Of 52 infants who had died suddenly and were referred to autopsy, nine had lain on adult water beds for the first time: five had died as a result of accidents: two had died on water beds; two were in beds with widely spaced slats; and one had died as a result of strangulation. Three deaths were due to overlying. Three other infants had been placed on sheepskin rugs for the first time and were found dead shortly thereafter. These infants ranged in age from 2 to 9 months, except for a severely mentally retarded nine-year-old with spastic paraplegia. We believe that a general warning should be issued concerning water beds and that soft bedding should not be used for infants. Infants should not be placed unattended or left to sleep on water beds: only beds recommended for infants should be used. Overlying of a young infant is most likely to occur on a water bed. or if the parent is obese or has consumed alcohol.


Aims: To investigate the effects of rivastigmine capsule 3–12 mg/day over 24 weeks on activities of daily living (ADLs) in patients with dementia associated with Parkinson's disease (PDD). Methods: Post hocanalysis of a prospective, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in patients with PDD (≧50 years) randomized to rivastigmine 3–12 mg/day (capsules bid) or placebo over 24 weeks. This analysis was carried out with three subscales derived from a factor analysis of the 23 items in the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study – Activities of Daily Living (ADCS-ADL) scale. These subscales were basic ADLs (10 items), high-level function ADLs (eight items) and autonomy ADLs (five items). Results: 541 patients were randomized (362 to rivastigmine, 179 to placebo) and 410 (75.8%) completed the study. Rivastigmine was associated with significantly better outcomes in basic ADLs (–0.5 ± 6.19 vs. –1.7 ± 5.46; p = 0.025; effect size 22.1%) and high-level function ADLs (0.1 ± 4.95 vs. –1.0 ± 4.49; p = 0.017; effect size 22.9%) compared with placebo, at week 24. Conclusion: In patients with PDD, treatment with rivastigmine may show beneficial effects on overall ADLs, as well as modest, statistically significant improvements in basic ADLs and high-level function ADLs.


In this paper, we attempt to construct the breather and interaction solutions for a ( 3 + 1 ) - dimensional generalized shallow water wave equation. Such equation has been utilized to describe the long water waves in an ocean, impoundment or estuary, and used in the tsunami predictions, river/tidal-wave/irrigation flow studies, as well as weather simulations. Via the Kadomtsev–Petviashvili hierarchy reduction method and taking the long-wave limit technique, we derive the breather and interaction solutions in terms of the Gramian, which have never been investigated before. Each interval of the breather possesses one peak and one valley, and the interaction between two breathers is elastic. When we take the long-wave limit in the breather solutions, interaction solutions are demonstrated. Furthermore, we investigate graphically the dynamical behaviors of interaction solutions and find that the interaction between lump and breather is also elastic.


Abstract We previously reported formation of ovarian granulosa cell tumors with 100% penetration in a transgenic mouse model with murine inhibin α subunit promoter-driven (inhα)/Simian Virus 40 T-antigen (Tag). The tumor-bearing inhα/Tag mice showed highly elevated serum levels of immunoreactive inhibin. To investigate the onset of tumorigenesis and related endocrine consequences, 6–8 female mice of two inhα/Tag lines and their mating control littermates were killed monthly between 1 and 6 mo of age. We also investigated tumorigenesis-related fertility aspects of these two mouse lines. The ontogeny and progression of tumors could be monitored in both inhα/Tag lines by alterations of ovarian weights and serum hormone levels. Serum progesterone levels increased in both inhα/Tag lines in an age-dependent manner as ovarian tumorigenesis progressed, and a reciprocal decrease occurred in serum LH and FSH. Neither serum estradiol (E2) nor uterine weights were significantly altered during tumorigenesis, suggesting that the ovarian tumors represented late stages of granulosa cell differentiation. In conclusion, the present findings show in the inhα/Tag TG mice a relation between endocrine consequences of granulosa cell tumorigenesis, and a connection of onset of tumor formation with aberrant steroidogenesis and gonadotropin secretion. These findings indicate that tumors are endocrinologically active and able to exert enhanced negative feedback effects on pituitary function. The tumors provide a good model for endocrinologically active hormone-dependent tumors.


Rigorous lower bounds to the percentage D state of the deuteron which improve Klarsfeld's (1974) previous estimates, are derived, assuming that the deuteron wavefunction is known outside different interaction radii. The sensitivity of the quadrupole moment (QD) to the deuteron wavefunction in the interior region is investigated by means of various finite-range unitary transformations and rigorous upper bounds are then obtained on the variation in QD for arbitrary but finite-range transformations. Finally, it is shown that the experimental value of QD, which is difficult if not impossible to fit with energy-independent interactions in the impulse approximation can be fitted if the pair current contribution to QD is included. However an improved estimate of the minimum PD is not obtained in this way.


A new way to analyze supramolecular dendritic architectures is reported by making use of (13)C NMR and (31)P NMR. Two ethylene glycol guest molecules have been synthesized containing a (13)C labeled carboxylic acid headgroup (2) and a phosphonic acid headgroup (3). The binding of these guests to urea-adamantyl modified poly(propylene imine) dendrimers has been investigated with (13)C NMR and (31)P NMR next to 1D and 2D (1)H NMR techniques. Different amounts of guest 2 have been added to fifth generation dendrimer 1e, and the observed chemical shift values in (13)C NMR were fitted to a model that assumes 1:1 binding between guest and binding site. An association constant of 400 +/- 95 M(-)(1) is obtained for guest 2 with 41 binding sites per dendrimer. When different amounts of phosphonic acid guest 3 are added to dendrimer 1e, two different signals are observed in (31)P NMR. Deconvolution gives the fractions of free and bound guest, resulting in an association constant of (4 +/- 3) x 10(4) M(-)(1) and 61 +/- 1 binding sites. A statistical analysis shows that guest 2 forms a "polydisperse supramolecular aggregate", while guest 3 is able to form a "monodisperse supramolecular aggregate" when the amount of guest is high enough. The NMR results are compared with dynamic light scattering experiments, and a remarkable agreement is found. Phosphonic acid guest 3 is able to exchange with guest 2, which is in agreement with the obtained association constants, and shows that these techniques can be used to analyze multicomponent dendritic aggregates.


The article outlines the contours of an "Austrian"-theory-inspired perspective on the study of non-profit and voluntary social processes and institutions while using as a background and vehicle the Austrian economics criticism of mainstream neoclassical economics. The argument proceeds in two steps: First, it focuses on the explicit and implicit role welfare economics theory and efficiency/optimality models have come to assume in theorizing essential aspects of the non-profit sector. It points out the intrinsic limits of neoclassical economics in this respect. Second, it follows the logical implications of the arguments advanced in the first step to the reconstitution of a broader theory of social order that (a) circumvents the incapacitating reliance on maximization models of rationality and general equilibrium logic and that (b) pivots in a natural way on the notions of voluntary social actions, associations, and processes.


Abstract Background There is limited literature describing the role of a clinical pharmacy team within a tertiary academic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) center. The goal of this paper is to describe and showcase the clinical and operational impact of an integrated clinical pharmacy team. Methods This was a retrospective study evaluating the referral outcomes for all patients referred to University of Chicago Medicine Specialty Pharmacy for self-administered advanced IBD therapies covered by prescription insurance from October 1, 2020 to October 31, 2021. Results A total of 1800 referrals were received for advanced IBD therapies. Prior authorizations (PAs) were required and submitted for 1700 referrals. Of those 1700 PA submissions, 297 (17%) were denied by insurance. To overturn the denials, 344 appeals, including second-level appeals and external reviews, were submitted. Manufacturer patient assistance programs were obtained for 69 patients. From the 1800 referrals, 98% of patients were successfully started on the intended therapy. Clinically, there were 2141 pharmacist-initiated interventions by 2 IBD pharmacists. The most common interventions were prevention in interruption of therapy and providing patient education. Conclusions Clinical pharmacy teams are well positioned to streamline care within a tertiary academic IBD center. Their unique skillset and ability to provide high yield medication access supports the use of this model as a best practice in IBD centers.


Since metastasis remains the primary reason for colorectal cancer (CRC) associated death, a better understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying CRC metastasis is urgently needed. Here, we elucidated the role of Cathepsin C (CTSC) in promoting CRC metastasis. The expression of CTSC was detected by real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry in the human CRC cohort. The metastatic capacities of CTSC-mediated metastasis were analyzed by in vivo metastasis model. Elevated CSTC expression was positively associated with tumor differentiation, tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, and AJCC stage and indicated poor prognosis in human CRC. CTSC overexpression in CRC cells promoted myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) recruitment by the CSF1/CSF1R axis. In contrast, the knockdown of CSF1 reduced CTSC-mediated MDSCs and TAMs infiltration and CRC metastasis. Depletion of either MDSCs or TAMs decreased CTSC-mediated CRC metastasis. In human CRC tissues, CTSC expression was positively associated with intratumoral MDSCs and TAMs infiltration. Furthermore, the combination of CTSC inhibitor AZD7986 and anti-PD-L1 antibody blocked CTSC-induced CRC metastasis. CTSC overexpression promoted MDSCs and TAMs infiltration by CSF1/CSF1R axis. Interruption of this oncogenic loop may provide a promising treatment strategy for inhibiting CTSC-driven CRC metastasis.


Stretched exponential relaxation, , fits many relaxation processes in disordered and quenched electronic and molecular systems, but it is widely believed that this function has no microscopic basis, especially in the case of molecular relaxation. For electronic relaxation the appearance of the stretched exponential is often described in the context of dispersive transport, where is treated as an adjustable parameter, but in almost all cases it is generally assumed that no microscopic meaning can be assigned to even at , a glass transition temperature. We show that for molecular relaxation can be understood, providing that one separates extrinsic and intrinsic effects, and that the intrinsic effects are dominated by two magic numbers, for short-range forces, and for long-range Coulomb forces, as originally observed by Kohlrausch for the decay of residual charge on a Leyden jar. Our mathematical model treats relaxation kinetics using the Lifshitz - Kac - Luttinger diffusion to traps depletion model in a configuration space of effective dimensionality, the latter being determined using axiomatic set theory and Phillips - Thorpe constraint theory. The experiments discussed include ns neutron scattering experiments, particularly those based on neutron spin echoes which measure S( Q,t) directly, and the traditional linear response measurements which span the range from to s, as collected and analysed phenomenologically by Angell, Ngai, Bohmer and others. The electronic materials discussed include a-Si:H, granular , semiconductor nanocrystallites, charge density waves in , spin glasses, and vortex glasses in high-temperature semiconductors. The molecular materials discussed include polymers, network glasses, electrolytes and alcohols, Van der Waals supercooled liquids and glasses, orientational glasses, water, fused salts, and heme proteins. In the intrinsic cases the theory of is often accurate to 2%, which is often better than the quoted experimental accuracies . The extrinsic cases are identified by explicit structural signatures which are discussed at length. The discussion also includes recent molecular dynamical simulations for metallic glasses, spin glasses, quasicrystals and polymers which have achieved the intermediate relaxed Kohlrausch state and which have obtained values of in excellent agreement with the prediction of the microscopic theory.


Biometric authentication provides a high security and reliable approach to be used in security access system. However, this authentication method has not been widely implemented in a resource-constrained embedded system. In this project, we investigate a method of personal authentication based on infrared vein pattern in the back of the hand, targeted for embedded system which is implemented in Altera Nios II FPGA prototyping system, running on Real Time Operating System (RTOS). The RTOS applied is Nios2-Linux. A biometric feature is extracted from the vein pattern image and then matched for personal authentication. The algorithm consists of four modules: image capturing, image pre-processing, feature extraction, and the authentication module. These image processing algorithms executed in an embedded system with a 50MHz fixed point processor. Preliminary experiment on a database of 82 images of 15 candidates show promising result with the system reaching equal error rate of 5.5%.


Integrated management architecture for FMC based on IMS/NGN is overviewed with WiBro which is a new and promising access technology that supports end-to- end QoS with SBLP. KT's integrated control platform for FMC services is described as well.


In holographic Bragg gratings formed by anisotropic photopolymerization of free-radical monomers, an electric field is required to switch the grating between a diffracting and a transmitting state. The voltage necessary to turn the grating completely off is defined as the switching voltage. In this work, we report on the gradual increase of this switching voltage with time after initial fabrication. The switching field increases approximately 60% over a seven-day period for a pentaacrylate/E7 material system. Using dielectric measurements, it is observed that the resistance of the cell does not change over time while the capacitance decreases. FT-IR spectroscopy was also used to explore the continued post-polymerization after fabrication of the gratings. Increases in switching field were observed for samples fully illuminated with light as well as those kept in the dark. We speculate that the rise in the switching voltage is caused by post polymerization of residual reactive moieties located near the polymer/nematic droplet interface. An increase in the amount of interfacial area generated by post-polymerization yields more surface area for the LC molecules to bind; thus a larger field is needed to switch.


The problem of estimation of the period of a pulse train from a set of sparse, noisy measurements of the times-ofarrival, and the association of pulse indices with the measurements, is considered for a pair of statistical models of the measurement process. We find that the estimation and association problem can be formulated as a simultaneous Diophantine approximation problem. We propose an algorithm for obtaining estimates and associations based on the LLL algorithm [SI. We also show a relationship with the maximisation of a certain trigonometric sum, which can be regarded as the periodogram of the measurements. We present some numerical results which indicate that the algorithm is able to make correct associations of pulse indices, and therefore accurate estimates of the period, with very high probability even for very sparse, short and noisy records. This is demonstrated in examples in which 99.9% of pulses are missiig and as few as 9 pulses are recorded with average errors of up t o 1% of the period on each measurement and yet the experimental frequency of correct association was more than 99%.


A method has recently been shown by Aoki (2004) to compress the number of channels of trace gas remote sounder preserving almost all the information content that the original data has. In this method the weighting function of the original channels is expanded with empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs), and a set of hypothetical radiances, whose weighting functions are the EOFs, are used for the analysis. It has been shown that the radiance data of 240 original channels, which is obtained by the above trace gas sounder, can be compressed to 3 or less channels of hypothetical radiances, loosing negligible information content. In the present paper, the performance of this method is examined for the simulated radiance data of high spectral resolution in the thermal infrared region that is used for the remote measurements of temperature and humidity vertical profiles. The number of hypothetical channels that is required for preserving the information content of original data has been examined for two different spectral resolutions, 0.1 and 0.3 cm - 1 . The present study showed that the radiance data of 1200 channels of high spectral resolution 0.1 cm - 1 is compressed to less than 23 hypothetical channels with negligible loss of information content in the case of wavenumber region 640-760 cm - 1 , which is used for the temperature soundings. For the low resolution 0.3 cm - 1 , the number of hypothetical channels needed becomes smaller than this. In the case of the humidity sounding from the region 1300-1600 cm - 1 with the spectral resolution 0.1 cm - 1 , 3000 channels are compressed to less than 20 hypothetical channels.


Methods have been determined for the isolation, purification and subsequent characterization of separate populations of rat intestinal lymphoid cells, namely intraepithelial (IEL), lamina propria (LPL) and Peyer's patch lymphocytes (PPL). Dissociation of the epithelium from the basement membrane with subsequent release of IEL was achieved by citrate buffer incubation followed by vortex agitation. LPL were released from the remaining tissue by scraping, and PPL were similarly obtained. Some preparations of lamina propria were further subjected to collagenase digestion. After filtration and density gradient centrifugation, average yields of 220 x 10(4) IEL, 54 x 10(4) LPL and 220 x 10(4) PPL per gram of gut were obtained. Immunofluorescence characterization demonstrated that cells bearing the MRC OX8 (T-suppressor) marker predominated in IE1 (73%) and were present in lower concentrations in LPL (26%) and PPL (6%). Cells with the W3/25 (T-helper) marker accounted for a small proportion of each of the lymphocyte preparations. IE1 were unusual in containing a population of cells which were negative for the W3/13 marker for T cells, but were MRC OX8 positive. B lymphocytes were present in PPL (55%) and LPL (31%), but were virtually absent in IEL (less than 1%). Few plasma cells were observed. The techniques described will allow functional investigations to be made and lead to a better understanding of mucosal immunity.


When Dąbrowski cast his theory in a series of formal statements (hypotheses), he was clear that the hypotheses were tentative and that new research findings will necessitate changes and revisions in the theory and its concepts. Mendaglio and Tillier see the theory as cast in stone and invariable: Dąbrowski's "choice of terms and their definitions cannot be a focus of criticism: after all, TPD is his theory." Consequently, Mendaglio and Tillier blindly stand by even the most absurd, inadvertently erroneous statements that are contradicted by the whole theory.


Electro hydraulic Forming (EHF) is a high speed forming method suitable for small series production of 3D sheet metal parts. The particular advantages of EHF are low cost tool technology, increased material formability, and minimal spring back. EHF of sheet metal components offers new possibilities for producing advanced components for machinery applications. This article describes the EHF process and the potential of EHF as a rapid prototyping method for sheet metal part production. The motivation is to get a breakthrough of this production technology. In additional, new design, process simulation methods and verified material models are needed. EHF technology in Finland (VTT and LUT) is based on a long-standing cooperation and technology transfer programme with the University of St. Petersburg (Russia).


Objective: To assess cost differences between EBUS-TBNA and mediastinoscopy for mediastinal staging of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: This was an economic evaluation study with a cost-minimization analysis. We used a decision analysis software program to construct a decision tree model to compare the downstream costs of mediastinoscopy, EBUS-TBNA without surgical confirmation of negative results, and EBUS-TBNA with surgical confirmation of negative results for the mediastinal staging of NSCLC. The study was conducted from the perspective of the Brazilian public health care system. Only direct medical costs were considered. Results are shown in Brazilian currency (Real; R$) and in International Dollars (I$). Results: For the base-case analysis, initial evaluation with EBUS-TBNA without surgical confirmation of negative results was found to be the least costly strategy (R$1,254/I$2,961) in comparison with mediastinoscopy (R$3,255/I$7,688) and EBUS-TBNA with surgical confirmation of negative results (R$3,688/I$8,711). The sensitivity analyses also showed that EBUS-TBNA without surgical confirmation of negative results was the least costly strategy. Mediastinoscopy would become the least costly strategy if the costs for hospital supplies for EBUS-TBNA increased by more than 300%. EBUS-TBNA with surgical confirmation of negative results, in comparison with mediastinoscopy, will be less costly if the prevalence of mediastinal lymph node metastasis is = 38%. Conclusions: This study has demonstrated that EBUS-TBNA is the least costly strategy for invasive mediastinal staging of NSCLC in the Brazilian public health care system.


Abstract : The burden of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is expressed in the disabling behavioral and cognitive abnormalities noted in significant number of combat veterans. These clinical phenotypes suggest impairment in distributed cerebral functions dependent on the integrity of white matter (WM) tracts. In this proposal we explore mechanisms of mild blast trauma-associated demyelination, with the goal of testing a therapeutic strategy to enhance remyelination using human glial restricted progenitors (hGRPs; Q Therapeutics Inc.).


Extracts of various samples of the crude drug prepared from Atractylodes rhizomes exhibited antihepatotoxic activity by in vitro assay methods using carbon tetrachloride- and galactosamine-induced cytotoxicity in primary cultured rat hepatocytes. The main sesquiterpenoid components were subjected to screening by these methods to reveal that atractylon, beta-eudesmol, and hinesol exerted significant liver-protective effects. Some analogs were also assayed.


A kinematic analysis method has been used as analysis method for dynamic behavior of moving parts of vehicle, especially hood part. Such analysis method, however, has its limitations in terms of design technology, including, over travel of hood that occurs due to lack of considerations of compliance characteristics, such as flexible components of hood's weather strip and over slam bumper. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a modeling which reflects compliance of flexible components of hood and elastic characteristics of panel for improvement of design process. In this thesis, a finite element method as mentioned earlier, is developed to represent over travel of hood. Also optimization process applying sequential approximate optimization is suggested to prevent over travel. The over travel analysis method and optimization process, which are developed through the research, would make it possible to design with high quality and credibility. Furthermore, it is expected that the time for design would be reduced and the design quality also improved.


Choriocarcinoma is the most malignant tumor of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia. Post-partum choriocarcinoma is an infrequent event with poor prognosis. The diagnosis is usually delayed due to failure to recognize the mode of presentation of this disease. Being a rare occurrence, limited data is available regarding its clinical features. We present a 24 years old women with parity one delivered by caesarean section indicated for premature rupture of membrane with fetal distress at 39 wks of pregnancy. Frequent episodes of heavy vaginal bleeding had started 28 days following C/S. For this, she had H/O uterine evacuatin twice within 5 days interval. Biopsy report of second curettage showed choriocarcinoma. On admission to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), the pretreatment Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (βhCG) level was >200000.0 IU/L, uterine mass of about 18 wks pregnancy size & X-Ray chest showed segmental consolidation in left mid zone of lung. After consultation with oncologist Etoposide, Methotrexate, Dactinomycin, Cyclophosphamide & Vincristine (EMACO) therapy was started but before completion of her proposed cycles, she developed a live threatening condition which was managed very urgently and meticulously. Now the patient is under regular monitoring. Key words : GTD; Choriocarcinoma DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bsmmuj.v4i2.8642 BSMMU J 2011; 4(2):116-118


This PhD is project and theory based.
The project component of my PhD, The Palace at 3 a.m. (Ordo Inversus),
consists of an exhibition, i.e. a site-specific installation in the Cloister of the
Alpirsbach Monastery (Black Forest, Germany).
The written thesis, The Palace at 3 a.m. (Ordo Inversus). A Woodcut (Re-)
Invention in Resonance with Merleau-Ponty's 'Chiasma' investigates the
hypothesis that my woodcut method represents a historical rediscovery of
this time-honored medium as well as a new radicalization within
contemporary printmaking. The investigation places a particular emphasis on
self-referential conceptualization and (simultaneously) the programmatic use
of the Chiasma image, which the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty
reintroduced into contemporary discourse. My own artistic approach and
method is, moreover, characterized by a distinctly sculptural understanding of
the printmaking medium, which is the impetus for the printing block – with its
outward sculptural affinity – to take on a coequal and integral role in a
confrontational constellation with the print. This sculptural quality, which often
tends towards expansive installations, leads to a conscious and offensive
treatment of space and spaces manifested in site-specific installations.
In addition, this thesis places a particular emphasis on the relationship
between print and printing block, which are examined through the lens of
Unity and Difference, the Loss of Unity, the Phenomenon of Mirroring, In-
Betweenness, Invisibilities and Chiasma – all aspects which culminate in the
installation The Palace at 3 a.m. (Ordo Inversus).
In art history and its scholarly literature – there are no comparable examples
in which the connection and interplay between print and printing block arises
so inevitably and naturally, in a truly intrusive manner and celebrated on a
formal level. This relation is not just a subservient or aesthetically free
4
interaction, but rather – nolens volens – a conditional relationship creating an
integral-genealogical entanglement with one another. From the trunk section
of a tree very thin leaves of wood are peeled off radially. While the wooden
cylinder serves as printing block the wooden leaves become the prints.
Although the relationship between print and printing block is absolutely
fundamental to the woodcut medium, there is hardly any relevant literature on
the subject, much less a full-fledged study or monograph. In this respect, the
present thesis can also be seen as a long overdue contribution to this
aesthetic and philosophical discourse. If nothing else, this PhD project should
show that it is possible to breathe new life into a tradition, which is even
sometimes considered passe these days, and to even make a significant
contribution to a potential renaissance of the medium.


This paper presents innovative applications of accelerated pavement testing (APT) to advance pavement design in 3 case studies using MLS technology. Initially the MLS10 system was used to evaluate response and performance of cement stabilized coastal sand bases (CTB) in Mozambique. The aim was development of guidelines for a mechanistic-empirical design method. Trafficking speed was varied with dual wheel loads of either 60kN or 70kN and tire pressures at 800kPa under simulated environmental conditions. Integrated, cost-effective full-scale and MMLS3 scaled laboratory tests were used. Cost would have been 16 times more if full-scale testing were used for pre-selecting test sections. In both test modes, 2 unique failure mechanisms were identified; namely, horizontal shear within the CTB layer and debonding at the interface between surfacing and CTB. PSPA stiffness monitoring enabled progressive deterioration of pavements to be evaluated and performance modeled for subsequent use. The second MLS10 application evaluated performance of an innovative, ultra-thin reinforced concrete pavement (UTCRCP). The SA Road Agency (SANRAL) is investigating UTCRCP for reconstruction or rehabilitation of heavily trafficked freeways. Trafficking differed from HVS APT that had already yielded very positive results. Limited trafficking was applied to evaluate performance of a strengthened construction joint. Trafficking was primarily channelized and unidirectional. Loading frequency was 6.9 fold higher than the HVS'. Performance under MLS10 was positive with smaller deflection and joint movement as expected. No failure occurred. However, a sharp increase in deflection of the construction joint occurred with the switch to limited laterally distributed wet trafficking. This was ascribed to a change in pore pressure patterns. This could not be investigated further due to unavoidable early termination of trafficking. Should the trend continue performance life is likely to be negatively affected. Larger deflection was detected away from the construction joint throughout the test. This could be due to a deficiency in the sub base, or the smaller quantity of reinforcing steel compared to the reinforcing at the joint where additional steel had been added. The test provided guidance for planned validation of APT performance on a specially constructed highway trial section. A third application by EMPA in Switzerland tested a 20-yr-old untrafficked, heavy duty deep structured HMA pavement with cement treated sub-base on a spur of a trafficked freeway. Trafficking was terminated after 1 million 65kN channelized half axle load applications. The performance provided a basis for comparison with the adjacent freeway that had carried ca. 6.5 million equivalent E100's with one intervention for replacement of 50mm surfacing. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) monitoring showed progressive distress with trafficking. This correlated with decline in PSPA seismic stiffness and increased surface deflection. Pumping was experienced with wet trafficking. Diagnostic trenching ratified indications from GPR and seismic stiffness trends that indicated delamination between the 2 HMA layers. The one million E130 load applications equate to ca. 4.9 million E100 axle load applications on the test section in terms of damage. A detailed diagnostic study of the trafficked freeway should provide invaluable information for a more thorough comparison of respective performances.


Leukemia Based on 3D Structural Descriptors DTU Orbit (10/11/2019) Automated Clustering Analysis of Immunoglobulin Sequences in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Based on 3D Structural Descriptors Imunoglobulins (Igs) are crucial for the defense against pathogens, but they are also important in many clinical and biotechnological applications. Their characteristics, and ultimately their function, depend on their three-dimensional (3D) structure; however, the procedures to experimentally determine it are extremely laborious and demanding. Hence, the ability to gain insight into the structure of Igs at large relies on the availability of tools and algorithms for producing accurate Ig structural models based on their primary sequence alone. These models can then be used to determine structural and eventually functional similarities between different Igs. An example of such a task is the clustering of Igs based on their structure to determine meaningful common features such as the possible existence of common molecular targets (antigens). Several approaches have been proposed in order to achieve an optimal solution to this task yet their results were hindered mainly due to the lack of efficient clustering methods based on the similarity of 3D structure descriptors. Here, we present a novel workflow for robust Ig 3D modeling and automated clustering. We validated our protocol in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), where the clonotypic Igs are critically implicated in the disease ontogeny and evolution. Indeed, immunogenetic studies on the clonotypic Igs have strongly implicated antigen selection in the pathogenesis of CLL, while also providing robust prognostic information. In the present study, we used the structure prediction tools PIGS and I-TASSER for creating the 3D models and the TM-align algorithm to superpose them. The innovation of the current methodology resides in the usage of methods adapted from 3D content-based search methodologies to determine the local structural similarity between the 3D models. The Fast Point Feature Histograms descriptors derived from the structurally aligned parts are used to compute a distance matrix, which is then used as input for the clustering procedure. Clustering analysis on the data is performed through the application of the agglomerative and density-based clustering approaches. The first method is unsupervised whereas the second belongs to the semisupervised type, i.e. requires a predefined number of clusters. To evaluate the quality of the herein described workflow, we performed a supervised analysis of 125 Ig 3D models originating from 5 CLL stereotyped subsets i.e. subgroups sharing (quasi) identical IGs, namely subsets #1, #2, #4, #6, #8. The reasoning behind this choice was that (i) homologous Ig primary sequences can be reasonably anticipated to be reflected in overall similar 3D structures, hence providing a reference for evaluating the developed workflow; and, (ii) these subsets are well characterized at both the clinical and biological levels. Subset size distribution was as follows: subset #1 (IGHV clan I/IGKV1(D)-39), n=37; subset #2 (IGHV321/IGLV3-21), n=43; subset #4 (IGHV4-34/IGKV2-30), n=22; subset #6 (IGHV1-69/IGKV3-20), n=12; and, subset #8 (IGHV4-39/IGKV1(D)-39), n=11. Overall, we obtained a high level of clustering accuracy i.e. Ig 3D model clusters matched to a very high degree the subsets defined by Ig primary sequence similarity. In detail, 5 Ig 3D model clusters were produced by: (i) cluster 1 containing 37/37 (100%) subset #1 models and one (8.3%) subset #6 model, (ii) cluster 2 containing 43/43 (100%) subset #2 models, (iii) cluster 3 containing 21/22 (95.5%) subset #4 models, (iv) cluster 4 containing 11/12 (91.7%) #6 models, and, (v) cluster 5 containing 11/11 (100%) subset #8 models along with a single (4.5%) subset #4 model (subsets #4 and #8 concern IgG CLL, in itself a rarity for CLL). These findings support that the innovative workflow described here enables robust clustering of 3D models produced from Ig sequences from patients with CLL. Furthermore, they indicate that CLL classification based on stereotypy of Ig primary sequences is likely also verified at the Ig 3D structural level. Studies are ongoing for both addressing the minor discrepancies observed here and producing the unsupervised 3D clustering of the IGs from a large series of both stereotyped and non-stereotyped CLL cases.


Unlike conventional grid and mesh based methods for solving partial differential equations (PDEs), neural networks have the potential to break the curse of dimensionality, providing approximate solutions to problems where using classical solvers is difficult or impossible. While global minimization of the PDE residual over the network parameters works well for boundary value problems, catastrophic forgetting impairs the applicability of this approach to initial value problems (IVPs). In an alternative local-in-time approach, the optimization problem can be converted into an ordinary differential equation (ODE) on the network parameters and the solution propagated forward in time; however, we demonstrate that current methods based on this approach suffer from two key issues. First, following the ODE produces an uncontrolled growth in the conditioning of the problem, ultimately leading to unacceptably large numerical errors. Second, as the ODE methods scale cubically with the number of model parameters, they are restricted to small neural networks, significantly limiting their ability to represent intricate PDE initial conditions and solutions. Building on these insights, we develop Neural IVP, an ODE based IVP solver which prevents the network from getting ill-conditioned and runs in time linear in the number of parameters, enabling us to evolve the dynamics of challenging PDEs with neural networks.


according to the current key management scheme exist large computation, trusted centre and key update cycle size is difficult to determine problems, we proposed a scheme that is based on ECC fully self-organization Ad hoc key management in this paper. The scheme use ECC instead of RSA for large computation; in order to solve trusted centre, we use fully self-organization; by using a double key update to overcome the regular updating cycle size problem. Computational cost of this program has a small computation safe, reliability and good scalability for large-scale Ad hoc network.


In this paper, the neotectonic activity of Bazargan Mountain located in NNW of Kerman City in the central part of Iran has been analysed and mapped by a new method using the tectonic features available in the region. The method that has been used in this research is based on the potentials of Geographical Information System (GIS) and Fishnet model. In this study, the data have been extracted from topographical maps, aerial photographs, Google Earth and field checking. In this regard, morphotectonic indices, mountain front sinuosity, and mountain front faceting have been analysed to determine the tectonic activity of the mentioned region. Having combined these data, the Index of Active Tectonics (IAT) has been defined, based on which the region zoning has been performed. Overall, the results indicate that the western and northwestern side of the region is relatively active tectonically.


Abstract: Ehrlichia minasensis, a pathogen of cattle in Brazil, was detected in genomic DNA of a female Dermacentor albipictus feeding on a moose (Alces alces) in west-central Saskatchewan, Canada. This bacterium has not previously been confirmed in ticks in Canada. It is unknown whether moose are reservoirs for E. minasensis.


ABSTRACT The professional decision-making in research (PDR) measure was administered to 400 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded and industry-funded investigators, along with measures of cynicism, moral disengagement, compliance disengagement, impulsivity, work stressors, knowledge of responsible conduct of research (RCR), and socially desirable response tendencies. Negative associations were found for the PDR and measures of cynicism, moral disengagement, and compliance disengagement, while positive associations were found for the PDR and RCR knowledge and positive urgency, an impulsivity subscale. PDR scores were not related to socially desirable responding, or to measures of work stressors and the remaining impulsivity subscales. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, lower moral disengagement scores, higher RCR knowledge, and identifying the United States as one's nation of origin emerged as key predictors of stronger performance on the PDR. The implications of these findings for understanding the measurement of decision-making in research and future directions for research and RCR education are discussed.


A phytoremediation study was carried out at Pariyej reservoir, an internationally important wetland listed in Asian Directory of Wetlands, designated as a "Wetland of International Importance" and a proposed community reserve of Gujarat State, India, to ascertain the degree of heavy metal contamination. The study focused on assessment of heavy metal accumulation in certain aquatic macrophytes used as biomonitors, in comparison with water and sediments (abiotic monitors) for phytoremediation. Roots, stems and leaves of native aquatic plants (biomonitors) represented by seven species: Ipomoea aquatica Forsk, Eichhornia crassipes, (Mart.) Solms, Typha angustata Bory & Chaub, Echinochloa colonum (L.) Link, Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.) Royle, Nelumbo nucifera Gaerth. and Vallisneria spiralis L. along with surface sediments and water, were analyzed for Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn contamination. The greater accumulation of heavy metals was observed in Nelumbo nucifera and the poor content in Echinochloa colonum. Based on the concentration and toxicity status observed in the lake's vegetation, the six heavy metals are arranged in the following descending order: Zn > Cu > Pb >Ni > Co > Cd compared with the standard, normal and critical toxicity range in plants. The detected values of Cd and Pb fall within normal range, while that of Co and Ni were within the critical range. However, Zn and Cu showed the highest accumulation with alarming toxicity levels, which are considered as one of the most hazardous pollutants in Pariyej reservoir. Species like Typha angustata and Ipomoea aquatica are also proposed as bioremediants, which are the two most useful plant species in phytoremediation studies due to their ability to accumulate heavy metals in high concentration in the roots. The results showed the significant differences in accumulation of metals like Zn, Cu and Pb in different plant organs, in roots than that of stems and leaves. High positive correlation between combinations of different metal pairs in plant's root, stem or leaf system was established. The potential use of these wetland plants in phytoremediation is also discussed.


This is the first "Editorial" of the International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management. The journal was launched in summer 2006 and since then we have published three volumes, seven issues and more than 25 papers. In most occasions, each issue of the journal is accompanied by a book review relating to business and management topics.


Rainy day funds are one tool that most US states use to help mitigate the fiscal stress caused by economic slowdowns that reduce state government revenue. Past research by Wagner and Elder (2007b) uses a switching regression to estimate parameters in order to form a distribution of potential budget shortfalls for each state. This paper updates those results to include post–Great Recession data. A comparison of this distribution to the actual amount of savings that states have accumulated allows an assessment of how prepared each state is for an economic downturn and the resulting decline in tax revenues.a


Can Laura prevent the bank (and her love life) from crashing and burning? Banking analyst Laura McGregor's electronic diary is full of things which definitely shouldn't be made public: musings on her lacklustre relationship with trader boyfriend Tom, disturbing irregularities in new boss Will's trading accounts, and the small matter of her attraction to gorgeous journalist Alex. So when the diary is accidentally uploaded on to the internet in blog form by clueless younger sister Mel, suddenly not only Laura, but her bank too, is facing meltdown and, even worse, Laura suspects Alex of using it as a scoop. Fighting to convince the world's media to believe her over Alex is one thing, but can Laura win the battle with her heart?


China's extensive urbanization has resulted in a massive loss of natural habitat, which is threatening the nation's biodiversity and socioeconomic sustainability. A timely and accurate understanding of natural habitat loss caused by urban expansion will allow more informed and effective measures to be taken for the conservation of biodiversity. However, the impact of urban expansion on natural habitats is not well‐understood, primarily due to the lack of accurate spatial information regarding urban expansion across China. In this study, we proposed an approach that can be used to accurately summarize the dynamics of urban expansion in China over two recent decades (1992–2012), by integrating data on nighttime light levels, a vegetation index, and land surface temperature. The natural habitat loss during the time period was evaluated at the national, ecoregional, and local scales. The results revealed that China had experienced extremely rapid urban growth from 1992 to 2012 with an average annual growth rate of 8.74%, in contrast with the global average of 3.20%. The massive urban expansion has resulted in significant natural habitat loss in some areas in China. Special attention needs to be paid to the Pearl River Delta, where 25.79% or 1518 km2 of the natural habitat and 41.99% or 760 km2 of the local wetlands were lost during 1992–2012. This raises serious concerns about species viability and biodiversity. Effective policies and regulations must be implemented and enforced to sustain regional and national development in the context of rapid urbanization.


"Typical products"» are foodstuffs belonging to a group of products which claim an organic link to a given territory, a particular history and a local community. Legal recognition and protection of their geographical origin require that the typical products comply with the new European regulations. Under these regulations, local producers must justify this link by defining their products and working out trial and control procedures. In this process, sensory assessment is a driving factor in constructing the product's typicality. It engages specific human resources such as the assessors'senses in a procedure that is neither hedonistic (acceptability for the consumer), nor able to delegated to outside experts (conformity with a standard). What the assessors must decide is whether a candidate product can be included in a given type by assessing its faithfulness to the type's memory. With this objective in mind, how is the typicality trial to be designed ? We show that the setting for the trial is necessarily of a composite nature. The criteria to be used as well as the consideration of their different modalities mobilise several forms of knowledge that are distributed throughout the local community (producers, connoisseurs and product mediators). Jn these settings the memory linked to the product is activated and transmitted. The decision to include or not a product in the type to which it claims to belong incorporates the innate variety of a typical product, i.e. "cru" types, seasons or years, as admissible concrete expression of the type. Judging the typicality of a product thus becomes a deliberation process among the different parties in the setting in order to reach a consensual decision. The fact of engaging these specific human competencies in the typicality trial is a form of normalisation of the product. The new properties enable the typical products to be recognised as such outside their geographical area of origin, without however despoiling them of their originality.


Studies conducted in Europe suggest an association between IgG glycosylation abnormalities and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Glycosylation abnormalities have been shown in other inflammatory diseases such as tuberculosis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Crohn's disease. These observations led us to study glycosylation abnormalities among patients with RA and healthy controls in the tropics (sub-Saharan Africa). Using a lectin binding assay, we found that glycosylation differences were present in both groups when compared with British rheumatoid and healthy controls. This suggests that IgG glycosylation abnormalities may occur in association with chronic infections in the tropics.


The service evolution and the rapid increase in traffic levels fuel the interest toward switching paradigms enabling the fast allocation of Wavelength Division Multiplexing WDM channels in an on demand fashion with fine granularities (microsecond scales). For this reason, in the last years, different optical switching paradigms have been proposed (Sabella et al., 2000): optical-packet switching (OPS), optical-burst switching (OBS), wavelength-routed OBS, etc. Among the various all-optical switching paradigms, OPS attracts increasing attention. Owing to the high switching rate, Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) is a key technology to realize Optical Packet Switches. We propose some Optical Packet Switch (OPS) architectures and illustrate their realization in SOA technology. The effectiveness of the technology in reducing the power consumption is also analyzed. The chapter is organized in three sections. The main blocks (Switching Fabric, Wavelength Conversion stage, Synchronization stage) of an OPS are illustrated in Section 2 where we also show some examples of realizing wavelength converters and synchronizers in SOA technology. Section 3 introduces SOA-based single-stage and multi-stage switching fabrics. Finally the SOA-based OPS power consumption is investigated in Section 4.


This paper provides new evidence on the decline of sterling as an international currency, focusing on its role as foreign exchange reserve asset under the Bretton Woods era. Using a unique new dataset on the composition of foreign exchange reserves of central banks, I show that the shift away from the sterling occurred earlier than conventionally supposed for the countries not belonging to the sterling area. The use of sterling has been described as freely chosen, imposed by the Bank of England or negotiated. I argue that the sterling area was a captive market as the Bank of England used capital controls, commercial threats and economic sanctions against sterling area countries to limit the divestments of their sterling assets. This management of the decline of sterling benefited mostly Britain and the City of London but represented a cost for sterling area countries and the international monetary system.


A clinicopathological study on 87 adult patients presenting with "de novo" acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) was performed to assess the rate of apoptosis before and during chemotherapy and its predictive impact on clinical course. Evaluation included trephine biopsies of the bone marrow and the situ end-labeling technic (ISEL) for the identification of programmed cell death in large and intact hemopoietic tissue areas. In comparison with a control group of 21 patients without any hematological disorder, morphometric analysis revealed no significantly different numbers of apoptotic cells in AML at the onset of disease and following sequential examinations at intervals ranging between 10 to 19 months. Moreover, the incidence of programmed cell death was not associated with the subgroups of the FAB classification and statistics failed to show a relationship with survival or remission status. In conclusion, these findings are in keeping with the assumption that apoptosis occurs with the same frequency in recovering normal hemopoiesis in complete or partial remission, in manifest AML and relapse. In the latter conditions, enhancement of proliferation is not associated with an increase in the apoptotic index.


Abstract This paper delivers a reliability-based method for the assessment of the elastic modulus (EM) of concrete in simply supported girders from dynamic identification. The correlation between the natural frequencies of the first bending modes and the concrete EM supports the use of the first natural frequency as a predictor of the EM value, which is a well-acknowledged indicator of the state of concrete. In the current application, the EMs of seven girders provide the prior state of knowledge about the considered bridge class, possibly to be obtained by more samples in working applications. The identified natural frequencies update the prior probability distribution of the EMs using Bayes inference. The resulting probability of exceeding a specific EM value expresses the degree of belief of the inspector in the obtained EM. The posterior probability, compared to a proper threshold, could be used in decision-making processes when prioritising the interventions in the maintenance plans.


Primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs) are rare but patients with recurrent infections are common. Every clinician needs an approach to appropriate laboratory investigation for confirming or excluding PID. Owing to the complexity of the immune system a staged diagnostic approach is utilised. The approach begins with excluding causes of secondary immune deficiency, followed by screening with a full blood count, white cell differential and antibody levels. Second-line tests include complement screens, antibodies to specific antigens and flow cytometry for T- and B-cell numbers. Third-line testing involves tests of cellular function, which are more specialised assays. These assays should be selected based on the presentation and history of the patient. The thirdline tests may lead to suggested genetic or molecular testing for confirmation of the diagnosis. Finally, all patients diagnosed with PID should be invited to participate in the South African Primary Immune Deficiency Registry. This will allow strengthening of diagnostic and therapeutic services for PID in South Africa.


Service robots benefit from encoding information in semantically meaningful ways to enable more robust task execution. Prior work has shown multi-relational embeddings can encode semantic knowledge graphs to promote generalizability and scalability, but only within a batched learning paradigm. We present Incremental Semantic Initialization (ISI), an incremental learning approach that enables novel semantic concepts to be initialized in the embedding in relation to previously learned embeddings of semantically similar concepts. We evaluate ISI on mined AI2Thor and MatterPort3D datasets; our experiments show that on average ISI improves immediate query performance by 41.4%. Additionally, ISI methods on average reduced the number of epochs required to approach model convergence by 78.2%.


Recently developed classes of monocrystalline silicon solar microcells (μ-cell) can be assembled into modules with characteristics (i.e., mechanically flexible forms, compact concentrator designs, and high-voltage outputs) that would be impossible to achieve using conventional, wafer-based approaches. In this paper, we describe a highly dense, uniform and non-periodic nanocone forest structure of black silicon (bSi) created on optically-thin (30 μm) μ-cells for broadband and omnidirectional light-trapping with a lithography-free and high-throughput plasma texturizing process. With optimized plasma etching conditions and a silicon nitride passivation layer, black silicon μ-cells, when embedded in a polymer waveguiding layer, display dramatic increases of as much as 65.7% in short circuit current, as compared to a bare silicon device. The conversion efficiency increases from 8.1% to 11.5% with a small drop in open circuit voltage and fill factor.


As the resource recovery from mixed waste streams are performed, new mixed waste streams are generated. Some of these waste streams does not fit well to existing waste management options, for example, they may hold a to low heating value to sustain combustion and they may have a too high carbon content to be accepted at non-hazardous landfills. Also various health and pollution risks may arise as well as practical handling issues due to the physical properties of such wastes.

One such waste is the under sieve fraction generated when recovering metals and fuel from mixed waste streams using mechanical and magnetic separation tools. Such mechanical sorting is typically used for mixed wastes of different properties and particle sizes, such as houshold bulky wastes, construction and demolition waste, and at landfill mining materials.
In this work, we examine the properties of one case of mechanical sorting of bulky wastes, including construction and demolition wastes. We analyse a broad spectrum of chemical, physical, and mechanical properties as well as some biological. Based on the data we develop recommendations for landfilling, what potential problems might arise and how to counteract them.


This paper presents an efficient method for finding optimized striped storage policy, abstracts and defines performance parameters to describe stripped policy according to basic requirement of distributed backup, and deduces performance evaluation formula upon several spatial storage model, describes the storage model with polyhedron, and researches the performance of various storage policy upon tetrahedron and hexahedron storage model and finds the optimized one.


Cuscuses is marsupials animal (Phalangeridae) which has limited spread in eastern Indonesia (Sulawesi, Maluku, Papua and Timor islands), Australia and Papua New Guinea. The ex-situ and in-situ conservation of cuscuses under captivating condition is an alternative solution to protect from extinction. This study aimed to determine nucleotide sequences and genetic marker on cyt b gene with sequencing method of each species on two provinces. Whole genome DNA was extracted from 22 samples of cuscuses obtained from different habitats, Maluku (13 individuals) and Papua (8 individuals) according to the protocol of Qiamp DNA Blood Mini Kit (Qiagen) and then it was used as template for amplification of cyt b gene by using PCR method. The PCR product were then purified using column chromatography and were used as template for sequencing reaction. Results sequencing of cyt b gene were analyzed using MEGA program versions 6.0. The PCR product gives results nucleotides of 982 bp according to database GeneBank and sequencing product gives results nucleotides of 771 bp. Nucleotides alignment of Phalanger members was found 24 nucleotides distinguishing and Spilocuscus members was found 11 nucleotides distinguishing, which can be used as genetic marker between Phalanger and Spilocuscus members from Papua and Maluku.


Reports on the progress of British graduates in nursing focus on their early careers, when they are employed full-time. Part-time and non-employment is not discussed. This paper draws upon a longitudinal study, which began in 1981, to describe the cause and effect of graduates leaving full-time employment. The experiences of 45 female graduates in nursing from the University of Hull show that departure from full-time employment is associated especially with the establishment of a stable relationship, with child-rearing and, to a lesser extent, time for personal development.


The lanes measurement system has been gradually evolving with the development of image recognition technology and laser recognition technology. A variety of techniques to maintain smooth flow of road vehicles driving has been studied.Wear or abnormalities in the inspection lane, lane measured using the lane images taken with a digital video imaging system based on the structure of the system studied. Image processing module with digital image processing technology, wireless technology, image data, image compression technology, wireless transmission technology to identify the structure of the a longer lane detection system specifically to establish the specific structure of the data transmission technology is design


The article reveals the importance of ideology for the social and economic development of the Russian Federation. The need for ideology based on Russian national culture is noted. Highlighted Civetta that the Russian Federation is home to the state-Russian nation, which historically right social relations with the state, which preserved the historical givenness "to live with his native in his place" and state that "formed" at the historic residence Russian. Substantiates the position, according to which the key reasons "to live by the values of its past" - is an ideological product of Russian national-cultural civilization, the most important element of consciousness of the Russian people. The obvious truth is stated that "living with one's own kind" is a tradition understandable to the whole Russian society, corresponds to the national idea, which is strong in its deep naturalness, genetic connection with the mentality of Russians. The author notes that the government shows helplessness in determining the strategic goals and objectives of the development of the Russian Federation, professes the primacy of property and consumption without measure, re-lies on "pure nothing", so it does not keep itself in the system of socio-economic development, therefore, it has no historical perspective. It is emphasized that the national-cultural ideology is the final map of the transition of our country – Russian Federation to a fundamentally new quality of internal unity. Such a transition is possible on the basis of a new ideology, which corresponds to the concept of a dialectical leap, the restructuring of relations and a radical change in the structure of society and the change of the ideology of consumption to the national-cultural ideology. It is argued that it will take a long time to wait for changes, since in the Russian Federation the claim is the very nature of state power. It is emphasized that the dictatorship of the bureaucracy has been established, the signs of which are: the inability of power to the people, the lack of responsibility for their actions by the Supreme power both during their stay in power and after, which is fraught with distortions, which were dis-cussed above.


Gender is a socio-economic variable which can be used to analyze vulnerability and adaptive capacity of people against climate change and variability in local communities in Africa. Due to climatic change and variability, achieving sustainability inagriculture with emphasis on satisfying basic human needs and improving people's standard of living through enhancing food security and reducing poverty has been a challenge in Africa. This has been exacerbated by the fact that rapid increase in human population has outpaced the ability to produce sufficient food for the growing population. This discussion attempt to link gender vulnerability to climate change impact on resource poor peasant farmers in Africa. Climate change and variability is now widely regarded as the most serious challenge facing Africa, with consequences that go far beyond the effects on the environment, hence affecting both men and women indiscriminately. Despite the negative impact of climate change on crop, livestock production and biodiversity conservation, poor resources peasant famers are incentivized to engage in these activities because of the wide spectrum of benefits accrued, such as cash income, food, manure, draft power and hauling services, savings and insurance, and social status and social capital. It is against this background that crops and livestock species that remarkably possess distinctive qualities enabling them to excel efficiently in the context of the uncertainties of climatic variability need to be promoted to reduce vulnerability at household level. The use of adaptive genotypes such as the local animal and crop genetic resources may sustain household production in the context of climate change. Small grain crops (sorghum, millet, cow peas. pigeon peas etc) and small stock (goats, sheep, poultry, etc) which are associated with women are less likely to succumb to climate change than the large ruminants which are owned by men. It is reasonably to suggest that the exclusion – or lack of participation – of women in decision making over biodiversity conservation and natural resource management can have implications for conservation outcomes because of gender role differences in natural resources utilization and conservation based on indigenous knowledge. The review concludes that the impact of climate change will have a graver effect on womenthan men, due to their different specific socio economic roles and their participation in different agricultural activities and biodiversity conservation effort. The range of adaptive measures that might be taken for local communities to ameliorate climate change effects should take into account gender differentials, if they are to succeed.


Both in Europe and North America there is a growing concern about the development of urban form, especially deconcentration of urban land use in the form of urban sprawl. This has unintentional consequences such as city centre decline, increased reliance on the use of the private car, and the loss of open space. While governments try to regulate the development of urban form, there are no easy solutions. However, policies such as 'new urbanism' and 'smart growth' in North America, and 'compact city' and 'multifunctional land use' policies in Europe, though difficult to implement, have the potential to curb urban sprawl and the further growth in car use, as the cases of Portland, Oregon and Randstad Holland in The Netherlands illustrate. (A)


Investigating Pacific Meridional Modes (PMM) without the influence of tropical Pacific variability is technically difficult if based on observations or fully coupled model simulations due to their overlapping spatial structures. To confront this issue, the present study investigates both North (NPMM) and South PMM (SPMM) in terms of their associated atmospheric forcing and response processes based on a mechanically decoupled climate model simulation. In this experiment, the climatological wind stress is prescribed over the tropical Pacific, which effectively removes dynamically coupled tropical Pacific variability (e.g., the El Niño-Southern Oscillation). Interannual NPMM in this experiment is forced not only by the North Pacific Oscillation, but also by a North Pacific tripole (NPT) pattern of atmospheric internal variability, which primarily forces decadal NPMM variability. Interannual and decadal variability of the SPMM is partly forced by the South Pacific Oscillation. In turn, both interannual and decadal NPMM variability can excite atmospheric teleconnections over the Northern Hemisphere extratropics by influencing the meridional displacement of the climatological intertropical convergence zone throughout the whole year. Similarly, both interannual and decadal SPMM variability can also excite atmospheric teleconnections over the Southern Hemisphere extratropics by extending/shrinking the climatological South Pacific convergence zone in all seasons. Our results highlight a new poleward pathway by which both the NPMM and SPMM feed back to the extratropical climate, in addition to the equatorward influence on tropical Pacific variability.


Zoos and aquariums are uniquely situated to encourage the adoption of pro-environmental behaviours by the public at large. While the activation of conservation behaviours in a visitor base is necessary, there is an equally essential call to 'walk the talk' by aligning organizational missions and identity with internal practice. This study evaluated an adapted community-based social marketing (CBSM) model to foster food waste-related behaviour change in a unique audience of zoo staff and volunteers. This paper describes an innovative, real-world example of how conservation institutions can modify conservation psychology theories and the CBSM framework for the practical application of mission-aligned pro-environmental behaviour change campaigns. While audience engagement fluctuated throughout the campaign, we observed an attitudinal and/or behavioural shift in our target audience as a result of the campaign, indicating some success in achieving positive outcomes. The implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations are made about how to sustain momentum and participation in campaigns, including the utility of a scale for engagement approaches relative to organizational capacity and resources available.


We analyze spontaneous oscillations in a second-order delayed-feedback shunting model of the pupil light reflex. This model describes in a simple fashion the nonlinear effects of both the iris and retinal parts of the reflex pathway. In the case of smooth negative feedback, linear stability analysis is used to determine the conditions for a Hopf bifurcation in the pupil area as a function of various neurophysiological parameters of the system such as the time delay and the strength of neural connections. We also investigate oscillation onset in the case of piecewise negative feedback and obtain an analytical expression for the period of oscillations. Finally, complex periodic behavior is shown to arise in the presence of mixed feedback.


Translucent culture media are essential for the determination of gonococcal colony types. In this study two hemoglobin-free, translucent culture media were compared with Thayer-Martin (TM) medium for the primary isolation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae from male urethral specimens. The antibiotic-free translucent medium (GCB) and the translucent medium containing vancomycin, colistin, and nystatin (VCN) were as efficient as TM medium in detecting positive specimens. In fact, VCN medium gave positive results significantly more often than TM medium(P less than 0.05). The amount of growth on positive plates was comparable for all three media. Contaminants were noted most often on GCB medium (P less than 0.0001), and the frequency of contaminants with TM plates exceeded that of VCN plates (P less than 0.0001). The high isolation rate of N. gonorrhoeae with VCN hemoglobin-free culture medium and its lower cost and greater ease of preparation make it a suitable alternative to TM medium for use with male urethral specimens.


Idea Density (ID) measures the rate at which ideas or elementary predications are expressed in an utterance or in a text. Lower ID is found to be associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) (Snowdon et al., 1996; Engelman et al., 2010). ID has been used in two different versions: propositional idea density (PID) counts the expressed ideas and can be applied to any text while semantic idea density (SID) counts pre-defined information content units and is naturally more applicable to normative domains, such as picture description tasks. In this paper, we develop DEPID, a novel dependency-based method for computing PID, and its version DEPID-R that enables to exclude repeating ideas—a feature characteristic to AD speech. We conduct the first comparison of automatically extracted PID and SID in the diagnostic classification task on two different AD datasets covering both closed-topic and free-recall domains. While SID performs better on the normative dataset, adding PID leads to a small but significant improvement (+1.7 F-score). On the free-topic dataset, PID performs better than SID as expected (77.6 vs 72.3 in F-score) but adding the features derived from the word embedding clustering underlying the automatic SID increases the results considerably, leading to an F-score of 84.8.


Aim: Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are a fast-growing drug modality. Pharmacokinetic characterization and accurate quantification of ASOs is critical for drug development. LC-MS and hybridization immunoassays are common methods to quantify ASOs but may lack sensitivity. In this study we aimed to develop an ASO quantification method with improved sensitivity. Methods: We developed a branched DNA approach for ASO quantification and compared it with hybridization immunoassays. Results: The branched DNA assay showed significantly improved sensitivity, with LLOQ 31.25 pg/ml in plasma, 6.4-and 16-fold higher than dual-probe hybridization electrochemiluminescence and single-probe hybridization ELISA, respectively, with adequate precision, accuracy, selectivity and specificity and acceptable matrix interference. Conclusion: Branched DNA for ASO quantification has significantly higher sensitivity and lower hemolysis interference.


Islamic education as a source of value for human life has been challenged and its role has been questioned when facing conflict issues in the name of differences. In a disharmonic social interaction pattern, school is expected to perform continuous evaluation through curriculum development. PAI curriculum has been strongly emphasized its evaluation so far merely on cognitive and psychomotoric aspects, as shown by many evaluation indicators putting forward knowledge and skill, while putting affective aspects of basic competences on peripheral area so that they are not systematically evaluated. In this dilemmatic situation, it is necessary to rethink Islamic education role to exert its social responsibility through the determined curriculum. This study attempts to shed a light that utilizing hidden curriculum can be a solution to resolve social conflicts. Through this hidden curriculum, schools are able to develop and set policy strategies appropriate with the school capability and the needs of society, like creating tolerant culture or promoting equal rights and duties. Besides, through this hidden curriculum, teachers have more space to deliver religious lessons participatorically so that their pupils can grasp philosophically, not symbolically as a mental capital to respond future challenges of difference phenomena.Keywords: Islamic Education, Social harmony, hidden curriculum


After ileo-pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) there is an increased risk of incontinence due to intraoperative damage of the anal sphincter. We present a new concept to identify a potential incontinence prior to the closure of ileostomy by clinical and anal manometrical examinations. In 11 of 121 (9.1%) patients we diagnosed a potential incontinence. By biofeedback training we could achieve in this way a sufficient continence after the closure of ileostomy. After an average of 5.0 +/- 4.3 months of training rest pressures improved from 19.3 +/- 2.1 mmHg to 33.0 +/- 3.5 mmHg and squeeze pressures from 60.5 +/- 27.7 mmHg to 93.5 +/- 17.3 mmHg. Prior to IPAA patients with potential incontinence show significantly reduced rest pressures of 51.0 +/- 18.4 mmHg.


Introduction: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a serious health problem and an independent predictor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The prevalence increases with age, but little is known about the relationship between physical fitness and ED especially among men with high risk of CVD. Hence, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of ED among men with Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) and its association with hand-grip strength in which is a measurement of physical fitness and muscle strength. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among Malaysian men aged ≥ 40 years who had their follow-up between 1st June 2021 and 30th October 2021 at an institutional primary care clinic in Gombak district, Selangor, Malaysia. The participants were recruited via computer generated simple random sampling. Data on sociodemographic, comorbidities, anthropometry, clinical examinations including hand-grip strength (HGS) and blood chemical profiles were collected. While a validated English and Malay versions of the 5-item International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) were used to assess presence of ED. Multiple logistic regression analysis were conducted to determine the association between sociodemographic, comorbidities, blood chemical profiles, and HGS with ED.Results: There were 334 participants recruited in the study. The mean age was 58.8 (±8.84) years old, with majority were Malays (95.2%, n= 318) and married (98.8 %, n=330). The overall prevalence of self-reported ED was 79% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.75-0.84). Multivariable analysis showed that ED was associated with elderly aged ≥ 60 years (odds ratio [OR] 3.27, 95% CI: 1.60-6.69), HGS (OR 15.34, 95% CI: 5.64-41.81) and abnormal total cholesterol (OR 0.36, 95% CI: 0.16-0.78). Conclusion: ED was highly prevalent among Malaysian men aged ≥ 40 years with MetS. Being older than 60 years of age and low HGS are associated with higher risk of ED. Robust screening of ED among men with Mets and intervention to improve muscle strength and physical fitness may be warranted.


The diagnostic efficacy of a commercially available diagnostic slide-rule (the Logoscope) was evaluated on 50 cases detailed in the leterature. In only 13 cases (26%) was the Logoscope of any practical assistance in diagnosis and even then it did not always indicate the entire final clinical diagnosis. Some major deficiencies of the Logoscope system are outlined.


This paper summarizes my MA thesis examining the role of Agricultural
Biotechnology in alleviating food insecurity in Ethiopia. Agricultural
biotechnology, and in particular Genetically Modified Organisms
(GMOs), is considered by the biotech industries as a potential means
to tackle food insecurity. Other views run counter to this position.
This paper analyzes the role of agricultural biotechnology in alleviating
food insecurity and its implications for smallholding farmers and
biodiversity, as perceived by key stakeholders in Ethiopia. Data was
collected in 2007 from fourteen key respondents including government,
non-governmental and public sector representatives as well as three
organic farmers.
Three groups of opinion strongly emerged from the findings. The first
and largest group expressed skepticism about the role of agricultural
biotechnology in alleviating food insecurity. The second and smaller
group of respondents held the middle ground and shared the opinion
that if it is applied with proper caution under biosafety guidelines, it
could be beneficial. The third and smallest group of respondents saw
agricultural biotechnology as the only way to alleviate Ethiopian food
insecurity. Although the weight of concern differed within the three
groups, concerns were raised that biotechnology could have negative
implications for smallholder farmers and biodiversity. The findings
showed a general consensus in their concern over international
governance policies and the inadequate contribution to supporting
efforts of the 'countries of the global South' in achieving food security.
The paper highlights the need to address the diverse causes of food
insecurity and argues that the potential of agricultural biotechnology to
address food insecurity is highly questionable and it may even intensify
such problems.


Auxetic materials can be exploited for coupling different types of tissues. Herein, we designed a material where the microorganism metabolic activity yields the formation of buckled/collapsed bubbles within gelling silicone cylinders thus providing auxetic properties. The finite element model of such hollow auxetic cylinders demonstrated the tubular structure to promote worm-like peristalsis. In this scenario, the described hybrid auxetic structures may be applied to the longitudinal intestinal lengthening and tailoring procedure to promote enteral autonomy in short bowel syndrome. The presented material and analytical design synergistic approach offer a pioneering step for the clinical translation of hybrid auxetic materials.


A case report of a 62-year-old patient is presented with apparent dose-dependent kinetics for nortriptyline following the administration of therapeutic doses of the drug. Twelve-hour measurements of total plasma nortriptyline following steady state administration of the drug at 10 mg every other day, 10 mg daily, and 25 mg daily were 38, 86, and 647 ng/ml and while free plasma nortriptyline concentrations were 0.37, 0.9, and 6.6 ng/ml, respectively. Half-lives calculated from samples collected at 12, 24, and 36 hours status after administration of steady state 10 mg every other day, 10 mg daily, and 25 mg daily maintenance doses were 30.4, 36.7, and 64 hours, respectively. Toxicity did not occur despite excessive total plasma tricyclic antidepressant concentrations as a result of abnormally increased plasma protein binding of nortriptyline. The case is contrasted to the usual pharmacokinetic characteristics for the tricyclic antidepressants.


The Anantapur district is located in the Rayalaseema region in the southern part of Andhra Pradesh. It receives rains during the South-West monsoon from June to September, and during the North-East monsoons from May to November. However, being far from the coastal belt, Anantapur receives meager rainfall. The high Western Ghats also reduce the rainfall from South-West monsoon. The rainfall during the later part of the North-East monsoon reason is erratic in this tract, as it is much influenced by the depressions in the Bay of Bengal. Even though the total rainfall may appear adequate, it's poor distribution results in partial or complete failure of crops during many years. Based on the pattern of monsoon rainfall, the pre-rainy, rainy and post-rainy season periods are recognized.The over utilization of groundwater has led to grim situation in 21Mandals/ Blocks out of 63 Mandals/ Blocks that have been categorized as Over Exploited Blocks and Critical Mandals/blocks respectively. Table 4 gives the list of such Mandals/blocks. This paper makes an analysis of the impact of water conservation techniques on various components society in general and individual farmer in particular.


The stable carbon isotopic fractionation in submerged plant is dependent upon the concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) which equilibrates with atmosphere CO 2 by water gas exchange and indirectly provides an approach to rebuild the past atmospheric CO 2 concentration. The Ngoring Lake is the largest outflow fresh water lake in the source region of the Yellow River and has well developed aquatic vegetation of submersed plants. Due to low air temperature ( -4.5 ℃ in average), the lacustrine sediments are perennial frozen below the depth of 1 05 m, at which the temperature is -0.5 ℃. The plant tissues in the sediments are well preserved and can be separated. In this study, the well preserved plant tissues were separated from 2 m thick perennial frozen lacustrine sediments which consist of fine silty clays. These tissues were apparently formed under relatively uniform water condition and mainly came from the same species of submerged plant? 玃otamogeton pectinatus by identification. The stable carbon isotope composition (δ 13 C) is calculated from stable carbon isotope ratio measured from a carbon dioxide by FINNIGAN MAT-251 mass spectrometer. The carbon dioxide is produced by combustion of an aliquot of plant tissues with a little pre cleaned cupric oxide and platinum filament in an evacuated fine quartz tube at 800℃ for 2 h. The study shows that the relationship between δ 13 C of Potamogeton pectinatus and the concentration of dissolved CO 2 [CO 2e ] can be described as Equation (5). The concentration of dissolved CO 2 [CO 2e ] is calculated as [CO 2e ] = a×p CO 2 , where p CO 2 is atmospheric CO 2 concentration and a is the solubility parameter which can be induced by the absolute temperature of water from ln a=(58 0931+90 5069× (100/T) + 22 294× ln (T /100).δ CO 2e can be calculated using the equilibrium isotope fractionation and mixing model among the inorganic carbon species as a function of temperature, carbon isotope composition and ratio of different sources. The water temperature calculation is consulted with the water temperature-time curve of the Lake Qinghai. The atmospheric CO 2 fluctuations reconstructed from stable carbon isotopic composition of the samples show that the atmospheric CO 2 concentration had an increasing tendency from 9 16 to 2 17 ka BP, and in the same time three main stages of low, middle and high atmospheric CO 2 concentration are distinguished, which corresponded respectively to the time of 9 16~6 77 ka BP, 6 77~4 56 ka BP and 4 56~2 17 ka BP.


We aimed to investigate the relationship between pain extent, as a sign of sensitization, and sensory-related, cognitive and psychological variables in hospitalized COVID-19 survivors with post-COVID pain. One hundred and forty-six (67 males, 79 females) previously hospitalized COVID-19 survivors with post-COVID pain completed demographic (age, sex, height, weight), sensory-related (Central Sensitization Inventory, Self-Report Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms), cognitive (Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia) and psychological (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) variables. Pain extent and frequency maps were calculated from pain drawings using customized software. After conducting a correlation analysis to determine the relationships between variables, a stepwise linear regression model was performed to identify pain extent predictors, if available. Pain extent was significantly and weakly associated with pain intensity (r = −0.201, p = 0.014): the larger the pain extent, the lower the pain intensity. No other significant association was observed between pain extent and sensory-related, cognitive, or psychological variables in individuals with post-COVID pain. Females had higher pain intensity, more sensitization-associated symptoms, higher anxiety, lower sleep quality, and higher kinesiophobia levels than males. Sex differences correlation analyses revealed that pain extent was associated with pain intensity in males, but not in females. Pain extent was not associated with any of the measured variables and was also not related to the presence of sensitization-associated symptoms in our sample of COVID-19 survivors with long-term post-COVID pain.


Traditional sequential patterns do not take into account additional contextual information since patterns extracted from data are usually general. By considering the fact that a pattern is associated with one specific context the decision expert can then adapt his strategy considering the type of customers. In this paper we propose to mine more precise patterns of the form "young users buy products A and B then product C, while old users do not follow this same behavior". By highlighting relevant properties of such contexts, we show how contextual sequential patterns can be extracted by mining the database in a concise manner. We conduct our experimental evaluation on real-world data and demonstrate performance issues.


OBJECTIVE
To identify the underlying systemic drivers of the development and ongoing expansion of hospitalist programs in Canada.

DATA SOURCES
MEDLINE and Google Scholar were searched using combinations of the terms hospitalist, hospital medicine, and Canada.

STUDY SELECTION
All publications that addressed the study question, including review articles, original research, editorials, commentaries, and letters or news articles, were included in the review.

SYNTHESIS
Constant comparative methodology was used to analyze and code the articles and to synthesize the identified codes into broader themes. Three broad categories were identified: physician-related drivers, health system-related drivers, and patient-related drivers. Within each category, we identified a number of drivers.

CONCLUSION
Many drivers have been cited in the literature as reasons behind the emergence and growth of the hospitalist model in the Canadian health care system. While their interplay makes simple cause-and-effect conclusions difficult, these drivers demonstrate that hospitalist programs in Canada have developed in response to a complex set of provider, system, and patient factors.


Observations are presented on 11 cases of haemospermia in the University Teaching Hospital, Zambia, a country where bilharziasis is endemic. Seven patients were severely hypertensive but only two had urinary bilharziasis. The incidence of Schistosoma haematobium infection of the prostate and seminal vesicles is discussed and it is concluded that there is no significant association between the parasitic infection and haemospermia.


Purpose: The aim of this chart-based retrospective study was to evaluate the effects of orally administered amoxicillin alone or amoxicillin combined with clavulanic acid on the frequency of post-operative complications and patients' comfort after mandibular third molar surgery. Materials and Methods: The records of patients who had undergone lower third molar surgery between October 2014 and December 2015 were examined. A total of 62 patients who had fully impacted teeth in mesioangular position and who had been prescribed same type and dose of anti-inflammatory drug were included in this study. Among them, 32 subjects were found to have been prescribed 500 mg amoxicillin trihydrate orally every 8 h for 5 days (Group A) and 30 patients 500 mg amoxicillin trihydrate plus 125 mg potassium clavulanate orally every 8 h for 5 days postoperatively (Group AC). Post-operative pain levels, swelling, presence of trismus, frequency of alveolar osteitis and quality of life (QoL) scores were gathered from patients' charts and were statistically compared. Results: Analysis of the variables showed that there were no significant differences between the Groups A and AC regarding pain levels, swelling, trismus and QoL scores. The frequency of alveolar osteitis was found to be 1.6% in the Group A, however, no significant difference was observed among study groups. Conclusion: Within the limitations of this retrospective chart review, it can be stated that amoxicillin and amoxicillin with clavulanic acid might provide similar outcome in terms of patient comfort following third molar surgery.


In recent years, medical treatment based on scientific evidence has increased in importance. The use of MEDLINE as a method of discovering such evidence is relevant because anyone can freely access MEDLINE via the World Wide Web (WWW).Unfortunately, few strategies to search for evidence by using MEDLINE interface (PubMed) have so far been reported in the literature. We therefore examined two PubMed search strategies to identify adverse reactions as follows : Method 1, which inputs the name of drugs and adverse effects, and Method 2, which inputs the name of drugs and adverse effects, including "adverse effects" and "etiology".As a result, about 40% of all the literature identified by method 1 were noise. However, such noise decreased to about 20% with method 2. However, Method 2 could not identify some of the relevant literature available by Method 1. In order to search effectively for relevant literature, it is necessary to know the limitations of the search strategies.


Background: Antidepressant drugs are frequently associated with sexual dysfunction. Sexual side effects affect the patients' quality of life and in the long term and can lead to noncompliance and relapse. However, studies covering many antidepressants with different mechanisms of action are scarce. Aims: The aim of this study is to compare the rates of sexual dysfunction among patients taking escitalopram, desvenlafaxine, and mirtazapine. Settings and Design: Cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: Arizona Sexual Experience Scale (ASEX), Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (21 items), and State and Trait Anxiety Inventory. Statistical Analysis Used: Fisher's exact t-test, Chi-square test, and analysis of variance depending on the type of variable. Results: Eighty-four participants (42 males and 42 females) completed all instruments. Of these, 28 were taking escitalopram (13.93 ± 5.15), 28 were taking desvenlafaxine (76.79 ± 25.39), and 28 were taking mirtazapine (16.88 ± 3.88). A substantial number of patients (40.5%, n = 34) had sexual dysfunction. The prevalence of sexual dysfunction varied across the drugs; escitalopram (60.7%), desvenlafaxine (35.7%), and mirtazapine (25%). Regression analysis revealed that the significant factor for sexual dysfunction was the type of antidepressant used. The mirtazapine group's total ASEX score was significantly lower than the scores for escitalopram and desvenlafaxine (χ2 = 7.807, P = 0.020). Conclusion: The incidence of sexual dysfunction is substantially high during antidepressant treatment. The rates of sexual dysfunction differed among antidepressants having different mechanisms of action. Mirtazapine-induced lesser sexual dysfunction compared to desvenlafaxine and escitalopram.


A well-known strength of the parametric representation of a curve or surface is the ease by which a piecewise linear approximation is generated. This is often true in geometric design, where only smooth segments or patches are considered over a well-chosen polynomial basis. Visualizing an arbitrary and possibly discontinuous parametric surface is useful but non-trivial for algebraic surfaces defined by rational parameter functions. Such surfaces have pole curves in their domain, where the denominators of the parameter functions vanish, domain base points that correspond to entire curves on the surface, and other features that cause display algorithms to fail. These are ubiquitous problems occurring even among the natural quadrics. Sophisticated but unsuspecting display techniques (e.g. those implemented in Maple V, Mathematica) produce completely unintelligible results. We provide a general solution and discuss our implementation. First, projective domain transformations are applied that map the entire surface from a finite domain region. Then, domain pole curves are identified and numerically approximated. Using Delaunay triangulation, a special decomposition of the domain is constructed that avoids discontinuities. This is then mapped onto the surface and clipped against a 3D box. The implementation can display very complicated surfaces, as we shall illustrate. Our techniques generalize in a straightforward way to rational varieties of any dimension.


Aspartame is the methyl-ester of the aspartate-phenylalanine dipeptide. Over time, it has become a very popular artificial sweetener. However, since its approval by the main food safety agencies, several concerns have been raised related to neuropsychiatric effects and neurotoxicity due to its ability to activate glutamate receptors, as well as carcinogenic risks due to the increased production of reactive oxygen species. Within this review, we critically evaluate reports concerning the safety of aspartame. Some studies evidenced subtle mood and behavioral changes upon daily high-dose intake below the admitted limit. Epidemiology studies also evidenced associations between daily aspartame intake and a higher predisposition for malignant diseases, like non-Hodgkin lymphomas and multiple myelomas, particularly in males, but an association by chance still could not be excluded. While the debate over the carcinogenic risk of aspartame is ongoing, it is clear that its use may pose some dangers in peculiar cases, such as patients with seizures or other neurological diseases; it should be totally forbidden for patients with phenylketonuria, and reduced doses or complete avoidance are advisable during pregnancy. It would be also highly desirable for every product containing aspartame to clearly indicate on the label the exact amount of the substance and some risk warnings.


We propose a modelling framework and computational paradigm called Colonies of Synchronizing Agents (CSAs) inspired by the intracellular and intercellular mechanisms present in biological tissue. The proposed model is based on a multiset of agents present in a common environment. Each agent has a local state, stored in the form of a multiset of atomic objects, which is updated by global multiset rewriting rules either asynchronously or in synchrony with another agent. We first define the model, then study its computational power, considering trade-offs between internal rewriting (i.e., intracellular mechanism) and synchronization among the agents (i.e., intercellular mechanisms). We also investigate dynamic properties of CSAs, including behavioral robustness (ability to generate a core behavior despite agents or rule failure) and safety of synchronization (ability for an agent to synchronize with another agent, whenever needed). This is the preliminary version of a paper that was published in Proceedings of International Workshop Automata for Cellular and Molecular Computing, Computer and Automation Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2007.


The southern Piedmont Region (north-west Italy) is characterized by a hilly zone called "Langhe" that covers an area of about 2300 km2 and is bordered by Tanaro River at north and west, by Orba River at east, and by Apennine mountains at south. The Langhe is rolling hills famous for their excellent wine, populated by many small inhabited centers since ancient times. An idea of the Langhe geomorphology can be gained by studying the word "Langa": it may have been derived from either "landa," which means a wild and uninhabited place or from "lingua," which means a strip of land. The morphology of the Langhe hills is characterized by asymmetrical valleys with steep south-east facing slopes and more gentle north-west facing slopes: their profile is defined "saw toothed" by local inhabitants. The asymmetric shape is clearly conditioned by the geology. Severe hydrological events occurred in the last 100 years in Piedmont in particular on May 1926, February and March 1972, February 1974, and November 1994. During these long rainy periods, on the gentler slopes, translational rock-block slides involve tertiary flyschoid complexes represented by rhythmic series of deposits with varied grain size. These landslides often damage or destroy buildings and roads, even if rarely claim human lives.