Di-ethyl ether (DEE) belongs to the family of oxygenated fuels, which have been investigated as an alternative to conventional diesel. However, increasing the proportion of DEE in DEE-diesel blends changes its physicochemical properties. This work shows the non-evaporating and non-reacting spray characteristics of diesel, DEE20 (20% v/v DEE and 80% v/v diesel), and DEE40 (40% v/v DEE and 60% v/v diesel) were investigated. The effect of fuel injection pressure (FIP: 500 and 800 bar) on the spray morphology and droplet size distribution at different axial locations along the spray axis was done. FIP of 800 bar showed a reduction in Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of spray droplets with increasing axial distance due to improved spray atomisation because of the drag forces of the surrounding air on the fuel droplets. DEE20 showed a higher number of droplets having a smaller diameter than DEE40. DEE20 and DEE40 showed superior spray atomisation characteristics than diesel. A slight increase in radial velocity was also observed with the axial location for all test fuels. DEE40 exhibited lower radial velocity compared to DEE20 and diesel. Higher fluctuation in the axial velocity of droplets was observed at an axial distance of 60 mm compared to 20 mm for diesel. This was due to increased droplet velocity distribution after the end of the injection. An increased number of smaller droplets resulted in lower jet momentum in the axial direction at the FIP of 800 bar. As a result, the average axial droplet velocity was higher at lower FIP. DEE40 showed more fluctuations amongst all test fuels, possibly due to drastic droplet diameter changes due to its superior evaporation characteristics. In this study, DEE40 at a FIP of 500 bar showed superior atomisation and evaporation characteristics. This indicated that a low-cost fuel injection system could be used for the maximum diesel replacement by DEE.


Objective To examine if hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) can induce the upregulation of the purinergic receptor P2Y2 (P2Y2) and thereby promote the viability of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells under hypoxic conditions. Methods Archival HCC tumour specimens and corresponding non-cancerous tissues were examined immunohistochemically for P2Y2 protein. A series of in vitro experiments were undertaken using HCC cell lines to determine the effect of hypoxia on HIF-1α and P2Y2 levels, the effect of HIF-1α upregulation on P2Y2 levels, and the effect of P2Y2 upregulation on cell viability under hypoxic conditions. Results Human HCC specimens were positive for P2Y2. Hypoxia and upregulated HIF-1α both upregulated the P2Y2 levels in HCC cell lines. P2Y2 upregulation using plasmid transfection resulted in enhanced cell viability under hypoxia. Treatment of HepG2 cells with the selective P2Y2 antagonist MRS2312 downregulated P2Y2 and reduced cell viability in five HCC cell lines. P2Y2 knockdown reduced HepG2 cell viability under hypoxia. Conclusions These present results suggest that HCC cells upregulate P2Y2 levels during hypoxia, which in turn promotes their growth. P2Y2 could be a potential therapeutic target for treating HCC.


The article intends to shed light on certain aspects related to the perspective of semiotic and psychoanalytical analysis of the film The Wall (1982). The scope of the thematic field allows us to problematize the following question: What are the possible subjective readings or interpretations of the central visual, sound and verbal elements of The Wall's film narrative, in the semiotic and psychoanalytic perspectives? The film reveals the complexity of human reality translated into real, symbolic and imagined narratives. Subjectivities expressed in its images, music, gestures and behavioral lapses, colors and shapes, verbalized and non-verbalized thoughts. Such communicative resources enable the psychological and semiotic interpretation of the messages intertwined in the filmic text. Qualitative Research, of a discursive nature, will be the methodological basis, able to investigate the subjective and intersubjective elements present in the feature film. The semiotic analysis added to the psychoanalytic psychological view proposes to translate the fundamental bases of the meanings intrinsic to the complex scenario of contents present in "The Wall", since there are simultaneously several articulated messages presented in a number of overlapping languages and scenarios: a historical outline of the Pink Floyd group, a depressive post-war scenario in England, an atmosphere of anguish represented at various times and a personal history of degradation - diverse content being narrated in an intricate way in the film. The analyzed perspective highlights a debate that can expand the meaning of walls in the context of the current reality.


The CNM characterization of normal modes method for extracting chemical information out of vibrational spectra is tested for vibrational spectra of molecules with relatively strong or relatively weak coupling between internal vibrational modes. Symmetry, parameter set stability, and frequency uncertainty tests are applied to check whether internal vibrational modes, internal mode frequencies, and amplitudes A comply with symmetry, are independent of the set of internal parameters O used to nU n describe molecular geometry or fulfill a Lorentzian correlation between amplitudes AnU and frequency differences a a â a a a . In all cases considered, amplitudes A nU n U n U based on adiabatic internal modes and mass or force constant matrices as metric O are superior to any other definition of amplitude. They represent the basic elements of the new CNM method that leads to chemically reasonable results and presents a new way of extracting chemical information out of vibrational spectra. A number of deficiencies of e. the potential energy distribution PED analysis is discussed. a 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 67 :4 1 a55, 1998


【This study adopted the ultra precision machining system which was composed of an air bearing spindle, a granite bed, air pad and a linear feeding mechanism. It also applied the cutting experiment on the aluminum alloy. To evaluate the safety of high speed machining, we examined the surface roughness according to the changes of cutting speed and obtained the speed limit. This paper also studied the effect of cutting condition such as feed rates and depths of cut on the surface roughness within the speed limit. This provided practical information regarding ultra precision machining.】


A review and typical case history of a patient with skin burns caused by prolonged exposure to wet cement was presented. This case is similar to other reported cases in the length of exposure, prolonged healing time, and typical scar formation. Burns from prolonged exposure to wet cement can result in potentially devastating long-term sequelae. The dermatologic hazards of wet cement are well recognized; however, many patients have suffered cement burns from working in wet cement. Product education and proper protection appear to be the best preventive measures.


Background and purpose: Cancer is a major public health burden in both developed and developing countries. Natural and some synthetic compounds can prevent, suppress, or reverse the progression of cancer. The main purpose of the work is to provide cheapest plant based therapy for treatment of cancer, in order to reduce the risk of cancer. Material and Methods: Bioactive compound namely lycopene was extracted from Citrullus lanatus fruit and its purity was analyzed by HPLC. The tumor induced swiss albino mice was treated with lycopene and comparative studies was carried out with standard available carboplatin. Experimental samples/tissues of the mice were subjected to various experiments to find out efficacy of lycopene action against Dalton's lymphoma ascites tumor. Impact of lycopene in cancer expressed in terms of suppression in cell arrest/control measures were confirmed by western blot techniques Result: Lycopene combined carboplatin showed promising cytotoxic activity against Dalton's lymphoma ascites tumor when compared to carboplatin. The experimental research showed better healing or suppression of cancer proliferation. Conclusion: Experiment was designed in the form of cancer induction in mice model, different batches of experimental animals were treated and results concluded that combination of carboplatin with lycopene showed better therapeutic effect on Dalton's lymphoma ascites tumor. In future lycopene will be formulated as pharmaceutical product.


This paper reviews the physical properties of liquid-crystalline phases arising in solutions containing molecules of amphiphilic substances. The basic characteristics of micelle formation in dilute solutions, models of sphere–disk or sphere–cylinder structural transformations, as well as phase transitions related to the appearance of lyotropic mesophases in the system, including nematic, lamellar, hexagonal, and others, are examined. The results of experimental and theoretical investigation of "solvation" forces acting between micelles in the solvent, as well as recently studied models of swelling of lamellar phases are presented. The phenomena occurring near the inversion point of microemulsions in amphiphile–oil–water systems are examined briefly. The role of liquid-crystalline ordering in some biological systems is discussed.


In pediatric-aged patients, various factors may result in perioperative hypertension including renal failure or insufficiency, volume overload, or other factors that activate the sympathetic nervous system including pain and agitation. Perioperative blood pressure control may be even more difficult to achieve and maintain in patients with pre-existing hypertension. We present a 16-year-old adolescent with renal failure and hypertension who presented for anesthetic care during placement of a peritoneal dialysis catheter. Perioperative blood pressure control was achieved with the administration of clevidipine, an ultra-short acting calcium channel antagonist of the dihydropyridine class. Its role in the perioperative control of blood pressure is discussed.


The 3 aims of Project Quit Tobacco International are to design a tobacco curriculum for medical colleges, develop culturally appropriate approaches to clinic and community-based tobacco cessation, and to build tobacco research and training networks within India and Indonesia as a prototype for other countries. This article describes pilot interventions being launched in 10 medical colleges in these 2 countries to (a) integrate tobacco into their 4-year training programs, ( b) establish illness-specific cessation clinics, and (c) involve colleges in community outreach efforts to promote smoke-free households. This article reports on lessons learned, challenges faced, and successes realized to date.


Objectives Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). People with AIDS are much more vulnerable to infections, including opportunistic infections and tumors, than people with a healthy immune system. The objective of this study was to correlate oral lesions associated with HIV/AIDS and immunosuppression levels by measuring clusters of differentiation 4 (CD4) cell counts among patients living in the middle western regions of Ghana. Materials and Methods A total of 120 patients who visited the HIV clinic at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and the Regional Hospital Sunyani of Ghana were consecutively enrolled in this prospective and cross-sectional study. Referred patients' baseline CD4 counts were obtained from medical records and each patient received an initial physician assessment. Intraoral diagnoses were based on the classification and diagnostic criteria of the EEC Clearinghouse, 1993. After the initial assessment, extra- and intraoral tissues from each enrolled patient were examined. Data analyses were carried out using simple proportions, frequencies and chi-square tests of significance. Results Our study included 120 patients, and was comprised of 42 (35.0%) males and 78 (65.0%) females, ranging in age from 21 to 67 years with sex-specific mean ages of 39.31 years (males) and 39.28 years (females). Patient CD4 count values ranged from 3 to 985 cells/mL with a mean baseline CD4 count of 291.29 cells/mL for males and 325.92 cells/mL for females. The mean baseline CD4 count for the entire sample was 313.80 cells/mL. Of the 120 patients we examined, 99 (82.5%) were observed to have at least one HIV-associated intraoral lesion while 21 (17.5%) had no intraoral lesions. Oral candidiasis, periodontitis, melanotic hyperpigmentation, gingivitis and xerostomia were the most common oral lesions. Conclusion From a total of nine oral lesions, six lesions that included oral candidiasis, periodontitis, melanotic hyperpigmentation, gingivitis, xerostomia and oral hairy leukoplakia were significantly correlated with declining CD4 counts.


A 46-year-old man was diagnosed with acute myelomonocytic leukemia involving inv(16)(p13.1q22) in August 2007. He received a human leukocyte antigen-identical, ABO major-mismatched (donor: A, recipient: O) bone marrow transplantation from an unrelated donor in June 2009. Cyclosporin A (CsA) and short-course methotrexate were used for graft versus host disease prophylaxis. Although granulocyte and platelet engraftment were achieved, the patient exhibited persistent anemia and was dependent on red blood cell (RBC) transfusions. Bone marrow aspiration on day 63 revealed the near absence of erythroid precursors, a finding consistent with pure red cell aplasia. No CBFβ-MYH11 transcripts were detected. The recipient's anti-A IgM antibody titer was 1:64, and his anti-A IgG antibody titer was 1:1024. The discontinuation of CsA, and the initiation of rituximab and donor lymphocyte infusions were all ineffective against his anemia. He was treated with high-dose dexamethasone (DEXA) (40 mg/day DEXA, days 657-660, days 757-760; 20 mg/day DEXA, days 764-767, days 772-775) in April 2010. A follow-up examination performed at 7 months after the high-dose DEXA treatment showed the patient's anti-A antibody titer to have dropped to an undetectable level. His hemoglobin levels also returned to normal (Hb: 13.4 g/dl), and he no longer required RBC transfusions.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the rate, severity, need for intervention, and blood transfusion requirement in post-tonsillectomy bleeding following the use of either cold dissection or the monopolar microdissection needle method.

METHODS
A prospective randomized study conducted at Abha Private Hospital, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on patients undergoing tonsillectomy between June 2006 and December 2010. Patients were allocated randomly by using cold dissection or monopolar microdissection techniques. Collected information included demographic data, method, duration of surgery, and estimated blood loss. Timing of bleeding and management were recorded.

RESULTS
A total of 1419 patients underwent tonsillectomy, 634 male and 785 female with mean age of 14.8 years (range 2-48 years). Cold dissection was used in 674 patients and monopolar microdissection needle in 745 patients. Mean surgical time in the cold dissection group was 7 minutes (range 3.5-15 minutes), while in the monopolar microdissection group was 3.2 minutes (range 2.2-9.5 minutes). Twenty-seven patients developed post-tonsillectomy bleeding (rate of 1.9%); 21 (3.1%) from the cold dissection and 6 (0.8%) from the monopolar microdissection group, (p<0.001). All patients were hospitalized. Eleven patients; 9 from the cold dissection group and 2 following monopolar microdissection, underwent surgical intervention to stop bleeding. No patient received blood transfusion.

CONCLUSION
Patients underwent tonsillectomy using the monopolar microdissection (Colorado needle) had statistically significant less post-tonsillectomy bleeding rate and severity compared with those using the cold dissection method.


Animal coloration has been rigorously studied and has provided morphological implications for fitness with influences over social behavior, predator-prey interactions, and sexual selection. In vertebrates, its study has developed our understanding across diverse fields ranging from behavior to molecular biology. In the search for underlying molecular mechanisms many have taken advantage of pedigree-based and genome-wide association screens to reveal the genetic architecture responsible for pattern variation that occurs in early development. However, genetic differences do not provide a full picture of the dynamic changes in coloration that are most prevalent across vertebrates at the molecular level. Changes in coloration that occur in adulthood via phenotypic plasticity rely on various social, visual, and dietary cues independent of genetic variation. In this review, I will review the contributions of pigment cell biology to animal color changes and recent studies describing their molecular underpinnings and function. In this regard, conserved epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation play a role in lending plasticity to gene regulation as it relates to chromatophore function.Lastly, I will present African cichlids as emerging models for the study of pigmentation and molecular plasticity for animal color changes. I posit that these processes, in a dialogue with environmental stimuli, are important regulators of variation and the selective advantages that accompany a change in coloration for vertebrate animals.


The present work investigates the exergy and effective efficiency of the multi-pass solar air collector with longitudinal fins by analysis approach and multi-objective optimization. The effect of 0.01-0.02 kg/s air flow rate, 15-35 mm collector depth, 1-3 m collector length, and 24.21-30.67 mm fin pitch was considered. The optimization was analyzed by the Preference Selection Index (PSI) method, with three maximum criteria: thermal efficiency, effective efficiency, and exergy efficiency. Mathematical models were solved by EES software. Results indicated that the multi-pass (TPLF and DPLF) type was better than the SPWF type by three criteria. The highest exergy efficiency of the TPLF and DPLF types was 6.696% and 5.636%. The greatest effective efficiency of the TPLF and DPLF types was 69.09% and 66.17%. Furthermore, the optimization results indicated that the three efficiency criteria of the DPLF type were 58.38%, 58.22%, and 4.491% for the best case; the three efficiency criteria of the TPLF type were 60.97%, 60.85%, and 5.439% for the best case. The worst configuration was the model with a short collector length, large collector depth, and large fin pitch. The collector efficiency decreased with decreased fin pitch for the configuration with the large collector length, short collector depth, and high mass flow rate.


The frequency-response-masking (FRM) technique proposed by Lim (1986) has proven effectiveness for the design of very sharp digital filters with reduced implementation complexity compared to other options. In this paper, we propose a constrained optimization method for the design of basic and multistage FRM filters where the prototype filters are of infinite-impulse response (IIR) with prescribed pole radius. The design is accomplished through a sequence of linear updates for the design variables with each update carried out using second-order cone programming. Computer simulations have demonstrated that the class of IIR FRM filters investigated in the paper offers an attractive alternative to its finite-impulse response counterpart in terms of filter performance, system delay, and realization complexity.


Rating and recommendation systems have become a popular application area for applying a suite of machine learning techniques. Current approaches rely primarily on probabilistic interpretations and extensions of matrix factorization, which factorizes a user-item ratings matrix into latent user and item vectors. Most of these methods fail to model significant variations in item ratings from otherwise similar users, a phenomenon known as the "Napoleon Dynamite'' effect. Recent efforts have addressed this problem by adding a contextual bias term to the rating, which captures the mood under which a user rates an item or the context in which an item is rated by a user. In this work, we extend this model in a nonparametric sense by learning the optimal number of moods or contexts from the data, and derive Gibbs sampling inference procedures for our model. We evaluate our approach on the Movie Lens 1M dataset, and show significant improvements over the optimal parametric baseline, more than twice the improvements previously encountered for this task. We also extract and evaluate a DBLP dataset, wherein we predict the number of papers co-authored by two authors, and present improvements over the parametric baseline on this alternative domain as well.


Vitiligo is a common dermatosis occurring with a frequency of about 0.2-4.0% in world population. The main skin symptom of disease are white patches appearing as a result of destruction or dysfunction of pigment cells (melanocytes). Melanocytes are localized not only in epidermis and bulge region of hair follicle, but also in inner ear and eyeball structures, and therefore vitiligo may coexists with auditory and visual disorders. The most frequent auditory and visual disturbances occurring in vitiligo patients are discussed in this article.


Background and Aims: Morbidly Adherent Placenta(MAP) is associated with severe morbidity like severe postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), probable need for massive blood transfusion and invasive procedures such as hysterectomy. We reviewed all cases of MAP in our institute between May 2015 to July 2019. The main objectives of the study were to determine the incidence, risk factors and both fetomaternal outcome in these women. Material and Methods: This was a retrospective study done in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore from May 2015 to July 2019.There were 12 women with MAP during this period. Results: In the present study, there were a total of 12 cases of MAP over 5 year period with incidence of MAP being 0.017%(1/983 live births).The mean age of the women was 31 years. Among 12 women, 10(84%) were multigravida, 7 (58 %) were within 28 weeks to 37 weeks period of gestation(POG). Risk factors associated with MAP included 11(90%) cases had a history of previous lscs with 7(58%) having history of previous 2 lscs, placenta previa in 4 cases (32%) among whom 3 had previous 2 lscs. In 3(25%) subjects, peripartum hysterectomy was planned electively while emergency hysterectomy was done in 8 (75%). In addition to hysterectomy, bladder repair was done in 6 (50%) cases and bilateral uterine artery ligation was done in 3 (25%). Majority of the cases needed massive blood transfusion (50%). Elective cases were found to have lesser intraoperative complications, need for blood product transfusion and postoperative complications compared to emergency cases. 6 (50%) patients needed ventilatory support and recovery was good. 50% of the subjects developed disseminated intravascular coagulation which was managed with transfusion of cryoprecipitate and fresh frozen plasma along with other blood components. One woman was treated medically with methotrexate injection 65 mg (1mg/kg) IM. There were no maternal deaths. Conclusions: Early antenatal diagnosis of MAP, proper counselling of patients regarding associated risks followed by well-planned caesarean hysterectomy with no attempt at placental delivery, adopting a multidisciplinary approach is the management option to decrease the maternal morbidity and mortality. Therefore, it is recommended that women suspected to have placenta accreta should be transferred to major centers for delivery which have access to large blood banks, prompt availability of well trained surgeons and experienced intensive care units. Alternative approaches, such as leaving the placenta in situ without hysterectomy, have increased risks and should be adopted only for selective patients.


Abstract A 66-year-old female with a history of two renal transplants due to recurrent thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura presented to clinic with multiple lesions identified to be non-metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). The patient previously underwent multiple Mohs procedures and radiation therapy treatment but continued to develop CSCC lesions with increasing frequency. After discussing multiple treatment options, it was elected to pursue treatment with Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) given the systemic immune responses it can cause, with low theoretical risk of graft rejection. After starting intratumoral T-VEC injections, treated lesions began to decrease in size, and a reduction in the rate of new CSCC lesions was observed. Treatment was held due to unrelated renal complications during which time new CSCCs developed. Patient was restarted on T-VEC therapy with no recurrent renal issues. Upon reinitiating treatment, injected and non-injected lesions showed reduction in size, and the development of new lesions again ceased. One injected lesion was resected via Mohs micrographic surgery due to its size and discomfort. On sectioning, this demonstrated an exuberant lymphocytic perivascular infiltrate which was consistent with treatment response to T-VEC, with little active tumor. With high rates of non-melanoma skin cancer in renal transplant patients, their transplant status significantly limits treatment options, specifically with regards to anti-PD-1 therapy. This case suggests T-VEC can generate local and systemic immune responses in the setting of immunosuppression and that T-VEC may be a beneficial therapeutic option for transplant patients with CSCC.


Waqf is a unique Islamic economic instrument based on its function on the elements of virtue (birr), goodness (i'hsan) and brotherhood (u'khuwah). The distinguishing characteristic of waqf is that when the waqf is fulfilled, there is a shift in private ownership towards the ownership of Allah SWT which is expected to be eternal, providing sustainable benefits. Through waqf, it is hoped that there will be a process of distributing benefits for the wider community, from private benefits to social benefits. This study uses library research with descriptive qualitative methods, namely, first by recording all findings regarding the concept of global supply and demand in each research discussion obtained in the literature and sources, and or the latest findings regarding productive waqf. and investment. The conclusion of this study is that the real strategy in developing productive waqf lands is as follows, that Nazhir must establish business partnerships with other parties who have capital and business interests in accordance with the existing strategic land position with high commercial value. This collaboration is in order to mobilize all the economic potential of the waqf lands. Once again, it must be emphasized that the system of cooperation with third parties must still follow the Sharia system, both by way of musharaka and mudharabah as previously mentioned.


Aim: The objective of this study is to determine the relationship between "perceived care and rehabilitation", and the "anxiety level" of hospitalized patients. This research also aims to determine the factors affecting this relationship. Materials and Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 205 patients who diagnosed with any disease in Malatya Training and Research Hospital Internal Medicine Department. The participants were selected and admitted using a non-probability sampling method among the patients. Data were collected using patient introduction forms, perceived care and rehabilitation scale, and state-trait anxiety inventory. Results: We identified a negative relationship between the anxiety of the patients and their perceived care and rehabilitation. The anxiety levels of the patients were slightly above the medium level. Some features such as the education level, income, and inpatient duration of the patients had an impact on the perceived care and rehabilitation scales. The research also revealed that marital statuses, partnership, worries about the risks of the disease are some of the factors affecting the perceived care and rehabilitation, and the anxiety level of the patients. Conclusion: The research analysis revealed that the improvement in the perception of care and rehabilitation decreases the level of anxiety. Customizing patient care according to the personal experiences of each patient and managing the health care process in this context may decrease the anxiety level and thus may improve the health of the patient.


The era of the free flow for goods, investments, services, capitals and labors has just arrived. There are two reactions of Indonesians to overcome it i.e. optimistic and pessimistic. Pessimistic reaction is coming together with those who are not ready, but not the opposite. Indonesians need to be more optimist as long as they have competitive advantage and being a specialist in some commodities (Comparative Advantage). There are so many opportunities in AEC for Indonesia, for example in tourism business. Basically AEC is not only to increase the aggregate transactions amongst its members but it also enlarging the market size. AEC is also here now with non-financial benefits e.g. knowledge enrichment, better foreign language skills and networking. This article is trying to say that AEC is not a threat but it's an opportunity.

Keywords : Asean Economic Community (AEC), Comparative Advantage, Competitive
Advantage.


There are several blurry questions in contemporary Conservation Theory. Remarkable contributions from the past now seem insufficient and a stronger theoretical structure is required. Conservators and restorers rely blindly on concepts taken for granted; such is the example of "original" which is the basis of so many decisions and intervention methodologies. Do we really understand the meaning of "original" and why it is so important to our work? What consequences may derive from the misinterpretation of this concept? This paper proposes an approach to the term "original", seeking answers in a historic analysis, revisiting a remarkable publication by the British Museum, Fake? The Art of Deception, a catalogue from a 1951 exhibition re-published in 1990. In opposition to "original", we aim to analyze the relationship Man has had with fakes, forgeries and copies over time and how they can be helpful when defining "original".


Ulcerative colitis can be complicated by the development of leukocytoclastic vasculitis, a cutaneous vasculitis with the potential for systemic involvement. We present a man with a history of ulcerative colitis complicated by end-stage liver disease secondary to sclerosing cholangitis requiring a liver transplant. The patient developed new-onset vasculitis and diarrhea refractory to therapy with standard immunosuppression. He was treated with anti-CD20 therapy with a positive response. The basis of the vasculitis was likely one related to an underlying monoclonal paraprotein with cryoprecitable properties. Treatment with anti-B-cell therapy may be a new treatment option for patients with gammopathy-associated leukocytoclastic vasculitis.


Alvaro Siza Vieira's Portuguese Pavilion was the signature architectural showpiece of Lisbon's 1998 world exposition, Expo '98. Designed by the dean of Portuguese architects, and linked to the Portuguese state, the Pavilion attempted to break with older narratives of the country's past, representing the nation as both modern and European. It displays design continuities with older imperial themes, however, and does not escape long-standing entanglements between Portugal's national and imperial projects. The empty Pavilion has failed to achieve a new purpose and is descending into obscurity, perhaps from lack of coherence in its historical, political, and esthetic messages.


Located in east Xinjiang,the Hami Basin and its peripheral regions are selected as the study area(40°43′~43°27′N,91°08′~96°23′E,300~2000 m a.s.l.),they include the Hami Basin,piedmont desert in the southern slope of the east Tianshan Mountains,hilly region in the eastern part of the basin and Gashun Gobi Desert,and the total area is 8.0559×104 km2.In the study area it belongs to the extreme continental arid climate,it is hot in summer but cold in winter,and the annual temperature and precipitation vary in ranges of 9.8℃~11.4℃ and 34~39.7 mm respectively.In this paper,the line transect sampling method is used to investigate the geography distribution and population of Gazella subgutturosa in the Hami Basin,Xinjiang during the period from 2 to 25 November,2004.It is verified that Gazella subgutturosa inhabit extensively in all the geographical environments in the Hami Basin and its peripheral regions.The habitats of Gazella subgutturosa can be divided into three grades,i.e.,the high-,mid-and low-density areas.The inhabiting densities and populations of Gazella subgutturosa in these habitats were 3.33±0.24/km~2 and 12431±896,0.95±0.055/km~2 and 21651±1254,0.056±0.042/km~2 and 3026±2270 respectively.Total resources quantity of Gazella subgutturosa in the Hami Basin was 37108±4420.The survival pressure of Gazella subgutturosa and the steppe degeneration caused by domestic animal overgrazing are discussed.It is suggested to improve the raising mode of domestic animals,limit the quantity of domestic animals based on the actual situation of steppes,regenerate the natural vegetations,hunt Gazella subgutturosa in a planned way in the high-density and mid-density areas so as to control the population size.


An open-label clinical trial was performed to test the effects of unicellular green alga Chlorella supplementation on mercury concentrations of hair and blood in healthy subjects. Fifty-eight healthy participants (36 male and 22 female) were assigned to Chlorella and control groups. The Chlorella group of 35 subjects received Chlorella tablets (9 g/day) for an experimental period of 3 months while the control group of 23 subjects did not. Total mercury concentrations of hair and blood were analyzed at the beginning and end of the experimental period for estimation of methylmercury (MeHg) levels in the body. The hair mercury concentration of the Chlorella group (n = 33) was significantly decreased during the experimental period (p = 0.041) while the change in the control group (n = 23) was not significant (p = 0.362). Although the decrease in blood mercury concentration in the Chlorella group (n = 19) was not significant (p = 0.084), the change of values (values at end – values at beginning) in this group was significantly greater than that in the control group (n = 20, p = 0.038). The fish intake rates remained relatively constant during the experimental period in both the Chlorella and control groups. These results suggest that supplementation with Chlorella for 3 months in healthy subjects might reduce their body MeHg levels.


BackgroundBladder cancer (BC) is the most common malignant tumor of the urinary system. Increasing evidence indicates long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial roles in cancer tumorigenesis, development, and progression. However, the role of TMPO antisense RNA 1 (TMPO-AS1) is still need to be explored in BC.MethodsThe lncRNA TMPO-AS1 expression was evaluated by bioinformatics analysis and further validated by qRT-PCR. Loss- and gain-of- function assays were performed to determine the biological functions of TMPO-AS1 in BC proliferation, migration, and invasion. Chromatin immunoprecipitation, luciferase reporter assays, western blotting, RNA pull-down, RNA immunoprecipitation assays, and fluorescence in situ hybridization were conducted to explore the molecular mechanisms of TMPO-AS1/E2F transcription factor 1 (E2F1) loop. ResultsTMPO-AS1 is upregulated in bladder cancer and is associated with BC patients' poor prognoses. Functional experiments demonstrated that TMPO-AS1 promotes bladder cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and inhibits cell apoptosis in vivo and in vitro. Mechanically, E2F1 is responsible for the TMPO-AS1 upregulation. Additionally, TMPO-AS1 facilitates the interaction of E2F1 with OTU domain-containing ubiquitin aldehyde binding 1 (OTUB1), leading to E2F1 deubiquitination and stabilization, thereby promotes BC malignant phenotypes. Furthermore, rescue experiments showed that TMPO-AS1 promotes BC growth in an E2F1-dependent manner.ConclusionsOur study is the first to uncover a novel positive regulatory loop of TMPO-AS1/E2F1 important for the promotion of BC malignant behaviors. The TMPO-AS1/E2F1 loop should be considered in the quest for new BC therapeutic options.


The velocity-stress formulation for propagation of elastic seismic waves through 2D heterogeneous transversely isotropic media of arbitrary orientation is presented. The equations are recast into a finite-difference scheme and solved numerically using fourth-order spatial operators and a second-order temporal operator on a staggered grid. Absorbing, free-surface and symmetry boundary conditions have been implemented. Test cases compare well with other published solutions. Synthetic seismograms are calculated over two idealized models: (i) vertical fractures in granite with a dolerite sill reflector and (ii) a dipping anisotropic shale. Comparisons with the isotropic counterparts show significant differences which may have to be accounted for in seismic processing in the future.


: This research discusses designing an experimental framework to reinterpret the urban form of self-organizing traditional Islamic cities with computational design tools. These types of ancient urban tissues are characterized with emergent behaviour that is expressed through the incorporation, in their spatial structure, of apparent randomness and inherent complex organization. The said framework highlights some of the important physiological and organisational features of theses urban environments before reinterpreting to be incorporated in a computational design process. A set of functional constraints and objectives inspired by characteristics of the aforementioned urban settings are defined for a form-generation algorithm. This methodology is described through a threefold process comprising of formulation, generation and evaluation steps that allow for the optimization of the urban form. While making use of algorithmic design software to define the components for a generative urban design model, this research also uses multi-objective optimization evolutionary algorithms as a theoretical basis for the optimization and analysis of this model. An evolutionary computing solver and Pareto front evaluation methodology are used in order to evaluate and visualize a multitude of optimized solutions. Built on these features, the development of an experimental urban model means both to explore the generation of proposed results and to develop the design system behind it.


ORIGINAL ARTICLE Introduction: Soil has an important role in nutrient cycle and an important function in storage, refinement, and movement of nutrients for the living and non-living parts. Soil pollution of heavy metals and elements is one of the common pollution impacts of human activities, especially industry. Realization of distribution pattern of these elements and their anthropogenic sources is a major part of environmental protection plans. In the present study, concentration of two major heavy metals were investigated and mapped using geostatistical methods throughout western part of Karoon river in Ahwaz city. Four land areas including urban areas, agricultural, industrial, and bare soils were applied. Materials and Methods: In this research, at first, 40 sample plots were determined randomly from the study area and soil samples were taken from surface layer with the depth of 20 centimeters. Afterwards, the data were entered into SAS 9.3 and Arc GIS 10.2 applications for data analysis and mapping. Results: Results showed that Pb and Cd concentrations had the lowest standard rate in western parts of city while their highest rate was in river shores, south-west, and northern parts. Hence, the soil is over polluted in these areas comparing to WHO standards. Conclusion: A significant correlation was observed between Pb and Cd elements. Regarding results achieved by the semi-variance model, it is concluded that pollutions have anthropogenic sources in this area. According to the results, most important factors of pollution in this area were smelting and steel factories as well as agricultural pesticides. Article History: Received: 15 November 2016 Accepted: 12 February 2017


Trichomonas vaginalis (T vaginalis) is the most prevalent non-viral sexually transmitted infection of the reproductive age group, which may lead to various complications, if left untreated. This study aimed to diagnose Trichomonas vaginalis infection by different diagnostic procedures and to evaluate the efficacy of different diagnostic procedures. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 102 women with vaginal discharge at the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital (MMCH) from July 2019 to December 2020. Three ectocervical swabs were collected from each patient. Saline wet mount microscopy, giemsa staining and PCR were performed for each patient. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using Excel 2007, statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 26.0. The PCR assay detected Trichomonas vaginalis positivity in 6(5.9%) of 102 patients, followed by Giemsa staining 4.9% and Wet mount examination 2.9%. Wet mount microscopy showed less sensitivity 33.33%, but high specificity 98.95%, 66.67% positive predictive value, 95.96% negative predictive value and accuracy 95.09%. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of Giemsa staining were 66.67%, 98.96%, 80.0%, 97.94% and 97.06% respectively. Statistical significance was observed when both WMM and Giemsa staining were compared to gold standard test PCR. In resource limited settings, a wet mount is a good option for diagnosis of T vaginalis infection as giemsa staining requires heavy T vaginalis infection to be positive. But wherever facilities are available, PCR should be performed.


Abstract : Enhancing regional collaboration has been identified as one of the eight National Priorities for Homeland Security by the President of the United States. While South Carolina has made significant efforts in expanding regional collaboration, such as the creation of regional Counter Terrorism Coordinating Councils (CTCCs), there is still much work to be done. There are several teams and capabilities in place throughout the state, but they are uncoordinated, lack structure, and have no plan or strategy by which to guide them. State agencies have different regional operational structures, adding to the redundancy and uncoordinated homeland security planning efforts. This thesis examines why collaboration is difficult to achieve, and based on an examination of the literature as well as the benefits of regional collaboration as observable in other states, will make specific recommendations for South Carolina to expand regional collaboration. The recommendations are applicable to states throughout the nation to ensure that homeland security planning efforts are coordinated, and that regional collaboration is expanded at the sub-state level. The thesis also summarizes the efforts of other states to achieve homeland security regional collaboration. Three states that have taken on regional collaboration and formed true regional partnerships, created strategic plans, and allocated funding on a regional basis are Iowa, Michigan, and Arizona. The final sections of the thesis provide a brief overview of how additional states have enhanced regional collaboration.


Oral cancer is one of the most common health dilemmas in several countries of the world. General dental practitioners and medical practitioners play a major role in the recognition of oral mucosal changes that may lead to malignancy. Knowledge, attitude, opinion, skill, and practice of oral cancer among dental and medical students play a pivotal role in cancer prevention, early detection, and management. A comparative study was conducted using pre-structured close ended questionnaires which was aimed to compare the level of adequacy of knowledge, attitude, and diagnostic ability about oral cancer among undergraduate dental and medical students at Nepal Medical College. Out of a total of 210 participants, 54 (35.1%) dental and 100 (64.9%) medical students responded. The result revealed more than 90% of the participants had adequacy in knowledge and attitude and would refer the cases to the specialists. Only 24.1% dental and 65.0% medical students had performed biopsy and cytology. Statistically significant association between adequacy of diagnostic ability and type of study field (p-value <0.001) was found in the study. The overall knowledge and attitude score were found adequate for both medical and dental students, while the diagnostic ability score were inadequate for both the groups. Therefore, this study suggests a need for revision in the curriculum with individual opportunity to interact with oral cancer patients and mandatory continuing education program especially on diagnosis of oral cancer for undergraduate dental and medical students.


Epidemiologic and experimental evidence reviewed in this article emphasizes the complex and multifactorial etiology of endemic goiter. The important role of iodine deficiency as an etiologic factor in endemic goiter is firmly established, but there is evidence that other environmental factors can play an equally important role in the pathogenesis of this condition. Chemical categories, sources, and sites of action of the various classes of naturally occurring goitrogens and antithyroid agents are reviewed in this article. Evidence of the presence of these compounds in foodstuffs and drinking water is discussed. Bacterial contamination of water supplies also appears to be important in the development of goiter. Microorganisms appear to intervene in the biosynthesis and degradation of organic goitrogenic pollutants or may induce thyroid growth-promoting activity in the host, or both. Malnutrition and poor socioeconomic conditions, as for iodine deficiency, enhance the action of environmental goitrogens. Thus, a coordinated multidisciplinary approach is essential to solving this public health problem.


This paper presents a new technique for forecasting frequencies of events over time for individuals. The technique bases future occurrences on an estimation procedure based on historical data. The estimation procedure incorporates two types of uncertainty: population variation and individual propensity to change. An example is presented.


Bereg et al. (2012) introduced the Boxes Class Cover problem, which has its roots in classification and clustering applications: Given a set of n points in the plane, each colored red or blue, find the smallest cardinality set of axis-aligned boxes whose union covers the red points without covering any blue point. In this paper we give an alternative proof of APX-hardness for this problem, which also yields an explicit lower bound on its approximability. Our proof also directly applies when restricted to sets of points in general position and to the case where so-called half-strips are considered instead of boxes, which is a new result. We also introduce a symmetric variant of this problem, which we call Simultaneous Boxes Class Cover and can be stated as follows: Given a set S of n points in the plane, each colored red or blue, find the smallest cardinality set of axis-aligned boxes which together cover S such that all boxes cover only points of the same color and no box covering a red point intersects a box covering a blue point. We show that this problem is also APX-hard and give a polynomial-time constant-factor approximation algorithm.


Visual attention is an important mechanism in the human visual system (HVS) and there have been numerous saliency detection algorithms designed for 2D images/video recently. However, the research for fixation detection of stereoscopic video is still limited and challenging due to the complicated depth and motion information. In this paper, we design a novel multi-module fully convolutional network (MM-FCN) for fixation detection of stereoscopic video. Specifically, we design a fully convolutional network for spatial saliency prediction (S-FCN), where the initial spatial saliency map of stereoscopic video is learned by image database of object detection. Furthermore, the fully convolutional network for temporal saliency prediction (T-FCN) is constructed by combining saliency results from S-FCN and motion information from video frames. Finally, the fully convolutional network for depth fixation prediction (D-FCN) is designed to compute the final fixation map of stereoscopic video by learning depth features with spatiotemporal features from T-FCN. The experimental results show that the proposed MM-FCN can predict fixation results for stereoscopic video more effectively and efficiently than other related fixation prediction methods.


The ill-posed problem of inverting photon counting distributions to obtain distributions of classical light intensity fluctuations has been recently reconsidered by Byrne et al. (1984) after years of dormancy. They apply a weighted-space analysis with Tikhonov regularisation to obtain some approximate inversions. The inversion problem is one of a linear mapping from L2(0, + infinity ) into a Euclidean space and in this paper the authors calculate explicitly the singular system of the operator in order to quantify the information content of noisy data and provide a corresponding inversion method.


&NA; External ventilators are used in the prevention and management of respiratory failure. The chest cuirass has replaced the iron lung and offers a viable alternative to positive‐pressure ventilation in selected populations. Patients with chronic respiratory or neuromuscular diseases are the most likely candidates. When the respiratory muscles fatigue, respiratory failure ensues. Mechanical ventilation may become necessary. Positive pressure and negative pressure devices are available, each with advantages and drawbacks. The cuirass is gaining popularity because of its simple application and because no tracheal intubation is needed. In most institutions, however, the cuirass is still a novelty and presents several nursing challenges. Physical application of the cuirass is relatively easy but management of the cuirassed patient may not be. Typically, the patient has respiratory fatigue and is short of breath, frightened, and anxious. The respiratory status must be continually monitored. Because the chest cuirass is an external appliance, skin care is paramount. Maintaining nutritional status can be a problem until the patient masters the mechanics of proper ingestion. Psychosocial components of care such as anxiety, sleep deprivation, and communication have special implications with the cuirass. Timing activities with the machine in a relaxed manner is the key to success.


Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) combine rather unique chemical and physical properties together with physiological inertness. Due to this, they have become useful tools in medicine. Whereas the majority of applications benefit from their excellent oxygen solubility, there are several applications making use of other PFC properties. The great importance of PFC ultra-purity is especially emphasized.


New signaling insights level the playing field against the notoriously "undruggable" protein RAS. Oncogenic RAS proteins, which are mutated in approximately 24% of all human cancers, have earned a well-deserved reputation as being "undruggable." However, several studies have challenged that reputation. With the first small molecules that directly target one oncogenic RAS mutant (G12C) undergoing clinical evaluation, there have been substantial advances in finding anti-RAS therapeutic strategies. Furthermore, new insights have come from the growing appreciation that neither all RAS proteins (HRAS, NRAS, and KRAS4A/KRAS4B) nor all oncogenic RAS mutations (such as at residues Gly12, Gly13, and Gln61) have the same impact on RAS signaling and function. The role of the nonmutated, wild-type RAS proteins in the context of mutant RAS is increasingly considered to be targetable, with reports of strategies that directly disrupt either the RAS interaction with activating guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) or receptor tyrosine kinase–mediated and GEF-dependent RAS activation (such as by targeting the scaffolding phosphatase SHP2). Last, the development of agents that target downstream effectors of RAS signaling has advanced substantially. In this review, we highlight some important trends in the targeting of RAS proteins in cancer.


The incidence of new infections of HIV has declined globally due to increased prevention and control measures. In Oyo State Nigeria, there have been increased surveillance activities to complement control measures in recent years. This is the findings of the latest HIV sentinel epidemiological surveillance revealing the seroprevalence of HIV in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. About 515 subjects were tested for HIV antibodies in 2012. Screening tests were carried out using DetermineTM HIV 1 & 2 (Abbott) and Chembio HIV 1& 2 Stat-PakTM rapid test kits following manufacturer's instructions. A seroprevalence rate of 0% was determined with a significantly higher participation in females 61.75% than males 38.25%. The participation rate of different age group from the highest to the lowest is as follows 20-24 years old was found to have the 40.97%, age group of 25-29 years have 25.05%, age group of 15-19 have 19.61%, age group >30 have 8.74%and lastly, the age group 2-14 years old had the lowest participation rate of 5.63%. The results from this show a zero seroprevalence rate in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. According to the results from this study it was observed that prevention and control measures have been stepped up, particularly at both the local level with more attention toward sexually active age group.


In this paper, the authors propose short armature core double-sided transverse flux type linear synchronous motor. First, the operational principle and structural advantages of the proposed model are introduced. Focusing on one-core based configuration, a theoretical design of thrust in the designated dimension is then conducted for a simple estimation in the preliminary design stage. Finally, thrust is analyzed and evaluated through field calculations using 3-D finite-element method.


Usually, power plants work with gas turbine designed to fire natural gas; however, there are possibilities to use other types of gaseous fuels with different calorific values that may be available close to the power plant site. These fuels can be gases obtained from steel (from blast furnaces and coking plants), from gasification processes of coal or biomass, among others. In this work, a gas turbine performance was evaluated at different operational conditions in order to verify the technical feasibility of burning low calorific value fuels. A gas turbine designed to operate with natural gas was used as a reference, the model was built and the performance evaluated at design and off-design conditions using a commercial computer program, GasTurb 11 ® . A good agreement was obtained between the model operating with natural gas and the available data from open literature, at design and off-design conditions. The model was simulated using low heating value fuels under the same conditions established for natural gas. A reduction in compressor's surge margin was identified when using low heating value fuels as well as an increase in power output. Therefore, for safe operation a strategy for recovering the surge margin was adopted. In this study the control strategy adopted was bleed air at the compressor discharge. This control strategy presents a technical viability and ensures that the gas turbine operates with the same surge margin level as when using natural gas.


Pneumatocele, a special form of lung injury, is characterized by intrathoracic images of cavities detected on X-ray films. These cavities develop immediately after a trauma of the thorax, disappear rapidly and have a relatively favourable outcome.


The growing worldwide attention toward large-scale subsea data centers has garnered substantial interest from commercial entities which have built and deployed underwater prototypes since 2015. These data centers utilize hard disk drives (HDDs) as a cost-effective method of data storage. However, researchers have demonstrated that acoustic waves can affect the availability and integrity of HDDs and applications that rely on them. These studies are all conducted in air on commercial laptops, hence their applicability and implications in submerged environments remain unexplored. In this position paper, we investigate potential vulnerabilities of storage devices deployed in underwater data centers and subsea storage platforms against targeted acoustic attacks. Based on our initial investigation of a simplified scenario, a victim HDD deployed in an enclosed submerged container is especially vulnerable to those acoustic attacks, which at frequencies ranging from 300 Hz 1300 Hz can result in up to 100% throughput loss and application crashes. Based on these findings, we argue that further study is necessary to assess underwater storage system security and develop effective defenses against overlooked acoustic attacks.


Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the expression of survivin gene in patients suffering from urinary bladder cancer, thus contributing to further understanding of the molecular etiology of the disease by assessment of Survivin gene expression on both RNA and protein levels in urinary bladder tissue samples and Correlate between its expression and pathological prognostic parameters of patients with urinary bladder cancer risk.
Methods: In the present study 26 cases of urinary bladder cancer and 26 cases of normal tissues far from tumor sites in the urinary bladder of the same patients (as control samples) were collected, also 10 paraffin-embedded tissue samples from consecutive of archival bladder specimens patients and 10 tissue samples that of healthy tissue from the same individual as control group were collected for immunohistochemical detection of survivin protein and real time PCR for survivin mRNA detection.
Results: In normal tissues of control samples no expression for survivin gene has been noticed. However, in patients affected with bladder cancer the survivin expression was highly increased by increasing degree of tumor malignancy as indicated by real time PCR for survivin mRNA and immunohistochemistry for survivin protein.
Conclusion: From this study, it is concluded that survivin protein was not expressed in normal bladder urothelium but was present in a high percentage in tissue samples of patients suffering from bladder cancer and its expression is associated with disease recurrence, tumor grade, progression and mortality.


In this paper, a novel low-power pulse-triggered flip-flop (P-FF) design is presented. Pulsetriggered FF (P-FF) has been considered as a popular alternative to the conventional master –slave based FF in the applications of high speed. In particular, digital designs now-a-days often adopt intensive pipelining techniques and employ many FF-rich Modules. It is also estimated that the power consumption of the clock system, which consists of clock distribution networks and storage elements, is as high as 20%–45% of the total system power. First, the pulse generation control logic, an AND function, is removed from the critical path to facilitate a faster discharge operation. A simple two-transistor AND gate design is used to reduce the circuit complexity. Second, a conditional pulseenhancement technique is devised to speed up the discharge along the critical path only when needed. As a result, transistor sizes in delay inverter and pulse-generation circuit can be reduced for power saving. The simulations are done using Microwind & DSCH analysis software tools. Our proposed system simulations are done under 50nm technology and the results are compared with other conventional flip-flops. Hence, our proposed system is showing better output than the other flip-flops.


Objective A thorough psychological assessment of patients requesting cosmetic surgery can help to protect them from the risk of postoperative dissatisfaction and the onset and/or aggravation of psychiatric disorders. This study seeks to shed more light on why people desire cosmetic surgery and thus help surgeons, psychiatrists, and psychologists to conduct assessments before surgery. Methods In-depth interviews were conducted with 35 subjects who requested cosmetic surgery. The interviews were recorded and transcribed and then analyzed qualitatively with Grounded Theory. Themes and categories were identified and compared in logical order, to build a consistent theoretical model. Results In each interview, we identified one or more recent events that the subjects considered to be contributing factors in their decisions to have cosmetic surgery. We observed that 33 of 35 patients said they sought cosmetic surgery at a time when they were experiencing, or had just experienced, one or more major changes in their bodies or their relationships. Recent life events triggered or strengthened specific psychological needs in the subjects: to cope with the past and with change, attain a consistent identity, find or regain a positive self-image, alter others' perceptions, define themselves in relation to others, or please themselves or others. Patients said that they chose plastic surgery to fulfill one or more of these needs. Conclusions This study identifies the role of recent events in inciting individuals to resort to cosmetic surgery. This factor provides new perspectives for surgeons to understand those patients and opens new avenues for research.


Previous investigations in Indonesia indicated that an inactive ovary was a chronically reproduction problem in ruminants. There was a tendency that nutrition deficiency inhibited ovulation, oestrus occurrence, and conception in ruminants. Obviously, there is a correlation between sufficient nutrient consumption and reproduction performance of such animals. Thus, application of the production/reproduction technology innovation for improving ruminant's productivity in the villages needs to be supported by the availability of sufficient feed. Whilst, there is a competition among ruminants in fulfilling feed requirement. On the other hand, there are large amounts of organic waste of food and plantation estate industries which are potential for non-traditional feedstuffs. The examples of such organic wastes are: 4,817,630 ton dry matter (DM) of cacao pod, 314,042.51 ton DM of coffee pulp and hulls, and 29,700,000 ton DM of palm frond, leaves and trunks. Unfortunately, such materials contain anti-nutritive substance. Nevertheless, technology innovation for decomposing organic waste is available and its validity has been proven to be satisfactory and appropriate. Regarding the limitation of feedstuffs, introduction of technology innovation for organic waste decomposition to provide feed for improving livestock productivity is promising to be applied. Key words: Decomposition technology, organic waste, productivity, ruminants


SummaryItalian hare Lepus corsicanus De Winton, 1898, is a true species living in simpatry with Lepus europaeus in mainland Italy and with Oryctolagus cuniculus in Sicily, where L. europaeus is absent. Up to date, nobody has studied the helminths of this endemic Italian Mammal. Therefore, in order to describe Italian hare gastro-intestinal helminths, gastro-intestinal tract of 29 Italian hares, coming from mainland Italy (#14) and from Sicily (#15) were collected between 1997 and 2009. Twentyfive hares were positive for at least one parasite (86 %). Six parasite species were isolated, 2 cestodes (Cittotaenia pectinata, prevalence 3 %) and Paranoplocephala sp., 3 %) and 4 nematodes (Trichostrongylus retortaeformis, 86 %, Graphidium strigosum, 14 %, Trichuris sp., 10 % and Teladorsagia circumcincta, 7 %). Both Teladorsagia circumcincta circumcincta and Teladorsagia circumcincta trifurcata morphotypes were identified. Comparison with available data regarding L. europaeus and O. cuniculus in Italy is provided. Being not T. circumcincta and Paranoplocephala sp. typical parasites of leporids, a description of the observed specimens is given.


New trends in pervasive computing allow for hosting user controlled servers for integrating respective user's social spheres. One main feature of such servers is the provision of a single point for managing user's data and resources from various social interaction services (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.). A step forward would be to include the collection and integration of different social contacts and their live streams (e.g., activity status, live posts, etc.) from these services. Thereby, various privacy issues related to linkability and unwanted information disclosure, could arise. In this paper, we address how we intend to avoid such privacy issues in the EU FP7 funded di.me project when mining users' social spheres from different sources. Our approach uses (1) the detection of semantic equivalence between contacts as portrayed in online profiles and (2) NLP techniques for analysing shared live streams both; for triggering privacy recommendations. The current status is presented and the portability to other environments is shortly discussed.


In view of decreasing energy resources and the rising problems associated with CO2 emissions and global warming, there is a strong interest in reducing the fuel consumption of machines in all sectors. Manufacturers of mobile machinery, such as hydraulic excavators, are also striving to develop increasingly efficient machines. Triggered by this development trend, the power density of hydraulic systems and their components continues to increase. This results in higher pressures, temperatures and lower oil volumes in the system. As a result, the hydraulic fluid used is subject to greater thermal stress and the systems thermal properties are becoming increasingly important. Further developments of tribological systems, for example in hydraulic displacement units, also create new demands on the hydraulic components and fluids. The fluid properties in particular are increasingly coming to the fore. For this reason, the content of this paper is to consider the influence of the hydraulic oil's viscosity on the efficiency of a crawler excavator and to present the viscosity dependent losses of valves and pipe/hose lines. To this purpose, experimental tests are discussed by regarding viscosity related energy losses of the hydraulic system of a crawler excavator. Therefore the results of experimental tests of a gravel cycle at different temperatures will be discussed. The results are divided into different types of energy losses. Finally, a hypothesis can be made about the dependence of the viscosity of the hydraulic fluid on the efficiency of the system.


Colchicine is a lipophilic alkaloid drug, which exhibits ant-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic properties. Cardinal mechanisms of action of colchicine are the disruption of the microtubule system and the inhibition of neutrophil adhesion and recruitment. Colchicine is indicated in the prevention and treatment of gouty arthritis and familial Mediterranean fever. In this review, we summarize current and potentially future pharmacologic activities of colchicine in various renal disease entities along with pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. Additionally, we will refer to main interactions of colchicine with medications used in renal medicine, as well as dosing recommendations in patients with reduced glomerular filtration rate.


Heterocyclic hydrocarbon compounds have been identified as one of the major components of water pollution that occurs as a result of urbanization. It has been known that the presence of these compounds is hazardous and remain in the environment for a long period of time. This study was conducted to isolate and identify heterocyclic hydrocarbon degrading bacteria from lake water by genomic DNA extraction and sequencing as well as measure the degradation rate of the bacteria using Gas Chromatography Flame-Ionization Detector (GC-FID). The water sample was collected from west campus lake of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak where six strains of bacteria that has degrading ability was isolated using sub-culturing technique on MSM double layer agar plates. The genomic DNA of bacteria designated as strain IM1, IM2, IM3, IM4, IM5 and IM6 were extracted and amplified using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The isolates were then sequenced and were identified as Bradyrhizobium sp., Ochrobactrum sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa sp. and Burkholderia sp. All six isolates possessed the ability to utilize carbazole as sole carbon and energy source as the degradation rate of carbazole was measured using GC-FID analysis. After 12 days of incubation, IM2 showed 96.37% degradation while the other five isolates were able to degrade 100% of the carbazole. Thus, bacteria isolated from this study may provide great benefit for bioremediation.


This "Procedure for Prayer of Prayer" was brought about by the fact that there were various phenomena and irregularities of the members of the prayer and some of the members who preceded their prayer movements instead of the priestly prayer movement, while all of them were in the position of following the priest as they were performing prayer in the congregation. Another phenomenon that can be seen is the range of movement of the prayer from one pillar to prayer to the next. For example, some raise both hands before saying takbiratulihram, others raise both hands in conjunction with the takbiratul ihram pronunciation and some raise both hands after the pronunciation of takbiratul ihram. With the emergence of a variety of prayer-worship practices like this if all congregations were able to understand it as al-Tanawwu 'fi al-'Ibadah there would be a sense of mutual tolerance among the congregation. However, if they are narrow-minded they will cause a breakdown in Islamic fellowship because they claim that they are right and accuse the other of being wrong, and some even consider the other person to be the culprit, misguided and misleading. To correct misunderstandings in some societies, the writing of the article: "Procedures for Prayer Prayers", based on the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah and the explanations of the scholars / fuqaha 'is very important to be created and published to the public. It is hoped that this simple piece of writing will serve as a guide for readers in performing the prayer of the congregation.


Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) is posttranslationally processed to several peptides including α-MSH, a primary regulator of energy balance that inhibits food intake and stimulates energy expenditure. However, another POMC-derived peptide, β-endorphin (β-EP), has been shown to stimulate food intake. In this study we examined the effects of intracerebroventricular (icv) β-EP on food intake and its ability to antagonize the negative effects of α-MSH on energy balance in male rats. A single icv injection of β-EP stimulated food intake over a 2- to 6-h period during both the light and dark cycles. This effect was, however, not sustained with chronic icv β-EP infusion. In the next study, a subthreshold dose of β-EP was injected together with Nle(4), d-Phe(7) (NDP)-MSH after a 16-h fast, and the negative effects of NDP-MSH on refeeding and body weight gain were partially reversed. Finally, peptide interactions were studied in a chronic icv infusion model. Weight gain and food intake were significantly suppressed in the NDP-MSH group during the entire study. A subthreshold dose of β-EP antagonized these suppressive effects on food intake and weight gain for the first 3 d. However on d 4-7, β-EP no longer blocked these effects. Of note, the stimulatory effect of β-EP on feeding and its ability to antagonize MSH were specific for β-EP(1-31) and were not observed with β-EP(1-27). This study highlights the importance of understanding how the balance between α-MSH and β-EP is maintained and the potential role of differential POMC processing in regulating energy balance.


Background and Purpose. Service learning can be a powerful tool in shaping future health professionals. The utilization of peer coaches has been explored in health care education, but primarily in professions other than physical therapy and in the classroom, laboratory, and clinic as compared to in service learning settings. There is a need to study the impact and outcomes associated with peer-coaching models embedded in professional physical therapy curricula, especially in service learning settings. Students in physical therapy programs are well equipped to participate in service learning, especially for individuals in the community who have chronic conditions. Physical therapy students can help enhance clients' health literacy, participation, and quality of life. Children with juvenile arthritis (JA) are a particularly vulnerable population at high risk of developing emotional, developmental, or behavioral comorbidities. The purpose of this case report was to describe a teaching approach, incorporating peer coaching with the following goals for students: (1) prepare third-year physical therapy students (PT3 student coaches) to design and implement teaching activities and effective strategies for the assessment of learning in a community-based setting and (2) prepare second-year physical therapy students (PT2 students) to integrate and apply knowledge of exercise, movement control, and motor learning for children with JA to promote healthy lifestyle habits and health literacy. Case Description. The teaching method was directed at a unique, community-based activity for children with JA. Camp Spirit is an annual week-long experience for individuals with JA ranging from 8 to 15 years. Third-year physical therapy student coaches participated in Camp Spirit as part of a behavioral strategy course. Students organized and facilitated an instructional experience for PT2 students. Second-year physical therapy students engaged in didactic, laboratory, and experiential service learning activities led by PT3 student coaches to design and conduct exercise programs in yoga, aquatics, and tai chi/martial arts for children with JA at Camp Spirit. Each program incorporated principles of exercise prescription including warm-up, movement-based activities, cool down, and the provision of health literacy education. All student participants completed written reflections after the experience. Outcomes. A randomized, representative group of PT2 students from each of the three exercise program days participated in a semistructured focus group interview to elicit more information about their perceptions about involvement of the PT3 student coaches. All responses were coded and themed using a systematic qualitative review process. Third-year physical therapy student coaches learned how to structure teaching experiences to facilitate the education of other physical therapy students. Second-year physical therapy students felt that the involvement of the PT3 student coaches was an essential component of the learning module. Second-year physical therapy students viewed the PT3 student coaches as mentors, coaches, and supporters in a unique and meaningful way. Campers with JA learned how to safely perform enjoyable activities to promote long-term health and fitness. Discussion and Conclusion. This model is titled the "circle of learning" involving key players of the PT3 student coaches as peer coaches; PT2 students; faculty facilitators; and the community partner. Concepts of this project are relevant to professional physical therapy programs seeking to promote improved quality of life for community-based populations.


The aim of the study was to investigate changes in middle ear dynamic characteristics caused by both otosclerosis and stapes surgery (platinotomy, prosthesis positioning, ossicular chain maneuver) and to evaluate distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) before and following surgery. The study included 15 patients (12 women, 3 men; mean age 51 years; range 32-69 years) with advanced otosclerosis. All the patients were evaluated with the use of pure-tone audiograms (preoperatively, 5 and 30 days after surgery), stapedial reflexes (preoperatively), and DPOAE recordings (preoperatively, at the end of surgery, and 5 and 30 days after surgery). Changes in the hearing thresholds and in the DPOAE amplitudes were compared. Preoperative tests showed conductive hearing loss, with a mean air-bone gap of 36.6 dB HL ranging from 0.25 to 1 kHz, and no stapedial reflexes were detected. DPOAEs were not measurable preoperatively, and they were detected only in 2 patients at the end of surgery, with low amplitudes in a narrow frequency range. No significant changes occurred in DPOAEs 5 days postoperatively. A month after surgery, improvement in conductive hearing loss was observed; the mean air-bone gap from 0.25 to 1 kHz was 12.9 dB HL, whereas the higher frequencies were still affected by the disease. DPOAEs increased in amplitude in 4 patients, but this was not significant. It remains unclear why DPOAEs are not detected despite a subjective hearing improvement and a sufficiently closed air-bone gap at least in middle and low frequencies. The results of our study show that DPOAEs cannot replace behavioral threshold tests; they may only be included in a battery of tests for a complete clinical follow-up for efficiency monitoring after stapes surgery.


In recent years, nanoparticulate-mediated drug delivery research has examined a full spectrum of nanoparticles that can be used in diagnostic and therapeutic cancer applications. A key aspect of this technology is in the potential to specifically target the nanoparticles to diseased cells using a range of molecules, in particular antibodies. Antibody-nanoparticle conjugates have the potential to elicit effective targeting and release of therapeutic targets at the disease site, while minimizing off-target side effects caused by dosing of normal tissues. This article provides an overview of various antibody-conjugated nanoparticle strategies, focusing on the rationale of cell-surface receptors targeted and their potential clinical application.


Blood cultures are commonly ordered in emergency departments to test patients with suspected community acquired pneumonia. The object of this retrospective US.


Multimodal analgesia has been proposed as a useful strategy to reduce postoperative pain while decreasing opioid consumption and thus opioid adverse events. Gabapentin is one such agent although previous results have been heterogeneous. This thesis aimed to review randomised controlled trials of gabapentin for reducing pain, opioid adverse effects and the haemodynamic response to intubation while attempted to predict clinical effectiveness from these trials using meta-regression. Extending this principle, we evaluated other multimodal analgesic agents to identify whether heterogeneity could be explained by various clinical and methodological covariates.

Our gabapentin review included 133 randomised controlled trials and demonstrated its efficacy in reducing pain scores, opioid consumption and opioid adverse events such as nausea, vomiting and pruritus. However, gabapentin increased the risk of sedation. Gabapentin was effective at reducing the haemodynamic response to intubation in 29 randomised controlled trials although trials failed to report on clinically relevant outcomes. Gabapentin exhibited no pre-emptive analgesic effect in 4 randomised controlled trials.

There was evidence of considerable statistical heterogeneity on meta-analysis of gabapentin for pain scores and 24-hour morphine consumption. Meta-regression analysis showed however that baseline risk predicted the majority of the heterogeneity between studies. Extending this approach to other multimodal analgesics from 344 randomised controlled trials; we demonstrated this was true for analgesic agents in general. In addition to baseline risk, methodological limitations, especially inadequate allocation concealment, explained some of the residual heterogeneity.

There was evidence of funnel plot asymmetry for most analgesic agents, suggesting publication bias. However, this may be a product of trials with higher baseline risk having larger standard errors, rather than true publication bias. Indeed, when we simulated meta-analyses with no publication bias, with both effect size and standard deviations dependent on baseline risk, funnel plot asymmetry was still evident (p<0.001). Therefore, conventional funnel plots may be an unsuitable method of detecting publication bias where baseline risk predicts between-study heterogeneity. We present an alternative method using meta-regression residuals that corrects funnel plot asymmetry in the presence of no publication bias.

Finally, due to concerns that methodological limitations exaggerated effect estimates, we used trial sequential analysis to determine whether sufficient low risk of bias evidence exists to reject type I and type II errors in the analyses of analgesic adjuncts. We demonstrated there is currently insufficient evidence from low risk of bias trials to be confident of the efficacy of the majority of analgesic adjuncts.


The present state of knowledge of lipid metabolism and vascular disease has been achieved by advances in many disciplines. The contributions of the basic sciences cannot be clearly separated from those of clinical medicine and epidemiology because of the immense impact of each on the others. The present summary will include, therefore, references to relevant clinical observations as well as to more basic experiments in an attempt to find working hypotheses supported by data from various fields. Particular consideration will be given to the relation of serum triglyceride abnormalities to other serum lipid derangements which have been reported in this disorder. Serum Lipid Derangements in Coronary Artery Disease The various findings which have been reported are in part a reflection of available methods and include elevation of serum cholesterol concentration and of cholesterol: phospholipid ratio, a relative or absolute increase in low density or β-lipoproteins, an increased triglyceride concentration, and


In 1990, Thomas J. Bouchard Jr. and colleagues published the widely cited 1990 "Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart" (MISTRA) Science IQ study. To arrive at the conclusion that "IQ is strongly affected by genetic factors," Bouchard and colleagues omitted their control group reared-apart dizygotic twin (DZA) IQ score correlations. Near-full-sample correlations published after the study's 2000 end point show that the reared-apart monozygotic twin (MZA) and DZA group IQ correlations did not differ at a statistically significant level, suggesting that the study failed the first step in determining that IQ scores are influenced by heredity. After bypassing the model-fitting technique they used in most non-IQ MISTRA studies, the researchers assumed that the MZA group IQ score correlation alone "directly estimates heritability." This method was based on unsupported assumptions by the researchers, and they largely overlooked the confounding influence of cohort effects. Bouchard and colleagues then decided to count most environmental influences they did recognize as genetic influences. I conclude that the MISTRA IQ study failed to discover genetic influences on IQ scores and cognitive ability across the studied population, and that the study should be evaluated in the context of psychology's replication problem.


The biofortification of basal laying hen feed with natural matrices can improve the beneficial potential of eggs produced without relying on artificial fortification. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of hen diet supplementation with dried Moringa leaves (DML) and goji berries (DGB) on egg functional properties in terms of cholesterol and carotenoid content. Forty Lohman Brown Classic laying hens were randomly divided into four groups. The control group (G1) received the basal poultry diet, group G2 received a diet with 5% DML + 10% DGB, group G3 received a diet with 3% DML + 7% DGB, and group G4 received a diet with 15% DML. HPLC-DAD analysis showed that feed supplementation positively influenced the egg carotenoid content, with a valuable increase in xanthophylls concentration, especially lutein (+333.24% in G4, +258.15% in G2, +189.24% in G3, compared to G1). The same trend was also followed by the β-carotene concentration (+181.38% in G3 and +116.01% in G4, compared to G1). Furthermore, the eggs obtained from G3 showed the lowest cholesterol content (−47.08%). Additionally, the performed antioxidant assays showed maximum activity in G2 (+39.11 compared to G1 for the DPPH test) and in G4 (+31.11 compared to G1 for the ABTS test). In conclusion, the G2 experimental diet could be potentially used in poultry industries to produce "functional eggs".


Abstract. The eddy covariance (EC) technique is the most direct method for measuring the
exchange between the surface and the atmosphere in different ecosystems.
Thus, it is commonly used to get information on air pollutant and greenhouse
gas emissions, and on turbulent heat transfer. Typically an ecosystem is
monitored by only one single EC measurement station at a time, making the
ecosystem-level flux values subject to random and systematic uncertainties.
Furthermore, in urban ecosystems we often have no choice but to conduct the
single-point measurements in non-ideal locations such as close to buildings
and/or in the roughness sublayer, bringing further complications to data
analysis and flux estimations. In order to tackle the question of how
representative a single EC measurement point in an urban area can be, two
identical EC systems – measuring momentum, sensible and latent heat, and
carbon dioxide fluxes – were installed on each side of the same building
structure in central Helsinki, Finland, during July 2013–September 2015. The
main interests were to understand the sensitivity of the vertical
fluxes on the single measurement point and to estimate the systematic
uncertainty in annual cumulative values due to missing data if certain,
relatively wide, flow-distorted wind sectors are disregarded. The momentum and measured scalar fluxes respond very differently to the
distortion caused by the building structure. The momentum flux is the most
sensitive to the measurement location, whereas scalar fluxes are less
impacted. The flow distortion areas of the two EC systems (40–150 and
230–340∘) are best detected from the mean-wind-normalised turbulent
kinetic energy, and outside these areas the median relative random uncertainties of
the studied fluxes measured by one system are between 12 % and 28 %. Different
gap-filling methods with which to yield annual cumulative fluxes show how using data
from a single EC measurement point can cause up to a 12 %
(480 g C m−2) underestimation in the cumulative carbon fluxes as
compared to combined data from the two systems. Combining the data from two
EC systems also increases the fraction of usable half-hourly carbon fluxes
from 45 % to 69 % at the annual level. For sensible and latent heat,
the respective underestimations are up to 5 % and 8 % (0.094 and
0.069 TJ m−2). The obtained random and systematic uncertainties are in
the same range as observed in vegetated ecosystems. We also show how the
commonly used data flagging criteria in natural ecosystems, kurtosis and
skewness, are not necessarily suitable for filtering out data in a densely built
urban environment. The results show how the single measurement system can be
used to derive representative flux values for central Helsinki, but the
addition of second system to other side of the building structure decreases
the systematic uncertainties. Comparable results can be expected in similarly
dense city locations where no large directional deviations in the source area
are seen. In general, the obtained results will aid the scientific community
by providing information about the sensitivity of EC measurements and their
quality flagging in urban areas.


This study was performed to investigate the impact of acute hyperglycemia (HG) on the permeability of the normal glomerular filtration barrier in vivo. In anesthetized Wistar rats (250-280 g), the left ureter was catheterized for urine collection, while simultaneously blood access was achieved. Rats received an intravenous (iv) infusion of either 1) hypertonic glucose to maintain blood glucose at 20-25 mM (G; n = 8); 2) hypertonic glucose as in 1) and a RhoA-kinase inhibitor (Y-27632; Rho-G; n = 8); 3) 20% mannitol (MANN; n = 7) or 4) hypertonic (12%) NaCl to maintain plasma crystalloid osmotic pressure (pi(cry)) at approximately 320-325 mosmol/l (NaCl; n = 8) or 5) physiological saline (SHAM; n = 8). FITC-Ficoll 70/400 was infused iv for at least 20 min before termination of the experiments, and plasma and urine were collected to determine the glomerular sieving coefficients (theta) for polydisperse Ficoll (molecular radius 15-80 A) by high-performance size-exclusion chromatography. In G there was a marked increase in for Ficoll(55-80A) at 20 min, which was completely reversible within 60 min and abrogated by a Rho-kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, while glomerular permeability remained unchanged in MANN and NaCl. In conclusion, acute HG caused rapid, reversible increases in for large Ficolls, not related to the concomitant hyperosmolarity, but sensitive to ROCK inhibition. The changes observed were consistent with the formation of an increased number of large pores in the glomerular filter. The sensitivity of the permeability changes to ROCK inhibition strongly indicates that the cytoskeleton of the cells in the glomerular barrier may be involved in these alterations.


Despite the increasing competitiveness of South Africa's wine industry globally and the industry's outstanding number of geographical indications (GIs), the impact of these GIs on wine exports has not been assessed (and if it has been assessed such work is not publicly available or not seen by the authors). Understanding the impact of the GIs is critical in enhancing informed policy decisions towards securing more geographical indicators for wines and other products. In addition, the unearthed evidence may be the basis for more government interventions in support of the initiative while protecting the good reputation in communities where production occurs. Based on E-Bacchus database for GI, we use the gravity flow model framework to empirically analyse the effect of GI on South Africa's wine exports to the European Union (EU). Three proxies are used to capture the impact of GI. Results suggest that GI fosters South Africa's wine exports into the EU irrespective of the proxy used. With respect to the dummies, GI leads to an increase in South Africa's wine exports by about 170 percent (0.169, p<0.1). When the actual number of GI names was used, the estimated coefficient (0.007, p<0.1) also suggests that GI enhances wine exports into the EU by 0.7 percent. While using the difference between the number of GI names for South Africa and EU, findings show that GI is associated with 87 percent increase in wine exports. Conclusively, GI positively impact on South Africa's wine exports into the EU.


Phyllodes tumor of the male breast is an extremely rare entity with only a few reports available in the literature. Though exact etiology for development of phyllodes tumor in the male breast is unknown, hormonal imbalance with excess of estrogen action relative to androgen appears to have significant association. This report describes recurrence of phyllodes tumor with malignant features developing in the background of gynaecomastia in a male breast.


We argue that an increase in investments in R&D for innovative treatments to eradicate neglected diseases in developing countries leads to a rational decrease in investments in available treatment technologies. In a formal model where the government of a developing country seeks to optimally allocate public resources, we show that the higher the odds of appearance of an innovative treatment, as occurring when investments in R&D increase, the lower the optimal provision of current treatments and other health expenditures. We also show that this phenomenon is aggravated when the opportunity cost of investments in current treatments increases. This implies that welfare in developing countries deteriorates as innovative treatments are more likely to become available. We also describe an insurance scheme that remedies these issues, and that leads to Pareto-optimal allocations regardless of the investment level in R&D for innovative treatments.


Grating-based X-ray phase-contrast interferometry has a high application impact in materials science and medicine for imaging of weakly absorbing (low Z) materials and soft tissues. For absorbing gratings, casting of highly X-ray absorbing metals, such as Au and Pb alloys, has proven to be a viable way to generate large area periodic high aspect ratio microstructures. In this paper, the authors review the grating fabrication strategy with a special focus on a novel approach of casting low temperature melting alloys (Au-Sn and Pb-based alloys) into Si grating templates using hot embossing. This process, similar to nanoimprint lithography, requires particular adjusting efforts of process parameters as a function of the metal alloy and the grating feature size. The transition between the solid and liquid state depends on the alloy phase diagram, the applied pressure can damage the high aspect ratio Si lamellas, and the microstructure of the solid metal can affect the grating structure. The authors demonstrat...


Review: The Land That Could Be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century By William A. Shutkin Reviewed by Pramod K. Nayar University of Hyderabad, India William A. Shutkin. The Land That Could Be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2000. 273 pp. ISBN 0-262-19435-X (hardcover). US$27.95. Acid-free paper. "Smog is democratic," declared Ulrich Beck. Environmental degradation is the most egalitarian of problems. And it is this assumption that informs William Shutkin's The Land That Could Be. Shutkin's work, drawing upon his experience as activist (he is the founder of New Ecology, Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and co-founder of Alternatives for Community and Environment), envisages a new direction for contemporary environmentalism. Shutkin begins by suggesting that environmentalism thus far has taken two trajectories: the romantic-progressive and the mainstream-professional. The romantic-progressive strain, steeped in nostalgia for a past "golden age," has simply critiqued development without offering viable alternatives. The mainstream-professional was restricted to the educated, affluent classes, and visualized environmentalism strictly in politico-legal terms. In place of these two models Shutkin suggests a civic environmentalism that takes into account racial, cultural, and regional inequalities. Shutkin suggests that a civic environmentalist democracy will be less of a "top-down, professional" (p.19) approach than a local, pluralistic, multicultural one. Shutkin's emphasis is on the role of the local communityincluding residents, businesses, government agencies-in disseminating environmental consciousness and effecting earth-friendly local policy changes. The community, therefore, is the central player here. While Shutkin acknowledges the importance of national policy initiatives like the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Air Act (1970), he argues that for environmental justice to become a reality, it will require more than pan-national policies: it requires grassroots understanding and tackling of problems. To this end, Shutkin suggests that the new civic environmentalist model will be participatory and will emphasize community development initiatives where diverse components like the social, economic, political, and environmental mesh together. Using case studies like the Dudley Street Neighbourhood Initiative Realization Plan, the case of Bay Area's "Transit Village," and Colorado's Cattlemen's Land Trust, among others, Shutkin puts forth the case for a localized approach to environmental thinking and activism. "Civic democracy," as Shutkin terms it, is "more than just community participation and conversion; it is rooted in a place, a physical environment conducive to collective action and community building" (p.31). A community feedback system, environmental education about local hazards, alternatives and development, Industrial Ecology (IE) informed by a sense of environmental justice and environmental health is the "real" solution to contemporary environmental problems. …


Commentary and analysis of the invocation of attorney-client privilege and work product protection during discovery in class action litigation. The article discusses issues that arise during pre-certification discovery conducted to support or oppose satisfaction of the Rule 23 requirements for class certification. In particular, the article focuses on requests for disclosure of pre-certification questionnaires furnished to potential class members. In diversity class actions, many federal courts look to state law principles relating to privileges to determine the standards that apply to attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine. Some courts apply the privileges to prevent disclosure of requested materials; other courts decline to apply the privileges and order disclosure.