The anthology Frauenlyrik unserer Zeit (1907), edited by the artist-writer Julia Virginia Scheuermann, appeared at a pivotal moment in literary history when the economic conditions for poetry, aesthetic tastes, and women's roles in society were in dramatic flux. In this article, I examine those dynamic conditions and the influence such anthologies once attained as quintessential social and cultural projects. I propose that the intermediality of this unique collection marks it as a transitional project that bridged the private and public spheres and illustrated the expansion of women's writing. I argue that the author's rights movement, advanced by the Kartell lyrischer Autoren, influenced the stylistic and ideological heterogeneity of the collection. By boldly defining the emergence of women's writing in the early twentieth century in terms of universal human history (Menschheitsgeschichte), Scheuermann proposes a narrative rationale for the lyric genre that endures in later modernist projects.


Background When cause-specific clinical events (for instance, hospitalization for cardiac disease) are used as the primary or key secondary outcomes, it is important to assess how accurately these events have been classified and estimate the error-corrected treatment effects to ensure validity. However, it may not be feasible to verify cause classification for every event in large clinical trials. Purpose We present statistical methods for the design and analysis of outcome-classification accuracy and for estimating error-corrected treatment effects. Methods Using the Hemodialysis (HEMO) Study, in which primary causes were designated for all 7822 hospitalizations by the 15 participating clinical centers – but only two subsets were audited by the Outcome Committee – we applied existing methods to obtain unbiased estimates of the sensitivity and specificity of clinical-center classifications. The multiple imputation method was used to correct for the misclassification of events. We then examined how trial results were affected by three methods of event classification: unaudited, imputed, and adjudicated. Results We applied a three-step procedure to extend the results for the two subsets of audited events to estimate the sensitivity and specificity for the complete set. Finite population sample size formulas were developed for designing the quality control sample. Based on the HEMO analysis, the estimate of the intervention effect using the unaudited outcome was biased; the bias was reduced using the outcome corrected by imputation. Limitations The methods are limited to situations in which there are clinical-center classifications for all clinical events but only partial availability of reference standard classifications, and the verification process does not depend on the true event cause or other unobserved information. Conclusions Designing a quality control study to estimate the accuracy of outcome classification is important. The multiple imputation method can be used to correct for errors in outcome classification and to estimate the error-corrected treatment effect. Trial results need to be reexamined using the error-corrected outcome.


To conduct evaluations that can benefit individual programs as well as the field as a whole, environmental educators must have the necessary evaluation competencies. This exploratory study was conducted to determine to what extent a self‐directed learning resource entitled My Environmental Education Evaluation Resource Assistant (MEERA) can enhance environmental educators' evaluation competencies. The multiple case studies relied on data from eight environmental educators with limited evaluation experience who used MEERA to evaluate one of their programs. Results suggest that MEERA can (1) increase environmental educators' perceived evaluation competencies, (2) help environmental educators produce quality evaluation outputs, and (3) foster their use of evaluation results. Perceived benefits of using MEERA included obtaining evidence of program success, insights into how to improve programs, and alternative ways of thinking about programs. Perceived challenges included varying difficulties with evaluation tasks such as prioritizing evaluation questions and designing data collection instruments and, in line with this, desiring personal expert assistance for context‐specific advice and reassurance. This research contributes to expanding understanding of how to enhance environmental educators' evaluation competencies and practices.


Never judge a book by its cover, or so it is said. This fourth edition of this well respected tome on paediatric skeletal trauma presents itself as a thoroughly modern book with online access. Inevitably a comparison will be made with the standard texts on fractures in children, which present


Inhalation therapy offers several advantages in respiratory disease treatment. Azithromycin is a macrolide antibiotic with poor solubility and bioavailability but with a high potential to be used to fight lung infections. The main objective of this study was to generate a new inhalable dry powder azithromycin formulation. To this end, an electrospray was used, yielding a particle size around 2.5 µm, which is considered suitable to achieve total deposition in the respiratory system. The physicochemical properties and morphology of the obtained microparticles were analysed with a battery of characterization techniques. In vitro deposition assays were evaluated after aerosolization of the powder at constant flow rate (100 L/min) and the consideration of the simulation of two different realistic breathing profiles (healthy and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients) into a next generation impactor (NGI). The formulation was effective in vitro against two types of bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Finally, the particles were biocompatible, as evidenced by tests on the alveolar cell line (A549) and bronchial cell line (Calu-3).


Growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) play important roles in erythropoiesis and erythro-poietin (EPO) secretion. We examined the effects of GH and IGF-I on EPO production in adult rat kidney and liver in vivo and in vitro. Male Wistar rats aged 8-10 weeks were used. Recombinant human GH (hGH) was continuously infused (20 mug/kg per h) subcutaneously for 48 h using a micro-osmotic infusion pump. Octreotide (10 mug/kg) was subcutaneously injected every 12 h beginning 12 h before the hGH treatment. GH increased plasma EPO levels earlier than it increased plasma IGF-I levels. At 24 h, the IGF-I content in the liver and kidney was increased from 172.8+/-14.6 to 232.6+/-17.8 ng/g tissue (means+/-S.E.) and from 53.8+/-3.1 to 112.8+/-7.2 ng/g tissue, respectively. The EPO content in the liver was increased from 7.5+/-1.2 to 15.1+/-1.4 mIU/g tissue at 48 h, whereas the EPO content in the kidney was decreased at 12, 24, and 48 h after the start of hGH treatment. When the kidneys were organ-cultured, hGH considerably decreased EPO levels in the culture medium in a dose-related manner. The addition of anti-hGH IgG blunted the GH-induced inhibition of EPO secretion from the kidneys. IGF-I also decreased EPO levels in the medium in a dose-related manner. The addition of anti-IGF-I IgG blunted the IGF-I-induced inhibition of EPO secretion from the kidneys, whereas the GH-induced inhibition of EPO secretion was not affected. These findings suggest that both hGH and IGF-I have direct inhibitory effects on EPO secretion from adult rat kidneys.


The essay illustrates some aspects of the more recent feminist debate in Italy, connecting it with the international debate and presenting the origin and design of this special issue of the Journal "Genero e direito".


Mid-infrared ( approximately 10 mu m) electrorefractive effects of intersubband transitions in step GaAs/GaAlAs quantum wells are experimentally analyzed. A method for studying infrared electrorefraction of a two-dimensional structure via the Stark effect is used. The anomalous dispersion is measured over the entire spectral range of the transition and is found to be consistent with the Kramers-Kronig relations in the case of a Lorentzian absorption shape. A solution of Maxwell's equations in the multiquantum well structure is detailed and leads to a good agreement with experimental data. A standard interferometer and a lock-in technique allow a quasi-direct determination of phase and amplitude modulation with very good sensitivity. A theoretical approach based on a Lorentzian model and the solution of Maxwell's equations for a multiple QW (quantum well) structure agreed well with the data. >


Purpose. To determine the prognosis of penetrating keratoplasty in eyes with keratoconus and vernal keratoconjunctivitis. Methods. The medical records of all patients with keratoconus and vernal keratoconjunctivitis who underwent penetrating keratoplasty at King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital from January 1, 1986 to December 31, 1996 and for whom at least 24 months' follow-up is available were analyzed retrospectively. Results. Of 85 (61 males, 24 females) patients, 90 eyes met the inclusion criteria. The mean follow-up was 44.7 (range, 26–144) months. At the most recent follow-up visit, 83 (92.2%) grafts were clear. The mean best corrected visual acuity was 20/40. Graft rejection episodes occurred in 12 (13.3%) eyes, with irreversible graft failure occurring in 4 (4.4%) eyes. Bacterial keratitis occurred in 6 (7.7%) eyes, 2 (2.2%) of which developed irreversible graft failure. Herpes simplex keratitis resulted in irreversible graft failure in 1 (1.1%) eye. Conclusion. Penetrating keratoplasty in eyes with keratoconus and vernal keratoconjunctivitis has an excellent visual outcome and a low complication rate.


The occurrence of micrographia in a 52 year old women two years after an isolated episode of painful sensory disturbance led to the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Her handwriting returned to normal after a course of intravenous methylprednisolone. Previous reports of movement disorders occurring in the context of multiple sclerosis are briefly reviewed. The finding on MRI studies of an enhancing lesion in the dominant parietal white matter supports Kinnier Wilson's suggestion that the anatomical origin of micrographia lies in the cerebral hemisphere rather than the corpus striatum.


The results of studies during 2006-2013 of fish from 12 water bodies with different hydrological mode and levels of radioactive contamination within the Chernobyl exclusion zone are presented. The specific activity of 90Sr and 137Cs for 17 species of fish, concerning various ecological groups was estimated. The fish of stagnant water bodies of the Chernobyl exclusion zone continue to be characterized by the high concentration of 90Sr and 137Cs. Radionuclide specific activity in fish of closed water bodies of the Chernobyl exclusion zone during our studies in all cases exceeded maximal permissible levels, according to the standards, accepted in Ukraine for fish production: in 53-2892 times on 90Sr and in 6-212 times on 137Cs. In fish of the riverbed sites of the Pripyat River within the Chernobyl exclusion zone some single cases which exceeded the maximal permissible level on 137Cs, mainly the predatory fish, were registered. The analysis of radionuclide specific activity data in fish of various size, weight and age groups on an example of the common rudd and the European perch from Glubokoye Lake has allowed the revelation of a dependence of 90Sr and 137Cs accumulation on the weight of body and the age of fishes.


In COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of ICT in Medical education is amplified. The purpose of the study was to assess and estimate the role and impact of ICT in relation to learning on medical education and changing behavior of the students in the period of pandemic. A questionnaire survey approach was applied amid of the Bangladeshi medical undergraduates during the period of August, 2020 to November, 2020. A Google linked structured questionnaire was used and distributed to the study population via email, messenger and WhatsApp. The questionnaire was completed by 201 medical students, with 65% were female and 35% were male students. Almost all respondents (98%) owned an android smartphone and used it to access the internet. Two-thirds (69%) of respondents have medical and health related apps in their device, with Medscape being the most widely utilized app. Respondents (49%) encountered bandwidth trouble during online class. For collaborative learning with classmates, 76% respondents favored messenger and whatsApp group. ICT knowledge should be included in the curriculum, according to 57% respondents. Over one-third participants, 37.3%, were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. 30.8% respondents were satisfied while 19.4% were dissatisfied. The long-term benefits and problems of reforming the medical education system and utilizing ICT technologies should be considered. In this pandemic circumstance, digitalization of learning can give essential foundations for future medical education, aided by ICT tools. Our study may be used as a foundation for future research into developing digital teaching models in medical education.
Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.13(1) January 2022: 58-68


This 4th semester project is analyzing the reasons behind the 2008 bankruptcy of Roskilde Bank. On the theoretical level Friedman´s Monetarism is analyzed alongside Keynesianism, comparing the two and the effects of the financial liberation taking place since the 1980´ s. In order to assess other possible reasons for the bankruptcy, the Principal/Agent theory is used to analyze whether the bank management was working as efficiently and professionally as it is expected from a management in a bank of this size. It is analyzed that the bankruptcy is a result of the financial liberation mentioned above, combined with a too big and risky exposure towards the real-estate market. These two factors aggregated with bad banking caused this particular bankruptcy. The exposure to the real-estate market was a consequence of bad banking. It is concluded that there cannot be legislated against bankruptcies as the one analyzed in the paper, as there cannot be legislated against bad banking.


AIM
To evaluate the effectiveness of the application of topical heat, high pressure or a combination of both on antebrachial venous cannulation.

DESIGN
A cross-over clinical trial blinded for haemolysis analysis.

METHODS
This cross-over clinical trial with two periods was performed in the Clinical Trial Unit of Hospital Universitario de La Princesa (Madrid) during June-July of 2017 in 59 healthy adults who were randomly allocated to one of three interventions: (1) Using dry topical heat for 7 min produced by two hot seed bags (N = 21), (2) Applying controlled pressure from a sphygmomanometer inflated to 100 mmHg (N = 18) and (3) combining heat and pressure (N = 20) in one period out of two. All interventions were contrasted to standard clinical practice in the other period. The comparator involved a standard tourniquet around the upper arm to restrict venous blood flow. The primary outcome was effectiveness measured as vein cannulation at first attempt. Secondary outcomes were vein perception, pain, haemolysis in blood samples and adverse events.

RESULTS
All the interventions were more effective than comparator. Vein perception was optimized in about all individuals. Moreover, pain relief was significantly higher when high pressure was applied. Haemolysis was not affected in any of the three interventions. In addition, no serious adverse events appeared.

CONCLUSION
High pressure is determined to be the most effective in vein catheterization, pain relief, vein perception and quality of blood sample inalterability. Moreover, it is safe considering that only one adverse event appeared.

IMPACT
Vein cannulation is a very common invasive technique, where repeated failures have been registered. Thus, we consider it relevant to develop interventions to achieve venous catheterization at first attempt to alleviate the pain and anxiety associated with this technique. We advocate using high pressure intervention for emergency, due to swiftest method and feasible in case of lacking resources, such as sphygmomanometers in the ambulance. Interventions can be extrapolated to healthy young adults, adults and patients who have healthy vein status perception. Pressure intervention could be an alternative to heat intervention when performing vein cannulation due to its lower risk of transient paresthesia for older people who often suffer from arterial hypertension.


The design of a low-voltage micropower asynchronous (async) signed truncated multiplier based on a shift-add structure for power-critical applications such as the low-clock-rate (<4 MHz) hearing aids is described. The emphases of the design are micropower operation and small IC area, and these attributes are achieved in several ways. First, a maximum of three signed power-of-two terms accompanied with sign magnitude data representation is used for the multiplier operand. Second, the least significant partial products are truncated to yield a 16-bit signed product. An error correction methodology is proposed to mitigate, where appropriate, the arising truncation errors. The errors arising from truncation and the effectiveness of the error correction are analytically derived. Third, a low-power shifter design and an internal latch adder are adopted. Finally, a power-efficient speculative delay line is proposed to time the async operation of the various circuit modules. A comparison with competing synchronous and async designs shows that the proposed design features the lowest power dissipation (5.86 muW at 1.1 V and 1 MHz) and a very competitive IC area (0.08 mm2 using a 0.35-mum CMOS process). The application of the proposed multiplier for realizing a digital filter for a hearing aid is given.


The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of increased homozygosity due to inbreeding on the phenotypic distribution of the Carabelli trait. The sample consisted of 224 dental casts representing 20.2% of the total children aged 7 to 14 years from the endogamous, inbred population of the Island of Hvar, Croatia. Inbreeding analysis compared the children with different rates of grandparental endogamy relative to the expression of Carabelli's trait. The design evaluated the effect of inbreeding on Carabelli trait on the maxillary permanent first molar within a natural setting of reduced variability of environmental factors.Very high frequency of the Carabelli trait was observed for the permanent first molar on both sides of the arcade (84% and 86% on left and right sides). Significant difference among the groups who have different degrees of inbreeding was found when Carabelli trait was divided into absent, negative features, and a positive cusp using Dahlberg's grading system.It seems that Carabelli's trait is strongly genetically determined, and present findings imply it may be controlled byrecessive alleles. If heterogeneous polygenic developmental modules are responsible for the diversity of Carabelli's trait, they stay relatively stable after initiation of the developmental process when it appears that other environmental factors have no measurable effect.


The experimental observations about the complex nonlinear behavior of spontaneous pulsing of dc biased, p-i-n diodes RC circuits are reported. Time intervals series between successive pulses in spike trains were analyzed. Transitions from quasiperiodicity into chaos via mode-locking were observed. The phase portrait is analyzed to reveal that the system is really characterized by a strange attractor. Finally, the embedding algorithm has applied to determine the fractal dimension of the attractor.


The coupling of a rotation planar preparative thin-layer chromatography system on-line with mass spectrometry is demonstrated using a simple plumbing scheme and a self-aspirating heated nebulizer probe of a corona discharge atmospheric pressure chemical ionization source. The self-aspiration of the heated nebulizer delivers approximately 20 microL/min of the 3.0 mL/min eluate stream to the mass spectrometer, eliminating the need for an external pump in the system. The viability of the coupling is demonstrated with a three-dye mixture composed of fat red 7B, solvent green 3, and solvent blue 35 separated and eluted from a silica gel-coated rotor using toluene. The real-time characterization of the dyes eluting from the rotor is illustrated in positive ion full-scan mode. Other self-aspirating ion source systems including atmospheric pressure photoionization, electrospray ionization, and inductively coupled plasma ionization, for example, might be configured and used in a similar manner coupled to the chromatograph to expand the types of analytes that could be ionized, detected, and characterized effectively.


As it is written in site reports today, the modern language of archaeology is not a handsome tongue, efficient though it may be at conveying neutral data (another horrid word). Are there lessons to be found in the beguiling style of site reports from a couple of centuries ago? And is there more to their charm than antiquarian romance?


The novel approach of fully digital and maskless manufacturing of electronic devices requires new technology set for electronic device manufacturing. These demands can be achieved by designing of technology equipment that can support such concept at technology level as well as on hardware and software levels.
One of the promising technology is the Electrodynamic coating that can perfume nanomaterials deposition to create structures for printed 3D electronics devices.


Jewish settlers established agricultural settlements in the Canadian Prairie Provinces from the early 1880s through the first decade of the 20th century. Without exception these settlements were eventually abandoned by their founders. Today there are no Jewish rural agricultural communities in western Canada. Environmental adversity and lack of farming experience as major factors in the failure of the Jewish settlements are questioned. This study argues that Jewish pioneers abandoned their farms when they were unable to reconcile the demands of religious observance with the dispersed pattern of settlement mandated by the Dominion Lands Act of 1872. Poor coordination of aid by Jewish philanthropic institutions and their failure to strive for the concentration of Jewish colonization in a single geographic area exacerbated the social and religious problems faced by rural Jewish settlers. For many, relocation to a Jewish urban community was the only way to remain observant to Jewish religious law.


PURPOSE
Motion-defined form deficits in the fellow eye and the amblyopic eye of children with amblyopia implicate possible direction-selective motion processing or static figure-ground segregation deficits. Deficient motion-defined form perception in the fellow eye of amblyopic children may not be fully accounted for by a general motion processing deficit. This study investigates the contribution of figure-ground segregation deficits to the motion-defined form perception deficits in amblyopia.

METHODS
Performances of 6 amblyopic children (5 anisometropic, 1 anisostrabismic) and 32 control children with normal vision were assessed on motion-defined form, texture-defined form, and global motion tasks.

RESULTS
Performance on motion-defined and texture-defined form tasks was significantly worse in amblyopic children than in control children. Performance on global motion tasks was not significantly different between the 2 groups.

CONCLUSION
Faulty figure-ground segregation mechanisms are likely responsible for the observed motion-defined form perception deficits in amblyopia.


The chicken has led the way among agricultural animal species in infectious disease control and, in particular, selection for genetic resistance. The generation of the chicken genome sequence and the availability of other empowering tools and resources greatly enhance the ability to select for enhanced disease resistance via genetic markers and to understand more deeply the biological basis of host resistance. In this review, we discuss how integrated genomic approaches are able to identify specific genes and genetic markers associated with disease resistance, give select examples of contemporary work involving various genomic strategies to identify disease resistance genes, and finish by giving some final thoughts on predicted applications in the near future.


An owner survey was conducted to determine the owner-measured in-use fuel economy of 1980 model passenger cars for a number of manufacturers. The in-use fuel economy is compared to the laboratory tested fuel economy ratings as established by the Environmental Protection Agency. An analysis of how this comparison has changed between 1975, 1976, 1978, and 1980 models is presented. Finally, an analysis was done on the influence of vehicle design parameters on the differences between EPA laboratory ratings and in-use fuel economy. The design parameters studied include front wheel drive, diesel engines, and manual transmissions.


Approximately 7% to 44% of ankle fractures involve the posterior tibial margin. These fractures tend to have a poorer prognosis than fractures without posterior involvement. Recognition of posterior malleolar fracture patterns is more important than fracture fragment size in decision making. Standard ankle radiographs are not effective for diagnosing isolated posterior malleolar fractures. There is consensus that the true size and geometry of the fragment, specifically its medial propagation, and intercalary fragments may be diagnosed only by computed tomography scanning. Magnetic resonance imaging may yield additional information about syndesmotic ligaments, tendons and osteochondral lesions, although it is used only exceptionally. There are controversies about the treatment of these fractures but authors agree that small fragments can be treated conservatively whereas larger fractures that involve more than 25% of articular surface should be fixed to avoid instability and degenerative changes. The authors report a case with a magnetic resonance imaging diagnosis of this fracture.


Fall risk prediction is an important issue for the elderly. A center of pressure signal, derived from a force plate, is useful for the estimation of body calibration. However, it is still difficult to distinguish elderly people's fall history by using a force plate signal. In this study, older adults with and without a history of falls were recruited to stand still for 60 s on a force plate. Forces in the x, y and z directions (Fx, Fy, and Fz) and center of pressure in the anteroposterior (COPx) and mediolateral directions (COPy) were derived. There were 49 subjects in the non-fall group, with an average age of 71.67 (standard derivation: 6.56). There were also 27 subjects in the fall group, with an average age of 70.66 (standard derivation: 6.38). Five signal series—forces in x, y, z (Fx, Fy, Fz), COPX, and COPy directions—were used. These five signals were further decomposed with empirical mode decomposition (EMD) with seven intrinsic mode functions. Time domain features (mean, standard derivation and coefficient of variations) and entropy features (approximate entropy and sample entropy) of the original signals and EMD-derived signals were extracted. Results showed that features extracted from the raw COP data did not differ significantly between the fall and non-fall groups. There were 10 features extracted using EMD, with significant differences observed among fall and non-fall groups. These included four features from COPx and two features from COPy, Fx and Fz.


Circuit Simulation.- Circuit Simulation in the Semiconductor Industry - State of the Art, Requirements and Future Development.- The Index of Differential-Algebraic Equations and its Significance for the Circuit Simulation.- Analysis and Numerical Treatment of Differential-Algebraic Systems.- Hopf Bifurcation in Differential Algebraic Equations and Applications to Circuit Simulation.- Row-Type Methods for the Integration of Electric Circuits.- Local Timestep Control for Simulating Electrical Circuits.- An improved numerical integration method in the circuit simulator SPICE2-S.- Increasing the Vector Length for Matrix Multiplication with Reduced Memory Access.- Device Simulation.- Semiconductor Equations and Analytical Models for Mosfets.- Recent Progress in Algorithms for Semiconductor Device Simulation.- A New Algorithmic Model for the Transient Semiconductor Problem.- Semiconductor Modelling Via the Boltzmann Equation.- A Numerical Method for the Simulation of Quantum Tunneling Phenomena in Solid State Semiconductors.- Modelling of Semiconductors Subject to Prescribed Currents.- Differential-Algebraic Problems and Semiconductor Device Simulation.- Algorithmic Aspects of the Hydrodynamic and Drift-Diffusion Device Models.- About the dependence of the convergence of Gummel's algorithm and its linear variants on the device geometry.- Mixed FEM for ?u = ?u.- A Mixed Finite Element Method with Tetrahedral Elements for the Semiconductor Continuity Equations.- Local oxidation of silicon - a finite element approach.- Corner Singularities of Solutions of the Potential Equation in three Dimensions.


In the article it is analyzed the process of criminalization of Lebanese clans arrived in Germany in the early 1980s. It is noted that it was caused by a number of reasons, including the marginal situation of Lebanese immigrants, the lack of attention of the authorities to integration problems, specifics of mentality, etc. Starting with petit thefts and street drug trafficking, the clans gradually began to create their own economic structures, which included both legal business and criminal activities (extortions, robbery, money laundering, etc.). At the end of the article, it is concluded that an effective fight against clan crime involves a set of measures that include not only police operations, but also the fight against the "business" of clans and work with their individual members.


In this paper we evaluate the degree to which the adverse parental divorce effect on university education operates through deprivation of economic resources. Using one million siblings from Taiwan, we first find that parental divorce occurring at ages 13-18 led to a 10.6 percent decrease in the likelihood of university admission at age 18. We then use the same sample to estimate the effect of parental job loss occurring at the same ages, and use the job-loss effect as a benchmark to indicate the potential parental divorce effect due to family income loss. We find the job-loss effect very little. Combined, these results imply a minor role played by reduced income in driving the parental divorce effect on the child's higher education outcome. Non-economic mechanisms, such as psychological and mental shocks, are more likely to dominate. Our further examinations show that boys and girls are equally susceptible, and younger teenagers are more vulnerable than the more mature ones, to parental divorce.


This is a listing of the media production equipment that you can check out from the Media Resources Center. We are adding tutorials on this equipment all the time – check back soon!


The chronic administration of estradiol by subcutaneous (s.c.) implantation into male Syrian hamsters induces kidney tumors. Free radicals generated by redox cycling between catecholestrogens and their quinones have been proposed to damage DNA and to thus mediate renal hormone-induced carcinogenesis. As part of an examination of this postulate, we assayed by a filter elution technique DNA single-strand breaks in livers and kidneys of male hamsters treated with estrogen by single intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection, by s.c. implant or by continuous infusion and compared values to those in untreated controls. The DNAs of hamster liver and kidney were not affected by one i.p. injection of 5, 15 or 150 mg/kg estradiol. However, treatment of hamsters with one 25 mg estradiol implant/animal for 2 weeks elevated by 10% the levels of DNA single-strand breaks in kidney, but only to a minor extent in liver, which is not a target of estrogen-induced carcinogenesis. An infusion of 250 micrograms/day/animal of estradiol or 4-hydroxyestradiol for one week by osmotic pumps into hamsters resulted in a comparable increase of single-strand breaks in kidney DNA, whereas 2-hydroxyestradiol under these conditions had a negligible effect. It is concluded that the induction of DNA single-strand breakage by either estradiol or 4-hydroxyestradiol in hamster kidney supports a mechanism of estrogen-induced carcinogenesis by free radical generation via redox cycling between 4-hydroxyestradiol and its corresponding quinone.


A flexible disk, spinning at relatively low speed (80-600 r/min) and locally sandwiched between a spherical head and a spring loaded pressure pad, is investigated by stroboscopic white light interferometry. The contours of the disk in the vicinity of the head in general, and the minimum head/disk spacing in particular, are determined for various values of parameters such as disk speed, head penetration, and the pad loading force. Based on the topology of the contours, various modes of flight with distinctive characteristics are classified, and the effects of the head penetration and the pad loading force are thoroughly analyzed. Qualitative explanations of the observed phenomena are given and the problems associated with the optimum head design are discussed.


SUMMARY
Our increasing understanding of the immunopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis has led to the development of many disease-modifying therapies that have revolutionized the care of patients with relapsing forms of the disease. Our understanding of the pathophysiologic basis of progressive forms of the disease is much more limited but has dramatically changed over the past several decades. We are now on the verge of developing therapies that promote remyelination, reduce axonal loss, and restore axonal function. This progress is challenged by inadequate animal models of progressive disease and incomplete biomarkers of progression. In measuring central nervous system function, evoked potentials may have an advantage over biomarkers, which measure only pathologic change. Monitoring multifocal visual evoked potential amplitude may be one possible means of monitoring disease progression in multiple sclerosis. Additional clinical studies are required to document whether evoked potentials can adequately serve as effective biomarkers of progression.


A novel combination of ideas from cognitive linguistics and spatial occupancy models in robotics has led to the WIP (Words Into Pictures) system. WIP automatically generates depictions of natural language descriptions of indoor scenes. A qualitative layer in the conceptual representation of objects underlies a mechanism by which alternative depictions arise for qualitatively distinct interpretations, as often occurs as a result of deictic/intrinsic reference frame ambiguity. At the same time, a quantitative layer, in conjunction with a potential field model of the semantics of projective prepositions, is used in the process of capturing the inherently fuzzy character of the meaning of natural language spatial predications.


We calculate α′2-corrections to the entropy of the 5-dimensional 3-charge and the 4-dimensional 4-charge large extremal black holes using the low energy effective action of the heterotic string theory. In the 4-dimensional case, our results are in agreement with the microscopic statistical entropy both for the BPS and the non-BPS black holes. In the more interesting 5-dimensional case, where the direct microscopic stringy description is still unknown, our results for the BPS black holes are in agreement with the results obtained from the action supplemented with R2-correction obtained by supersymmetric completion of the gravitational Chern-Simons term. This agreement does not extend to the non-BPS black holes, for which we propose a different expression for the entropy. We show that the new expression is supported by certain α′3-order calculations, and by the arguments based on the AdS/CFT correspondence.


This chapter explores the rapidly evolving field related to incorporating information obtained through structural health monitoring (SHM) into the design, maintenance, and management of civil structures. Herein, the employment of monitoring technologies is investigated with respect to the following topics: development of a strategic, top-down monitoring approach; collecting the most critical information, at the right time, with the right instrument; probabilistic formulation of the analysis; conducting structural assessment; updating with monitoring information; life-cycle costing; and inclusion of risk. Simple examples are utilized to highlight the issues related to the use of monitoring technologies as a natural part of design and management. In this article, the need for performance-based design, several examples of monitoring-based structural assessment, and calculating life-cycle costs are treated in detail. In the end, the reader should gain an appreciation of recent progress in the rapidly developing field of SHM, some of the considerations for its implementation, and needs for further study.

Keywords:

civil infrastructure;
life-cycle management;
structural health monitoring;
performance-based design;
structural assessment;
risk;
uncertainty


Sterilization of men and women is the most popular method of contraception in Canada. The contraceptive effect of a vasectomy usually occurs within 3 months. The production of sperm, however, is not interrupted, and an increase in pressure proximal to the ligation site may cause rupture of the epididymis or the ductus deferens, with extravasation of spermatozoa and the formation of granulomas or sperm antibodies. Increased pressure may also explain the postvasectomy pain syndrome.


This study investigates the performance of combination forecasts in comparison to individual forecasts. The empirical study focuses on the U.K. outbound leisure tourism demand for the United States. The combination forecasts are based on the competing forecasts generated from seven individual forecasting techniques. The three combination methods examined in this study are the simple average combination method, the variance–covariance combination method, and the discounted mean square forecast error method. The empirical results suggest that combination forecasts overall play an important role in the improvement of forecasting accuracy in that they are superior to the best of the individual forecasts over different forecasting horizons. The variance–covariance combination method turns out to be the best among the three combination methods. Another finding is that the encompassing test does not significantly contribute to the improved accuracy of combination forecasts. This study provides robust evidence for the efficiency of combination forecasts.


Following on from a quantitative (questionnaire- based) study into policy-making procedures and the consideration of environmental concerns therein within Australian government agencies, a further qualitative study was undertaken to identify opportunities for modifying and improving existing approaches and methodologies for strategic environmental assessment (SEA). Based on semi-structured interviews of senior public servants, an investigation of existing policy-making procedures, methods of incorporating environmental concerns into these procedures, and measures to improve the policy process to account better for environmental concerns was carried out. The results show that the variation in both agency policy-making procedures and the degree to which environmental concerns are incorporated into policy-making compel the selective application of existing and proposed SEA approaches to suit the required circumstances.


Bluetongue (BT) is a midge-borne OIE-notifiable disease of ruminants caused by the bluetongue virus (BTV). There are at least 29 BTV serotypes as determined by serum neutralization tests and genetic analyses of genome segment 2 encoding serotype immunodominant VP2 protein. Large parts of the world are endemic for multiple serotypes. The most effective control measure of BT is vaccination. Conventionally live-attenuated and inactivated BT vaccines are available but have their specific pros and cons and are not DIVA compatible. The prototype Disabled Infectious Single Animal (DISA)/DIVA vaccine based on knockout of NS3/NS3a protein of live-attenuated BTV, shortly named DISA8, fulfills all criteria for modern veterinary vaccines of sheep. Recently, DISA8 with an internal in-frame deletion of 72 amino acid codons in NS3/NS3a showed a similar ideal vaccine profile in cattle. Here, the DISA/DIVA vaccine platform was applied for other serotypes, and pentavalent DISA/DIVA vaccine for "European" serotypes 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 was studied in sheep and cattle. Protection was demonstrated for two serotypes, and neutralization Ab titers indicate protection against other included serotypes. The DISA/DIVA vaccine platform is flexible in use and generates monovalent and multivalent DISA vaccines to combat specific field situations with respect to Bluetongue.


In 1953, a programme to control schistosomiasis mansoni was started in Guayama and Arroyo, Puerto Rico, employing, first, chemical and, later, both biological and chemical methods to control Biomphalaria glabrata, the snail host of Schistosoma mansoni. Sodium pentachlorophenate was the molluscicide, and an ampullarid snail, Marisa cornuarietis, was used for biological control in ponds and reservoirs. In addition some chemotherapy was given to infected persons. The prevalence of intestinal schistosomiasis was measured annually, sampling about one-third of the 6-year-old population in Guayama and Arroyo and in Caguas, an untreated area. Costs of the programme and the results are discussed in relation to similar projects in other parts of Puerto Rico. In Guayama and Arroyo the prevalence of schistosomiasis reached zero in 6-year-olds by 1966 despite the persistence of the disease in a nearby untreated area. Although this decline appeared related to the control effort, it is noted that a large decline also occurred in the untreated area, suggesting the influence of other factors such as economic development or improvements in sanitation.


This paper aims to provide empirical evidence of the factors considered relevant in promoting the adoption of Management Accounting (MA) tools, and those able to hinder their spread in Italian manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study represents a bridge between theory and practice as it allows us to investigate which MA tools are adopted in a firms daily practice and which are the main factors fostering/hindering MA tools implementation. In 2018 a ques-tionnaire was sent to a total population of 1,100 Italian manufacturing SMEs; 102 responses were obtained. The findings show that SMEs mainly use budgeting tools, customer satisfaction, benchmarking analysis, economic and financial indexes. Additionally, the principal variable promoting the adoption of MA practices seems to be the competition increase, which is an input deriving from outside rising the information needs of entrepreneurs. Internal firm-specific factors significantly contribute to favouring the adoption of MA tools, particularly a corporate culture oriented to the management control to support decision-making processes, pro-moted by entrepreneurs and employees. Contrary, the lack of knowledge concern-ing the potentiality of MA tools and the lack of resources would seem to hinder the spread of these tools. Thus, the role of entrepreneurs, employees, and Universities in promoting knowledge transferring and sharing becomes pivotal to adopt effec-tive MAS.


The Beninese government has undertaken far-reaching reforms in the agricultural service supply in Benin since 2016. The objective of the article was to assess the level of satisfaction of the agricultural services supply and demand and to analyze the determinants of the level of satisfaction of agricultural services in Benin. The primary data used was provided from entire national territory by taking into account all agricultural areas from a representative sample of 4,880 farmers using the seven Territorial Agencies for Agricultural Development (ATDA). Descriptive statistics and the ordered logit predictive model were the methods of analysis. The results showed an overall satisfaction rate of 18.9%. These results reflect a low level of satisfaction of farmers in Benin. The main determinants of satisfaction with the agricultural services supply were gender, proportion of income from agriculture, contact with an agricultural advice agent, use of chemical fertilizer, use of motorized traction and access to improved seeds/planting materials/suckers. As a result, efforts remain to be made to meet the demand of farmers in providing agricultural service by a better coverage of agricultural services to improve farmers' income and contribute to food and nutritional security and improved living conditions.

 Key words: Agriculture, satisfaction, agricultural service, food security, Benin Republic.


Background
Since the introduction of the European Working Time Directive, there has been a significant reduction in the amount of time available to train a doctor in the UK. The increase in patient demand and poor performance by doctors led to the development of a more efficient training structure in which supervised training opportunities could be maximised, therefore leading to new reforms in postgraduate medical education. In 2012, supervised learning events (SLEs) were introduced as part of the training of foundation year 1 doctors (FY1s) in the UK. SLEs are interactions between FY1s and trainers, usually senior doctors leading to immediate feedback and reflection. This can be in the form of an observed clinical encounter, a performed procedure, a structured discussion of a clinical case or a trainee led teaching session. They are meant to be formative in nature helping FY1s improve their clinical skills.
Aims
This paper aims to evaluate the standard of feedback received during SLEs by FY1s across different specialties at Lincoln County Hospital, UK. Results would help identify areas to improve and trigger efforts to find ways to improve.
Methods
The standard for good quality feedback used was adopted from the University of Edinburgh's Feedback Standards & Guiding Principles document. It highlighted that good quality feedback is prompt, informative, helpful, and reflected and acted upon. A survey questionnaire consisting of five- point Likert-scaled response questions was designed and distributed among 31 FY1s working across different specialties at Lincoln County Hospital during February 2013. A number of 29 forms were filled and returned.
Results
In terms of promptness of feedback, 80% (23 of 29 FY1s) received verbal feedback within an hour, 10% (3) received it within 24 hours and another 10%(3) within 7 days. Written feedback, uploaded online was less prompt with only 7%(2) and 10%(3) of trainees receiving feedback within 1 hour and 24 hours respectively. 52%(15) and 14%(4) received written feedback within 7 days and 4 weeks respectively, while 3%(1) after 4 weeks or 14%(4) never receiving any feedback. Questions pertaining to "how informative feedback received was" were ranked generally poor in terms of favorable responses. Less than majority, 40%(11) of FY1s were often or always told their strengths. 53%(15) responded as having it sometimes and 7%(2) rarely. Only 36%(10) of assessors rarely fail to highlight areas of improvement, 43%(12) sometimes do while a significant proportion 21%(6) always or often fail to do so. In addition, a minority, 37%(10) often or always had advice on how to improve on their weaknesses, 41%(15) sometimes and the rest rarely or never. As for feedback received during SLEs being helpful, less than majority gave a positive response with only 3%(1) rating the feedback as being very helpful and 31%(9) helpful. The rest rated the feedback as being fairly helpful 52%(15) and poor 14%(4). It was encouraging to see that the majority 62%(19) of FY1s often or always acted upon feedback received, while 29%(8) sometimes and only 4 %(1) rarely did so. Results also showed that a small percentage of 7%(2) often reflected on feedback received and 11%(3) sometimes, the vast majority rarely 39%(11) and never 42%(12) doing so.
Conclusion
Our findings suggest that there is still a wide gap between the quality of feedback being received by FY1s during SLEs and the expected standard. Main areas of feedback that need improvement are the promptness of written feedback, highlighting strengths, weaknesses and ways to improve, and reflective practice. These findings should be presented to both junior and senior doctors, raising awareness and reminding the trainer and trainee to build on the feedback on SLEs thus encouraging its use as an asset to medical training. It is recommended that the audit be carried out regularly to assess any improvement in this crucial aspect of medical education.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an algorithm for detecting communities in social networks.

Design/methodology/approach
The majority of existing methods of community detection in social networks are based on structural information, and they neglect the content information. In this paper, the authors propose a novel approach that combines the content and structure information to discover more meaningful communities in social networks. To integrate the content information in the process of community detection, the authors propose to exploit the texts involved in social networks to identify the users' topics of interest. These topics are detected based on the statistical and semantic measures, which allow us to divide the users into different groups so that each group represents a distinct topic. Then, the authors perform links analysis in each group to discover the users who are highly interconnected (communities).

Findings
To validate the performance of the approach, the authors carried out a set of experiments on four real life data sets, and they compared their method with classical methods that ignore the content information.

Originality/value
The experimental results demonstrate that the quality of community structure is improved when we take into account the content and structure information during the procedure of community detection.


Aims and objectives
1) To analyze serum lipid and prolactin levels in breast cancer patients and normal subjects; 2) to correlate those levels with risk and prognostic factors.

Material and Methods
The present study was performed in the Department of Surgery, MMIMSR, Mullana, Ambala, from 2013 to 2014, at a rural centre. The study group comprised 40 patients with carcinoma of the breast who underwent surgery and the control group included 10 patients who underwent surgery for reasons other than carcinoma of the breast. Apart from routine tests, special investigations like estimation of serum lipids and prolactin levels were carried out in each patient to assess the general health status and detect any potential evidence of distance metastasis.

Results
Most patients were in the fourth and fifth decade of life. The mean value of serum total cholesterol in the study group (190.77 mg/dL) was higher than that of the control group (166.22 mg/dL), which was statistically significant. The mean value of LDL in the study group was 153.8 mg/dL, as compared to 118.4 mg/dL in the control group; therefore, the difference in LDL cholesterol levels between the two groups was statistically significant. The VLDL level was also higher in breast cancer patients, with a mean value of 35.25 mg/dL, as compared to 22.6 mg/dL in the control group. Serum triglycerides showed higher trends in the study group than in controls. The correlation coefficient of total lipids and prolactin was 0.428, which was significant (p value 0.002), and pointed to a positive relation between prolactin and total lipids, meaning that an elevation in total lipids would lead to an increase in prolactin levels.

Conclusions
It was observed that significantly increased prolactin levels were found among patients with breast cancer. Serum lipids in carcinoma of the breast had higher levels of VLDL and LDL cholesterol and elevated triglyceride concentrations. Serum prolactin showed a statistically significant elevation in premenopausal patients as compared to postmenopausal subjects with breast cancer. Prolactin level may be also one of the risk factors for breast cancer, which points to its diagnostic significance.


The gas SF6 has become of interest as a negative ion drift gas for use in directional dark matter searches. However, as for other targets in such searches, it is important that radon contamination can be removed as this provides a source of unwanted background events. In this work we demonstrate for the first time filtration of radon from SF6 gas by using a molecular sieve. Four types of sieves from Sigma-Aldrich were investigated, namely 3Å, 4Å, 5Å and 13X. A manufactured radon source was used for the tests. This was attached to a closed loop system in which gas was flowed through the filters and a specially adapted Durridge RAD7 radon detector. In these measurements, it was found that only the 5Å type was able to significantly reduce the radon concentration without absorbing the SF6 gas. The sieve was able to reduce the initial radon concentration of 3875 ± 13 Bqm−3 in SF6 gas by 87% when cooled with dry ice. The ability of the cooled 5Å molecular sieve filter to significantly reduce radon concentration from SF6 provides a promising foundation for the construction of a radon filtration setup for future ultra-sensitive SF6 gas rare-event physics experiments.


The study investigates the causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in Azerbaijan using annual data covering the period from 1990 to 2015. We used Toda-Yamamoto causality test framework of vector autoregressive (VAR) model to test causal relationship between the variables. The results of this test show that there is bidirectional causality between energy consumption and economic growth. Findings of the study might be useful tool for the similar economies to give appropriate energy related policy decisions.


We report hybrid electro-optic (EO) polymer/sol-gel waveguide modulators with a structure for an EO polymer confined laterally in a sol-gel over cladding, which is fabricated by all-wet etching process. The structure enables an adiabatic transition between the sol-gel waveguide and thick EO polymer overlayer. Intensity mode is confined well in 0.9-μm-thick EO polymer overlayer, which reduces a half wave voltage (Vπ) due to increased overlap integral in the hybrid EO modulator. Straight channel birefringence EO modulators with the structure reduce the Vπ by the factor of 4 after guided wave well confined in the EO polymer. The straight channel waveguide modulator with 2.4-cm-long electrode demonstrated the Vπ of 13 V. Preliminary testing results using a Mach-Zehnder waveguide modulator were investigated to reduce the Vπ further.


A challenge in fisheries research is development of a rigorous and reliable method for representing local fishing knowledge. One solution is to elicit knowledge initially in semistructured interviews and then to model information held in common among groups of fishermen. Content analysis of interviews using keywords, the terms by which fishermen talk about and organize their knowledge topically and thematically, allows for the identification of discourse content and for its hierarchical organization in the form of cultural models. Cultural model analysis shows how fishermen construct and organize the central components of their lives as fishers. Results of a case study are reported here, based on interviews conducted in 1999 with elderly African American fisherman on the coast of Georgia, focusing on the history of their participation in coastal fisheries. Keyword analysis showed that the basic cultural model of the African Americans was of life on the water, which contains a number of submodels that elaborate the content and meaning of life on the water. The cultural model shows that the way of life based on making a living from fishing has become increasingly difficult and may be nearing an end. The loss of means of livelihood raises ethical considerations about access to natural resources.


China's "industrial restructuring" has expanded the proportion of the tertiary industry in the economy and promoted the development of local tourism. The ongoing "industrial structure upgrading" is intended to make the industry bigger and stronger, which will promote the growth of local tourism. As a tourist resort, nature reserves have been attracting a large number of tourists and have great development potential and economic value. Under this situation, various management agencies of nature reserves have successively carried out tourism activities and carried out tourism development and construction. However, there is no doubt that both tourism activities and development will have an impact on the ecological system of nature reserves. The existing legal system of nature reserves in China emphasizes the prohibition of behaviors that directly destroy the ecological environment and ignores the impact of human tourism activities. The continuous increase in the number of tourism in our country, brought on nature reserves of rich tourist income at the same time, a large number of facts show that tourism has become a source of environmental pollution, so it is necessary for tourism environmental pollution the main way to do a summary and its particularity, summing up the basic law of tourism affect the environment, thus provide the basis for strengthening the environmental protection from the point of view of tourism management. The emergence and development of tourism culture is inseparable from the influence of the environment, and tourism culture also affects the environment. The negative effects and negative effects of tourism culture development on the environment are becoming more and more evident, which has aroused people's general concern. In recent years, the negative impact of tourism and cultural activities on the environment has been paid much attention to by many scholars at home and abroad. This paper discusses the impact of tourism activities on nature reserves, and discusses the causes of this problem, so as to analyze the strategies to ensure the harmony and order of nature reserves in tourism activities.


This paper addresses the issue of lemma generation in a k-induction-based formal analysis of transition systems, in the linear real/integer arithmetic fragment. A backward analysis, powered by quantifier elimination, is used to output preimages of the negation of the proof objective, viewed as unauthorized states, or gray states. Two heuristics are proposed to take advantage of this source of information. First, a thorough exploration of the possible partitionings of the gray state space discovers new relations between state variables, representing potential invariants. Second, an inexact exploration regroups and over-approximates disjoint areas of the gray state space, also to discover new relations between state variables. k-induction is used to isolate the invariants and check if they strengthen the proof objective. These heuristics can be used on the first preimage of the backward exploration, and each time a new one is output, refining the information on the gray states. In our context of critical avionics embedded systems, we show that our approach is able to outperform other academic or commercial tools on examples of interest in our application field. The method is introduced and motivated through two main examples, one of which was provided by Rockwell Collins, in a collaborative formal verification framework.


Advanced study of adaptations required in the instructional and physical environment for students whose language, motor, sensory or medical impairments require specialized intervention to meet educational needs.


Site‐specific familial aggregation and evidence supporting Mendelian codominant inheritance have been shown in lung cancer. In characterizing lung cancer families, a number of other cancers have been observed. The current study evaluates whether first‐degree relatives of early onset lung cancer cases are at increased risk of breast cancer. Families were identified through population‐based lung cancer cases and controls under 40 years of age. Cases were ascertained through the Metropolitan Detroit SEER registry; controls through random‐digit dialing. Data were available for 384 female relatives of 118 cases and 465 female relatives of 161 controls. Breast cancer in relatives was evaluated after adjusting for age, race, sex, and smoking status of each family member and the sex and age of the probands. A positive family history of early onset lung cancer increased breast cancer risk among first‐degree relatives 5.1‐fold (95% CI, 1.7–15.1). Relatives of cases with adenocarcinoma of the lung were at highest risk (RR = 6.3, 95% CI 2.0–20). Mean age of breast cancer diagnosis among relatives of cases was 52.2 years and not statistically different from relatives of controls. Three case families also reported early ovarian cancers (mean age of diagnosis of 35 years). These findings suggest that shared susceptibility genes may act to increase risk of early onset lung and breast cancer in families. Genet. Epidemiol. 17:274–284, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Indonesia was chosen to be a site of study on leadership style due to its high economic growth potential. The primary objectives of this study are twofold. This paper aims to, first, explore the leadership styles of Indonesian managers and investigate whether the full range leadership theory by Bass (1985), i.e. transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership, is applicable in the Indonesian context and second, investigate whether there are differences in leadership styles among Indonesian managers, as Indonesian people are composed of over 300 ethnicities.,Respondents were asked to rate their direct bosses on leadership and their perceived performance on an multifactor leadership questionnaire. In all, 425 Indonesian managers participated in the study. Multiple regression and t-test were used to address the above research questions.,Results indicated that the full range leadership theory is applicable in the Indonesian context, in which Indonesian people generally rate their superiors who use transformational leadership higher than those who use transactional and laissez-faire leadership. Ethnic differences in leadership style were found between that of Padang and Javanese and of Padang and Chinese. Padang managers, whose cultural values are quite unique, seem to practice more transformational leadership and contingent reward, which is a positive reinforcement in transactional leadership.,Common method bias may occur due to the single source of data, i.e. subordinates. The confidentiality of the survey helps reduce the bias as subordinates could evaluate their bosses in a true manner. In addition, categorizing ethnicities among Indonesians is not an easy task. A finer distinction of ethnicities is certainly needed in future research.,The results are useful for human resource department in selecting the potential leaders, as transformational leaders are generally more preferable. In addition, the findings shed some light on the effective leadership styles of Indonesian managers perceived by their subordinates.,One major theoretical contribution of this study is a proof of the applicability of the full range leadership theory by Bass (1985) in Indonesian work setting. It confirms the extension of the theory's universality. A unique theoretical contribution of this study is its being the first study that addresses the ethnic differences in leadership style in Indonesia.


Circadian clocks control gene expression in the complex milieu of cells. Here, we reconstituted under defined conditions in vitro the cyanobacterial circadian clock system which includes an oscillator, signal-transduction pathways, transcription factor, and promoter DNA. The system oscillates autonomously with a near 24 h period, remains phase coherent for many days, and allows real-time observation of each component simultaneously without user intervention. This reassembled clock system provides new insights into how a circadian clock exerts control over gene expression and can serve in the area of synthetic biology as a new platform upon which to build even more complexity. One Sentence Summary An autonomously oscillating circadian clock-controlled gene regulatory circuit is studied in vitro using a real-time high-throughput assay.


Macronaria, a group of mostly colossal sauropod dinosaurs, comprised the largest terrestrial vertebrates of Earth's history. However, some of the smallest sauropods belong to this group as well. The Late Jurassic macronarian Europasaurus holgeri is one of the best-known sauropods worldwide. So far, the braincase material of this taxon from Germany pended greater attention. With the aid of microCT, we report on the neuroanatomy of the almost complete braincase of an adult individual, as well as the inner ears of one other adult and several juveniles (also containing so far unknown vascular cavities). The presence of large and morphologically adult inner ears in juvenile material suggests precociality. Our findings add to the diversity of neurovascular anatomy in sauropod braincases and buttress the perception of sauropods as fast-growing and autonomous giants with manifold facets of reproductive and social behavior. This suggests that – apart from sheer size – little separated the island dwarf Europasaurus from its large-bodied relatives.


Episodic memory formation rate varies over time partly due to fluctuations in attentional state during memory encoding. Emerging evidence suggests that fluctuations in pre- and/or post-stimulus attention during encoding impact subsequent memory performance. It remains unclear how these fluctuations may differentially impact the subsequent retrieval of items alone, compared to items + their contextual details (associative context memory). In this study, we explored this in 30 healthy younger adults (21-34 years old). We developed the Montreal Attention at Encoding (MAET) task where on each encoding trial, participants responded as quickly as possible to a central fixation cross that expanded in size after a random duration. They then had to encode a picture of an object and its spatial location. Memory for the object-location associations was tested during retrieval. Response time (RT) to the fixation cross presented prior to each object gauged pre-stimulus attention levels on a trial-by-trial basis, while RT to the fixation cross that ensued each object indexed post-stimulus attention levels. Within-subject logistic regressions were used to predict context and item memory performance from pre- and post-stimulus RTs. Results revealed that encoding pre-stimulus attentional levels did not differentially predict context vs. item memory. However, post-stimulus RTs did predict subsequent context retrieval such that, longer post-stimulus RT to the fixation was related to poorer subsequent context retrieval. This study introduces a novel paradigm for investigating the impact of attentional state at encoding on subsequent memory performance and indicate a link between post-stimulus delays in attention-related RT and associative encoding success.


This article develops a case for emoji as a 'language' of cuteness, by building a framework for the relationship between their communication design and use in computer-mediated communication. In view of the technical standardisation and cross-cultural reception of emoji, the article also examines the structure and play of these pictograms in and out of messaging platforms. It further argues these movements parallel the contentions that are intrinsic to the aesthetic of cuteness. This approach supports the notion of emoji as a systematised form of cuteness that circumvents the complexity of inter-subjective differences.


Microwave absorption materials (MAMs) with lightweight density and ultrabroad-band microwave absorption performance are urgently needed in advanced MAMs, which are still a big challenge and have been rarely achieved. Here, a new wide bandwidth absorption model was designed, which fuses the electromagnetic resonance loss ability of a periodic porous structure in the low-frequency range and the dielectric loss ability of dielectric materials in the high-frequency range. Based on this model, a lightweight porous cellulose nanofiber (CNF)/carbon nanotube (CNT) foam consisting of a cellular vertical porous architecture with the macropore diameters between 30 and 90 μm and a nanoporous architecture at a scale of 1.7-50 nm was obtained by an ice-template method using CNTs and CNFs as "building blocks". Benefiting from the unique architecture, the effective absorption bandwidth reaches 29.7 GHz, and its specific microwave absorption performance exceeds 80,000 dB·cm-2·g-1, which far surpasses those of the MAMs previously reported, including all CNT-based composites. Moreover, the CNF/CNT foam possesses ultralow density (9.2 mg/cm3) and strong fatigue resistance, all coming from the well-interconnected porous structure and the strong hydrogen bonds among CNF-CNF and CNF-CNT molecular chains.


Genipin is known as a compound derived from gardenia fruit extract. Although Genipin is known to have an anti-tumor effects in various cancers, its effect and mechanism are unknown in gastric cancer. In our studies, Genipin induced apoptosis in gastric cancer cells including AGS and MKN45 cells. Genipin reduced Mcl-1 mRNA levels and confirmed with transfection of Mcl-1 siRNA. Furthermore, We found that phospho Stat3 is regulated by Genipin through proteome profiler phosphor-kinase array. In addition, protein level of phosphor JAK2 decreased in Genipin treatment. The results elucidate that Stat3/JAK2/Mcl-1 signaling pathway was suppressed with Genipin treatment in gastric cancer cells. Mcl-1 is known to be closely related to the function of mitochondria. Genipin has been shown to result in the collapse of mitochondrial function such as mitochondrial membrane potential. In conclusion, Genipin induced apoptosis by suppressing Stat3/JAK2/Mcl-1 pathway and led to mitochondrial dysfunction. Our finding implies that a novel mechanism of anti-cancer effect of Genipin in gastric cancer can be identified. Citation Format: Min Jee Jo, Soyeon Jeong, Hye Kyeong Yun, Dae Yeong Kim, Bo Ram Kim, Jung Lim Kim, Yoo Jin Na, Seong Hye Park, Yoon A Jeong, Bu Gyeom Kim, Hassan Ashktorab, Duane T Smoot, Jun Young Heo, Jeongsu Han, Dae-Hee Lee, Sang Cheul Oh. Genipin enhanced apoptosis of gastric cancer by mitochondrial dysfunction and downregulation of Stat3/JAK2/Mcl-1 signaling pathway [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2019 Oct 26-30; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2019;18(12 Suppl):Abstract nr A021. doi:10.1158/1535-7163.TARG-19-A021


Indonesia in the late 1970s saw a rejuvenation of Islam among Muslim communities just as it occurred elsewhere in the Muslim world. Islam gradually became a popular source of Indonesian social, ethical and spiritual life. As a result, Indonesia witnessed the proliferation of mosques, religious schools, and devotional programs, the emergence of a vast market of Islamic books, magazines, and newspapers has developed, and a well-educated Muslim middle class that had begun to raise questions about modern issues, including on the role and rights of women, the challenges of pluralism, the merits of market economies, and most generally, the proper relationship of religion to the state. This paper aims at highlighting the dynamic Muslim communities in facing modern challenges. Using historical analytical method, this paper finds that Islamic revivalism in Indonesia was unique for it was provided for the demands of a new style of religious and political activities. Muslim intellectuals arose with untraditional training and unconventional concerns. New Muslim intellectuals were responding to the demands of the modern world and the threat posed by the West. Though traditional trained Muslim scholars, who are considerably formalists, equally responded to the modern social and religious issues, the new Muslim intellectuals, who are considerably substantive Muslims, prevailed in Islamic discourses in Indonesia.


The paper deals with the X-ray manifestations of different maxillary pathological processes accompanied by the cavitary symptom. Analysis of X-ray films of different types in 250 patients has indicated that the nature of cavitary mass can be determined in many cases.


To the Editor of the Journal: Dear Sir: —I noticed in a recent number of the British Medical Journal , under the head of Correspondence, the following: "M. de Pezzer treats certain renal affections with naphthaline, especially those that are accompanied with difficult micturition; and, when fetid urine is passed, the results are generally good. In pyelonephritis, M. de Pezzer gives a gramme and a half, also in cystitis and prostatitis, with retention of urine, likewise for stricture complicated by fistula." The above, unfortunately, has been quoted by several of our American journals. To those who are not familiar with the action of naphthaline on the urinary organs I deem it my duty to say that if employed in the conditions recommended above by M. de Pezzer, even in much smaller doses—5 grains—it quickly excites intense irritation of the urinary passages. I have more than once observed the most violent cystitis


Human T cell clones were derived from peripheral blood and screened for their ability to release gamma-interferon (gamma-IF) following PHA stimulation. Nine clones producing more than 20 U/ml of gamma-IF were expanded and analyzed for cytolytic activity in a lectin-dependent assay and for the ability to release interleukin-2 (IL-2). In addition, clones were analyzed for T4 and T8 antigen expression. Five out of nine clones had cytolytic T lymphocyte activity, while four released relatively large amounts of IL-2. Five clones were T4+ while the remaining expressed the T8+ phenotype. These results clearly indicate that gamma-IF production is not restricted to T cell subsets defined according to either functional or phenotypic criteria.


The Pre-schooler Learning System using Mobile Application is focusing on earliest exposure c education system which will be alphabets and numbers recognition and application. Instead of hardcor materials and computer as the learning and teaching medium,parents and teachers can use this mobil( learning application to teach their kids and students wherever and whenever they want.The primary us for this system is pre-schooler and the secondary users are the elder people such as parents,teachers,at siblings to guide and teach the primary user.Teachers,parents or guidance can apply this application into their mobile and teach the kids from time to time wherever and whenever.In addition,this systen may help the kids to learn interactively with fun and safe as well.They can also learn at home and not
only in school or kindergarten in which through parent's mobile phone with parents'guide.This syster is focusing on the importance of getting the kids attention towards studying by implementing animatior sound from various source,attractive pictures and colours.This system have been developed with the assist of a basic survey which was conducted at Tadika Minda Lestari located at Taman Astana
Permai,Jalan Bukit Istana,Bandar Indera Mahkota,Kuantan, Pahang Darul Makmur.In this survey,30 preschoolers,5
teachers and 10 parents participated.The most essential element that have been highlighted in this project is the element of Human Mobile Interaction.Pre-Schooler Learning System using Mobile Application is developed using Aptana Studio 2.0 with HyperText Markup Language (HTML).The most important hardware or device that will be needed for this system is Nokia touchscreen Mobile Phone.The'always on' nature of mobile devices provides access on demand for th kids,maximizing the potential for delivering valuable content at the point of need.


Teacher collaboration as central axis of the teacher's training model Peer Learning Network The purpose of this research is to identify the potential and limits of the training model Xarxa d'Aprenentatge entre Iguals (XAI) or Peer Learning Network, in developing the program Leemos pareja/Bikoteka irakurtzen (LeP) or Reading in pairs, in relation to learning which promotes students, teachers, and schools. Also in relation to the possibility of generating an educational innovation that can become a sustainable practice in the school. The XAI, in a three-year cycle of training, aims to help schools involved to incorporate LeP, an educational program to improve reading comprehension based on peer tutoring. The research is based on an evaluation model of teacher professional development that puts the focus on the analysis of the training program and the teachers involved, together with its immediate context (students and school). We are interested in the achievement of students' learning, the degree of satisfaction and teachers' learning and the level of incorporation of educational program (LeP) in schools. The different nature of research goals that we formulated, requires us to use two types of complementary methodological approaches, a quasi-experimental study that follows a pre-posttest design with a single group, and a qualitative approach. The study was conducted with 22 primary and secondary schools: 20 schools, 40 teachers and 817 students, participated using the XAI training model during the 2014-15 academic year, four of which ended the cycle of three years training. Two schools however, left before completing the training cycle. The findings show that, after developing the LeP program during a school year, students are improving their reading comprehension levels. This objective is basic because the key indicator of the quality of an effective training model is improvement in student learning. Qualitative data allows us to analyze the supports that the XAI is using, coming from the peer learning, allowing us to achieve this improvement. The first level of support is the use of peer tutoring, the fundamental base of LeP program, which allows us to promote learning among students. The second level of support is teacher collaboration, promoted by training, allowing learning among teachers, with the participation of a couple of teachers from each school, in order to offer mutual support in the planning and implementation of LeP program in the classroom. The third level of support is the collaboration with teachers who belong to other schools participating in the XAI, whether attending in person or online using a virtual space. These interactions allow learning among schools that help consolidate the decisions taken by teachers. The final outcome of this process is the implementation of the LeP program adapted to the needs and possibilities of each school, thanks to the breadth of options and flexibility offered by the XAI training model, allowing the program to become sustainable.


Noting the difficulties of measuring a company's export performance and especially financial performance, we develop a new measurement approach grounded on modern portfolio theory. The export intensities and the global financial performance of exporting companies being known, this approach allows deducing the export margin ratio, export risk and correlation of domestic activities with export activities. Using a sampling from French companies in the wine industry from 2001-2005, these implicit financial export performance characteristics are estimated. Main results found: export activities permit a better global margin-risk relationship essentially due to diversification gains because export financial performance seems to be inferior to the domestic one for a great majority of companies.


Land subsidence has become a significant silent hazard in the big cities across Indonesia that aggravates future sustainable development. Land subsidence hazards hard-hit Java as the most densely populated island. This paper reviews Indonesia's land subsidence hazards, particularly subsidence cases across the big cities on Java Island, Jakarta, Semarang, and Bandung. Generally, land subsidence research in Indonesia can be categorized into two broad focuses: monitoring subsidence rate and investigating land subsidence mechanism. This paper aims to present a comprehensive summary of the current status of land subsidence research in Indonesia and discusses the challenging issues encountered in research and mitigation measures. A qualitative literature review was used in this study for reviewed articles in the Google Scholar database published in Indonesian and English up to 2020. Land subsidence in Jakarta, Bandung, and Semarang is still ongoing at a high rate. Its mechanism is highly influenced by excessive groundwater withdrawal, although other natural and anthropogenic factors also play a part. This review proposes recommendations to alleviate the impacts of land subsidence hazards in Indonesia and for further research


Corona virus or better known as Covid-19 has a new variant. Where at the beginning of the emergence there was an increase in the death rate, but now it has decreased. But there are new variants that are delta, and omicron. So that efforts to prevent the spread must still be carried out properly without being ignored. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between education and efforts to prevent Covid-19 in Laksamana Village, Sabak Auh District, Siak Regency in 2021. The design of this study was quantitative correlation. The population is the entire community of Laksamana Village. by using purposive sampling technique, a sample of 134 people. Questionnaire instrument. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between education and prevention efforts (p=0.000). Education is expected to increase public awareness and a better understanding of Covid-19 prevention.


The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the ability of two methods of attenuation correction without transmission measurements to achieve absolute or relative quantification. The first method, ConTraSPECT, was developed by Welch et al. and finds the uniform elliptical attenuation distribution most consistent with the measured data. In a second more classical approach, the attenuation map is supposed to be uniform on the contour of the body. For both methods varying attenuation coefficients were tested and the attenuation maps obtained were included in a maximum likelihood expectation maximization (ML-EM) algorithm. Both methods were tested using both simulated and experimentally acquired data. The simulated data were generated for a particular slice of the mathematical cardiac torso (MCAT) phantom with its non uniform attenuation map. Data with additive Poisson-distributed noise were simulated. Scatter was not simulated. The experimental data were acquired using the Radiology Support Device striatal phantom. In conclusion we observed that the contour method worked for the purpose of relative quantification as long as the constant attenuation coefficient was carefully chosen. In contrast, ConTraSPECT seemed even suitable for absolute quantification, since it was more robust with respect to variations in the choice of the attenuation coefficient.


The bacterial fusion protein between glutathione S-transferase and the central conserved region of human p53(GST-p53) was purified and fixed on the beads and then used in the binding assay with radiolabeled cell extract from human hepatocarcinoma cell line, Hep3B. The binding assay disclosed the presence of cellular proteins that interact with GST-p53 but not with GST. SV40 large T antigen abrogated the bindings of two cellular proteins with molecular weights of 50 kda and 40 kda. The binding of the proteins to p53 was observed in a cell cycle-dependent manner. These two proteins are candidate cellular proteins which regulate the function of p53.


Abstract An increased aspartate aminotransferase-to-alanine aminotransferase ratio (AAR) has been widely used as a marker of advanced hepatic fibrosis. Increased AAR was also shown to be significantly associated with the risk of developing cardiovascular (CV) disease. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the AAR and mortality risk in a well-characterized cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes. A cohort of 2529 type 2 diabetic outpatients was followed-up for 6 years to collect cause-specific mortality. Cox regression analyses were modeled to estimate the independent association between AAR and the risk of all-cause and CV mortality. Over the 6-year follow-up period, 12.1% of patients died, 47.5% of whom from CV causes. An increased AAR, but not its individual components, was significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause (adjusted-hazard risk 1.83, confidence interval [CI] 95% 1.14–2.93, P = 0.012) and CV (adjusted-hazard risk 2.60, CI 95% 1.38–4.90, P < 0.003) mortality after adjustment for multiple clinical risk factors and potential confounding variables. The AAR was independently associated with an increased risk of both all-cause and CV mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. These findings suggest that an increased AAR may reflect more systemic derangements that are not simply limited to liver damage. Further studies are needed to elucidate the pathophysiological implications of an increased AAR.


The transand interdisciplinary research project BioDIVA aims to generate transformation knowledge towards a gender-equitable and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity. Approaching agrobiodiversity from the disciplinary perspectives of land use change, institutions, sociology, economy and ecology establishes per se a ground for an interdisciplinary analysis of the boundary spanning complexities. At the case of rice-diversity in Kerala, South India, the paper outlines the initial steps to establish a research design for a transdisciplinary understanding of the dynamics associated with agrobiodiversity loss. Setting out for a four-year expedition to create a development perspective for farming communities and other actors involved in the upland rice farming system, we firstly present the results of integrating disciplinary theoretical assumptions of natural and social sciences on a conceptual level. Thereby we reflect on the process and tools to identify the specific perspectives and interdisciplinary intersections. This step prepares for the confrontation with the field in an explorative case study as a means to build a common ground at the very beginning of BioDIVA research process. Secondly, we discuss the BioDIVA research design after encountering with the field. To create a development perspective for farming communities and other actors involved in the upland rice farming system of Kerala, South India, we reflect on the predefined key terms, which guide our research, met transdisciplinarity in the field, explore the knowledge domains of farmers, scientists and development practitioners and incorporate these different kinds of knowledge and interests into a common research design. The paper is structured as follows: 1) We introduce to the key terms, which guide our research, 2) reflect on transdisciplinarity as a research paradigm, 3) explore the knowledge domains while presenting tools for generating disciplinary perspectives by merging them into intersections, 4) reflecting on the process, we proceed to build an interdisciplinary framework to prepare the transdisciplinary integration, 5) present our first findings in the field and conclude with a first critical discourse on transdisciplinary research from our perspective of South India.


The objective of this paper is to set up a complete ex-ante evaluation procedure to support Decision Makers in designing efficient and effectiv e agri-environmental contracts, combining elements of private and public decision making. Ex-ante comp arison of policy design options (different contract lengths and level of payments) requires both simula tions of farmers' behaviour and evaluation of the farms simulations outcomes. Farm level analysis is ba ed on a real options approach including in the simulations the timing of choice and the uncertaint y the future about price and decoupled payments. Aggregate policy impact is identified through the q uantification impacts at territorial level and the weights are elicited with MCRID methods. Simulations i the case study show that relevant opportunities to improve policy design are availabl e. Multicriteria Analysis is then used to aggregate impacts of many criteria, including not only effect s on the environment, but also economic and social impacts.


Although monocytes can be directed to develop into dendritic cells (DC) in vitro, the molecular mechanisms that induce their transformation in vivo are largely unknown. In the present study we employed an in vivo SCID mouse model to investigate the impact of two proinflammatory chemotaxins, the anaphylatoxin C5a and the chemokine macrophage inflammatory protein-1α (CCL3), on the differentiation of human monocytes and immature DC generated from monocytes in the presence of GM-CSF and IL-4. Both C5a and macrophage inflammatory protein-1α recruited human monocytes and immature DC into the peritoneal cavity of SCID mice, but only C5a induced their differentiation into phenotypically mature DC by 48 h after injection. Macrophages derived from monocytes by in vitro culture were resistant to C5a-mediated transformation in vivo. The effect of C5a was indirect, since C5a-stimulated TNF-α and PGE2 were found to be obligatory as well as sufficient to induce differentiation of monocytes. In contrast to monocytes, in vitro generated immature DC required TNF-α, but not PGE2, for their C5a-mediated maturation in vivo. C5a-transformed monocytes represented an inflammatory type of DC, as they constitutively secreted high amounts of TNF-α, but also retained the capacity to release the Th1 cytokine IL-12 p70 upon stimulation with CD40 ligand. In summary, we identified for the first time a cascade of inflammatory signals that can induce the transformation of monocytes into DC in vivo. This novel function emphasizes the important immunoregulatory role of C5a at the interface of innate and adaptive immunity.


Generally traffic and the sensor network security have many challenges in the transmission of data in the network. The existing schemes consider homogeneous sensor networks which have poor performance and scalability. Due to many-to-one traffic pattern, sensors may communicate with small portion of its neighbours. Key management is the critical process in sensor nodes to secure the data. Most existing schemes establish shared keys for all the sensors no matter whether they are communicating or not. Hence it leads to large storage overhead. Another problem in sensor network is compromised node attack and denial of service attack which occurs because of its wireless nature. Existing multi path routing algorithms are vulnerable to these attacks. So once an adversary acquires the routing algorithm, it can compute the same routes known to the source, and hence endanger all information sent over these routes. If an adversary performs node compromise attack, they can easily get the encryption/ decryption keys used by that node and hence they can intercept the information easily. In this paper we are proposing a key management scheme which only establishes shared keys with their communicating neighbour and a mechanism to generate randomized multipath routes for secure transmission of data to the sink. Here we are adopting heterogeneous sensor networks and we are utilizing elliptic curve cryptography for efficient key management which is more efficient, scalable, and highly secure and reduces communication overhead. The routes generated by our mechanism are highly dispersive, energy efficient and making them quite capable of bypassing the back holes at low energy cost.


Highly luminescent hybrids N-GQDs/Eu(3+)@Mg-MOF (N-GQDs = N atom doped graphene quantum dots and Mg-MOF = {[Mg3(ndc)2.5(HCO2)2(H2O)][NH2Me2]·2H2O·DMF}) have been synthesized and their photophysical properties were investigated. The resulting luminescent material can exhibit dual-emission from N-GQDs and Eu(3+) when excited at 394 nm, whereas the emission of ligand-based and Eu(3+) can be collected when excited at 349 nm. Exposed to a series of atmospheric benzene homologues (BTEX) in a sealed environment for 1 hour at 25 °C, N-GQDs/Eu(3+)@Mg-MOF shows excellent fingerprint correlations between the exact BTEX and the emission peak height ratio of IL/IEu (luminescent intensity ratio of ligand-based emission at 414 nm and Eu(3+)-based emission at 618 nm) and IEu/IN-GQDs (luminescent intensity ratio of l-emission based on N-GQDs at 443 nm and Eu(3+)-based emission at 618 nm), which makes it possible for this material to become a good platform for the detection of BTEX.


A patient with mitral stenosis and systemic thromboemboli is presented. Two-dimensional echocardiography demonstrated a spherical thrombus floating freely within the left atrium which was corroborated by postmortem examination. This case is unique in its clinical outcome and provides insight into the pathogenesis of such left atrial thrombi.


In trypanosomatids, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), the first enzyme of the pentosephosphate pathway, is essential for the defense of the parasite against oxidative stress. Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi, and Leishmania mexicana G6PDHs have been characterized. The parasites' G6PDHs contain a unique 37 amino acid long N-terminal extension that in T. cruzi seems to regulate the enzyme activity in a redox-state-dependent manner. T. brucei and T. cruzi G6PDHs, but not their Leishmania spp. counterpart, are inhibited, in an uncompetitive way, by steroids such as dehydroepiandrosterone and derivatives. The Trypanosoma enzymes are more susceptible to inhibition by these compounds than the human G6PDH. The steroids also effectively kill cultured trypanosomes but not Leishmania and are presently considered as promising leads for the development of new parasite-selective chemotherapeutic agents.


The basic philosophy of "Good Practices" and quality control in modern industry is to carefully document each step of professional activities, validating and registering interventions by different actors. One might be surprised to learn that the ancient inhabitants of Arslantepe, one of the first cities of human history, introduced clay sealing as an effective archetypal form of quality control. At Arslantepe, a team from Rome University headed by Professor Frangipane recently found over 5,000 fragments of clay sealing or "cretulae" in the central magazines of what is considered the "palace" or type of warehouse (3300-3000 A.C.). According to the authors' hypothesis, in this environment, clay sealing was used as a form of administrative control to en- sure that only authorized persons could access public stocks of goods. Every cretula, through its seal, in which a specific symbol identified seal owner, his profession and another person, always a male, possibly his father, was a means of representing the individual who received goods, and probably it also had a value of quantity in the sense that the holder of the seal presumably always withdrew the same amount of goods. The re- sponsible person of the warehouse, upon delivery and a count of goods to a given citizen, broke the cretula sealing the container of a given good of product. After product removal, the person who withdrew the goods closed and sealed the container again, re-affixing his own seal on a piece of moist clay. At each withdrawal, the broken cretulae were collected in appropriate containers to store them in "archives". Controlled access to goods could therefore be guaranteed on a large scale, as jars, baskets, boxes and even doors could be sealed in the same manner. The broken cretulae were kept by the controllers as sort of receipts, to document the withdrawal operation. These finding support the idea that authorization control of human activity has been part of our history from the beginning of civiliza- tion.


The aim of the study was to evaluate technical features of polish CPAP machine and to compare its parameters with two commonly used models of foreign origin. Physical signs, noise, produced flows and pressures were compared. POL-CPAP was bulkier and noisier than foreign models. Flows and pressures were not completely satisfactory. We conclude that POL-CPAP fulfill the criteria required from such type of equipment. However the evaluated device requires further improvement of technical parameters.