The purpose of the present study was to advance a theoretical understanding of the mechanisms by which WISEs can influence the stigma associated with mental illness. Many people with serious mental illnesses want to work, but despite much attention to work entry strategies, unemployment rates remain exceptionally high among this population. Stigma has been identified as a particularly pernicious barrier to the full community participation of people with mental illnesses. If work integration social enterprises (WISE) are to positively impact the full community participation of people with mental illnesses, then addressing stigma will be integral to their operation.,A comparative case study approach was used to address the following research questions: "How is the stigma of mental illness experienced in the everyday operations of WISE?" and "What influence do WISEs have on the stigma of mental illness within the workplace and beyond?" Five established WISEs that pay workers at minimum wage or better were selected for inclusion. The maximum variation sample included WISEs that varied in terms of geographical location, form of commerce, business size, revenues and degree of connection with mental health systems and local communities. Data analysis was conducted in four stages using qualitative methods.,The study findings suggest processes by which WISEs can positively impact the stigma of mental illness. Three social processes are associated with the potential of WISE to contribute to stigma reduction: perception of legitimacy, perception of value and perception of competence. Each of these social processes is fueled by underlying tensions in practice that arise in the context of negotiating the dual goals of the business.,This study advances theoretical understanding of the ways in which stigma may be perpetuated or reduced in WISE by revealing the social processes and practice tensions that may be associated with operation choices made by WISEs and their partners. Further research would be required to determine if the processes described actually lead to reduced stigma. Although efforts were made to select WISEs that demonstrate a variety of features, it is likely that some important features were absent. Additional research could further explore the findings identified here with WISEs from other sectors, including youth and workers with transient or less severe forms of illness. This work should be replicated internationally to explore how contextual factors may influence individual and public perceptions.,The findings provide guidance for WISE developers in the mental health sector concerning strategies that may help mitigate the development of stigmatizing features within a social enterprise and by extension improve the work experience and workforce integration of employees. The identification of these processes and tensions can be used to advance the development of consensus principles and standards in the WISE field and contribute to ongoing evaluation and research.,WISEs have the potential to reduce stigma, an important goal to support their efforts to improve employment and integration outcomes for people with mental illnesses. Through their business structures and operations they may be able to impact stigma by positively influencing perceptions of legitimacy, value and competence – all issues that have been associated with public assumptions about mental illness that sustain stigma.,To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is one of the first to specifically focus on stigma in the WISE sector, particularly as it relates to the work integration of persons with mental illnesses. The findings provide a range of theoretical and practical implications for future development in the field and highlight factors that merit consideration more broadly in the sector.


Complement is a complex protein network of plasma, and an integral part of the innate immune system. Complement activation results in the rapid clearance of bacteria by immune cells, and direct bacterial killing via large pore-forming complexes. Here we review important recent discoveries in the complement field, focusing on interactions relevant for the defense against bacteria. Understanding the molecular interplay between complement and bacteria is of great importance for future therapies for infectious and inflammatory diseases. Antibodies that support complement-dependent bacterial killing are of interest for the development of alternative therapies to treat infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Furthermore, a variety of novel therapeutic complement inhibitors have been developed to prevent unwanted complement activation in autoimmune inflammatory diseases. A better understanding of how such inhibitors may increase the risk of bacterial infections is essential if such therapies are to be successful.


The article is devoted to the current state of the Cham Islamic community in Cambodia. The authors analyze how the ideas of radical Islam, which is distributed among Cambodian Cham, with the direct participation and support of Islamic international foundations, affect the state of the Islamic community, what threats and challenges it faces.


Density waves in 3D spiral galaxies are studied. In order to eliminate the forbidden region near the corotation in the grand-design galaxies, we assume that the perturbation satisfies the stable condition Q(r) > 1 over all the disk except that at the corotation. Then, a new method is put forward here to determine some basic parameters of spiral galaxies. We apply it to our Galaxy, and the results are in good agreement with the previous results.


The composition of plasma lipoproteins and erythrocyte membranes was studied in cholesterol-fed pigs with a partial ileal bypass. Cholesterol feeding caused marked increases in the plasma concentrations of cholesterol and phospholipids. In spite of continuation of cholesterol feeding, PIB reduced plasma concentrations of cholesterol and phospholipids towards basal values. PIB completely counteracted the dietary cholesterol induced alterations in the lipid composition of the apoprotein B containing plasma lipoproteins, but not in the HDL2 fraction. It is suggested that PIB specifically influences the metabolism of the atherogenic, apoprotein B containing lipoproteins. Dietary cholesterol caused significant increases in the ratios of cholesterol:phospholipids and phosphatidylcholine: sphingomyelin in erythrocytes. The high-cholesterol diet also increased the content of linoleic acid in erythrocyte phosphatidylcholine. PIB completely nullified the cholesterol-induced increase in the cholesterol:phospholipid ratio, but not the increase in the phosphatidylcholine:sphingomyelin ratio. The percentage of linoleic acid in erythrocyte phosphatidylcholine was unaffected by PIB. Neither cholesterol feeding nor PIB had an effect on the lipid fluidity of erythrocyte membranes, as measured by fluorescence polarization, using the probe diphenylhexatriene. Possible compensatory mechanisms operating to control homeostasis of lipid fluidity of erythrocyte membranes are discussed.


Summary This study included Japanese quail flock subjected to mass selection for four generations to increase live-weight and a control flock that randomly mated for four generations. The effects of selection and early feed restriction on live-weight, feed consumption, feed conversion and carcass traits were investigated. In terms of live-weight, higher mean values were observed for quail flock subjected to selection in all weeks. It was detected that feed restriction has no effect on weekly live-weight and feed consumption. In addition, restrictedly fed quails more effectively benefitted from feeds in the 3rd and 4th weeks. Carcass, edible inner organ, and abdominal fat weight of quails subjected to selection were found as 137.51, 8.94, and 1.17 g, respectively. The same traits were determined for quails in control group as 116.08, 7.89, and 1.08 g, respectively. It was concluded that feed restriction by producers for species like quails of which the sexual maturity age and cutting age were close to each other would not yield any economic gain, and short-term mass selection could increase carcass weight by around 20%.


The spatial heterogeneity and temporal variability of air pollution in urban environments make air quality inference for fine-grained air pollution monitoring extremely challenging. Most of the existing work estimates the air quality using sparse measurements collected from a limited number of fixed monitoring stations or make use of computationally demanding physicochemical models simulating the source and fate of pollutants across multiple spatial scales. In this work, we propose a geographically context-aware random forest model for street-level air quality inference using high spatial resolution data collected by an opportunistic mobile sensor network. Compared with a traditional random forest model, the proposed method builds a local model for each location by considering the neighbors in both geographical and feature space. The model is evaluated on our real air quality dataset collected from mobile sensors in Antwerp, Belgium. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms a series of commonly used methods including Ordinary Kriging (OK), Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) and Random forest (RF).


Pyoderma gangrenosum at the site of sternal marrow aspirate was observed in a patient with acute myeloproliferative disease characterized by a high peripheral blood basophilia. Lesions with a similar appearance were also seen on the palate. No other disease known to be associated with pyoderma gangrenosum could be demonstrated. A review of the literature suggests that myeloproliferative disease should now be recognized as occurring in association with pyoderma gangrenosum.


This paper concerns the moduli spaces of rank-two parabolic Higgs bundles and parabolic K(D) pairs over a smooth curve. Precisely which parabolic bundles occur in stable K(D) pairs and stable Higgs bundles is determined. Using Morse theory, the moduli space of parabolic Higgs bundles is shown to be a non-compact, connected, simply connected manifold, and a computation of its Poincare polynomial is given.


Drought is a phenomenon which happens in spatial and temporal scale. One of the sectors affected is agriculture. In August 2015, a severe drought happened in Sukaresmi Village of Sukaresmi District causing harvest failures. This study aims to analyze the distribution of agricultural drought level of severeness in Sukaresmi District during August 2013 until August 2017 from spatial and temporal aspect by using VCI (Vegetation Condition Index) method and finding the correlation between the drought extent and rainfall data as the expected cause. The monitoring of agricultural drought in this study was carried out by utilizing remote sensing derived VCI by Kogan (1995). This index obtained after the NDVI value of Landsat 8 imageries in the given period normalized for each pixel. VCI shows how close the vegetation condition compared to its best and worst condition within the period. The result shows an agricultural drought in Sukaresmi District occurred throughout the years. 2015 was the year with the greatest average extent of agricultural drought. There is also a negative and weak (r = -0.212) correlation between the extent of drought and rainfall variable which means the climate did not mainly cause the phenomenon.


The British National Health Service (NHS) is learning how to use IT and information systems (IS) for the benefit of patients and for clinical processes. Rather than adopt IT governance practices from the private sector, it is seeking to develop its own best practices because of the unique socialist principles of the organization and its history. It values are deeply rooted in socialism. The overall aim of the research proposed in this paper is to inform health informatics governance in its early stages of development in the NHS through researching deferred IT/IS methods, tools and techniques. Deferment is defined as enabling contextual, situated and semantic information design by action developers (so-called users). Deferment is proposed as relevant in the NHS because of the national and distributed structure of the organization. A deferred IT/IS infrastructure will be capable of catering for contextual and situated information needs of domain experts - clinicians.


The uPA/uPAR system is known to play a critical role in angiogenesis of glioblastomas. Previously, using protein array antibody analysis, we demonstrated that shRNA against uPA and uPAR (pU2) inhibits angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo by regulating a number of pro-angiogenic, angiostatic and anti-angiogenic molecules. GMCSF, a pleiotropic cytokine that stimulates proliferation, differentiation, and survival of various hematopoietic cells, was significantly inhibited in U87MG and 4910 cells co-cultured with endothelial cells and transfected with pU2. In this study, we evaluated the effect of shRNA against uPA and uPAR on GMCSF, sVEGFr1, GMCSF receptors and GMCSF-induced signaling and its significance on angiogenesis in glioblastoma and endothelial cells. ELISA revealed that simultaneous knockdown of uPA and uPAR in U87MG, 4910 and HMEC cells decreased secretion of GMCSF but enhanced the secretion of sVEGFr1, a known scavenger of VEGF-A. The results of the western blot analysis were consistent with our ELISA results. In endothelial cells treated with shRNA against GMCSF, recombinant uPA (ruPA) resulted in activation of GMCSFR-α and GMCSFR-β at very early time points. Moreover, endothelial tube formation was inhibited with the addition of rsVEGFr1, and antibody to rsVEGFr1 blocked GMCSF-induced tube formation in endothelial cells. The addition of ruPA to endothelial and glioblastoma cells activated phosphorylation of JAK2 and STAT3. p27, an effector of the GMCSF signaling pathway, was downregulated in puPA-, puPAR- and pU2-transfected U87MG and 4910 cells. To determine the significance of these events in vivo, nude mice were checked for levels of GMCSF and sVEGFr1 before and after tumor formation and also after treatment with puPA, puPAR and pU2. Results showed increased levels of sVEGFr1 but decreased levels of GMCSF in shRNA treated mice in comparison to controls. Taken together, these results suggest that knockdown of uPA/uPAR in tandem induces sVEGFr1, which plays a vital role in inhibition of angiogenesis, and its secretion is independent of GMCSF in endothelial cells. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3465. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3465


A fully integrated RF front-end on standard silicon technology for 5-GHz indoor WLAN applications is presented. It includes an innovative T/R antenna switch which does not require any additional technological steps and provides better performance (the measured insertion losses are 0.2 and 0.9 dB, in R and T modes respectively) with respect to those obtained by using PIN diodes as switching elements


Library attention has been shifted away from only physical services, since much of its operations are
now going virtual, and almost everything about library activities now compete for online attention.
Librarians have no choice than to conform to the trend since the major concern of library is to meet
the need of its clienteles at all cost. Moreover, the paradigm shift in information ecosystem is now ediscovery
tools. Responsive website design and federated search tools are part of the tools adopted to
meet and satisfy information needs of library users in this era of information exploration. This chapter
looks at the concept of responsive website design and federated search, components of responsive websites
design, need for adoption of responsive website design for libraries in developing countries, federated
search products and vendors, benefits of federated search technology, dichotomy between open search
and federated search, adoption of federated search tools in developing countries, issues to consider with
the federated search tool


We report the results of ab initio calculations of cross sections and molecular-frame photoelectron angular distributions for C 1s ionization of CO2, and propose a mechanism for the recently observed asymmetry of those angular distributions with respect to the CO+ and O+ ions produced by subsequent Auger decay. The fixed-nuclei, photoionization amplitudes were constructed using variationally obtained electron-molecular ion scattering wave functions. We have also carried out electronic structure calculations which identified a dissociative state of the CO2++ dication that is likely populated following Auger decay. We show that a proper accounting of vibrational motion in the computation of the photoelectron angular distributions, along with reasonable assumptions about the nuclear dissociation dynamics, gives results in good agreement with recent experimental observations.


Background: Establishing the minimal clinically important difference for patient-reported outcomes questionnaires is essential in outcomes research to evaluate the patient's perspective of treatment effectiveness. The authors aim to determine the minimal clinically important difference after carpal tunnel release in diabetic and nondiabetic patients using the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire. Methods: The authors prospectively evaluated 114 patients (87 nondiabetic and 27 diabetic patients) undergoing carpal tunnel release. In addition to standard history and physical examination, the authors obtained preoperative electrodiagnostic studies to confirm carpal tunnel syndrome. The Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire was administered before and after surgery at 3 and 6 months. Patients were asked about their level of satisfaction at the final follow-up visit. The authors applied the receiver operating characteristic curve approach to determine the minimal clinically important difference of symptom and function severity scales of the questionnaire. The authors used patient satisfaction as the reference standard to compare against the standardized change in scores after surgery for the two groups. Results: For both diabetic and nondiabetic patients, symptom and function severity scales showed large effect sizes of greater than 0.8 at 3 and 6 months after surgery. At 6 months after surgery, to be satisfied, diabetic patients required a minimal clinically important difference of 1.55 and 2.05 for symptom and function scales, respectively, whereas nondiabetic patients required 1.45 and 1.6, respectively. Conclusions: Diabetic patients needed a greater improvement in Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire score to be satisfied on functional and symptom severity scales than nondiabetic patients. Overall, diabetic patients had less improvement in Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire final scores compared with nondiabetics. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, II.


Little is known about the pathogenicity and etiology of Hymenochaetales taxa associated with esca in South Africa. Ten South African Hymenochaetales taxa associated with esca in grapevine were subjected to basic enzyme assays to determine which ligninolytic enzymes were secreted by each taxon. In addition, a field trial was undertaken to determine the pathogenicity of these taxa. Twenty-seven fungal isolates and two negative controls were inoculated into wounds made on mature grapevines of the cultivars Shiraz and Mourvedre. Inoculated vines were evaluated for white rot symptoms after 24 months. The results of the enzyme assays indicated a difference in enzyme secretion among taxa and also between isolates of the same taxa. All isolates secreted cellulase and laccase, but there was a difference in isolates' ability to secrete manganese peroxidase and lignin peroxidase. The results of the pathogenicity trial showed that all of the isolates used were capable of causing the characteristic white rot symptom in the wood. There were clear differences in susceptibility to white rot between the two cultivars tested, namely Shiraz and Mourvedre. The cultivars also differed in which taxa proved to be more virulent. On Shiraz a specific isolate of Taxon 6 (an Inonotus sp.), Phellinus sp . and Inonotus setuloso-croceus were significantly virulent. On Mourvedre, Taxon 3 (an Inocutis sp.) was significantly virulent.


May ... MRI this morning, observing. A newborn baby with a mass blocking his nose. One tiny baby, with entourage of technicians, nurses, paramedics filling the room overlooking the MRI. An impatient, even imperious, entourage; when they want their questions answered, their questions must be answered. All the time the baby is inside, his heart rate traces green peaks on the monitor and the rough, quick little whisper of his breathing carries through the intercom. The scan ends, the table is drawn out, three people in blue slowly unwrap a tiny package in dustier blue. A nurse lifts the baby and holds him in outstretched hands, like a gem on a cushion, one hand cupping the little pink head. She carries him thus through the metal detector arch, seemingly oblivious to the scrambling behind her as the two others snatch up all the dangling tubing and wires before they snap taut.

On the scans, the imminent end of another life. The tumour and the surgery and the radiation and the chemotherapy have hollowed out the left hemisphere. The tumour is a bright, thick, ragged edge around a great cavity. No level of scan, no single layer, is spared. The neurologist describes the patient as asphasic and crazy. The family, he says, is taking him around the continent, looking for a cure; he comes accompanied by MRIs and CTs from all over, recording the inexorable progression. Our neurologist thinks that the referring neurologist has prevaricated, has said maybe/maybe not, has not said finally that there is nothing else he can do. He himself would not touch this, not in a dominant hemisphere. So he will send this man home. Will he — will anyone — finally say to this family that it is time to stop?

September ... I have been thinking off and on of two people I shall never meet. Should I put their names here — perhaps not — but I do not leave them nameless because I think of them that way. One a woman younger than myself, thrown from her car when side-rammed at 65 k/h, comatose (Glasgow Coma Score 4) with roving eyes and decerebrate posturing. The CT scan shows very little, in her head at least. She has a fractured first vertebra, umpteen spinous processes destroyed. The radiologist remarks on the inadequacy of the scan, which has the signature of one particular, indifferent technician. The head scan, with no visible abnormalities, does not account for the score, the eyes, the posturing. There is something bad and unseen in the brainstem: axonal damage. They can do nothing about a lesion they cannot see. The neurosurgeon will put a "bolt" in the vertebrae; there is a slight twist to his expression when he says this. If the big problem does not come right, then he will have done nothing to any avail. But in case the big problem does come right, then this will have been necessary.

The other is a man only a little older than myself. Four years ago he fired a bullet into his frontal lobe, destroying eye and brain. On scan his glass eye is a shallow curve, mounted on an odd stalk. Wednesday night in the drunk tank he beat his head against the wall until the craniotomy plate shattered, arteries tore and his cranium filled with blood. On the pre-op scans, a glowing lens of epidural hematoma fills a third of one hemisphere. This story is told and retold. Doctors smile and shake their heads, not amused, a little awed, a little, necessarily, removed. They can say why bother; why not let him go. But they can say it because they know they will not do it. All they can do — for him, for all the failed suicides — is rebuild what they can rebuild. The exorcism of demons is beyond us. The infernal thing, though, is that we are wilfully letting it go further beyond us still, fostering this illusion of community care when community care is inadequate to nonexistant for the homeless mentally ill.

Have I said before how very vulnerable skulls look, in cross section, the flesh and features effaced and only the thin bones or the thin skin or the thin fluid shell of the brain bright. No matter the age, there is always something fragile and infantile about the skull.

A new word. Levelling. Learned it last week when the radiologists passed around an cerebral angiogram with a huge blot, a huge ink-bag of aneurysm, its image as large as the tip of my thumb. Was she still alive? She'd had a rebleed; the resident phoned upstairs to find out. "Is she still with us?" He put the phone down. "They're going to level her." And then, to me, he explained, "Decrease the level of care until she dies."


BACKGROUND
We conducted a phase I/II study of weekly irinotecan [30 min intravenous (i.v.) infusion] combined with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU 3 g/m(2) weekly 48 h i.v. infusion, TTD regimen) as first-line chemotherapy for patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and the dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) in the treatment of gastrointestinal solid tumors (in phase I), and the antitumor activity and toxicity of the recommended phase I dose (in phase II) were determined.

RESULTS
Diarrhea was the DLT, and irinotecan 80 mg/m(2) plus 5-FU 3 g/m(2) was the recommended phase I dose. In phase II, the confirmed response rate was 44% [95% confidence interval (CI) 29% to 59%] and the median overall survival was 23.8 months. However, grade 3/4 diarrhea affected 59% of patients and led to withdrawal of three patients. A second cohort of patients studied using the same schedule but with a reduced 5-FU starting dose of 2.25 g/m(2) showed improved tolerance (the incidence of grade 4 diarrhea decreased from 28% to 11% and overall grade 3/4 diarrhea to 56%, with no patient withdrawals) but the confirmed response rate was 28% (95% CI 14% to 45%) and median overall survival was 17.2 months.

CONCLUSIONS
We found weekly irinotecan 80 mg/m(2) plus TTD regimen (5-FU 2.25 g/m(2) given as 48-h i.v. infusion) to be a feasible and active combined chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of advanced colorectal cancer.


History suggests a conflict between current Basel III liquidity ratios and monetary policy, which we call the liquidity regulation dilemma. Although forgotten, liquidity ratios, named "securities-reserve requirements", were widely used historically, but for monetary policy (not regulatory) reasons, as central bankers recognized the contractionary effects of these ratios. We build a model rationalizing historical policies: a tighter ratio reduces the quantity of assets that banks can pledge as collateral, thus increasing interest rates. Tighter liquidity regulation paradoxically increases the need for central bank's interventions. Liquidity ratios were also used to keep yields on government bonds low when monetary policy tightened


The Shuidonggou site cluster in northern China contains 12 different early prehistoric sequences with great potential to cast light on the transition to Upper Palaeolithic behaviour in East Asia. Here researchers present the latest results from Locality 2, reporting seven occupation levels with hearths, animal bone and diverse industries. Although previously compared with European Upper Palaeolithic sequences, the new work proposes a different trajectory of development. Distinctive macroblade technology arrived in the area, possibly from Mongolia or Siberia, about 41000–34000 years ago. This industry subsequently disappeared, to be replaced by flake technologies.


The common, shared vision of lawyers' ethics holds that lawyers ought not collaborate with clients in wrongdoing. Ethics scholars caution that lawyers "may not participate in or assist illegal conduct," or "giv[e] legal services to clients who are going to engage in unlawful behavior with the attorney as their accomplice." That sentiment resonates comfortably with the profession's commitment to honor legal obligations and duties, and to fidelity to the law.

The problem with that sentiment, this Article shows, is that it is not an accurate statement of the prevailing substantive law. The American Bar Association's model standards governing lawyers prohibit lawyers from assisting clients with illegality, but only in certain defined categories — that is, crimes and frauds. The standards, adopted by virtually all states, do not prohibit participation by lawyers in the remaining universe of unlawful conduct. The aim of this Article is to understand the meaning, and the scope, of this apparent acceptance of lawyers' collaboration with unlawful client action. Surprisingly, legal ethics commentary has not explored the nature of the constraints on such collaboration.

The Article offers, as orienting examples, three stories from the entrepreneurial startup world in which the clients request legal help with activities that are unlawful, but may not be criminal or fraudulent. Those stories provide a base from which to explore the questions to be addressed. Examining the text and history of Model Rule 1.2(d), the Article demonstrates that the ABA (and, presumably, the states that adopted the language) intended the Rule's limitation to mean what it says. While some lawyer participation with unlawful action might be prohibited through the operation of "other law," often no outside authority limits a lawyer's assistance with client wrongdoing — if "unlawful" activity equates to wrongdoing. The startup stories show that "unlawful" is not always synonymous with "wrongful," although, of course, often it will be.

Lawyers therefore have discretion — but, the Article shows, no duty — to aid clients in some activities that are illegal. Lawyers must exercise that discretion responsibly, even where no legal sanction or penalty would apply. Relying on the "moral activism" insights that inform lawyer decision making in determining how aggressively to assert legal entitlements when third party interests are at stake, the Article concludes that lawyers ought to resist aiding those clients whose unlawful actions engender moral harm or injustice.


ABSTRACT Veterinary medicine and animal science (VMAS) students coexist in asocial, geographic, and economic context that influences personal and career decisions. The goal of this study was to analyze students' perceptions of Animal Welfare (AW) and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) topics by gender, religion, and stage of study at the school of veterinary medicine in the northeastern Mexican border area. Survey response rate was 60% of VMAS student enrollment, which was divided in basic, intermediate, and advanced academic levels. Student respondents reported animal production followed by animals for companionship and wildlife appreciation as their job placement expectations after graduation. Students in the basic training stage rated AW in general practice to be more important compared with those in intermediate and advanced training (p < 0.005). Compared with intermediate and advanced level students, students at the basic level considered bioethics, sustainable food production, and OIE animal welfare topics more important (p < 0.05). Regarding gender differences, compared with male students, their female counterparts rated AW more important, depending on areas of work practice and OIE topics (p < 0.05).


Using the Tellus and Tellus Border geochemistry data, the distribution of metals in topsoils in and around Derry–Londonderry has been mapped and assessed. The concentrations of metals have been compared with the UK Environment Agency's Soil Guideline Values (SGVs). Of 763 samples analysed, only 11 samples exceed the SGV for arsenic and two for that of cadmium. Of these 13 sites, only two were within an urban area. Concentrations of metal in the rural sub-catchments appear to be mainly determined by the underlying geology.
Using a geographic information system (GIS) and multi-element plots (spidergrams) for analysis, the geological background was modelled at a sub-catchment scale in order to determine whether high soil metal concentrations were of natural origin or a consequence of anthropogenic activities. The level of enrichment due to contamination was calculated for 12 metals and metalloids. In the urban area of Derry–Londonderry, levels of arsenic, cadmium and seven other elements are slightly enhanced due to anthropogenic activities. However, as the enrichment factors do not exceed a factor of 3 these enhancements are classified as minor. Possible modern and historic sources of contamination are likely to be buildings, households and waste disposal, hospitals and medical facilities, surface run-off from road traffic, manufacturing industries, coal disposal and sewage works.


Worker cooperatives—firms owned and governed by their workers—have experimented with organizational structure in aid of greater equality. Gender theorists and cooperativists have argued that bureaucracy produces inequality, but bureaucracy has also demonstrably reduced organizational inequality. By unpacking "bureaucracy," both discrete and mutually reinforcing effects of authority and organizational formalization are revealed. Using a comparative study of two highly formalized worker cooperatives, the inequality effects of formalized hierarchical and distributed management are identified: while formalization of managerial bureaucracy amplifies biases and intensifies inequality regimes, formalized but distributed participatory bureaucracy mutes and transforms biases and creates more egalitarian outcomes.


BACKGROUND
Necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis/periodontitis are considered necrotizing periodontal diseases. This case report presents an atypical form of necrotizing periodontitis, which does not fit into this classification.

METHODS
A 12-year-old child was referred to our clinic for gingival inflammation, extensive alveolar bone loss, and tooth mobility. Clinical and microbiologic examinations were carried out, and radiographs were taken. Clinical examination revealed soft and hard tissue destruction up to the mucogingival junction at the right maxillary premolar and mandibular incisors. Unusual infections or abnormalities in systemic functions were not detected through clinical and laboratory evaluations made at the Pediatrics Department, Istanbul University. Although an intensive established treatment protocol for necrotizing periodontitis was completed, management of long-standing health conditions could not be achieved because of recurrence of the disease, which caused us to repeat this treatment protocol at short intervals.

RESULTS
Investigation led to a diagnosis of an atypical form of necrotizing periodontitis because the disease had a recurrent acute phase even under a standard treatment protocol.

CONCLUSIONS
Our patient exhibits an unusual, necrotizing form of periodontal disease. The reason for the rapid rate of periodontal disease progression remains unclear.


Despite evidence indicating that self-esteem (SE) may be considered a precondition to subjective well-being (SWB), there are inconclusive findings regarding its developmental links with SWB. Considering the declines in SWB, the purpose of this study is to examine the developmental changes in SWB and its relationship with SE in early adolescence. The data of 11,231 adolescents aged 11 and 14 years old (50% females) from the Millennium Cohort Study were utilized. Latent mean comparison indicated that SWB declined substantially between 11 and 14 years old in the United Kingdom. Cross-lagged modelling showed that SWB was developmentally unstable and that SE predicted later changes in SWB, whereas SWB did not predict changes in SE. SWB declines in the United Kingdom are mostly linked to less satisfaction with secondary school contexts and peer relationships. In short, SE is an important factor that can contribute to adolescents' SWB. Implications for educational policy and practice are discussed.


Workers smelting sillcochrome and ferrochrome are likely to develop toxic and dust bronchitis besides the silicosis. The clinical syndromes present emphysema, asthma, inflammation, which is due to the chemical composition of the aerosol condensation. Toxic and dust bronchitis usually develop after 18 or more years of service.


A rate 16/17 maximum transition run (MTR) (3;11) code on an EEPRML channel with a postprocessor (turbo-EEPRML) has been developed. The postprocessor compensates for the degradation in performance due to noise correlation. The proposed method has high performance and simple circuitry. Simulation results showed that the rate 16/17 MTR (3;11) code on a turbo-EEPRML channel has a performance gain of 1.0-4.0 dB over a conventional extended partial response maximum likelihood channel with the rate 16/17 run-length-limited code.


We present our analysis of simulated data in order to derive a detection threshold which can be used in the pre-whitening process of amplitude spectra. In case of ground-based data of pulsating stars, this threshold is conventionally taken to be four times the mean noise level in an amplitude spectrum. This threshold is questionable when space-based data are analyzed. Our effort is aimed at revising this threshold in the case of continuous 90-day Kepler K2 phase observations. Our result clearly shows that a 95% confidence level, common for ground observations, can be reached at 5.4 times the mean noise level and is coverage dependent. In addition, this threshold varies between 4.8 and 5.7, if the number of cadences is changed. This conclusion should secure further pre-whitening and helps to avoid over-interpretation of spectra of pulsating stars observed with the Kepler spacecraft during K2 phase. We compare our results with the standard approach widely used in the literature.


Few studies have measured the robustness to perturbations of the final position of a long-range migrating cell. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the QR neuroblast migrates anteriorly in the young larva, while undergoing three rounds of division. The daughters of QR.pa stop their migration at an anterior body position and acquire a neuronal fate. Previous studies showed that the migration stops upon expression of the Wnt receptor MIG-1, which surprisingly is not induced by positional cues but by a timing mechanism (Mentink et al. 2014). Given this temporal regulation, we wondered 1) how precise QR.pax positioning is when confronted with various challenges, such as stochastic noise, environment or body size variation and 2) whether QR.pax position varies among C. elegans wild isolates. We find that the variance of QR.pax final position is similar to that of other long-range migrating neurons. Its mean position undergoes a slight posterior shift at higher temperature, while its variance is greatly increased following sustained starvation at hatching. We manipulated body size using mutants and tetraploid animals. As expected from the temporal mechanism, smaller mutants display anteriorly shifted QR.pax cells, while longer mutants and tetraploids display posteriorly shifted QR.pax cells. Using a mathematical model, we show however that body size variation is partially compensated. We find that cell speed is indeed altered in body size mutants. Finally, we could detect highly significant variation among C. elegans wild isolates. Overall, this study reveals that the final cell position of QR.pax shows some degree of sensitivity to external perturbations and natural genetic variation.


This research examines the nexus between board feminization and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures in listed Kenyan firms. The positivist paradigm informed the study's research design. The dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) was applied to eliminate endogeneity bias, omitted variables bias, measurement error, and firm-specific heterogeneity. Panel data regressions were applied on 467 firm‐year observations from 36 firms listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) from 2006–2019. The results showed that board feminization positively affects firms' overall ESG disclosure measures. However, a component-level analysis revealed substantial heterogeneity in the findings among the different ESG pillars. This research attempts to address a gap in the existing knowledge by examining the relationship between female board presence and ESG reporting in emerging economies. The research supports regulators' efforts to enforce women's participation on boards and sustainable performance. This paper is among the first to provide in-depth empirical evidence on the link between board feminization on overall ESG disclosure and the different ESG pillars in Kenya. This research also adds to the expanding literature on ESG disclosure and board feminization in developing markets.


A new objective methodology is proposed to select the parsimonious set of important covariates that are associated with a censored outcome variable Y; the method simplifies to accommodate uncensored outcomes. Covariate selection proceeds in an iterated forward manner and is controlled by the pre‐chosen upper bound for the number of covariates to be selected and the global false selection rate and level. A sequence of working regression models for the event (Y≤y) given a covariate set is fit among subjects not censored before y and the corresponding process (through y) of conditional prediction error estimated; the direction and magnitude of covariate effects can arbitrarily change with y. The newly proposed adequacy measure for the covariate set is the slope coefficient resulting from a regression (with no intercept) between the baseline prediction error process for the intercept‐only model and that process corresponding to the covariate set. Under quite general conditions on the censoring variable, the methods are shown to asymptotically control the false selection rate at the nominal level while consistently ranking covariate sets which permits recruitment of all important covariates from those available with probability tending to 1. A simulation study confirms these analytical results and compares the proposed methods to recent competitors. Two real data illustrations are provided.


This article summarises recent revisions to the investment development path (IDP) as postulated by Narula and Dunning (2010). The IDP provides a framework to understand the dynamic interaction between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic development. The revisions take into account some recent changes in the global economic environment. This paper argues that studies based on the IDP should adopt a broader perspective, encompassing the idiosyncratic economic structure of countries as well as the heterogeneous nature of FDI. It is critical to understand the complex forces and interactions that determine the turning points in a country's IDP, and to more explicitly acknowledge the role of historical, social and political circumstances in hindering or promoting FDI. We discuss some of the implications for Eastern European countries and provide some guidelines for future research. Key words: FDI, investment development path, Eastern Europe, multinational enterprises, transition


Although informed by recent scholarly studies of female asceticism in late antiquity, this book does not have primarily historiographic aims. Rather, Laura Swan seeks here to re-collect the "forgotten" wisdom of the desert ammas to make it available as a resource for contemporary spiritual practice. Nor, however, is this a standard "sourcebook." Culling references to women from ancient collections of sayings, anecdotal narratives, and mini-biographies of desert ascetics, the author produces a kind of ascetical analogue to the "Women's Bible." (This notably irenic text lacks, however, the sharpness of feminist critique that characterizes its nineteenth-century precursor.) Swan interweaves citations from ancient texts with discussions of historical context and interpretive glosses that aim to translate the message into terms more relevant and accessible to twenty-first-century readers. While the book will work well in some classroom settings, its intended audience is not exclusively (or even primarily) academic. The first chapter sketches the general historical context of ancient desert asceticism, practices of pilgrimage, and mentoring relationships, while the second chapter gives a brief overview of the characteristic practices of desert spirituality—detachment, prayer, silence, listening. The third chapter is organized around selected sayings of desert mothers; the fourth and fifth include alphabetically ordered biographies of "lesser-known" female ascetics and of women who held the office of deaconess; the sixth chapter, arranged geographically, relates stories of women who were leaders of monastic communities. A concluding epilogue focuses on the contemporary relevance of ancient ascetic practice.


Modern comprehensive finite element-based tools for the aeromechanic analysis of rotorcraft require the ability of accurately computing the model trim settings. Proportional control laws (auto-pilots) have often been used in many practical instances, because this technique is not directly related to the complexity of the system. On the other hand, classical auto-pilots must be carefully tuned for every desired flight condition. This work focuses on improving the auto-pilot technique by means of non-linear model-predictive control. A reference model of the system augmented with an adaptive neural element is used to predict the system response and solve an optimal control problem, which in turn produces the control strategy that is used for regulating the system. The adaptive element allows for the identification and correction of the mismatch between reduced model and controlled system, thereby improving the predictive capabilities of the controller. Tests on the wind-tunnel trim of a rotor multibody model and comparisons with an existing implementation of a classical auto-pilot are discussed.


[reaction: see text] A barrelene derivative fragments to afford benzene and trappable 1,2,3-tricyanocyclopropene. The barrelene anion fragments more easily to liberate benzene and the 1,2,3-tricyanocyclopropenyl anion, which is not trappable or stable in solution. However, the major thermal product from the barrelene anion is a rearranged allyl anion that is formed by disrotatory cleavage of the cyclopropyl ring, a formally Woodward-Hoffmann-forbidden process. Several proposals are offered to rationalize this forbidden rearrangement.


Privacy decisions often involve balancing competing interests. As such, they're a natural field of study for economics. But traditional economic models have made overly restrictive assumptions about the stability and nature of individual privacy preferences. Approaches drawing on existing research in behavioral economics and psychology can offer complementary tools for understanding privacy decision making.


Indocyanine green clearance was measured in 23 symptomatic patients with primary biliary cirrhosis who were followed up for 6 months. Ten patients either died (n = 4) from their primary biliary cirrhosis or underwent liver transplantation (n = 6) during the follow-up period. Indocyanine green clearance and other liver function test results were compared between the survivors (n = 13) and those who had died or undergone transplantation (n = 10). Indocyanine green clearance, bilirubin, bile acids, albumin, and prothrombin ratio differed significantly between the two groups, whereas age, alkaline phosphatase, globulin, and aspartate aminotransferase did not. Indocyanine green clearance gave better discrimination between the two groups than the other liver function tests, including bilirubin. There was a close correlation between indocyanine green clearance and bilirubin in patients who died or were transplanted. Further studies are necessary to define whether indocyanine green clearance is clinically useful in selecting patients for transplantation and in the timing of intervention.


This study traces the claims of a 'scientization' and a 'participatory turn' in modern governance within the system of temporary policy advisory committees in Norway. It analyzes whether there is evidence of the two claims in these key governance institutions and to what extent these shifts are compatible with each other. As expressions of a participatory turn, a growing emphasis on citizen involvement and transparency in the committee system is searched for. A growing relevance of researchers and of science-based claims in the committees' reports are taken as indicators of scientization. The longitudinal study shows an overall shift both towards science- and expertise-based governance and towards an increasing openness and public engagement, as well as some variation between policy fields.


Many-body dipolar effects in Fermi gases are quite subtle as they energetically compete with the large kinetic energy at and below the Fermi surface (FS). Recently it was experimentally observed in a sample of erbium atoms that its FS is deformed from a sphere to an ellipsoid due to the presence of the anisotropic and long-range dipole–dipole interaction Aikawa et al (2014 Science 345 1484). Moreover, it was suggested that, when the dipoles are rotated by means of an external field, the FS follows their rotation, thereby keeping the major axis of the momentum-space ellipsoid parallel to the dipoles. Here we generalise a previous Hartree–Fock mean-field theory to systems confined in an elongated triaxial trap with an arbitrary orientation of the dipoles relative to the trap. With this we study for the first time the effects of the dipoles' arbitrary orientation on the ground-state properties of the system. Furthermore, taking into account the geometry of the system, we show how the ellipsoidal FS deformation can be reconstructed, assuming ballistic expansion, from the experimentally measurable real-space aspect ratio after a free expansion. We compare our theoretical results with new experimental data measured with erbium Fermi gas for various trap parameters and dipole orientations. The observed remarkable agreement demonstrates the ability of our model to capture the full angular dependence of the FS deformation. Moreover, for systems with even higher dipole moment, our theory predicts an additional unexpected effect: the FS does not simply follow rigidly the orientation of the dipoles, but softens showing a change in the aspect ratio depending on the dipoles' orientation relative to the trap geometry, as well as on the trap anisotropy itself. Our theory provides the basis for understanding and interpreting phenomena in which the investigated physics depends on the underlying structure of the FS, such as fermionic pairing and superfluidity.


Synthetic glucocorticoids, such as dexamethasone (Dex), are pivotal in the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) but are associated with significant variability, both in terms of toxicity and efficacy. We aimed to investigate three key variables to better understand how Dex personalization may be achieved: pharmacokinetics (PK), intracellular Dex accumulation, and cellular response, following Dex binding to the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in ALL cells. For Dex PK studies, blood samples were collected post oral administration on one of the first three days of induction chemotherapy in 99 patients on the UKALL 2011 trial receiving either 6mg/m2 for28 days (standard arm) or 10mg/m2 for 14 days (short arm). Plasma Dex levels were analysed using a validated LC/MS method, and a non-compartmental pharmacokinetic analysis. To assess intracellular Dex levels, cell lines, primagraft (n=9) and primary patient samples (n=6) were studied. The plasma Dex LC/MS method was optimized to quantify Dex in ALL cell lysates. Dex accumulation was also assessed using flow cytometric analysis of Dex conjugated to FITC. Cellular Dex sensitivity was assessed using Alamar Blue assays. There was a wide Dex PK variability, with AUC0-12h, and Cmax significantly higher on the short compared to the standard arm; 564 (202-1606) versus 408 (142-1009), median (range), p=0.0003 and 0.0006, respectively. However there was substantial overlap between the two arms, with a number of patients on the standard arm exhibiting higher exposures than those on short therapy. Dex GI50 values ranged from 37 - > 1000 nM and 2 - > 1000 nM in cell lines and patient samples respectively. Western blotting indicated wildtype GR in all samples, with R3D11 and REH cell lines serving as hemizygous deleted and GR negative controls. Dex accumulation in cell lines was 2.1 and 1.8 (range 1.2 - 2.1) pmol/106 cells in PreB697 and Dex resistant sub-lines, respectively. While patient samples exhibited greater variability, Dex accumulation was not significantly different between sensitive and resistant cells; mean of 1.0 versus 1.4 (range 0.1-2.3, 0.4-4.4 pmol/ 106 cells, p=0.17). Flow cytometry Dex FITC accumulation confirmed these data, with a mean fluorescence intensity of 4.2 versus 4.1 (range 1.5-5.9, 2.0 - 9.1, respectively; p=0.97). These data suggest that while PK and cellular response are hugely variable, variations in drug accumulation do not appear to play a key role in Dex response in ALL cells. Importantly, 62% of patient cell samples had Dex GI50 values greater than plasma concentrations observed in any patient, on both arms on the UKALL 2011 trial. A combined approach incorporating PK assessments and cellular response in ALL cells should be further investigated, to allow a comprehensive understanding of Dex pharmacology with a view to optimizing its clinical utility. Citation Format: Rosanna K. Jackson, Ali Alhammer, Zach Dixon, Gareth J. Veal, Julie AE Irving. Personalization of dexamethasone in acute lymphoblastic leukemia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 707. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-707


Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and photoevaporative winds are thought to play an important role in the evolution and dispersal of planet-forming disks. Here, we analyze high-resolution (Δv ∼ 7 km s−1) optical spectra from a sample of 115 T Tauri stars in the ∼5–10 Myr Upper Sco association and focus on the [O i] λ6300 and Hα lines to trace disk winds and accretion, respectively. Our sample covers a large range of spectral types and we divide it into warm (G0-M3) and cool (later than M3) to facilitate comparison with younger regions. We detect the [O i] λ6300 line in 45 out of 87 Upper Sco sources with protoplanetary disks and 32 out of 45 are accreting based on Hα profiles and equivalent widths. All [O i] λ6300 Upper Sco profiles have low-velocity (centroid < −30 km s−1; low-velocity component (LVC)) emission and most (36/45) can be fit by a single Gaussian (SC). The single-component (SC) distribution of centroid velocities and FWHMs is consistent with MHD disk winds. We also find that the Upper Sco sample follows the same accretion luminosity−LVC [O i] λ6300 relation and the same anticorrelation between SC FWHM and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer W3-W4 spectral indices as the younger samples. These results indicate that accretion and disk winds coevolve and that, as inner disks clear out, wind emission arises further away from the star. Finally, our large spectral range coverage reveals that cool stars have larger FWHMs normalized by stellar mass than warm stars indicating that [O i] λ6300 emission arises closer in toward lower-mass/lower luminosity stars.


We take the view that corporate governance must involve more than corporate law. Despite corporate scholars' nearly exclusive focus on corporate law mechanisms for controlling managerial agency costs, shareholders are not the only constituency concerned with such costs. Given the thick web of firms' contractual commitments, it should not be a surprise that other financial claimants may also attempt to control agency costs in their contracts with the firm. We hypothesize that this cross-monitoring by other claimants has value for shareholders. We examine bank loans for empirical evidence of the value of cross-monitoring. Our approach builds on prior empirical work on the value of good corporate governance, to which we add data on the presence of bank loans and their interactions with free cash flow, governance indices, and individual corporate governance provisions. To our knowledge, ours is the first study to measure the performance effects of bank debt as a device for reducing managerial agency costs, and the first study on the interaction of ongoing bank monitoring with corporate governance arrangements. We find strong evidence that bank monitoring adds value. In effect, bank monitoring can counteract somewhat the value-decreasing effects of managerial entrenchment. Bank monitoring may substitute for good corporate governance.


The comparative effects of Mg lactate, pyridoxine chlorhydrate and their association were observed on the various components of the human transamniotic conductance Gt. The use of both microelectrodes and metabolic inhibitors indicates 12 components of Gt: 8 cellular components Gc (Na-K, ATPase, Na-H and Cl-HCO3 antiports, Na-K-2Cl cotransport, Na-Mg exchanger and Na, K, Cl channels), one coupling component and three paracellular components Gp (Na, K, Cl). Mg lactate had a monophasic action on some components (decrease or increase conductance), according to its concentration, on maternal side (MS): GpNa, GpK, GpCl, K channels, conductance due to Na-K, ATPase. On fetal side (FS), there is a monophasic action on GpK, Na channels and a biphasic action (decrease then increase conductance) on GpNa and Na/Mg (as on MS). Pyridoxine chlorhydrate had a monophasic action on GpNa (MS, FS), GpK (MS), Na/Mg (MS, FS) and a biphasic action on GpK (FS), Na channels (MS, FS). The association of both Mg lactate and pyridoxine chlorhydrate implicated a biphasic action on all cationic components on both sides (GpNa, GpK, Na and K channels, Na/H, Na-K-2Cl, Na/Mg. The anionic components were not modified with regard to agents. The Mg lactate + vitamin B6 association interferes specifically with the cationic conductance components with regard to individual components.


The spin-down energy of millisecond magnetars has been invoked to explain X-ray afterglow observations of a significant fraction of short and long gamma-ray bursts. Here, we extend models previously introduced in the literature, incorporating radiative losses with the spin down of a magnetar central engine through an arbitrary braking index. Combining this with a model for the tail of the prompt emission, we show that our model can better explain the data than millisecond-magnetar models without radiative losses or those that invoke spin down solely through vacuum dipole radiation. We find that our model predicts a subset of X-ray flares seen in some gamma-ray bursts. We can further explain the diversity of X-ray plateaus by altering the radiative efficiency and measure the braking index of newly-born millisecond magnetars. We measure the braking index of GRB061121 as $n=4.85^{+0.11}_{-0.15}$ suggesting the millisecond-magnetar born in this gamma-ray burst spins down predominantly through gravitational-wave emission.


This paper discusses wireless mesh network topology visualization tools and their requirements. It presents an interactive tool for visualizing mesh network topologies. The proposed tool uses the SVG - scalable vector graphics - web standard, which is based on XML, to build the network map. In a wireless mesh network, link quality varies quite often, therefore the visualization tool dynamically displays the quality metric of each link, in addition to presenting router configuration information and other network statistics. This work also introduces a configuration tool designed to adapt the topology view to different wireless mesh environments.


In this paper we apply the time-dependent quantum Monte Carlo (TDQMC) method to explore a modified single- and double-slit diffraction of matter waves. By using a simplified model of two electrons prepared in the ground state of an atom (molecule) and then suddenly released we are able to calculate the diffraction patterns in one spatial dimension in close correspondence with the numerically exact results. Through the Coulomb repulsion the one electron serves as an environment for the other, thus introducing decoherence in the quantum state which is easily quantified. It is demonstrated that the set of single particle wave functions yield by TDQMC can be used to directly construct a density matrix for that particle without tracing out the other constituents from the density matrix of the whole system. In this way it is possible to build explicitly time-dependent density matrices for different components of a complex quantum system straight within the TDQMC algorithm which may widen our understanding of quantum dynamics in many-body systems.


Purpose: h2-Microglobulin (h2M) has been shown to promote osteomimicry and the proliferation of human prostate cancer cells. The objective of this study is to determine the mechanism by which targeting h2M using anti-h2M antibody inhibited growth and induced apoptosis in prostate cancer cells. Experimental Design: Polyclonal andmonoclonal h2Mantibodies were used to interrupt h2M signaling in human prostate cancer cell lines and the growth of prostate tumors in mice. The effects of the h2M antibody on a survival factor, androgen receptor (AR), and its target gene, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) expression, were investigated in cultured cells and in tumor xenografts. Results:The h2M antibody inhibited growth and promoted apoptosis in both AR-positive and PSA-positive, and AR-negative and PSA-negative, prostate cancer cells via the down-regulation of the AR in AR-positive prostate cancer cells and directly caused apoptosis in AR-negative prostate cancer cells in vitro and in tumor xenografts. The h2M antibody had no effect on AR expression or the growth of normal prostate cells. Conclusions: h2M downstream signaling regulates AR and PSA expression directly in ARpositive prostate cancer cells. In both AR-positive and AR-negative prostate cancer cells, interrupting h2M signaling with the h2M antibody inhibited cancer cell growth and induced its apoptosis. The h2M antibody is a novel and promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of human prostate cancers. h2-Microglobulin (h2M) is produced by all nucleated cells as a 119-amino-acid residue protein and, after processing, is secreted in a 99-amino-acid form (11,800 Da; refs. 1, 2). The most common known function of h2M, a light-chain antigenpresenting molecule, is to serve as a coreceptor for the presentation of the MHC class I in nucleated cells for cytotoxic T-cell recognition (3). However, cancer cells frequently downregulate the expression of MHC class I to evade recognition by the immune system (4–7), presumably allowing the secretion of free h2M into circulation or in the tumor microenvironment. Our laboratory first identified h2M, an active component secreted by prostate cancer, and prostate and bone stromal cells, as a major growth factor and signaling molecule (8). h2M conferred osteomimicry, the ability of cancer cells to mimic gene expression by bone cells, in prostate cancer cells through the activation of a cyclic AMP (cAMP)–dependent protein kinase A (PKA) and cAMP-responsive element binding (CREB) protein signaling pathway (9). The use of a sequence-specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting h2M and its signaling resulted in extensive prostate cancer cell death in vitro and greatly promoted prostate tumor regression in immunocompromised mice (8). We also showed that interrupting h2M signaling similarly blocked human renal cell carcinoma growth (10). h2M has recently been shown to be a useful biomarker for advanced human prostate cancer (11). h2M seems to be a downstream androgen target gene, more specific than prostatespecific antigen (PSA), under the control of the androgen receptor (AR), in a human LNCaP prostate cancer cell line (11). Anti–h2M antibody is a potent interrupter of h2M-mediated signaling (8, 12). The h2M antibody was shown to be a highly cytotoxic reagent against the growth of solid tumors like renal cell carcinoma (13) as well as liquid tumors, such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma (12). We showed here that the h2M antibody inhibited the expression of a survival factor, AR, and its target gene, PSA , in AR-positive and PSApositive human prostate cancer cell lines, including androgendependent LNCaP and androgen-independent C4-2B cells (14), Human Cancer Biology Authors'Affiliations: Molecular Urology andTherapeutics Program, Department of Urology andWinship Cancer Institute and Graduate Program in Molecular and Systems Pharmacology, Emory University School of Medicine; Department of Biology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia; and Department of Oncological Science (Urology), Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Oita, Japan Received 3/26/08; revised 4/28/08; accepted 5/2/08. Grant support: NIH grant P01CA98912 (L.W.K. Chung) and U54 CA119338 and Department of Defense grants PC040260 (L.W.K. Chung),W81XWH-07-1-0172, andW81XWH-08-1-0321and PC073356 (W-C. Huang). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges.This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with18 U.S.C. Section1734 solely to indicate this fact. Note: Supplementary data for this article are available at Clinical Cancer Research Online (http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/). Requests for reprints:Wen-Chin Huang or Leland W.K. Chung, Molecular Urology and Therapeutics Program, Department of Urology andWinship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, Room B5101, 1365-B Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30322. Phone: 404-778-3672; Fax: 404-778-3965; E-mail: email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com. F2008 American Association for Cancer Research. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-08-0793 www.aacrjournals.org Clin Cancer Res 2008;14(17) September1, 2008 5341 and in androgen-independent C4-2 tumor xenograft models. The h2M antibody also suppressed growth and induced apoptosis in both AR-positive and PSA-positive, and ARnegative and PSA-negative human prostate cancer cells and in xenograft tumors in mice. Moreover, our studies showed that the h2M antibody induced prostate cancer cell death through an activation of a caspase-9–mediated apoptotic cascade pathway without affecting normal or nontumorigenic prostatic epithelial and stromal cells. These results support the idea that targeting h2M signaling via the external application of the h2M antibody can profoundly alter intracellular cell signaling networks, including, but not limited to, the AR downstream signaling axis. Effective h2M antibody–mediated targeting of the growth of both AR-positive and PSA-positive, and ARnegative and PSA-negative human prostate cancer cells may prove to be an attractive and safe therapeutic approach for the treatment of human prostate cancer and its lethal progression. Materials andMethods Cell lines, cell culture, and b2M antibody. The human prostate cancer cell line LNCaP (androgen dependent), the LNCaP lineage– derived bone metastatic subline C4-2B (androgen independent; ref. 14), DU-145 (brain metastatic, androgen independent), PC3 (bone metastatic, androgen independent), and ARCaP (ascites-fluid– derived, androgen repressive; refs. 15, 16) were cultured in T-medium (Invitrogen) supplemented with 5% fetal bovine serum, 100 IU/mL penicillin, and 100 Ag/mL streptomycin. A human normal/nontumorigenic prostatic epithelial cell line, RWPE-1 (American Type Culture Collection), was cultured in keratinocyte serum-free medium supplemented with 5 ng/mL human recombinant epidermal growth factor and 0.05 mg/mL bovine pituitary extract (Invitrogen). These prostate cancer and normal cell lines were maintained in 5% CO2 at 37jC. The anti-h2M antibody, a polyclonal antibody, was obtained from Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc. (sc-15366), for in vitro cell culture studies and in vivo animal experiments. We also tested the h2M monoclonal antibody (Santa Cruz Biotechnology; sc-13565) and found it to have similar inhibitory effects on the growth of human prostate cancer cells in vitro (data not shown). Reverse transcription-PCR. LNCaP and C4-2B cells were plated on six-well dishes at 3 10 cells per well and grown to 70% confluence in T-medium with 5% fetal bovine serum. The cells were gently washed with PBS and incubated in T-medium plus 5% dextran-coated, charcoal-treated fetal bovine serum for overnight incubation. The cells were then treated with 0, 1, 5, or 10 Ag/mL of h2M antibody; the h2M antibody was preincubated for 30 min with the same amounts of purified human h2M protein (Sigma) or 10 Ag/mL of isotype control IgG for 24 h. The total RNA was isolated from these treated cells using a RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen) and subjected to reverse transcription according to the manufacturer's instructions (Invitrogen). The primer sequences used for PCR analysis were AR [5¶-ATGGCTGTCATTCAGTACTCCTGGA-3 ¶ (forward) and 5 ¶-AGATGGGCTTGACTTTCCCAGAAAG-3¶ (reverse)], PSA [5¶-ATGTGGGTCCCGGTTGTCTTCCTCACCCTGTC-3¶ (forward) and 5¶-TCAGGGGTTGGCCACGATGGTGTCCTTGATC-3¶ (reverse)], and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase [5¶-ACCACAGTCCATGCCATCA-3¶ (forward) and 5¶-TCCACCACCCTGTTGCTGT-3¶ (reverse)], respectively. The thermal profiles for AR, PSA, and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase cDNA amplification are 25 cycles, starting with denaturation for 1 min at 94jC, followed by 1 min of annealing at 61jC (for AR), 55jC (for PSA), and 60jC (for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase), and 1 min of extension at 72jC. The reverse transcription-PCR products were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis. Western blot analysis and ELISA. Cell lysates were prepared from h2M monoclonal antibody–treated or IgG-treated prostate cells using a lysis buffer [50 mmol/L Tris (pH 8), 150 mmol/L NaCl, 0.02% NaN3, 0.1% SDS, 1% NP40, and 0.5% sodium deoxycholate] containing 1 mmol/L phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and a protease inhibitor cocktail (Roche Applied Science). The protein concentration was determined by the Bradford assay using the Coomassie Plus Protein Reagent (Pierce). Western blot was done with the Novex system (Invitrogen) as described previously (8, 10). The primary antibodies anti-AR (1:500 dilution) and PSA (1:1,000 dilution; Santa Cruz Biotechnology); anti–caspase-9, caspase-3, and poly(ADP)ribose polymerase (PARP; 1:1,000 dilution; Cell Signaling Technology); and the secondary antibodies that were conjugated with horseradish peroxidase (1:5,000 dilution; GE Healthcare) were used. The detection of protein bands was done with the use of enhanced chemiluminescence Western Blotting Detection Reagents (GE Healthcare). The soluble PSA leve


The Grounded Theory based on the data is a qualitative research method widely used in Nursing and due it was developed to the different aspects, it requires by researches special attention in its application, considering the different approach and techniques. This reflection is presented with the objective of discussing the main points of divergence in the use of the different aspects of the Grounded Theory in Nursing research.In spite of the different approaches in the traditional, relativistic and constructivist aspects, the in-depth study and the careful execution need to be encouraged by professionals in this area of activity, aiming at the production of knowledge, with a guarantee of methodological rigor and qualified research results to subsidize and improve the practice.


Through this paper, I discuss the existing research on the topic of debt and covenants and I intend to answer the following questions: i) Why is debt considered a governance mechanism?; ii) Are debt covenants supporting debt as an incentive mechanism?; iii) How and in what conditions can debt covenants mitigate the stockholder-bondholder conflict? and iv) How are debt covenants structured? The answers to the questions will encapsulate the role and structure of debt covenants in the context of debt governance.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

Activating mutations in KRAS or B-RAF are found in over 30% of all human tumors and targeting this pathway could have broad therapeutic impact. Small molecule ATP-competitive RAF kinase inhibitors have potent anti-tumor effects on B-RAFV600E tumors but, in contrast to MEK inhibitors, are not potent against RAS mutant tumor models, despite RAF functioning as a key effector downstream of RAS and upstream of MEK. In this study we show that ATP-competitive RAF inhibitors have two opposing mechanisms of action depending on cellular context. In B-RAFV600E tumors, RAF inhibitors effectively block the MAPK signaling pathway and decrease tumor growth. Surprisingly, in KRAS mutant and RAS/RAF wildtype tumors, RAF inhibitors activate the RAF/MEK/ERK pathway in a RAS-dependent manner, thus enhancing tumor growth in some xenograft models. Inhibitor binding activates wildtype RAF isoforms by inducing dimerization, membrane localization and interaction with RAS-GTP. These events occur independently of kinase inhibition and are, rather, linked to direct conformational effects of inhibitors on the RAF kinase domain. Based on these findings, we demonstrate that ATP-competitive kinase inhibitors can have opposing functions as inhibitors or activators of signaling pathways, depending upon cellular context. In addition, this work provides new insights into the therapeutic use of ATP-competitive RAF inhibitors.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5753.


Comparison measurements of low level infrared radiation at 1064 nm wavelength of the modified Rj-7000 series radiometer (hereafter termed MRj), custom manufactured by Laser Precision Corporation, were performed with the NBS P-3 low level pulsed laser radiometer constructed at the National Bureau of Standards, Boulder, Colorado. A brief description of these instruments and measurement data are reported in this paper. This is considered of interest for those engaged in the design of radiometers or associated with low level monochromatic performance measurements used with laser ranging and designating systems and test sets. Due to time constraints, interest was focused on the practical lower limit signal-to-noise measurement capability of the MRj radiometer. Data obtained indicate that this radiometer, which is essentially the conventional model specially fitted with an aperture wheel, a reflex mirror, and telescope assembly featuring a 10 cm diameter collecting lens, has a practical lower limit measurement capability of approximately 10 fJ/cm2. This is essentially a few orders of magnitude greater in sensitivity than the conventional, unmodified version, and is in agreement with the theoretical gain obtained using a lens of this size. These results were obtained by comparing the MRj measurements with those utilizing a conventional Laser Precision radiometer without the telescope assembly, in the region of 10-12 J/cm2 and the NBS P-3 in the range of 10-13 J/cm2 to 10-16 J/cm2. A nominal 1064 nm wavelength laser simulator LED was placed at the focal point of a 12.7 cm diameter lens of 60 cm focal length to provide a collimated source of approximately 15 ns FWHM pulse length with a PRR of 30 Hz. It was also noted that the LED output power decreased with increasing pulse repetition rate which was correlated with NBS P-3 radiometer observations between 30 Hz and 125 kHz.


Nutritional disease, persistent food insecurity, ecological devastation, and limited sustainable livelihoods among small and beginning (SB) farmers coexist as unintended consequences of trying to address these challenges separately. Agroecology is useful for holistically understanding a community's food system dynamics, identifying regime lock-ins, and developing pathways to transition to a sustainable food system. Focusing on two often divergent publics, SB farmers and food-insecure populations, this research answers the questions: What critical agroecological characteristics are lacking in a food system contributing to both limited livelihoods of SB farmers and food-insecure populations? In what ways might the relationships of these two publics be central to an agroecological transition to a regional sustainable food system? We present a case study for the city-region Duluth-Northland, Minnesota, USA, by combining methodological and theoretical insights from participatory action research, agroecology, and sustainability transitions literature. Results include a current state of regional food flows, illuminate the food system's enabling and inhibitory factors, and highlight opportunities for exercising local agency to transition to a sustainable food system using agroecological principles. This research suggests developing relational spaces where two typically divergent publics can dialogue and build reciprocal relationships to construct new food pathways. Findings also highlight a need to develop a social infrastructure to support SB farmer livelihoods, recognize their contribution to the public good, and simultaneously address multiple dimensions of food insecurity. This study provides preliminary guidance for mobilizing action at the nexus of health and food access, environment, and regenerative agriculture livelihoods.


New diterpenylquinones, combining a diterpene diacid and a naphthoquinone, were prepared from junicedric acid and lapachol. The new derivatives were assessed as gastroprotective agents by the HCl-EtOH-induced gastric lesions model in mice as well as for basal cytotoxicity on the following human cell lines: Normal lung fibroblasts (MRC-5), gastric epithelial adenocarcinoma (AGS), and hepatocellular carcinoma (Hep G2). Several of the new compounds were significantly active as antiulcer agents and showed selective cytotoxicity against AGS cells.


We have shown that prostasin serine protease is downregulated in high‐grade prostate tumors and inhibits invasiveness of prostate cancer cell lines upon enforced reexpression. In our study, prostasin mRNA and protein were shown to be expressed in normal human mammary epithelial cells (NHMEC), the poorly invasive breast carcinoma cell line MCF‐7 and the nonmetastatic breast carcinoma cell line MDA‐MB‐453, but absent in highly invasive and metastatic breast carcinoma cell lines MDA‐MB‐231 and MDA‐MB‐435s. Enforced reexpression of prostasin in MDA‐MB‐231 and MDA‐MB‐435s reduced the in vitro invasiveness of either cell line by 50%. Examination of the prostasin gene promoter and first exon revealed a GC‐enriched region that contains transcription regulatory elements. The promoter and exon 1 region of the prostasin gene was investigated for DNA methylation in NHMEC and the carcinoma cell lines. The results revealed a methylation pattern that correlates with prostasin expression in these cells. Demethylation coupled with histone deacetylase inhibition resulted in reactivated expression of the prostasin mRNA in MDA‐MB‐231 and MDA‐MB‐435s cells. These results suggest that prostasin expression in breast cancer cells may be regulated by DNA methylation and that an absence of prostasin expression may contribute to breast cancer invasiveness and metastatic potential. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Reversible digital watermarking techniques enable the recovery of the original 'cover image' from a watermarked image in a distortion-free way. Reversible watermarking techniques find application in military and medical imagery, where integrity of the cover image is of utmost importance. In this study, we propose a reversible digital image watermarking algorithm that predicts a pixel greyscale value exploiting its correlation with its neighbouring pixels, and embeds watermark bits into the prediction errors. Our algorithm succeeds in providing high embedding capacity with very low distortion, without 'multilayer embedding', hence reducing the computational burden compared with existing state-of-the-art algorithms. In addition, our results indicate that the resulting data overhead requirement is extremely low.


Advanced MOS Devices: D. K. SCHRODER (Addison Wesley, 1988,247 pp., £13.95) This is the latest addition to Addison Wesley's Modular Series on Solid State Devices, which is developing into a very useful package; each book is manageable in size and scope, but the coverage of the series is wide and detailed in its handling of the subject matter. One problem of such a series may be finding suitable titles for the individual volumes, and in the present case it must be clear that this volume does not touch upon MOS power devices or on any of the vertical structures (those will probably come later). The author concentrates on low power devices in integrated circuit (planar) format, and with a heavy emphasis on charge-coupled devices and memories. This central section is preceded by useful chapters on fundamental device physics and material and device characterisation, and it is followed by a distillation of the complex beha viour of short and narrow channel devices. This last part is particularly well done. The presentation is clear and readable, the price (in paperback) is reasonable, and the book can be thoroughly recommended. D. C. NORTHROP, Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics. UMIST


Abstract The paper studies the application of the complete admittancematching in the design of dichroic mirrors. The matching stacks were analytically synthesized and all solutions with one, two and three periods were investigated in order to obtain a large-transmission (LT) band and to preserve the high-reflectance (HR) band. The method is applied in the design of two dichroic mirrors, a one-side matched mirror with HR at 1·44 μm and L T at 1·064 μm and a two-sided matched mirror with HR at 1·064 μm and L T at 0·809 μm.


BACKGROUND
Increasing the utilisation of unused capacity in hospitals is a health policy goal, but there is concern that little unused capacity remains. The objective of the study was to examine how healthcare personnel experience and deal with pressure on capacity in the somatic specialist health services.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
In this qualitative study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with unit heads and doctors and nurses involved in discharging patients in two Norwegian hospital trusts. Nine interviews (both individual and group) with altogether 19 informants were carried out in the period October 2017-February 2018. The interviews were analysed using systematic text condensation.

RESULTS
Pressure on hospital capacity was described as continual pressure to treat more patients. The informants used the term 'undercapacity': a situation in which increased demands without sufficient resources were detrimental to something or someone. Elderly patients who had completed their treatment and were waiting for the provision of municipal services were regarded as particularly vulnerable, since they were often overrepresented among the patients moved between departments and wards in order to free up capacity when beds were urgently needed. The hospital staff felt they had little influence on the type of municipal services the patients were offered following discharge.

INTERPRETATION
The informants stated that their daily work was negatively affected by undercapacity. Health professionals' perceptions of pressure on hospital capacity constitute vital knowledge in policy formation in the field.


This article discusses the 2017 elections in the context of a framework of analysis based on three levels of analysis: the institutional, the partisan and the situational. The framework used not only elucidates the extraordinary campaign and results, but places them in a diachronic perspective in order to assess the claim that the 2017 electoral series marked a partisan realignment. The 2017 campaign rewrote almost all of the rules associated with the presidential election. If Macron's election provides a window of opportunity to revive the French presidency, the question of political and institutional trust is far from resolved.


The hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) external glycoprotein antigens of H1N1 and H3N2 subtypes of epidemiologically important influenza A viruses prevalent during recent decades were subjected to intensive antigenic analysis by four different methods. Prior to serological analysis with polyclonal rabbit antisera, HA and NA antigens of four viruses of each subtype were segregated by genetic reassortment to forestall nonspecific steric hindrance during antigen-antibody combination. This analysis has demonstrated that with respect to antigenic phenotype, HA and NA proteins have evolved at different rates. With H1N1 viruses, an arrest of significant evolution of the NA discordant with the continuing antigenic drift of HA was found in the 1980-1983 period. It is probable that the different and independent rates of evolution of HA and NA reflect the greater selective pressure of HA antibodies, which forces the more rapid emergence of HA escape mutants. The slower antigenic change found for NA further supports the potential for NA-specific infection-permissive immunization as a useful stratagem against influenza.


ABSTRACT New data published in BLUM et al. (2001) suggest that middle Holocene sea level along the Texas Gulf of Mexico coast was at −9 m at ca. 7.8 ka, then rose rapidly to +2 m or more by ca. 6.8 ka. This view contrasts with the traditional, widely accepted interpretations of continual submergence until ca. 2–3 ka. or later. A middle Holocene sea level higher than present should have left a significant imprint on the coastal landscape, yet coastal landforms and deposits of middle Holocene age have not been identified in previous studies. Our recent research has now identified extensive Holocene beach-ridge plains on the mainland central Texas coast, landward of Holocene barriers, that may represent the geomorphic manifestation of this highstand. Long considered to be part of the isotope stage 5 interglacial period shoreline, these Holocene beach-ridge plains attain elevations of 2.5–3 m, extend for 10's of km along the mainland shore, and can be 1–3 km in width, roughly the same scale as the Holocene barriers. To further test the concept of a middle Holocene highstand, we have also investigated previously mapped Holocene shorelines along the Alabama coast. A series of optical luminescence ages suggest that some of the shorelines are middle Holocene in age, whereas others represent the earlier part of the late Holocene, prior to ca. 2–3 ka. In aggregate, these data suggest that relative sea level was at, or very close to, present elevations throughout the middle to late Holocene along the Gulf of Mexico shoreline, both to the west and east of the subsiding Mississippi depocenter, and the model of continual submergence until 3-2 ka. or later needs reevaluation.


Nadolol, a new beta-adrenergic blocking agent, was administered orally in gradually increasing single daily doses to 13 hospitalized patients with essential hypertension. Maximal doses ranged from 200 to 480 mg/day. Blood pressure was reduced in nine patients and heart rate was decreased in 11 patients. The decrease in blood pressure was either partial or temporary in five of the nine patients who responded. Concomitant administration of the diuretic chlorthalidone decreased blood pressure in a previously unresponsive patient. Nadolol effectively inhibited isoproterenol-induced tachycardia and decreased cardiac output by 18 per cent. Plasma renin activity and plasma aldosterone concentration were not changed significantly by the treatment. Body weight was not altered significantly. Blood pressure response was independent of the pretreatment renin levels or the change in renin induced by nadolol; it was also independent of the changes in cardiac output and heart rate but was more pronounced in patients with milder baseline hypertension. The decline in serum concentration of nadolol was consistent with the drug's reported half-life of 12.2 hours. The results indicate that single daily doses of nadolol alone can reduce blood pressure significantly with minimal cardiodepressant effects and no important side effects. The effectiveness of nadolol may be enhanced by the addition of a diuretic.


Detailed analysis of the morphology of Florisphaera profunda from plankton samples collected at three sites in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans reveals wide variation in this deep ocean-dwelling coccolithophore. In addition to the two varieties described previously, we found a third distinctive form, Florisphaera profunda var. rhinocera var. nov. All three varieties occur at each of the sampling sites. The analysis of monthly samples from different levels in the lower photic zone (LPZ) (100–200 m) at the Hawaii Ocean Time series station suggests that the varieties have similar distributions, which are correlated to primary productivity and the availability of light. The analysis of coccolith and coccosphere size in F. profunda reveals the existence of several size modes in Florisphaera profunda var. profunda and F. profunda var. elongata. The biological significance of these modes, or morphotypes is not known. However, their co-occurrence in single samples from different oceanic areas suggests that they are not ecophenotypes. In the light of recent molecular genetic analyses of intraspecific groups within commonly occurring coccolithophores, the varieties and size morphotypes of F. profunda are of significant interest for the study of marine phytoplankton biodiversity. Coccolithophores inhabiting the LPZ may be adapted to the low light, high nutrient conditions of this layer and hold great potential as a means to reconstruct past oceanographic conditions such as the position of the nutricline. However, coccolithophore biodiversity in the LPZ is poorly documented and the number of species may be much higher than previously thought.


A Research Project Report Submitted In Partial Fulfillment For The Requirements Of Master Of Arts Degree In Project Planning And Management


Abstract In his four-fold typology, John McGarry indicates Canada, post-Soviet Russia and Spain as standard examples of 'regional and plurinational federations' (RPNFs). He dedicates most space to this variant, chiefly because of its more successful record. In order to test McGarry's hypothesis, I focus on Spain as an example of a quasi-federal setting and Italy as an instance of unitary state. In agreement with McGarry, I show that asymmetric arrangements are more accommodative, durable and practical, having proved in both cases more flexible and effective in managing and preventing ethnic conflict (see also Coakley, 2003).


In February 2016, the World Health Organization developed the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) tool to independently assess country capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats as part of the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) monitoring and evaluation framework. In light of this, the Taiwan government actively engaged at least 19 government agencies or institutions and voluntarily implemented the JEE. An External Assessment Team consisting of 6 US subject matter experts conducted the external evaluation, including site visits, from June 21 to July 1, 2016. The results, published on October 18, 2016, are useful and will be translated into actions and change in the system. Based on Taiwan's experiences, early stakeholder engagement and an experts' pre-JEE pilot visit would contribute to a successful JEE process.


Many studies have documented that Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) of equity are substantially underpriced. This paper provides evidence on underpricing in Mauritius using the whole population of firms that went public between 1989 and 2005. The Mauritius environment is interesting given that the Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEM) started operations as from July 1989 and the IPO market is seen as an important avenue for the raising of funds and for the growth of the private sector. It is found that a significant number of companies earn large positive returns on the first day of listing. When analyzing the daily return over a 7-day interval, it is found that the positive initial return persists for fifty per cent of the companies. The largest companies are the most underpriced, in agreement with the signaling hypothesis. However companies with small market capitalization also exhibit a high degree of underpricing. The regression model shows that the size of the issue and the return on the SEMDEX (the market index) are the statistically significant explanatory variables accounting for the degree of underpricing.


In this study, indium-tin-oxide (ITO) nanoparticles were simply recovered from the thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel scraps by means of lift-off method. This can be done by dissolving color filter (CF) layer which is located between ITO layer and glass substrate. In this way the ITO layer was easily lifted off the glass substrate of the panel scrap without panel crushing. Over 90% of the ITO on the TFT-LCD panel was recovered by using this method. After separating, the ITO was obtained as particle form and their characteristics were investigated. The recovered product appeared as aggregates of particles less than 100 nm in size. The weight ratio of In/Sn is very close to 91/9. XRD analysis showed that the ITO nanoparticles have well crystallized structures with (222) preferred orientation even after recovery. The method described in this paper could be applied to the industrial recovery business for large size LCD scraps from TV easily without crushing the glass substrate.


The various methods of prefabricating flaps include vascular induction through staged transfer; pretransfer delay, expansion, and grafting; the use of alloplastic materials; and tissue bioengineering. In this experimental study, vascular induction was used to provide an axial vascular pedicle to randomly nourished tissue. Twenty-six New Zealand rabbits, ages and weights ranging between 6 months-1 year and 1.5-3.5 kg, respectively, were used. The sex difference was not considered. The deep inferior epigastric artery and vein were used to carry blood and were placed into a segment of femur to prefabricate the bone. Four weeks later, the viability of the segment of bone prefabricated by new axial pedicle was shown by scintigraphic study, and the new axial pedicle was ready for free transfer.


Objective Ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution is currently a major public health concern in Chinese urban areas. However, PM2.5 exposure primarily occurs indoors. Given such, we conducted this study to characterize the indoor-outdoor relationship of PM2.5 mass concentrations for urban residences in Beijing. Methods In this study, 24-h real-time indoor and ambient PM2.5 mass concentrations were concurrently collected for 41 urban residences in the non-heating season. The diurnal variation of pollutant concentrations was characterized. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the correlation between indoor and ambient PM2.5 mass concentrations. Regression analysis with ordinary least square was employed to characterize the influences of a variety of factors on PM2.5 mass concentration. Results Hourly ambient PM2.5 mass concentrations were 3–280 μg/m3 with a median of 58 μg/m3, and hourly indoor counterpart were 4–193 μg/m3 with a median of 34 μg/m3. The median indoor/ambient ratio of PM2.5 mass concentration was 0.62. The diurnal variation of residential indoor and ambient PM2.5 mass concentrations tracked with each other well. Strong correlation was found between indoor and ambient PM2.5 mass concentrations on the community basis (coefficients: r≥0.90, p<0.0001), and the ambient data explained ≥84% variance of the indoor data. Regression analysis suggested that the variables, such as traffic conditions, indoor smoking activities, indoor cleaning activities, indoor plants and number of occupants, had significant influences on the indoor PM2.5 mass concentrations. Conclusions PM2.5 of ambient origin made dominant contribution to residential indoor PM2.5 exposure in the non-heating season under the high ambient fine particle pollution condition. Nonetheless, the large inter-residence variability of infiltration factor of ambient PM2.5 raised the concern of exposure misclassification when using ambient PM2.5 mass concentrations as exposure surrogates. PM2.5 of indoor origin still had minor influence on indoor PM2.5 mass concentrations, particularly at 11:00–13:00 and 22:00–0:00. The predictive models suggested that particles from traffic emission, secondary aerosols, particles from indoor smoking, resuspended particles due to indoor cleaning and particles related to indoor plants contributed to indoor PM2.5 mass concentrations in this study. Real-time ventilation measurements and improvement of questionnaire design to involve more variables subject to built environment were recommended to enhance the performance of the predictive models.