The purpose of the present paper is to show how blockchain and IoT technologies can benefit smart city projects, which tend to spread in the context of the sharing economy. The article also aims to describe the challenges and potentialities of smart city projects. It was found that technology platforms can serve as a strategy to build the basis for product development (goods and services) and technology-based innovation.


The massive production and easy use of digital media pose new challenges on protecting intellectual property of digital media. Digital data hiding, which can be defined as the procedure of embedding information into an original media host signal, is a promising technique for digital intellectual property protection. A data hiding system generally contains two major components: the encoder for embedding the hidden information and the decoder for extracting the hidden information. This thesis focuses on spread spectrum (SS) watermarking schemes for data hiding. Watermarking techniques for data hiding can be broadly categorized into two classes: quantization index modulation (QIM) based and spread spectrum based approaches. Being robust against distortions and having simple decoder structure make SS attractive for data hiding. First, we investigate the decoding performance of the traditional SS schemes in the DCT and DFT domains. To obtain more practical decoders, we propose using suboptimal decoders which do not need side information. Secondly, since the interference effect of the host signal causes decoding performance degradation in the additive SS scheme, to remove this host effect efficiently, we propose the correlationand-bit-aware concept for data hiding by exploiting the side information at the encoder side and propose two improved SS-based schemes, the correlation-aware SS (CASS) and the correlationaware improved SS (CAISS) embedding schemes. Thirdly, we analyze the decoding error probability and capacity of the multiplicative spread spectrum (MSS) embedding scheme, and show that the content-based MSS still suffers from the interference effect of the host signal. We then propose an improved MSS-based scheme by efficiently removing the host interference effect. Lastly, we present the security analysis of the SS-based data hiding schemes under the Known Message Attack (KMA) scenario. Each data hiding scheme has some secret parameters and here the security of a data hiding scheme represents the difficulty of estimating the secret parameters. We employ the mutual information between the observations and the secret parameters as a security measure. Also some practical estimators for estimating the signature code are introduced and their performances are reported to illustrate the security results.


This paper focuses on online non-linear system identification via state-space neural networks. The training algorithm is based on a generalisation of the Kalman filter to non-linear systems by means of the unscented transformation. Experimental results from a laboratory heating system confirm the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed methodology.


Much has been written recently about the quality of medical services and treatment. Many medical sub-specialties have been trying to define activities that improve quality of service, such as acute coronary syndrome management, 1 recruitment to clinical trials and outcomes in oncology populations,2 prevention of stroke associated with atrial fibrillation,3 reduction in low-density lipoprotein and total cholesterol,4 and adherence to guidelines in stage III colon cancer.5 Many of these have measurable end points and can be directly attributable to specific interventions and the application to specific populations. In contrast, pharmacy services have often been defined as number of prescriptions dispensed, waiting times, and accuracy of prescriptions. Although the focus of many pharmacy services has moved from dispensing and drug supply to the promotion of quality use of medicines with appropriate and timely drug supply, measurement of quality remains elusive as it relates to patient outcomes. There have been attempts by pharmacists and others to document quality of clinical services and outcomes associated with specific services. Impact of Managed Pharmaceutical Care on Resource Utilization and Outcomes in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (IMPROVE) examined specific pharmaceutical care interventions and services to examine outcomes and effectiveness of care.6 This study identified elements of pharmaceutical care that were related to specific pharmacy services in outpatient clinics. Those sites with lower levels of pharmaceutical care had significantly higher clinic costs. Improved adherence to guidelines for hypertension and dyslipidaemia were demonstrated for the pharmacy services and overall cost of care was lower. Until the publication of the article by Bond et al.7 the development of guidelines for clinical pharmacy services had been predominantly based on professional opinions and practice. In contrast, this article used data obtained from 1000 hospitals in the 1990s and evaluated the major health outcomes of mortality rate, drug costs, total cost of care, length of stay, medication errors, and medication errors that adversely affected patient care outcomes. This identified five core clinical pharmacy services that had significant impact on major health outcomes-drug information, adverse drug reaction management, drug protocol management, medical rounds participation, and admission drug histories. In addition, there were improvements in outcomes when there were increased clinical pharmacist numbers per occupied bed and where there were decentralised pharmacists. In contrast, centralised pharmacists, centralised pharmacists with ward visits and increased numbers of administrators and dispensing pharmacists resulted in increased medication errors and cost of drugs. The paper by Bond et al. should be read by hospital pharmacists and used to examine roles and activities undertaken in our practice settings. We know we make a difference but are there ways that we can use this evidence to improve our institution's healthcare outcomes? Is there a need to examine the services we offer and how we offer them? How should we evaluate our services, especially clinical services and where pharmacists are located? It makes sense that if we are located close to where prescribing occurs and drugs are administered that we will have more impact than if we are in a remote location. Should EDITORIALS


precis:The fruits of the ecumenical movement often are harvested without thinking about who planted the seeds, who watered the soil, and what ingredients are necessary to make the ground rich for ecumenical gleaning. The result: no "move" in the movement! The ecumenical impulse is not fruitful unless it is conscious, intentional, habitual, and embodied. This essay draws on insights from the study document of the Joint Working Group's Ninth Report, "Be Renewed in the Spirit: The Spiritual Roots of Ecumenism," exploring the relationship between and among interiority, intentionality, and action. It considers practices of prayer and formation that nurture these qualities of spirituality and how they enable the aim of the ecumenical movement to promote Christian unity for the sake of the world.


Mixed Cryoglobulinemia (MC) is the most severe among the extrahepatic manifestations of hepatitis C virus. It is a circulating immune disease due to a virus-induced proliferative disorder of B lymphocytes, mainly involving low and medium-sized vessels. Diagnosis of cryoglobulinemia is based upon the presence in the serum of immunoglobulins which may reversibly precipitate at temperature inferior to 37°C. Presentation of Case: In the present paper we report an interesting case of a 72-year-old man with MC. The two main findings in MC are vasculitis and neuropathic syndrome. Cryoglobulinemic Case Report syndrome is characterized by purpura, which is one of the earliest and common clinical manifestations in over 80% of the cases. In this case report the neurological picture is represented by severe sensorimotor polyneuropathy, characterized by burning dysesthesia and lack of sensitivity and strength in the limbs. Discussion and Conclusion: The therapeutic approach to the patient with cryoglobulinemic syndrome should be tailored to the clinical characteristics of the patient and the degree of disease activity. The present clinical picture occurring with severe neurological impairment may be included among the most severe forms of the disease.


The tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick), is a major worldwide pest of tomato crops, both in the greenhouse and in open field cultivations. Since this pest's new introduction in Iran, it has caused extensive damage. Chemicals have mainly been used to control this pest. The purpose of our research was to identify the indigenous predators of the tomato leafminer, associated with tomato in the Borazjan region of the Bushehr province, Iran. From March to May 2014, infested tomato leaves were collected from pro- tected tomato crops. A predator species from the family Miridae was found, reared, and identified as Nesidiocoris tenuis (Reuter 1895). This species is reported for the first time on tomato leafminer in Iran. Identification of important natural enemies provides a scientific basis for including these predators in the biological programs against this pest.


Opens up new histories of freedom and republicanism by building on Quentin Skinner's ground-breaking Liberty before Liberalism nearly twenty five years after its initial publication. Leading historians and philosophers reveal the neo-Roman conception of liberty that Skinner unearthed as a normative and historical hermeneutic tool of enormous, ongoing power. The volume thinks with neo-Romanism to offer reinterpretations of individual thinkers, such as Montaigne, Grotius and Locke. It probes the role of neo-Roman liberty within hierarchies and structures beyond that of citizen and state – namely, gender, slavery, and democracy. Finally, it reassesses the relationships between neo-Romanism and other languages in the history of political thought: liberalism, conservatism, socialism, and the human rights tradition. The volume concludes with a major reappraisal by Skinner himself.


One of the paradoxes of contemporary times is that although society is dominated by a mood of conformism, by economic wealth and prosperity as well as cultural diversity, there are nevertheless many critical voices which utterly emphasize capitalism's rogue nature. Although liberalization of the world market, proclaimed community solidarity and global informational system have altogether often been seen as one of capitalism's major advantages, there are far more critical appraisals for replacing it with another social system, supposedly more humane, more beneficial and egalitarian. In that blurry environment socialism has become one of the magic words, one of the phrases that stand for a better world in similar way it happened more than one century ago. Obviously, the word (and the world, by the same token) is not the same: it lost its meaning through different political, social and mental transitions and translations, above all losing its performative power. Today, no one is frightened that his or her life will ultimately be changed by some revolutionary event that claims to defeat capitalism, since the Cold War is over and the winner has obviously never been stronger. Let us remember what happened twenty years ago. During the Cold War, intellectual supporters of capitalism tried to consolidate their position through defining themselves against communism. The West was able to strengthen its credibility by contrasting its way of life with the economic insufficiencies and the oppressive character of the Soviet communist regime. But their only strong argument was the claim of economic


Low pressure continent urinary diversions with abdominal wall stomas alike the Kock-pouch have shown good results. However, if urethral function can be saved without risk, an anastomosis of a bowel bladder to the urethral stump is more favorable in regards of continence, ease of the procedure and cosmetics. The S-bladder developed on the basis of the S-pouch from Parks, is conceptualized to be a complete replacement of the lower urinary tract, offering a low pressure reservoir, safe antireflux mechanisms, continence and voiding per urethra with abdominal straining. 52 patients (46 males and 6 females) were treated with an S-bladder. Continence in daytime and nighttime was achieved in 44 patients, while 49 patients remain continent during the day. To achieve this result 16 of our patients had to be treated with an artificial sphincter implanted at the bulbous urethra. Eleven of these 16 patients suffered from neurogenic bladder disease with preoperative urethral incompetence. Indications was TCC of the bladder in 38, neurogenic bladders in 11 and low-compliance bladders in 3 patients. The complication rate of 13.5% was acceptable. Emptying by abdominal straining was possible in all patients. Residuals were less than 50 cc, even in those patients with artificial sphincters.


Citrus production in Florida is commonly affected by a high degree of spatial variability of soils. Therefore, this study developed rapid indicator crop bioassays to evaluate the relationships between indicator crops and citrus production at various soil depths. A citrus grove was divided into five productivity zones based on existing tree canopy volume using GIS software ("very poor," "poor," "medium," "good," and "very good"). Visual ratings of percentage cover were collected from each zone using a 1-m 2 quadrant. Six random soil samples were collected between the tree rows from each productivity zone at four depths (0 to 15, 15 to 30, 30 to 45, and 45 to 60 cm). Greenhouse bioassay experiments used sorghum and radish crops grown in soil sampled from four depths. Overhead photographs of potted radish plants were captured periodically with a SLR digital camera to calculate leaf area by image processing. Shoot weights, shoot length, root weights, and leaf nutrient concentrations were measured at harvest (56 and 21 days after germination for sorghum and radish, respectively). Germination, shoot length, and shoot weight of sorghum and radish were significantly affected by the productivity zone. Sorghum (0 to 30 cm), radish (0 to 45 and 0 to 60 cm) and weed cover were strongly correlated (r ≈0.50 to 0.60 *** ) with citrus yield and canopy volume at the lower two depths. The strong relationships (r > 0.50 *** ) of sorghum and radish shoot weights and weed cover with soil properties at greater depths demonstrated the important role of cumulative root zone depth of 60 cm in differentiating citrus productivity. These results revealed that citrus production in poor areas of the grove was limited by the shallow depth of productive soil, and citrus productivity could be successfully mapped using indicator crop bioassays with soil samples taken at multiple depths.


Instead of Inequality analysis sometimes neglects the problem of allowing differences in people's non-income characteristics in the comparison of income distribution, I would say, At the heart of any distributional analysis there is the problem of allowing for differences in people's non-income characteristics. We examine the role of standard equivalence scales in distributional comparisons and the welfare implications of the basis for constructing equivalence scales. We consider the use of alternative approaches that do not require the specification of a single scale and implement one of these in a practical comparison of Spain and the UK.


Abstract. Earth system models are essential tools for understanding
the impacts of a warming world, particularly on the contribution of polar
ice sheets to sea level change. However, current models lack full coupling
of the ice sheets to the ocean and are typically run at a coarse resolution
(1∘ grid spacing or coarser). Coarse spatial resolution is
particularly a problem over Antarctica, where sub-grid-scale orography is
well-known to influence precipitation fields, and glacier models require
high-resolution atmospheric inputs. This resolution limitation has been
partially addressed by regional climate models (RCMs), which must be forced
at their lateral and ocean surface boundaries by (usually coarser) global
atmospheric datasets, However, RCMs fail to capture the two-way coupling
between the regional domain and the global climate system. Conversely,
running high-spatial-resolution models globally is computationally
expensive and can produce vast amounts of data. Alternatively, variable-resolution grids can retain the benefits of high
resolution over a specified domain without the computational costs of
running at a high resolution globally. Here we evaluate a historical
simulation of the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2)
implementing the spectral element (SE) numerical dynamical core (VR-CESM2)
with an enhanced-horizontal-resolution (0.25∘) grid over the
Antarctic Ice Sheet and the surrounding Southern Ocean; the rest of the
global domain is on the standard 1∘ grid. We compare it to
1∘ model runs of CESM2 using both the SE dynamical core and the
standard finite-volume (FV) dynamical core, both with identical physics and
forcing, including prescribed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and sea ice concentrations from
observations. Our evaluation reveals both improvements and degradations in
VR-CESM2 performance relative to the 1∘ CESM2. Surface mass
balance estimates are slightly higher but within 1 standard deviation of
the ensemble mean, except for over the Antarctic Peninsula, which is
impacted by better-resolved surface topography. Temperature and wind
estimates are improved over both the near surface and aloft, although the
overall correction of a cold bias (within the 1∘ CESM2 runs) has
resulted in temperatures which are too high over the interior of the ice
sheet. The major degradations include the enhancement of surface melt as
well as excessive cloud liquid water over the ocean, with resultant impacts
on the surface radiation budget. Despite these changes, VR-CESM2 is a
valuable tool for the analysis of precipitation and surface mass balance
and thus constraining estimates of sea level rise associated with the
Antarctic Ice Sheet.


Aims Spartina alterniflora is a world-wide, notorious invasive species that has colonized large areas in coastal China since it was introduced in 1979. Its wide range of salinity tolerance and resistance to salinity stress contribute to its invasiveness. However, if its mechanism of salt tolerance can be degraded in freshwater or disturbed by alternating irrigation between fresh and salt water, the invasiveness of S. alterniflora may be reduced. Methods We exposed S. alterniflora for three months to six irrigation treatments: single irrigation with freshwater (D) or saltwater (X), single alternating irrigation with freshwater and saltwater (DX and XD) and double alternating irrigation (DXD and XDX). Important findings With only freshwater, biomass accumulation and asexual reproduction of S. alterniflora was significantly higher than that with only saltwater. Alternating irrigation between fresh and salt water significantly affected biomass, number of propagules and flowering stems, with much stronger effects in the double alternating irrigation treatment. But irrigation treatment displayed weak effects on the root-shoot ratio, stem weight ratio, leaf weight ratio and rhizome weight ratio, although they strongly affected the root weight ratio. Results indicate that single irrigation with freshwater may benefit the biomass accumulation of S. alterniflora and make the species apt to adopt asexual reproduction. However, alternating irrigation between fresh and salt water may restrain biomass accumulation and both sexual and asexual reproduction.


Objective: The 2013 Canadian Forces Mental Health Survey (CFMHS) collected detailed information on mental health problems, their impacts, occupational and nonoccupational determinants of mental health, and the use of mental health services from a random sample of 8200 serving personnel. The objective of this article is to provide a firm scientific foundation for understanding and interpreting the CFMHS findings. Methods: This narrative review first provides a snapshot of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), focusing on 2 key determinants of mental health: the deployment of more than 40,000 personnel in support of the mission in Afghanistan and the extensive renewal of the CAF mental health system. The findings of recent population-based CAF mental health research are reviewed, with a focus on findings from the very similar mental health survey done in 2002. Finally, key aspects of the methods of the 2013 CFMHS are presented. Results: The findings of 20 peer-reviewed publications using the 2002 mental health survey data are reviewed, along with those of 25 publications from other major CAF mental health research projects executed over the past decade. Conclusions: More than a decade of population-based mental health research in the CAF has provided a detailed picture of its mental health and use of mental health services. This knowledge base and the homology of the 2013 survey with the 2002 CAF survey and general population surveys in 2002 and 2012 will provide an unusual opportunity to use the CFMHS to situate mental health in the CAF in a historical and societal perspective.


Caterpillars cause many ocular lesions by a pathogen agent coming from their coating: the hairs. These can enter into the eye ball and migrate in the ocular tissues; a secondary inflammatory reaction to the foreign body will appear. This reaction is due to the hairs themselves as foreign body, but also partly to their contents: a liquid toxin which contains proteins, lipids and other components. The morphological configuration of the hair favours its migration in the tissues. Among the different lesions observed, chorio retinopathies are not very frequent, but their clinical aspect is quite characteristic and they are easier to recognize when they are associated with intra crystalline caterpillar hairs. Two cases of chorio retinopathies had been recorded. Both had hairs inside the lens and important hyalitis. One had the very characteristic "track-shaped" scars in the eye-fundus. The other had a focal chorio retinitis above the inferior temporal artery and developed a retinal tear. Local and general corticotherapy was applied, but the effect was not adequate. Vitrectomy was performed in the two patients with a good functional result. This seems to prove that vitrectomy may be useful for the important hyalitis secondary to the intra ocular migration of caterpillar hairs.


Challenges that are hardly technical, have been reported to occur during enterprise architecture development. To address those caused by ineffective collaboration between architects and organisation stakeholders, we are developing a method referred to as Collaborative Evaluation of Enterprise Architecture Design Alternatives (CEADA). Our method aims at enabling effective execution of collaborative tasks during enterprise architecture creation. In earlier work, initial requirements for CEADA were defined and collaboration engineering was used to design a collaboration process for CEADA. Following design science research guidelines, the initial models (describing the requirements and the design of the collaboration process) were analytically evaluated using structured walkthroughs with enterprise architects. The models were then refined and analytically re-evaluated using structured walkthroughs with skilled facilitators and enterprise architects. This paper presents findings from the analytical re-evaluation of the refined model (describing only the requirements), and reports how it was further refined.


To assess the relevance and availability of subtotal nephrectomized common marmoset monkeys as a chronic renal failure (CRF) model, we observed for 26 weeks the pathophysiological condition of female marmosets subjected to five-sixth surgical nephrectomy (5/6Nx) by a two-step surgical method. The 5/6Nx marmosets showed a significant increase in serum levels of urea nitrogen, creatinine and cystatin-C immediately after 5/6Nx surgery. These renal disorder parameters subsequently tended to decrease with the passage of time but remained higher than the control levels by the end of the study. Hyperplastic parathyroid glands, a high turnover state of osteodystrophy in the femoral bone with higher serum ALP activity and anemia with hypocellularity of bone marrow were evident. The 5/6Nx marmosets showed a stable CRF condition for a long time and some characteristic disorders similar to those observed in CRF patients. These diagnostic aspects might be a species-specific anatomical and physiological signature, reflecting the nutritional condition. The CRF model using 5/6Nx marmosets might become a useful method of evaluating the unique mechanism of CRF development.


In this study, we report new results concerning the analytical performance of a novel portable vacuum compatible device enabling in situ study of aqueous surfaces using vacuum-based surface analysis tools. The surfaces of aqueous solutions of three representative organic molecules (formic acid, glycerol, and glutamic acid) were analyzed using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). Their molecular signals were successfully observed. The device can be operated without interruption in vacuum for up to 8 hours, and SIMS measurements are feasible at any time in this time range. The stability testing of our device under primary ion beam bombardment shows that high fluence (6 × 1012 ions per cm2 s−1) measurements can be operated continuously for up to 30 minutes without any significant damage to the aperture. However, extra-high fluence measurements (>1 × 1014 ions per cm2 s−1) may lead to rapid boiling in the aperture, and the aqueous solutions may spread out quickly. Device reproducibility is studied for both consecutive measurements over a short period of time (e.g., 5 min) and intermittent measurements over a long time (e.g., several hours). The relative standard deviation (RSD) for molecular ion signals was determined to be less than 15% for consecutive measurements in 5 min. As to total counts, the RSD is determined to be less than 1% for each chemical compound. Higher RSDs of ±40–50% were obtained for intermittent measurements in a few hours, both acceptable for semi-quantitative analysis. In addition, the detection limits of formic acid, glycerol, and glutamic acid are estimated to be 0.04%, 0.008%, and 0.002% (weight ratio), respectively.


The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of sandplay therapy on the level of psychological well-being of college students. The nine subjects who had wanted to find their psychological homeostasis participated in the sandplay therapy program and the eleven subjects who had interests in self-exploration and mental health participated in the self-exploration program. Both groups of subjects had completed the self-report pre-post questionnaires related to perceived subjective well-being, psychological acceptance, and positive thinking. The scores obtained from both pre-post questionnaires were compared with each other and analyzed with SPSS WIN v. 20. Differences were evident in the levels of each scale after the programs were concluded. In the sandplay therapy group, significant differences were evident in several scales, whereas no significant difference was evident in the self-exploration group. Thus, sandplay therapy enhanced the general perceived level of subjective well-being, psychological acceptance, and positive thinking of the subjects.


This article places into question the scope of judicial control over the Prosecutor's decision whether or not to investigate a situation. It addresses the on-going tensions between the Pre-Trial Chambers and the Prosecutor for the control of the procedure which will determine the stage of the initiation of an investigation. It commences with an examination of the Chambers' approach to the authorisation of the Prosecutor's request to commence a proprio motu investigation. Then, it critically analyses the lack of judicial mechanisms of control over the Prosecutor's decision not to commence an investigation under Article 15. The second part investigates the judicial oversight of the Prosecutor's decision not investigate referred situation. It analyses whether the Pre-Trial Chamber may reassess the factual allegations used by the Prosecutor not to start the investigation, and whether the Prosecutor has to comply with (strict) instructions provided by the judicial review.


In the current work we conducted the comparative analysis of P100 and N170 components of ERPs in abstinent cannabinoid users and in healthy controls during the modified Stroop task. The latency of P100 and N170 components was shorter in the temporal, parietal and occipital areas in abstinent cannabinoid users in comparison with the control subjects. The cannabinoid group showed the decrease of P100 amplitude in the right temporal and parietal areas and the decrease of N170 amplitude in the left temporal and parietal areas. There were no differences in the behavioral indices between these two groups. Thus, cannabinoids influence upon the mechanisms of early selection and these alterations of brain activity are stable and long-term.


This paper proposes a sliding mode gradient descent disturbance observer-based adaptive reaching law sliding mode predictive speed control (GD-SMPC+ARL) for surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous motor (SPMSM) systems to achieve outstanding disturbance rejection ability and tracking performance. Firstly, an SPMSM model with disturbance is given by incorporating the lumped disturbances into the q-axis current's coefficient. Then, a stable sliding mode gradient descent disturbance observer (SM-GDDO) is designed to identify the q-axis current's coefficient that varies with the lumped disturbance. Finally, a GD-SMPC+ARL strategy, which utilizes an adaptive reaching law-based cost function, is developed on the basis of the proposed SPMSM model, where the q-axis current's coefficient is estimated by utilizing SM-GDDO and updated at each control period. Compared with conventional reaching laws, the proposed adaptive reaching law suppresses the chattering while maintaining a fast following speed. Simulation and experimental results verify the excellent robustness and tracking performances of the proposed method.


The knowledge of flow and transport phenomena in fractured rocks is very important in hydrogeologic engineering in order to optimize clean up and monitoring strategies, to carry out risk assessment and to manage interventions in aquifers. Recently, understanding, characterizing and modeling physical and chemical interactions within fractured aquifers has acquired increasing importance, especially with regard to the question of water resources development and groundwater contamination. Sometimes the equivalent porous medium approach fails to reproduce flow and transport patterns in such complex geological formations. Critical emerging issues for fractured aquifers are the validity of the Darcian-type "local cubic law" which assumes a linear relationship between flow rate and pressure gradient to accurately describe flow patterns and of the classical advection-dispersion equation to describe the propagation of solute. Most studies of transport through discrete fractures are still based on simpler flow models which has limited the interpretation of solute breakthrough curves. Experimental data obtained under controlled conditions such as in a laboratory allow to increase the understanding of the fundamental physics of fluid flow and solute transport in fractures. In this study hydraulic and tracer tests on artificially created fractured rock samples of parallelepiped (0.60×0.40×0.8m) shape have been carried out. The volumes of water passing through different paths across the fractured sample for various hydraulic head differences and breakthrough curves for saline tracer pulse across different pathways have been measured. The above experiments are aimed at understanding the relations existing between the applied boundary conditions, the geometry of the system and the occurring flow and transport phenomena. The experimental results have shown evidence of non linearity in flow and concentration profiles that cannot be described by conventional solute transport models. In fact, the classical advection-dispersion equation -used as a benchmark for comparison in a numerical model- poorly describes the experimental breakthrough curves of the tracer propagation. A comparative analysis of the obtained results has allowed to study the behavior of flow and transport in the investigated medium on the one hand, and to evaluate possible improvements to the experimental setup on the other.


The prevalence of latex allergy is escalating due to increased latex glove use following the institution of universal precautions. The purpose of this article is to review research pertaining to latex allergy, summarize national guidelines relating to latex allergy, and discuss the implications for nursing practice, education, and public policy.


Malalignment of the toenail is a rare deformity that is characterized by lateral deviation of the nail plate with respect to the longitudinal axis of the distal phalanx. The condition may be congenital or acquired. The acquired forms of malalignment may result from trauma or surgical intervention. However, there are only a few reports that have focused on surgical treatment for this condition. We present here a case of a 24-year-old woman who had this nail problem for 1 year and she was successfully treated with the surgical approach. We also discuss the probable mechanism of iatrogenic malalignment.


The analytical solutions describing the linear stage of the intense-laser-pulse self-modulation, which results in a strong plasma wakefield excitation, are studied in terms of the paraxial approximation. The attention is focused on phase relations that were ignored in the previous studies. It is shown that the value of the phase velocity of the plasma wake wave differs from the pulse group velocity so that under some specific conditions, the relativistic factor corresponding to the phase velocity can be substantially less than that for the group velocity. This may be important for the particle acceleration in the self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator.


The properties of quark matter from perturbative QCD have thermodynamic inconsistencies. A thermodynamically determined new term can solve the problem, serving as a likely way from perturbative to non-perturbative effects. Consequently, quark matter can be self bound at about 4 times the normal nuclear saturation density, and the density behavior of sound velocity becomes opposite to the previous finding, which alters the mass-radius relation significantly to allow pulsars to be a candidate of quark stars.


Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) gradually accumulate abnormal karyotypes during long-term suboptimal culture, which hinder their application in regenerative medicine. Previous studies demonstrated that the activation of CTNNB1 might be implicated in this process. Hence, the hESC line with stably silenced CTNNB1 was established to further explore the role of CTNNB1 in the malignant transformation of hESCs. It was shown to play a vital role in the maintenance of the physiological properties of stem cells, such as proliferation, migration, differentiation, and telomere regulation. Furthermore, the malignant transformation of hESCs was induced by continuous exposure to 0.001 μg/ml mitomycin C (MMC). The results showed that CTNNB1 and its target genes, including proto-oncogenes CCND1 and C-MYC, were aberrantly upregulated in hESCs after MMC treatment. Moreover, the high expression of CTNNB1 accelerated cell transition from G0/G1 phase to the S phase and stimulated the growth of cells containing breakage-fusion-bridge (BFB) cycles. Conversely, CTNNB1 silencing inhibited these effects and triggered a survival crisis. The current data indicated that CTNNB1 is intimately associated with the physiological properties of stem cells; however, the aberrant expression of CTNNB1 is involved in the malignant transformation of hESCs, which might advance the process by facilitating telomere-related unstable cell proliferation. Thus, the aberrant CTNNB1 level might serve as a potential biomarker for detecting the malignant transformation of hESCs.


BACKGROUND
Neuroblastoma (NB) constitutes about 8% of all childhood tumors, yet accounts for more than 15% of deaths, with an unacceptable overall survival rate. These rates are despite the current multimodal therapeutic approaches involving surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and myeloablation with hematopoietic stem cell rescue. Hence, efforts have intensified to identify new targets and novel therapeutic approaches to improve cure rates in these children. Numerous new agents for adult malignancies are developed and evaluated for cancer each year, providing an invaluable resource, with the added advantage of available pharmacologic and toxicity data for consideration.

METHODS
To identify potential therapeutic targets, we screened a small molecule library of 151 small kinase inhibitors against NB cell lines. Based on our initial screening data, we further examined the potential of Bcr-Abl targeting small molecule inhibitors to affect the growth and survival of NB cells.

RESULTS
There is diverse activity among the currently available Bcr-Abl inhibitors, possibly reflecting the molecular heterogeneity and off-target activity in each combination. In depth analyses of ponatinib, an oral multi-target kinase inhibitor and effective agent in the treatment of refractory Philadelphia chromosome (Ph) positive leukemia, show growth inhibition at sub-micromolar concentrations. In addition, we also identified the potential of this agent to interfere with insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) signaling pathways and Src activity, inhibit cell migration and induce apoptosis.

CONCLUSION
Our findings provide initial data on ponatinib's potential to target key growth regulatory pathways and provide the rationale for further studies and evaluation in future early phase clinical trials for the treatment of refractory NB.


—The paper proposes a modelling approach and an optimization strategy to exploit a third harmonic current injection for the torque enhancement in multiphase isotropic PMSMs with non-sinusoidal back-EMFs. The modelling approach is based on a proper vector space decomposition and on the associated rotational transformation, aimed to properly select a set of stator current space vectors to be controlled. It is presented for a generic (i.e. asymmetrical, with an arbitrary angular shift) winding configuration. The injection strategy is related to the choice of a constant synchronous current set, aimed at minimizing the average stator winding losses for a given reference torque by using the 1 st and the 3 rd spatial harmonics of the air-gap flux density. The optimal solution has been found analytically and has been developed in detail for a selected set of asymmetrical winding configurations. Both the numerical and experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical analysis.


Abstract The electrode array insertion is a critical point during CI surgery and should be performed as gently as possible to preserve residual hearing. In order to measure occurring forces, an insertion tool with an integrated force sensor and an inertial measurement unit (IM U) is being developed. The weight of the electrode holder and the sensor add an unknown offset to the measured forces, depending on the tool orientation. To address this problem, a software which calculates the orientation-induced error and computes a corrected force was developed. The software was written in C++ using the library Qt 5.12.9. For maximization of the computing frequency, the data acquisition of both sensors and the monitoring was parallelized. An algorithm was developed to calculate the error caused by the electrode holder and sensor. For this purpose both weights were determined in a calibration procedure and merged with the provided IM U data. The evaluation was done in two test series (each n=5) with different initial tool orientations. To this end a stepwise 360° rotation around the horizontal axis was performed, while recording the corrected forces. The developed software allows a computing frequency up to 100 Hz with a latency of 10 ms for the online monitoring of the processed data. The evaluation of the corrected force shows a residual error of 0.347 mN ± 0.325 mN for the first and 0.176 mN ± 1.971 mN for the second test series. With the created algorithm, the impact of the extra weight on the sensor can be almost fully equalized. The highly responsive software offers a new possibility to process insertion forces and provide feedback to surgeons. Determining the influence of the tool orientation on the corrected forces is the subject of future researches.


Proc. SPIE Visual Communications and Image Processing (VCIP), Lugano, Switzerland, July 2003. In this paper, a next generation 3-D video conferencing system is presented that provides immersive telepresence and natural representation of all participants in a shared virtual meeting space. The system is based on the principle of a shared virtual table environment which guarantees correct eye contact and gesture reproduction and enhances the quality of human-centered communication. The virtual environment is modeled in MPEG-4 which also allows the seamless integration of explicit 3-D head models for a low-bandwidth connection to mobile users. In this case, facial expression and motion information is transmitted instead of video streams resulting in bit-rates of a few kbit/s per participant. Beside low bit-rates, the model-based approach enables new possibilities for image enhancements like digital make-up, digital dressing, or modification of scene lighting.


Hypertension is a highly prevalent disease worldwide. It is known for being one of the most important risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease, including acute myocardial infarction and stroke. Therefore, during the last decades there have been multiple efforts to fully understand the mechanisms underlying hypertension, and then develop effective therapeutic interventions to attenuate the morbidity and mortality associated with this condition. In this regard, oxidative stress has been proposed as a key mechanistic mediator of hypertension, which is an imbalance between oxidant species and the antioxidant defense systems. A large amount of evidence supports the role of vascular wall as a major source of reactive oxygen species. These include the activation of enzymes, such as NADPH oxidase and xanthine oxidase, the uncoupling eNOS and mitochondrial dysfunction, having as a major product the superoxide anion. Among the stimuli that increase the production of oxidative species can be found the action of some vasoactive peptides, such as angiotensin II, endothelin-1 and urotensin II. The oxidative stress state generated leads to a decrease in the biodisponibility of nitric oxide and prostacyclin, key factors in maintaining the vascular tone. The knowledge of the mechanisms mentioned above has allowed generating some therapeutic strategies using antioxidants as antihypertensives with different results. Further studies are required to position antioxidants as key agents in the treatment of hypertension. The current review summarize evidence of the role of oxidative stress in hypertension, emphasizing in therapeutic targets that can be consider in antioxidant therapy.


The main result of this thesis is a method for writing programs with graphical user interfaces in purely functional languages. The method is based on a new abstraction called the fudget. The method makes good use of key abstraction powers of functional languages, such as higher order functions and parametric polymorphism. The Fudget concept is defined in terms of the simpler concept of stream processors, which can be seen as a simple, but practically useful incarnation of the process concept. Programs based on fudgets and stream processors are networks of communicating processes that are built hierarchically, using combinators. Communication is type safe. The basic combinators provide serial compositions, parallel compositions, and loops. A key difference between previous work on stream processing functions and our approach is that we deliberately abstract away from the streams. We obtain a system that can be implemented deterministically, entirely within a purely functional language, but which also makes it possible to take advantage of parallel evaluation and indeterminism, where such is available within the functional language. The purely functional approach makes processes first class values and makes it easy to express process cloning and process migration. The practical viability of the approach is demonstrated by the Fudget library, which is an implementation of a graphical user interface toolkit in the purely functional language Haskell, together with a number of small an large applications that have been implemented on top of the library. In addition to GUI programming, fudgets are suitable for other forms of concurrent I/O programming. We demonstrate how client/server based applications can be we written, with type safe communication between client and server. We show a web browser as an example where GUI programming and network communication come together. We view fudgets as one example of a more general combinator-based approach to promote the idea that a functional language together with combinator libraries is a good alternative to using less expressive languages propped by application-specific tools. We describe a set of combinators, reminiscent of parsing combinators, for building syntax-directed editors.


Obesity is a significant health problem that could potentially lead to increased cardiovascular risk. Noninvasive imaging plays an important role in the evaluation of cardiovascular symptoms and risk of these patients. Selection of the appropriate test in the diagnosis of obstructive coronary artery disease in this unique population is important. In this article, we focus on the strengths, limitations, and recommendations of the various noninvasive cardiac imaging modalities available in the detection of obstructive coronary artery disease. We have suggested an algorithm to help direct investigation. Ultimately, patient management should be individualized based on clinical judgement, test availability, and local expertise. RESUME


This research investigated the portrayal of the African politician in Kiswahili poetry. Basically, this research intended to shed light on how different poets have portrayed African politicians creatively with a purpose of revealing how these leaders have changed since colonial times to the multi-party period. The research assumed that political leaders played a great role in the development of their individual countries and Africa as a whole. The attainment of various developmental goals such as Kenya's Vision 2030 and strengthening of the East African Community is to a large extent pegged on political decisions. The objectives of this research were to investigate the role of Kiswahili poetry in preserving the history of the African politician and to examine the traits of the pre-colonial and post-colonial African politician according to Kiswahili poets. The researcher assumed that the poet speaks for the citizen who gets adversely affected by decisions and actions taken by politicians. The study was guided by Romanticism theory developed by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Post-colonial Theory which is associated with the works of Edward W. Said, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Homi K. Bhabha. The study was carried out in the library where purposive sampling method was used to collect data from selected anthologies. Qualitative analysis of the selected poems was done guided by the research objectives. The findings of this study revealed that Kiswahili poetry is an important tool for preserving the history of Africa's struggle for independence. The study also revealed how the seemingly royal pre-independence African politician changed drastically after independence was attained and became a tormentor of the very people he had sworn to protect. Despite these shortcomings, it is evident that the African continent has a few political role models whom the current and future politicians can emulate. The findings of this research will benefit Kiswahili scholars, writers and all political stakeholders in Africa and beyond. International Journal Of Arts and Entrepreneurship Volume4, Issue 7, 2015 Http://www.ijsse.org ISSN 23076305 Page | 53


By Cheyenne Halsey, Biology
 Advisor: David Orban
 Presentation ID: AM_ATRIUM28
 Abstract: Animal behavior research is a key tool that zoos and aquariums can utilize to better understand and improve their animals' experiences. The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is home to a female fishing cat, Prionailurus viverrinus, named Ratana, who is 13-years old, arthritic, and three-legged due to a previous injury. Ratana has a multilevel habitat, with levels that are not accessible to her due to her disability. Using an ethogram and a behavior monitoring web tool called ZooMonitor, instantaneous scan sampling was implemented to measure Ratana's behavior and location, with data collected every 30 seconds in 10-minute sample sessions. Ratana was observed over 10 minute periods every hour and a half, three days per week. After establishing a baseline activity budget for Ratana over 4 weeks, the animal care team added ramps to the habitat and live fish to the pool, which I hypothesized would cause an increase in time spent at the mid and high levels of the habitat, as well as decreased inactivity. Ramps were added to make the mid and high levels of her habitat more accessible, and live fish were added to her pool daily around 1:00 pm. The last data set was collected for another four weeks using the same methods to evaluate behavior change resulting from these habitat modification_s. After all data was collected, the baseline and treatment activity budgets were compared and statistical tests were run to determine if there was a significant difference present.


Year 2005 (July) Aerials Express Natural Color orthoimagery acquired by King County for internal business and agency use only. Pixel resolution is 1.0 foot and coverage is western, urbanized, portions of King County, southwestern Snohomish County and a buffer into Pierce County.


Using door-to-door travel satisfaction data which was collected in Stockholm, Sweden, in this paper the authors have investigated how satisfaction with the main mode is related to the overall trip satisfaction, and how service related variables influence satisfaction at both levels. The results show that every stages within the journey matters in influencing traveler's door-to-door journey experience. Some other factors, such as occurrence of disruptions, were also found as significant factor influencing the reported travel satisfaction. The quality of vehicle design, one of the traditional emphases in improving passenger' travel satisfaction, affects the trip as a whole but not the main mode satisfaction. This indicates that this variable is more relevant for the access and egress trips made by addition means of public transport. Overall, the authors' findings suggest that in order to improve the overall trip satisfaction, it does not suffice to focus only on characteristics of the main mode, but also the quality of egress and access trips and also the quality of the interchanges as a whole.


This study was designed as a preliminary investigation of the practices of software engineers within New Zealand, including their use of development tools. The project involved a review of relevant literature on software engineering and CASE tools, the development and testing of an interview protocol, and structured interviews with five software engineers. This paper describes the project, presents the findings, examines the results in the context of the literature and outlines on-going funded work involving a larger survey.


This paper proposes a design method of discrete-time optimal reset control with the reset time instants prespecified. With a base linear system designed conventionally, the discrete-time reset law design aims at improving the system transient responses. The design method can guarantee system stability, and the controller is obtained by solving Riccati equations. The proposed design method is applied to short-span and long-span track seeking of a hard disk drive servo system. Experimental results show that the proposed design is much more capable of improving transient response than traditional control design methods.


Two surveys on different metazoan parasites is provided. First is concerning with composition and structure of metazoan parasites in selected gobiid fish (Gobiidae) in Northern Adriatic (Croatia). Basic epidemiological data are known for 364 specimens of the following six gobiid species from the two seasons in 2014: Buenia affinis, Gobius auratus, G. niger, G. roulei, G. vittatus and Pomatoschistus marmoratus. Figure 1 shows comparison of parasite numbers in two seasons (spring and autumn). Second survey is concerning with composition and structure of metazoan parasites in notothenioid fish (Nototheniidae) in Prince Gustav Channel (Weddell Sea, Antarctica). Basic epidemiological data are stated for 102 specimens of the following six notothenioid fish species from the Czech Antarctic expedition in 2014: Trematomus hansoni, T. bernacchii, T. newnesi, Notothenia coriiceps, Parachaenichthys charcoti, Pagothenia borchgrevinki (Fig. 2). All host individuals were infected with at least one parasite taxa. Mean total parasite abundance across the hosts was 76. The most parasitized host was Notothenia coriiceps with the mean parasite abundance of 117. Preliminary epidemiological data were already published. Now we are working on determination of parasites from Antarctica and Croatia.


The detection of spurious heat sources such as fires in mass transit underground tunnels presents considerable problems. The authors report the initial findings of the evaluation, of an optical fibre distributed temperature sensor (DTS) in an underground transit network. They describe trials undertaken for London Underground Ltd. using a commercially available DTS system in a disused tunnel in the London Underground network. >


A combination of economic, strategic, and domestic considerations has led India to pay greater attention to its eastern neighbours since the 1990s. India's steadily growing ties with East and Southeast Asian countries have become an increasingly important element of India's foreign policy. India is working with these countries bilaterally as well as through regional frameworks like the EAS, ASEM, and ASEAN, and sub-regional organizations like BIMSTEC and Mekong-Ganga Cooperation. The main driver remains economic, and India has many ongoing and planned FTAs with the countries of this region. Of late, defence and security ties too have grown. However, India's relations with China remain tense and troubled, with persisting differences over the border, Tibet, and China's patronage of India's South Asian neighbours, particularly Pakistan. Asia's major players will have to overcome internal rivalries and consciously evolve a cooperative paradigm for Asian security and cooperation to enable Asia to play a leading global role.


There has been world wide acceptance of herbal medicines for health care, it has drawn attention of researchers towards exploration of bioactivities of medicinal plants used in conjunction with other drugs and as an alternative medicine. A study was done to evaluate the hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effect of garlic pods administration. The criteria of inclusion of the study group patients was FBS > 110 mg/dl of glucose, > 290 mg/dl of cholesterol, > 210 mg/dl of triglyceride 180 mg/dl of LDL. All the subjects were examined for fasting serum glucose, MDA and serum lipids (cholesterol, LDL, HDL and TG). Garlic pods (100 mgs/day) were given to the study group for 5 months and samples were collected every month for estimation of all parameters under study. The study has shown that the garlic pods significantly decrease serum glucose, MDA as well as serum Lipids (Total Cholesterol, Triglyceride and LDL) in the study group. This effect was seen from the first month of administration of garlic and the peek effect was in 3 months which remained same up to 5 months. The results show that there was a significant increase in glucose, cholesterol, HDL and triglycerides in obese patients with recently diagnosed Diabetes mellitus type II. But after treatment with garlic pods there was significant lowering of serum glucose, MDA, cholesterol and triglycerides and these values were close to normal. A single increase in HDL level was also seen. This indicates that the garlic has antidiabetic, antilipidic and antioxidant property


OBJECTIVE
To identify aspects of psychosocial adjustment related to the self-perceived facial appearance of preadolescents with craniofacial abnormalities.

DESIGN
Concurrent relationships were evaluated using a within-group correlational design.

PARTICIPANTS
Participants were 24 patients, aged 11 to 13, of a major craniofacial center and their parents who were contacted by telephone and agreed to participate.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Self-report and parent-report questionnaires assessing psychosocial adjustment.

RESULTS
Self-perceived facial appearance was positively correlated with global self-worth, self-perceived social acceptance, and number of same-sex close friends, and negatively correlated with loneliness, parent-rated social problems, and parental advice/support and concern (all p's < .05 or better).

CONCLUSIONS
Dissatisfaction with facial appearance was associated with peer relationship problems and low global self-esteem, but not with other aspects of self-concept or other types of adjustment problems.


In this paper, the flattening and the simultaneous solidification of a liquid particle when it hits a solid surface are described mathematically and numerically simulated in cylindrical coordinates on the basis of the Navier-Stokes equations. The heat transfer in the particle and in the substrate is simulated by solving the 2-D heat conduction problem, whereby hydrodynamic processes in the melted particle as well as pressure forces are taken into account. The particle solidification is investigated using the one-dimensional Stefan problem, taking into account the contact heat conduction at the boundary between particle and substrate. For numerical calculations, computational algorithms were created on the basis of the difference method, which were implemented in the form of an applied program complex. Paper includes a German-language abstract.


Energy constrained nature and unattended deployment of sensors motivates the need of special techniques for designing reliable wireless sensor networks. Recently many approaches are considering mobile sensor nodes to deal with this problem. But making all the sensors mobile involves more signaling overhead for network maintenance. It is energy efficient to move the base station which has no power limitations. Also, there are many real life applications in which event based approach is more appropriate. In this paper, we propose an adaptive scheme for a mobile base station that moves according to the occurrence of events. We propose two optimization schemes: moving the BS towards the event centroid and moving the BS towards distance based weighted centroid. Simulation results show that moving the base station adaptively significantly prolongs the network lifetime.


Layered composites have attracted attention for their high specific stiffness, high specific strength, and application specific tailoring of their properties. It is also recognized that layered composites are prone to delamination failure in addition to other failure modes. Consideration of transverse shear on the deformation behavior of the composites is an important aspect in the study of delamination mode failure of such plates. In this paper, we consider the effects of including the transverse shear deformation on the vibration characteristics of layered composites. The formulation is based on the Raleigh-Ritz method using the beam characteristic functions. MATLAB based symbollic math tool box is used in evaluating th eintegrals resulting from the Raleigh Ritz approach. Various commonly occuring boundary conditions are discussed. Results are provided showing the effects of the shear deformation on the dynamics of layered laminated composites. The effects of laminate thickness, fiber orientation, and the plate aspect ratios on the free vibration characteristics of the composite laminates are given to demonstrate the methodology described.


This essay deals with the TMSA programme (Tanker Management and Self Assessment), which was created by OCIMF (Oil Companies International Marine Forum), as a tool to help vessel operators to assess and improve their Management Systems. The primary objectives of OCIMF are the promotion of safety and prevention of pollution from tankers and at oil terminals. The TMSA programme, as presented in chapter 2 of this essay, offers tanker operators a tool to assess their own management system against some listed key performance indicator. The results of this assess can be used to develop an improvement plan basing on 4 stages, in order to achieve safety and environmental excellence. In chapter 3, there is a reference to the cost of a shipping company and an analysis of the various categories of cost, in order to enable to locate which type and sub-type of cost are more likely effected by tmsa implementation. Chapter 4, deals with the way that every cost category is effected by tmsa implementation, in relation to the requirements resulting by tmsa implementation. Finally, it ends up to the conclusion that compliance with TMSA requirements results to increment of Operating / Running Cost of a tanker owning /operator /manager company, however it is necessary to underline that benefits earned, are very significant, especially on long terms basis.


Vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) play a crucial role in both the pathogenesis of Aneurysms and Dissections of the ascending thoracic aorta (TAAD) in humans and in the associated adaptive compensatory responses, since thrombosis and inflammatory processes are absent in the majority of cases. Aneurysms and dissections share numerous characteristics, including aetiologies and histopathological alterations: vSMC disappearance, medial areas of mucoid degeneration, and extracellular matrix (ECM) breakdown. Three aetiologies predominate in TAAD in humans: (i) genetic causes in heritable familial forms, (ii) an association with bicuspid aortic valves, and (iii) a sporadic degenerative form linked to the aortic aging process. Genetic forms include mutations in vSMC genes encoding for molecules of the ECM or the TGF-β pathways, or participating in vSMC tone. On the other hand, aneurysms and dissections, whatever their aetiologies, are characterized by an increase in wall permeability leading to transmural advection of plasma proteins which could interact with vSMCs and ECM components. In this context, blood-borne plasminogen appears to play an important role, because its outward convection through the wall is increased in TAAD, and it could be converted to active plasmin at the vSMC membrane. Active plasmin can induce vSMC disappearance, proteolysis of adhesive proteins, activation of MMPs and release of TGF-β from its ECM storage sites. Conversely, vSMCs could respond to aneurysmal biomechanical and proteolytic injury by an epigenetic phenotypic switch, including constitutional overexpression and nuclear translocation of Smad2 and an increase in antiprotease and ECM protein synthesis. In contrast, such an epigenetic phenomenon is not observed in dissections. In this context, dysfunction of proteins involved in vSMC tone are interesting to study, particularly in interaction with plasma protein transport through the wall and TGF-β activation, to establish the relationship between these dysfunctions and ECM proteolysis.


Patented biopharmaceuticals generate huge costs for private and statutory health insurance. Exactly ten years ago, off-patent biopharmaceuticals, also referred to as 'biosimilars medicines', became available as a more cost-efficient and therapeutically equivalent alternative in Germany and Europe. Following their approval by all the relevant authorities, biosimilars medicines can therefore be applied in the same way as previously patented biopharmaceuticals.


From being the basic sustenance of life food has become one of the most important cultural markers in the history and the evolution of human civilization. Even though food, its preparation, its producers and its evolution has happened right alongside human history and development, the study of food as a cultural marker is not a very old or tired discipline. In fact food discourses are a relatively modern branch of study. In this paper I have tried to trace the various influences and collusions of food and food myths that have become deeply entrenched into various lifestyles throughout history till this very day, only changing patterns and interpretations.  The paper highlights the corporeal influences of food associations on social and political movements; food has a much deeper and infinitely more powerful grip on our socio-political scenarios than appears on the surface.


Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic cutaneous inflammatory disorder. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a sex hormone normally secreted from the adrenal gland and is used to treat various disorders. It decreases in the serum of AD patients and is known to attenuate dust mite-induced airway allergic responses associated with reduced Th2 cytokine. Objective: The authors attempted investigate the effect of DHEA on AD-like skin lesions by reviewing the cytokine profile and specific IgE production in BALB/c mice sensitized with ovalbumin (OVA). Method: Mice were sensitized by intraperitoneal injection of OVA, followed by epicutaneous sensitization for 5 weeks. DHEA was given by the oral route. After all mice were sacrificed at the end of the experiment, skin, spleen tissue and blood were harvested. Result: Gross and histological examinations of skin lesions showed inflammation. The severity was mild or absent in DHEA-ingested mice and the number of inflammatory cells was significantly reduced. The IL-5 levels in the cultured splenocytes significantly decreased in the sensitized mice than in the control group. The IFN-γ/IL-5 ratio significantly increased in the sensitized mice. Conclusion: DHEA ingestion may suppress OVA-induced AD-like skin lesions and prevents the cytokine production of Th2 cells. (Korean J Asthma Allergy Clin Immunol 2009;29:269-276)


OBJECTIVE
To explore the surgical extent and to improve the surgical techniques of the Piver class III hysterectomy on invasive cervical cancer, so as to reduce the urinary tract complications, shorten the surgical duration, decrease the hemorrhage and blood transfusion.

METHODS
The study group, 196 cases with stages Ib and IIa carcinoma of the cervix underwent the modified Piver class III hysterectomy from June 2000 to May 2005. The control group, 176 cases of the same stages underwent the Piver class III hysterectomy between June 1994 and May 1999. The modified Piver class III hysterectomy mainly include the surgical extent and some surgical techniques as follows. The cervicovesical and vesicovaginal space are separated with assistance of electrotome. Half of the uterosacral ligaments are removed with electrotome. The tunnel of the ureters is separated and penetrated or not. The anterior leaf of the cervicovesical ligaments is removed and the uterine artery are removed at the same time, while the ureter branch from the uterine artery are preserved. When the ureters are drawn to the lateral side of the body with an "S" hook and the urocyst lateral recessus are expanded, the cardinal ligaments can be exposed and be removed of 3/4. But part of the inferior of these ligaments should be preserved. The paracolpium are resected about 2 cm, 2 - 3 cm tissue of the vagina is removed.

RESULTS
Compare with the control group, the urinary tract complications of the study group were significantly reduced (51.1% versus 23.0%, P < 0.01). There were a shorter surgical duration [(132 ± 20) min], less of the hemorrhage [(322 ± 100) ml] and blood transfusion [(154 ± 79) ml] in the study group than those in the control group (all P < 0.05). While, there was no significant difference at the survival rates of 5 years between the two groups (87.8% versus 88.6%, P = 0.793).

CONCLUSION
The modified Piver class III hysterectomy is effective and applicable for patients with cervical cancer.


This study aimed at establishing instructional constraints facing Adapted Physical Education (APE) in Joywwn Secondary School for the physically handicapped. The study took the form of a case study. Learners who were physically handicapped were randomly selected on 'strati fied basis. Four administrators and three APE teachers were purposively selected. Three sets of questionnaires and observation schedule were used in data collection. A pilot study was done In Joyland Secondary school for the physically handicapped in Kisumu. Test-retest technique was used to ascertain reliability of the instruments. The data collected was coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study revealed that lack of trained personnel, facilities and equipment. lack of relevantadaptations of facilities and equipment and inappropriate APE curriculum were the major constrains facing APE. Majority of teachers had no professional qualifications and facilities and equipment were inadequate. Two APE teachers indicated the syllabus as inappropriate. The researcher has recommended more government involvement in provision of facilities, equipment, trained personnel as well as appropriate curriculum for APE for the PH. The study further recommends areas of further research, to improve teaching of the subject hence improved student learning. SPECIAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES STUDIES


The humanitarian aspects of food security Despite its multifaceted nature, the debate surrounding food security over the last few decades has largely focused on production and on the challenges facing the agricultural system. Food security, however, encompasses a far broader range of challenges, being directly associated, for example, with humanitarian concerns such as hunger and poverty. Although agriculture and fisheries are fundamental and essential components of the food system, it is misguided to address the future of food security without looking at the system's many other determinants. The time has come to overcome this conventional approach and to look systemically at food security and its complex nature. The Joint Research Centre's Foresight study on Global Food Security brought together a group of scientific experts and stakeholders to develop a vision for food security in 2030. This Vision was then challenged in a test of resilience to uncertainty and underestimated trends. The entire process was designed to establish a structured and inclusive discussion that could be useful for guiding future EU policies. The report calls for an evolution of present-day policies on food security and beyond into a Common Food Systems Policy in which both the systemic and the global dimensions of food security are fully incorporated.


Different approaches to power scaling of 4.5- to 5-µm emitting quantum cascade (QC) lasers by multiemitter beam combining are investigated. Spectral beam combining of linear arrays of QC lasers consisting of several individual emitters located side by side is demonstrated as a first variant, using an external cavity equipped with a diffraction grating and a partially transmitting output mirror providing wavelength-selective feedback to each emitter. In this way, spectral beam combining of up to eight individual QC lasers is achieved with an optical coupling efficiency of 60% for an array of six emitters. The resulting beam quality (M2 < 2 for both fast and slow axes) is close to that observed for single emitters. As a second approach, a linear array of QC lasers is coupled to a custom-made array of silicon microlenses positioned in front of the output facets of the QC lasers. This technique produces a set of closely spaced parallel output beams, strongly overlapping in the far field, without introducing any coupling losses. The resulting beam divergence is given by the aperture size of the microlenses, which is limited by the center-to-center spacing of the QC lasers (500 µm in our case).


Due to the current discussion surrounding immigration policy, I found it prudent to research the ethics behind the policies we have had in the past in order to make better policy decisions in the future. These policy decisions in the past have shaped America, and will continue to do so. Having this in mind, I decided to ethically evaluate the immigration policy of the 20th century using four acts implemented during this time: the Immigration Act of 1924, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, the Immigration Act of 1965, and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. To evaluate these four acts I laid out the ethical framework that philosopher John Rawls provides and used that as a guiding factor. I divided the framework into four parts so that it would be clear and easy to understand: his principles of justice, justice as fairness, the original position and duty and obligation. I found that the policies over time started to reach a more and more ethical tone to them. The quota system in place, over the history of policy, has not been particularly ethical according to the Rawlsian framework. Overall, however, I came to the conclusion that due to the fact that the framework from John Rawls I used is only within the confines of a closed state it is not the most effective way to evaluate this sort of policy. I suggest further research and evaluation using a Jeremy Bentham Utilitarian framework or Kantian Deontological framework.


Strategies for Implementing Workplace Violence Prevention Policies in Small Businesses by Anthony J. Fleming MA, American Military University, 2011 BA, American Military University, 2006 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University August 2019 Abstract Workplace violence can produce adverse financial outcomes for organizational shareholders, harms employees, and might create long-lasting mental health issues for survivors. Leaders of small businesses might lack the tools available to larger organizations to effectively address the growing incidence of violence in the workplace. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies some leaders of small businesses used to prevent workplace violence. The targeted population consisted of 3Workplace violence can produce adverse financial outcomes for organizational shareholders, harms employees, and might create long-lasting mental health issues for survivors. Leaders of small businesses might lack the tools available to larger organizations to effectively address the growing incidence of violence in the workplace. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies some leaders of small businesses used to prevent workplace violence. The targeted population consisted of 3 leaders of small businesses from 3 different organizations in the government consulting industry in northern Virginia who successfully implemented workplace violence prevention programs. The general systems theory was the conceptual framework for this research. Data were collected from applicable company documents and semistructured interviews. The data were analyzed through a 5-phase qualitative analysis cycle. Emergent themes included effective workplace violence prevention policies and procedures and leaders' role in creating a positive working environment. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to reduce workrelated stress so that employees are healthy members of society. Leaders of small business who promote a positive work environment and understand the importance of an effective workplace violence prevention policy might be able to increase the performance of their businesses, which could allow them to be more involved in their communities. Strategies for Implementing Workplace Violence Prevention Policies in Small Businesses by Anthony J. Fleming MA, American Military University, 2011 BA, American Military University, 2006 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University August 2019


Although private security industry of Korea is continuously growing, there still are various problems and qualitative assignments. One of methods to specialize security work and improve customer`s reliability is to introduce and activate license policy. Currently, private security license of Korea is restricted to security instructor license. In private security industry, the system of professional security certificate of qualification is applied around the advanced nations just like U.S. and japan. Therefore, the study tries to consider domestic and foreign license policy and suggest its improvement direction. Specifically, it considers license policy of advanced country and searches for improvement direction of license policy on the basis of the Law of Security, which is a basic law of private security. The study suggests improvement direction through improvement of security instructor system, adoption of security planning company license and introduction of security license.


A 36-year-old man suffered from pathological jealousy during three marriages. The episodes involving delusions of infidelity were usually preceded by premonitory symptoms. At first, the patient responded by discontinuing his medication (a phenothiazine) so that he might remain vigilant. Later he came to recognize the premonitory symptoms as signals indicating a need for help, and he would request hospitalization. In the periods between his marriages he was never troubled by feelings of jealousy. The chief determinant of delusions of infidelity in this instance, as in three reported by Docherty and Ellis, seemed to be exposure to the mother's extramarital sexual relations. This case, in which three different wives were subjected to the same pattern of behavior, would seem to be an exception to the rule that if marital problems occur both partners are responsible for creating them.


Advancement of technology and trends in globalization has resulted in higher customer
demands and expectations. Manufacturers now offer mass customization to stay
competitive. In the semiconductor industry, where product mix and volume are high,
production is further complicated by the different process routes and processing times
for different product families. Coupled with rapid changeovers of products, it is
essential to keep the work in process (WIP) low in order to reduce the inventory level
on the shop floor. Constant W1P (CONWIP) is a production control strategy applicable
in many manufacturing environment that use cards to control W1P level. This research
was conducted in a semiconductor manufacturing company facing difficulty in reducing
the variation in WIP on the shopfloor. The objectives of this research are to design and
develop simulation models for single loop CONWIP, multi loop CONW1P, hybrid
CONW1P, single loop CONWlP and multi loop CONWIP with buffer size optimization
based on the environment in the case company. With the developed models, the
maximum throughput (TH) and minimum W1P were determined. Discrete event
simulation models were developed using the Witness Software for processes at the End
of Line (EOL) production in the company. Experiments were conducted using these
models to compare the current system with the single loop, multi loop, and hybrid
CONWIP control mechanisms. ln addition, buffer optimization incorporating single
loop and multi loop control were also examined. Performance parameters of TH and
WIP level were compared in all experiments. The results show that CONWTP
production control is more effective in reducing WlP level compared to the current
system. Secondly, the single loop CONWIP showed the least number of cards in the
system. However, hybrid CONWIP is more robust and provides a better control
mechanism compared to the single and multi loop system. Buffer optimization control
can further reduce the number of cards in the single and multi loop control. The
developed simulation models are useful to determine the number of cards in the system
and buffer size for each process. With these models, the production personnel can
monitor and control the WJP dynamically to meet current demands and utilize the
shopfloor space for more productive purposes.


20 germ cell tumours have been studied with respect to the presence of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), using the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) technique. 6 out of 20 tumours contained elements of endodermal sinus tumour (EST) and were AFP positive. 16 tumours were diagnosed either as pure embryonal carcinomas (6) or as mixed germ cell tumours, containing elements of embryonal carcinoma (10). In 3 of these 16 tumours AFP was localised definitely in the embryonal carcinoma cells; in an additional 6, AFP was also detected but it could not be decided whether AFP was present in embryonal carcinoma cells or in EST cells during early differentiation. In 2 of 7 immature teratomas, AFP was shown to be present in cylindric epithelia. All seminomas (4) studied were AFP-negative. These results show that AFP, which occurs regularly in EST, may also be present in embryonal carcinomas as well as in immature teratomas. Thus, it seems that the immunohistochemical demonstration of AFP by the PAP technique is a suitable method of identifying late stages of embryonal carcinoma or early stages of endodermal sinus tumour during the process of differentiation.


Title RELIABILITY ESTIMATE OF RC STRUCTURES IN A MARINE ENVIRONMENT USING MARKOV MODEL AND SEQUENTIAL MONTE CARLO SIMULATION Author(s) TAKENAKA, K.; HAGINO, T.; AKIYAMA, M.; YOSHIDA, I. Issue Date 2013-09-11 Doc URL http://hdl.handle.net/2115/54264 Type proceedings Note The Thirteenth East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction (EASEC-13), September 1113, 2013, Sapporo, Japan. File Information easec13-B-6-5.pdf


INTRODUCTION
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop during the aftermath of traumatic events. Although many are impacted by several stressors, nearly 3.6% suffer from PTSD in the United States with higher incidence reported in military service personnel. Any injury to the blood-brain barrier can ignite an array of biological signaling molecules in the immune-privileged brain parenchyma, which can disrupt the synaptic neural network, resulting in altered behavior.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
In this preliminary study, we compared 20 PTSD veterans with age-matched healthy veterans to identify plasma levels of brain-specific protein markers using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay/immunofluorometric sandwich assay for neurotrophic factors and neuropoietic cytokines, and catalytic activity of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) by zymography.

RESULTS
We observed an increased level of glial fibrillary acidic protein, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin 6, and MMP2 and MMP9 but decreased level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, nerve growth factor-beta, and negligible difference in astroglial marker S100 calcium-binding protein B compared to controls.

CONCLUSION
Identification of neural biomarkers is essential to understand the subclinical symptoms for the diagnosis PTSD, which may not be visible by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI/fMRI) and may take years to clinically manifest.


In adult skeletal muscles, exogenous ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) induces axons and their nerve terminals to sprout. CNTF also regulates the amount of multiple innervation in developing skeletal muscles during synapse elimination, maintaining multiple innervation of muscle fibers. While CNTF may maintain multiple innervation by regulating developmental synapse elimination, it is also possible that CNTF induces the formation of new multiple innervation through a sprouting response. In this study I examined morphologically the effects of CNTF during synapse elimination in the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle. Rat pups received injections of CNTF in one leg and vehicle in the other either early [postnatal day 7 (P7)-P13] or late (P14-P20) in development. The early treatment period corresponds to that time when the pattern of innervation in the EDL is converted from predominantly multiple to single innervation. The late treatment period is at the end of synapse elimination for the EDL but corresponds to the major period of synapse elimination in the levator ani (LA), allowing a comparison of effects on these two muscles from the same animals. On the day after the final injection, EDL muscles were dissected and stained with tetranitroblue tetrazolium and the resulting pattern of innervation was assessed. The present findings indicate that only the early CNTF treatment regulates the level of multiple innervation in the EDL. Moreover, the effect o early CNTF treatment was local, affecting multiple innervation only in the EDL from the CNTF-treated leg. CNTF injected during the late treatment period had no apparent effects on the EDL but had a potent effect on the pattern of innervation in the LA, significantly increasing the level of multiple innervation in this muscle. Thus, CNTF affected multiple innervation in these two muscles only if provided during the period when single innervation normally develops. There was no evidence to indicate that CNTF induced axons or their terminals to sprout during either treatment period. In conclusion, CNTF increases the level of multiple innervation, probably by regulating synapse elimination, and skeletal muscles themselves may be an important target site for CNTF action. Presumably, the sprouting response to CNTF found in adult muscle develops sometime after P21.


The heart is one of the human body's vital organs. An electrocardiogram (ECG) provides continuous tracings of the electrophysiological activity originated from heart, thus being widely used for a variety of diagnostic purposes. This study aims to design and realize an artificial intelligence (AI)-based abnormal heart beat detection with applications for early detection and timely treatment for heart diseases. A convolutional neural network (CNN) was employed to achieve a fast and accurate identification. In order to meet the requirements of the modularity and scalability of the circuit, modular and efficient processing element (PE) units and activation function modules were designed. The proposed CNN was implemented using a TSMC 0.18 μm CMOS technology and had an operating frequency of 60 MHz with chip area of 1.42 mm2 and maximum power dissipation of 4.4 mW. Furthermore, six types of ECG signals drawn from the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database were used for performance evaluation. Results produced by the proposed hardware showed that the discrimination rate was 96.3% with high efficiency in calculation, suggesting that it may be suitable for wearable devices in healthcare.


In a general purpose cloud system efficiencies are yet to be had from supporting diverse applications and their requirements within a storage system used for a private cloud. Supporting such diverse requirements poses a significant challenge in a storage system that supports fine grained configuration on a variety of parameters.

This paper uses the Ceph distributed file system, and in particular its global parameters, to show how a single changed parameter can effect the performance for a range of access patterns when tested with an OpenStack cloud system.


The combustion process in homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) is mainly controlled by the chemical kinetics reactions of the fuel-air mixture. So, the HCCI combustion process is sensitive to the charge temperature, pressure, and the mixture composition during the compression stroke. In the present work, the simulations results of the HCCI combustion are performed using a single zone model with detailed kinetic reaction mechanism. The simulation study is achieved to predict the auto-ignition timing and the combustion characteristics of the HCCI engine fueled with blends of ethanol and diesel at different volume percentage. The premixed ratio of the ethanol–diesel fuel blends is used in this study to control the auto-ignition timing and the combustion characteristics at a wide range of the engine load. The main pathway of this work is to study the influence of engine operating parameters which including the premixed ratio, fuel-air equivalence ratio on the combustion characteristics of HCCI engine. These effects are studied and traced through the simulation result data of the in-cylinder pressure, temperature, and heat release at different premixed ratios of ethanol-diesel fuels blends of 0, 10, 20, 30,40 and 50% (by volume). The engine speed is kept constant at 1500 RPM. The obtained results show that the increase of the premixed ratio of ethanol in diesel fuel blends in the range up to 50% will decrease the peak cylinder pressure and temperature and decrease the combustion duration.


Abstract As the dust of society-wide digitalisation settles, the search for meaningful technological encounters is becoming more urgent. While the Nordic countries embrace digitalisation, recent concerns regarding technology overuse have been gaining increased attention. This tendency is exemplified in practices of limiting digital use, called digital disengagement – an apparent paradox in Nordic societies where digital is the dominant paradigm. In this article, we explore the emergence of disconnection-centred devices called "dumbphones", which cater to individuals wishing to escape hyperconnected lifestyles. Drawing on a new materialist perspective, we present a content analysis of dumbphones' advertising material, followed by a collaborative autoethnographic study in which we replace our smartphones with dumbphones. We critically weigh the promises of the dumbphones against the actual experience of digital disengagement in Sweden. Our findings illustrate a struggle with digital technologies, even despite their absence, due to emerging workarounds and societal expectations of use.


Commercially, hotdogs are handled after the cooking potentially causing contamination. Since consumers may eat hotdogs without reheating, the presence of Listeria Monocytogenes (LM) is a concern. In this study, treatments with organic acids in the raw product and as a post-cook dip were evaluated for their ability to suppress the growth of LM. Beef hotdogs were formulated with organic acids, cooked, cooled, inoculated with LM and then dipped in organic acid treatments. Treatments included: 1) Potassium Lactate (PL) in the formulation and Sodium Lactate (SL) in the dip, 2) PL in the formulation and SL with Sodium Diacetate (SD) in the dip, 3) SL and SD in the formulation and SL in the dip and 4) SL and SD in the formulation and SL and SD in the dip. Positive (inoculated) and negative (non-inoculated) controls were formulated with no organic acids and dipped in distilled water. All hotdogs were stored at 4°C and the number of LM was evaluated on day 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 42 and 56. When compared to the positive control, all treatments resulted in significantly decreased LM numbers over time. The SL/SD with SL dip and SL/SD with SL/SD dip were the most effective treatments.


In this paper we investigate how various properties of Park & Ride (P&R) facilities affect their effects on traffic volumes and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We found that if a P&R is located in an area where it stimulates urban sprawl, regional enlargement or induced traffic, it will not reduce vehicle kilometres travelled. In urban regions without such potential, those P&Rs that intercept journeys by car close to its starting point and transfer travellers to a relatively long public transport ride, contribute the most to reduced GHG emissions. This may be counteracted by increased traffic volumes if the P&R occupy a site which has an alternative use that can contribute to less transport demand and traffic, or if the P&R site stimulates to car journeys replacing travelling by foot, bicycling or public transport to the station. Based on our findings, we developed guidelines for planners and decision-makers for analysing traffic-reducing effects of P&R in the planning and decision processes. This also includes discussions on which measures can be applied instead of constructing new or expanding existing P&R facilities in different contexts.


This paper presents a system level design methodology and its implementation as CAD tool for the optimization of heterogeneous multiprocessor systems. These heterogeneous systems, consisting of dedicated as well as programmable processors, are highly suitable for performing complex schemes of image processing algorithms under real time constraints. It starts from a specification of the image processing scheme, explores the design space based on a finite set of parametrizable processor modules, and by using mixed integer linear programming as mathematical framework derives heterogeneous systems, being optimal in terms of area expense and throughput rate.


A hollow cylinder tensile tester (HCT) has recently been shown to be a suitable surrogate test device for the Superpave® indirect tension test. The feasibility of using the HCT to obtain the dynamic modulus of asphalt concrete was explored. Previous studies have shown the dynamic modulus of asphalt concrete in tension and compression to be similar at low temperatures and high loading frequencies and that minor differences can be expected at higher temperatures and lower loading frequencies. Here, the HCT device compared favorably with dynamic modulus measurements obtained with uniaxial compression testing apparatus at 0°C and 20°C. In addition, test results were found to be in reasonable agreement with the Witczak dynamic modulus predictive equation. The ability to simply and rapidly measure the creep compliance, tensile strength, and dynamic modulus of bituminous paving mixtures over a range of temperatures and loading conditions makes the HCT device a useful general-purpose mixture analysis tool. It appears that this portable device may serve as a practical method to satisfy testing requirements for high reliability (Level 1) pavement designs in the forthcoming AASHTO 2002 design guide being developed under NCHRP 1-37A for the mitigation of both fatigue cracking and thermal cracking. However, a broader experimental program, including tests at higher temperatures and a broader range of test frequencies, is needed to fully validate the compatibility of HCT measurements with NCHRP 1-37A models.


Consider a rooted tree whose nodes can be in two states: marked or unmarked. The marked ancestor problem is to maintain a data structure with the following operations: mark(v) marks nodev; unmark(v) removes any marks from nodev; firstmarked(v) returns the first marked node on the path fromv to the root. We show tight upper and lower bounds for the marked ancestor problem. The lower bounds are proved in the cell probe model, the algorithms run on a unit-cost RAM. As easy corollaries we prove (often optimal) lower bounds on a number of problems. These include planar range searching, including the existential or emptiness problem, priority search trees, static tree union–find, and several problems from dynamic computational geometry, including segment intersection, interval maintenance, and ray shooting in the plane. Our upper bounds improve algorithms from various fields, including coloured ancestor problems and maintenance of balanced parentheses.


: In this paper, we compare the political anatomy of two distinct enactments of (left-ist) radical politics: Occupy Wall Street, a large social movement in the United States, and The Alternative, a recently elected political party in Denmark. Based on Ernesto Laclau's conceptualization of 'the universal' and 'the particular', we show how the institutionalization of radical politics (as carried out by The Alternative) entails a move from universality towards particularity. This move, however, comes with the risk of cutting off supporters who no longer feel represented by the project. We refer to this problem as the problem of particularization . In conclusion, we use the analysis to propose a conceptual distinction between radical movements and radical parties: While the former is constituted by a potentially infinite chain of equivalent grievances, the latter is constituted by a prioritized set of differential demands. While both are important, we argue that they must remain distinct in order to preserve the universal spirit of contemporary radical politics.


In the last decade, drastic changes in the understanding of the role of the olfactory bulb and piriform cortex in odor detection have taken place through awake behaving recording in rodents. It is clear that odor responses in mitral and granule cells are strikingly different in the olfactory bulb of anesthetized versus awake animals. In addition, sniff recording has evidenced that mitral cell responses to odors during the sniff can convey information on the odor identity and sniff phase. Moreover, we review studies that show that the mitral cell conveys information on not only odor identity but also whether the odor is rewarded or not (odor value). Finally, we discuss how the substantial increase in awake behaving recording raises questions for future studies.