This is a summary of the history and development of corporate governance principles in Ireland. It was first presented as a Report for a Comparative Study conducted under the direction of Professor Hopt for submission to the International Academy of Comparative Law. Professor Hopt's report was presented at the 2010 Conference in Washington DC and his report, together with some country synopsis will be published shortly. The Irish Report was not part of the final text but is presented here as a working paper. Accompanying the technical report is a snapshot of the crucial questions which are raised by the current financial crisis as experienced in Ireland, driven largely by over-exposure to a property bubble in Ireland.


The aim of the study was to assess health indicators in the city of Zagreb in order to evaluate the population health status and health needs. A descriptive method was used to analyze data from regular health statistics. In the population of Zagreb, the life expectancy at birth is longer than the European average but shorter than that recorded in Austria and Slovenia. The standardized mortalitay rates of tracheal, bronchial and lung cancer, and of malignant diseases in the Zagreb population exceed the European average, whereas those of ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, uterine cervix carcinoma and breast cancer are lower than the European average. Circulatory diseases and neoplasms, the two most important groups of death causes, showed a constant rise during the 30-year period (1971-2001). The highest index of primary health care utilization (98.8%) was recorded for the > or = 65 age group, with a mean of 7.5 primary health care visits per capita. The prevalence of hypertensive disorders and of intervertebral disk diseases and other dorsopathies was significantly higher in the oldest population group (chi2 = 27.3 and chi2 = 13.43, respectively, p < 0.05 both). Considering the predominance of chronic widespread diseases that substantially influence the patient's quality of life, public health actions should primarily be focused on preserving personal autonomy of the old and sick man for as long as possible. As the standardized mortality rates of ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases, tracheal, bronchial and lung cancer, and malignant diseases exceed those reported from some neighboring countries, the highest priority and needs are now related to coping with unhealthy behavior of the population such as smoking, physical inactivity, and dietary issues that should be modified and controlled through implementation of preventive programs, along with appropriate organization and management of public health services.


This document defines the architecture for IP and LDP Fast Reroute
using Maximally Redundant Trees (MRT-FRR). MRT-FRR is a technology
that gives link-protection and node-protection with 100% coverage in
any network topology that is still connected after the failure.


Published data on radiolysis of liquid (mainly aqueous, water–alcohol and alcoholic) and solid [mainly in poly(vinyl alcohol)] solutions of tetrazolium salts are generalised. The mechanism of radiolytic transformations of these compounds is discussed. Their application in dosimetry of ionising radiation is considered in detail. The bibliography includes 60 references.


In the presence of lanthanum (La), the balance between osteogenesis and adipogenesis was broken in mouse mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in vitro, resulting in osteogenic induction and adipogenic inhibition, which were verified by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and calcium secretion, and oil red O staining assays, respectively. The molecular data revealed that La up-regulated the expression levels of osteogenesis-associated genes and proteins, while it inhibited the expression of adipogenesis-associated genes and proteins. Furthermore, the mechanism of La on bone metabolism was investigated by screening 84 genes involved in differentiation of MSCs. The results showed that Smad1/5/8, a key protein involved in the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling pathway, was significantly phosphorylated under the exposure of La, leading to the activation of the BMP signaling pathway with subsequent up-regulation of the osteogenic genes and the down-regulation of the adipogenic genes.


PURPOSE
There is limited information in the literature regarding the effect of different endodontic sealers on the bond strength of fiber posts luted with core buildup materials. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of three different root canal sealers on the retentive strength of prefabricated fiber posts luted with a composite resin cement.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Fifty-four extracted single-rooted mandibular premolar teeth were prepared and randomly divided into three groups. The first two groups were obturated with gutta-percha and one of two eugenol-based root canal sealers (Endofil, Tubli-Seal). The third group (control) was obturated with gutta-percha and a resin-based root canal sealer (AH26). Prefabricated fiber posts were luted into the prepared post spaces with a composite resin cement (Multicore Flow). The pullout forces required for dislodgment of posts from their prepared post spaces were recorded. Data were collected and statistically analyzed.

RESULTS
The AH26 group had significantly greater retentive strengths for the posts when compared with the Endofil and Tubli-Seal (eugenol-based sealers) groups (p<0.0001). There was no significant difference between the means of the retentive strengths for the Endofil and Tubli-Seal groups (p=0.745).

CONCLUSION
The chemical formulation of root canal sealers significantly affected the retentive strength for prefabricated fiber posts luted with a resin cement. Eugenol-based sealers significantly reduced the bond strength of prefabricated fiber posts luted with resin cement.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the impact of different warm ischemia time on structure and function of the non-heart-beating donor lung and to find out the feasibility of non-heart-beating donor in rat lung transplantation.

METHODS
Sixty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: heart-beating donor (HBD) group, non-heart-beating donor (NHBD) with 30 minutes of warm ischemia time (WIT) group and NHBD with 60 minutes of WIT group. Each group has 10 pairs (the donors and the recipients). The donor lungs of group HBD were flushed with low potassium dextran (LPD) solution at 4 degrees C after asystolia while the lungs of group NHBD-30 and group NHBD-60 remained ventilated at the room temperature for 30 and 60 minutes after asystolia and then were flushed with LPD solution. All the donor lungs remained inflated when they were stored in LPD solution at 4 degrees C for 4 hours. The recipient rat underwent left thoracotomy, and then orthotopic left lung transplantation. Followed by a right thoracotomy, the right pulmonary hilum were ligated with one-hour reperfusion and ventilation.

RESULTS
All the recipients in group HBD and group NHBD-30 survived the observation period of one hour with excellent gas exchange, whereas 4 of recipients in group NHBD-60 survived for 10 minutes after the ligation of right pulmonary hilum and 3 for 20 minutes. The pulmonary compliance, ultrastructure, energy metabolite and other markers revealed no significant differences between group HBD and group NHBD-30 (P > 0.05). But the differences between group NHBD-60 and other two groups were significant (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The adoption of non-heart-beating donor could be a safe and effective method to expand the lung donor pool. The NHBD lung with 30 minutes of WIT may be suitable for lung transplantation in rat.


Dermatological problems are one of the most common clinical entities in domestic pets and fur bearing animals (Deshmukh et al., 2010). Amongst them, sarcoptic mange is one of the most common and major constraint in commercial rabbit production in India (Darzi et al., 2007). Sarcoptic mange is the most obstinate, resistant and contagious disease with zoonotic importance (Kumar et al., 2002). It is mainly characterized by pruritis, alopecia and in prolonged illness; the animal becomes emaciated and mayeven die due to cachexia (Roy et al., 2001). Being a contagious parasitic skin disease, mites are generally spread by direct contact between infected and healthy rabbits (Panigrahi and Gupta, 2013). Sarcoptic mange, if left untreated may cause significant morbidity and economic loss in the livestock. Moreover, high costs are associated with acaricides used in infested livestock (Rehbein et al., 2003 and Walton et al., 2004). The avermectin compounds can be used to treat rabbits which are naturally infected with scabies (Kachhawa et al., 2013 and Eraslan et al., 2010). The present communication reports the successful management of sarcoptic mange in rabbits.


Although its consequences can be devastating, revenge is surprisingly understudied. In this dissertation, I address several key questions. For example, are the factors that trigger revenge the same across different individuals? What are the psychological processes that facilitate revenge? Does revenge have any adaptive value? These issues were addressed with a series of three studies. Study 1 explored whether personality predictors of self-reported revenge generalize across four specific transgressions. Results indicated that narcissists were only vengeful after social rejection whereas psychopaths and neurotics tended to be vengeful across transgressions. Study 2 expanded on these results by exploring trait-level vengeful fantasies and vengeful behaviors and the impact of a potential mediator, namely, anger rumination. Neuroticism was shown to be predictive of vengeful fantasies: This association was entirely mediated by anger rumination. Psychopathy predicted vengeful behavior: This association was partially mediated by vengeful fantasies. Study 3 involved the analysis of participants" personal anecdotes about how they reacted to transgressions against them. Coded variables included revenge as well as 10 other coping behaviors: These 11 predictors were then evaluated with respect to their impact on both immediate relief and long-term recovery. Although the revenge option fostered immediate relief, it did not benefit long-term recovery. Only one coping behavior (meaning-making) actually fostered recovery. The contributions and limitations of this research plus suggestions for future studies are discussed.


The ICAD gene plays an important role in the growth and development processes in insects. We conducted a molecular cloning and functional analysis to study a specific silkworm gene BmICAD related to apoptosis. The BmICAD gene was obtained from the fifth instar larvae of the silkworm by RTPCR and over-expressed in Escherichia coli as His-tagged fusion proteins. Subcellular localization of the protein indicated that BmICAD was found in the cytoplasm near the nucleus. RNAi assay indicated that the apoptosis rate of Bm5 cells increased markedly. A His pull-down assay was used to investigate proteins that bind to rBmICAD. Two proteins, DNA supercoiling factor (SCF) and secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC), were found. These results indicate that down regulation of BmICAD can increase the apoptosis rate of Bm5 cells, and that SCF and SPARC may have important roles by interacting with BmICAD during this process.


Sports journalism stands out as a form of reporting of high social impact due to the universality of sport and also because of its deep-rooted intranational significance. This journalistic field runs through a moment of flourishing where new specialized media in the different platforms were born and thereby a profound transformation in their structures. This kind of journalism has become an innovative and extremely dynamic area, defined by its continuous exploration of new ways of storytelling embracing new digital technologies. This article focuses on some of the latest trends in sports journalism, which are claimed to show the way for the following years like new multimedia, interactives, data journalism or longform features.


'yniLE relationships between the socioeconomic, physiological and emotional problems of aging and the dental care of the elderly have been cited (1-5), little research has been directed toward ascertaining the degree to which each of these factors affects the utilization of dental services by the elderly. A study of these variables may reveal explanations as to the very low effective demand (6) compared with a high level of observed need for dental services (7) among older persons and serve as a useful guide in approaching the issues of public policy concerning the organization and financing of dental services for these people. Proportionately, older persons do not share equally in the amount of dental services with the other age groups within our society (8). By observing his infrequent dental visits alone, the older person may be viewed as exhibiting low expectations regarding his dental health and as being poorly motivated with respect to prevention, early diagnosis and treatment.


Results on the zooplankton (Chaetognatha and Mollusca) col- lected during the Vulcano project (cruise Vulcano 0313, Vulcano 1013) after the eruption in El Hierro Island (Canary Islands) are presented. These results are compared with preceding information from TFMCBM/1991 and TFM- CBM/2009 cruises supported by the Natural History Museum of Tenerife is- land, previous to the eruptive process wich affected this area.


Comparative studies of sex segregation indicate that the levels in the Scandinavian countries are high, especially in Norway. Observers tend to link this to various aspects of the social democratic welfare state. This article examines the thesis that the public sector in the Scandinavian welfare state model is an attractive employer for women, with regard to both working conditions and wages. The data consist of a sample from the 1990 Norwegian population census of men and women between the age of 40 and 45. The economic consequences of the same occupational choices are shown to vary for men and women. The men have greater earnings advantages if they choose occupations in the private sector with low proportions of women. The earnings advantages for women in such occupations, compared to women in public sector occupations, are far lower. Further, the earnings of women in private sector male-dominated occupations are influenced by their childcare responsibilities. The higher the childcare responsibilities, the lower the earnings. No effects of childcare responsibilities are found among women in public sector occupations with large proportions of men. These findings thus indicate that the size and the organisation of the public sector in Scandinavia contributes to sex segregation in the labour market.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a genetically complex and heterogenous disorder. In a small proportion of cases, mutations in three determinative (causal) genes are responsible for autosomal dominant early-onset forms of AD. The majority of cases, however, is sporadic, late-onset AD with unknown etiology. The pathology and clinical manifestations of these forms are influenced by multiple genetic and environmental risk factors. Over the past decades, a number of candidate genes have been identified as disease modifiers with conflicting results. This study reviews susceptibility genes that are associated with increased risk of developing AD.


Cancer cells have been demonstrated in the blood of man and of animals; they have been demonstrated in the blood of veins draining the tumors, 11 and in the peripheral circulation. Among pioneers in this field are Ashworth, 6 Engell, 14 Pool and Dunlop, 28 Roberts et al, 29,30 and many others. A most significant and interesting phenomenon occurring following the development of neoplasia in the hosts is the transport and the lodgement of cancer cells, many of which grow into metastases. Thus the invasion or intravasation of neoplastic cells into blood vessels, or both, is followed by their transport into blood vessels via established vascular pathways. The cell or cells lodge in the capillaries where they become entrapped in an intravascular microcoagula. This is followed, sometimes in a matter of minutes, by the growth and migration of the cells through the wall of the capillaries to the extravascular space,


Speech is the most unique feature of humans and it is the basic mode of verbal communication. Among all, a few people face hurdles in producing normal speech because of various types of speech disorders. Stuttering is one of the disorder types mainly characterized by repetition of syllables or words and involuntary interruption during the speech. One of the unsolved problems in the realm of fluency disorder is the level identification, based upon the patient's utterance before and after the speech therapy. The main objective of the paper is to perform analysis of vocal tone to identify the major differences between a normal, moderate and severely stuttered speech, particularly for the Tamil spoken language. The stutter speech vocal tone analysis involves envelope detection based on Hilbert transform has been computed from the input of normal and stuttered speech waves in which by applying normalization to the spectrum and cepstrum of the obtained signal considering only Tamil syllable as input. The experimental outcomes are given as subjective evaluation in three categories of speech signals which results people affected by severe stuttering having low vocal tone than moderate and normal stuttering speech.


While the newspaper industry is in crisis and less time and resources are available for newsgathering, social media turn out to be a convenient and cheap beat for (political) journalism. This article investigates the use of Twitter as a source for newspaper coverage of the 2010 British and Dutch elections. Almost a quarter of the British and nearly half of the Dutch candidates shared their thoughts, visions, and experiences on Twitter. Subsequently, these tweets were increasingly quoted in newspaper coverage. We present a typology of the functions tweets have in news reports: they were either considered newsworthy as such, were a reason for further reporting, or were used to illustrate a broader news story. Consequently, we will show why politicians were successful in producing quotable tweets. While this paper, which is part of a broader project on how journalists (and politicians) use Twitter, focuses upon the coverage of election campaigns, our results indicate a broader trend in journalism. In the future, the reporter who attends events, gathers information face-to-face, and asks critical questions might instead aggregate information online and reproduce it in journalism discourse thereby altering the balance of power between journalists and sources.


In no other phase of human development was produced such amount of waste as cur- rently. Its composition and quantity are directly related to the way the population lives, socioeconomic condition and the ease of access to consumer goods. The irregular dis- position of such waste may cause harmful environmental impacts. One of the most dangerous solid wastes is the vulcanized rubber, which, besides having high natural degradation time, has many chemical additives on its formulation and the possibility to store rain water when disposed in landfills and may become a breeding place for vectors. So, recycling comes against this problem and devulcanization is a way of recycling that restores the fluidity of the rubber. One of the applications of this devulcanized rubber is in the production of polymeric blends. Devulcanization of rubbers, the application of this material in polymeric blends based on thermoplastic/recycled rubber, and the param- eters involved during the processing of these materials will be addressed in this work.


Objective Our objective was to study the hypothalamic volume in a cohort of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) including symptomatic and presymptomatic ALS mutation carriers. Methods High-resolution three-dimensional T1-weighted MRI datasets from 251 patients with sporadic ALS, 19 symptomatic and 32 presymptomatic ALS mutation carriers and 112 healthy controls (HC) were retrospectivally registered for manual delineation of the hypothalamus. The volume of the hypothalamus, in total or subdivided, was normalised to the intracranial volume and adjusted to age. Correlation analyses were performed with clinical and metabolic outcomes. Pathologically defined ALS stages were determined in vivo by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Results We observed a severe atrophy of the hypothalamus both in patients with sporadic ALS (−21.8%, p<0.0001) and symptomatic ALS mutation carriers (−13.4%, p<0.001). The atrophy in patients with sporadic ALS was observed in both the anterior (−27.6% p<0.0001) and the posterior parts of the hypothalamus (−17.7%, p<0.0001). Notably, this atrophy was also observed in presymptomatic ALS mutation carriers (−15.5%, p<0.001) and was unrelated to whole brain volume atrophy or disease stage as assessed using DTI or functional status. Hypothalamic volume was correlated with body mass index (BMI) in patients with sporadic ALS (p=0.0434, ρ=+0.1579), and this correlation was much stronger in patients with familial ALS (fALS) (p=0.0060, ρ=+0.6053). Anterior hypothalamic volume was correlated with age at onset, but not with survival after MRI. Conclusions Hypothalamus is atrophied in ALS, even in premorbid stages, and correlates with BMI, especially in fALS. Decreased anterior hypothalamic volume is associated with earlier onset of disease.


The role of task has received special attention in visual cognition research because it can provide causal explanations of goal-directed eye-movement responses. The dependency between visual attention and task suggests that eye-movements can be used to classify the task being performed. A recent study by Greene, Liu, and Wolfe (2012), however, fails to achieve accurate classification of visual tasks based on eye-movement features. In the present study, we hypothesize that tasks can be successfully classified when they differ with the respect to the involvement of other cognitive domains such as language processing. We extract the eye-movement features used by Greene et. al., as well as additional features, from the data of three different tasks: visual search, object naming, and scene description. First, we demonstrate that eye-movement responses make it possible to characterize the goals of these tasks. Then, we train three different types of classifiers and predict the task participants performed with an accuracy well above chance (a maximum of 88% for visual search). An analysis of the relative importance of features for classification accuracy reveals that just one feature, i.e., initiation time, is sufficient for above-chance performance (a maximum of 79% accuracy in object naming). Crucially, this feature is independent of task duration, which differs systematically across the three tasks we investigate. Overall, the best task classification performance is obtained with a set of seven features that include both spatial information (e.g., entropy of attention allocation) and temporal components (e.g., total fixation on objects) of the eye-movement record. This result confirms the task-dependent allocation of visual attention, and extends previous work by showing that task classification is possible when tasks differ in the cognitive processes involved (purely visual tasks such as search vs. communicative tasks such as scene description).


BACKGROUND
Socioeconomic factors, such as insurance status, have been shown to affect outcomes for patients following emergency injuries. Dual-eligible beneficiaries, receiving both Medicare and Medicaid, constitute an especially vulnerable population. There is limited data addressing whether dual-eligible beneficiaries with hemorrhagic stroke display unique characteristics and outcomes compared to patients with Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance.

STUDY DESIGN
We conducted a retrospective analysis of 10-years of National Inpatient Sample data. Using ICD-9-CM codes, we identified adult patients with known insurance status who were emergently hospitalized for intracranial hemorrhage; epidural, subdural, subarachnoid, and intracerebral hemorrhages were included. Patient characteristics including whether they underwent surgical intervention were collected. Multivariable logistic regression was used to adjust for confounders. Primary clinical outcomes of interest included mortality (in-hospital), complications (any), and favorable discharge (home/home with services).

RESULTS
Among 410,621 patients, dual-eligible (6.8%) patients were on average older (mean age = 73yrs) compared to Medicaid (46yrs), private insurance (67yrs), or no-charge (47yrs) patients. Caucasian race was highest among Medicare patients (83%) while African-American race was highest among Medicaid (22%). Among all patients, 5.3% underwent operative intervention. Dual-eligibles had significantly higher odds of in-hospital mortality compared to no-charge (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.61, 95% CI = [1.04 - 2.49]), but no significant difference between Medicare and Medicaid although dual-eligibles. Dual-eligibles had significantly increased odds of complications compared to Medicaid (aOR = 1.23, 95% CI = [1.11 - 1.37]) and privately insured patients (aOR = 1.19, 95% CI = [1.11 - 1.28]), both p < 0.001, and lower odds of favorable discharge compared to all other groups, all p < 0.001. Dual-eligibles underwent a shorter length of stay, an 18% decrease, compared to Medicaid patients (β-Coefficient = 0.82, 95% CI = [0.78 - 0.86], p < 0.001), and inflation adjusted admission costs that were 24% lower compared to Medicaid patients (β-Coefficient = 0.76, 95% CI = [0.73 - 0.80], p < 0.001), amounting to a $3,684 decrease in cost.

CONCLUSIONS
Dual-eligible beneficiaries experience unique health disparities from lower odds of favorable discharge to increased odds of complications and in-hospital mortality compared to other insured and uninsured groups. Adverse outcomes among dual-eligible beneficiaries highlight the need to uncover and address unknown sources of disparities to improve emergency treatment of hemorrhagic stroke in this population.


Background: Developing countries are facing acute shortage of human resource in rural/remote areas. Effective management and retention of human resource for health are related to efficient financing and lucrative incentives packages. This study focused on preferred incentives of doctors for working in rural and resource constrained areas of Pakistan.
Methods: This study was a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE). Study population (N=107) included final year medical student and fresh graduated doctors in Islamabad. Questionnaire was computer based and data was collected through online database. Results were analyzed using conjoint analysis technique on Stata 11.0 to present the findings.
Results: The results showed that mostly young doctors do not prefer to work in rural areas. Preference to opt for rural job posting depended largely on high salary along with study assistance for further education. Other attributes identified as attracting and retaining young doctors for rural job posting included career advancement, improved quality of health facilities, provision of housing allowance and transportation.
Conclusion: Study results showed that salary is not the only deciding factor for attracting and retaining health workforce in rural areas. Further education for highly valued and the government should focus on efficient use of available budget to develop a bundle of cadre specific incentives package to attract and retain HR in rural and underserved areas.


An approach is presented for the automatic retrieval of near photo-realistic textures from single ground-level building images. First, the building facade texture is extracted using the Watershed segmentation technique, which is carried out repetitively until the most successful segment is extracted. Next, the retrieved building image is geometrically rectified in an automated way. After that the occlusions are removed using an image-based approach, which includes marking the occluded region, searching the marked region in the remaining parts of the facade image, selecting a candidate patch with the highest correlation, and copying it into the marked region. The developed concept was tested using two distinct data sets. The first data set contains fifteen rectilinear buildings selected from the residential area of the Batikent district of Ankara, Turkey. The second dataset includes five images selected from eTRIMS database, which contains over a hundred buildings captured in major European cities. The qualitative results obtained are quite promising. For the assessment of façade image extraction, both datasets provided a quantitative accuracy of above 80%. In the rectification results, 15 out of 20 buildings produced the positional mean errors of below 9 pixels. The subjective assessment of the occlusion removal yielded the mean rating scores of 2.58 and 2.28 for the Batikent and eTrims datasets, respectively. While the rating score of 2.58 can be categorized in the middle of the criterions "Fine" and "Passable", the score 2.28 would be "Fine". * Corresponding author.


Otosclerosis is a condition characterized by bony changes involving the labyrinth capsule and leading in many cases to fixation of the stapes in the oval window. Broadly speaking, the change is one in which the dense bone of the normal labyrinth capsule is transformed into swollen vascular osteoid tissue which encroaches on the annular ligament and footplate of the stapes leading to ankylosis. This new vascular bone is sharply defined from the normal bone and stains deeply with basic dyes. It is confined to localized areas, the most usual site being the promontory between the two windows. This region is one in which vessels enter the labyrinth wall and in which cartilage "rests" are frequently found in early life, besides being subjected to stresses not felt by other parts. Foci are found in other parts of the labyrinth capsule remote from the mucosa and even in the internal auditory meatus.


Results of wind tunnel tests on an experimental radar antenna are discussed. The torque required to rotate the antenna was seen to vary with the azimuth position, the elevation angle, the pivot location, the rotating speed, and the wind velocity. A correlation of the data based on dimensionless parameters was found.


This fully revised new edition re-establishes Paul Griffith's survey as the definitive study of music since the Second World War. The disruptions of the war, and the struggles of the ensuing peace, were reflected in the music of the time: in Pierre Boulez's radical re-forming of compositional technique and in John Cage's move into zen music, in Milton Babbitt's settling of the serial system and in Dmitry Shostakovich's unsettling symphonies, in Karlheinz Stochausen's development of electronic music and in Luigi Nono's pursuit of the universally human, in Iannis Xenakis's view of music as sounding mathematics and in Luciano Berio's consideration of it as language. The initiatives of these composers and their contemporaries opened prospects that have continued to unfold. This constant expansion of musical thinking since 1945 has left us with no single history of music. `We live' as Griffiths says, `among many simultaneous histories'. His study accordingly follows several different paths, showing how they converge and diverge. This book is intended for students, musicians, and general readers interested in the music of the avant-garde since 1945.


This article shows the results of the performance study of a combined cycle plant made up of a Siemens STG-800 gas turbine and a MACCHI heat recovery boiler (HRSG) designed to produce 47.5 MW of electricity and 81908 kg / h of steam operating under ISO conditions (15 ° C and 60% relative humidity and 1 atm), the system is part of the steam and electric power generation section of a crude oil refinery in the city of Cartagena de Indias.
 The objective of this research is to quantify the real inefficiencies in each of the equipment applying conventional and advanced exergetic analysis, to achieve this the investigation has been ordered as follows: first, the basic thermodynamics at the equipment boundaries is defined, define performance parameters that compare the adjustment of the thermodynamic model with the values provided by the manufacturer, the rate of exergy destruction and exergy efficiency are obtained from conventional analysis, advanced exergetic analysis allows obtaining avoidable, unavoidable, endogenous, exogenous exergies and the combined, finally, the mexogenous exergetic analysis allows to know the amount of energy that is lost due to the interactions between the equipment.
 The thermodynamic model is adjusted with an average error of 2% using design KPIs such as net power, heat rate and thermal efficiency, it was obtained that the exergy destruction reaches 83.5MW, 15% is avoidable and the 8% is avoidable endogenous, the mexogenous analysis shows that inefficiencies in the compressor refer to all equipment, by focusing efforts on improving its conditions, up to 25% of the total exergy destruction can be recovered.


International business travel has always been an important labour process in the accumulation of capital for the firm. It is surprising, therefore, that relatively little time has been devoted to the study of business travel, both as a facet of contemporary mobility and as an economic practice. In this paper we review how existing literatures provide insights that can be used to understand the role of business travel as international labour mobility in the contemporary professional service economy. In doing so, we reach the conclusion that there seems to be at least two significant voids preventing a more sophisticated understanding from emerging. First, we suggest that international business travel needs to be studied not in isolation but instead as one component in a wider ecology of mobility that 'produces' the global firm. Second, we argue that it is important to know more about the time-space dynamics of international business travel in terms of how spatial relations are produced and reproduced by different forms and geographies of travel. We make these arguments and explore their implications using data collected through interviews in advertising, architecture and legal professional service firms. We conclude by identifying a research agenda designed to allow a better understanding of business travel to emerge in corporate and mobility discourses.


Introduction: hemophilia is defined as an X chromosome-linked congenital anomaly that mainly occurs in males whereas females just carry the disease. Objective: to evaluate the safety and the effectiveness of radiosynoviorthesis using 32P chromic phosphate manufactured by CENTIS to treat the chronic synovitis in hemophilic patients. Methods: the patients who presented with more than three hemarthoses in a month were included in the study. After the patients' consent, they were injected 1 mCi of the radionuclide in the affected joint. The migration of the radiopharmaceutical was then monitored 10 minutes after the procedure as well as 1, 7 and 30 days following the treatment. Hematological and cytogenetic studies were also performed before and one year after the treatment. The bleeding frequency rate, pain and the consumption of anti-hemophilic factor were determined. Ten knees from 9 patients received this therapy (hemophilia A in 88.9 % and hemophilia B in 11.1 %). The average age of patients was 36.3 years, with a range of 23 to 59 years. Results: there was neither significant joint leakage nor hematological change. The chromosomal study yielded normal values. Before the radiosynoviothesis with 32P, the patients exhibited a bleeding frequency rate of 10.3 times a month (range 7-13, SD ± 2.2), but this rate lowered to 0.8 (P< 0.0001) within the 12 months after the procedure (range 0-4, SD ± 1.23). Conclusions: radiosynoviorthesis with chromic phosphate is a safe effective procedure to treat chronic synovitis in the hemophilic patient.


This review traces the origins of the chemical structure of the cyclooxygenase inhibitors celecoxib and rofecoxib. Early results from the search for non-steroid estrogens led to the triaryl-ethylenes such as chlortrianisene. A congener that incorporated a water-solubilizing basic ether grouping unexpectedly led to an estrogen antagonist and eventually the drug clomiphene. Elaboration of the structure gave the widely used drug used to treat breast cancer tamoxifen. Cyclized analogues such as nafoxidine showed equivalent activity but were not pursued. Later elaboration of those structures gave the now-marketed drug raloxifene. An indole analogue, indoxole, (2,3-dianisylindole) surprisingly showed anti-inflammatory activity. An analogue program designed to reduce photosensitivity from that compound eventually led to the discovery that the indole ring could be replaced by a simple thiazole, This resulted in the experimental cyclooxygenase inhibitor itazagrel. This compound incorporates many of the structural features found in celecoxib.


An adjustable optical vortex array (OVA) based on decentered annular beam pumping has been demonstrated in an end-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser. This method allows for not only the transverse mode locking of different modes, but also the ability to adjust the mode weight and phase by manipulating the position of the focusing lens and axicon lens. To explain this phenomenon, we propose a threshold model for each mode. Using this approach, we were able to generate optical vortex arrays with 2-7 phase singularities, achieving a maximum conversion efficiency of 25.8%. Our work represents an innovative advancement in the development of solid-state lasers capable of generating adjustable vortex points.


Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by the formation of demyelinated lesions in the central nervous system. At later stages of the disease repair in the form of remyelination often fails, which leads to axonal degeneration and neurological disability. For the regeneration of myelin, oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) have to migrate, proliferate and differentiate into remyelinating oligodendrocytes. Remyelination occurs faster and is more extensive in grey matter (GM) lesions than in white matter (WM) lesions. Here, we examined differences in neonatal OPCs from GM (gmOPCs) and WM (wmOPCs), both intrinsically and in response to environmental (injury) signals. We show that gmOPCs are less mature than wmOPCs, both on morphological and on gene-expression level. Additionally, gmOPCs proliferate more and differentiate slower than wmOPCs. When exposed to astrocyte-secreted signals wmOPC, but not gmOPC, migration decreases. In addition, wmOPCs are more sensitive to the detrimental effects of IFNγ treatment on proliferation, differentiation, and process arborisation, which is potentiated by TNFα. Our results demonstrate that OPCs from GM and WM differ both intrinsically and in response to their environment, which may contribute to the difference in remyelination efficiency between GM and WM MS lesions.


Dakar region is confronted in recent years with episodes of repetitive and devastating floods. The structures in charge of the matter, yet does not have enough knowledge of space and tools to preciselylocate vulnerable areas. It is in this particular context that we have through this study process by coupling GIS and ASMC techniques. We aim in this coupling, to develop an efficient tool for support decision making in terms of identification strategies, intervention or adaptation. The defined criteria for this are: the rainfall, the groundwater level, geology, topography, wetlands, population density, living standards and the type of habitat. We have used an analytical hierarchical process (AHP) by foursteps: a) the breakdown of problematic vulnerabilities; b) scanning and harmonization of layers factors (criteria); c) the weight assignment of different layers criteria according to the comparison procedure in pairs; d) and aggregation criteria layers, through the weighted superposition of the SOC software tool. This has helped us to hierarchically locate the vulnerable are as to flooding. The results have showed a very low vulnerability (1.67%), low vulnerability (50.53%), high vulnerability (43.66%) and a very high vulnerability (4.14%). Approximately, 50% of the Dakar region are vulnerable to flooding and particularly the suburban area concerning the departments of Pikine and Guediawaye. These informations are very useful for governments in the effective and sustainable flood management and identification of priority intervention areas.


In the present work, a differently shaped electrode based on carbon paste was designed using a magnet at the back of a carbon paste (made a magnet containing a carbon paste electrode) for determination of lamotrigine, using magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (Magnetic-MIP) nanoparticles. Magnetic-MIPs have been synthesized for the preconcentration and selective trace determination of lamotrigine (LTG) in urine and plasma samples. The obtained sorbent was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared absorption spectroscopy (IR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TG). Separation of the sorbent from the sample solution was simply achieved by an electrode via a magnetic field from the magnet containing electrode. Determination of the extracted drug was performed by the differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) technique. Under the optimum extraction conditions, the method detection limits were 4.7 pM (based on a S/N of 3) for urine samples and 5.9 pM for plasma samples. Two linear dynamic ranges from 0.01–1.0 nM and 1.0–200 nM were obtained for LTG in biological samples.


Abstract Objective Middle meningeal arteriovenous fistula (MMAVF) is typically post-traumatic or iatrogenic in origin, but it can have an idiopathic origin in rare cases. Here, we report a case of idiopathic MMAVF complicated by segmental arterial mediolysis (SAM). Case Presentation The patient was a 63-year-old woman admitted to our hospital with symptoms of right pulsating tinnitus for the past 2 months. She had no significant medical history. MRI and DSA revealed a right MMAVF. Selective embolization using coils was performed. Seven years later, when she underwent laparotomy for intestinal perforation, multiple aneurysms were found in the abdominal cavity. Left hemicolectomy was performed, and an aneurysm of the gastroepiploic artery was resected. Based on a pathological examination of the aneurysm, the patient was diagnosed with SAM. Coil embolization was performed to prevent rupture. Conclusion This case report shows that MMAVF may be associated with SAM. Fistula embolization with coils is an effective treatment of MMAVF associated with SAM. Therefore, it is important to check for systemic diseases, such as SAM when idiopathic MMAVF is detected.


We present Beetle II, a tutorial dialogue system which accepts unrestricted language input and supports experimentation with different dialogue strategies. Our first system evaluation compared two dialogue policies. The resulting corpus was used to study the impact of different tutoring and error recovery strategies on user satisfaction and student interaction style. It can also be used in the future to study a wide range of research issues in dialogue systems.


The main objective of the article was to evaluate the effectiveness of Neuromuscular exercises (NEMEX) on pain and function in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Pubmed, Cochrane, PEDro and Google Scholar were searched. The eligibility criteria were: Randomized controlled trials, single blinded controlled trials, controlled before and after study comparing and assessing the effectiveness of NEMEX in knee osteoarthritis, articles published in English language till 2020 with NEMEX either alone or in conjunction with other interventions (drugs, educational packages) in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Outcome measures used for meta-analysis were visual analog scale (VAS) for pain and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) for function and the other measures Knee Injury Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), Knee Index and Knee Adduction Moment (KAM) and Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS). The result of the meta-analysis for the included two studies showed statistically significant reduction in pain (VAS) in the NEMEX group as compared to the other group Z = 0.64, p = 0.03, I2 = 79% and no significant reduction in WOMAC scores Z = 0.70, P = 0.64. The study concludes that there was statistically significant improvement in pain (VAS) but no functional improvement (WOMAC) with the NEMEX whether used in isolation or in conjunction with other interventions was seen in the patients with knee OA. However, large numbers of studies are required to generalize the effectiveness of NEMEX in knee osteoarthritis. Based on this review, NEMEX can be used as a potential intervention in reducing pain, improving strength and function in knee osteoarthritis patients.


Objective: We aimed to study the association among leptin levels, sleep duration, PSQI and risks of type 2 diabetes in Chinese women nurses.
Methods: We conducted a cross sectional study, 65 diabetics and age matched 72 non-diabetic group were assessed for physical and chemical parameters like Body Mass Index, PSQI, leptin levels, insulin levels and fasting blood glucose. Plasma leptin level was measured by direct sandwich ELISA.
Results: Plasma leptin levels were significantly correlated with age, insulin level, BMI, but not correlated with duration of shift work, sleep duration and PSQI score. Logistic regression analysis showed that a negative association between leptin levels and incidence of diabetes adjusted by age, BMI, sleep duration, PSQI score, duration of shift work and insulin. The odd ratio for diabetes being 0.868 (95% CI 0.597-1.711), 0.793 (95% CI 0.448-0.792), for 2nd tertile and 3rd tertile, respectively. However, we have not found the significant association of sleep duration, PSQI score with diabetes.
Conclusion: An independent negative association was found between leptin levels and the incidence of type 2 diabetes in Chinese women with rotating shift work. However, there were no correlation of sleep duration and PSQI with leptin levels and diabetes.


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During the past thirty years or so, governments across Europe have grown ever more accustomed to developing initiatives to enhance the performance of key institutions and organizations. At the same time as being subject to the introduction of wide-ranging management reforms, many of those institutions and organizations are now increasingly charged with responding effectively to complex and intractable social problems. Amongst the so-called "wicked issues" public organizations are expected to address is the cohesiveness of the societies that they serve. In fact, European governments have implemented a swathe of initiatives designed to prompt public organizations to devote more energy to addressing the supposed centrifugal tendencies associated with globalisation and the breakdown of traditional social structures. In this context, the main objective of this report is to analyse emerging trends in social cohesion, beginning with socio-economic influences on social solidarity and social order in Europe before evaluating whether public management matters. To do so, the report draws upon primary and secondary research carried out in the COCOPS Work Packages 1-5, and blends this with analysis of Eurobarometer data and interviews with European policy-makers carried out specifically for Work Package 6. The findings of the report suggest first that social cohesion is largely determined by socio-economic disadvantage and that the economic strain associated with the financial crisis has also had a detrimental effect on the cohesiveness of European societies. At the same time, public management also matters, with some reforms and practices found to have beneficial effects for social solidarity and social order – though some others were found to have a negative effect. Since it seems that public management can make a positive difference to the cohesiveness of society, there is good reason for the countries of the EU to continue to invest in developing better policies aimed at promoting social cohesion.


Hyperbolic-spaces are better suited to represent data with underlying hierarchical relationships, e.g., tree-like data. However, it is often necessary to incorporate, through alignment, different but related representations meaningfully. This aligning is an important class of machine learning problems, with applications as ontology matching and cross-lingual alignment. Optimal transport (OT)-based approaches are a natural choice to tackle the alignment problem as they aim to find a transformation of the source dataset to match a target dataset, subject to some distribution constraints. This work proposes a novel approach based on OT of embeddings on the Poincar\'e model of hyperbolic spaces. Our method relies on the gyrobarycenter mapping on M\"obius gyrovector spaces. As a result of this formalism, we derive extensions to some existing Euclidean methods of OT-based domain adaptation to their hyperbolic counterparts. Empirically, we show that both Euclidean and hyperbolic methods have similar performances in the context of retrieval.


High blood pressure is a well recognised major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is a primary cause of morbidity and mortality in patients aged 70 years or more. A number of studies including STOP-Hypertension-1, SHEP, and MRC II have shown that by lowering blood pressure in the elderly, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality can be significantly reduced.1-3 In fact, treatment of the elderly hypertensive patient is probably more successful than treatment of the young or middle aged patient.

STOP-Hypertension-1 was a double blind trial of 1627 patients aged 70–84 years, which compared placebo with active treatment (one of three β blockers or a fixed ratio combination of hydrochlorothiazide and amiloride). Active treatment for 26 months lowered blood pressure 20/8 mm Hg more than placebo. This resulted in a significant reduction in major cardiovascular events (all strokes, all myocardial infarctions, and other cardiovascular mortality) by 40%, fatal and non-fatal strokes by 47%, and total mortality by 43%.1

The STOP-Hypertension-2 study was designed to investigate how newer antihypertensive treatments (angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and calcium antagonists) compare with the conventional treatments (β blockers and diuretics) shown to be effective in STOP-Hypertension-1.4 The study examined cardiovascular morbidity and mortality prevention. The primary aim was to assess the effect of the different treatments on mortality. A placebo group was not included for ethical reasons.

The STOP-Hypertension-2 study followed a PROBE design (prospective, randomised, open and blinded end point evaluation) and employed …


This study was carried out to investigate the effects of modified starch, sugars and enzymatic hydrolysis with on extending the self-life of Injulmi, a Korean soft and glutinous rice cake, in terms of maintaining a soft texture. The Injulmi was prepared with or without kneading of waxy rice flour, NaCl and water mixture. The Injulmi was stored at -20, 4 and and the hardness was measured to calculate the Avrami exponents during storage. The results showed that cold heading and enzymatic hydrolysis with before steaming of the waxy rice dough significantly extended the self-life on the basis of the Avrami equation. Among the various additives including different kinds of starches, sugars and polymannuronic acid, the addition of 1.5% tapioca starch, 8.0% of glucose or 3.0% of polymannuronic acid was also effective for delaying the retrogradation phenomena during storage. However, despite the effectiveness of these treatments, the Injulmi developed hardness within 2-3 days at and within 4 days at while storage at showed a storage stability that was maintained over x days. Sensory showed the Injulmi prepared with NOVA-0.005, GL-8.0 had a lower hardness than that of the other treatments.


Abstract : Due to slower than expected study recruitment and imaging of patient cohort, progress over the 2015 funding period was delayed. This resulted in a 12-month extension over which time the main study conclusions are planned to be completed. Despite the incomplete cohort, we performed preliminary study using a smaller cohort and made significant findings which support the main objectives of the planned research. Significant findings include: 1) detection of brain organization in a cohort of 24 pediatric onset multiple sclerosis patients (POMS) and 25 healthy controls demonstrated congruency between fMRI mappings and patient performance; 2) testing of the fMRI methods we developed for use in POMS patients was carried out in a group of 42 presurgical pediatric patients at our institution, demonstrating reliable fMRI mappings of language and motor systems using our methods in the pediatric brain. Item 1: we found that 12 of 12 POMS patients presenting with mild to severe deficits as measured by neuropsychological exam also demonstrated abnormal brain function as measured by our fMRI methods. These preliminary findings support our project hypothesis that POMS patients who suffer from impairment will also demonstrate abnormal fMRI mappings. Item 2: the information provided to surgeons by our fMRI methods allowed the potential to spare pediatric patients post-operative impairment in any language or motor functions that were located near a planned surgical site.


Objectives:We investigated the predictors of subjective memory complaints in the community-dwelling normal elderly. Methods:This study was conducted as a part of Korean Longitudinal Study on Health and Aging (KLoSHA). 747 nondemented community-dwelling elderly aged 65 years or older were recruited. All participants underwent clinical evaluation for dementia and psychiatric disorder conformed to the Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD-K) Clinical Assessment Battery and Korean version of Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, respectively. Word list recall test, frontal assessment battery, Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE-KC) and Korean version of Geriatric depression scale (GDS-K) were administered to evaluate episodic memory, frontal function, global cognition and depression, respectively. Subjective memory complaint was defined in two different ways: worse than one's past (SMC-P) and worse than others of one's age (SMC-O). Results:In highly educated elderly, minor depressive disorder (OR=7.23, 95% C.I.= 2.29-22.86) and frontal dysfunction (OR=2.48, 95% C.I.=1.29-4.77) significantly increased the risk of SMC-O. However, they did not influence the risk of SMC-P. In low educated elderly, both the minor depressive disorder and frontal dysfunction did not influence the risk of SMCO as well as that of SMC-P. Conclusion:SMC-O can be a sensitive subjective recognition of mild depression and/or frontal dysfunction in highly educated normal elderly. (J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc 2007;46(6):560-565)


Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique is employed to investigate the effects of four geometry parameters: nozzle divergent part length, nozzle exit position, mixing chamber length and diffuser length on the performance of ejector in the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system. 216 simulation cases are conducted to fully study the influence of four parameters on the ejector performance and steam to carbon ratio (STCR) under a wide range of working conditions. Optimum values of the four parameters can provide a general guideline for design of compact and high-performance ejectors.


Most severe allergic reactions, including fatal events, after ingestion of peanuts, soybeans and tree nuts have been reported. Allergens from legumes, nuts, and seeds are predominantly highly potent and stable to food processing. However, it is possible to alter the allergenicity potentially by various procedures. Heat treatments (dry heating, roasting, or baking) and enzymatic digestion affect the allergen structure. Although food processing usually induces at least partial loss of IgE-binding, the formation of neoallergens or release of cryptic IgEbinding epitopes can occur. The present review reports the allergenic and IgE-binding potentials, respectively, of experimental food preparations involving heat and enzymatic treatments and of various food products including peanut and soybean flour, roasted peanuts and nuts, and edible oils. Events of allergic reactions due to inadvertant ingestion of "hidden" allergens in food products are also reported. Available data lack systematic investigations of the allergenicity of foods throughout manufacturing processes from source to shelfproducts. Especially products containing peanut, tree nuts, and seeds should be evaluated since they are commonly seen as "hidden" allergens in various processed foods. (Internet Symposium on Food Allergens 2001, 3(3):119-33) food allergy allergen stability food technology peanut soybean hazelnut sesame seed


in man's life and his use of the environment , countless environmental problems occur. in the present , we witness different environmental challenges that became a threat to generations for different reasons ;  some are related to values , traditions , and the like which coincided  with the economical development that aim at achieving high rates of growth and development at the expense of the right use of natural resources.
            The will to raise the levels of the standards of living related to the exploitation of nature vanishes because of the costs caused by the environmental deterioration which affects health and quality of life.
            This led to the non application of the idea of sustainable development  which was declared in the past two decades  , and which implied identifying the necessary needs to decrease the privation through an economical growth that keeps the environmental system health and a long-term store of natural resources.
         Through an induction of world states , it has been noticed that the accomplishment of this development failed. And though economical , social , and cultural growth rates have been fulfilled in advanced states ,this increasing growth has been on the expense of achieving luxury to future generation.
        In the less developed states , the problem increases because of the absence of the real will by the advanced states to cooperate , and the relation between them is characterized by domination and exploitation.
        From the above mentioned, the current study emerged to shed light on the environmental costs and sustainable development , and the requirements to incorporate them into productive activities. The study discusses the meaning of development , sustainable development , and then the costs caused by environmental deterioration and the requirements to incorporate the developmental activities.


Purpose To calculate the growth rate of the biomedical literature on eye neoplasms and to assess which journals, countries, and continents are the most productive. Methods PubMed was used to search for articles published from 1966 to 2012. Total number of articles per year was fitted to a linear equation as well as an exponential curve. To identify the core journals and predict the number of journals containing articles related to eye neoplasms, Bradford's law was applied. For each country and each continent, the gross domestic product (GDP) index (publications per $1 billion USD of GDP) and the population index (publications per million inhabitants) were calculated. Results A total of 27,943 references were retrieved. The growth in the number of publications showed a linear increase with a yearly average growth rate of 2.08%, which was lower than for the whole PubMed database (3.59%). Using Bradford's law, 17 core journals were identified, among which 2 journals produced more than 1000 articles (JAMA Ophthalmology and American Journal of Ophthalmology). Europe was the most productive continent, followed by North America and Asia. The United States was by far the predominant country in number of publications, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom. However, population and GDP indexes showed that absolute production did not reflect the production per capita or economic efficiency. Conclusions This bibliometric study provides data contributing to a better understanding of the eye neoplasm research field.


Twin roll casting is of interest as it allows the production of aluminium alloys sheet close to final gauge and therefore removes the need for hot rolling, and ideally only cold rolling to final gauge will be required. Quasi-uniform distribution of molten metal between the water-cooled rolls is accomplished with a ceramic fibre tip. The internal baffling configuration and shape affects this quasi-uniform distribution and contributes to defect-free industrial sheet production. In this study, a mathematical model and numerical solution algorithm (SOLA) have been proposed. The formulation is based on the continuum model for conservation of mass, momentum and energy, and can deal with the phenomena of fluid flow, heat transfer and partial solidification. The modified SOLA is used to solve the two-dimensional equations and the volume-of-fluid method is used to track the location of the flow domain. The model demonstrates that a seven-baffle tip performs better than a nine-baffle tip. Practical applications also verified that this model could provide the correct simulation results and help find the optimal tip geometry.


An infrasonic observatory collocated with the Colorado State University CHILL radar during the summer of 1995 permitted unique comparisons between severe storm kinematics and detected acoustic energy at subaudible frequencies near 1 Hz. Radar observations of a velocity couplet aloft (evolving into a tornado) showed a circulation maximum descending for about 30 min while moving to the east. The detected infrasound followed the trend of these observations. A model of sound radiated from vortex systems predicts frequencies in the range observed. These data are interpreted in the context of past infrasonic observations. An ongoing study comparing regional tornado and funnel sightings with archived infrasonic data has identified over 100 cases to date where the infrasonic signals occurred at the time of, and from the direction of, the vortices. For some of these cases, the distances were greater than 100 km. The author and his associates continue to collect datasets to permit further evaluation of infrasonic detection methods.


Abstract The geologically young Samoan Islands are situated in a seismically active area in the Pacific Ocean, at the northern end of the Kermadec-Tonga Trench. The paper discusses two faults not shown on the 1: 100 000 geological maps of the area. One of the faults, trending northwest/southeast, has been postulated as passing through the Afulilo dam site. The other fault trends northeast/southwest, displacing the line of the recent volcanic cones by up to 2.5 km. Any movement along this fault could affect the integrity of the hydroelectric powerhouse and a possible future intake structure.


Standard localization techniques of the nonpalpable breast lesions (guide wire, carbon, skin marking) have several disadvantages. Radioguided occult lesion localization (ROLL) was recently proposed as a better alternative resulting in wider surgical margins and lower average specimen weight. The aim of our study was to compare ROLL to our previously published series of the standard guidewire localization, performed at the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana. ROLL was performed in 110 nonpalpable breast lesions. Human serum albumin macroaggregats, marked with 1.8-5.5 MBq 99mTc was injected in the nonpalpable lesion. During surgery the radioactive breast tissue was excised using hand held gamma probe. Nonpalpable breast lesions were excised in all 110 patients. The definitive histology revealed 32 invasive carcinomas, 19 DCIS, 5 LCIS in and 54 benign breast lesions. Mean specimen weight was 40 g which is less in comparison to 53 g of the guidewire series (p=0.002). Surgical margins were clear in 36/51 (70%) invasive breast cancer or DCIS patients and close or involved in 15/51 (30%) patients. Compared to the guidewire series, where 41/92 (44%) margins were clear and 51/92 (56%) were close or involved, the difference was statistically significant (p=0.005). ROLL proved to be superior to guidewire localization in our series, allowing excision of the nonpalpable breast lesion with wider surgical margins despite lower average specimen weight.


Acoustic metamaterials are materials with artificially designed structures, which have characteristics that surpass the behavior of natural materials, such as negative refraction, anomalous Doppler effect, plane focusing, etc. This article mainly introduces and summarizes the related research progress of acoustic metamaterials in the past two decades, focusing on meta-atomic acoustic metamaterials, metamolecular acoustic metamaterials, meta-atomic clusters and metamolecule cluster acoustic metamaterials. Finally, the research overview and development trend of acoustic metasurfaces are briefly introduced.


There are many ways available now to maximise and analyse the information that can be obtained on the structure and constitution of bone using SEM. This paper considers a range of methods and the problems that arise relating to instrumentation and methodology as they apply to the use of SEM in the study of bone. In addition to the review content, some novel technical approaches to the SEM of bone are considered here for the first time; these include low kV imaging for the detection of new surface bone packets (and residual demineralized matrix after resorption), low kV BSE imaging of uncoated, embedded, and unembedded samples, environmental SEM for the study of wet tissue, low distortion, very low magnification imaging for the study of cancellous bone architecture, the use of multiple detectors for fast electrons in improving the imaging of porous samples, and high resolution, low voltage imaging for the study of collagen degradation during bone resorption. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Most applications can adapt their coding techniques and sending rates according to the network congestion and the resource needed can be provided at the beginning of the transmission. So traditional Differentiated Services (DiffServ) model is too rigid to them. In this paper, we are seeking a balance between the relative DiffServ and the absolute DiffServ and propose a new Diffserv model, a relative Differentiated Service model with admission control, which suits the adaptive application. By providing the proportional differentiated services in core routers and loss-rate based CAC control in edge routers, we can make both the network and the users adaptive: the network is adaptive to the traffic load and the users is adaptive to the network congestion. This model is promising to the elastic but unpredictable traffic, such as IP telephony or other multimedia applications. key words: Di Serv, QoS, CAC


The object of this study was to determine the effect of organizational structure, leadership behaviors, and decision making towards organizational commitment DPD board AGPAII Bekasi City. This study uses a quantitative approach with survey method and path analysis techniques. The study population was all members of DPD AGPAII Bekasi city. This study sampled 55 administrators. This research data collection techniques using a questionnaire with five alternative answers (1) always (2) often (3) sometimes, (4) rarely, (5) never. At each study variable. Development of instruments for each variable through the conceptual definition, operational definition, grating instrument, testing the validity and reliability calculation. Data analysis techniques with descriptive statistics, inferential. The findings lead to recommendations for improvement of organizational structure will lead to increased organizational commitment, improved behavior of a leader with some of the leadership style will enhance organizational commitment, decision-making right individuals will increase organizational commitment, improvement of the organizational structure will improve decision making, improvement leader behavior will lead to increased retrieval decision


We evaluated the impact of three factors that have been suggested to be important determinants of the diagnostic process pertaining to personality disorders: (a) the number of features representative of a personality disorder category; (b) the extent to which those features are typical of the category, and (c) the dominance or proportion of category features to the total number of features. Thirty-two clinical psychologists evaluated 12 profiles of hypothetical patients in which these factors were varied factorially. The results revealed strong effects of typicality and dominance, but no effects for number. Implications for the assessment and classification of personality disorders are discussed.


The presence of UV-fluorescent pigments is described for the first time in insects. The clear hairs on terga I, III and IV of Eulaema niveofasciata (Friese) are the only ones among several Euglossina species which fluoresce, supporting recent taxonomic studies which suggested that this endemic species of the Atlantic Forest domain and Eulaema bombiformis (Packard) are really different species. The UV-color pattern may have effects both on mating behavior and warning to predators.


Linear degeneracy of a PDE is a concept that is related to a number of interesting geometric constructions. We first take a quadratic line complex, which is a three parameter
family of lines in projective space P3 specified by a single quadratic relation in the Plucker coordinates. This complex supplies us with a conformal structure in P3.
With this conformal structure, we associate a three-dimensional second order quasilinear wave equation. We show that any PDE arising in this way is linearly degenerate, furthermore, any linearly degenerate PDE can be obtained by this construction. We
classify Segre types of quadratic complexes for which the structure is conformally flat, as well as Segre types for which the corresponding PDE is integrable. These results were published in [1]. We then introduce the notion of characteristic integrals, discuss characteristic integrals in 3D and show that, for certain classes of second-order linearly degenerate dispersionless integrable PDEs, the corresponding characteristic integrals are parameterised by points on the Veronese variety. These results were published in [2].


Presented here in the form of case study examples are the results from a number of practical exercises to explore the state of the art of automatic 3D reconstructions. That is, deriving the underlying geometry of an object or place based only upon photographs. There is a wide range of applications for this technology; traditionally it has been used for landscape/terrain modeling, geology and by the mining industry. The interest here is in capturing geometric data in archaeology, providing a new data format suited to a richer exploration compared to the more traditional photography. Examples of the use of this 3D geometric representation include the population of virtual worlds and gaming engines. The manual generation of such assets is normally both time consuming and can involve an element interpretation on the part of a human modeler.


This study aims to assess the mid-term results of fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair (FEVAR) for the treatment of proximal aortic pathology after previous open surgical repair (OSR). All patients with a previous history of OSR of an abdominal aortic aneurysm undergoing a FEVAR procedure between October 2010 and November 2021 were included. The endpoints of the study were technical success, mortality, target vessel patency and reinterventions during follow-up. Thirty-five patients (34 male, mean age 72.9 ± 7 years) were included. The median interval from the primary surgery to the FEVAR procedure was 136 months (range 47–261). The indication for treatment was a para-anastomotic aneurysm in 18 (51%) patients and a true aneurysm due to progression of disease in 17 (49%) patients. Technical success was achieved in 33 (94%) patients. There was one (3%) early death due to postoperative bleeding from a renal artery. Estimated survival at 12, 24 and 36 months was 89.1% ± 6%, 84.4% ± 7.3% and 84.4% ± 7.3%, respectively. There was no aneurysm-related mortality. One (3%) target vessel occluded during follow-up and three (9%) patients underwent late reinterventions. In conclusion, FEVAR is a safe and effective alternative for the endovascular treatment of para-anastomotic aneurysms/pseudoaneurysms after OSR showing high technical success, low mortality and morbidity, and good mid-term outcomes.


Because of the severe financial hardships associated with the transition to a market economy in the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union, the Internet has become a major link to health care resources for many health care workers. In 1992, the University of Illinois at Chicago Library of the Health Sciences (UIC LHS) initiated a special support project with goals of enhancing access to international biomedical information and facilitating international professional networking for interested NIS organizations and individuals. Project objectives included an information needs assessment, development of culturally sensitive Internet training applications, information and referral services, and follow-up e-mail consultations for NIS participants. This paper reviews the historical context of the health care partnerships between the United States and the NIS, and of the UIC LHS International Health Information Networking Project. In the context of UIC, international networking cross-cultural observations, teaching techniques, a Russian training experience, and the development of a Web-based course are reported.


Abstract Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore and describe decisions that faced newly enrolled hospice patients and their caregivers after hospice enrollment. Method: An exploratory, descriptive, cross-sectional design was employed using qualitative methods. In-depth in-person interviews were conducted with current hospice patients (n = 35) and caregivers (n = 45) from 53 families. Results: The decision to enroll in hospice was a critical juncture on the trajectory of a terminal illness that allowed patients and their families an opportunity to consider subsequent tasks that were important for life closure. A typology of five decisions is presented: (1) operationalized advance care planning (ACP): a renewed focus on decisions about care at life's end; (2) surrogate decision-making: caregivers begin making both informal and formal decisions for the dying person; (3) meaning-making: the foreshortened time brings into focus decisions about seeing special people, attending events, and creating memories; (4) Location of death: decisions about whether the person wants to and can remain at home to die; and (5) final acts: decisions about funeral arrangements, wills, and leaving a legacy become central. ACP was found to exist on a continuum that ranged from absent ACP, dormant ACP, simplified ACP to activated ACP. Hospice enrollment became a catalyst for reactivating discussion of end-of-life choices. Significance of results: Hospice enrollment prompts the need to consider subsequent important choices that contribute to meaningful life closure, are central to the completion of a family relationship, and may influence adaptation in bereaved caregivers. It is important for clinicians to recognize that well-timed encouragement to consider and explore the use of hospice services, although it may indeed diminish hope for cure or recovery, simultaneously offers an opportunity to engage with important and time-sensitive developmental tasks.


Circuit depth reduction is of critical importance for quantum chemistry simulations on current and near term quantum computers. This issue is tackled by introducing a chemically aware strategy for the unitary coupled cluster ansatz. The objective is to use the chemical description of a system to aid in the synthesis of a quantum circuit. We combine this approach with two flavors of symmetry verification for the reduction of experimental noise. These methods enable the use of Quantinuum's System Model H1 ion trap quantum computer for a 6-qubit quantum subspace expansion calculation. We present (i) calculations to obtain methane's optical spectra; (ii) an atmospheric gas reaction simulation involving [CH3⋅-H-OH]‡. Using our chemically aware unitary coupled cluster state-preparation strategy in tandem with state of the art symmetry verification methods, we improve device yield for CH4 at 6 qubits. This is demonstrated by a 90% improvement in two-qubit gate count and a reduction in relative error to 0.2% for electronic energy calculated on System Model H1.


The purpose of this study was to analyze the frequency of general aviation (GA) airplane accidents and accident rates on the basis of aircraft certification to determine whether or not differences in aircraft certification rules had an influence on accidents. In addition, the narrative cause descriptions contained within the accident reports were analyzed to determine whether there were differences in the qualitative data for the different certification categories. The certification categories examined were: Federal Aviation Regulations Part 23 (Part 23), Civil Air Regulations 3 (CAR 3), Light Sport Aircraft (LSA), and Experimental-Amateur Built (E-AB). The accident causes examined were those classified as: Loss of Control (LOC), Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT), Engine Failure, and Structural Failure. Airworthiness certification categories represent a wide diversity of government oversight. Part 23 rules have evolved from the initial set of simpler design standards and have progressed into a comprehensive and strict set of rules to address the safety issues of the more complex airplanes within the category. E-AB airplanes have the least amount of government oversight and are the fastest-growing segment. The LSA category is a more recent certification category that utilizes consensus standards in the approval process. CAR 3 airplanes were designed and manufactured under simpler rules, but modifying these airplanes has become lengthy and expensive. The study was conducted using a mixed-methods methodology. A Chi-Square test was used for a quantitative analysis of the accident frequency among aircraft certification categories. Accident rate analysis of the accidents among aircraft certification categories involved an This article is based on the Doctoral Dissertation of Carolina L. Anderson, submitted to the Department of Doctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. About the Author Carolina Anderson earned her PhD in aviation from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in December of 2013. The title of her dissertation was The Effects of Aircraft Certification Rules on General Aviation Accidents. Dr. Anderson holds an MBA from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (2002) and a BS in mechanical engineering from Los Andes University in Bogotá, Colombia (1998). In addition, she holds the following professional certifications: Airline Transport Pilot Certificate; Certified Flight Instructor; Glider, Instrument and Multi-engine Ratings; Check Pilot and Training Center Evaluator (2004–2011) (Federal Aviation Administration). Dr. Anderson is an assistant professor of aeronautical science in the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU; 2011 to present). Prior to joining the faculty at ERAU, she served as Training Manager for the Flight Department at ERAU, Standards Check-Pilot and Flight Instructor (2000–2011). Over the last five years, Dr. Anderson has been involved in numerous research projects, including the flight testing of biofuels for general aviation, the development and instruction of an Upset Recovery Training Course for FAA inspectors, the development and acquisition of flight test data for Level 6 Flight Training Devices (FTDs), as well as various projects for the FAA Center of Excellence for General Aviation Research (CGAR). Dr. Anderson participated in the Part 23 Aviation Rulemaking Committee and she is currently the vice chairman of the Industry Liaison Sub-Committee of the ASTM General Aviation Chapter (F44). Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to firstname.lastname@example.com. Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering 4:2 (2015) 32–48 http://dx.doi.org/10.7771/2159-6670.1104 analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) test. The qualitative component involved the use of text mining techniques for the analysis of the narrative cause descriptions contained within the accident reports. The Chi-Square test indicated that there was no significant difference in the number of accidents among the different certification categories when either CFIT or Structural Failure was listed as cause. However, there was a significant difference in the frequency of accidents with regard to LOC and Engine Failure accidents. The results of the ANCOVA test indicated that there was no significant difference in the accident rate with regard to LOC, CFIT, or Structural Failure accidents. There was, however, a significant difference in Engine Failure accidents between E-AB and the other categories. The text mining analysis of the narrative causes of LOC accidents indicated that only the CAR 3 category airplanes had clusters of words associated with visual flight into instrument meteorological conditions. CAR 3 airplanes were designed and manufactured prior to the 1960s, and in most cases have not been retrofitted to take advantage of newer technologies that could help prevent LOC accidents. The study indicated that GA aircraft certification rules do not have a statistically significant effect on aircraft accidents except for LOC and Engine Failure. According to the literature, government oversight could have become an obstacle in the implementation of safetyenhancing equipment that could reduce LOC accidents. Oversight should focus on ensuring that E-AB aircraft owners perform a functional test that could prevent some of the Engine Failure accidents.


The immune system responds to environmental signals. High blood NK activity characterizes individuals with a good life style and mental health condition or those exerting physical activity. Mental instability, depression and a poor life style exert opposite effects. A poor work environment with low social support or repetitive and shift work, as well as unemployment, are shown to affect the immune response, inducing autoimmune disorders or reducing NK cell activity. We studied anxiety, job strain and insecurity and the NK cell activity of 118 men and 68 women working in a university. A group of older male employees with high job strain and anxiety showed lower NK cell activity. Young male employees with temporary jobs showed reduced NK cell activity, while male doctors in training in Dental School underwent increased job strain, but anxiety, job insecurity and immune response were within a normal range. Analysis of all the data of the men showed that anxiety and job insecurity (more than occupational stress) reduce NK cell activity, thus affecting the health status. On the other hand, the results of this study on women may not exclude that nurses working in hospital in a stressful work environment may show reduced immune response.


This Action Plan provides a framework within which the conservation status of globally Vulnerable
Lappet-faced Vulture Torgos tracheliotus may be improved. It sets out conservation strategies aimed at
stabilising and/or increasing the Lappet-faced Vulture populations across their range. The major
outputs are: the distribution, population size and trends of the species determined and the impact of
human activities at key sites minimised. The population and status in many range countries is poorly
known, and further information is both sought and welcomed.
Representatives of stakeholder groups, that included governmental and non-governmental
organisations from the species' range states, developed the plan. The various stakeholders were
assigned roles and responsibilities in the implementation of the 5-year plan. There are various
opportunities and on-going projects that will enhance the implementation of the plan within the
range states. However, there are also risks that may hamper implementation, and should therefore be
borne in mind.
Under the umbrella of the African Species Working Group, a group of conservationists met and then
worked to compile this action plan. This group with assistance from the African Species Working
Group Coordinator, will work to coordinate the implementation of this plan, hand-in-hand with the
existing Vulture Study Group.
The process of developing this plan was participatory and interactive, to provide an on-the-job
training opportunity for African Conservationists to develop their skills in species conservation
approaches. The skills and experience gained will enable them to train others so that the process can
continue to build the capacity in Africa. Ultimately, many conservationists will be able to produce
Species Action Plans at national or international levels for their priority species. The involvement of
government representatives will, in addition to stimulating the production of the relevant priority
national plans, facilitate the process of incorporating the new species conservation approaches into
overall national biodiversity conservation frameworks and strategies.
7


The extensive genetic diversity of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) presents a significant barrier to the development of an effective and durable HIV vaccine. This variability not only makes it difficult to identify the targets against which immune responses should be directed, but it also confers on the virus the capacity for rapid escape from effective immune responses. Here, we describe recent investigations of the genetic diversity of HIV-1 at transmission and of the evolution of the virus as it adapts to the host immune environment during the acute phase of HIV-1 infection. These studies increase our understanding of the virology of the earliest stages of HIV-1 infection and provide critical insights into the mechanisms underlying viral replication and immune control of diverse HIV-1 strains. Such knowledge will inform the design of smarter, more effective vaccines capable of inducing immune control of HIV-1.


The synergistic Ag(+) /X2 system (X=Cl, Br, I) is a very strong, but ill-defined oxidant-more powerful than X2 or Ag(+) alone. Intermediates for its action may include [Agm (X2 )n ](m+) complexes. Here, we report on an unexpectedly variable coordination chemistry of diiodine towards this direction: (A)Ag-I2 -Ag(A), [Ag2 (I2 )4 ](2+) (A(-) )2 and [Ag2 (I2 )6 ](2+) (A(-) )2 ⋅(I2 )x≈0.65 form by reaction of Ag(A) (A=Al(OR(F) )4 ; R(F) =C(CF3 )3 ) with diiodine (single crystal/powder XRD, Raman spectra and quantum-mechanical calculations). The molecular (A)Ag-I2 -Ag(A) is ideally set up to act as a 2 e(-) oxidant with stoichiometric formation of 2 AgI and 2 A(-) . Preliminary reactivity tests proved this (A)Ag-I2 -Ag(A) starting material to oxidize n-C5 H12 , C3 H8 , CH2 Cl2 , P4 or S8 at room temperature. A rough estimate of its electron affinity places it amongst very strong oxidizers like MF6 (M=4d metals). This suggests that (A)Ag-I2 -Ag(A) will serve as an easily in bulk accessible, well-defined, and very potent oxidant with multiple applications.


Although immunotherapy produced dramatic clinical responses in a certain population of cancer patients, tumor cells can employ a variety of immunosuppressive measures to limit the immunotherapeutic efficacy. This highlights a great need to develop novel strategies to expand the clinical benefits of immunotherapy to a broader population of cancer patients. PRMTs have been described as vital regulators of immune responsive pathways in several cell types, but the immunoregulatory role of Type I PRMTs in the tumor microenvironment remains poorly understood.In this study, we analyzed the correlation between Type I PRMT expression levels with the clinical outcome or immune signature. Gene expression changes were evaluated in a panel of immunogenic and non-immunogenic cancer cell lines with Type I PRMT inhibitor treatment. The antitumor and immunological effects of Type I PRMT inhibitor were evaluated in combination with checkpoint blockade in a panel of syngeneic tumor models.Using TCGA dataset analysis, increased mRNA expression levels of several Type I PRMTs were associated with poor clinical response and decreased immune infiltration in melanoma patients. Particularly, tumors with high expression of PRMT1, the major Type I PRMTs, displayed significantly reduced relapse-free survival (HR=1.891, p=0.038), and were associated with lower cytolytic score (logFC=-0.875, p=1.49e-08) and lower lymphocyte infiltration score (logFC=-0.783, p=0.00077). RNA-seq results showed that interferon signaling was significantly altered after Type I PRMT inhibitor treatment in 10 of 15 cell lines analyzed, with most related genes showing increased expression. In addition, VEGFA was downregulated by 25% or more in 7/8 human and 3/5 mouse cancer cell lines, and a moderate decrease in chromatin accessibility at the Vegfa promoter was observed in ATAC-seq data. Furthermore, Type I PRMT inhibitor combined with anti-PD1 treatment significantly extended the survival of tumor-bearing mice and delayed tumor growth in a panel of immunocompetent mouse models. Mechanistically, Type I PRMT inhibitor significantly increased the apoptotic sensitivity of tumor cells to autologous tumor-reactive T cells in vitro and the infiltration of total T cells (CD3+) in 3 of 4 tested tumor models and cytotoxic T cells (CD8+) in two tested tumor models in vivo.Taken together, these data indicated that Type I PRMT inhibition exhibits immunomodulatory properties and synergizes with immune checkpoint blockade to induce durable antitumor responses in a T cell dependent manner. This study provides a rationale to combine Type I PRMT inhibitor with immune checkpoint blockade to maximize clinical benefits in cancer patients.The authors would like to thank past and present members of the MDACC TIL lab for tumor/TIL processing and banking.


This study discusses the problem of access related to clean water and sanitation in rural settlements that do not have clean water and sanitation facilities to meet their daily needs in Pasarean Village, Pamijahan District, Bogor Regency. Citizens' efforts in dealing with problems are also described in this study. The background and problems of this research are the lack of access to clean water and sanitation in rural areas due to geographical factors, such as the position of being in the hills, into clean water, and the distance to access to get distant water. So the clean water sharing program in the form of well drilling was carried out to solve the problem, which was assisted by PKPU donors from humanitarian agencies. The purpose of this study is to determine the level of participatory development communication in water sharing programs. This research method is a qualitative descriptive method with data collection techniques, namely participatory observation. The results of this study indicate that development communication runs in a participatory manner, whereby the community participates actively in every process of building clean water facilities starting from planning to utilizing development programs. The level of community participatory development communication can be seen at the level of community participation, where community participation is at the level of acting together, which means that in achieving the goal of meeting the needs of clean water facilities the community does not merely participate in making decisions, but also engages and establish partnerships in the implementation of the program.


In this article, we are concerned with the stabilization of a 1-D Schrodinger equation with boundary control and observation. The boundary observation is suffered from an arbitrary given time delay. We first show that the proportional output feedback control that stabilizes exponentially the time delay free system can not stabilize the corresponding time delay system anymore. We then use the observer and predictor to solve the stabilization problem of time delay system: the state is estimated in the time span where the observation is available; and the state is predicted in the time interval when the observation is not available. It is shown that the estimated state feedback stabilizes exponentially the time delay system. The numerical simulation is presented to illustrate the effect of the stabilizing controller.


Ca2+-regulated gene transcription is a critical component of arterial responses to injury, hypertension, and tumor-stimulated angiogenesis. The Ca2+/cAMP response element binding protein (CREB), a transcription factor that regulates expression of many genes, is activated by Ca2+-induced phosphorylation. Multiple Ca2+ entry pathways may contribute to CREB activation in vascular smooth muscle including voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels and store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE). To investigate a role for SOCE in CREB activation, we measured CREB phosphorylation using immunofluorescence, intracellular Ca2+ levels using a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)–based Cameleon indicator, and c-fos transcription using RT-PCR. In this study, we report that SOCE activates CREB in both cultured smooth muscle cells and intact arteries. Depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores with thapsigargin increased nuclear phospho-CREB levels, intracellular Ca2+ concentration, and transcription of c-fos. These effects were abolished by inhibiting SOCE through lowering extracellular Ca2+ concentration or by application of 2-aminoethoxydiphenylborate and Ni2+. Inhibition of Ca2+ influx through voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels using nimodipine partially blocked intact artery responses, but was without effect in cultured smooth muscle cells. Our findings indicate that Ca2+ entry through store-operated Ca2+ channels leads to CREB activation, suggesting that SOCE contributes to the regulation of gene expression in vascular smooth muscle.


The notion of a bisimulation relation is of basic importance in many areas of computation theory and logic. Of late, it has come to take a particular significance in work on the formal analysis and verification of hybrid control systems, where system properties are expressible by formulas of the modal µ-calculus or weaker temporal logics. Our purpose here is to give an analysis of the concept of bisimulation, starting with the observation that the zigzag conditions are suggestive of some form of continuity. We give a topological characterization of bisimularity for preorders, and then use the topol-ogy as a route to examining the algebraic semantics for the µ-calculus, developed in recent work of Kwiatkowska et al., and its relation to the standard set-theoretic semantics. In our setting, µ-calculus sentences evaluate as clopen sets of an Alexandroff topology, rather than as clopens of a (compact, Hausdorff) Stone topology, as arises in the Stone space representation of Boolean algebras (with operators). The paper concludes by applying the topological characterization to obtain the decidability of µ-calculus properties for a class of first-order de-finable hybrid dynamical systems, slightly extending and considerably simplifying the proof of a recent result of Lafferriere et al.


The Internet of Things (IoT) consists of large amount of energy consuming devices which are pre-figured to progress the effective competence of several industrial applications. It is very much essential to bring down the energy use of every device deployed in the IoT network without compromising the Quality of Service (QoS) for intelligent transportation system. To achieve this objective, a multiobjective optimisation problem to accomplish the aim of estimating the outage performance of clustering process and the network lifetime is devised. Subsequently, a Hybrid Energy Efficient and QoS Aware (HEEQA) algorithm that is a combination of Quantum Particle Swarm Optimisation (QPSO) along with improved Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA) to achieve energy balance among the devices is proposed. NSGA is applied to solve the problem of multiobjective optimisation and the QPSO algorithm is used to find the optima cooperative nodes and cluster head in the clusters.


Aeromonas caviae W-61, which was isolated from water samples at the Faculty of Agriculture, Tohoku University, produced β-1, 4-xylanase (1,4-β-d-xylan xylanohydrolase; EC 184.108.40.206) extracellularly. The xylanase was purified to homogeneity by using DEAE-Sephadex A-50, CM-Sephadex C-50, and Sephadex G-100 column chromatographies. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was estimated to be 22,000 by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The isoelectric point of the enzyme was 9.2. The optimal pH and temperature for the activity of the enzyme were 7.0 and 55°C, respectively. The enzyme was stable at pH 7.0 at temperatures of up to 50°C. As enzymatic products, various xylo-oligosaccharides such as xylobiose, xylotriose, xylotetraose, and xylopentaose were formed, and only a small amount of xylose was detected. The purified enzyme did not hydrolyze starch, cellulose, carboxymethylcellulose, or β-1, 3-xylan.