This Article uses recent controversies over government-sponsored religious symbols and Confederate iconography to consider the appropriate constitutional limits on the government's symbolic expression. It contrasts two types of constitutional harm that can arise from the government's expressive acts. Expressions that harm refers to denigrating or exclusionary government speech that causes material harms to members of the community. Expressive wrongs describes constitutional wrongs that arise when the government has an improper motive or when a government action conveys an improper social meaning. After describing instances in which the Supreme Court has embraced one or the other theory of constitutional harm, I argue that symbolic speech, whether religious or not, can and should be subject to constitutional constraints under either theory.

The Supreme Court has been increasingly unwilling to impose substantive constraints on government symbolic speech, however. This past Term, the Court decided American Legion v. American Humanist Association, holding that a forty-foot tall Latin cross in Bladensburg, Maryland did not violate the Establishment Clause. It further held that long-standing government-sponsored religious symbols enjoy a presumption of constitutionality. In this Article, I assume the ascendance of what I call the majoritarian public square. But I argue that even as the doctrine becomes less amenable to imposing content constraints on government speakers, it should be attentive to the relative representativeness of government speech. Government symbolic speech that is a product of, or results in, the entrenchment of permanent symbolic majorities, that favors some private speakers over others, or that is imposed by one political community on another, should be constitutionally troubling. I apply these minimal conditions for constitutional government speech to the Bladensburg Cross case and cases involving Confederate monuments.


With widespread access to e-mail, the world-wide web, and other information sources, people now use computers more for managing information than for managing applications. To support how people naturally and routinely organize information, computers ought to be able to reflect the categories, relationships, and cues that people rely on when thinking about and remembering facts. Toward this end, we created an Information Programming Toolkit (IPtk) that collects application-independent properties, indexes documents along many dimensions to create a personal record of information use, and provides convenient means for information access. The IPtk enables the development of smart user interfaces that automatically tailor information to a user's history and context of information use.


We examine how to forecast after a recent break. We consider monitoring for change and then combining forecasts from models that do and do not use data before the change; and robust methods, namely rolling regressions, forecast averaging over different windows and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) forecasting. We derive analytical results for the performance of the robust methods relative to a full-sample recursive benchmark. For a location model subject to stochastic breaks the relative MSFE ranking is EWMA < rolling regression < forecast averaging. No clear ranking emerges under deterministic breaks. In Monte Carlo experiments forecast averaging improves performance in many cases with little penalty where there are small or infrequent changes. Similar results emerge when we examine a large number of UK and US macroeconomic series.


To advance understanding of mechanisms leading to biological and transcriptional endpoints related to estrogen action in the mouse uterus, we have mapped ERα and RNA polymerase II (PolII) binding sites using chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing of enriched chromatin fragments. In the absence of hormone, 5184 ERα-binding sites were apparent in the vehicle-treated ovariectomized uterine chromatin, whereas 17,240 were seen 1 h after estradiol (E₂) treatment, indicating that some sites are occupied by unliganded ERα, and that ERα binding is increased by E₂. Approximately 15% of the uterine ERα-binding sites were adjacent to (<10 kb) annotated transcription start sites, and many sites are found within genes or are found more than 100 kb distal from mapped genes; however, the density (sites per base pair) of ERα-binding sites is significantly greater adjacent to promoters. An increase in quantity of sites but no significant positional differences were seen between vehicle and E₂-treated samples in the overall locations of ERα-binding sites either distal from, adjacent to, or within genes. Analysis of the PolII data revealed the presence of poised promoter-proximal PolII on some highly up-regulated genes. Additionally, corecruitment of PolII and ERα to some distal enhancer regions was observed. A de novo motif analysis of sequences in the ERα-bound chromatin confirmed that estrogen response elements were significantly enriched. Interestingly, in areas of ERα binding without predicted estrogen response element motifs, homeodomain transcription factor-binding motifs were significantly enriched. The integration of the ERα- and PolII-binding sites from our uterine sequencing of enriched chromatin fragments data with transcriptional responses revealed in our uterine microarrays has the potential to greatly enhance our understanding of mechanisms governing estrogen response in uterine and other estrogen target tissues.


L-asparaginases have been established components in the treatment of acute leukemias for nearly 40 years. Their antitumor effect results from the depletion of asparagine, an amino acid essential to leukemic cells, and subsequent inhibition of protein synthesis leading to considerable cytotoxicity. The efficacy of L-asparaginases has been limited by a high rate of hypersensitivity reactions and development of anti-asparaginase antibodies, which neutralize their activity. PEG-asparaginase, a form of Escherichia coli L-asparaginase covalently linked to polyethylene glycol, was rationally synthesized to decrease immunogenicity of the enzyme and prolong its half-life. In recent years, clinical trials have established the importance of intramuscular PEG-asparaginase in frontline pediatric and adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapy. Present studies are evaluating the feasibility of intravenous PEG-asparaginase administration.


Strengthening reinforced concrete beams using laminate of advanced composite materials has gained ground recently due to its lower cost and simplicity compared to traditional methods. These traditional methods are usually done by either increasing the reinforcement or the beam's dimensions, which naturally requires formwork, and hinder the structural usage. One of the most impediments of using bonded laminate in strengthening beams is debonding. In flexural strengthening of beams, this debonding occurs via mid-span debonding or end-delamination of the laminate. Herein, ten RC beams were experimentally tested in flexure under three-point loading. The reinforced concrete beams have rectangular cross sections and were strengthened by bonded CFRP strips. Flexural strength and ductility were investigated in order to reveal the impact of changing the CFRP strips' locations with respect to the beams' cross section. The CFRP strips were attached to the reinforced concrete beams sides of bottoms. The first configuration is thought to reduce the effect of flexure cracks in the mid-span of the beams, which may delay the deboning of these laminates. In order to anchor the strips, close to the support and eliminate end delamination, CFRP sheets were wrapped at these locations. Based on the proposed configurations, the flexure strength of the beams increased by an average of 40%.


Background: Gnidia capitata L. F. belongs to the family Thymelaeaceae, and has been widely reported for its
ethnobotanical uses, especially for the treatment of several human ailments which include skin conditions. However,
there is limited information about the pharmacological properties of this plant as a potential cosmetic agent or
pharmaceutical. The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic potential of G. capitata for its anti-tyrosinase,
antibacterial, antioxidant, anticancer and anti-mycobacterial properties.
Materials and methods: G. capitata was extracted with methanol (MeOH), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), dichloromethane
(DCM) and hexane (n-Hex). All extracts were tested in vitro for activities against Propionibacterium acnes (ATCC
11827) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv (ATCC 27294). Tyrosinase inhibitory activity was screened using
tyrosinase from Agaricus bispor. Antioxidant activity was investigated using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl
(DPPH) radical scavenging assay.
Results: EtOAc, DCM and n-Hex extracts of the plant showed antibacterial activity against P. acnes with MICs of 125
μg/ml. The DCM and n-Hex extracts showed anti-mycobacterial activity with MICs of 500μg/ml. The methanolic
extract showed the highest antioxidant activity with an IC50 of 41.83μg/ml.
Conclusion: The findings presented in this study may explain the potential use of G. capitata for the treatment of
certain skin conditions. The potent antioxidant activity could help control the negative effects associated with
inflammatory mediators that are produced during the immune response in people that are affected by skin conditions.


Gynecologic radiation oncologists have long desired a single unit by which radiation doses to specific reference points in the pelvis can be summed. The Patterns of Care Studies, Marcial's 1976 report to the Conference on Radiation Oncology of the American Cancer Society, and other radiation oncologists advise summed doses to Point A, Point B, or the pelvic side wall. Since there is a difference in the biologic effect of high intensity, long time interval teletherapy and low intensity, short time interval brachytherapy, the rad dose obtained from each modality cannot be simply added. Ellis and Sorenson in the Nominal Standard Dose (NSD) concept have described radium conversion factors that can be used to normalize brachytherapy rads at selected reference points to equivalent teletherapy rad. The two rad doses can then be summed. A simple method found useful in 50 cases of carcinoma of the cervix, and used with a computer or readily available reference tables and with any radium system, is described and discussed. Further clinical uses of the method are suggested.


This article attempts to put carrier sanctions policies in a broad perspective by looking at the immigration context, the rationale behind the policy, the changing character of borders and the regulatory environment of this policy. Carrier sanction legislation can be understood as a remote control instrument, which is supplementary to controls before and at the border and internal controls, whereby the concept of the border as a line between states is abandoned. The second part of the article focuses on the implementation of the carrier sanctions policy in the Netherlands. The Dutch government tries to overcome the principal-agent dilemma arising from involving a third party in enforcement, by installing a system of 'contiguous measures', both negative and positive, to stimulate carriers to perform controls on their passengers' documents. Responsibilities are imposed on carriers but the state, by using 'soft' and 'hard touch' legislation, remains in control.


To assess the genetic susceptibility to noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) in Japanese subjects, we investigated the role of GLUT2 gene defects in patients with NIDDM. When the allelic frequency of a simple tandem repeat polymorphism in the GLUT2 gene was compared, the allele with 155 base pairs was more common in NIDDM patients (n = 99) than in controls (n = 89; 5.1% vs. 0.6%; P = 0.0118, by Fisher's exact test), whereas this was not significant after the correction for multiple comparisons. To directly identify mutations, we then analyzed each of 11 exons by the polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism analysis in 60 NIDDM patients. We found 2 missense mutations in exon 3: CCC-->CTC (Pro68-->Leu) in 1 patient and ACT-->ATT (Thr110-->Ile) in 3 patients, all in the heterozygous state. These mutations were not found in 60 control subjects. To evaluate the significance of the Pro68-->Leu mutation, the family members of the proband were studied. The mutation did not appear to be associated with the disease or other clinical parameters including change in immunoreactive insulin/change in plasma glucose or oral glucose load. The other mutation (Thr110-->Ile) is known to be functionally insignificant. We identified 4 additional nucleotide changes, all of which appeared to be silent. We concluded that the mutations in the GLUT2 gene were not major determinants of genetic susceptibility to NIDDM in Japanese.


Overland flow (OF) and subsurface flow (SSF) are key processes that determine the streamflow response to precipitation, as well as water quality, but are affected by the land surface and soil characteristics. They can also modify the shape of our landscape. However, our understanding of the evolution of OF and SSF characteristics and the feedback mechanisms between hydrological, pedological, biological and geormorphological processes that affect OF and SSF during landscape evolution is still limited.

We used a space-for-time approach and studied 3 plots (4m x 6m each) on four different aged moraines (several decades to ~13.500 years) on the Sustenpass near the Steinglacier and in the karstic glacier foreland of the Griessfirn near Klausenpass (total of 24 plots) to determine how OF & SSF change during landscape evolution. We used artificial rainfall experiments with high rainfall intensities to determine runoff ratios, peak flow rates, timing and duration of OF & SSF. The addition of tracers (2H and NaCl) to the sprinkling water and sampling of soil water allowed us to determine the degree of mixing of the applied rainfall with water in the soil. Measurements during natural rainfall events helped to determine the impact of the rainfall volume and intensity on the runoff generation. In addition, the runoff samples and sensor-based turbidity measurements of OF provide an estimate of the erosion rates during extreme events. In order to link the differences in runoff generation with the pedological and biological characteristics of the slopes, vegetation cover, root density, soil texture, soil aggregate stability, and the saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) were measured as well.

The results show that Ksat at both study areas decreases with moraine age and soil depth and is mainly driven by the increase in silt and clay content. Despite the high Ksat values, local OF occurs frequently on the youngest moraines due to the large rock and stone cover. Sediment flux and the related erosion rates are largest for the young moraines, since vegetation cover and soil aggregate stability are small. Soil and vegetation development change major OF and SSF characteristics during landscape development, such as the mixing processes and the pre-event water fraction in OF & SSF, which both increase for the older moraines. However, the rate of these changes during landscape evolution is controlled by the parent material. These results can be used to inform landscape evolution models and help us to understand processes within the critical zone during the first millennia of soil development.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of how the government influences the internationalization of emerging MNEs and, more specifically, answer the questions how and to what extent does the combination of the home country government's control and interest influence Russian MNEs.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the author examined sector-specific factors and institutional forces that affect the development of the Russian economy's industries. Second, the author has classified the sectors included in this study into four groups according to the following two main criteria: the interest of the government in the development of the sector, and the degree of state control for the firms in the sector. Third, the author has analyzed the forms and types of the government participation in firms' internationalization in defined groups based on the observation of industries' legislative acts and state decrees and orders. After that, the author has verified the existence of certain similarities of strategies under the governmental influence, and finally discussed the extent of the control and interest implied by the government toward these firms.

Findings

After analyzing the patterns of the state involvement in firms' internationalization in various groups the author found that some of the groups are characterized by similar types of government role and their responses are, also, sometimes similar. The author presents a more detailed look at the above results in Table III, and explain the two-sided role of the government in different groups of firms.

Research limitations/implications

While the literature emphasizes that institutional forces shape the internationalization of emerging multinational enterprises, they have not been comprehensively linked to explaining the contradictory role of the government in this process. The author addresses this gap by examining an integrated influence that home government factors (namely, control and interest) exert in enabling firms to compete abroad. In addition, the author contributes to the knowledge about the behavior of Russian firms, which is one of the less researched areas in the field of international management.

Practical implications

The paper also has value for companies' strategists as it provides them with understanding of the complexity of government-related determinants influencing the internationalization process of their firms and the types of firms' abilities to be developed or supported. It also provides a practical tool for modeling their international strategy formation and accounting for different types of state influences on internationalization of EM firms.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the government-related aspects of the internationalization of Russian MNEs. Even when they go abroad with strong product capabilities and a proactive managerial style, they still benefit from home country institutional resources. The author sees the strength of the empirical findings in further extension of the understanding of origins, consequences and prospects of internationalization of emerging market firms with the home government involvement.


Background In rheumatoid arthritis (RA) it is of major importance to distinguish non-responders to TNF-alpha inhibitor (TNFi) treatment before start to prevent a delay in effective treatment, potential side-effects and unnecessary healthcare costs. We investigated the ability of al large set of inflammatory proteins to predict (absence of) response to biological treatment. Objectives To develop a protein score predictive for response to TNFi treatment in RA and investigate its added predictive value over clinical parameters alone. Methods In consecutive RA patients eligible for TNFi treatment as included in the BiOCURA registry, serum was collected before start of treatment and analyzed on 57 inflammatory proteins using xMAP technology. EULAR response was determined after three months. A supervised cluster analysis method, partial least squares (PLS) was used to select the best combination of proteins and cross-validation to gain a reproducible protein score. Multiple imputation was used to account for missing data of baseline clinical parameters. Relevant clinical parameters for EULAR good response were selected by performing a univariate (p<0.2) and multivariable backward selection (p<0.1). The predictive ability of the final model with and without the protein score was assessed using the area under the receiving operater curve (AUC-ROC), negative predictive values (NPV) and the reclassification index (NRI). Results Response was determined for 171 of the 192 cases starting treatment. On top of CRP and DAS28 at baseline, PLS revealed 9 important proteins: sCD14, IFNγ, MCP1, MIP1b, MIP3b, TARC, sTNFRI, sTNFRII and TSLP. These markers were able to explain 31.5% of the variance in DAS28 at 3 months. Final models for prediction of TNFi response included baseline DAS28, naivety for bDMARDs, HAQ, RF positivity, concomitant MTX and GC use. The protein score did not improve the AUC-ROC of 0.80 (0.73-0.87), however, when the predefined cut-off for a NPV≥0.9 was set, the addition of the protein score resulted in the classification of 30 extra patients in the low probability category (table). An improved classification was observed of 24.2% and -4.8% for patients with and without a response respectively (NRI=19.42%). Model Category for probability of response Size (n) Probability of EULAR good response (% in cat.) Clinical variables alone Low (0–10%) 58 10.4 Normal (10–100%) 113 42.3 Clinical variables + protein score Low (0–10%) 88 9.8 Normal (10–100%) 83 54.5 Conclusions We showed that a combination of a protein score and clinical variables is able to predict absence of EULAR good response to TNF inhibiting treatment and can classify more patients at baseline in the appropriate risk category than clinical variable alone. This protein score may therefore contribute to a more patients tailored treatment, leading to a better usage of the available resources. In the near future these findings will be validated externally. Acknowledgements The Society for Rheumatology Research Utrecht (SRU) consists of University Medical Center Utrecht, Antonius Hospital Nieuwegein and Utrecht, Diakonessen Hospital Utrecht, Meander Medical Center Amersfoort, Sint Maartenskliniek Woerden, Hospital St. Jansdal Harderwijk, Tergooi Hospital Hilversum, Flevo Hospital Almere. Disclosure of Interest None declared


ANGINA PECTORIS. SIR,-Jonnesco's operation of division of the vagus, mentioned by Dr. E. A. Starling and others, for the relief of angina pectoris is very interesting to me as, in 1893, at a Branch meeting of the Association at Yarmouth, I published my' lypothesis that in (say) 90 per cent. of cases the malady was due to aortitis, and tlhat death was due, nob to "hleart failure," but to vagus inhibition both propositions then nmade for the first timne. Since then I have prescribed atropine-as advised in my book on arterial disease-to protect the hleart from tlle inllibition. Where tlhe hleart is sound it escapes from tlle vagus grip; but in the large majority of the cases the heart is not sound. My purpose now is to say that Professor Wenckebach of Vienna wrote to me some montlhs ago to say that he had completed his five-lhundredtlh necropsy on cases of angina, and that he was "absolutely with me " as to my interpretations of the disease. He added that he had found in many of the severer cases that the vagus in the neck was tender to pressure, sometimes very telnder; so muclh so as to make it desirable tllat stiff or tight collars should be rem-oved. My hypotlhesis is now widely accepted in France and in the United States, but lhardly yet in England. Indeed, a few years ago a dear friend of mine argued witlh me that it was a " childish opinion," and advised me for my own reputation's sake to say no more about it. Thlat notwitlhstanding in a small minority of cases the angina arises in or about the heart I set forth and described in my Arteries book. Mr. Verdon's book is replete witlh interesting matter, and he has paid more formal attention tlhan I lhad done to tlle gastric side of angina; a feature in these cases whlich I am sure is of great importance. It will be most interesting to lhear farther reports of Jonnesco's operation.-I am, etc., Cambridge. July 16th. CLIFFORD ALLBUTT.


A case of albuterol abuse by a pediatric patient with the development of hypokalemia with electrocardiographic changes is presented. The hypokalemic effects of beta2-agonists are discussed in regard to the production of significant cardiac symptoms. Additionally, guidance regarding the evaluation of similar patients presenting in the emergency department is provided.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to conduct a comparative assessment on the satisfaction level for the two interfaces of surgical guide system (SimPlant and R2GATE), the design and convenience of manufactured surgical guides and the importance of using the surgical guides thereof by means of survey. Materials and Methods: Hereupon, they simulated the implant surgical process by mounting the two manufactured systems of surgical guide on a dental mold, respectively. The study subjects were instructed to complete the questionnaire as to the satisfaction level upon completion of the simulated surgery. This study summarized the data of each question after collecting the completed questionnaires. Then, this study analyzed the summarized data by utilizing statistical program SPSS 20.0 (IBM). Results: R2GATE had a higher value of the satisfaction level on the design and convenience of manufactures surgical guides. R2GATE group () was found to have a higher value in terms of the overall satisfaction level compared to SimPlant group () ( = 0.05). Conclusion: The user satisfaction level on the surgical guide manufactured for R2GATE system was to such an extent as it can be widely used in clinical environment. Moreover, the surgical guide manufactured as R2GATE system can guide both the length and direction of a drill simultaneously. As a result, it is highly recommended for those beginners who do not have a lot of experience in implant placement.


Background Macadamia is a true dicotyledonous plant that thrives in a mild, humid, low wind environment. It is cultivated and traded internationally due to its high-quality nuts thus, has significant development prospects and scientific research value. However, information on the genetic resources of Macadamia spp. remains scanty. Results The mitochondria (mt) genomes of three economically important Macadamia species, Macadamia integrifolia, M. ternifolia and M. tetraphylla, were assembled through the Illumina sequencing platform. The results showed that each species has 71 genes, including 42 protein-coding genes, 26 tRNAs, and 3 rRNAs. Repeated sequence analysis, RNA editing site prediction, and analysis of genes migrating from chloroplast (cp) to mt were performed in the mt genomes of the three Macadamia species. Phylogenetic analysis based on the mt genome of the three Macadamia species and 35 other species was conducted to reveal the evolution and taxonomic status of Macadamia. Furthermore, the characteristics of the plant mt genome, including genome size and GC content, were studied through comparison with 36 other plant species. The final non-synonymous (Ka) and synonymous (Ks) substitution analysis showed that most of the protein-coding genes in the mt genome underwent negative selections, indicating their importance in the mt genome. Conclusion The findings of this study provide a better understanding of the Macadamia genome and will inform future research on the genus.


The paper lines out a research project done as a cooperation between Sigmund-Freud-Institut (Frankfurt, Germany) and 5 Chinese professors of different universities. It focusses at traumatic experiences of witnesses of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the transgenerational transfer to one of their children. Method and results of this qualitative research are outlined. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Fuzzy logic based control systems provide a simple and efficient method to control highly complex and imprecise systems. However, the lack of a simple hardware design that is capable of modifying the fuzzy controller's parameters to adapt for any changes in the operation environment, or behavior of the plant system limits the applicability of fuzzy based control systems in the automotive and industrial environments. The design and implementation of an FPGA based fuzzy logic controller, that allows real-time modification of its membership functions and rule base is introduced in this paper. The development of the controller's architecture is carried out on a National Instruments Intelligent DAQ board (PCI-7833R) with a reconfigurable Xilinx Virtex-II FPGA. The proposed design combines the performance advantages of existing static FPGA based fuzzy control architectures, with the flexibility and ease of implementation of conventional micro-controllers and general purpose processors. To test the efficiency of the controller and its ability to stabilize a highly dynamic system, a semi-active suspension system was developed. Simulation results for the proposed FPGA controller showed a 56% characteristic enhancement over the standard passive suspension system.


Spot blotch, caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana, has become an increasingly important disease on barley in Sweden. In order to enhance our knowledge of this disease, eight Swedish B. sorokiniana isolates were assessed for their virulence pathotype on 30 barley genotypes including eight lines of mutant origin, designated B. sorokiniana tolerant (bst). A leaf screen assay revealed the presence of virulence groups 1 and 7 in Sweden. Several mutant genotypes demonstrated enhanced resistance responses (P = 0.0001), of which bstl:3 had the lowest leaf scoring value to the most virulent isolate, Swe2 (virulence group 7). To evaluate the host root responses, two contrasting isolates Swe2 and Swe4 (virulence group 7 and 1) were used to inoculate a set of eight differential lines, including four promising mutant lines from the leaf screen. Mutant bstl:6 was significantly less susceptible (P = 0.001) compared with the other barley genotypes tested, independent of the two isolates used. Mutants bst1, bst1:3 and bstl:4, which displayed less or no spots, are also considered promising genotypes for further breeding attempts.


A design of a comparator for an all HTC superconductive 4-bit flash A/D converter is proposed and discussed. The design has been simulated and optimized using the PSCAN computer package (1,2). The required junction and circuit parameters are thus calculated and compared with the experimental junction parameters. The operating temperature is intended to be as high as 40 K. Due to the current noise-level at these temperatures the I, of the junctions should be higher than 100 pA. The output voltages should be of the order of 500 pV and higher. The junctions in the quasi-one junction SQUID are structured on 2 ramp-edges. The operating frequencies will be below 1 MHz in this first design. Optimization to the GHz range seems very well possible. A first realization uses the YBa$u,O,, (YBCO) superconductor and PrBa&u,O,, (PBCO) as junction barrier and electrode inter layer material. On a 10x10 mm2 SrTiO, (001) substrate, 9 comparators and 4 separate ramp-edge junctions are realized. This relative large number of elements on a wafer should allow us to extract statistical information on the scattering of properties due to the fabrication processes.


This Letter presents a dual polarised monostatic patch antenna with a simple two-tap RF/analogue domain-based self-interference cancellation (SIC) (RF-SIC) circuitry to achieve high interport isolation in a comparatively wider bandwidth for a 2.4 GHz in-band full duplex wireless transceiver. A brief mathematical description for the deployed two-tap RF-SIC is also presented to provide insight into self-interference (SI) suppression in a comparatively wider bandwidth. The implemented antenna with a two-tap RF-SIC circuitry achieves around 80 dB T
 x
-R
 x
 isolation for a 20 MHz bandwidth in addition to more than 90 dB peak isolation for measurements performed in a lab environment where SI may result from the nearby placed objects. The deployed two-tap RF-SIC circuit can be tuned to effectively cancel out SI caused by reflections of the radio signal from the surroundings. Moreover, an 80 dB isolation bandwidth can be tuned within a 10 dB return loss bandwidth of the implemented dual polarised antenna.


Background and Study Aim: We go from the general assumption that motivation in sport depends crucially on the work of a coach (or a sports psychologist) and their assistance in removing obstacles hindering the achievement of the objective, focusing the athlete's attention on the objective, and making them belief that it is possible to achieve it (perseverance in action).This study aim is the motivational effect of objectives in people practicing karate, boxing, football and wheelchair basketball. Material and Methods: We investigated 476 people from the north-western part of Poland (mean age 26.69 ±9.63 years, 69.1% men, 30.9% women) practicing individual and team sports, filled in a Inventory of Physical Activity Objectives Questionnaire (IPAO), as well as a questionnaire covering personal data and information on their involvement in a given sport. Non-parametric statistics were used. The value of p≤0.05 was assumed to be statistically significant. Results: The most important objective of the surveyed people practicing karate, boxing, football and wheelchair basketball was physical fitness. Everyone also indicated health and well-being, but in different orders. Higher scores on the scale of motivational values, time organization, motivational conflict and multidimensional objectives were characteristic for karatekas (K), boxers (B) and wheelchair basketball players (W). Footballers (F) required less motivation, and reported less difficulty in organizing time and reconciling different objectives. Perseverance was related only to sporting experience. Conclusions: In the motivational analyses of the functions of the objectives among karatekas, boxers, football players and wheelchair basketball players, no differences were observed on the scale of perseverance in action. Perseverance in action was related only to sporting experience, not to the frequency and volume of training. In shaping the motivation to take part in sport it is necessary to focus the work of a coach (sports psychologist) on helping the competitors in removing obstacles hindering the achievement of the objective, focusing attention on the objective, building the belief that it is possible to achieve it.


The current market malaise may keep some investors on the sidelines. The benefits of diversification may not seem as appealing in situations where the constituent investments are likely to lose money. Yet, using relatively simple math, the author shows that diversification maintained by rebalancing can easily turn individual assets' negative cumulative returns into positive portfolio cumulative returns. This seemingly paradoxical result is the investing analog of a well-known phenomenon studied by physicists and mathematicians called Parrondo's Paradox.


The recent completion of Korea-US. FTA negotiations has led to hopeful expectations about Korea's economic future. That is, if successful in having endorsement from the Korean national assembly, of course as well from the US. Congress, many anticipate such increases in consumer's welfare, job opportunities, exports volume, and etc. However, a FTA itself does not guarantee those rosy pictures. That is, in advance to having sweet fruits of the new FTA environment, there should occur a fundamental restructuring of the Korean economy. This paper explores possible effects of Korea-US. FTA on excessive import dependence of certain product groups on Japan, an area often considered as an achilles for Korean industrial structure. Even though the Korea's current import structure is more suitable to Japan for now and it looks hard to break an immediate effect, the present dominance of Japan over the US. in Korean market is very different from the competitiveness in the world market. Therefore, if we assume rational economic agents, the tariff reduction of Korea-US. FTA, which are estimated not small in this paper, should give the price advantage for the US. imports and thus the import diversion from Japan. Although it should not be the final goal of the Korea-US. FTA, the imports diversion for essential products such as in organic chemicals, chemical products, plastics, glasses, and precision tools may at least give an opportunity for Korea to improve their competitiveness in those areas.


We study online learning with bandit feedback across multiple tasks, with the goal of improving average performance across tasks if they are similar according to some natural task-similarity measure. As the first to target the adversarial setting, we design a unified meta-algorithm that yields setting-specific guarantees for two important cases: multi-armed bandits (MAB) and bandit linear optimization (BLO). For MAB, the meta-algorithm tunes the initialization, step-size, and entropy parameter of the Tsallis-entropy generalization of the well-known Exp3 method, with the task-averaged regret provably improving if the entropy of the distribution over estimated optima-in-hindsight is small. For BLO, we learn the initialization, step-size, and boundary-offset of online mirror descent (OMD) with self-concordant barrier regularizers, showing that task-averaged regret varies directly with a measure induced by these functions on the interior of the action space. Our adaptive guarantees rely on proving that unregularized follow-the-leader combined with multiplicative weights is enough to online learn a non-smooth and non-convex sequence of affine functions of Bregman divergences that upper-bound the regret of OMD.


Abstract. Torsion experiments were performed in polycrystalline ice at high temperature (0.97 ⋅ Tm) to reproduce simple shear conditions close to those encountered in ice streams and at the base of fast flowing glaciers. As well documented more than 30 years ago (Hudleston, 1977; Bouchez and Duval, 1982), under simple shear ice develops a two-maxima c-axis texture, which evolves rapidly into a single cluster texture with c-axis perpendicular to the shear plane. This evolution still lacks a physical explanation. Current viscoplastic modeling approaches on ice involving dislocation slip on multiple slip systems (basal pyramidal, and prismatic) fail to reproduce it. Dynamic recrystallization mechanisms that occur in both laboratory conditions and in natural setups are likely candidates to explain the texture evolution observed. In this study, we use Electron BackScattering Diffraction (EBSD) and Automatic Ice Texture Analyzer (AITA) to characterize the mechanisms accommodating deformation, the stress and strain heterogeneities that form under torsion of an initially isotropic polycrystalline ice sample at high temperature, and the role of dynamic recrystallization in accommodating these heterogeneities. These analyses highlight an interlocking microstructure, which results from heterogeneity-driven serrated grain boundary migration, and sub-grain boundaries composed by dislocations with [c]-component Burgers vector, indicating that strong local stress heterogeneity develops, even at high temperature and high finite shear strain. Based on these observations, we propose that that nucleation by bulging, assisted by sub-grain boundary formation, is a very likely candidate to explain the progressive disappearance of the texture cluster at low angle to the shear plane and the stability of the one normal to it. We therefore strongly support the development of new models limiting dislocation slip on non-basal slip system and allowing for efficient polygonization by an association of bulging and formation of sub-grain boundaries with a significant [c]-component.


Task-oriented semantic parsing models have achieved strong results in recent years, but unfortunately do not strike an appealing balance between model size, runtime latency, and cross-domain generalizability. We tackle this problem by introducing scenario-based semantic parsing: a variant of the original task which first requires disambiguating an utterance's "scenario" (an intent-slot template with variable leaf spans) before generating its frame, complete with ontology and utterance tokens. This formulation enables us to isolate coarse-grained and fine-grained aspects of the task, each of which we solve with off-the-shelf neural modules, also optimizing for the axes outlined above. Concretely, we create a Retrieve-and-Fill (RAF) architecture comprised of (1) a retrieval module which ranks the best scenario given an utterance and (2) a filling module which imputes spans into the scenario to create the frame. Our model is modular, differentiable, interpretable, and allows us to garner extra supervision from scenarios. RAF achieves strong results in high-resource, low-resource, and multilingual settings, outperforming recent approaches by wide margins despite, using base pre-trained encoders, small sequence lengths, and parallel decoding.


The authors describe a method for integrating separately developed information models. The models may be the schemas of databases, frame systems of knowledge bases, domain models of business environments, or process models of business operations. The method achieves integration at a semantic level by using an existing global ontology to develop semantic mappings among resources and resolve inconsistencies. The method is incorporated in a graphical integration tool. The integrated models provide a coherent picture of an enterprise and enable its resources to be accessed and modified coherently.<<ETX>>


A transient voltage induced on a communication line by an overhead power transmission line is investigated using analytical formulas of the voltage and the maximum voltage value and on results calculated with EMTP and using a frequency-domain method. A large transient induced voltage, which is several times greater than the steady-state induced voltage during a line-to-ground fault, is generated because of the different propagation times of the aerial and earth-return modes in the case of a switching surge with no source inductance and that of a line-to-ground fault surge. The transient induced voltage in the switching surge case, with a source inductance, can be neglected because it is of the same order as the steady-state induced voltage during a fault. Based on a parametric analysis of the induced voltage, it was found that, the transient and steady-state induced voltages generally increase as the line length and earth resistivity increase, and as the source inductance and separation between the power and communication lines decrease.


Abstract A cDNA clone encoding the sequence-specific DNA binding protein, serum response factor (SRF), has been isolated and analysed from the marine sponge Geodia cydonium . The 1443 bp long cDNA comprises an open reading frame of 1149 bp, from which an aa sequence with a M r 42,149 can be deduced. Sequence comparisons revealed that the aa sequence shares high homology to human and Xenopus laevis SRFs. Like these vertebrate sequences also the sponge sequence displays the MADS-box motif present in the DNA-binding domain. The SRF, and also other transcription factors, such as ternary complex factors, recognizes the serum response element (CArG box) in promoter regions of a series of cellular immediate-early genes, whose expression is controlled by growth factors. A related CArG box sequence is present in sponge gene, encoding a receptor tyrosine kinase. Expression of SRF is strongly regulated by temperature stress; after incubation of the sponge at high temperature, the 1.6 kb transcript of SRF is downregulated. It is suggested that the SRF is involved in the transcriptional regulatory circuits, which control the response of the animal to altered environmental conditions.


In this short review we highlight the importance and the capabilities of composition spread alloy films (CSAFs) for the high-throughput study and comprehensive understanding of corrosion passivation in multicomponent alloys, AxByC1-x-y, spanning composition space, x ∈ [0, 1] and y ∈ [0, 1 - x]. After first establishing the mechanistic issues associated with corrosion, and the problems arising from the corrosion of metals, we establish the need for further studying and understanding the mechanisms of alloy corrosion and corrosion passivation. In particular, we highlight the development of new combinatorial methods that circumvent the experimental bottleneck associated with preparing, characterizing, and testing many alloy samples having common components at different compositions. We will illustrate the use of CSAFs in studying corrosion across alloy composition space. Because of their structure and inherent composition range, CSAFs enable many novel studies that are otherwise intractable using the traditional methods of preparing and testing one alloy composition at a time.


1. Previous work has shown that the H reflex excitability of the human soleus motoneurones is reduced during fatigue and is accompanied by a corresponding decrease in electromyographic (EMG) activity during maximal voluntary contractions. These findings were consistent with the existence of a reflex whereby alpha‐motoneurones are inhibited by sensory input from the fatigued muscle. 2. To elucidate the contribution of different‐sized afferents in such reflex inhibition, compression of the sciatic nerve was used in an attempt to block large myelinated afferents prior to fatigue. 3. Fatigue of the soleus muscle was induced under ischaemic conditions by intermittent electrical stimulation at 15 Hz in ten healthy subjects. These subjects also participated in a control test in which the compression block was followed by ischaemia without fatigue. 4. Following nerve compression alone, both the mean maximal plantarflexion torque and the associated EMG for all ten subjects declined by 18.8 +/‐ 16.2% (S.D.) and 13.4 +/‐ 17.2%, respectively. 5. Following fatigue, there were five subjects in whom the large afferents remained blocked and the experimental findings were consistent with the existence of reflex inhibition during fatigue. The mean maximal plantarflexion torque decreased further by 36.2 +/‐ 7.6% from the value following the compression block compared to a decrease of 5.0 +/‐ 9.9% in the ischaemia control. The mean EMG associated with these contractions also decreased from post‐block values by 56.8 +/‐ 19.6% following fatigue and by only 6.4 +/‐ 8.0% following ischaemia alone. 6. The peripheral excitability of the neuromuscular junction and muscle fibre membrane was adequate following fatigue as evidenced by only modest changes in the M wave (muscle compound action potential). The descending motor drive was deemed sufficient because of the absence of any large interpolated twitches superimposed upon the maximal voluntary contraction in all but two subjects. 7. The declines in maximal plantarflexion torque and the associated EMG activity were very similar to those found in a previous study in which the sensory input was unaltered. The findings demonstrated that any reflex inhibition of the alpha‐motoneurone pool during fatigue was probably not mediated by large diameter afferents. Rather, it is suggested that the reflex is mediated by smaller diameter afferents originating from the fatigued muscle.


In this paper, an efficient and fair algorithm for resource management in MIMO-OFDM systems is proposed. The system used for this analysis is the downlink of multi-user MIMO-OFDM system. Based on channel state information (CSI), the base station (BS) employs singular value decomposition (SVD) to transmit the MIMO channel into parallel subchannels for each subcarrier, and then subcarriers, are allocated according to a variance based algorithm. The proposed scheme is used to enhance the system capacity while satisfying the proportional fairness constraint. A selection of numerical results is presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed algorithm.


Peptide synthesis from amino acids has been shown to occur in aqueous solutions at high concentrations of sodium chloride and in the presence of Cu(ll) after several days at 85° C, under nitrogen or air as well. Di- and tripeptides could be obtained in a series of experiments which have yet to be optimized. However, these experiments have proved the principle applicability of a model which is based on the structural features of concentrated aqueous NaCI solutions and evidence of catalytic effects in peptide condensation reactions exerted by di- and trivalent metal ions. Among the ions of Mg, Ca, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Fe, Cu, Zn and Cd, only copper was found to be active under these conditions. This leads to new aspects for possible prebiotic peptide syntheses based on a very simple system of only water, amino acids and mineral salts.


Several studies have investigated potential interactions between emotion and memory by focusing on analyses of accuracy and response bias. These studies typically show higher accuracy and laxer response bias to emotional relative to neutral words. Fewer studies, however, have examined interactions between emotion and memory by focusing on response time data. Here, we report a recognition memory experiment in which emotional words, neutral words, and semantically related neutral words were used as probes. Participants were slower to reject novel emotional words than to reject novel neutral words, whereas they exhibited equivalent response times to emotional and neutral studied words. Quantile analysis showed that such slower rejection of emotional novel words was restricted to slower responses, suggesting potential interactions between emotion and higher order processes during recognition. These findings are interpreted in light of affective theories of exposure and theories of emotional processing.


Cancer-cell-derived exosomes confer oncogenic properties in their tumor microenvironment and to other cells; however, the exact mechanism underlying this process is unclear. Here, we investigated the roles of cancer-cell-derived exosomes in colon cancer. Exosomes were isolated from colon cancer cell lines, HT-29, SW480, and LoVo, using an ExoQuick-TC kit, identified using Western blotting for exosome markers, and characterized using transmission electron microscopy and nanosight tracking analysis. The isolated exosomes were used to treat HT-29 to evaluate their effect on cancer progression, specifically cell viability and migration. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) were obtained from patients with colorectal cancer to analyze the effect of the exosomes on the tumor microenvironment. RNA sequencing was performed to evaluate the effect of the exosomes on the mRNA component of CAFs. The results showed that exosome treatment significantly increased cancer cell proliferation, upregulated N-cadherin, and downregulated E-cadherin. Exosome-treated cells exhibited higher motility than control cells. Compared with control CAFs, exosome-treated CAFs showed more downregulated genes. The exosomes also altered the regulation of different genes involved in CAFs. In conclusion, colon cancer-cell-derived exosomes affect cancer cell proliferation and the epithelial–mesenchymal transition. They promote tumor progression and metastasis and affect the tumor microenvironment.


Software Defined Networking (SDN) uses a logically centralized controller to replace the distributed control plane in a traditional network. One of the central challenges faced by the SDN paradigm is the scalability of the logical controller. As a network grows in size, the computational and communication demand faced by a controller may soon exceed the capabilities of a commodity server. In this work, we revisit the task division of labour between the controller and switches, and propose FOCUS, an architecture that offloads a specific subset of control functions, i.e., stable local functions, to the switches' software stack. We implemented a prototype of FOCUS and analyzed the benefits of converting several SDN applications. Due to space restrictions, we only present results for ARP, LLDP and elephant flow detection. Our initial results are promising and they show that FOCUS can reduce a controller's communication overhead by 50% to nearly 100%, and the computational overhead from 80% to 98%. Furthermore, we observe that FOCUS offloading to the switches saves switch CPU because FOCUS reduces the overheads for communication with the controller.


An innovative constant false alarm rate (CFAR) algorithm was studied for ship detection using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of the sea. Two advances were achieved. An alpha-stable distribution rather than a traditional Weibull or -distribution was used to model the distribution of sea clutter. The distribution of sea clutter in a SAR image was typically heterogeneous, caused mainly by variable wind and current conditions. Image segmentation was carried out to improve the homogeneity of the distribution in each subimage or region. In comparison with ship detection using the CFAR algorithms based on the Weibull or K -distribution, our algorithm detected the most number of ships with the smallest number of false alarms.


This study focuses on an analytical approach to calculate crane-lifting forces for a sunken ship, with consideration to elongation of crane ropes. The method takes into account the relation of lifting forces acting in wire rope slings to the inclination of the ship's hull, including the effect of lug positions. For lifting analysis, the Euler angles are defined to represent the inclination of a sunken ship in developing the static force and moment equations. An additional compatibility condition is introduced in order to solve an indeterminate lifting analysis problem with 4 cranes. A set of lifting forces along the 4 crane ropes is calculated. A 3-dimensional example of the G/T 1500 oil tanker is analyzed. The results show that the information obtained by the method could be useful to engineers when conducting salvage work.


The marginal role of social assistance and the absence of minimum income programmes have long been thought to constitute defining characteristics of the southern European model of welfare. Nevertheless, over the 1990s significant innovations in this field have taken place. The paper aims to contribute to the analysis of recent developments by critically examining the experience of anti-poverty policies in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. It is argued that the "patchiness" of safety nets in southern Europe is due to a unique set of constraints, the most relevant of which are the role of families and the "softness" of state institutions. A review of national profiles reveals that new policies introduced in all four countries mark progress towards redressing some of the historical imbalances of that welfare model. In particular, fully fledged minimum income schemes now operate in Portugal and in certain Spanish regions, while an experiment involving a number of Italian municipalities is still in progress. In spite of this, the paper concludes that social safety nets in southern Europe remain frail in terms of institutional design as well as political support and legitimacy.


Functional nanoscale coordination polymers are receiving growing scientific interest because of their potential applications in many domains. In this paper, we demonstrated that a nanofibrous networked metal-organic gel (G1-MNPs) was formed by simply mixing 4,4',4''-(1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triyl)tris(N-(pyridin-3-ylmethyl)benzamide) (L) and Pd(COD)(NO(3))(2) in CHCl(3)-MeOH with a Pd/L molar ratio of 1:1 in the presence of magnetite nanoparticle (MNPs). The self-assembly behavior of nanofibers was not significantly effected by the introduction of magnetite nanoparticles. The xerogel of G1-MNPs was superparamagnetic and showed catalytic activity in Suzuki-Miyaura C-C coupling reactions. The Pd(II) xerogel could be magnetically isolated and recycled with a permanent magnet. It represents a novel strategy to introduce nanoparticles into functional coordination polymers for multifunctional materials.


Background Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and inflammatory polyarthritis (IP) are at increased risk of premature death compared to the general population, with cardiovascular disease (CVD) forming the primary cause. C-reactive protein (CRP), an acute-phase inflammatory marker, is elevated in RA patients and previous investigations have shown that those patients with the most active disease are at greatest risk of CVD mortality. However, functional variants exist within the CRP gene that affect basal CRP production, and could, therefore, influence the risk of CVD in RA. Objectives To determine the relationship between functional genetic variants at the CRP gene locus (rs1205, rs1800947 & rs3091244) and levels of serum CRP in IP patients, and to determine whether these variants are correlated with all-cause and CVD mortality in IP. Methods Patients in this study were recruited from the Norfolk Arthritis Register (NOAR), a primary care-based prospective inception cohort of patients with new onset IP. DNA samples from NOAR were genotyped for 3 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers (rs1205, rs1800947 & rs3091244) using either TaqMan® or the Sequenom® MassARRAY iPLEX system. Estimated haplotypes were constructed in the haplo.stats package within the R statistical environment. Death certificates of all patients in NOAR were obtained from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In the current study, all-cause mortality or CVD mortality (ICD10-code "I") were used as the outcome. All patients were followed from disease symptom onset until death, embarkation, or June 30, 2010, whichever came first. The association between SNPs (and haplotypes of SNPs), and baseline CRP levels was evaluated using zero-inflated negative binomial regression. Cox proportional hazard models were used to investigate the association between CRP SNP marker allele carriage and CRP haplotypes, with risk of all-cause mortality, and CVD mortality, adjusting for known CVD risk factors, e.g. age, gender, smoking status, cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes and obesity. Results DNA and baseline serum CRP measurements were available for 1,745 samples. Median symptom duration prior to presentation was 7 months (IQR 3-14), and 1,347 patients were female (66%). During follow-up, 921 patients (45%) satisfied the ACR 1987 criteria for RA. By June 30, 2010, 450 patients (22%) had died, and CVD was recorded on the death certificate for 261 patients (58% of all deaths). CRP SNPs were associated with baseline levels of CRP in patients who carried a single copy of rs1205 (p=0.003), a single copy of rs1800947 (p=0.01), and two copies of the T allele of rs3091244 (0.04). No association was observed between any of the CRP haplotypes investigated and baseline CRP (p=0.10). Further, CRP markers and haplotypes did not correlate with all-cause mortality (p=0.26 and 0.77, respectively), or CVD mortality (p=0.53 and 0.79, respectively), even after adjusting for known CVD risk factors. Conclusions CRP genotype does not influence either all-cause or CVD mortality in a large cohort of IP patients. Therefore, inflammation as assessed by CRP measurements, although previously shown to predict CVD in IP, is not directly responsible for the development of CVD in such patients. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Background. Determining neurological level of injury (NLI) is of paramount importance after spinal cord injury (SCI), although its accuracy depends upon the reliability of the neurologic examination. Here, we determine if anatomic location of cervical cord injury by MRI (MRI level of injury) can predict NLI in the acute traumatic setting. Methods. A retrospective review was undertaken of SCI patients with macroscopic evidence of cervical cord injury from non-penetrating trauma, all of whom had undergone cervical spine MRI and complete neurologic testing. The recorded MRI information included cord lesion type (intra-axial edema, hemorrhage) and MRI locations of upper and lower lesion boundary, as well as lesion epicenter. Pearson correlation and Bland–Altman analyses were used to assess the relationship between MRI levels of injury and NLI. Results. All five MRI parameters, namely (1) upper and (2) lower boundaries of cord edema, (3) lesion epicenter, and (4) upper and (5) lower boundaries of cord hemorrhage demonstrated statistically significant, positive correlations with NLI. The MRI locations of upper and lower boundary of hemorrhage were found to have the strongest correlation with NLI (r = 0.72 and 0.61, respectively; p < 0.01). A weaker (low to moderate) correlation existed between lower boundary of cord edema and NLI (r = 0.30; p < 0.01). Upper boundary of cord hemorrhage on MRI demonstrated the best agreement with NLI (mean difference 0.03 ± 0.73; p < 0.01) by Bland–Altman analysis. Conclusions. MRI level of injury has the potential to serve as a surrogate for NLI in instances where the neurologic examination is either unavailable or unreliable.


SUMMARY: A method for the selection of auxotrophic mutants in Aspergillus nidulans using N-glycosyl-polifungin has been developed. The method results in about 9000-fold enrichment. All types of auxotrophs were obtained. Under certain conditions preferential selection of nucleic acid hydrolysate-requiring auxotrophs was observed. The frequency of occurrence of these mutants was about 50% of all colonies tested. Cysteine auxotrophs of A. nidulans were obtained for the first time by means of this method.


BACKGROUND
Adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) patients pose unique challenges in identifying the time for transplantation and factors influencing outcomes.

OBJECTIVE
To identify hemodynamic, functional, and laboratory parameters that correlate with 1- and 10-year outcomes in ACHD patients considered for transplantation.

METHODS
A retrospective chart review of long-term outcomes in adult patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) evaluated for heart or heart + additional organ transplant between 2004 and 2014 at our center was performed. A machine learning decision tree model was used to evaluate multiple clinical parameters correlating with 1- and 10-year survival.

RESULTS
We identified 58 patients meeting criteria. D-transposition of the great arteries (D-TGA) with atrial switch operation (20.7%), tetralogy of Fallot/pulmonary atresia (15.5%), and tricuspid atresia (13.8%) were the most common diagnosis for transplant. Single ventricle patients were most likely to be listed for transplantation (39.8% of evaluated patients). Among a comprehensive list of clinical factors, invasive hemodynamic parameters (pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), systemic vascular pressure (SVP), and end diastolic pressures (EDP) most correlated with 1- and 10-year outcomes. Transplanted patients with SVP < 14 and non- transplanted patients with PCWP < 15 had 100% survival 1-year post-transplantation.

CONCLUSION
For the first time, our study identifies that hemodynamic parameters most strongly correlate with 1- and 10-year outcomes in ACHD patients considered for transplantation, using a data-driven machine learning model.


This paper examines long-term changes in drinking, with regard to: (a) the degree to which overall patterns of drinking have shifted or remained across a 20-year period; (b) whether these patterns vary on the basis of age; and (c) the degree to which distinct patterns of drinking may be differentially subject to mortality and/or nonresponse. Data for this investigation are from a 20-year prospective follow-up study of two general population surveys. The first of these was originally interviewed in 1964 and consists of interviews with 405 males aged 23 and older; the second, originally interviewed in 1967, consists of interviews with 786 males aged 21-59. The results indicate that while consumption was modestly associated with mortality from all causes, no significant relationship was observed between consumption and non-response. The results also indicate that as respondents aged 20 years, mean levels of alcohol consumption remained stable. This was true despite the fact that when individual respondents did change their drinking, they were more likely to decrease their consumption than increase it. These results do not support conclusion drawn from cross-sectional studies that aging modifies consumption patterns.


A comparative study concerning the effects of chloramphenicol (100 μg ml -1 , actidione (10 μg ml -1 ), 5-bromouracil (190 μg ml -1 ), actinomycin D (30 μg ml -1 ) and DL-ethionine (800 μg ml -1 ) on the chloroplast fine structure, 14 CO 2 incorporation and the Hill reaction activity was the subject of the experiments presented in this paper. The experiments were conducted on bean seedlings under the conditions when chlorophyll accumulation was inhibited only partially. The results obtained indicate that chloromphenicol is responsible for the reduction of the number of grana per section of plastid and for the formation of numerous vesicles in the stroma. In the presence of actidione, actinomycin D or DL-ethionine the lamellae are poorly differentiated into .stroma and granum regions and there occur disturbances in the typical orientation of lamellae within chloroplasts. Only in the presence of 5-bromouracil the development of chloroplast structure resemble that in control plants. A comparison of the results obtained with those published earlier (Wieckowski et al., 1974; Ficek and Wieckowski, 1974) shows that such processes as assimilatory pigment accumulation, the rate of CO 2 fixation, the Hill reaction activity, and the development of lamellar system are suppressed in a different extent by the inhibitors used.


It has been hypothesized that greater production of total nonstructural carbohydrates (TNC) in foliage grown under elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) will result in higher concentrations of defensive compounds in tree leaf litter, possibly leading to reduced rates of decomposition and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems of the future. To evaluate the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on litter chemistry and decomposition, we performed a 111 day laboratory incubation with leaf litter of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michaux) produced at 36 Pa and 56 Pa CO2 and two levels of soil nitrogen (N) availability. Decomposition was quantified as microbially respired CO2 and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in soil solution, and concentrations of nonstructural carbohydrates, N, carbon (C), and condensed tannins were monitored throughout the incubation. Growth under elevated atmospheric CO2 did not significantly affect initial litter concentrations of TNC, N, or condensed tannins. Rates of decomposition, measured as both microbially respired CO2 and DOC did not differ between litter produced under ambient and elevated CO2. Total C lost from the samples was 38 mg g−1 litter as respired CO2 and 138 mg g−1 litter as DOC, suggesting short‐term pulses of dissolved C in soil solution are important components of the terrestrial C cycle. We conclude that litter chemistry and decomposition in trembling aspen are minimally affected by growth under higher concentrations of CO2.


The cubic regularization method (CR) and its adaptive version (ARC) are popular Newton-type methods in solving unconstrained non-convex optimization problems, due to its global convergence to local minima under mild conditions. The main aim of this paper is to develop a momentum-accelerated adaptive cubic regularization method (ARCm) to improve the convergent performance. With the proper choice of momentum step size, we show the global convergence of ARCm and the local convergence can also be guaranteed under the \KL property. Such global and local convergence can also be established when inexact solvers with low computational costs are employed in the iteration procedure. Numerical results for non-convex logistic regression and robust linear regression models are reported to demonstrate that the proposed ARCm significantly outperforms state-of-the-art cubic regularization methods (e.g., CR, momentum-based CR, ARC) and the trust region method. In particular, the number of iterations required by ARCm is less than 10\% to 50\% required by the most competitive method (ARC) in the experiments.


The relationship between behavioral change and hippocampal lesion was studied in ddY male mice, at 4.5, 20, 40 and 60 weeks of age. In passive avoidance response, the aging mice (40 and 60 weeks of age) showed shorter latency than young mice (4.5 weeks of age). The degenerated pyramidal cells were more numerous after 40 weeks of age in the CA3 than CA1. The mean incidence of the degenerated pyramidal cells in the CA3 was 20.8% at 60 weeks of age. In 71.9% of mice, impairment of passive avoidance response was associated well with hippocampal lesions. These results indicate that the hippocampus plays some role in the memory in mice. The ddY mice may be possible to use as models for reversible hippocampal lesion.


The recent finding of a new mecA homologue, mecA(LGA251) , with only 70% nucleotide homology to the conventional mecA gene has brought the routine testing for mecA as a confirmatory test for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) into question. A multiplex PCR was designed to differentiate mecA(LGA251) from the known mecA together with detection of lukF-PV and the spa gene fragments, enabling direct spa typing by sequencing of the PCR amplicons. The PCR analysis and subsequent spa typing were validated on a large collection (n=185) of contemporary MRSA and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus isolates, including 127 isolates carrying mecA(LGA251) . The mecA(LGA251) gene was situated in staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec type XI elements, and sequence variation within a 631-bp fragment of mecA(LGA251) in 79 isolates indicated a very conserved gene sequence. Following a successful validation, the multiplex PCR strategy was implemented in the routine testing of MRSA for national surveillance. Over a 2-month period, among 203 samples tested, 12 new MRSA cases caused by isolates carrying mecA(LGA251) were identified, emphasizing the clinical importance of testing for these new MRSA isolates.


Electronic health record (EHR) data contains most of the important patient health information and is typically stored in a relational database with multiple tables. One important way for doctors to make use of EHR data is to retrieve intuitive information by posing a sequence of questions against it. However, due to a large amount of information stored in it, effectively retrieving patient information from EHR data in a short time is still a challenging issue for medical experts since it requires a good understanding of a query language to get access to the database. We tackle this challenge by developing a deep learning based approach that can translate a natural language question on multi-relational EHR data into its corresponding SQL query, which is referred to as a Question-to-SQL generation task. Most of the existing methods cannot solve this problem since they primarily focus on tackling the questions related to a single table under the table-aware assumption. While in our problem, it is possible that questions asked by clinicians are related to multiple unspecified tables. In this paper, we first create a new question to query dataset designed for healthcare to perform the Question-to-SQL generation task, named MIMICSQL, based on a publicly available electronic medical database. To address the challenge of generating queries on multi-relational databases from natural language questions, we propose a TRanslate-Edit Model for Question-to-SQL query (TREQS), which adopts the sequence-to-sequence model to directly generate SQL query for a given question, and further edits it with an attentive-copying mechanism and task-specific look-up tables. Both quantitative and qualitative experimental results indicate the flexibility and efficiency of our proposed method in tackling challenges that are unique in MIMICSQL.


ABSTRACT

 Nowadays every patients trying to have white and shinny teeth for improving of their smile.
Different advertisements suggest these people using bleaching agent without giving them information about effects of these materials on the teeth and dental materials ,that maybe they used before (such as :amalgam, porcelain, ormocer(organically modified ceramic), glass ionomer, compomer& composite resin restorations.)
Over the past years , multiple studies have evaluated the effects of bleaching agents on restorative material. this poster review their clinical suggestion ,their conclusions and effects of bleaching agents on physical properties such as surface roughness, hardness, color and leakage. the most of bleaching materials are containing hydrogen proxide(HP) & carbamide proxide(CP) . these elements used against discoloration caused by fluride , pulpal necrosis , tetracycline , smoking or drinking tea or coffee
The main point of presenting this poster is that dentists should be aware that the physical properties of some dental restorations may be changed after bleaching. They should also make sure that their patients with dental restorations are aware of the changes that may occur during whitening.


Managing knowledge is important to the construction industry because of the expense and duration of its projects. However, it is difficult to decide the scope of the knowledge base required for a design when sustainable ecosystem issues, which may originally appear to be tangential, become in the longer term primary negative influences. In such cases, how do we manage the risk of under-specifying the scope of a new asset management system at the design stage? And how do we justify the increased cost of a larger geographical or disciplinary catchment for the asset management plan? This paper gives a route to an answer by reporting four cases of failure of a project outside its original system boundaries that was otherwise successful within them. An implication of the low carbon agenda is that design lives will be longer and the likelihood of unforeseen ecosystem interactions will increase. And that the designer will need prompts in terms of new knowledge. Accordingly this paper reports on current R&D by the authors to create a computer package that addresses whole-life AMP issues at the design stage. This will be of significant impact in addressing the low carbon upgrade issues in urban buildings and infrastructure. Currently we call this Snake Eye.


In order to eliminate the smoke noise in metal liquid level laser detecting for cast machine, a new system is integrated with semiconductor laser, optical lens, Charge-Coupled Device (CCD), high speed analog signal processor, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). It is based on the theory of triangulation method and the idea of real time surface compensation. The location of the scattering spot will change with the change of metal liquid level, so the level can be calculated by the relationship between the location of the scattering spot and the metal liquid level. However, smoke will influence the location of spot. This system can improve the received light intensity by adjusting the light integration time, and as a result eliminate the interference of smoke, improve the displacement measuring accuracy in smoke environment.


The article's objective is to demonstrate the causality of risks involved in the audit, in order to minimize the audit risk associated with formulating the adequate audit conclusion based on the risks of the company's financial reporting and the effectiveness of company's internal control.
The meaning of entrepreneurial risk and risk management methods at company level are discussed, with emphasizing the impact of risks on the reliability of financial reporting. Four components of the risk involved in external audit are outlined and discussed: entrepreneurial risk, risk of financial reporting, risk of taking obligations, risk of audit. The causality between risk components having impact on audit is illustrated. The essence and methods of risk management in audit are analyzed. It is demonstrated that the issue of whether or not a client be accepted for audit service and whether or not the audit-based cooperation with it be prolonged constitutes a primary decision with respect to each audit. Factors behind the auditor's decision to accept a new client or continue to work with the previous one are highlighted. It is emphasized that the honesty of management personnel has the foremost importance for an auditor; sources of information about the honesty of management personnel are shown.


Aim. To evaluate antihypertensive effect of a 12-week therapy with fixed combination of enalapril and indapamide on insulin resistance (IR), glucose, lipid and purine metabolism in patients with arterial hypertension (HT) and diabetes mellitus (DM) type 2. Material and methods. 30 patients with HT stage II-III and DM type 2 aged 40-65 years were included into the study. Antihypertensive therapy with fixed-dose combination of enalapril (10 mg) and indapamide(2.5 mg) was initiated for 12 weeks. The level of office systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), the concentration of glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, basal insulin, uric acid, fasting lipid profile in the venous blood and IR were assessed. Results. Target blood pressure values were achieved in all patients. After 12 weeks of treatment, there were significant changes in office SBP (Δ%=-23.6) and DBP (Δ%=-12.9) as compared with the baseline values. Metabolic index, characterizing the degree of insulin resistance, decreased significantly by 22.5% (17.8±1.4 baseline vs 13.8±1.4 after 12 weeks of treatment) and atherogenic index decreased by 18.4% (3.16±0.2 baseline vs 2.58±0.17 after 12 weeks of treatment, p<0.05). There was no deterioration of glucose and purine metabolism during the follow-up. Conclusion. Combined antihypertensive therapy with enalapril and indapamide for 12 weeks significantly lowers SBP and DBP, the degree of IR, does not affect carbohydrate, lipid and purine metabolism in patients with HT and DM type 2, i.e. it's metabolically neutral.


Function and properties at biologic as well as technological interfaces are controlled by a complex and concerted competition of specific and unspecific binding with ions and water in the electrolyte. It is not possible to date to directly estimate by experiment the interfacial binding energies of involved species in a consistent approach, thus limiting our understanding of how interactions in complex (physiologic) media are moderated. Here, we employ a model system utilizing polymers with end grafted amines interacting with a negatively charged mica surface. We measure interaction forces as a function of the molecule density and ion concentration in NaCl solutions. The measured adhesion decreases by about 90%, from 0.01 to 1 M electrolyte concentration. We further demonstrate by molecular resolution imaging how ions increasingly populate the binding surface at elevated concentrations, and are effectively competing with the functional group for a binding site. We demonstrate that a competing Langmuir isotherm model can describe this concentration-dependent competition. Further, based on this model we can quantitatively estimate ion binding energies, as well as binding energy relationships at a complex solid|liquid interface. Our approach enables the extraction of thermodynamic interaction energies and kinetic parameters of ionic species during monolayer level interactions at a solid|liquid interface, which to-date is impossible with other techniques.


Squid statoliths are paired calcareous concretions essentially composed of calcium carbonate crystallised as aragoniteand found inside cranial fluid-filled cavities, the statocysts - the main organ of detection of gravity and movement. Statolith use as an ageing tool was validated in the 1980s, when the daily periodicity of the growth increments was confirmed by chemically marking these structures in animals maintained in aquaria. Although statolith analysis has brought major advances in the knowledge of squid population-dynamics, little is known about the processes involved in statolith's calcification and increment deposition (e.g. during embryogenesis). According to Villanueva (2000), embryonic statolith development involves the formation of structures such as the focus, nucleus, postnuclear zone and natal ring. The aim of this study was to investigatethe microstructure of the embryonic statolith, considering all main structures,in recently-hatched squids using optical (fluorescence) microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal microscopy. Recently-spawned egg masses of the European squid, Loligo vulgaris, were collected in the west coast of Portugal. After hatching at 13-15ºC, statoliths were removed from the paralarvae andpreserved at -20ºC. Prior to confocal analysis, statoliths were submitted to Alizarin red S (ARS) staining (5% of ARS in 0.1% KOH) to verify the presence of calcium content. In addition, images from optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were acquired. The findings obtained by auto-fluorescence observation (Figure 1 A, B) and SEM (Figure 1 C), show that the embryonic statolith is hollow in some of the area between the nucleus and the natal ring. ARS stained samples analysed in confocal microscopy (Figure 2 A-G), confirmed the previous observation. This surprising structural feature in the origin of CaCO3 sensorial structures has never been described before and suggests a production, with minimum of material and energy expenditure. This is fundamentally interesting not only in biological terms but also considering biotemplating orbiomimetics approaches (i.e. synthetic approaches), where hollow calcium carbonate structures have attracted considerable attention owing to their unique structural, optical, and surface properties that lead them to a wide range of applications, including as templates for functional architecture composite materials. The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) supported this study through project grant PTDC/BIA-BEC/103266/2008 to R. Rosa. 1


I applaud the new vitamin D in adult health and disease guideline statement. Certainly this is a step in the right direction. Average 25(OH)D levels in all studies in Canada, including Health Canada's household studies, are consistently below the recommended 75– 80 nmol/L. Supplementation with 1000IU of vitamin D3 in the general population would result in a mean 25(OH)D level slightly above 85 nmol/L still leaving 20%–30% of Canadians below the suggested 75 nmol/L. That's not good enough. These studies show that children and teens have significant insufficiency. Addressing osteoporosis early will influence peak bone mass and result in stronger bones for the future. Supplementation with 2000 IU of vitamin D3 in an institutionalized group (tested after a minimum of five months of supplementation) did not result in toxicity and did not achieve normal levels for everyone (94% > 80 nmol/L). The use of 2000 IU in the first year of life reduced the risk of developing type 1 diabetes over the next 30 years. There is emerging evidence of the benefit of vitamin D in the immune system for oral health, tuberculosis, influenza, hepatitis C, eczema, woundhealing, etc. Vitamin D levels required may be significantly higher than 75 nmol/L. Should we not be looking at using 2000 IU for all Canadians since the authors suggest this is safe and does not require monitoring? In implementing this strategy, the economic benefit to the Canadian population has been estimated in the billions of dollars.


This paper presents an application of dynamic inversion control with adaptive neural networks to a tailless fighter aircraft. We propose an extension of the dynamic inversion control using proportional-integral desired dynamics. The performance of the PI adaptive dynamic inversion controller is compared to an adaptive dynamic inversion controller using PD desired dynamics. The controller was tested in a 6-DOF simulation of the ICE tailless fighter aircraft. Simulation results are given for simultaneous longitudinal and lateral manoeuvres performed under nominal conditions and also with the simulated failure of a major control surface. The PI dynamic inversion controller with neural network adaptation outperforms both the baseline PI controller without adaptation and also a PD dynamic inversion controller with neural network adaptation.


Large general-purposed community question-answering sites are becoming popular as a new venue for generating knowledge and helping users in their information needs. In this paper we analyze the characteristics of knowledge generation and user participation behavior in the largest question-answering online community in South Korea, Naver Knowledge-iN. We collected and analyzed over 2.6 million question/answer pairs from fifteen categories between 2002 and 2007, and have interviewed twenty six users to gain insights into their motivations,roles, usage and expertise. We find altruism, learning, and competency are frequent motivations for top answerers to participate, but that participation is often highly intermittent. Using a simple measure of user performance, we find that higher levels of participation correlate with better performance. We also observe that users are motivated in part through a point system to build a comprehensive knowledge database. These and other insights have significant implications for future knowledge generating online communities.


Results consistent with a general humoral immune stimulation were found when 127 sera from 89 patients with Yersinia enterocolitica infection were studied. Significantly increased gammaglobulin concentrations and elevated isohemagglutinin titers were seen in these sera as compared to sera from normal blood donors and patients with streptococcal infection. Antinuclear and anti-smooth muscle antibodies were demonstrated in both yersinia and streptococcal infection. The prevalence of non-organ specific antiepithelial antibodies reacting with gastrointestinal and thyroid epithelial cells was significantly increased in yersinia infection.


The English teaching quality evaluation model based on the DS-SVM is put forward aimed at the defect of scientific nature and low reliability of the evaluation results of current English teaching quality. First of all, from the perspective of information integration, construct the evaluation index system and adopt SAM to establish the evaluation models of English teaching quality in view of the students, the counterparts and the supervisor group. Then, determine values of the reliability function of each model by virtue of SVM. Finally, obtain the evaluation results of current English teaching quality through the combination of DS and values of the reliability function. The simulation experiment results show that output value from this English teaching quality evaluation model agrees well with the true value and is of better evaluation effectiveness.


Introduction: CLD exacerbations are a major cause of morbidity, yet risk factors in the general population are poorly defined. HDL, especially large subfractions, contains ceramides that cause emphysema in mice; HDL and related genes are associated with radiographic emphysema. Aims: Test associations of HDL and large subfractions with incident severe CLD exacerbations in the general population. Methods: Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study, Cardiovascular Health Study and Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis enrolled persons ages 45 and older. Severe exacerbations were defined as hospitalization/death with CLD as primary diagnostic code. HDL and subfractions were measured by enzymatic methods and precipitation or nuclear magnetic resonance. Analyses were sex-stratified and adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, BMI, cigarette and alcohol use, low density lipoprotein, cholesterol medication, baseline CLD, FEV1 and cohort. Results: Among 27,622 adults (mean age 60, 57% ever smokers, 15% baseline CLD), mean HDL was 1.2+/-0.3 mmol/L in men and 1.5+/-0.4 mmol/L in women. Cumulative incidence of severe exacerbations was 4% over median 17 years follow-up. In men, one standard deviation increase in HDL conferred a HR of 1.11 for first severe exacerbation (95% CI 1.01-1.22), including among those without prevalent CLD (HR 1.13, 95% CI 1.00-1.28). There was no effect modification by smoking (p=.99). Large HDL subfractions showed similar associations (HR 1.14, 95% CI 1.03-1.26). Associations were not present among women. Conclusions: Higher levels of HDL and large subfractions were associated with higher incidence of severe CLD exacerbations among men independent of the FEV1.


Concentrations of cortisol, renin, insulin, thyrocalcitonin were increased and those of triiodothyronine and testosterone were decreased within 1-2 days of a postoperative period. The degree of impairment of content of the hormones correlated with severity of the disease (the most distinct alterations were noted in fatal outcome). Normalization of the hormonal patterns within the first week indicated the favourable course of the disease. In generalized pyoperitoneum a number of hormones wer eliminated from blood after haemosorption: cortisol, aldosterone, triiodothyronine, dehydroepiandrosterone, insulin, thyrotropic hormone, testosterone. The content of adrenal gland hormones was rapidly restored. Other hormones (insulin, thyrotropic hormone, testosterone) apparently had to be administered in the course of therapy. Increases in renin activity, in content of blood somatotropin and thyrocalcitonin appear to be adaptive reactions in response to elimination during haemosorption of a number of biologically active substances.


A total of 5059 sera were collected from adult female beef cattle at Cato Ridge Abattoir and tested for Brucella abortus antibody levels over the period November, 1981 to August, 1982. The sera were screened using the Rose Bengal Plate Test, and the Complement Fixation Test was used as the definitive test. Seventy-seven sera (1,5%) had titres of 30 IU complement fixing B. abortus antibody per ml serum or greater.


UNLABELLED
The aim of this study was to investigate the pharmacokinetics, organ dosimetry, and toxicity after the intraarterial administration of (188)Re-labeled 4-hexadecyl-1,2,9,9-tetramethyl-4,7-diaza-1,10-decanethiol/lipiodol ((188)Re-HDD/lipiodol) for palliative treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A secondary objective was to document the response.

METHODS
A mean activity of 3.60 GBq (188)Re-HDD/lipiodol (range, 1.86-4.14 GBq) was administered to 11 patients (16 treatment sessions) via a transfemoral catheter. The pharmacokinetic and dosimetric data were collected by means of venous blood samples, urine collections, and 4 or 5 gamma-scintigraphies over 76 h. Absorbed doses to the various organs were calculated according to the MIRD formalism, using the MIRDOSE3.1 software. The toxicity was assessed until 6 wk after administration by means of the Common Toxicity Criteria scale. The response was evaluated on MRI and by monitoring of the tumor marker.

RESULTS
A fast blood clearance of the injected activity was observed with a calculated effective half-life of 7.6 +/- 2.2 h (+/-SD) in blood. The predominant elimination of the activity was through urinary excretion with a mean renal clearance of 44.1% +/- 11.7% (+/-SD) of the injected activity within the 76 h after administration. Fecal elimination was negligible. The calculated whole-body effective half-life was 14.3 +/- 0.9 h (+/-SD). The absorbed dose to the liver tissue, the lungs, the kidneys, and the thyroid was 4.5 +/- 1.9, 4.1 +/- 1.2, 0.9 +/- 0.7, and 0.3 +/- 0.1 Gy, respectively. Treatment was well tolerated, except in 2 patients. One Child B patient experienced a worsening of his liver dysfunction (hyperbilirubinemia) and another patient experienced dyspnea and coughing. Response assessment on MRI showed 1 case of partial response, disease stabilization in 11 treatments, and progressive disease in 1 treatment. In 5 of 8 treatment sessions with an initially elevated alpha-fetoprotein, a reduction (range, 19%-90%) was observed 6 wk later.

CONCLUSION
After the intraarterial administration of 3.60 GBq (188)Re-HDD/lipiodol, a fast clearance of the activity appearing in the blood is observed and the predominant elimination is through urinary excretion. The tolerance as well as the preliminary response rates of the present phase I study are encouraging.


To simulate electric transmission lines with skin effect, an existing reduced order differential model of skin effect is numerically optimized. This model corresponds to a simple equivalent electric circuit in the form of a ladder, consisting of frequency independent electric elements. The accuracy of the model is improved by optimization of model parameters with an algorithm for system identification. The resulting simulator is numerically efficient and particularly suitable for the study of time domain reflectometry. (5 pages)


Duadic codes constitute a well-known family of binary cyclic codes. They are generalized in this correspondence to the setting of Abelian codes over the ring Z/sub 2k/. Self-duality, isoduality, and Type II properties are studied.


and therapeutic techniques, including a section on the use of cytotoxic drugs in the management of genital cancer. The various chapters have been rearranged in order, and the new edition as a whole has a fresh look about it. It is difficult to criticize such a masterly achievement, but some might wish for a more elaborate presentation of the technique and uses of peritoneoscopy, and mention might have been made of the technique of ovarian biopsy using the peritoneoscope. It is surprising, too, that in spite of the recent legislation on termination of pregnancy there is no mention of the suction method, which is undoubtedly gaining in popularity and yet is not without its own dangers. It is gratifying to see that the high standard of illustration which marked the previous editions has been maintained; and the judicious use of colour-for example, in the illustrations of Wertheim's operation-considerably enhances their value. The text is clear and authoritative, and every sentence carries the stamp of the author's own extensive experience and clinical judgement. The introduction to each chapter sets the problem of perspective, and brief surveys are given of the results reported by various authors. The book constitutes a tour-de-force by the author and his illustrators, and there is a comprehensive and well-designed index. Those who knew the previous editions will undoubtedly welcome the third edition, which still further enhances the reputation which this book has so justly earned.


A case of lipoma of the larynx and hypopharynx is described in 56 year female. Expiration dyspnoea and change of the voice were manifested from due years. The tumor was removed per os and complete cure was obtained. Final diagnosis lipoma was appointmented of histological examination.


Abstract We analysed the spatial and temporal dynamics of chick production of willow grouse Lagopus lagopus in the Swedish and Norwegian mountain region using harvest data covering 24–38 years and line-transect counts covering 6–10 years from the period 1960–2003. Juvenile and adult grouse were counted in the bag of harvested willow grouse in late August and throughout September at six sites in Sweden and Norway. In addition, numbers of juvenile and adult willow grouse were obtained from line-transect counts at 21 sites in Sweden just before the hunting season started on 25 August. The juvenile:adult ratio from the harvest data, estimated as number of juveniles per two adults, showed similar long-term averages and distributions between all six sites. The results from the line-transect counts revealed an overall higher average and a greater range of production between sites. We suggest that the difference between estimates based on line-transect counts and harvest data are caused by hunter behaviour. Hunters did not sample the juvenile and adult grouse in proportion to what was present in the population, e.g., productivity estimates derived from harvest samples will underestimate the proportion of juveniles in autumn in most years. We suggest that it is the harvest process that acts to adjust the juvenile to old bird ratio in the harvest data to a similar distribution in different sites. We found little evidence of regular fluctuations/cycles in annual production of juveniles from either harvest data or line-transect data. We conclude that chick production in willow grouse appears to fluctuate more irregularly than was previously believed based on harvest data and can not be used as a potential forecasting tool in willow grouse management as suggested earlier. Spatial correlation was weak and investigating only a limited number of sites to predict the proportion of juveniles in autumn should not be considered as a management tool for large areas such as the state-owned land in Sweden. Line-transect counts are costly, but do provide a more accurate estimate of the proportion of juveniles in the fall population than is revealed by harvest data. A more detailed understanding of hunter behaviour is obviously needed for better interpretation of harvest data.


This work was conducted at EEA/UFRGS, in Eldorado do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil (30°05'S e 51°39'W), to evaluate the effects of different grazing intensities and methods on the population dynamics of ryegrass ( Lolium multiflorum Lam.) under natural reseedling. Two grazing intensities (moderate and low) were used, under continuous and rotational grazing. The experimental design included randomized blocks with 2x2x3 factorial arrangements (2 grazing intensities x 2 grazing methods x 3 replicates). The following year, the fields were desiccated with herbicides and a soybean plant crop cycle was established during the summer season. Ryegrass tillers from natural reseedling were counted after the soybean harvest. There was no interaction (p > 0.05) between grazing intensities and methods, and the effects for each treatment were independently analyzed. While the grazing methods did not affect natural ryegrass reseedling (p = 0.4636), there were significant effects under different grazing intensities (p = 0.0003). The number of ryegrass tillers established by natural reseedling under low grazing intensity (6,776 tillers m -2 ) was much higher than under moderate grazing intensity (211 tillers m -2 ). Grazing intensity is a key factor to maintain ryegrass production in systems based on natural reseedling.