Ipomoea pes-caprae is a mangrove associate often found along shorelines. It flowers during August–February and is hermaphroditic and an obligate out-crosser due to self-incompatibility. It is both melittophilous and malacophilous. The natural fruit set rate is less than 10% probably due to the wastage of pollen in self-pollination, the ephemeral nature of flowers, predation, and nutrient requirements. Seeds are impermeable to water and germinate readily if they are covered and abraded by sand; those exposed to seawater rot and subsequently perish. The low natural fruit set rate, the mortality of seeds and seedlings due to rotting, burial by sand, space constraint, and shading by established plants appear to be regulating the population size of I. pes-caprae . The plant also propagates vegetatively through the expansion of branches that are broken into fragments by storm waves, transported by water, and then washed onshore into new locations. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/tapro.v6i2.7190 TAPROBANICA, 2014. Vol. 06, No. 02: pp. 90-99 pls. 7, 8.


AIM: To study the cloning of α-β fusion gene from Clostridium perfringens and the immunogenicity of α-β fusion expression.

METHODS: Cloning was accomplished after PCR amplification from strains NCTC64609 and C58-1 of the protective antigen genes of α-toxin and β-toxin. The fragment of the gene was cloned using plasmid pZCPAB. This fragment coded for the gene with the stable expression of α-β fusion gene binding. In order to verify the exact location of the α-β fusion gene, domain plasmids were constructed. The two genes were fused into expression vector pBV221. The expressed α-β fusion protein was identified by ELISA, SDS-PAGE, Western blotting and neutralization assay.

RESULTS: The protective α-toxin gene (cpa906) and the β-toxin gene (cpb930) were obtained. The recombinant plasmid pZCPAB carrying α-β fusion gene was constructed and transformed into BL21(DE3). The recombinant strain BL21(DE3)(pZCPAB) was obtained. After the recombinant strain BL21(DE3)(pZCPAB) was induced by 42°C,its expressed product was about 22.14% of total cellular protein at SDS-PAGE and thin-layer gel scanning analysis. Neutralization assay indicated that the antibody induced by immunization with α-β fusion protein could neutralize the toxicity of α-toxin and β-toxin.

CONCLUSION: The obtained α-toxin and β-toxin genes are correct. The recombinant strain BL21(DE3)(pZCPAB) could produce α-β fusion protein. This protein can be used for immunization and is immunogenic. The antibody induced by immunization with α-β fusion protein could neutralize the toxicity of α-toxin and β-toxin.


Presents a supervisory control strategy for coordination of soccer playing mobile robots. Within the framework of a hierarchical control structure, three layered components of supervisor, coordinator, and executor emulate the basic three concepts of human intelligence, perception, reasoning, and learning. A small size discrete event system model is derived and implemented in the supervisor and coordinator for state-action reasoning and coordination of multiple robotic agents for a successful soccer game. Experimental results of real soccer games are given to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the developed supervisory control strategy in terms of structural simplicity and computational speed for real-time control.


Total synthetic studies on natural products with promising biological profiles, coupled with their intriguing structural features, are described. The target molecules dealt with in this article are five helianane-type sesquiterpenes (heliannuols A, D and K and heliespirones A and C) and three meroterpenes (breviones A, B and C) with allelopathic activity, as well as four cytotoxic polyketides (lasonolide A and aspergillides A, B and C) and two pyrrolidinoindoline alkaloids (physostigmine and psychotrimine) with acetylcholine esterase inhibitory and antibacterial activities.


Abstract The Australasian ground spiders belonging to the "lower gnaphosoid" families (i.e., those gnaphosoids that retain a plesiomorphic, complete distal article on the anterior lateral spinnerets) are monographed. The families Ammoxenidae and Cithaeronidae are newly recorded from Australia, and the Australian fauna of the family Gallieniellidae is documented for the first time. Australia is thus the only continent known to house members of all seven currently recognized gnaphosoid families. Ammoxenids, previously known only from southern Africa, are represented in Australia by the new genera Austrammo (described for four new species) and Barrowammo (described for one new species). Cithaeronids are represented by the widespread type species, Cithaeron praedonius O. P.-Cambridge, newly recorded from the Northern Territory. The Australian gallieniellid fauna consists of five genera: Meedo Main, here transferred from the Clubionidae, and four new genera: Neato (described for seven new species), Oreo (described for six new species), and Peeto and Questo (each described for one new species). The male of Meedo houstoni Main is described for the first time, as are 12 new species of that genus. The world trochanteriid fauna consists of 18 genera, of which 15 occur in Australasia; the 18 genera are newly assigned to subfamilies (the relimited Trochanteriinae plus the new subfamilies Trachycosminae and Morebilinae). Within the Trochanteriinae, Corimaethes Simon is newly synonymized with Platyoides O. P.-Cambridge, and its Western Australian type species, C. campestratus Simon, is placed as a junior synonym of the African species P. walteri (Karsch); the species is presumed to have been introduced into Australia prior to 1905 but seems not to have become established. The genus Olin Deeleman-Reinhold, recently described for a species from Sulawesi, is newly recorded from an Australian Indian Ocean territory, Christmas Island. The new genera Tinytrema and Desognaphosa are described for five and 26 new species, respectively. Tinytrema is known only from Australia (including Tasmania); Desognaphosa species occur primarily in northern Queensland, but one extends into New South Wales and one is described from the Solomon Islands. The subfamily Trachycosminae includes the Australian genera Trachycosmus Simon and Trachytrema Simon, both newly transferred from the Gnaphosidae, plus the new genus Trachyspina (described for seven new species). The male of Trachytrema castaneum Simon is newly described, as are one new species of that genus and three of Trachycosmus. The subfamily Morebilinae includes four described and four new genera. Hemicloeina Simon and Pyrnus Simon are transferred to the Morebilinae from the Gnaphosidae, and Fissarena Henschel, Davies, and Dickman is transferred from the Liocranidae. Hemicloea plagusia (Walckenaer), H. fumosa L. Koch, H. cineracea L. Koch, Rebilus diversus (L. Koch), R. praesignus (L. Koch), and R. swarbrecki Dunn and Dunn are transferred to the new genus Morebilus; M. cineraceus and M. praesignis are placed as junior synonyms of M. fumosus and M. diversus, respectively; and nine new species of Morebilus are described. Hemicloea insidiosa Simon is transferred to the new genus Longrita, its male is described for the first time, and eight new species of Longrita are described. Hemicloea plana L. Koch and Rebilus obscurus Berland are transferred to Pyrnus; six new species of Pyrnus are described from Australia, Lord Howe Island, and New Caledonia. Pyrnus flavitarsis (L. Koch) is transferred to the new genus Platorish, its male is described for the first time, and four new species of Platorish are described. Rebilus castaneus Simon and Hemicloea longipes Hogg are transferred to Fissarena, and the male of the former species is described for the first time, as are six new species of Fissarena and 16 new species of Rebilus Simon (which is newly assigned to the Morebilinae). The genus Boolathana is described for two new species from Western Australia. Adults of Hemicloeina somersetensis (Thorell) are described for the first time, and seven new species from Australia and New Guinea are assigned to Hemicloeina. The lamponid generic name Centrina Platnick is preoccupied and is replaced by Centroina. A supplement adds new records for many species, as well as descriptions of the new species Trachyspina daunton and Longrita nathan and of the first known male of Morebilus blackdown, new species.


The equilibrium configurations of films consisting of magnetic small particles in which the anisotropy energy tends to align the magnetic moments perpendicular to the film are studied by Monte Carlo simulations. The effects of anisotropy energy, dipolar interaction, and Zeeman energy due to an external applied magnetic field, which can either be perpendicular or parallel to the film, are considered. As the relative strength of the relevant interaction energies changes, the system exhibits a variety of different magnetic moment configurations. Due to the competition between the dipolar interaction energy and the anisotropy energy, it is found that an approximately antiferromagnetic alignment with moments oriented perpendicular to the film results when the anisotropy energy dominates; while an in-plane antiferromagnetic alignment results when the dipolar interaction energy dominates. Results obtained by a zero-temperature analysis based on energy minimization are found to be in qualitative agreement with re...


Abstract The Barisan Nasional (BN), which won a landslide victory in 2004, was returned to power in the 2008 elections with reduced majority and the loss of five state assemblies. Dissatisfied with unfulfilled promises, the electorate protested by voting for a strong opposition. BN was additionally characterized by factionalism. Three major opposition parties joined hands on a platform of multiculturalism and, using alternative media, unexpectedly, won 82 seats in the parliament. A strong responsible opposition bodes well for multiculturalism and Malaysian democracy.


Background: Cardiovascular disease caused by atherosclerosis is rare in premenopausal women; the incidence steeply increases after menopause. Unresolved issue remains if these changes are caused rather by chronological aging or by menopause accompanied by decrease in the estrogen concentration. Methods: This study was conducted during the period of 2 year in one of the rural health centre in Sothern  India. This is observational, cross-sectional prospective study. a total of 400 consecutive postmenopausal women (cessation of menstruation for 1 year) were recruited. Results: Mean age at menopause was 48.25 years, mean number of menopausal symptoms was 8.97 ± 3.68, and mean duration since menopause was (MDSM = 3.10 years). Fatigue, lack of energy (80%), cold hand and feet, rheumatology-related symptoms (70%) cold sweats, weight gain, irritability and nervousness (60%), palpitation of heart, excitable/anxiety (40%) each were common complaints. Hypertension was diagnosed or a person was a known hypertensive (72%). Diabetes was diagnosed, or a person was known diabetic in 37%. BMI  25 kg/m2 in 65%. Truncal obesity with WHR > 0.8 in 59% females, whereas abdominal obesity with waist size >88 cm was in 54% women.
Conclusions: In postmenopausal women from rural areas high prevalence of most of the conventional CVRFs, especially diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, obesity, and other risk factors.


The depiction of an agile manufacturing cell includes a synopsis of some of the agilities obtained by the configuration. The agile configuration here brings additional values, such as rapid new product introduction, accommodation to unpredictable demand, longer equipment applicability, etc. To achieve agile configuration, the cell-control system for agile manufacturing must be rapidly and efficiently generated or modified. The high reconfigurability of cell-control software, such as modularity, reusability and maintainability, must be considered. The aim of this paper is to propose an objectoriented generic architecture that efficiently supports the design and implementation of highly reconfigurable control systems for agile manufacturing cells. The generic architecture is composed of resource objects, informational objects and control object. The structure of resource objects is proposed in detail. To develop cell-control software rapidly, the OPN model is established so as to describe the dynamic behaviour of a resource object, control logic, as well as exchanging with other objects.


Shear-coupled grain boundary (GB) migration has been evidenced as an effective plastic mechanism in absence of the usual intragranular dislocation activity. GB migration occurs through the nucleation and further motion of disconnections. For perfect GBs, the activation barrier for migration is dominated by the disconnection nucleation. In this study, we examine the effects of a dipole of sessile disconnections on the shear-coupled GB migration using molecular dynamics simulations on a $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}41[001](540)$ symmetric tilt GB in aluminum. The first effect is observed on disconnection nucleation: we show that the disconnection dipole can operate as a source of mobile disconnections. The corresponding yield stress is weakly affected, but the GB migration energy barrier can be reduced by $35%$. The second effect is seen on the disconnection mobility: the sessile disconnection dipole impedes the disconnection motion by repulsing or attracting it. We conclude that the influence of such dipole on the GB migration favors the nucleation of mobile disconnections on one hand but slows down their motion on the other hand.


Specific primers play an important role in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) experiments, and therefore it is essential to find specific primers of outstanding quality. Unfortunately, many PCR constraints must be simultaneously inspected which makes specific primer selection difficult and time-consuming. This paper introduces a novel computational intelligence-based method, Teaching-Learning-Based Optimisation, to select the specific and feasible primers. The specified PCR product lengths of 150-300 bp and 500-800 bp with three melting temperature formulae of Wallace's formula, Bolton and McCarthy's formula and SantaLucia's formula were performed. The authors calculate optimal frequency to estimate the quality of primer selection based on a total of 500 runs for 50 random nucleotide sequences of 'Homo species' retrieved from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The method was then fairly compared with the genetic algorithm (GA) and memetic algorithm (MA) for primer selection in the literature. The results show that the method easily found suitable primers corresponding with the setting primer constraints and had preferable performance than the GA and the MA. Furthermore, the method was also compared with the common method Primer3 according to their method type, primers presentation, parameters setting, speed and memory usage. In conclusion, it is an interesting primer selection method and a valuable tool for automatic high-throughput analysis. In the future, the usage of the primers in the wet lab needs to be validated carefully to increase the reliability of the method.


The ideas of Keynes have been appropriated by the political left in recent years. The condemnation of Keynes that was characteristic of critics speaking for the extreme right has become mainstream with the takeover of macroeconomic theory by schools such as new classical economics. But how radical was Keynes really? He pointedly distanced himself out of the Marxist left. However, Keynes saw himself as a radical reformer and never missed an opportunity to advance proposals to change capitalism to produce sustained full employment and to promote some redistribution of income and wealth. The paper discusses two of these opportunities, the first related to the debate around How to Pay for the War and the second around the Beveridge Plan.


Emergency coronary artery bypass surgery was performed in nineteen patients including five chronic hemodialysis patients. In fourteen patients (non-dialysis patients), ten patients required preoperative IABP and four required PCPS for cardiogenic shock. Four patients died (29%); three from LOS and one from sudden death. Most of them (3/4) were preoperative cardiogenic shock. In other five patients (dialysis patients), four patients had conventional CABG, while one received off-pump bypass surgery for calcified aorta and brain complication. All five patients received arterial in situ conduit and continuous hemofiltration in the early postoperative period for controlling water and electrolyte. Two patients died (40%); one from arrhythmia and one from deterioration of original disease (SLE encephalopathy) but no one died from LOS. These methods of surgical modification and perioperative management for chronic hemodialysis patients are considered very useful.


ABSTRACT Research examining the relationship between trust, public engagement, and natural resource management asserts that trust fosters positive behavior and enhanced cooperation. Yet some scholars are finding that certain kinds of distrust are helpful in achieving democratic outcomes by providing would-be participants with the motivation to engage in issues of public concern. This article seeks to clarify this apparent disjuncture in the trust literature by examining the multidimensional nature of trust as it relates to public engagement on energy-related issues in Canada. Based on a national online survey (n = 3000) we use a binary probit model to explore the connections between trust, knowledge, and public engagement. About 70% of respondents had participated in at least one form of public engagement over the last 3 years. Drawing on a two-dimensional conception of trust, we find that general trust on its own is not positively linked to public engagement. A combination of general trust and skepticism, however, is positively associated with public engagement and confirms our hypothesis that at least some concern regarding credibility, bias, and vested interest can motivate public engagement. In this sense, trust is not uniformly good for public engagement. These results signal a need to further refine our assumptions about the relationship between public trust, public engagement and environmental governance.


This paper deals with the resilience of rock mounted lighthouses impacted by extreme waves. The investigated lighthouse of Wolf Rock is built with large and meticulously dovetailed granite blocks. For this structural typology, uplift of blocks and separation of joints is possible under intense wave impacts. Sliding between subsequent courses of stones is limited by the existence of vertical keys between the blocks. The lateral forces that can trigger uplift and rocking, a highly nonlinear behaviour, are calculated with the use of Limit Analysis method through an iterative procedure written in Python programming language. Three different overturning mechanisms, which correspond to different hypotheses about the working section of the lighthouse, are considered for the uplift. The most conservative limits, i.e. with only a portion of the circular section taking the load, are representative for small and medium waves which can cause a small uplift and very local opening of a joint. The mechanism that considers the whole section, i.e. less conservative, is more representative for very strong wave impacts. The sliding failure mechanism is also considered. The Limit Analysis thresholds are validated with Discrete Element (DE) time-history analyses using the commercial software 3DEC. Intense uplift and rocking take place, and are especially present when the less conservative Limit Analysis thresholds are exceeded. The study also revealed the beneficial role of the vertical keys, without which the lighthouse would fail due to intense sliding before the overturning mechanisms are activated.


In most business sectors environmental programs focus on direct, production-related environmental impacts. The design and development of products with reduced environmental impact is considered more difficult. The opposite applies in the environmental technology sector. The business model of environmental technology companies focuses on delivering solutions that contribute to improving the environmental performance of their customers. Products and services delivered by this sector have prominent environmental profiles. However, companies in this sector may not necessarily set and implement environmental goals for their own activities and manufacturing processes, and may not clearly distinguish between production and product related environmental aspects. This thesis presents results of an online survey of environmental technology companies listed by the Swedish Environmental Technology Council (Swentec). The survey found that depending on the subsector, only between 21% and 45% of companies provide information about their environmental work on their website. Environmental impacts of a company may be product and/or production related. The survey found that these dimensions are treated differently, and are not always clearly differentiated in environmental tools and guidelines, such as the ISO 14000 series, the Reporting Guidelines for UK Business, the GRI and The Swedish Annual Accounts (ARL). There are also differences in the ways that information about production and product related environmental impacts are considered within the environmental technology industry. Some companies clearly distinguish between product and activity related environmental issues, while others are unclear about the distinction between their products and their activities in environmental policies and management. While some companies in the sector limit the environmental information they disseminate to the environmental benefits of their products, others explicitly articulate that the predominantly product related environmental profiles in the sector drive them to additionally minimise environmental impacts of their own activities. This thesis proposes environmental aspects of products and production as bases for corporate environmental profiles, corporate greening, and for defining 'green' and 'green-green' business, and concludes that companies within the environmental industry should be expected to be green-green business. This thesis concludes that companies within the environmental technology sector should increase their use of both production and product related environmental profile information in their presentations on their own websites and at platforms such as Swentec. Furthermore, the thesis shows that the use of the term 'process' within environmental technology sector to describe both the companies' own operations and their products can create ambiguities in understanding. Companies that deliver 'processes' as products should avoid ambiguity by describing their own operations with terms such as 'production processes', 'production', 'manufacturing process', 'operation' or 'activity'.


Objective. At 5 to 6 years of age, body fatness normally declines to a minimum, a point called adiposity rebound (AR), before increasing again into adulthood. We determined whether a younger age at AR was associated with an increased risk of adult obesity and whether this risk was independent of fatness at AR and parent obesity. Design. A retrospective cohort study using lifelong height and weight measurements recorded in outpatient medical records. Setting. Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound (GHC), a health maintenance organization based in Seattle, Washington. Participants. All 390 GHC members (and their parents) born at GHC between January 1, 1965, and January 1, 1971, who had at least one recorded adult height and weight measurement plus two visits with recorded height and weight measurements in each of three age intervals: 1.5 to 4, 4 to 8, and 8 to 16 years. Main Outcome Measures. We calculated the mean body mass index (BMI) of each subject during young adulthood (age 21 to 29 years) and the BMI of the parents when each subject was 1.5 years of age. Adult obesity was defined as a BMI ≥27.8 for males and ≥27.3 for females. Curves were fit to each subject's BMI values between ages 1.5 and 16 years, and the age and BMI at AR were calculated from these curves. Subjects were divided into tertiles of age at AR (early, middle, and late), BMI at AR, and parent BMI (heavy, medium, and lean). Results. The mean age at AR was 5.5 years, and 15% of the cohort was obese in young adulthood. Adult obesity rates were higher in those with early versus late AR (25% vs 5%), those who were heavy versus lean at AR (24% vs 4%), those with heavy versus lean mothers (25% vs 5%), and those with heavy versus lean fathers (21% vs 5%). After adjusting for parent BMI and BMI at AR, the odds ratio for adult obesity associated with early versus late AR was 6.0 (95% CI, 1.3–26.6). Conclusion. An early AR is associated with an increased risk of adult obesity independent of parent obesity and the BMI at AR. Future research should examine the biological and behavioral determinants of AR.


The kinetic and equilibrium properties of a clustering process were studied as a function of temperature for two point mutants of a 31 kDa fragment derived from the cytoplasmic region of the Escherichia coli aspartate receptor (C-fragment), which were shown previously to have a greater tendency to form clusters relative to the wild-type C-fragment [Long, D. G., & Weis, R. M. (1992) Biochemistry 31, 9904-9911]. The clustering equilibria were different for the two C-fragments. Monomers of a serine-461 to leucine (S461L) mutant C-fragment were in equilibrium with dimers, while monomers of a S325L C-fragment were in equilibrium with trimers. The positive values for delta H degree, delta S degree, and delta Cp degree of dissociation estimated from a van't Hoff analysis, and the differences in the CD spectra of isolated monomers and oligomers, demonstrated that the monomers were less well-folded than the clustered forms. The oligomer dissociation rate exhibited a marked temperature dependence over the range from 4 to 30 degrees C and was remarkably slow at low temperatures; e.g. t1/2 of dimer dissociation for the S461L C-fragment was 85 h at 4 degrees C. The values for delta H degree +2, delta S degree +2, and delta Cp degree +2 derived from the temperature dependence of the dissociation rate were comparable to the corresponding parameters determined in a DSC study of C-fragment denaturation [Wu, J., Long, D. G., & Weis, R. M. (1995) Biochemistry 34, 3056-3065], which indicated that the transition state resembled thermally denatured C-fragment. Octyl glucoside accelerated the dissociation rate by 3-5-fold presumably by lowering the barrier to dissociation. This acceleration and the positive value of delta Cp degree +2 were interpreted as evidence for an increase in solvent accessible hydrophobic groups in the transition state. The molecular basis for the slow rate of dissociation is proposed to result from the conversion of intermolecular coiled coils in the oligomers to an intramolecular coiled coil in the monomer.


It is only recently that Alzheimer's disease has become recognized as a major public health concern. Not only those diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease are impacted by the disease; the emotional toll exacted on caregivers is enormous, and the financial costs incurred by the United States are staggering. Early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease can prevent costly and inappropriate treatment and permits earlier treatment of symptoms. There have been several recent pharmacologic advances in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, including the development of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. For any intervention to prove successful, however, early and accurate diagnosis and effective disease management are crucial.


Background/Aims: Colonoscopic perforation can be treated by both operative or non-operative methods. Non-operative management, and especially conservative management, may be appropriate for selected individuals. We wanted to verify the usefulness of performing conservative management for treating colonoscopic perforations. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of the colonoscopic perforation cases that occurred in the recent 5 yrs. 11 cases of perforation occurred from among 8,536 colonoscopic procedures. Results: Ten cases occurred from a therapeutic procedure (five from polypectomy and another five occurred from an endoscopic (submucosal dissection) and one case occurred from a diagnostic procedure. The perforation sites were the ascending colon (three cases), transverse colon (two cases), descending colon (one case), sigmoid colon (two cases), and rectum (three cases). There were five intraperitoneal perforations and five retroperitoneal perforations. All the cases were detected within 12 hours and all the cases had received good bowel preparation. 10 cases were managed conservatively (nothing by mouth, broad spectrum antibiotics and, Levin tube suction). One case was managed by an operative procedure due to the large size of the defect and the patient's wish. All the patients recovered without complications. The mean hospital stay was 9.5 days. Conclusions: Colonoscopic perforation can managed conservatively in selected cases, such as for those cases that will undergo post-therapeutic colonoscopy and those cases that have undergone good bowel preparation.


The approach is based on a graph search algorithm. A relational data structure is used to represent a truss structure. There are four types of entities: units, faces, edges, and vertices. There are contain/contained relationships for every pair of entity types, as well as in-contact relationships between faces. A best-first algorithm constitutes the core of the planner. The cost function in the current implementation corresponds to a combination of the rigidity of the intermediate structures and the total distance to be traversed by the agent executing the assembly tasks


Management of angina pectoris begins with recognition of the disorder and with an assessment of the extent and severity of the underlying disorder. Management includes adjunctive measures, antianginal drug therapy, and mechanical (surgery, angioplasty) options.


In formation control problems, the orientation information of an autonomous agent may suffer from measurement errors among sensors, e.g., gyroscopes drifts, calibrate data errors and communication link failures. These measurement errors may lead to some changes of the positions of agents such that the specified formation of all agents cannot be achieved. This paper investigates the formation control problem of multi-agent systems, where each agent has orientation measurement errors when moving forward in a three-dimensional space. Such orientation measurement errors can be considered as rotation behaviors of agents, and we call this phenomenon mismatched orientation. To analyze the formation control problem with mismatched orientation, the position and velocity information of multi-agent systems is tackled by utilizing the Hajnal inequality and several mathematical techniques. The derived results reveal that the actual final formation of multi-agent systems is distorted from the desired position and can asymptotically approach to some local spheres. Based on the derived results, a distributed compensation control strategy is then applied to dealing with the formation control problem under mismatched orientation to achieve the specified shape. Subsequently, an example validates the effectiveness of our results.


In this study an alternative to backward error analysis (BEA) for geometric numerical integration schemes is introduced. It allows us to prove KAM and Nekhoroshev stability theorems for symplectic discretizations of close-to-integrable Hamiltonian systems, without the restrictions of traditional BEA and more importantly without having to prove ad hoc theorems for numerical schemes.


Thin-film decoupling capacitors based on ferroelectric lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (PLZT) films are being developed for use in advanced packages, such as multi-chip modules. These thin-film decoupling capacitors are intended to replace multi-layer ceramic capacitors for certain applications, since they can be more fully integrated into the packaging architecture. The increased integration that can be achieved should lead to decreased package volume and improved high-speed performance, due to a decrease in interconnect inductance. PLZT films are fabricated by spin coating using metal carboxylate/alkoxide solutions. These films exhibit very high dielectric constants (/spl epsi//spl ges/900), low dielectric losses (tan/spl delta//spl ap/0.01), excellent insulation resistances (/spl rho/>10/sup 13/ /spl Omega/-cm at 125/spl deg/C), and good breakdown field strengths (E/sub B//spl ap/900 kV/cm). For integrated circuit applications, the PLZT dielectric is less than 1 /spl mu/m thick, which results in a large capacitance/area (8-9 nF/mm/sup 2/). The thin-film geometry and processing conditions also make these capacitors suitable for direct incorporation onto integrated circuits and for packages that require embedded components.<<ETX>>


Abstract Measured NO3− concentrations in the Jersey bedrock aquifer exceeded 50 mg l−1 in 67% of groundwaters sampled in June 1995. The δ15N values of this dissolved NO3− showed a total range in composition from + 3.6‰ to + 18.4‰ and exhibited a general, island-wide increase from + 4‰ in the centre of the island to + 9‰ towards coastal districts. The majority of the island is intensively cultivated and most of the sites sampled have δ15N values of less than + 7‰ (mean = + 7.7‰, n = 40) indicative of an agricultural source for NO3−. There is no apparent evidence for point-source contamination from septic tanks. The progressive seaward increase in δ15N is attributed to an increasing volume of deeper, denitrified groundwater mixing with shallow groundwater. Values of δ15N greater than + 10‰ are restricted to those coastal and valley locations that abstract, due to their low topographic elevation, the greatest proportion of deeper, denitrified groundwater. An alternative explanation is that sewer leakage enhances the observed δ15N values in southern urban areas, although this is considered unlikely to be occurring at present.


This project, which is informed by narrative inquiry, examines one teacher's experiences as he navigated the pedagogical challenges of teaching guided reading in an early Primary grade after years of teaching English Language Arts (ELA) in a Middle year's context. A review of the literature examines salient factors in the consideration of the guided reading approach including: reading assessment; levelling texts; grouping students; instruction away from the teacher; and teacher factors associated with guided reading instruction. It concludes with a description of an alternative to traditional guided reading based on side-by-side, rather than small group, instruction. Considerations of personal, contextual, and theoretical factors impacted his practice and the students' reading experiences. The combination of changing educational contexts, shifting from a Grade 6 to a Grade 2/3 classroom with children from a lower socio-economic background, had a significant outcome on the teacher's initial attempts to establish guided reading. A critical examination of the literature during his M Ed program, combined with the personal journaling of his emergent teaching experiences, and the discovery of an evidencebased alternative to its traditional form, led the teacher to an effective and highly successful method of supporting guided reading through side-to-side instruction with his Primary students.


Prevention of cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease with ganciclovir has led to decrease morbidity and mortality in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. In the present report, we describe a case of ganciclovir treatment failure in a HSCT child who presented a refractory CMV infection despite harbouring a susceptible strain. The failure was partly attributed to sub-therapeutic plasma ganciclovir levels. Our experience emphasizes the importance of drug monitoring in immunocompromised patients.


Objective To determine whether a training state protects against the metabolically deleterious effects of ovariectomy on liver and adipocyte fat accumulation in rats. Design Female rats were randomly assigned to each group (n = 8 rats/group). The animals were first either exercise-trained (Tr) for 6 weeks or kept sedentary (Sed) before being sham-operated (Sham), ovariectomized (Ovx), or ovariectomized with 17β-estradiol supplementation (OvxE2). Following surgery, sedentary rats either remained sedentary (Sed-Sed) or undertook exercise training for 6 weeks (Sed-Tr) while exercise-trained rats either became sedentary (Tr-Sed) or resumed exercise training (Tr-Tr). Results Body weight and energy intake along with intra-abdominal and subcutaneous fat pad weights and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were significantly (p < 0.01) increased in the Ovx group compared to the Sham and OvxE2 groups. Rats kept in a sedentary state after surgery showed the higher (p < 0.05) values for all of these variables whether they were trained or not before surgery (Sed-Sed and Tr-Sed), indicating no protective effect of a previous exercise-trained state. On the other hand, training conducted after surgery resulted in a lowering of fat mass and HOMA-IR whether rats had been trained or not before surgery (Sed-Tr and Tr-Tr), indicating the effectiveness of exercise training even initiated after surgery. These responses were independent of surgery. Interestingly, liver triacylglycerol concentrations followed a pattern of responses identical to fat mass with the exception that all of the responses were observed only in the Ovx group (p < 0.05). Conclusion There is no protective effect of a previous exercise-training state on ovariectomy-induced liver and adipocyte fat accumulation if rats remain sedentary after ovariectomy. However, training conducted concurrently with estrogen withdrawal has protective effects, especially on liver fat accumulation, whether or not rats were previously trained.


The paper examines the problems of videoecology of urban environment, ways on correction of mistakes in architectural design and practices in creation of visually comfortable urban environment.


Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique uses linear programming to evaluate the relative efficiency of a homogeneous set of Decision Making Units (DMUs) in their use of multiple inputs to produce multiple outputs. The standard DEA models do not take into account non-discretionary inputs and outputs and ignore the possibility that efficiency may be correlated with the non-discretionary factors. However, one key issue in performance measurement problems is how to treat non-discretionary factors, which influence the performance of DMUs and are, at the same time, out of the control of the management. In this paper, a new model for measuring efficiency is defined such that non-discretionary factors are taken into account by the decision maker. The main contributions of this paper are fourfold: (1) we review the existing approaches for measuring efficiency scores to control non-discretionary factors in production; (2) we provide a discussion of strengths and weaknesses and highlighting potential limitations of the existing non-discretionary DEA models; (3) we propose a new approach based on relative importance of non-discretionary inputs that overcomes existing weaknesses; (4) we use a numerical example to demonstrate the feasibility and richness of the obtained solutions.


As a transitional zone between urban and rural areas, the peri-urban areas are the areas with the most intense urban expansion and the most frequent spatial reconfiguration, and in this context, it is particularly important to reveal the evolution pattern of rural settlements in the peri-urban areas to provide reference for the rearrangement of rural settlements. The study takes five townships in the urban suburbs, and explores the scale, shape, spatial layout, and spatial characteristics of the urban suburbs of Hefei from 1980 to 2030 under the influence of urban-lake symbiosis based on spatial mathematical analysis and geographical simulation software. The study shows that: (1) the overall layout of rural settlements in the study area is randomly distributed due to the hilly terrain, but in small areas there is a high and low clustering phenomenon, and the spatial density shows the distribution characteristics of "high in the east and low in the west"; (2) since the reform and opening up, there are large spatial differences in the scale of rural settlements in the study area. (3) Different development scenarios have a strong impact on the future spatial pattern of rural settlement land use within the study area, which is a strong reflection of policy.


We present chemical abundances of Al and several Fe-Peak and neutron-capture elements for 13 red giant branch stars in the Galactic globular cluster NGC 6171 (M107). The abundances were determined using equivalent width and spectrum synthesis analyses of moderate-resolution ( R ∼ 15,000), moderate signal-to-noise ratio (〈S/N〉 ∼ 80) spectra obtained with the WIYN telescope and Hydra multifiber spectrograph. A comparison between photometric and spectroscopic effective temperature estimates seems to indicate that a reddening value of E(B - V) = 0.46 may be more appropriate for this cluster than the more commonly used value of E(B - V) = 0.33. Similarly, we found that a distance modulus of (m - M)V ≈ 13.7 provided reasonable surface gravity estimates for the stars in our sample. Our spectroscopic analysis finds M107 to be moderately metal-poor with 〈[Fe/H]〉 = -0.93 and also exhibits a small star-to-star metallicity dispersion (σ = 0.04). These results are consistent with previous photometric and spectroscopic studies. Aluminum appears to be moderately enhanced in all program stars (〈[Al/Fe]〉 = +0.39, σ = 0.11). The relatively small star-to-star scatter in [Al/Fe] differs from the trend found in more metal-poor globular clusters, and is more similar to what is found in clusters with [Fe/H] ≳ -1. The cluster also appears to be moderately r-process-enriched with 〈[Eu/La]〉 = +0.32 (σ = 0.17).


Within the isospin dependent Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach,the equation of state of isospin asymmetric nuclear matter and its isospin dependence have been investigated in the whole isospin range. The present work has been focused on the effects of a microscopic three-body force on the equation of state of asymmetric nuclear matter and nuclear symmetry energy. It is shown that,even with the presence of the three-body force,the empirical parabolic law of the energy per nucleon vs isospin asymmetry is still fulfilled accurately in the whole isospin range (0≤ β ≤1). Around the empirical saturation density ρ 0=0.17 fm -3,the three-body force effect on the symmetry energy is rather small and the symmetry energy at the saturation density obtained in the presence of the three-body force is 30.71MeV in good agreement with its empirical value 30±4MeV;while at high density,the three-body force provides a strong enhancement of the symmetry energy and makes the symmetry energy increase much more rapid as increasing density. A simple parametrization of the symmetry energy as a function of density is proposed = =


In this paper, we propose a method to use muon spin radiography as a non-destructive testing method to evaluate the magnetic properties of materials. Muon particles have the ability to penetrate matter ranging from a few mm to a few km, depending on the energy levels. Gigantic objects, such as volcanoes [1], have been imaged using muon absorption radiography by measuring the internal density distribution of the structure. This technique exploits very high energy muons in cosmic rays. It is also possible to produce muons artificially in particle accelerators. These produced muon particles are inadequate (in terms of energy) to penetrate structures as thick as a volcano. However, a higher degree of control over both momentum and polarization is possible and this advantage can allow new applications of muon radiography to be developed. By controlling the momentum of the muon particles, we can control the depth of penetration with greater precision. As a next step, we can also create a three dimensional scan of a specimen by employing a fabricated muon beam with a collimated, narrow spatial spread. Another possibility is to combine muon spin spectroscopy with the mentioned three dimensional scan in order to obtain information about the magnetic properties, also in three dimensions. Muon spin spectroscopy is conducted by using muon beams that have nearly perfect spin alignment in relation to the beam direction. Since muons experience local magnetic fields in their surroundings when they stop in the specimen, they can provide useful information on the local structure of the magnetic domain. This principle is similar to nuclear magnetic resonance, however in this case we implant muons (light protons) instead of using protons that already exist in the material. One of the benefits of muon spin radiography in contrast to conventional techniques is that information is collected from within the structure of the specimen instead of from the outside. In this forum, we demonstrate how muon spin radiography works for a specimen from a banded iron formation (BIF) as the first step application. This can be a good target because the local domain structure of hematite grains in BIF could potentially record the past geomagnetic field. In order to strictly control the muon momentum, a surface muon beam was used in this experiment. The surface muons are produced via decay of pions at rest, therefore they have a momentum of 30 MeV/c. We can calculate the range at which the muon stops and decays to be 0.3 g/cm2 for rock by using the muon energy range relationship. As a result, muon spin asymmetry was measured at this specific depth of the BIF specimen and rapid spin precession due to the internal magnetic field was measured. Results were consistent with the fact that the hematite has parasitic ferromagnetism. The amounts of non-magnetic substances or local magnetic alignments can be calculated by comparing these results with Fe to measure the amount of the non-relaxation component. With the reasonable success of this experiment, there is the potential to extend this concept to applications such as three dimensional tomographic measurements of local magnetic alignments.


Food engineering is a hybrid of food science and an engineering science, like chemical engineering in my particular case, resulting in the application of chemical engineering principles to food systems and their constituents. With the complexity of food and food processing, one generally narrows his or her interests, and my primary interests were in the kinetics of reactions important in foods, thermal processing, deposition of unwanted materials from food onto heated surfaces (fouling), and microwave heat transfer in baking. This review describes how I developed an interest in these topics and the contributions I have hopefully made to understanding food and to the application of engineering.


Printing techniques using classical halftoning need to resample the original image on the screen lattice. This resampling can cause undesirable moire artifacts in the screened image. For example, gravure printing is highly susceptible to moire, not only because its low resolution screen lattice but also because the degree of freedom in constructing halftone dots is limited due to the physical constraints of the engraving mechanism. Current resampling techniques compute new samples by simple interpolation methods, i.e., bilinear interpolation which cannot prevent moire very well. Therefore precautions against moire have to be made in the prepress-phase which is not practical and sometimes not feasible. This paper presents a novel technique to adaptively resample an image on the screen lattice using a local estimate of the risk of moire. The purpose is both moire suppression and edge preservation.


Indian halibut, Psettodes erumei is the single member of family Psettodidae recorded in the southern waters of Iran (north of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea). In the present study, the feeding habit of this species was investigated. The specimens were collected monthly from October 2016 to November 2017 by shrimp trawl from three sampling sites along the northern parts of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea (Hormozgan Province, Iran). For the diet analysis, the stomach contents of 433 individuals were analyzed. Of these, 277 were empty (VI=63.97%) which varied significantly throughout the study period. Feeding intensity of both sexes was high before the gonadal maturation peak; during the period when a maximum percentage of fully mature individuals were present, the feeding intensity was found to be low. The overall diet showed that Indian halibut is mainly a piscivorous carnivore and Teleostei were the most frequent and important food group in the diet (%F=48.08, %IRI=98.44). Crustacean and Cephalopods constituted a small portion of the diet (%F=5.77 and 1.92, respectively) and were of minor importance (%IRI=1.33 and 0.23, respectively). Diet composition showed no significant variation in relation to season, fish size and sex and only some significant differences were observed in their frequency and numerical percentage. The trophic level for this species was calculated 4.4. The present study provides partial information on feeding habits of Indian halibut, of prime importance for the fisheries management and also helps to understand the trophic role of fish in relation to other species in the ecosystem.


In this study, patterns of drug use were compared for Mexican American and Anglo narcotic addicts. The Mexican Americans showed much less experimentation in their drug use, with the most typical pattern being first marijuana and then heroin use. These differences are maintained when medical use, social class, and prior delinquency histories are controlled. A speculative hypothesis for these findings concerns cultural differences in the perception of the value of the drugs.


Voltage-gated Ca channels are very efficient pores: even while exhibiting strong ionic selectivity, they are highly permeant to divalent cations. Studies of the mechanism of selectivity and ion permeation have demonstrated that whole-cell Ca channel current in mixtures of Ca and Ba ions can be smaller than with equimolar concentrations of either ion alone. This anomalous mole fraction effect (AMFE) has provided an important impetus for proposed mechanisms of ion selectivity and permeation that invoke multiple ion binding sites. However, recordings of unitary L-type Ca currents did not demonstrate the AMFE [Marban, E. & Yue, D.T. (1988) Biophys. J. 55, 594a (abstr.)], raising doubts about whether it is an expression of ion permeation through open Ca channels. We have made patch-clamp recordings from single L-type Ca channels in PC-12 pheochromocytoma cells. Our results demonstrate a significant AMFE at the single-channel level but also indicate that the AMFE can only be found under restrictive conditions of permeant ion concentration and membrane potential. While the AMFE is clear at 0 mV when permeant ions are present at 10 mM, it is not evident when the divalent cation concentration is increased to 110 mM or the membrane potential is hyperpolarized to -40 mV. We compared our experimental observations with predictions of a single-file, two-binding-site model of the Ca channel. The model accounts for our experimental results. It predicts an AMFE under conditions that favor ion-ion interactions, as long as the outer binding site is not saturated due to high permeant ion concentration or negative membrane potential.


Arthur Fine and André Kukla have argued that realism and instrumentalism are indifferent with respect to scientific practice. I argue that this claim is ambiguous. One interpretation is that for any practice, the fact that that practice yields predictively successful theories is evidentially indifferent between scientific realism and instrumentalism. On the second construal, the claim is that for any practice, adoption of that practice by a scientist is indifferent between their being a realist or instrumentalist. I argue that there are no good arguments for the indifference claim under the second interpretation, and good reasons to think that it is false.


For Cs on Cu(111) the work function is found to depend on the Cs thickness for coverages less than three atomic layers. The magnitude of the work function variation is as predicted for a free-electron-like quantum well. The photo-yield observed for a photon energy slightly above the threshold for photoemission can be used as a measure of the adsorbed amount. Via the yield, the thermal desorption of the first three atomic layers can be followed layer-by-atomic-layer. The desorption energy differs by around 35 meV between the second and third layer.


Background : Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in acute cholecystitis is associated with a relatively high rate of conversion as well as complications. The aim of this study was to analyze prospectively various pre-operative and per-operative factors influencing the complications and conversion rate. Methods : A total of 60 patients (45 females and 15 males) undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis were studied prospectively by analyzing the data accumulated in the process of investigation and treatment. Factors associated with conversion and complications were assessed to determine their significance. Results : Out of 60 patients, 10 patients (16.67%) were converted. Age > 65 years (p=0.005), body mass index >30 kg/m2 (p= 0.01), previous attack of acute cholecystitis (p=0.02), clinically palpable lump right hypochondrium (p= 0.001), time of surgery > 48 hours from admission (p= 0.002), time of surgery > 96 hours from symptom onset (p= 0.005), short inflamed cystic duct (p= 0.01) and empyema gallbladder (p= 0.01) were significantly associated with conversion. 9 patients had major intra-operative complications (cystic duct avulsion = 3 patients, liver bed bleed = 3 patients, cystic artery bleed = 2 patients and duodenal injury = 1 patients) and 3 patients had post-operative complications( bile leak = 3 patients). Body mass index > 30 kg/m2 (p= 0.01), previous attack of acute cholecystitis (p=0.01), clinically palpable lump right hypochondrium ( p= 0.01), impacted stone at gallbladder neck (p= 0.007) and empyema gallbladder (p= 0.04) were associated with higher complication rates. Conclusion : Laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be performed safely for acute cholecystitis, with acceptable low conversion and complication rates in selected cases. However, larger study groups will enable us to evaluate these predictors of conversions and complications more accurately.


BACKGROUND
Early detection and intervention in schizophrenic disorders is an important challenge for psychiatry.

METHOD
Review of literature on effective biomedical and psychosocial intervention strategies.

RESULTS
Comprehensive programmes of drug and psychosocial interventions with adults who show early signs and symptoms of schizophrenic disorders may contribute to a lower incidence and prevalence of major episodes of schizophrenia. These programmes combine early detection of psychotic features by primary care services, with close liaison with mental health professionals. Long-term monitoring of signs of recurrence, with further intervention, appears essential to maintain these benefits.

CONCLUSIONS
Field trials demonstrate that effective early treatment strategies can be routinely applied in clinical practice.


The nonlinear propagation of ion-acoustic waves is considered in a magnetized plasma, composed of kappa distributed electrons and an inertial ion fluid. The fluid-dynamical system of equations governing the dynamics of ion-acoustic waves is reduced to a pseudoenergy-balance equation. The properties of arbitrary amplitude, obliquely propagating ion-acoustic solitary waves are thus investigated via a mechanical-motion analog (Sagdeev potential) approach. The presence of excess superthermal electrons is shown to influence the nature of magnetized ion-acoustic solitons. The influence on the soliton characteristics of relevant physical parameters such as obliqueness (the angle between soliton propagation direction and magnetic field), the electron deviation from a Maxwellian ("superthermality") and the soliton speed is investigated.


Universal antenatal haemoglobinopathy screening in this hospital has identified several women with increased haemoglobin A2 values, but without hypochromic microcytic red cell indices. This report describes two cases where there is evidence that the raised haemoglobin A2 value is not caused by heterozygous β thalassaemia, but rather results from these patients being human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive and on antiretroviral therapy. This will have important implications as universal antenatal haemoglobinopathy screening becomes more widespread, and as the number of HIV positive women of childbearing age increases.


Throughout human history, mankind has dealt with many deadly diseases. Although historians often focus on highly lethal diseases, such as smallpox, measles, and the plague, malaria has been equally devastating. This evasive adversary has afflicted humanity since the beginning of civilization and even in modern days. Among its victims were Julius Caesar, Dante, Lord Byron, Oliver Cromwell, and Theodore Roosevelt. Despite our knowledge obtained through years of prevention and local eradication, malaria still affects millions around the world. In The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years, Sonia Shah chronicles this ancient and modern interaction between humanity and malaria. As a journalist, Sonia Shah captures firsthand events in developing countries around the world where the Plasmodium bacteria manage to proliferate near major cities. In the opening pages, she talks about a small town called Chepo, located "just two hours away from a boisterous international center of commerce, Panama City." Chepo is inhabited by a community of indigenous people with little communication to the modern world. This lack of connection has created an obstacle for local authorities to educate the local population about efforts to control the Plasmodium habitats. Failure in this aspect has lead to outbreaks of malaria that subsequently have spread to nearby cities. In her attempt to deliver an account about Plasmodium's origins and evolution, Ms. Shah uses a simple style. Rather than providing excessive scientific details, she narrates the development of Plasmodium from the time it infects its first host, the Anopheles mosquito, to the time it attacks its end target, humans, birds, and other animals. She describes the evolution of the Plasmodium bacteria from an autotrophic ancestor capable of photosynthesis to its modern bacterial form. Often she includes visual aids to better explain the structure of the parasite and its rather complex life cycle. Something that we found surprising was the author's description of the influential part malaria played in the political and economic history of the world. In particular, as the European empires expanded their territories to the New World, they encountered new lethal bacteria responsible for causing diseases among them, in particular Plasmodium. In the New World, colonists viewed African people as crucial in the exploitation of resources and wealth from newly colonized regions because of their resistance to malaria. Africans had previously developed immunities to fight malaria because of their Duffy gene. This acquired immunity enabled them to live with the parasite and, if infected, experience only a discomforting fever. European colonists—unfortunately for them—often perished when bitten by a malaria-infested mosquito. The colonists saw the immunologic advantage of the African and so saw slavery as a necessity since no other human was more suited to withstand the serious consequences of being exposed to the parasite. The author introduces us to various people living in regions of the world affected by malaria. She captures the thoughts of these individuals and depicts a vivid picture of the situation, which in turn offers us better understanding of the problem. Ms. Shah even presents contrasting ideologies by highlighting a nontraditional view expressed by a reporter at an international conference on malaria held in Cameroon, who stated that living with the Plasmodium bacteria has been mostly positive, since by natural selection it makes people stronger. One provocative idea the author asserts is that perhaps developed countries do not know how to properly approach a disease as complex as malaria. Ms. Shah makes a case that struggling local scientists, not affluent high-tech laboratories, are making the most significant impact in those areas. According to her, the real progress has been performed by "obscure, underfinanced scientists making breakthroughs that go all but ignored." The contrast was evident in the early race to find the life process and cell structure of malaria during the late 19th century. In the modern era, this is typified by the well-funded Harvard Malaria Institute in the United States, where there are relatively few cases of malaria, whereas entities such as the Gorgas Institute of Malaria in Panama, where malaria is endemic, has only scarce resources. Overall, The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years is a well-written, insightful book about a disease that has been with us for thousands of years. In COPYRIGHT a 2012 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Inc. Published online Dec. 12, 2011. DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.111.097527


Background and aims. A new pathological entity with distinct clinicopathological features has been recently described and termed as juvenile spongiotic gingivitis. Histopathological associated features are unique and characterized by prominent intercellular edema (spongiosis) and neutrophil infiltrate. The aims of this paper were to: introduce juvenile spongiotic gingivitis to the dental and pediatric communities, to report three cases based on clinical and histopathological findings, and to discuss the most common clinical differential diagnoses. The cases were documented at baseline and follow-ups. The clinical appearance of the lesions described in this paper correspond to the pattern described by the literature: 1) localized lesions as bright red slightly raised overgrowths, most often with a subtle papillary or finely granular surface; or 2) multifocal masses or raised papular lesions with a pebbly texture. The first intention treatment approach was personal and professional plaque control. Because of the lack of a good clinical response to conventional therapy, excisional biopsies were performed, which helped establish the diagnosis. The plaque control was reinforced and additional antiseptic local treatment was administered. A real improvement in the local gingival conditions was recorded for all the patients. However, because of the persistence of some bright reddish gingival masses in one of the patients these lesions were treated by surgical excision. The overall clinical outcome was good and stable after one year. Conclusions. The presented cases might raise awareness of this condition among orthodontic specialists because orthodontic treatment could not be applied until the gingival gum disease was resolved.


This paper explores the relationship between deviance and esotericism, particularly as this relationship relates to the emergence of new religious movements and the processes of social accommodation and resistance. Applying sociological models for the study of deviance, I show how emergent Catholics use a variety of accommodation strategies to better fit into Roman religious expectations, constructing a public face to their worship along with ancestral ties. As they do this, the emergent Catholics dissociate themselves from other Christians, like groups with gnostic orientations, whom they have marked as different from themselves and a liability for the survival of Christianity. They begin to argue that these "other" Christians are the deviant ones, not themselves. Their willingness to Romanize certain aspects of their religion reduces the tensile relationship between their new religion and the surrounding society, increasing their ability to attract and maintain new recruits. To make matters more complicated, gnostic groups largely resist accommodation to Roman religious expectations, a strategy that powers their countercultural critique of the hegemony of Rome. They esoterize their groups by privatizing and converting their deviance into secret social capital. The choice to maintain their deviance by limiting access to their internal social networks affects their ability to recruit, grow, and sustain their communities in the long term. The social politics of deviance goes a long way to explain the rise of Catholicism and its domination over other forms of Christianity.


The authors establish a Korteweg-de Vries type equation to describe ion acoustic solitons in a plasma made up of electrons, positive and negative ions near the critical density. It is shown that the amplitudes and widths of compressive and rarefactive solitons are dependent on the ion temperatures and that this dependence is strongly asymmetric when the positive and negative ion temperatures are unequal. As an application, they analyse results of an experiment.


The process of social differentiation, or the process of creating boxes in which we can place other people and in which we can place ourselves, is key to the existence and persistence of social inequality. The focus of this article is on the construction and maintenance of boxes and boundaries with respect to sex, gender and sexuality. We take the existence of these boxes and boundaries for granted, organizing our lives around them in a variety of ways. Exceptions to them call our categorizations and the decisions we make based upon them into question. Particularly interesting in this context are intersexuality, transgender and bisexuality. Intersexuality, transgender and bisexuality have in common the fact that they challenge our easy reliance on categories and the boundaries between those categories. Our responses to, treatment of and understanding of these exceptions provides striking insights into our system of boxes and boundaries and, correspondingly, to sex-, gender- and sexuality-based inequalities.


The universities of Bangladesh used to suffer greatly from the so-called 'session jams' but most public and private universities overcome those difficulties and have mostly eliminated the session jams. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting lockdown, students are at risk of losing months or in certain cases missing sessions in the next step in their education. The situation is so dire that UNESCO has called it a worldwide unprecedented education emergency. Universities in Bangladesh and the university students in Bangladesh are also facing the same emergency. Online learning can be a potential solution to this problem. Such online learning requires facilities and infrastructure at the universities, a robust data infrastructure at the national level, and adequate computing devices and sufficient and affordable data services for the students.However, very little concrete data exists to understand whether the universities and the students have the technical and financial means to make such online classes effective and successful. This study is one of the first in Bangladesh that attempts to gauge the need and readiness of various stakeholders to implement successful fully online education. This paper suggests a process for measuring the readiness. The results can give the policymakers ideas on areas of improvement and may assist universities to launch fully online classes that will be accessible and affordable by students during and beyond the COVID-19 lockdown phase.


Background: Pain is the main symptom of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and can be classified as nociceptive pain and neuropathic pain (NP). However, the prevalence and risk factors of NP in patients with KOA at different treatment stages vary in countries and are still unclear in China.Methods: Patients in this retrospective study were divided into three groups according to treatment stage, including outpatient stage, preoperative total knee arthroplasty (pre-TKA) stage and postoperative TKA stage (post-TKA). A numeric rating scale (NRS) and PainDETECT questionnaire were used to evaluate nociceptive pain and NP. Patient demographics, radiological assessments using Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) grades, and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scores were analyzed.Results: Of the 921 patients, the prevalence of possible and likely NP was 17.5% (56/320) and 2.5% (8/320) in the pre-TKA group compared with 3.4% (8/233) and 0.4% (1/233) in the outpatient group and 1.4% (5/368) and 0.5% (2/368) in the post-TKA group, respectively. In the pre-TKA group, higher NRS (NRS>3; OR=10.65, 95% CI: 3.25-34.92, p<0.001) and WOMAC pain (WOMAC>10; OR=4.88, 95% CI: 2.38-10.01, p<0.001) scores conferred an increased risk of unclear pain. Age, gender, BMI and K-L grade showed no significant differences among the unlikely, possible and likely NP groups.Discussion: Different prevalence of NP occur in KOA patients at different treatment stages. Due to the low prevalence of NP in the outpatient and post-TKA groups, we suggest not regularly screening for NP in these patients, while it may be essential to screen for NP in patients waiting for TKA. In the latter group, higher NRS and WOMAC pain scores are important risk factors of NP.


Background: Inflammation is associated with worse prognosis and survival in many cancers. Our aim was to investigate the associations of circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentrations with all-cause mortality in cancer patients and to determine whether any associations were specific to malignancy. Method: We used data from the British Women's Heart and Health Study, a cohort of 4,286 women aged 60 to 79 years. We investigated the associations between CRP, IL-6, and survival in women with and without cancer using Cox regression and assessed the interaction between cancer status and these inflammatory markers to determine whether these associations differed according to cancer status. Results: Elevated CRP and IL-6 were associated with decreased survival in women with cancer [unadjusted hazard ratio per doubling of CRP, 1.22, 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.03, 1.46; and per doubling of IL-6, 1.52, 95% CI, 1.25, 1.86] and in women without cancer [CRP: 1.24 (1.12, 1.37); IL-6: 1.53 (1.35, 1.75)]. Adjustment for age, body mass index, physical activity level, socioeconomic position, HRT use, and tobacco smoking did not change these associations. After mutual adjustment, IL-6 but not CRP was independently associated with survival. We found no strong evidence that these associations differed between cancer patients and cancer-free women. Conclusions: Elevated CRP and IL-6 concentrations were similarly associated with an increased risk of death in elderly women with and without cancer. Thus, in this group, these markers are likely to be indicators of non-cancer comorbidities rather than related to the malignancy itself. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(6):1155–9)


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

Background: Interpretation of biological mechanisms underlying genetic risk associations for prostate cancer is complicated by the relatively large number of risk variants (n = 100) and the thousands of surrogate SNPs in linkage disequilibrium (LD). Due to the varying LD patterns and allele frequencies observed across racial/ethnic groups, studies in multiple populations have been suggested to increase power for fine-mapping by reducing the number of surrogates that are correlated with the underlying functional allele.

Methods: We examined 69 risk regions using genotyping and imputation-based fine-mapping in a large multiethnic sample comprised of 17,524 prostate cancer cases and 17,519 controls from populations of European (8,600 cases and 6,946 controls), African (5,327 cases and 5,136 controls), Asian (2,563 cases and 4,391 controls) and Latino (1,034 cases and 1,046 controls) ancestry. We then combined multiethnic fine-mapping results with detailed tissue-specific functional annotation (based upon epigenetic data and genome-encoded features) and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis to localize and prioritize risk alleles for future laboratory testing.

Results: Markers at 57 regions passed a region-specific significance threshold (p-value cutoff range: 5.6×10−3-3.9×10−4) and in 32 regions we identified markers that better capture the association signals in the multiethnic sample. Novel secondary signals (p<5.0×10−6) were also detected in two regions (rs13062436/3q21 and rs17181170/3p12). Among 668 variants in the 57 regions with p-values within one order of magnitude of the most-associated marker, 200 variants (30%) in 48 regions overlapped with epigenetic or other putative functional marks. In 12 of the 57 regions, cis-eQTLs were detected with nearby genes. For 12 of the 57 regions (21%), the most-associated marker represented the strongest candidate functional variant based on annotations; the number of regions increased to 20 (35%) and 27 (47%) when examining the 2 and 3 most significantly associated variants in each region, respectively.

Conclusions: We have characterized 57 prostate cancer risk regions through statistical multiethnic fine-mapping, functional annotation and cis-eQTL analyses. The results have prioritized candidate variants for downstream functional evaluation to understand biological mechanisms at prostate cancer risk regions.

Citation Format: Ying Han, Dennis J. Hazelett, Brian E. Henderson, David V. Conti, Gerhard A. Coetzee, Christopher A. Haiman, on behalf of the GAME-ON/ELLIPSE Consortium. Integration of multiethnic fine-mapping and genomic annotation to prioritize candidate functional SNPs at prostate cancer susceptibility regions. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4607. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4607


Brush border myosin-I (BBMI) is associated with the membrane of intestinal epithelial cells where it probably plays a structural role. BBMI also has been identified on Golgi-derived vesicles in intestinal epithelial cells where it may translocate vesicles into the brush border. However, the mechanochemical activity of BBMI bound to a phospholipid membrane has not been described. This study reports that phospholipid membrane-associated BBMI displays ATPase activity when bound to phospholipids, but does not move actin filaments when associated with a phospholipid bilayer. BBMI does not bind significantly to brush border membrane lipids, which contain about 16% phosphatidylserine (PS), in either a pelleting or planar membrane assay. Similarly, planar membranes containing 20% PS do not bind a significant amount of BBMI. Increasing the concentration of PS to 40% does result in the binding of BBMI to both vesicles and planar membranes. This binding is enhanced with increased Ca2+ concentrations. BBMI retains its ATPase activity when bound to phospholipid vesicles containing 40% PS. However, BBMI attached to a phospholipid bilayer surface does not move actin filaments, even though the amount of BBMI bound to the lipid surface, as reflected by the number of actin filaments associated with bilayer-bound BBMI, is sufficient to observe motility in control experiments. When membrane fluidity is reduced by adding cholesterol to the membrane lipids containing 40% PS, BBMI still binds to the membrane, but again no actin filament motility is observed. The lack of binding by BBMI to brush border membrane lipids and the absence of membrane-associated BBMI mechanical activity suggest that factors in addition to membrane lipids are necessary for membrane-associated myosin-I motility.


The thermal conductivity of a solid parahydrogen crystal with methane admixtures was measured in the temperature range 1.5 to 8 K. Solid samples were grown from the gas mixtures at 13 K. The concentration of CH4 admixture molecules in the gas varied from 5 to 570 ppm. A very broad thermal conductivity peak with an absolute value of about 110 W/(m⋅K) was observed at 2.6 K. The data were interpreted using Callaway's model with resonance scattering of phonons by quasilocal vibrations of CH4 molecules and phonon–grain boundary and phonon–phonon scattering. As grain boundary scattering increases, the broadening of the peak decreases. The analysis shows that a solid mixture of p-H2 and CH4 is a heterogeneous solution for CH4 concentration higher than 0.1 ppm.


Techniques for the separation of proteins have proved to be powerful tools in the study of genetic variation. Polymorphisms on protein levels can be used to study the structure of populations. In general, differences in allele frequencies can be found among populations in different parts of the distribution area of a species. If, however, enough gene flow occurs by migration, the whole system can be regarded as one panmictic unit and similar frequencies can be expected in the whole area.

African armyworms are caterpillars of the noctuid moth Spodoptera exempta. They live on all sorts of graminaceous plants on which vast outbreaks can occur. Their economic importance can be considerable since they eat the main human food crops as well as pasture grasses. The occurrence of migration in S. exempta is known but its importance is a main controversial point. Outbreaks move during the year. These outbreaks could be caused by migrating animals or by increasing local populations when conditions are favourable.

The aim of this study has been to determine the relative importance of migration. Allele frequencies have been determined of six alleloenzymes that proved to be genetically polymorphic, an EST, 0-HBDH, ODH, a-GPDH, ME and LDH. Seventeen armyworm samples have been collected at a maximal distance of 2000 km in Kenya, Tanzania and Rhodesia on different food plants during 1975 and 1976.

No heterogeneity among these samples could be detected in the allele frequencies. A comparison with data from relevant literature on insects showed that the lack of heterogeneity cannot be described to inadequacy of the data. The occurrence of extensive migration is concluded to cause the similarity in allele frequencies.


The ability of a strain of Clostridium tetani to produce toxin is conventionally determined by measuring the Lf titer of the culture supernatant fluid after lysis is completed sometime after the third or fourth day of incubation. Although the flocculation procedure has been repeatedly found useful in the development of a suitable nutritional background for toxin production (Mueller and 1liller, 1954, 1955), it is not appropriate for studying the dynamics of tetanus toxin synthesis. The work of Raynaud (1951) and Raynaud et al. (1955) established the existence of significant quantities of extractable toxin within the bacillary bodies. In order to study the early phases of tetanus toxin synthesis it is necessary to measure the toxin in whole bacilli taken from young cultures before the onset of autolysis. The method reported here involves the injection of washed bacilli into mice under conditions where multiplication in vivo and continued toxin formation are believed to be minimal. When bacilli from a relatively nontoxigenic medium are transferred to a more suitable medium, application of this technique reveals that there is a marked increase in the amount of toxin per cell unit during the early phases of growth. This finding provides an experimental basis for evaluating the factors required for toxin formation without the added complication of cell lysis.


This paper investigates the dynamic causal linkage between bank-based financial development and economic growth in Ethiopia during the period from 1980 to 2014. The study includes savings and investment as intermittent variables in an attempt to address the omission of variable bias ? thereby creating a multivariate Granger-causality model. Using the newly developed autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach to cointegration and the error-correction model-based causality model, the study finds that in the short run, both financial development and economic growth Granger-cause each other in Ethiopia. However, in the long run, there is unidirectional Granger-causality from bank-based financial development to economic growth. The study, therefore, recommends that policies aimed at enhancing both economic growth and financial development should be pursued in the short run. However, in the long run, policies that target the development of the banking sector should be prioritised in order to ensure a sustained growth path.


This article reflects on lessons learnt from recent research and evaluation work in secondary schools operating in urban and challenging contexts in England. It is suggested that there is a common process that effective leaders follow in order to generate and sustain tangible improvements. Central to this argument are the incremental devolution of autonomy and the sequential development of meaningful interpersonal relationships within the organisation. In conclusion this article speculates that successful leaders in schools facing challenging contexts have a highly developed understanding of the necessity to achieve synergy between leadership approaches and the development phase of the organisation.


This study examined the effect of the ratio of dietary metabolizable energy (MJ) to nitrogen (g) content (ME:N) on average daily gain (ADG), blood biochemical indices, rumen fermentation parameters, and rumen bacterial community in yaks. Thirty-six male yaks, aged 2–3 years, were divided into three groups and received a ME:N ratio of 0.42 (HY), 0.36 (MY,) or 0.32 (LY) MJ/g. Dry matter intake ranged between 3.16 and 3.63 kg/d and was lesser (p < 0.001) in the LY group than the other two groups. ME intake increased (p < 0.001) with an increase in the ME:N ratio, while N intake did not differ among groups. The ADG was 660 g/day for the MY group, which was higher (p < 0.005) than the 430 g/day in the LY group, while the HY group gained 560 g/day and did not differ from the other two groups. Feed intake to ADG ratio ranged between 5.95 and 7.95, and numerically was highest in the LY group and lowest in the MY group. In general, the concentration of ruminal total volatile fatty acids (p < 0.03) and molar proportions of propionate (p < 0.04), increased, while the molar proportion of acetate (p < 0.005) and the acetate:propionate ratio decreased (p < 0.001) with a decrease in the ME:N ratio. The molar proportion of butyrate did not differ among groups (p = 0.112). Group MY had higher ruminal NH3-N content than group HY and had a higher serum glucose content but lower urea content, lactate dehydrogenase, and creatine kinase content than group LY. In ruminal bacteria at the phylum level, the relative abundance of Firmicutes (F) was greater and of Bacteroidetes (B) was lesser, while the F:B ratio was greater in group MY than in groups HY an LY. We concluded that the yaks consuming the diet containing a ME:N ratio of 0.36 MJ/g had the best performance of the three groups.


Probabilistic optimization algorithms that mimic the process of biological evolution are usually subsumed under the termèvolutionary algorithms.' This work extends the convergence theory of evolutionary algorithms by presenting a suucient convergence condition for those evolutionary algorithms that do not necessarily generate a sequence of feasible points such that the associated objective function values decrease monotonically to the global minimum. Moreover, it is investigated how fast the sequence of objective function values generated by an evolutionary algorithm approaches the minimum of strongly convex functions in a probabilistic sense. The theoretical analysis presented here distinguishes from related studies in three points: First, it does not require advanced calculus. Second, only the rst partial derivatives of the objective function are assumed to exist. Third, one obtains sharp bounds on the convergence rates for a class of functions being a superset of the class of quadratic functions with positive deenite Hessian matrix.


The N100m source of the auditory evoked magnetic fields (AEFs) is located more posterior in the left than the right hemisphere in male subjects. However, whether this asymmetry exists in female subjects is controversial. The present study, analyzed the N100m source positions of the AEFs due to monaural tone stimuli using a helmet-shaped 66-channel magnetoencephalography system (CTF Systems) in 62 right-handed normal adults (24 females and 38 males). The best fit sphere was calculated for each subject from the head shape reconstructed from three-dimensional magnetic resonance images. N100m source positions were estimated using a double-dipole model. The contralateral N100m response to the stimulated ear was measured relative to the midpoint of the bilateral auricular points. Statistical analysis used a standardized head size for each subject based on the mean value of all subjects (r = 8.27 cm). In females, the N100m dipole positions were 0.00 +/- 1.02 cm anterior in the left hemisphere and 0.35 +/- 0.74 cm in the right (p < 0.02). In males, the N100m dipole positions were -0.31 +/- 0.81 cm (mean +/- standard deviation) anterior in the left hemisphere and 0.61 +/- 0.78 cm in the right (p < 0.0001). The interhemispheric difference in the N100m positions was 0.35 +/- 0.65 in females and 0.92 +/- 0.77 in males (p < 0.005). In conclusion, the left hemispheric N100m is located more posterior to the right in both genders. However, this functional asymmetry is more evident in males, like previous findings of more evident anatomical asymmetry in males.


Alteration in the number of taste buds on the soft palate (SP), fungiform (FF), foliate (FL) and circumvallate (CV) papillae in the common marmoset at different postnatal ages was examined histologically. After paraffin embedding, complete serial sections at 10 microm thickness were made and stained by HE. Digitized images for each section were examined carefully. The number of FF taste buds at day 1 was 334. While only 20% of all the taste buds at birth possessed a taste pore, 39% of 174 SP taste buds at day 1 possessed a taste pore. The number of taste buds with pores at day 1 was small for the center CV (19 of 59), one side CV (7 of 25), and one side FL (2 of 16). These results suggest that the functional maturation of SP taste buds may precede maturation in other areas of the tongue. The total number of taste buds increased with increasing age, reached a maximum at 2 months of age: FF, 1069; SP, 609; CV-center, 530; CV-side, 390; FL, 201, and decreased thereafter. Almost all taste buds possessed a taste pore after 2 months of age. The decrease in the number of taste buds in the oral cavity with increase in age may change taste sensitivity.


The paper discusses a methodological approach developed for reconstruction of thyroid doses from internal exposure to 131I and prospects of future works in this field. Estimated levels of thyroid irradiation for the population of Russia after the accident are presented. These results have been obtained based on the retrospective analysis using the developed approach. Also, long-term health consequences of thyroid irradiation in the population of Russia have been predicted. Retrospective estimates have been made for individual thyroid doses for children and adolescents with the diagnosis of thyroid cancer living on the contaminated areas.


One of the most promising concepts in nitrate therapy is interval therapy, a dosage scheme with marked changes of nitrate concentrations in the 24-h interval. In a single-blind, placebo-controlled study in patients with coronary heart disease we investigated the circadian anti-ischaemia and haemodynamic response to interval therapy with isosorbide dinitrate (120 mg sustained release 1 X 1). 10 male patients (46-75 years, mean 60 years) with chronic stable angina and ST-segment depression during exercise entered the trial. At the end of a 10-day placebo period (medication at 8 am) three exercise tests were performed (10 am, 2 pm, 6 pm), recording ST-segment changes, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCP) and cardiac index (CI). Spontaneous ischaemic events were detected by Holter monitoring until 8 am the next day. After three weeks of therapy with isosorbide dinitrate, the protocol was repeated (statistics: paired t-test, *P less than 0.05). PCP was reduced by 8.3 mmHg* at 10 am, 8.0 mmHg at 2 pm, 2.9 mmHg (NS) at 6 pm with a concomitant increase of cardiac index (+0.8,* +0.7*, +0.3 NS l min-1 m-2). While the haemodynamic improvement was maximal in the morning the anti-ischaemia effect (reduction of ST-depression) was constant during the active day (-0.40*, -0.50*, -0.43* mm). Four transient ischaemia episdodes at night were recorded under placebo, none under isosorbide dinitrate. In conclusion, all parameters studied demonstrate the effectiveness of chronic interval therapy with isosorbide dinitrate.


Purpose - Public financial management practices in emerging economies have evolved overtime with the aim of improving national budget systems and promoting sustainable development. Therefore, the integration of the Ghanaian economy into the global one does not in any way immune it from shocks brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war. The approach in this paper is to document my thoughts and opinion on Ghana's public financial management practices in the context of global surprises.
Design/methodology/approach - The PEFA framework is used to assess the budget credibility of Ghana.
Findings – The findings shows that although a lot has been done to sanitise the public space in budgetary management, there is glowing evidence that suggest the public purse is riddled with systemic culture of corruption and mismanagement.
Originality/Value – Most developing economies have very good blue-prints on how to manage resources, but when it comes to actualising the imports of these blue-prints, there is a challenge. Ghana's experience is commendable and worth being brought to the fore for all economies in the African region and beyond to emulate.


Ankle injuries involving the lateral ankle ligaments are among the most common injuries of the musculoskeletal system. Ankle ligament injuries are collectively known as ankle sprains, which refer to the mechanism of the injury rather than the degree of the injury. Diagnostic accuracy of complete lateral ligaments rupture with an acute instability of the ankle joint (grade III) and ligaments laxity in adults with the chronic ankle instability is problematic. Stress ultrasonography can image the lateral talocrural joint and evaluate acute or chronic lateral ankle instability. Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the result of ultrasound diagnostics of lateral ankle instability in held-forced positions (anterior drawer test). Methods: 20 patients were examined after acute lateral ankle sprain (grade III) under local anesthesia. 20 patients were examined with chronic ankle instability symptoms. Diagnosis of acute ankle instability and chronic mechanical ankle instability was based on musculoskeletal ultrasound examinations. The distance between the posterior rim of the tibia and talus was measured for each ankle. To diagnose the ligament tear as being a complete tear, the difference between the injured and uninjured ankle had to be greater than 3 mm in dorsal cuts (Ernst approach to identify talocrural instability). Results: Ultrasound examinations performed under local anesthesia with ankles in held-forced positions (anterior drawer test) demonstrated that the difference between the injured and uninjured ankle was greater than 3 mm in dorsal cuts. We found no significant differences in talocrural joint laxity between acute and chronic ankle instability. Conclusion: Stress ultrasonography in acute and chronic ankle instability identified significant differences in non-stress (basic neutral position) and stress position (anterior drawer test). Incomplete healing of the ligament tissue results in post-traumatic ligament laxity, predisposing the joint to further injury. Ultrasound imaging represents an effective, non-invasive and relatively low-cost method without negative side effects, which makes the ultrasound scanner a practical tool in the clinical setting.


In this paper the two-body problem with atmospheric drag is considered. A cannonball drag model is utilized and the problem is solved with the analytic continuation power series technique. Recent developments of the method have made it possible to sum the series to arbitrary order enabling machine precision power series solutions for the two-body problem and the zonal gravitational perturbations. Based on these recent developments a simple drag model is considered and the corresponding recursion formulas are derived and presented. Additionally, the method will be evaluated in terms of computational cost and accuracy including a sensitivity analysis to the method parameters (number of terms in the series and step size control).


We present Spitzer IRAC and MIPS observations of the star-forming region containing intermediate-mass young stellar object (YSO) AFGL 490. We supplement these data with near-IR Two Micron All Sky Survey photometry and with deep Simultaneous Quad Infrared Imaging Device observations off the central high-extinction region. We have more than doubled the known membership of this region to 57 Class I and 303 Class II YSOs via the combined 1–24 μm photometric catalog derived from these data. We construct and analyze the minimum spanning tree of their projected positions, isolating one locally overdense cluster core containing 219 YSOs (60.8% of the region's members). We find this cluster core to be larger yet less dense than similarly analyzed clusters. Although the structure of this cluster core appears irregular, we demonstrate that the parsec-scale surface densities of both YSOs and gas are correlated with a power-law slope of 2.8, as found for other similarly analyzed nearby molecular clouds. We also explore the mass segregation implications of AFGL 490's offset from the center of its core, finding that it has no apparent preferential central position relative to the low-mass members.


The aim of this study is a systematic evaluation and comparison of four state-of-the-art data-driven learning algorithms applied to part of speech tagging of Swedish. The algorithms included in this study are Hidden Markov Model, Maximum Entropy, Memory-Based Learning, and Transformation-Based Learning. The systems are evaluated from several aspects. Both the effects of tag set and the effects of the size of training data are examined. The accuracy is calculated as well as the error rate for known and unknown tokens. The results show differences between the approaches due to the different linguistic information built into the systems.


Of 200 lung cancer lesions resected in our hospital, there were 15 cases (7.5%) with middle lobe origin. The histological types were adenocarcinoma in 13 patients (4 patients with alveolar cell carcinoma), squamous cell carcinoma in one and large cell carcinoma in one. These patients were classified into two groups according to the type of operation they received and each group was evaluated. Group I (resection of the middle lobe) included 8 patients. Each one of Stage IIIB and Stage IV received the operation to improve their symptoms. The six patients of Stage I received only middle lobectomy as absolute curable cases. Group II (resection of the middle and lower lobes) included 7 patients, who had preoperative diagnosis of stage III. Two of them were postoperatively found to be cases of Stage I and Stage II. Although it was still short-term, the follow-up evaluation proved that these patients survived without local recurrence and distant metastasis, except for two with pleural dissemination and one with cerebral metastasis, who had received lobectomy as palliative operation. No difference was observed between the two groups receiving different types of operation.


The endocytoscopy system (ECS), adapted for clinical use in 2003, is an ultra‐high‐power magnifying endoscope that allows observations at the cell level. ECS is based on the technology of light‐contact microscopy. The most evident use of ECS is for real‐time, high‐resolution diagnosis of nuclear abnormalities, mainly in patients with esophageal cancer. Up to now, three different types of ECS have been available. This diagnostic tool makes it possible to omit histological examination of biopsy samples in approximately 84% of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, as evidence for both an increase of cell density and nuclear abnormalities is considered to be convincing proof that a lesion is malignant. Here we describe the features of ECS and the background that led to its development, and review the published literature pertaining to the observation of esophageal neoplasms using ECS.