This research was conducted in Bandung Regency. The formation of democratic regional regulations by the Bandung Regency government has not been implemented democratically because community participation, as a form of democracy in the process of forming regional regulations, is only ceremonial. As a result, the space for the community to participate in responding or directly criticizing a regional policy packaged in regional regulations cannot be fully utilized. Several factors influence the formation of regional regulations. One of the main factors is the legal structure, where the Regional Government and DPRD do not provide sufficient space for the community to express their aspirations. The time allocated for discussing the legal substance during the process is also very limited, which hinders the full application of democratic principles as outlined in the Act. The research utilized an empirical approach with direct research and was documented as it is. It was found that the formation of legislation in the region is still relatively limited because the publication of regional regulations to the public is not considered a necessity. Additionally, the legal culture of the community, particularly community participation, is still poorly understood and needs further development.
Keywords: regional regulations, democratic, local government


This article focuses on female facial injuries caused by domestic partners in the light of the cultural assumption that the face is the most valued area of the human body. Through a quantitative/qualitative approach, the study aimed to estimate the prevalence of lesions on the face, head and neck of women abused by their partners. The intention is to comprehend the significance, from the victim's standpoint, of the marks originated in the violent episode and investigate issues concerning healthcare in the treatment of injuries. Statistical data were obtained from reports of the Special Police Department for Women in Salvador, Bahia, and the qualitative phase of research consisted of interviews with women who filed such reports. The results showed that, in 63.2% of studied cases, there were injuries to the face and/or head and/or neck of battered women. Speech analysis revealed that facial injuries, especially permanent ones, tend to result in feelings of low self-esteem, shame and humiliation in the victim, causing severe psychological distress. It was revealed that healthcare was limited to the physical aspects of victimization, without the perception of domestic violence as a health problem and the consequent lack of referral of patients to the centers for women in situations of violence.


In post-merger integration, both human integration and IS integration play a crucial role. In the heart of both of these, lies the integration of the IS personnel. In this paper, we review the literature relevant to IS staff integration in order to explore the opportunities and challenges the IS personnel faces during post-merger integration. The challenges and opportunities the IS staff faces during postmerger integration stem from (1) the merger situation, (2) the IS personnel as an occupational group, and (3) the managerial interventions. A conceptual framework integrating these elements and studying their interdependencies is formed.


A three-component, time- and phase-averaging Doppler global velocimetry (DGV) system was developed. Measurements were performed in the cold exhaust flow of a piston engine at two different rotational speeds, with an angular resolution of 5° with respect to the cam-shaft angle. The results gave a very detailed insight into the temporal evolution of the flow field. Phase-averaged DGV measurements were performed in the unsteady periodic flow of a generic swirl nozzle using an acoustic trigger. The measurements help to identify the phenomena of a precessing vortex core. The measurement accuracy of the DGV system was investigated.


In this paper, a combination of experimentation and analysis is used to study the effect of micro in-plane fiber waviness on the compressive properties of unidirectional fabric composites. The experimental part includes a measurement of the micro in-plane fiber waviness in two types of unidirectional fabrics, manufacturing composites with each unidirectional fabric via VaRTM process and tests for establishing the compressive modulus and strengths of the composites. The compressive strengths were confirmed to be affected by the micro in-plane fiber waviness, but the compressive modulus was not. Furthermore, a two-dimensional numerical model is proposed to explain our experimental results. The numerical results indicate that the tensile stress (owing to the micro in-plane fiber waviness) and compressive stress along the weft and warp directions, respectively, of the composite lead to reductions in the compressive strength.


Abstract. Lymphocyte losses occur during repeat plateletpheresis and/or leukapheresis procedures and are potentially harmful to normal host immune function. This concern prompted us to study the effect of repeat lymphocytapheresis (lymphapheresis) on the immune system of healthy blood donors. Following a total of six lymphapheresis procedures over a 12‐day period with removal of a mean of 41.6 times 109 lymphocytes, there were no significant changes in donor (n = 5) absolute lymphocyte counts, quantitative immunoglobulin levels or immune response capability as assessed by the following in vitro assays: percent of E, EA, and EAC rosette‐forming cells, the percent of surface membrane immunoglobulin bearing cells, and the blastogenic responses to stimulation with phytohemagglutinin, pokeweed mitogen and concanavalin A. The procedures were well‐tolerated without complications. During a follow‐up period of 18 months, significant increases in total white cell counts (but not absolute lymphocyte counts), and in quantitative immunoglobulin levels (IgG, IgM, and IgA) were observed. The median increases in immunoglobulin levels ranged from 27.5% for IgG to 44% for IgA. We conclude that lymphapheresis as described is relatively safe and our results are reassuring in relation to lymphocyte losses that may occur during repeat cytapheresis procedures of normal blood donors.


Unquestionably, the Age of Oil is with us now and it probably has not as yet reached its majority. Petroleum in its common forms has become a part of our daily life. The United States has not only been the greatest oil-producing nation in the world; it has also been the greatest consumer. After the war we shall unquestionably continue to be one of the greatest users of petroleum, but the world-wide demands also will be greater. Wallace E. Pratt is quoted as saying that oil in the earth is abundant. We shall not try to refute that general statement. Rather, let us see how much oil the Good Earth has produced in the past; what it is now producing; and where the presently known areas of petroleum abundance are located. Furthermore, and this should concern us most, what does the future hold for the United States? We have to the best of our knowledge less than half of the known petroleum reserves of the world, but we are producing yearly approximately 65 per cent. This ratio of known production to reserves is not just a wartime development--it has been going on for years. We have been prodigal with our oil supplies and we must now recognize the world-wide importance of petroleum and the desirability of having a d finite governmental policy for maintaining a strong industry with adequate reserves, both domestic and foreign. The record of accomplishment of the petroleum industry in the United States is of the highest order and if free and independent industry is permitted the right of way, unhampered by Government control, but, in lieu thereof, aided by a sympathetic understanding of the industry's problems, the petroleum independence of the United States will be preserved. Statistics show that the United States has had a cumulative production amounting to 28 billion barrels of oil compared with 15½ billion barrels for the rest of the world. Our proved reserves, according to the estimates of the American Petroleum Institute, total 20 billion barrels compared with an indicated oil reserve of 31-41 billion barrels for all other producing countries. During 1941, the last year for which accurate world production figures are available we produced more than 63 per cent of the total world's production. Furthermore, our areas favorable to oil accumulation have been and are being exploited to a far greater extent than those in many other parts of the world. Estimates of the indicated crude-oil reserves of the world range from approximately 51 to 61 billion barrels. They are unevenly distributed over the face of the globe. Two areas of similar size on the opposite sides of the world, the Persian Gulf and Caspian Basin in the Old World and the countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, and the United States in the New World, have more than 95 per cent of the indicated reserves of the world.


Apparently computer technology is shifting its focus, with individual users not being the main target any more. The evolution of Web 2.0 technologies is promoting the development of services, suitable for the collaborative construction of electronic content. The Web seems to be gradually transforming into a multi-user platform, through which learning approaches, aligned with computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL), can be promoted into a new dimension. Under this scope, interaction analysis (IA) tools can be used to support different functionalities (e.g. awareness, regulation and evaluation of the collaborative processes by the participants themselves), based on the understanding of the social processes and the possibilities of intervention, in order to support and improve collaboration. In this paper we present our findings from using an asynchronous discussion platform with integrated IA tools for implementing learning activities, while trying to link those results with the new trends of the ldquocollaborative erardquo.


Pulmonary aspergillomas causing hemoptysis were successfully resected through videothoracoscopy in two cases. We removed an aspergilloma located in the right lower lobe of the lung in a 48-year-old woman with a bronchial cyst and rheumatoid arthritis. We also removed an aspergilloma located in the left upper lobe of the lung in a 59-year-old man with emphysematous bullae and diabetes mellitus. In both cases, the aspergillomas were removed by pulmonary wedge resection through scheduled thoracoscopy.


A study to compare the therapeutic efficacy of aerobic exercise and paroxetine in fibromyalgia syndrome. The aim of this study is to compare the therapeutic efficacy of aerobic exercises versus paroxetine in a randomized, controlled study. Sixty female patients between ages 18–50, diagnosed as fibromyalgia syndrome by the 1990 American College of Rheumatology criteria were randomly allocated to one of three groups. Group I was given aerobic exercises on bicycle ergometer for 40 minutes, 3 times a week for 6 weeks, group II was given paroxetine 20 mg daily for 6 weeks and group III was given placebo Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for 20 minutes, 3 times a week for 6 weeks as a control group. All groups were evaluated at admission, termination and at the end of 6 months by Visual Analog Scale (VAS), pressure algometric testing, weekly analgesic consumption for pain intensity. They were also evaluated for psychological and social status, Beck Depression Inventory. Statistical analysis was done by the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) program with T-test, OnewayAnova, Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test and post-hoc. Pain threshold with pressure algometer, pain intensity by VAS and BDI scores showed significant decrease compared to scores of the group III at termination of the study and at 6 months follow-up while base-line evaluation parameters demonstrate no significant statistical differences between groups. Analgesic consumption was reduced only in group I. As a result this study shows that paroxetine and aerobic exercises have better therapeutic effect when compared to placebo group on short and long-term follow-up with no significant difference on evaluation parameters


Haematoxenus veliferus was experimentally transmitted in cattle on two occasions by the tick Amblyomma variegatum; transmission was transstadial, from nymph to adult. Theileria mutans and Cowdria ruminatium were transmitted at the same time. H. veliferus infected at least 15% of red cells in a splenectomized steer and 10% in a normal steer. One experiment on transstadial transmission from larva to nymph was unsuccessful.


- Use of rapeseed soapstock to produce biodiesel is a sustainable choice, because it deals with waste stream use in biofuel synthesis and lowers the use of food grade oil as fuel feedstock. Rapeseed soapstock was acidulated, and fatty acid and glycerides containing acid oil was separated from water phase. Steam distillation – a mild purification method – was used to separate fatty acids from acid oil. Distilled fatty acids were subjected to sulfuric acid catalyzed esterification with methanol. The chosen reaction conditions were: 65 °C temperature, molar ratio of MeOH to FFA 20:1, 7.5 mol% H 2 SO 4 , and a reaction time 1 h. Esterification of distilled fatty acids proceeded with 98.3–98.5% conversion to FAME and product yield 93–95% from theoretical. The esterification reaction conditions were determined using lauric acid as model compound, the catalyst concentration was adjusted to be less than usually reported, so to avoid oxidation and side reactions. Use of ultrasound assisted synthesis was elaborated by comparing reaction of lauric acid at 25 °C temperature in ultrasonic bath and with stirring. Reaction was faster with stirring than use of ultrasound.


Summary form only given. The resonant nature of the excitation of surface electromagnetic waves (SEWs), i.e. the resonant dependence of the reflectivity on the incident radiation wavevector component parallel to the interface (surface), k, leads to the nonlinear phenomena arising and particularly optical bi- and multi-stability appearance at relatively small nonlinearities. At such nonlinearities the field induced variation of the SEW wavevector, K, becomes comparable with the width, Im(K), of the mentioned geometrical (angular) resonance. In the paper the theory of optical bi- and multistability at the excitation of TM-polarized SEWs via the Kretschmann attenuated total reflection (ATR) scheme (glass prism-metal film-dielectric) in which the dielectric exhibits a relatively small one- or two-photon resonant nonlinearity is presented. The system of equations describing the excitation of nonlinear SEWs is presented in general form for arbitrary type of nonlinearity by means of the SEW wavevector nonlinear term, K/sup NL/.


A bisector list quad tree is a quad tree which stores objects intersecting more than one quad on horizontal and vertical bisector lists. This is the form of quad tree originally proposed by Kedem for organizing boxes and polygons in a plane so that one can quickly find the objects intersecting an arbitrary window. A multiple storage quad tree is a quad tree which stores pointers to objects intersecting more than one quad in all of the quads that they intersect. This paper describes and analyzes multiple storage quad trees. It is shown that multiple storage quad trees can be efficient in storage space, often using less than 25 percent more space than a simple list of the objects. That is, the tree nodes and other pointers combined often use less than 25 percent of the space needed to store the object descriptions. It is also shown that using multiple-storage quad trees makes possible very rapid searches for the objects intersecting a small window. In most cases fewer than 10 nodes must be examined per object found in the window. Finally, multiple storage quad trees and the algorithms which operate on them are found to be very simple and intuitive.


The physicochemical properties and catalytic performance of transition metals are highly phase-dependent. Ru-based nanomaterials are superior catalysts toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR), but studies are mostly limited to conventional hexagonal-close-packed (hcp) Ru, mainly arising from the difficulty in synthesizing Ru with pure face-centered-cubic (fcc) phase. Herein, we report a crystal-phase-dependent catalytic study of MoOx-modified Ru (MoOx-Ru fcc and MoOx-Ru hcp) for bifunctional HER and HOR. MoOx-Ru fcc is proven to outperform MoOx-Ru hcp in catalyzing both HER and HOR with much higher catalytic activity and more durable stability. The modification effect of MoOx gives rise to optimal adsorption of H and OH especially on fcc Ru, which thus has resulted in the superior catalytic performance. This work highlights the significance of phase engineering in constructing superior electrocatalysts and may stimulate more efforts on phase engineering of other metal-based materials for diversified applications.


This case report describes the rehabilitation path of a man who sustained severe burns to his body and extremities as a result of a bushfire. The fingers of both hands were amputated except the thumbs and although he was a candidate for autologous transplant, declined this option for various reasons. Bilateral prostheses were made and resulted in a significant improvement in functional outcome without the need for surgery. Prostheses are practical alternatives to surgery and should be considered in selected patients.


A two-dimensional finite element model for both the transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) solutions inside a reverberation chamber has been presented. Tuner effects on the modal structure and the resulting statistics of the field distribution have been explored. The shielding effectiveness in a reverberating environment has been examined. Coupling shielding effectiveness for the TE results and replacement shielding effectiveness for TM results was presented. The reverberating environment provides additional insight into the shielding properties in a statistical sense. The shielding effectiveness of the TM structure for aperture coupling for several frequencies in a simulated reverberation environment was presented and compared to published and measured results. These results point to the development of a statistical model of shielding effectiveness. This model will form a critical component to the overall mechanism of upset prediction in digital systems.


AIM
To determine the causes of mortality in cases of brain haemorrhage among patients with arteriovenous malformations (AVM) treated in a tertiary hospital.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The patients with AVM who died over the period 1990-2014 were selected from a prospective register of vascular malformations. Demographic aspects, localisation of the AVM, associated aneurysms and previous treatments were reviewed. Three main causes of death were established: initial bleeding/rebleeding, those related with the treatment of the AVM and other causes not related with AVM.

RESULTS
A total of 400 patients were treated for AVM, 216 (54%) with a ruptured AVM, of whom 26 (12.1%) died as a result of a brain haemorrhage. The mean age of the group of patients who died was 48.8 years (range: 8-78 years). Twenty (76.9%) were admitted in coma (Glasgow Coma Scale < 9). In five cases (19.2%), bleeding was due to an associated aneurysm. A very high percentage (38.5%) had the AVM in the posterior fossa. Three patients had previously received non-curative treatments for the AVM in other medical centres. Of the total number, six (23.1%) received endovascular/surgical treatment in our hospital, and we have assumed that, due to the indication or owing to the time in which it was carried out, the cause of death was treatment-related, although two young patients underwent surgery with bilateral mydriasis. One patient died due to an associated glioblastoma, and the others, 19 (76%), due to rebleeding or to the initial brain damage.

CONCLUSION
Knowing the causes of mortality can help improve the clinical outcome, above all in cases in which an early treatment could be indicated.


Waste steel from used ship propeller shafts is reused for the keel structures of InaTEWS buoys. Because of the application of waste material, fatigue life assessment is critical. The purpose of this study is to assess the mechanical and fatigue properties of the waste material and to estimate the fatigue life of the keel structure as a result of sea wave loading. Material tests, fatigue tests and model tests were performed to obtain the parameters required for the estimation of the fatigue life, together with application of the spectral analysis method, including the effects of spectral band width. Chemical and tensile tests identified the material as low-carbon steel, with mechanical properties comparable to AISI 1035 steel. The fatigue tests resulted in an S-N curve ( NS m = K ) with m = 7.7 and K = 3.2×10 24 , showing a lower fatigue strength than AISI 1035 steel. The observed reduction in fatigue strength is ascribed to the previous use of the shaft. The calculated fatigue life based on the experimental S-N curve and the observed in-situ wave data is approximately 9.5 years, with a safety factor of 5.


Author(s): Zha, W; Klein, SR; Ma, R; Ruan, L; Todoroki, T; Tang, Z; Xu, Z; Yang, C; Yang, Q; Yang, S | Abstract: © 2018 American Physical Society. Significant excesses of J/ψ yield at very low transverse momentum (pTl0.3 GeV/c) were observed by the ALICE and STAR collaborations in peripheral hadronic A+A collisions. This is a sign of coherent photoproduction of J/ψ in violent hadronic interactions. Theoretically, the photoproduction of J/ψ in hadronic collisions raises questions about how spectator and nonspectator nucleons participate in the coherent reaction. We argue that the strong interactions in the overlapping region of incoming nuclei may disturb the coherent production, leaving room for different coupling assumptions. The destructive interference between photoproduction on ions moving in opposite directions also needs to be included. This paper presents calculations of J/ψ production from coherent photon-nucleus (γ+A→J/ψ+A) interactions in hadronic A+A collisions at BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and CERN Large Hadron Collider energies with both nucleus and spectator coupling hypotheses. The integrated yield of coherent J/ψ as a function of centrality is found to be significantly different, especially towards central collisions, for different coupling scenarios. Differential distributions as a function of transverse momentum, azimuthal angle, and rapidity in different centrality bins are also shown, and found to be more sensitive to the Pomeron coupling than to the photon coupling. These predictions call for future experimental measurements to help better understand the coherent interaction in hadronic heavy-ion collisions.


Species loss from upper trophic levels can result in some major changes in community structure and ecosystem functions. Here, we experimentally excluded macroconsumers (e.g., fish and shrimp) in a Brazilian karst tropical stream during the dry season to investigate if their loss affected the accrual of calcium, dry mass (DM) and ash-free dry mass (AFDM) of sediment, benthic invertebrates, and chlorophyll-a. We found that the exclusion of macroconsumers decreased accrual of calcium. The absence of fish and shrimp may have promoted increased grazing by mayflies and snails in the electrified treatment as expressed by the depressed calcium accrual and shift in periphyton community composition. However, the exclusion of macroconsumers had no effect on DM and AFDM, chlorophyll-a, or total abundance of invertebrates. Our findings shed new light on the impact of macroconsumer loss and consequences for calcium accrual in karstic streams.


Recently, in large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) systems based on cloud computing, problems such as increase in network load, delay in response, and invasion of privacy have become concerning. To solve these problems, edge computing has been introduced to the IoT systems. However, if the cloud function is excessively migrated to the edge, the collected data cannot be shared between IoT systems, thus reducing the system's usefulness. In this paper, we propose a multi-agent based flexible IoT edge computing architecture to balance global optimization by a cloud and local optimization by edges and to optimize the role of the cloud server and the edge servers dynamically. Further, as an application example, we introduce an energy management system based on the proposed edge computing system architecture to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposal.


The present study assessed the diversity and composition of bacterial communities in glacial runoff and glacial soils in the Midre Lovénbreen glacier region of Svalbard. A total of 6,593 operational taxonomic units were identified by high-throughput sequencing. The results showed differences in bacterial community composition between the upper and lower reaches of glacial runoff. The abundance of Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria in the upper reaches of glacial runoff was higher than that in the lower reaches. In contrast, the the abundance of Cyanobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria in the downstream of glacial runoff was higher than that in the upstream. In addition, we compared bacterial diversity and composition between glacial runoff areas and soils. The chart analysis showed that bacterial diversity in glacial soil was higher than that in the glacial runoff. Some typical bacteria in the soil, such as Actinobacteria, entered glacial runoff through contact between them. The abundance of Acidobacteria, Sphingobacterium and Flavobacterium was higher in glacial soil. Weighted correlation network analysis showed that the core bacteria in glacial runoff and glacial soil were typical bacteria in different habitats. Distance-based redundancy analysis revealed that NO 2 - -N was the most significant factor affecting the distribution of soil bacterial community, while NO 3 - -N was the most significant factor affecting the distribution of glacial runoff bacterial community.


This work proposes a novel priority based resource management framework for multimedia applications in distributed collaborative environment. Due to the dynamic nature of the collaborative environment, sometimes the network could be lightly loaded and sometimes highly congested. Moreover, application priority might be changed by the user dynamically. In this dynamic environment, Quality of Experience (QoE) of the end users would not be satisfactory without any resource management mechanism. Our proposed framework comprises of (i) a bandwidth estimation technique which efficiently calculates the total allowable bandwidth dynamically based on the network condition and the current application rate, and (ii) a priority based resource allocation algorithm which can dynamically control the individual flow rate according to the flow priority. Our extensive NS2 simulation work demonstrates the effectiveness of our proposed system.


Dike intrusions produce faulting at the surface along with seismic swarms and possible eruptions. Understanding the geometry and kinematics of dike-induced fractures can provide relevant information on what controls magma emplacement and the associated hazards. Here, we focus on the Harrat Lunayyir volcanic field (western Saudi Arabia), where in 2009 a dike intrusion formed a NNW-SSE oriented, ten-kilometer-long and up to one-meter deep graben. This widens from ~2 km in the SSE to ~5 km in the NNW, showing a well-defined border normal fault to the west but a diffused fracture zone to the east. We conducted a fixed-wing drone survey to create high resolution (3.4 cm) ortho-rectified images and DEMs of the western fault and of a portion of the eastern fracture zone to determine the fracture geometry and kinematics. We then integrated these results with field observations and InSAR data from the 2009 intrusion. Both fault zones contain smaller segments (hundreds of meters long) consisting of normal faults and extension fractures, showing two dominant orientation patterns: NNW-SSE (N330° ± 10°) and NW-SE (N300° ± 10°). The NNW-ESE oriented segments are sub-parallel to the inferred 2009 dike strike (N340°), to pre-historical Harrat Lunayyir eruptive fissures (N330°) and to the overall Red Sea axis (N330°). This suggests that these segments reflect the present-day off-rift stress field close to the Red Sea shoulder. However, the NW-SE oriented segments are oblique to this pattern and exhibit en–echelon structures, suggesting different processes such as: (1) a transfer (or soft-linkage) between dike-parallel fault segments, (2) a topographic control on the fault propagation and (3) a possible reactivation of inherited regional faults. Vertical fault offsets obtained by the drone survey along the western fault vary with the local lithology and these data are not consistent everywhere with the offsets derived from the 2009 InSAR measurements. Field evidence within lava flows also shows the occurrence of previous slipping event(s) on the fault before the 2009 intrusion. Collectively, we suggest that the mismatch between the drone and InSAR datasets is related to the different spatial and temporal resolutions offered by the two techniques.


Recent research has found that voter turnout is declining in most advanced industrial countries. The trend is driven by generational replacement because the age cohorts that entered the electorate at the end of the twentieth century are voting at lower than expected rates. In North American countries, the decline is also concentrated among the poorly educated. This article examines the relative contribution of period, life-cycle, generational and educational effects on changes in electoral participation over the last four decades in Sweden, Norway and Germany with individual-level data. Turnout decline is partly driven by generational change in the countries observed as the literature suggests. Additionally, there is also a clear socio-economic correlate. Most strikingly, poorly educated persons of all age groups are increasingly failing to vote in Germany. The results suggest that the causes of the long-term evolution are multidimensional and the relative consequences vary across countries. The debate about turnout decline and its possible remedies has to take into account the fact that both members of new generations and citizens with low education attainment are the main targets of measures aimed at increasing turnout rates, but different actions might be required to attract each specific demographic group to the polls.


A modification of the finite window context tree weighting (FWCTW) [H. Sakaguti, et al., 1997] lossless data compression algorithm is considered. First, we give an exposition of the basic framework of FWCTW. Next, we propose a zero-redundancy estimator for FWCTW and verify that our estimator, which is computed with finite precision actually encodes and decodes the data sequence.


Analysis of historical data by a generalized state-dependent queueing model was performed to ascertain that berth service times and ship arrival rates at Port of Bangkok were responsive to the number of ships in the port. The relationships between port capacity, level of service, and operational responsiveness were theoretically explored. It was found that a port with existing facilities and/or a relatively small investment can accommodate more ships and handle more cargo by operating responsively to the state of the system. The study revealed that feedback, although existed in the operations at Port of Bangkok, was, however, not a planned instrument. Improvement in servicing quality had been due to capacity increase.


Though emerging from different venues and backgrounds, risk management and digital applications are both based on sophisticated techniques of representation. This paper tracks the multiple overlappings and convergence between these two streams of representations. Initially digital technologies play a background role, as a tool to execute the algorithms of risk calculus. Then, they are useful in managing surveys and data analysis for those areas where risk management needs to store data on, for example, accidents. With the extension of markets for trading risk, computers and networks (or Information and Communication Technologies, ICT) become the tools of choice to allow the efficient functioning of industries like insurance. In other industries, like banking, where 'the business' is a vast archipelago of applications running on systems and networks, it is apparent that these integrated systems are inherently exposed to risk. Hence, these humble tools become both the infrastructure of the risk industry, and also the source of new, often incalculable risks; they move from a clear-cut subordinate relationship (as tool) to that of "imbrication". Risk representations become more calculable and formalized, but this is obtained at the price of an incalculability of the risks of the infrastructure itself. The analysis of the multiple patterns of imbrication of representations between risk and digital technologies is applied to a range of empirical domains: from software engineering and information systems (the subservient infrastructure); to operational risk in banking; and finally to the future scenario of the democratization of finance, whereby Global Risk Information Databases (GRIDs), become gigantic machines to represent, compute, and trade all sorts of individual and social risks.-super-[1] Overall, the paper seeks to characterize the multiple links between risk and digital technologies in organizations and draws in part on the phenomenology of representation and Heidegger's studies of Care and Concern and his later work on the essence of modern technology. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006.


This paper relates the life story of a particular educational resource (and its lead author) that went from being closed to open and which exemplifies the value of reuse and reworking of educational resources in both arenas. It describes how the educational resource was itself a reworking of previous resources and has now been reworked and reused in a number of other settings, both closed and open. It also shows the amplification and networking effects of open educational resources.


The relative proportions of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, commonly referred to as the Redfield ratio (106:16:1), have likely varied dramatically through Earth's history in response to changes in oceanic redox state and nutrient availability. However, there have been few attempts to track long-term secular patterns in the elemental stoichiometry of marine life. We use a sediment reactive-transport (diagenetic) modeling approach to provide new constraints on the elemental stoichiometry of marine ecosystems during Earth's early history, by simulating environmental conditions associated with the formation and deposition of suites of Archean sedimentary iron and phosphorus-bearing minerals. Our results suggest that siderite formation in porewaters linked to dissimilatory iron reduction but limited formation of authigenic P phases can only be reproduced when C to P ratios in marine biomass are at least 500 (mol/mol), approximately five times higher than the values that characterize the modern ocean. This constraint indicates that Archean oceans were strongly nutrient-limited.


This article reads Ezekiel 1 as a prologue to the entire book of Ezekiel and deals with the tension between the vision of the living creatures in Ezekiel 1 and the vision of the temple in the epilogue, Ezekiel 40—48. It is argued that the vision in Ezekiel 1 signals complexity and changeability. The prologue is characterized by various kinds of category transgressions (cf. for instance the monstrosity of the living creatures). In Ezekiel 40—48, the new temple signals the opposite: order and stability. The book of Ezekiel uses both aspects to describe Yahweh as a god who is able to change the situation of the exiles and ensure future stability. A short section discusses passages from the book of Revelation as examples of the re-use in the New Testament of motifs from the book of Ezekiel.


John H. White, Jr.'s Wet Britches and Muddy Boots: A History of Travel in Victorian America is a study of what, back in 1972, historian Glen E. Holt termed the "riding habit" that slowly came to dominate the lives of most Americans across the nineteenth century. 1 Or, as White himself puts it, "the purpose of this book is to describe the travel experience in nineteenth-century America" (p. xiii). He recounts what it was like to ride the innovative stagecoaches, steamboats, sailing packets, ocean liners, and railroad cars that successively dominated the transportation infrastructure of the nineteenth-century United States. This book is written for a popular audience, without standard source citations (although each chapter has a brief bibliography), but with plenty of lively anecdotes about riding the roads, rivers, and rails of the period. It succeeds at describing the lived experiences of travelers in an exhaustive array of contexts, but it does little to explain why those experiences took the shape they did—and when White does inject analysis into his description, it often reduces the complex social and economic world of the nineteenth-century United States to a series of cardboard caricatures that obscure more than they reveal. As one might expect of a historian who spent his career as the curator of transportation at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, White is at his best when he is describing the material culture of American travel. His chapters detail stagecoaches, omnibuses, streetcars, ferryboats, canal packets, river steamers, lake steamers, coastal steamers, ocean sailing packets, ocean steamers, and passenger trains; this comprehensive subdivision of his subject allows him to describe the design and technology of each mode in fi ne detail. White has a talent for depicting the increasingly complex machines that transported nineteenth-century Americans; his descriptions of their industrial and aesthetic design, along with numerous and well-chosen illustrations, make it easy to envision them, and his explanations of their technology make it clear how they worked—or, on occasion, how they failed. The topical division of his chapters allows him to trace how the machines changed, by which he usually means improved.


Canada's healthcare system, like those of other countries, needs to make organizational changes to keep up with our growing understanding of the environment and needs of an aging population. The number, frequency, pace, and kinds of changes are challenging the capacity of decision-makers to deliver effective solutions in which the reorganization of work plays a critical role. The effectiveness of change hinges largely on its psychological acceptance by the people it targets, acceptance that is furthered by their role in defining said change and by the recognition they are given for their contributions at each stage of its implementation. It is therefore reasonable to assert that change implementation can be facilitated through an agile type project approach insofar as its iterative development, validation, and adjustment process enable stakeholders to systematically consider the required adjustments. The use of an agile project management approach that systematically integrates stakeholder concerns and takes into consideration the inherent complexity of the healthcare system when defining and introducing new solutions appears more likely to result in successful organizational change when the focus is on managing the capacity of actors to change, rather than on managing an imposed change. Unlike traditional top-down approaches to organizational change, this kind of approach can come up against a certain resistance to change strategy by managers themselves. This case study will be of value to project sponsors, project managers as well as change managers by inviting them to clearly identify their various responsibilities, to consider a more inclusive and agile project management approach, and by taking account of the psychological acceptance of change by those it impacts.


The target region amplification polymorphism (TRAP) marker technique was employed to expand the published sunflower simple sequence repeat (SSR) linkage map constructed from a recombinant inbred population derived from the cross of RHA 280 × RHA 801. A previous report described the mapping of 183 TRAP markers generated by using fixed primers designed against the conserved Arabidopsis-type telomere sequence repeat into the above mentioned map of 577 SSR markers. Thirty-two markers were mapped to the outermost positions of the linkage groups, defining 21 of the 34 linkage group ends. This paper reports the integration of an additional 220 TRAP markers onto the same map. These newly added TRAP markers were generated by 23 combinations with fixed primers designed against selected sunflower ESTs showing homology with components of plant disease resistance genes and homeobox genes. The resulting map consists of 980 markers in 17 linkage groups (LG) and the total length is 1920 centiMorgan (cM). Although the average distance between two markers is less than two cM, there are four gaps larger than 20 cM (one in LG2, one in LG4, and two in LG6). The gaps could be due to the lack of polymorphism between the two parental lines in these chromosome regions with respect to the type of markers used in this study.


Structural Dissimilarity Sampling (SDS) is proposed as an efficient conformational search method to promote structural transitions essential for the biological functions of proteins. In SDS, initial structures are selected based on structural dissimilarity, and conformational resampling is repeated. Conformational resampling is performed as follows: (I) arrangement of initial structures for a diverse distribution at the edge of a conformational subspace and (II) promotion of the structural transitions with multiple short-time molecular dynamics (MD) simulations restarting from the diversely distributed initial structures. Cycles of (I) and (II) are repeated to intensively promote structural transitions because conformational resampling from the initial structures would quickly expand conformational distributions toward unvisited conformational subspaces. As a demonstration, SDS was first applied to maltodextrin binding protein (MBP) in explicit water to reproduce structural transitions between the open and closed states of MBP. Structural transitions of MBP were successfully reproduced with SDS in nanosecond-order simulation times. Starting from both the open and closed forms, SDS successfully reproduced the structural transitions within 25 cycles (a total of 250 ns of simulation time). For reference, a conventional long-time (500 ns) MD simulation under NPT (300 K and 1 bar) starting from the open form failed to reproduce the structural transition. In addition to the open-closed motions of MBP, SDS was applied to folding processes of the fast-folding proteins (chignolin, Trp-cage, and villin) and successfully sampled their native states. To confirm how the selections of initial structures affected conformational sampling efficiency, numbers of base sets for characterizing structural dissimilarity of initial structures were addressed in distinct trials of SDS. The parameter searches showed that the conformational sampling efficiency was relatively insensitive with respect to the numbers of base sets, indicating the robustness of SDS for actual applications.


In this thesis, we will study a class of divisor functions: the prime symmetric functions. These are polynomials over Q in the so-called elementary prime symmetric functions, whose values lie in Z. The latter are defined on the nonnegative integers and take the values of the elementary symmetric functions applied to the multi-set of prime factors (with repetition) of an integer n. Initially we look at basic properties of prime symmetric functions, and consider analogues of questions posed for the usual sum of proper divisors function, such as those concerning perfect numbers or Aliquot sequences. We consider the inverse question of when, and in how many ways a number n can be expressed as f(m) for certain prime symmetric functions f . Then we look at asymptotic formulae for the average orders of certain fundamental prime symmetric functions, such as the arithmetic function whose value at n is the sum of k-th powers of the prime divisors (with repetition) of n. For these last functions in particular, we also look at statistical results by comparing their distribution of values with the distribution of the largest prime factor dividing n. In addition to average orders, we look at the modular distribution of prime symmetric functions, and show that for a fundamental class, they are uniformly distributed over any fixed modulus. Then our focus shifts to the related area of partitions into prime powers. We compute the appropriate asymptotic formulae, and demonstrate important monotonicity properties. We conclude by looking at iteration problems for some of the simpler prime symmetric functions. In doing so, we consider the empirical basis for certain conjectures, and are left with many open problems.


The different features of entomophagy practiced by the 30 different ethnic communities inhabited in Manipur were documented. Surveys were done by personal interview and questionnaire based method from 105 informants. A total of 41 insect species belonging to 8 orders under 24 families and 36 genera are recorded as food items. The order Hemiptera has the maximum number of edible species (10) and the least number (1) in Dictyoptera and Isoptera. Meitei, Tarao, Tangkhul, Chothe and Thadou consumed higher number of species (28-30) in comparison to other ethnic groups. Use value was calculated to determine the extent of utilization of each species. Bamboo worm species, Omphisa fuscidentalis and honey bee species, Apis mellifera, A. cerana indica and A. dorsata were found to have the highest use value of 0.78. The edible insects are prepared as curry, roasted, fried and raw form. Seven insect groups formed prominent items of commerce in the state in which bees have highest price ($10.42-16.67/4x4 x2cm 3 ) among them. It is indicated that edible insect can be comparable with other conventional food products by integrating scientific validation to the traditional wisdom.


We present initial results of a quantitative analysis of how developers layout the visualisations in their multiple view systems. Many developers create multiple view systems and the technique is commonly used by the visualisation community. Each visualisation shows data in a different way, and often user interaction is coordinated between the views. But it is not always clear to know how many views a developer should use, or what would be the best layout. We extract images of visualisation tools, across TVCG journal, conference, posters and workshop papers 2012-2018 to analyse the quantity and layout of the views in these visualisation systems. Focusing on view juxtaposition, we code the layout of 491 images and analyse view topology in juxtaposed views. Our analysis acts as a starting point to help designers create better visualisations, acts as a taxonomy of visualisation layouts, and provides a quantitative analysis of how many views developers have used in their visualisation systems.


We have theoretically investigated the time delay of a chirped light pulse, defined as the temporal difference of peaks of the output and input light pulses after transmitting a Fabry-Perot interferometer. The results show that for an interferometer of known parameters, the chirp of the light pulse makes the time delay become intensively smaller. The mismatch between the central frequency of the light pulse and the resonance frequency of the interferometer also has an influence on the time delay. Under some circumstances, this mismatch will induce a time delay smaller than t0 that is defined as the one-way traverse time of the light inside the interferometer.


Occupational stress has long been associated with negative outcomes for both individuals and organizations. Studies suggest that physical and psychological health as well as job satisfaction and organizational commitment decrease as a result of elevated levels of occupational stress. Recently researchers have proposed that an intertwined relationship exists between emotional intelligence and occupational stress and that emotional intelligence plays a role in adaptive coping (Austin Saklofske & Egan 2005; Gardner 2005; Sahar-Khiz 2010). This study systematically examined this contention by seeking to determine whether there is a relationship between emotional intelligence and stress management of North Carolina community college presidents. This was accomplished through a quantitative study of these constructs. The constructs were operationalized by means of a combination of scales present in the Occupational Stress Inventory-Revised and the Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory.  The study sample included 47 North Carolina community college presidents for an overall response rate of 81%. The study hypothesis was tested with multiple regression analysis by regressing seven subscales of emotional intelligence on three subscales of occupational stress-coping resources. It was determined that out of the seven subscales of emotional intelligence only three did not emerge as significant independent variables affecting the subscales of coping resources. Therefore it can be concluded that a significant positive relationship exists between the emotional intelligence of the North Carolina Community college presidents and their occupational stress-coping resources. This study has implications for the incorporation of emotional intelligence training in presidential preparation forums in the education of standing presidents and for presidential selection processes.


previously shown that circulating GDF11 levels decrease with age in mice. However, a recent study by Egerman et al reported that GDF11/8 levels increase with age in mouse serum. Objective: Here, we clarify the direction of change of circulating GDF11/8 levels with age and investigate the effects of GDF11 administration on the murine heart. Methods and Results: We validated our previous finding that circulating levels of GDF11/8 decline with age in mice, rats, horses, and sheep. Furthermore, we showed by Western analysis that the apparent age-dependent increase in GDF11 levels, as reported by Egerman et al, is attributable to cross-reactivity of the anti-GDF11 antibody with immunoglobulin, which is known to increase with age. GDF11 administration in mice rapidly activated SMAD2 and SMAD3 signaling in myocardium in vivo and decreased cardiac mass in both young (2-month-old) and old (22-month-old) mice in a dose-dependent manner after only 9 days. Conclusions: Our study confirms an age-dependent decline in serum GDF11/8 levels in multiple mammalian species and that exogenous GDF11 rapidly activates SMAD signaling and reduces cardiomyocyte size. Unraveling the molecular basis for the age-dependent decline in GDF11/8 could yield insight into age-dependent cardiac pathologies. ( Circ Res . 2016;118:29-37. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.115.307521.)


Transverse mode characteristics and control for vertical-cavity top-surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are discussed. A spatial filtering concept for the control of VCSEL transverse modes that allows over 1.5-mW single TEM/sub 00/ transverse mode emission to be routinely achieved from continuous-wave electrically excited VCSELs is introduced. Without spatial filtering, L-I and V-I kinks are observed.<<ETX>>


The number of mobile users is increasing rapidly, 3GPP initiated a new technology 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is an enabling technology as a solution to the problem of network capacity and quality in areas that have a high demand like Sleman. The quality of LTE networks are supported by backbone and distribution network. This paper describes the designing of fiber optic network as the LTE backbone network in Sleman. The backbone network requires G-652 optical cable along 85 km with a ring topology and WDM-STM64 technology. The distribution network uses GPON technology and the type of G984 optical cable along 61.35 km. The minimum of power received at the end-point in the optisystem simulation is −25 dBm and −26 dBm through the calculation, this value is good because it is still above the minimum of power received (Receiver Sensitivity) −28 dBm which refers to the standard parameters of G.984.2. The average value of rise time is 69 ps, this value is still below the maximum allowable value of rise time 70 ps. Average BER of backbone link is 5×10−4.


Human T cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) encodes the trans-activator, Tax, which facilitates viral transcription from three 21 bp repeated elements within the U3 region of the long terminal repeat (LTR). Electrophoretic mobility shift (EMS) analyses utilizing double-stranded (ds) oligonucleotides homologous to each of the 21 bp repeats and nuclear extracts derived from selected cell lines of lymphocytic, neuronal, and glial origin have demonstrated the differential binding of cellular factors to each of the three 21 bp repeats. Specifically, both a glial cell-specific DNA-protein complex (designated GCS) and 21 bp repeat-specific DNA-protein complexes (designated U1 and U2) were detected. The formation of the GCS DNA-protein complex may involve activating transcription factor (ATF)/cAMP-response element (CRE) binding protein (CREB) family member(s) while the formation of the U1 and U2 DNA-protein complexes may involve an Sp1-related factor. In addition, three ATF-CREB-related DNA-protein complexes common to each individual 21 bp repeat (designated C1-C3) were also detected. However, we demonstrated that the abundance of the C1 and C2 DNA-protein complexes detected with the individual 21 bp repeats and glial cell nuclear extract was relatively low compared to that obtained with lymphocyte, monocyte, or neuronal nuclear extracts. We also have demonstrated that the ATF-CREB factors participating formation of the GCS DNA-protein complex are distinct from those participating in formation of the C1-C3 DNA-protein complexes. Based on nucleotide sequence requirements and immunoreactivity, we suggest that the GCS DNA-protein complex may contain a novel glial cell type specific ATF-CREB-related factor(s). Furthermore, we demonstrate that the CRE modulator (CREM) protein in conjunction with the ATF/CREB factor, CREBP1, interact with each of the three 21 bp repeats to form the C3 DNA-protein complex. However, the abundance of the C3 DNA-protein complex formed utilizing the promoter proximal repeat is dramatically lower compared to either of the other two 21 bp repeat elements. Based on these observations, we suggest that the differential binding of cellular factors to each of the three 21 bp repeat elements may play a role in basal as well as Tax-mediated LTR-directed transcription within cell populations of either immune or nervous system origin.


The purpose of this study was the implementation of a simulation for a subsea production system. This subsea production system is installed under environments with high pressure and low temperature. Most of the processes for oil and gas production occur in the subsea equipment. Therefore, an understanding and study of subsea production systems is very difficult because people cannot directly observe the processes occurring in the subsea production system. A simulation system can be a useful solution for this difficult problem. In this research, information models and a 3?D graphic model of the subsea equipment were built using the object?oriented technology and 3?D CAD. The entire system was implemented with the help of simulation software, 3?DVIA Virtools. The simulation system for the subsea production system was tested using several production process scenarios. The results of the tests showed that the simulation system is very useful for understanding a subsea production system and could be a good educational tool.


Probably no other symptom of childhood is more common than abdominal pain localized at, or just above, the navel. It corresponds to headache in adult life in the relative frequency of its occurrence, and often in its significance. This analogy, with some probability, is due to the fact that the chief center of the child's sympathetic nervous network lies in this location, which in early life has a more dominant role than at any other time. Whereas, in older patients the onset of disease is heralded by pain in the head, in children its initiation is frequently marked by pain in the abdomen. To distinguish such symptomatic pain from that significant of pathologic changes of the abdomen requires thoughtful consideration on the part of any practitioner, whether he is an internist, pediatrician or surgeon. Because of this fact, it does not seem inappropriate for me to discuss chronic intussusception, although


OBJECTIVE
To determine the extent to which clinical variables and changes in clinical variables explain depression and depression changes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHODS
713 patients with RA attending an outpatient rheumatology clinic were studied at their 2 most recent clinic visits as part of their ordinary rheumatic disease care. Six demographic variables and 7 clinical variables were assessed including the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale depression score, Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire Functional Disability Index (HAQ-DI), visual analog scale (VAS) pain scales, joint count, grip strength, am stiffness, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Change scores representing the difference between the scores at the last and the next to last visit were calculated for all clinical variables.

RESULTS
About 20% of the variance in depression change scores was explained by changes in clinical variables. The amount of variance explained appeared to be inversely related to the time between visits. Thirty-four percent of the variance in current levels of depression scores was explained by current clinical and demographic variables. The most important predictors of depression score and depression change were VAS Pain and HAQ-DI. At the last clinic visit between 11 and 16% of the depression score was explained by changes in depression scores since the previous clinic visit.

CONCLUSION
Clinical changes explain 20% of depressive changes between visits, while 34% of current depression scores are explained by current clinical status. Changes in pain and HAQ-DI predict changes in depression.


Background. Paediatric burn dressing changes are repetitive, painful and distressing to the child. Some parents are distressed themselves following the injury, and this seems to impair their ability to support the child through the repeated procedures. Greater understanding this impact of parent distress on the child can lead to targeted intervention. We hypothesised parent distress would impact child coping and distress behaviour, through parent behaviour.
Methods. Eighty-seven families were recruited at the Pegg Leditschke Burn Outpatient Clinic, Lady Cilento Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Australia. Parents completed a mental health screen. Parent and child behaviour were observed during the dressing change. Mediation analyses were employed.
Findings. Parents with higher anxiety/depression demonstrated less coping-promoting, which reduced the positive effect on child coping (ab=-.04; 95%CI=-.11 to -.01). Parents with higher posttraumatic stress demonstrated more distress-promoting, which increased the negative effect on child coping (ab=-.04; 95%CI=-.13 to -.0003), and also increased the positive effect on child distress (ab=.21; 95%CI=.02 to .61). Independent of these mediations, parent mental health did not directly influence child coping or distress (c's .068).
Discussion. Parent mental health affects how a parent supports a child, and leads to reduced child coping during a dressing change. This research suggests that some parents will need specific support to assist with their coping during paediatric burn dressing changes. A short video intervention, addressing psychological distress and behavioural modification is currently being tested for acceptability and feasibility in the busy clinical burn outpatient environment.


Thousands of scenarios are used to provide updated estimates for the impacts of climate change on extreme poverty in 2030. The range of the number of people falling into poverty due to climate change is between 32 million and 132 million in most scenarios. These results are commensurate with available estimates for the global poverty increase due to COVID-19. Socioeconomic drivers play a major role: optimistic baseline scenarios (rapid and inclusive growth with universal access to basic services in 2030) halve poverty impacts compared with the pessimistic baselines. Health impacts (malaria, diarrhea, and stunting) and the effect of food prices are responsible for most of the impact. The effect of food prices is the most important factor in Sub-Saharan Africa, while health effects, natural disasters, and food prices are all important in South Asia. These results suggest that accelerated action to boost resilience is urgent, and the COVID-19 recovery packages offer opportunities to do so.


The purpose of this study is to figure out the perceptions of correctional professionals about the restoration process of ex-offenders`` family. A total of 11 professionals from various correctional works have participated in this study. The main questions are as follows: First, what is the important meaning of family restoration to ex-offenders? Second, what are the difficulties that exist in the process of ex-offenders`` family restoration? Third, what are the kinds of support needed for the ex-offenders`` family restoration process? These three questions have been organized as 10 domains and 33 categories using consensual qualitative research(CQR). The results of this study indicated the following outcomes. First, to ex-offenders, the meaning of family restoration process included a driving force for a new life, the different processes of family restoration based on the types of ex-offenders, and the reunion with family which was hard to endure during the imprisonment. Second, during the family restoration process, ex-offenders have experienced hardships that were due to internal characteristics of individual ex-offenders, the disorganization of family relationship, and social reentry. Third, the kinds of support required for the ex-offenders`` family restoration process are the support for individuals`` internal problems, rearing issues of children, family relationship, and social reentry. The implications and limitations of this study have been discussed


Background: Several studies, but not all, of primarily middle-aged or younger adults have suggested that the common MTHFR C677T variant is a genetic risk factor for migraine with aura (MA). Here, we consider whether this variant is associated with MA risk in an older non-clinical population (AGES-Reykjavik cohort). Methods: Participants are a sub-sample (n = 1976) of subjects from the Reykjavik Study (RS; mean age 50) and its continuation, AGES-RS (mean age 76). We estimated the relative odds of MA in TT versus CC carriers using multinomial logistic regression. As both MA and the TT genotype may be linked with modestly reduced longevity, we performed a simple simulation to illustrate the effect that selective survival may have had on our observed gene–disease association. Results: TT versus CC carriers were at marginally reduced odds of MA (ORTT 0.55 (0.3–1.0), p = 0.07), significantly for women (ORTT 0.45 (0.2–0.9), p = 0.03). Assuming the 'true' (e.g. mid-life) effect of the TT genotype is ORTT 1.26, from a recent meta-analysis, our simulation suggested that if 25-year mortality had been (hypothetically) 13% higher in MA subjects with the TT versus CC genotype, the measured effect of the TT genotype on MA would have been attenuated to non-significance (e.g. ORTT 1.00). Our observed protective effect was consistent with the most extreme selective mortality scenario, in which essentially all of the previously reported increased mortality in MA subjects was (hypothetically) found in CT or TT carriers. Conclusion: The MTHFR 677TT genotype was associated with marginally reduced risk of MA in our older population. Our simulation illustrated how even modest selective survival might obscure the apparent effect of a genetic or other risk factor in older populations. We speculate that some of the heterogeneity previously observed for this particular genetic variant may be due to age range differences in the studied populations.


Nanoscience and nanotechnology have received considerable attention due to their benefits to many areas of research and application such as pharmaceutical industry, medicine, electronics and tissue engineering. Much of nanoscience and nanotechnologies are concerned with producing new materials especially for use as diagnosis, and drug delivery systems. According to the World Health Organization and Cancer Research UK, the top two causes of death in the world are due to the hypertension (one of the primary risks factors for cardiovascular diseases) and different known cancers that affect humans. As such, different types of carriers have been used to design different anti-cancer and anti-heypertensive therapeutic and diagnostic agents. The new developing drug delivery system has capability in which the drugs can be released in a sustained manner over long periods of time into the targeted tissue. Therefore, it enable an almost constant level of drug to be kept in the bloodstream (by injection method) or delivering it to a specific region of the gastrointestinal tract, orally for treatment of cancers and cardiovascular diseases. In order to reduce the toxicity of uncoated magnetite nanoparticles and prevent their aggregation which occurs due to dipole-dipole attraction of magnetic particles different biocompatible polymers were used as a coating material. One of the polymer that was used as a coating material for nanoparticles is a natural polymer, chitosan. Due to NH3+ groups of chitosan, it can be attracted by by –OH- groups of iron oxide nanoparticles to inhibit the nuclear growth of iron oxide. The other polymer known as poly ethylene glycol (PEG) which is soluble in both polar and nonpolar solvents due to the presence of polar oxygen atom and nonpolar (CH2)2 group in it. Also, because of coating the nanoparticles with a neutral and hydrophilic compound such as PEG and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), the circulatory half-life can be increased from minutes to hours or days.
This study aimed at the synthesis and development of several anti-cancer and an anti-hyperthensive nanodelivery formulations using iron oxide nanoparticles (FNPs) coated with different biocompatible polymers such as chitosan (C), PEG and PVA, loaded with different active drugs namely gallic acid (GA), 6-mercaptopurine (MP) and perindopril erbumine (PE). A total of 7 nanocomposites based on the aforementioned anti-cancer drugs; GA and MP and anti-hyperthensive drug; PE were prepared by co-precipitation method to increase the residence time in the body via a sustained release formulation to increase the clinical efficacy. All the three (3) active drugs (GA, MP and PE) were integrated separately into iron oxide-chitosan and iron oxide-PEG to form 6 new nanocomposites; FCG, FCMP-D, FCPE, FPEGG, FPEGMP-2 and FPEGPE, respectively. The active drug gallic acid (GA) was also loaded onto iron oxide nanoparticles-polyvinyl alcohol (FNPs-PVA) to form FPVAG nanocomposite. The release behaviour of the drugs from the nanocomposites in human body simulated phosphate buffer solutions (PBS) of intercellular lysosomal pH 4.8 and human blood pH 7.4 was found to be of sustained manner. The release of the drugs from FCG, FCMP-D, FCPE, FPEGG, FPVAG, FPEGMP-2 and FPEGPE nanocomposites in human body simulated phosphate buffer solutions (PBS) of human blood pH 7.4 is 1600, 6300, 5631, 6905, 6594, 5520 and 4223 minutes respectively, compared to 1300, 2500, 2743, 5775, 3045, 4440 and 1231 minutes respectively, at pH 4.8 (human body simulated PBS of intercellular lysosomal). It was found that all the nanocomposites were more biocompatible compared to free drugs although the choice of coating materials as well as loading percentages of active drugs on the nanocarrier was found to be affected by the activity of the resulting materials. Cytotoxicity study of FCG nanocomposite shows greater anticancer activity as was seen in MCF7 cell lines than in HT29 cell lines. Also, after 72 hours of treatment, the FCG nanocomposite was not toxic to a normal human fibroblast (3T3) cell lines in the tested doses. The FCMP-D nanocomposites, shows better anticancer activity against leukemia cell lines (WEHI-3B) than FCMP and pure drug. The IC50 for the FCMP-D is 1.19 ± 0.45 μg/mL compared to 4.94 ± 0.76 μg/mL for FCMP nanocomposite after 72 hours post treatment exposed to 0.47-30 μg/mL concentrations. It was found that the FPEGG nanocomposite demonstrated higher anticancer effect on the breast cancer cell lines (MCF7) in almost all concentrations tested (0.78-25.0 μg/mL) compared to FPVAG nanocomposite. Anticancer activity of FPEGMP-2 nanocomposite was found to be slightly higher than FPEGMP-0.5 in a dose-dependent manner on the leukemic cell lines (WEHI-3B) after 72 hours of treatment exposed to 1.9-60 μg/mL concentrations. This may be attributed to the differences in the percentage of 6-mercaptopurine between the two nanocomposites. Also, MP which is loaded into the surface of FNPs-chitosan compared to FNPs-PEG nanocarrier with the same molar ratio, shows better cytotoxicity effect which is due to the role of chitosan. The whole study shows that, iron oxide nanoparticles had a negligible effect in normal and all cancerous cell lines tested in this study. It was found that between 70-100% of cells remaining viable from 0.47 μg/mL to 60.0 μg/mL concentrations. Thus, the cytotoxicity to cancerous cell lines are likely attributable to release of active drugs (GA and MP) from the nanocarrier rather than the effect of the carrier itself. Therefore, this study demonstrated that all the new nanocomposites show controlled release property of the active drugs, and therefore can be exploited for drug delivery system. Results from in vitro studies were found to be very encouraging to further conduct the in vivo studies of these novel nanocomposites in the future.


The diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) with concomitant diabetes mellitus (DM), whose incidence is increasing.
The objective: was to investigate the state of functional capacity of the pancreas in patients with comorbidity of chronic pancreatitis and diabetes type 2.
Materials and methods. 137 patients with CP with and without concomitant diabetes mellitus were studied: the main group consisted of 112 outpatients with CP in combination with diabetes mellitus in the phase of stable or unstable remission, the comparison group – 25 patients with isolated CP, and the control group – 30 healthy individuals. Verification of diagnoses and determination of the pancreas functional capacity parameters was carried out according to generally accepted world standards.
Results. In comorbidity, exocrine insufficiency (ExI) was significantly more severe than in the group of patients with isolated CP in the content of fecal α-elastase, which corresponded to the medium and mild degrees of ExI respectively, and the coprogram score – respectively (5,60±0,10) and (3,89±0,16) points (p<0,05). We found a significant predominance of patients with comorbidity relative to that with an isolated course of CP among those who had mild (22,6 % vs. 11,7 %) and moderate (50,1 % vs. 3,7 %) degree of ExI in the complete absence of severe pancreas ExI in isolated CP against 5.1 % of such patients with CP and diabetes mellitus type 2. A statistically significant higher content of HbA1c in patients with CP with concomitant diabetes was found in relation to the group of patients with isolated CP (7,71±0,16 % vs. (5,66±0,10 %), glucose – respectively (28,89±0,33 mmol/l against 5,27±0,11 mmol/l), the level of the HOMA index – 3,29±0,07 against 1,63±0,09 (p<0,05), which confirmed the presence of IR in patients with pancreas endocrine insufficiency in the cohort of subjects, and also proved that these patients have diabetes type 2. Evaluation of the ultrasound score of the structure of the software proved that in comorbidity with diabetes mellitus, this figure is higher and corresponds to a severe degree, while in isolated CP of the studied patients – the average severity (6,25±0,67) points against (3,89±0,78) points.
Conclusion. The distribution by index and severity of patients acording M-ANNHEIM in points statistically significantly proved that the comorbidity of CP and diabetes mellitus was dominated by patients with moderate (72,2 % vs. 24,0 %) and severe CP severity (17,0 % against 8,0 %), and in isolated CP – dominated by patients with moderate severity (64,0 % vs. 4,5 %), patients with severe were more in the group of comorbid patients (6,3 % vs. 4,0 %).


We present deep, pointed $^{12}$CO($J=2-1$) observations of three late-type LSB galaxies. The beam-size was small enough that we could probe different environments (\HI maximum, \HI mininum, star forming region) in these galaxies. No CO was found at any of the positions observed. We argue that the implied lack of molecular gas is real and not caused by conversion factor effects. The virtual absence of a molecular phase may explain the very low star formation rates in these galaxies.


Asymmetry in Adjacent Channel Leakage power Ratio (ACLR) has been often observed in high power amplifiers for digital wireless communication systems such as W-CDMA. This paper describes a method for reducing the asymmetry by controlling bias circuit impedance at sub harmonics. By shortening both at 4MHz and 8MHz at the bias circuits, an 8.37-dB ACLR asymmetry could be su pressed to a 5.05-dB ACLR asymmetry, where a 10.5-dl3 3 order Inter Modulation Distortion (IMD3) asymmetry could also be successfully improved to a 1.8-dB IMD3 asymmetry.


The study aims at exploring contributions of return migrants, particularly, their role in international transfer of technology in Azad, Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Besides, reasons for migration and impact on employment generation, as well as, characteristics of migrants (s) are identified who are most likely to promote the transfer of technology. For this purpose, a field survey was conducted in Azad, Jammu and Kashmir, an area with a high rate of international migration. Econometric models were estimated to draw empirical support for determining of the issues. The empirical evidences indicate that education level, demographic profile, career planning before migration, vocational training,, duration of stay abroad and specific type of employer are some of the important determinants of migrants who are likely to transfer technology. The return migrants who spend on luxuries are less likely to contribute in this respect. Such migrants possess specific set of characteristics (s). As per our knowledge, this source of international transfer of technology has not been identified so far. Besides, different technologies like improvement in infoware, humanware, technoware and organisational skills etc., which contribute to improve human capital are identified.The study also provides information on re-employment pattern of return migrants. It further highlights impacts of return migrants on the promotion of local businesses and employment generation. Based upon the evidences, the study provides policy guideline to fully benefit from migrants. A labour policy to provide information about the types of feasible businesses, incentives to bring new technology and facilitation of setting up business could enhance local development. The study contributes by identifying an important new source of international transfer of technology (s) through migrants. The policy direction are provided to explored this new channel to transfer new technologies and, therefore, accelerate economic development in developing areas. The study would also be equally beneficial for other areas, which experience return migrants.


We describe the temporal order of recruitment of transcription factors, cofactors and basal transcriptional components and the consequent biochemical events that lead to activation of the major histocompatibility class II (MHCII) DRA gene transcription by IFN‐γ. We found that the gene is 'poised' for activation since both the activators and a fraction of the basal transcriptional machinery are pre‐assembled at the enhancer and promoter prior to IFN‐γ treatment. The class II transactivator is synthesized following IFN‐γ treatment and it is recruited to the enhanceosome leading to the subsequent recruitment of the CBP and GCN5 coactivators. This is followed by histone acetylation and recruitment of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex. CIITA also recruits the CDK7 and CDK9 kinases and enhances the ability of CDK7 to phosphorylate Pol II at Ser5 leading to initiation of mRNA synthesis. Thus, the gene‐specific class II transactivator selects the target genes for expression by coordinating a multiple set of biochemical activities ranging from chromatin alterations and pre‐initiation complex assembly to promoter clearance.


The present article reviews the sources of parenting stress in families of children with attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The sources are child characteristics, parent characteristics, and environment characteristics, e.g., child ADHD symptoms, parents' mental health status, parental cognitions, social support, work pressure or family income. Specific factors in families of children with ADHD, such as parental ADHD symptoms, are discussed. Furthermore, studies on these factors in Western and Chinese contexts are reviewed. Future directions for research on Chinese families of children with ADHD are presented.


The research objective is to develop methodologies and framework for collaborative process planning and scheduling, supported by a real-time monitoring system in distributed environments. A function block enabled collaborative process planning approach is proposed to handle various dynamic changes during process plan generation and execution. This paper focuses on collaborative process planning, particularly on the development of a function block designer As function blocks can sense environmental changes, it is expected that a so generated process plan can adapt itself to the changes with dynamically optimized solutions for plan execution and process monitoring.


We show that the definition of instantaneous eigenstate populations for a dynamical non-selfadjoint system is not obvious. The naive direct extension of the definition used for the self-adjoint case leads to inconsistencies; the resulting artifacts can induce a false inversion of population or a false adiabaticity. We show that the inconsistency can be avoided by introducing geometric phases in another possible definition of populations. An example is given which demonstrates both the anomalous effects and their removal by our approach.


Recent years have seen increasing volumes of data generated by online systems, such as internet logs, physical access logs, transaction records, email and phone records. These contain multiple overlapping sequences of events related to different individuals and entities. Information that can be mined from these event sequences is an important resource in understanding current behaviour, predicting future behaviour and identifying non-standard patterns and possible security breaches. Statistical machine learning approaches have had some success but do not allow human insight to be included easily. We have recently presented a framework for representing sequences of related events, with scope for assistance from human experts. This paper describes the framework and presents a new algorithm which (i) allows the addition of new event sequences as they are identified from data or postulated by a human analyst, and (ii) allows subtraction / removal of sequences that are no longer relevant. Examination of the sequences can be used to further refine and modify general patterns of events.


Based upon a series of focus group discussions carried out in East Yorkshire, this article contributes to debates on both the nature and theorising of heterosexual relationships that have recently been investigated from diverse perspectives. These group discussions represent the launch of the first major empirical study of heterosexuality and ageing that has been undertaken in the UK. In drawing upon preliminary data from these focus groups, our findings reinforce and add to the challenging of a representation of heterosexuality which is both monolithic and inflexible, by exploring accounts of peoples' actual lived experiences. Through this research we begin to generate a theoretical approach which highlights the complexity of these lived realities. We particularly explore the intersections of gender, age, class and family location. In doing so, we pinpoint differences, contradictions, but also continuities, in the ways in which people discuss and comment on their own and other people's perceptions and experiences of heterosexuality.


Miller Fisher syndrome is one of the forms of Guillain–Barrе́ syndrome, characterized by a clinical triad that includes ophthalmoplegia, ataxia and areflexia, with the possible addition of moderate peripheral tetraparesis. During the year that has passed since the start of the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection COVID‑19, international publications have presented a few cases of Miller Fisher syndrome, which developed in patients at different times after the COVID‑19 infection – from 3–5 days to 3 weeks. The article presents a description of a clinical case of Miller Fisher syndrome, which occurred with 34‑year‑old man 21 days after the COVID‑19 infection. The clinical manifestations of Miller Fisher syndrome were typical and included diplopia, areflexia, and ataxia. At the beginning of the disease, there was a transient episode of speech impairment in the form of mild dysarthria. Oculomotor disorders predominated in the clinical picture over other components of the classical triad. On the background of treatment with human immunoglobulin G, there was a complete regression of symptoms.This description of Miller Fisher syndrome, which developed after the postponed infection with COVID‑19, is the first in Russia. The presented case demonstrates the ability of the SARS‑CoV‑2 virus to induce the development of an autoimmune disease. Practitioners should take into account the possibility of Miller Fisher syndrome developing in the event of an acute onset of diplopia, ataxia and areflexia in patients after a previous COVID‑19 infection.


The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of hyperglycemia first diagnosed during pregnancy (Hgly), including gestational diabetes mellitus appearing early (eGDM) or after 22 weeks of gestation (GDM) or diabetes in pregnancy (DIP) and their prognosis whether women had risk factors (RFs) for Hgly or not. We included the women without known diabetes who had in our department (2012-2016) a universal screening (first: FPG measurement in early pregnancy, with immediate care without any further screening in women with eGDM or early DIP; second: OGTT after 22 WG in the other women). We considered 4 mutually exclusive groups of women according to the presence of Hgly and of RFs according to our national guidelines (maternal age ≥ 35 years or pregravid overweight or family history of diabetes or personal history of Hgly or of macrosomic infant). We considered a predefined composite endpoint (preeclampsia or large for gestational age infant or shoulder dystocia). We included 4518 women, of whom 23.5% had Hgly (eGDM 10.4%, GDM 12.2% and DIP 0.9%) and 71.1% had ≥1 RF. The four groups were: Hgly-RF- (n=1144), Hgly-RF + (n=2313), Hgly+RF - (n=163), Hgly+RF+ (n=898). Hgly was more frequent in those with RFs (OR 2.7 [95% CI 2.3-3.3]). The incidence of the composite criterion differed (p Disclosure E. Cosson: Board Member; Self; Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., LifeScan, Inc., Lilly Diabetes, Medtronic, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Novartis France, Novo Nordisk A/S, Roche Diagnostics France, Sanofi. Research Support; Self; Air Liquide, Lilly Diabetes, Novo Nordisk A/S, Roche Diagnostics France, Roche Foundation, Sanofi. E. Vicaut: Consultant; Self; Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Lilly Diabetes, Novartis France, Pfizer Inc., Pierre FABRE, Roche Pharma. D. Sandre Banon: None. C. Cussac-Pillegand: None. C. Baudry: None. P. Valensi: None. L. Carbillon: None. Funding Lilly France; Roche Diagnostics France


Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), a cancer of biliary epithelium, is a rare tumor with poor prognosis which has been increasing markedly worldwide in the past decade. The surgical resection remains a potentially curative treatment of CCA. Due to the late clinical presentation, a small number of patients can undergo for surgery. Adjuvant therapy such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy has been used for CCA. Although various chemotherapeutic agents e.g. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), gemcitabine, and cisplatin, either alone or in combination, have been widely used in CCA, the response rate is very poor with a partial response approximately 10-20%. Therefore, new agents and innovative approaches of therapy are important subjects focusing in effective treatment of CCA. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) mediate deacetylation of acetylated histones resulting in chromatin condensation and transcriptional repression. HDAC inhibitors (HDACIs) inhibit the deacetylation of histones and weaken the histone-DNA interactions, thereby permitting a more relaxed conformation of chromatin which contributes to increasing gene transcription and enabling to induce differentiation, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis of tumor cells. Recently, HDACIs are emerging as an exciting new class of potential anticancer agents for the treatment of solid and hematological malignancies with relatively resistant in normal cells. According to chemical structures, HDACIs can be classified into several groups such as sodium butyrate, valproic acid (VPA), suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) and trichostatin A (TSA). The authors aimed to investigate the mRNA expression of HDACs1-10 in a panel of CCA derived cell lines (M213, M214 and KKU-100) and an immortal biliary cell line (MMNK1) using semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The inhibitory effect of VPA and SAHA, either as a single agent or combination with classical chemotherapeutic drug, 5-FU on cell proliferation was determined by sulforhodamine B assay. The result showed that HDACs 1-10 were expressed in all cell types studied suggesting that histone deacetylation is one of epigenetic mechanisms mediating aberrantly silenced genes in CCA. Both VPA and SAHA inhibited cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, KKU-100 which was less sensitive to 5-FU showed highly sensitive to both VPA and SAHA. Simultaneously combined sub-toxic doses of HDACIs and 5-FU significantly inhibited cell proliferation in CCA cell lines compared to single agent treatment (P ≤ 0.01), while sequentially combined treatments exhibited lower responsiveness. This study suggests the prospective administration of HDACIs as potential epigenetic therapeutic drugs for CCA treatment efficacy. Citation Format: Temduang Limpaiboon, Ruethairat Sriraksa. Histone deacetylase inhibitors: Potential epigenetic therapeutic drugs for cholangiocarcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1004. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-1004


Objective: The aim of the current study was to examine the rates of violence prior to and 3 years following treatment initiation, and predictors of post-treatment violence in Chinese young people presenting with first-episode psychosis (FEP). Method: Seven hundred patients aged 15–25 years consecutively enrolled in a territory-wide early intervention program for FEP in Hong Kong from July 2001 to August 2003 were studied. Socio-demographic, pre-treatment, baseline and 3-year follow-up variables were collected via systematic medical file review. Violent behavior was defined as physical aggression towards people and was further categorized at two levels of severity. Results: After onset of psychosis, 6.7% (n = 47) patients exhibited violence before treatment. During 3-year treatment period, 9.4% (n = 66) committed violent behavior and 4.3% (n = 30) perpetrated serious violence. Two-fifths (40.4%) of patients who displayed pre-treatment violent behavior engaged in further act of violence after service contact. Multivariate regression analysis showed that previous violence, male gender and lower educational attainment were significantly associated with an increased risk of violence during 3-year follow-up. Comorbid substance, male gender, lower educational level and past history of violence were found to independently predict occurrence of serious violence after commencement of treatment for FEP. Conclusions: In a large representative cohort of Chinese young FEP patients, the rates of violent behavior before and after treatment were relatively lower than that reported in the literature. Risk factors for violence identified by the current study were comparable to the findings of previous research conducted in western populations. Close monitoring of patients with history of violence and specific treatments targeting at minimizing substance abuse may facilitate early identification and intervention of high-risk cases to reduce violence risk in the early course of illness.


The thermocline plays a key role in underwater acoustics and marine ecology. In oceanographic surveys, it is often desirable to detect the thermocline and track its spatio-temporal variation. Mobility of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) makes it an efficient platform for thermocline tracking. In this paper, we present an autonomous algorithm for detecting and tracking the thermocline by an AUV. The key is detection and close tracking of the maximum vertical gradient of temperature. On August 31 and September 1, 2010, the Tethys AUV ran the algorithm to closely track the thermocline across a sharp temperature front in Monterey Bay, CA.


In this article, we review the evidence that dietary protein has a positive influence on bone health, reduces hip fracture risk, and promotes postfracture recovery, and we consider the molecular, cellular, and endocrine bases of the interactions that link protein and calcium metabolism, including effects via IGF-1 and PTH. In addition, we consider the roles of amino acid-sensing mechanisms in coupling dietary protein intake to metabolic change as well as the central role of calcium-sensing receptors (CaRs) in the control of calcium metabolism. Finally, we consider how recently identified broad-spectrum amino acid-sensing receptors from class 3 of the G-protein coupled receptor superfamily including, remarkably, the CaR itself may contribute to the impact of dietary protein on bone.


Where does new volatility enter the volatility of securities listed in many countries? While literature has focused on where information enters the price, I develop a framework to study how each market's volatility contributes to the permanent volatility of the Asset. I build a VECM with an Autoregressive Stochastic Volatility (ASV) framework estimated using the MCMC method and Bayesian inference. This specification allows defining the measures of a market's contribution to volatility discovery. In the application, I study cash and 3-months futures markets of some metals traded on the London Metals Exchange. I also study the EURO STOXX 50 Index and its futures. I find that for most the securities, while price discovery happens on the cash market, the volatility discovery mostly happens in the futures market. Overall, the results suggest that information discovery and volatility discovery do not necessarily have the same determinants.


The wheat represents the most widely used grain in the World, also in Balkans it represents the main food product which is mostly used for the production of bread, pasta and many other products. Based on the technological qualities of wheat flour, however, it depends the use of wheat's; for the purpose of technological qualities a great role is played by the locality where the wheat is cultivated. In this particular paper one analyzed four domestic cultivars which were cultivated in two different sites, regarding the physical and chemical as well as rheology qualities, one observed great deal of differences from the same cultivar but which is cultivated in different locations. The most prominent difference is observed with the flour of cultivar Evropa, whereby the wheat from Macedonia exhibits far worse technological qualities compared to that of Kosovo.


INVOLVEMENT of the heart or pericardium in leukemia is a common finding in postmortem studies, with an incidence varying between 30% and 37%.1Despite this high frequency, little morbidity or mortality is usually produced. Pericarditis, cardiomegaly, congestive heart failure, or ECG changes develop only occasionally. The ECG changes, including tachycardia, ST-T wave, and voltage changes are usually of a nonspecific nature2-4and asymptomatic. Heart block has rarely been reported and is usually not symptomatic.4-7However, high-grade heart block may be fatal if untreated.5,6The cases reported by Blotner and Sosman1in 1944 and by Habel7in 1973 suggest that it may respond to radiotherapy. We report the case of an adult with erythroleukemia in whom symptomatic seconddegree heart block developed, which responded promptly to a single dose of radiation and ultimately had all evidence of conduction system disturbance resolve. Report of a Case A


Social tagging systems have recently developed as a popular method of data organisation on the Internet. These systems allow users to organise their content in a way that makes sense to them, rather than forcing them to use a pre-determined and rigid set of categorisations. These folksonomies provide well populated sources of unstructured tags describing web resources which could potentially be used as semantic index terms for these resources. However getting people to agree on what tags best describe a resource is a difficult problem, therefore any feature which increases the consistency and stability of terms chosen would be extremely beneficial. We investigate how the provision of a tag cloud, a weighted list of terms commonly used to assist in browsing a folksonomy, during the tagging process itself influences the tags produced and how difficult the user perceived the task to be. We show that illustrating the most popular tags to users assists in the tagging process and encourages a stable and consistent folksonomy to form.


Objective. To demonstrate the association between clinical improvement in substance-related problems and psychiatric symptoms in psychotic patients.

Methods. The data was gathered from randomised controlled trial of brief intervention for substance-related problem in psychosis. The Alcohol, Smoking, Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) was used to identify substance use in the moderate risk range among psychotic patients. 169 participants were randomised to treatment-as-usual (TAU), single-session Brief Intervention (BI), or single-session BI with family support (BI-FS). The Jacobson & Truax Reliable Chang Index (RCI) was used to explore the clinical significant individual change from baseline to six months of the ASSIST score and classified into "Clinically improved – CI" or "Not improved – NI". The outcome was the change score of Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). A two level mixed effects model was fit to determine differences in outcomes between RCI outcomes.

Results. 54 participants (32%) were classified into CI. Compared to NI, participants in CI reported a significant reduction in both total and all subscales of BPRS score. The interaction term was significant in total, positive and negative symptoms subscale between CI and BI-FS.

Conclusion. Improvement in substance-related problems can improve psychotic symptoms. BI-FS had an additive effect to improve some subscales.


The stainless steel cannula inserting method was used to observe the effects of 7 vasoactive substances in the isolated intermediate auricular artery of the dog. The isolated artery was suspended in a bath at 37 degrees C and perfused with Ringer-Locke solution under a constant flow rate. Drugs were administered in the endothelial side of the artery through a cannulated tubing, and the response was obtained as changes in perfusion pressure. 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), norepinephrine (NE), tyramine, ATP and prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha) increased perfusion pressure in a dose-related manner. The order of potency for inducing vasoconstriction was 5-HT greater than NE = PGF2 alpha greater than tyramine greater than ATP greater than KCl. Histamine caused either slight biphasic responses or no change in perfusion pressure. The canine auricular artery would be a good in vitro model for studying pharmacological responses of cutaneous vessels.


The objective of the present study is to develop methodology for the assessment of combustion stability of liquid rocket injectors. To simulate actual combustion occurring inside of a thrust chamber, a fullscale injector has been employed in the study, which burns gaseous oxygen and mixture of methane and propane. The main idea of the experiment is that the mixing mechanism is considered as a dominant factor significantly affecting combustion instability in a fullscale thrust chamber. A single split triplet injector has been used with an open-end cylindrical combustion chamber. The characteristics revealed by excited dynamic pressures in gaseous combustion show degrees of relative acoustic damping depending on operating conditions. Upon test results, the direct comparison between various types of injectors can be realized for the selection of the best design among prospective injectors.