linkage of the cotransduced markers by about 5%. Because comparable results were not obtained when the donor DNA contained BU, it is suggested that these effects resulted indirectly from the treatment of the recipient bacteria.


Introduction: Triple negative breast carcinoma (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer with a paucity of therapeutic targets and a poor prognostic phenotype. In a retrospective cohort, we sought to determine the prevalence of the amplicon targeting the 9p24.1 locus, resulting in over-expression of PD-L1, PD-L2, and JAK2 (PDJ), and potentially actionable therapeutic targets. We then probed the genomic landscape of these PDJ positive tumors and identified co-occurring copy number aberrations, including focal amplifications and homozygous deletions. The presence of the PDJ amplicon and selected co-occurring aberrations provide a unique description of a clinically relevant subtype of TNBC. Methods: We evaluated fresh frozen and formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tumor samples from 64 patients with triple negative breast cancer whom underwent definitive surgical resection. Clinical annotation was available in 60 of the samples. Tumor populations (diploid, tetraploid, and aneuploidy) were sorted from each biopsy using DNA content flow cytometry. Each sorted sample was interrogated with oligonucleotide array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH). All microarray slides were scanned using an Agilent 2565C DNA scanner and the images were analyzed with Agilent Feature Extraction version 10.7. The aCGH data was assessed with a series of QC metrics then analyzed using an aberration detection algorithm. Results: We detected a high level (log2ratio greater than or equal to 2) amplicon targeting 9p24.1 in 18 of 64 patients (28%) genomic profiles with triple negative breast carcinoma. In the PDJ positive population, we detected 8 of 18 patients (44%) with co-amplification targeting myc at 8q24, 3 of 18 patients (17%) with co-amplifications targeting EGFR at 7p11, 3 of 18 patients (17%) with co-amplifications targeting PIK3CA. These co-occurring genomic events in PDJ positive tumors may provide clinically actionable targets. Other selected amplifications detected included NOTCH3, KRAS, RUNX1, TUBAL3, FGFR2, AKT1, AKT2, YPEL2, PBXL7, KIT. We detected PTEN homozygous deletion in 2 of 18 patients (11%) PDJ positive tumors. Other homozygous deletions identified in the genomic landscape included FAT1, SOX3, Park2, TNFAIP3, GPC3, RB1, and CREBBP. Conclusions: In our retrospective analysis, the amplification of chromosome 9p24.1 involving PD-L1, PD-L2, and JAK2 is present in approximately 28% of triple negative breast cancer patients. The genomic landscape of these PDJ positive TNBCs include recurring high-level focal amplifications and targeted homozygous deletions of clinically relevant genes. The clinical implications of these data are under current investigation using model systems and are in early phase clinical trials. The efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors including nivolumab, pembrolizumab, and JAK2 inhibitors including ruxolitinib, in PDJ positive triple negative breast carcinoma is intriguing and remains to be elucidated. Citation Format: Gawryletz CD, Anderson KS, Cunliffe HE, Northfelt DW, McCullough AE, Lenkiewicz E, Malasi S, Pockaj BA, Barrett MT. The genomic landscape of PD-L1, PD-L2, Jak2 (PDJ) amplified triple negative breast carcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-03-13.


Abstract We investigate the income convergence hypothesis for 24 OECD countries using Fourier-type unit root tests that can account for structural breaks of unknown number, timing and functional form in a series' data generating process. Our results indicate that all 24 countries have followed a nonlinear underlying growth path (relative to the US) over the post-war era. These growth paths indicate that as many as half of the countries sampled are systematically catching-up with the US. Only a handful show evidence of being in relative decline, but the fact that this group includes several G7 economies is of concern.


We analyse the effects of supranational versus national banking supervision on credit supply, and its interactions with monetary policy. For identification, we exploit: (i) a new, proprietary dataset based on 15 European credit registers; (ii) the institutional change leading to the centralisation of European banking supervision; (iii) high-frequency monetary policy surprises; (iv) differences across euro area countries, also vis-a-vis non-euro area countries. We show that supranational supervision reduces credit supply to firms with very high ex-ante and ex-post credit risk, while stimulating credit supply to firms without loan delinquencies. Moreover, the increased risk-sensitivity of credit supply driven by centralised supervision is stronger for banks operating in stressed countries. Exploiting heterogeneity across banks, we find that the mechanism driving the results is higher quantity and quality of human resources available to the supranational supervisor rather than changes in incentives due to the reallocation of supervisory responsibility to the new institution. Finally, there are crucial complementarities between supervision and monetary policy: centralised supervision offsets excessive bank risk-taking induced by a more accommodative monetary policy stance, but does not offset more productive risk-taking. Overall, we show that using multiple credit registers – first time in the literature – is crucial for external validity.


OBJECTIVES--To assess the frequency and clinical associations of anti-chromo antibodies in connective tissue disease and to study their relationship to anti-centromere autoreactivity. METHODS--Anti-chromo and anti-centromere antibodies (ACA) were measured by immunoblotting in 50 patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and 58 connective tissue disease controls. Common epitopes on centromere and chromo antigens were sought using affinity-purified antibodies from immunoblots. RESULTS--Anti-chromo antibodies were detected in three of 32 sera with ACA and no controls. The three patients with anti-chromo antibodies had limited cutaneous SSc, and two had erosive arthritis. No cross-reactivity between chromo or centromere-related proteins was demonstrated. CONCLUSIONS--Anti-chromo antibodies form a rare autoantibody specificity that may identify an overlap group of patients with SSc and arthritis. Chromo and centromere antigens are associated but immunologically distinct autoimmune targets. Whether they localise to the same chromosomal site remains unknown.


Neutrino-less double beta decay is a process of great interest in the contemporary particle physics. The theoretical implications of it's observation are briefly reviewed, with some focus on the profound experimental implications of the uncertain knowledge of some parameters of the models that could explain the phenomenon. A comprehensive description of the experimental techniques, with the status of the corresponding most important experiments, is attempted. The results from presently active or recently finished experiments are compared with the sensitivity of near future projects in the framework of a multi-parameter analysis of the potential of each technology.


We proposed a novel scheme for nanometrology of magnetic field gradient based on Kane's silicon quantum computer proposal. When the system is placed in an unknown magnetic field gradient, the inhomogeneous precession of the donor nuclear spins records the field gradient information to the phase pattern of donor nuclear spins. By adding AC voltage modulations on each A-gate to induce hyperfine-mediated electron-nuclear collective flip-flop process, we demonstrate that the gradient value can be obtained by tuning the modulation phases of the A-gates. Errors of the measurements of such scheme is discussed and estimated. It is also discussed that in presence of the external field with a known gradient, the same system is possible to be used to obtain the unknown displacement of donor locations.


Objective: To evaluate the effects of urethral regeneration with prevascularized bladder acellular matrix hydrogel (BAMH)/silk fibroin (SF) composite scaffolds in a rabbit model. Materials and methods: BAMH/SF and collagen Type I hydrogel/SF (CH/SF) scaffolds were prepared and the structure of the scaffolds was assessed using scanning electron microscopy. BAMH/SF, CH/SF and SF scaffolds were incubated in the omentum of male rabbits for two weeks and then harvested for repairing autologous urethral defects. Histological analysis of the incubated scaffolds was performed to evaluate the neovascularization capacity, and the outcomes of urethroplasty were evaluated at one and three months post-operatively. Results: The composited scaffolds were composed of a highly porous BAMH or CH buttressed by compact SF outer layer. The histological analysis of the incubated BAMH/SF revealed a signifcant increase of the neovascularization among three groups after a two-week incubation. At three months, the urethra maintained wide caliber in the BAMH/SF group. Strictures were found in the CH/SF and SF groups. Histologically, at one month, intact and multilayer epithelium occurred in the BAMH/SF group, and one layer epithelium was found in the CH/SF and SF groups. However, there was similar epithelial regeneration in BAMH/SF and CH/SF groups at three months (p > 0.05). Comparisons of smooth muscle content and vessel density among the SF, CH/SF and BAMH/SF revealed a significant increase at each time point (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that incubated BAMH/SF promote neovascularization, and prevascularized BAMH/SF promote the regeneration of the urethral epithelium and smooth muscle, which indicates its potential for urethral reconstruction.


INTRODUCTION
Surgical site infections (SSI) encompass 20-25% of all hospital-acquired infections with their prevalence ranging from 2.5 to 41.9% across the world. Prevalence and risk factors of SSI vary greatly between countries and between healthcare institutions within a country. There is limited data on the pattern and risk factors of SSI in the Indian healthcare scenario. This study is an attempt to identify risk factors of SSI in patients who underwent elective laparotomy in the general surgery department of a tertiary care hospital in India.

METHODOLOGY
This is an observational cross-sectional retrospective study, conducted over 5 years from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2019. A total of 112 patients who underwent elective laparotomy in the department of general surgery, were enrolled in the study. Data collection was done from hospital case records and discharge summaries of patients.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Out of the 112 patients, a total of 16 patients (14.29%) developed surgical site infections. Preoperative serum total protein (W-465.500, P 0.012) and length of hospital stay (W=1235.000, P≤0.001) were found to have a significant association with surgical site infection. Age, gender, smoking, comorbidity, class of surgical wound and, preoperative albumin did not show any significant association with the development of SSI. Escherichia coli was the predominant organism isolated in culture.

CONCLUSION
Measures to curtail SSI can only be adopted after a thorough understanding of its prevalence and predictors. The characteristics and pattern of SSI will help identify prevalent organisms, their resistance pattern and will aid in formulating antibiotic policy tailor-made for the healthcare institution.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

The KrasG12D-LSL conditional GEMMs (genetically engineered mouse models) are a valuable tool in translational research to study tumor progression and to investigate efficacy of anti-tumor compounds in a variety of cancer types. Here, intranasal delivery of adeno-Cre resulted in the expression of mutant Kras leading to development of tumor lesions in the lungs including adenomatous hyperplasia, large adenoma and adenocarcinoma. Treatment of tumor bearing mice at adenocarcinoma stage (at 14 weeks post adeno-cre inhalation) with suboptimal dose of PF-04691502 (PI3Ka/mTOR inhibitor; 7.5 mg/kg; SID) and PD-0325901 (MEK inhibitor, 1.5 mg/kg; SID) reduced tumor lesions in mice treated with single agents and significantly inhibited tumor growth in mice treated with combination of both compounds. In addition, immunohistochemistry showed inhibition of pS6 in the treated animals particularly in the combination group providing a proof of mechanism for the tumor growth inhibition. Similar response was observed when mice bearing H460 (carry Kras and PIK3CA mutations) orthotopic lung tumors were treated with the combination regimen. These observations provide some clue to further pursue efficacy of PF-04691502 plus PD-0325901 in the clinical settings and also in more invasive models such as KrasG12D-LSLp53flox/flox mice.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4480. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-4480


Existing e-commerce regulations constitute a premature and unnecessary interference in the natural evolution of commercial practices and technologies. I question not just their quality, mainly attributable to the technological ignorance of the regulator, but their very necessity. I observe the practical futility of drafting effective regulatory instruments in areas subject to continuous and unpredictable technological change. I criticize the overly homogenous approach to "everything Internet" (i.e. everything involving the Internet requires new law) as well as the creation of new regulatory spheres and legal categories. Some might claim that it is too early for a critical retrospective of this subject. Despite its relative "youth," however, the "law of e-commerce" has developed a set of orthodox approaches. It is therefore not too early to present some heterodox views, especially given the largely unsuccessful regulatory activity in the European Union. Not just technologies but also theories about the Internet can become obsolete within a short period of time and should therefore be subject to constant revision.


This paper introduces the 'efficiency production function' and addresses the question of what kind of efficiency effects can be independently isolated and identified from scale effects in parametric production models. Sato introduced the concept of holotheticity in order to analyze the family of production functions under which the effect of technical progress is completely transformed to apparent scale effects. In this paper, the concept of holotheticity is extended to cover the analysis of technical efficiency. Some by-results concerning the orientation of efficiency are presented.


Superradiant axions around black holes can potentially decay to photons via lasing. This can jeopardize the possibility of directly detecting gravitational signatures from the axion condensate. The extremely long wavelength of the emitted photons on the other hand eliminates any possibility of electromagnetic signatures. Due to the smallness of the axion mass however, medium effects around the black hole can significantly affect the lasing process. I discuss these medium effects and the conditions under which lasing can take place. For black holes of mass greater than $100 M_{\odot}$, the axion condensate is unlikely to lase unless the medium around is exceptionally dilute whereas axion condensate around black holes of a few solar masses can.


Since the economic crisis in 2008, the world has seen a partly negative shift in social progress, highlighting that current economic models and practices do not guarantee long-lasting societal and human wellbeing. Economic models and business practices are deeply intertwined; thus, businesses play a major role in the advancement of social sustainability, and academic research can offer support in navigating the complexity of this issue. However, social sustainability tends to be under-researched. This article summarizes the discussion in general business management, product development, and supply-chain management, and from this suggest a research agenda to help in guiding systematic change in business organizations towards social sustainability. The article identifies ten main challenges and offers five recommendations to move the field forward, namely, a more explicit engagement with and discussion of social systems-science based ideas, and a more explicit determination as a field to converge on key pieces leading towards a clearer definition of the concept. Lastly, it recommends that research needs to focus on how to overcome fragmented organizational structures, how to achieve true integration into existing processes and tools, and how to support organizations to become more dynamic in working with these issues.


A new class of photorefractive polymers is described in which an inert polymer binder is doped with a great molecule called a dual-function dopant, which has the dual functions of providing optical nonlinearity as well as charge transport as required for the photorefractive effect. These materials are the first photorefractive polymers to show both nondestructive readout as sufficiently low reading power and optical trap activation, in which pre-irradiation by a uniform light beam increases the concentration of deep trapping sites in the material. In the area of potential applications, a new sample configuration is described in which photorefractive polymers are fabricated into an electric field switchable stratified volume holographic structure. Individual layers may be activated by applied electric field leading to improved diffraction efficiency and angular selectivity.


The basic properties of the recently discovered ferrielectrics, which are essentially degenerate antiferroelectrics exhibiting ferroelectric properties, will be discussed. Capacitors having a ferrielectric dielectric possess a true switching threshold field similar to ferrites. This material opens up a large field of new applications. A new device which operates similar to the transfluxor and represents an electrostatically controlled circuit impedance with stored settings will be discussed. This device called the "transpolarizer" represents one of the most interesting recent achievements in the semiconductor field. Control of polarization transfer through two or more ferroelectric dielectric sections in series represents a new basic means for storing and gating electrical signals and, in general, a means for controlling circuit impedance in any predetermined manner according to a stored setting. The most interesting feature of the transpolarizer is that, by the application of a control signal, it can be changed from a ferroelectric capacitor into a linear capacitor and can assume any intermediate polarization level between these two limits; furthermore, it is capable of controlling a flow of ac electric power according to its setting. Now, for the first time, it is possible to utilize the combination of electrically controlled resistance, inductance and capacitance in circuit design. Switching and storage properties as well as a threshold switching field are simultaneously present in these new devices. Furthermore, the fact that ferrielectric devices are voltage devices makes these devices extremely useful in the fields of pattern recognition, trainable computers and adaptive control.


. Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) have been met with great success in planning domains where agents must balance actions that provide knowledge and actions that provide reward. Recently, nonparametric Bayesian methods have been successfully applied to POMDPs to obviate the need of a priori knowledge of the size of the state space, allowing to assume that the number of visited states may grow as the agent explores its environment. These approaches rely on the assumption that the agent's environment remains stationary; however, in real-world scenarios the environment may change over time. In this work, we aim to address this inadequacy by introducing a dynamic nonparametric Bayesian POMDP model that both allows for automatic inference of the (distributional) representations of POMDP states, and for capturing non-stationarity in the modeled environments. Formulation of our method is based on imposition of a suitable dynamic hierarchical Dirichlet process (dHDP) prior over state transitions. We derive efficient algorithms for model inference and action planning and evaluate it on several benchmark tasks.


This study investigated the metacognitive skills of nursing students in Nigerian universities. The sample size was 240, and the respondents were selected by simple random sampling from government owned and private universities. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The instrument used for data collection was Questionnaire on Metacognitive Strategies in Nursing (QMCSN). Mean score, standard deviation (SD) and Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient (rho) were used to answer the research questions while Wilcoxon Rank Sum and Mann-Whitney-U tests were adopted in testing the null hypotheses at 0.01 level of significance. The findings revealed significant correlation between the students' learning strategies, their self-evaluation strategies and their metacognitive goals. Significant relationships were also observed among the students in government and private universities with regard to their classroom self-evaluation strategies as well as their metacognitive goals. Based on the findings, nurse educators were advised not to neglect the affective and motivational aspects of metacognition.


This paper discusses the problem of inserting 3D models into a single image. The main focus of the paper is on the accurate recovery of the camera's parameters, so that 3D models can be inserted in the correct position and orientation. The paper addresses two issues. The first is an automatic extraction of the principal vanishing points from an image. The second is a theoretical and an experimental analysis of the errors. To test the concept, a system that plants virtual 3D objects in the image was implemented. It was tested on many indoor augmented-reality scenes. Our analysis and experiments have shown that errors in the placement of the objects are unnoticeable.


The current financial crisis resonates with every American, regardless of their connection to the securities markets. Many struggle to understand how and why the American financial and securities markets collapsed last year. In essence, why did the regulators fail to prevent the collapse? Government officials continue to analyze the relationship between the structural collapse of the markets and regulators' limited jurisdiction over a class of entities whose transactions substantially impact the markets: hedge funds. Congress can no longer deny hedge funds' detrimental impact on the financial and securities markets. The impetus for financial re-regulation has arrived. It is incumbent upon Congress to enact laws which extend the jurisdiction of federal regulators to hedge funds. At a minimum, such supervision is necessary to protect the investing public.The elusiveness of hedge funds and their investment strategies is of particular concern. Federal regulation may take the form of a registration requirement. Perhaps publicly-traded companies should disclose their transactions with hedge funds. More comprehensive regulatory reform options include the creation of a hybrid regulatory hedge fund governance matrix based upon the dollar volume, frequency of trades and potential losses that hedge funds may experience. It is incumbent upon Congress to create the proper balance between protecting the investing public and maintaining sustainable American financial and securities markets, which in turn stabilizes the global economy.


Purpose of review Recently published studies examining predictors of competitive employment for patients with schizophrenia are reviewed. Recent findings Researchers continue to examine predictors of employment among three types of variables: patient characteristics, environmental factors, and interventions. Provision of supported employment is the strongest predictor of competitive employment in this population, while patient predictors continue to show modest associations with outcomes. Environmental factors, including societal and cultural influence, local economy, labor laws, disability policies, and governmental regulations, are presumed to have major influences on employment, but these factors have been little studied. Summary Given the strong and consistent evidence base for the effectiveness of supported employment in helping individuals with schizophrenia achieve competitive employment, mental health planners should make access to this practice a high priority. Barriers to implementation of supported employment, including finance, organization, integration, training, and supervision, need to be systematically addressed. The field currently lacks an adequate understanding of the role of societal, cultural, and regulatory factors in facilitating and hindering employment outcomes; such research is much needed.


The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of external environment on the relationship between market orientation (MO) and business performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Punjab, Pakistan. This study seeks to resolve the inconsistencies found in the contemporary literature regarding the relationship between MO and business performance. Questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale was adopted from previous researcher's work to ascertain the responses of the respondents. Survey research design was adopted and self administered questionnaires were used to collect the data from SMEs. The analysis was conducted using SPSS 20. The major findings of the study indicated that market orientation has a significant relationship with business performance while external environment plays a moderating role between market orientation and business performance.


Acute kidney injury is a "silent killer" that clinicians are unwittingly allowing patients to develop. Not until clinical staff get the basics right and more hospitals provide access to senior doctors seven days a week will the situation improve.

That was the message from speakers at a conference in London last week. Donal O'Donoghue, England's national clinical director for kidney care, told delegates at the conference on improving outcomes and safety for the acutely ill patient that spotting risk factors, maintaining hydration, recognising deterioration, and seven day working across the health service were needed.

Dr O'Donoghue said that acute kidney injury was "the miner's canary"—a marker of quality of acute care. "Acutely ill patients get AKI [acute kidney injury] because we don't get the basics right. When we get [the basics] right for AKI, all acutely ill patients will benefit," he told the conference.

Although statistics on incidence vary, …


The pressure dependence of the structure of the pure fullerene C60 has been studied by high-resolution synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction at 300 K in a diamond-anvil cell with fluid helium as a pressure-transmitting medium. Reflections corresponding to the simple cubic (s.c.) phase of C60 are identified at 2.5 GPa. The powder data agree well with calculated profiles for an ordered structure based on Pa3̄ symmetry and are consistent with a long-range orientational ordering transition under pressure identical to that occurring at 255 K and ambient pressure; the onset of the transition occurs below 0.5 GPa.


Wavelet analysis of scattered light intensity fluctuations was used to improve performance of speckle correlometry of porous systems. The further development of technique was proposed to study structural characteristics of such systems. The intensity fluctuations of multiple-scattered light is a non-stationary noise-like signal. Previously reported spectral analysis of such signals based on windowed Fourier transformation faces the well-known difficulties in a case of short time series. The effect of aliasing in frequency domain prevent us from determining spectral characteristics accurately. But by use of continuous wavelet analysis it can be defined with maximal time-frequency resolution.