We simulate the budget of the main pension institution of the country, the Banco de Previsión Social (BPS), from 1995, the year the reform was passed, to 2050, when the new system should be mature. We perform several sensitivity analyses to evaluate which are the key exogenous variables and parameters determining the financial performance of the BPS in the medium to long run. According to our simulations, the budget of the BPS will be highly sensitive to the ages of retirement and to the ability and willingness of the institution to control the fulfilment of the required conditions to receive a contributory pension. The flexibility with which the BPS granted these benefits in the past had significant effects on its financial performance, according to these simulations. In recent years, the BPS has tightened the controls, with potentially significant effects on both the budget and the number of individuals excluded from the contributory programs. We study the contingent fiscal liabilities that are associated to the risk that the number of applications to the assistance programs grows because of the tougher conditions in the contributory programs. We also evaluate some alternatives to reform the non-contributory programs that, among other things, would extend their current coverage. 1 Departamento de Economía, FCS-UDELAR. firstname.lastname@example.com. Tel: (5982) 409 29 73, 401 77 07. 2 Anna Caristo, Natalia Ferreira-Coimbra and Gabriel Katz provided an invaluable assistance in this project. Gabriel Lagomarsino kindly helped us to better understand the PIT-CNT proposal to reform the noncontributory-old-age program. The World Bank financed the study. The author assumes full responsibility for its specific contents.


We present a very efficient numerical strategy for computing contact discontinuities in traffic flow modeling. We consider the Aw-Rascle model and the objective is to remove spurious oscillations generated for instance by the Godunov method near contact discontinuities. The method is mixed and based on both a random sampling strategy and the Godunov method. To prove the validity of the method, we show that it enjoys important stability properties and numerical tests are proposed. The convergence of the algorithm is demonstrated numerically.


Abstract The magnetic poly(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate-n-vinylimidazole) (Fe3O4@poly (EGDMA@VIM)) microspheres were prepared by suspension polymerization method using magnetite Fe3O4 nano-powder and the porosity, morphology, chemical composition and structure of the magnetic polymer microspheres were characterized. The specific surface area and swelling ratio of the Fe3O4@poly(EGDMA@VIM) microspheres were found to be 278.6 m2·g–1 and 48%, respectively. The Fe3O4@poly(EGDMA@VIM) microspheres were used as an adsorbent for phenol removal. The effects of the parameters such as adsorbent dosage, temperature, pH and initial concentration of phenol solutions on the adsorption were investigated. The experimental adsorption equilibrium data obtained were fitted with Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherms and the pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intra–particle diffusion kinetic models. The adsorption equilibrium data agreed well with the Freundlich isotherm and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The maximum capacity of the Fe3O4@poly(EGDMA@VIM) microspheres was calculated to be 33.83 mg·g–1 at 298 K and natural pH from Langmuir isotherm. The Fe3O4@poly(EGDMA@VIM) microspheres were found to be reusable for removal of phenol after desorption for several times. The result indicated that the Fe3O4@poly(EGDMA@VIM) microspheres are potential candidate for removal of phenol in wastewaters.


: The world becomes ubiquitous, and mobile communication platforms become oriented towards integration with the web, getting benefits from the large amount of information available there, and creation of the new types of value-added services. Semantic and ontology technologies are seen as being able to advance the seamless integration of the mobile and the Web worlds. We provide background information on the Semantic Web field, discuss other research fields that bring semantics into play for reaching the ontology-enabled ubiquitous mobile communication vision, and exemplify the state of the art of ontology development and use in telecommunication projects.


Technology integration in the classroom is an ongoing process where students and teachers modify their interaction and roles. In this integration, technological devices and virtual resources are used to achieve better educational purposes and enhance its processes. Additionally, through technology integration different skills needed in this century can be actually developed. Nowadays, teachers are implementing virtual scenarios in function of the learning process, like an option to integrate traditional education with progressive technology that society has used to impulse social, economic and cultural relations. This strategy has shown a variety of benefits in educational environments; however, it has been garbled by social and curricular barriers that limit the benefits of the use technology in education. This article includes some factors that make technology integration a way to revitalize traditional education, it also mentions why this integration is a successful strategy to improve the teaching and learning processes, to generate new knowledge and to enrich existent information.


Background: The scientific value of man relies upon an extension of a continuous effort of mankind to explain the nature of man. The core issue in nursing is man within his entirety. The aim of the present study was to review the literature about the Knowing the Patient for Professional Practice, according to the Carper's Patterns of Knowing. Method and material: In this paper the four patterns of knowing according to Carper will be analysed. According to these patterns, a description of the meaning and strategies of " knowing the patient will be made. Finally the significance and value of it will be discussed, with specific referance to: skilled clinical judgement, involvement, patient advocacy, and clinical learning about larger populations. CINAHL and Medline were the basic data bases used for this literature review. Results: The process of knowing encompasses empiric, aesthetic ethic and personal elementsOn the other hand, " knowing the patient‖ acquires two broad dimensions: a) knowing the patient's patterns of responses and b) knowing the patient as a person. Patterns of responses are essential components for problem solving. Conclusions: The process of knowing the patient appears to be an integration of the four patterns that Carper identified. Moreover, knowing the patient was found important for clinical judgement personal involvement, patient advocacy and clinical learning. In order to enhance the ability of nurses to integrate the different patterns of knowing the person, educators should review the current teaching strategies to develop cognitive, intuitive, experiential, and personal knowledge.


Introduction. The Internationalization of the National History and the Pillarization Efforts to approach Dutch political history from an international perspective have been going on for a long time. This has worked rather well for the early modern period, before the national state existed in a modern form. Nevertheless, applying this to the last few centuries remains a challenge. This is because this period was dominated by the national state and historiography was focussed on the state from the very beginning. Eliminating the national aspect from historiography altogether would not be a desirable course of action. However, it is necessary to be aware of the effects it has, and each generation has its own way of doing this. Nowadays, international comparisons and the history of transfers offer new opportunities. It is against this backdrop that the introduction explains how pillarization expanded to become the Dutch Sonderweg and how a new approach towards political history can compensate for the disadvantages of this perspective.


In applications such as remote estimation and monitoring, wireless networks need to be end-to-end optimized for information freshness as well as transmit power efficiency. In this paper, we study the fundamental tradeoff between an information freshness metric, the age of information, and transmit power for a point-to-point link. In contrast to prior work, we model the effect of transmission duration on the energy consumption, and consider control policies that vary the transmission duration. We propose two families of control policies, a threshold based and a fixed transmission time policy, and evaluate their age-power tradeoff. We analytically characterize the tradeoff for the family of fixed transmission time policies, which is also an upper bound on the optimal tradeoff. For small packet generation rates, we also obtain an analytical lower bound on the optimal tradeoff, which shows that fixed transmission time based policies are near-optimal. We provide numerical and simulation results to illustrate and compare the tradeoff offered by the different policies.


The author describes a versatile frequency-stabilized X-band microwave bridge which uses the cavity perturbation method to measure the temperature dependence of the complex dielectric permittivity of small samples (volume of the order of 1 mm3). Low temperature as well as high temperature experiments can easily be carried out using the same set-up. First results of the temperature-dependent permittivity of PVDP (polyvinylidenefluoride) thin foils are presented.


In computer vision, scene parsing is the problem of labelling every pixel in an image or video with its semantic category. Its goal is a complete and consistent semantic interpretation of the structure of the real world scene. Scene parsing forms a core component in many emerging technologies such as self-driving vehicles and prosthetic vision, and also informs complementary computer vision tasks such as depth estimation. This thesis presents a novel nonparametric scene parsing framework for images and video. In contrast to conventional practice, our scene parsing framework is built on nonparametric search-based label transfer instead of discriminative classification. We formulate exemplar-based scene parsing for both 2D (from images) and 3D (from video), and demonstrate accurate labelling on standard benchmarks. Since our framework is nonparametric, it is easily extensible to new categories and examples as the database grows. Nonparametric scene parsing is computationally demanding at test time, and requires methods for searching large collections of data that are time and memory efficient. This thesis also presents two novel binary encoding algorithms for large-scale approximate nearest neighbor search: the bank of random rotations is data independent and does not require training, while the supervised sparse projections algorithm targets efficient search of high-dimensional labelled data. We evaluate these algorithms on standard retrieval benchmarks, and then demonstrate their integration into our nonparametric scene parsing framework. Using 256-bit codes, binary encoding reduces search times by an order of magnitude and memory requirements by three orders of magnitude, while maintaining a mean per-class accuracy within 1% on the 3D scene parsing task.


Providing a comprehensive overview of current developments in innovative materials science and related topics, this book covers the core areas of materials science, inorganic, organic and solid state chemistry. The authors are among the rising stars in European chemistry, a selection of participants in the 2010 European Young Chemists Award competition, and their contributions deal with most of the frontier issues in materials and nanoscience as well as chemistry. They give an account of the latest research results, as well as the outlook for the future.


Recent reports have demonstrated an improved cardiovascular outcome after simultaneous pancreas‐kidney transplantation (SPKT) compared with kidney transplantation alone (KTA) in type 1 diabetic patients with end‐stage renal disease. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of SKPT and KTA on the progression of cerebrovascular disease (CVD), coronary heart disease (CHD) and peripheral vascular disease (PVD) 5 and 10 years after transplantation. Only patients with graft survival more than 5 years, were included in this study. In summary, 12 type 1 diabetic patients with SPKT and 10 diabetic subjects with KTA were evaluated. The immunosuppressive therapy was similar in both patient groups. The mean observation period was 124 (72–184) months in the SPKT group and 122 (64–216) months in the group with KTA. To investigate the vascular risk profile we examined mean HbA1c, blood pressure and lipid levels in both patient groups during the first 5 years (period I) and the second 5 years (period II) after transplantation (measurements at least at 3‐month intervals). Additionally, we evaluated the prevalence of moderate (stage I–II) and severe (stage III–IV) macrovascular diseases prior as well as 5 and 10 years after transplantation. During period I the mean HbA1c‐value was 5.7 ± 0.4% in the group with SPKT versus 7.4 ± 0.8% in the KTA group, and in period II 5.8 ± 0.4% in the SPKT group versus 7.6 ± 0.9% (P < 0.001) in the patients with KTA. The cholesterol levels were approximately the same in both groups, the triglycerides were lower in the patients with SPKT than in the subjects with KTA with 1.3 ± 0.4 vs. 2.2 ± 0.9 mmol/l in period I, and 1.4 ± 0.5 vs. 2.3 ± 0.6 mmol/l in period II (P < 0.05). The BP‐values were similar in both groups. Five years after transplantation the prevalence of vascular diseases was not significantly different between both groups. During the following 5 years the prevalence of macrovascular diseases increased more in the KTA than in the SKPT group. After a mean observation period of 10 years the SKPT group showed a lower prevalence of vascular diseases (stage I–IV) with 41% CVD, 50% CHD and 50% PAV in comparison to the KTA group with a prevalence of 80% CVD, 90% CHD and 80% PAV), the difference was not statistically significant because of the small patient groups. The frequency of the vascular complications myocardial infarction (16% vs. 50%), stroke (16% vs. 40%) and amputations (16% vs. 30%) was in summary significant lower in the patients with SPKT than in the patients with KTA (P < 0.05). In conclusion, while for the first 5 years after transplantation the progression of macroangiopathy in patients with SPKT and KTA was not significantly different, after a mean 10‐year observation period the progression of macrovascular diseases was significantly lower in recipients with a functioning SPKT compared to patients with a KTA; this can be explained by a better vascular risk profile after SPKT. The 10‐year patient survival was 83% in the SPKT group and 70% in patients with KTA.


BackgroundThe ACGME requires that residency training programs (RTP) establish interventions that facilitate resident well-being, promote resilience, and guard against burnout. There is, however, limited data characterizing residents' engagement in wellness promoting behaviors during training to guide these initiatives.
MethodsWe surveyed all internal medicine and psychiatry residents at our institution regarding sixteen self-care or wellness-promoting behaviors that could have been performed away from work over the preceding 30-days; they were divided into activities done alone and those involving others.
Results101 residents were invited to share their behavioral profiles. Most residents completed the entirety of the survey (86%, n=87). Getting a good night's sleep (sleeping >7 hours consecutively) was the most frequent behavior that did not require others (averaged 14 times in prior 30 days). The most frequent wellness activities involving others included "cuddling" with another adult (16 times), calling family members (13 times), and sharing a meal with friends or family (11 times). Most behaviors (13/16) were performed more frequently among residents compared to interns; two of these reaching statistical significance - sleeping >7 hours consecutively and attending a special event (both P < 0.05).
DiscussionThis study offers a glimpse into the self-care activities of interns and residents in 2 training programs. The wellness behaviors that were most commonly endorsed involved trainees' friends and family. These behavioral profiles of interns and residents may serve to inform the development of the program-specific wellness curricula that have been mandated by the ACGME.


Father Sanchez: This way of consciously relating, in which everyone attempts to bring out the best in others rather than to have power over them, is a posture the entire human race will eventually adopt. Think of how everyone's energy level… will increase at that point! (Redfield, 1993, p. 219).


Nowadays, more and more people are suffering from insomnia with difficulty in initiating or maintaining sleep. Ganoderma lucidum (G. lucidum) and Ziziphi spinosae (Z. Spinosae) are conventional herbal drugs in traditional Chinese medicine and they have been used lonely for the treatment of insomnia. In the present study, G. lucidum and Z. spinosae were combined and the active fractions were extracted to make the capsule. Furthermore, their effect on improving sleep in mice was investigated. The functional compositions of the capsule were polysaccharide, total flavone, spinosin and triterpenoid, with the content being 12.08, 1.35, 0.67 and 1.50 g/100 g, respectively. The effect of the capsule on improving sleep in mice was studied. Results showed no effects on the sleep induced directly in mice assessed with the loss-of-righting reflex even at the high dose of 450, 1350 mg/kg/day. However, the capsule significantly decreased sleep latency and increased sleeping time and prolonged sleeping time induced by pentobarbital sodium at high doses. In conclusion, the capsule of G. lucidum and Z. spinozae combined had the function of improving sleep.


Although response-dependent shock often suppresses responding, response facilitation can occur. In two experiments, we examined the suppressive and facilitative effects of shock by manipulating shock intensity and the interresponse times that produced shock. Rats' lever presses were reinforced on a variable-interval 40-s schedule of food presentation. Shock followed either long or short interresponse times. Shock intensity was raised from 0.05 mA to 0.4 mA or 0.8 mA. Overall, shock contingent on long interresponse times punished long interresponse times and increased response rates. Shock contingent on short interresponse times punished short interresponse times and decreased response rates. In Experiment 1, raising the range of interresponse times that produced shock enhanced these effects. In Experiment 2, the effects of shock intensity depended on the interresponse times that produced shock. When long interresponse times produced shock, low intensities increased response rates. High intensities decreased response rates. When short interresponse times produced shock, high shock intensities punished short interresponse times and decreased response rates more than low intensities. The results may explain why punishment procedures occasionally facilitate responding and establish parameters for future studies of punishment.


Aim of this study is to compare and analyze whether the 2008 global economic crisis affected the balance of the energy companies which are listed in the A°stanbul Stock Exchange and have shown continuity in 2005-2013 period by using a variety of analyzing methods. Companies that demonstrate continuity between the years 2005-2013 were not assessed in this study. Horizontal and vertical analyses were made on the financial statements of the companies which are evaluated and liquidity ratios were assessed. As a result of the analysis the companies have been found to be affected to different degrees by the crisis.


Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with several oropharyngeal abnormalities, including buccal sensory sensitivity, taste and texture aversions, speech apraxia, and salivary transcriptome alterations. Furthermore, the oropharynx represents the sole entry point to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. GI disturbances and alterations in the GI microbiome are established features of ASD, and may impact behavior through the "microbial‐gut‐brain axis." Most studies of the ASD microbiome have used fecal samples. Here, we identified changes in the salivary microbiome of children aged 2–6 years across three developmental profiles: ASD (n = 180), nonautistic developmental delay (DD; n = 60), and typically developing (TD; n = 106) children. After RNA extraction and shotgun sequencing, actively transcribing taxa were quantified and tested for differences between groups and within ASD endophenotypes. A total of 12 taxa were altered between the developmental groups and 28 taxa were identified that distinguished ASD patients with and without GI disturbance, providing further evidence for the role of the gut‐brain axis in ASD. Group classification accuracy was visualized with receiver operating characteristic curves and validated using a 50/50 hold‐out procedure. Five microbial ratios distinguished ASD from TD participants (79.5% accuracy), three distinguished ASD from DD (76.5%), and three distinguished ASD children with/without GI disturbance (85.7%). Taxonomic pathways were assessed using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes microbial database and compared with one‐way analysis of variance, revealing significant differences within energy metabolism and lysine degradation. Together, these results indicate that GI microbiome disruption in ASD extends to the oropharynx, and suggests oral microbiome profiling as a potential tool to evaluate ASD status. Autism Res 2018, 11: 1286–1299. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


As mucositis represents a significant clinical, and importantly, economic burden in oncology and stem cell or bone marrow transplantation. The aim of this study is to develop mucoadhesive system that can deliver the drug in the buccal cavity in effective concentration for prophylaxis and or treatment of oral mucositis. For this purpose hydrogel of L-glutamine with different polymer is prepared. It is crucial that the carrier gel matrix preserve physical and mechanical integrity. Mechanical stability of the gel is, therefore, a significant consideration when scheming a therapeutic system. The main benefit of hydrogel formulation is that it hold dose, which is adequate for therapeutic effect as it is positioned directly on the site of mucositis. Moreover this hydrogel is very tolerable and comfy because it is non-irritant and may be chosen over other adhesive dosage form in terms of flexibility, capability and protective to wounded or inflamed surfaces.


V ENOUS MALFORMATIONS (VMS) ARE ECtatic vessels that are morphologically and histologically similar to veins and have a low blood flow. The thin-walled vascular channels are composed of a deficient layer of smooth-muscle cells and are lined by quiescent endothelium. The TIE2 signaling pathway is critical for endothelial cell–smooth muscle cell communication in venous morphogenesis. Venous malformations represent approximately one-half to two-thirds of all vascular malformations, and the majority of them are sporadic anomalies. The skin or mucosa that covers VMs varies in color according to the depth and degree of ectasia of the lesion. More superficial malformations are purple and deeper ones are blue, green, or even imperceptible. The lesions are soft to the touch, can have a nodular appearance, and empty with compression. Highly ectatic vessels sometimes contain small venous thromboses, producing pain and inflammation. Phleboliths, which are used as radiological markers of this type of malformation, can be present from an early age.


Building Sanctuary: The Movement to Support Vietnam War Resisters in Canada, 1965-73, Jessica Squires. Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 2013. xxi, 348 pp. $34.95 Cdn (paper). Drawing on newspapers, archival documents, oral histories, and an array of secondary sources, Jessica Squires shows that while Canada allowed American draft dodgers, deserters, and others to find refuge from the war (or from complicity with the nation that waged it), its status as a ready sanctuary is largely a myth, as such a conclusion omits how that refuge was actually achieved. Squires reconstructs the complex social movements that grew in response to the influx of young Americans fleeing both the draft and a country engaged in an unpopular war in Southeast Asia. The author traces the burgeoning Canadian anti-draft movement's interaction with law enforcement and government officials and investigates the complex interactions between activists and war resisters, finding that support for these new immigrants to Canada was far from monolithic. In doing so, the author delves into the much neglected links between the anti-draft movement and the nation's immigration policy. As Squires reveals, the Canadian government made considerable efforts to block this group of prospective immigrants. She also challenges the idea that leaders, including Liberal Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, and his government were unequivocal in their support of war resisters. Indeed, the federal government's approach was at best ambivalent; few politicians publically supported draft resisters, wary of a perceived alignment with so called radicals, coupled with concerns about straining relations with the United States government. Squires shows how the RCMP, complicit with local Canadian police forces and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, routinely monitored and targeted resisters, efforts that at times resulted in deportations. But the approach on how to address those coming north was anything but uniform or even coherent. Prior to the spring of 1969, draft evaders found it much easier to enter the country than other Americans who were deserters from the military. As Squires points out, Ottawa's 1968 move to have border agents discriminate on the basis of military status created enormous difficulties for those hoping to gain entry, and challenges for those looking to provide aid. In 1967, the government of Canada adopted a system in which prospective immigrants amassed points based on employment opportunities, language proficiency, and educational attainment. To gain landed immigrant status, hopefuls needed to have fifty points or higher. But the new directives allowed border agents to deduct these points based on military status. Deserters already faced increased scrutiny with their military status, and lacked what many draft dodgers had by way of college education and professional skills. Squires shows how an intense lobbying effort by this grassroots Canadian movement was crucial in ending much of the discrimination based on military status in 1969, which had in effect closed the border to many dodgers and deserters. The author is at her best when examining the politics around northward-bound war resisters, especially the complex exchanges between bureaucrats and politicians, and connecting these accounts to those inside the social movement, including the media and the police. The internal government discussions concerning immigration policy in light of the war and within the context of the anti-war movement is also important to a better understanding of Canada's immigration history and the development and implementation of public policy. …


A rapid and quantitative method is presented for multi-component process analysis, based on multi-wavelength thin-layer chromatography (TLC) scanning but without the routine development. The samples from the waste wood liquefaction process are applied on silica plates, and just the last sample of spot need to be developed for getting separated spectra. These spectra are divided into two parts of production (levulinic acid) and background, respectively, to build an oblique projection operator. The other process samples do not need to be developed repeatedly, and are scanned to collect hybrid spectra immediately. The pure production spectrum can be separated from the process spectrum by the oblique projection algorithms to realize the production quantification. It was showed that the relative errors between the determination results by this method and those by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were less than 3.27%, and so the consistency is perfect.


Daytime restriction of food and water availability in nocturnal animals phase shifts the circadian periodicity of plasma corticosteroid concentrations and body temperature. These shifted rhythms persist in animals with lesions of the suprachiasmatic nuclei who are arrhythmic under normal conditions. These findings suggest the existence of an additional "clock" that may be involved in the generation of the rhythm.


The ongoing study analyzes the thermo-fluid characteristics of the solar air heater duct (SAHD) consisting of W-shaped transverse ribs on the collector plate. The results of the study are presented with the appearance of Nusselt number, friction factor, thermo-hydraulic performance parameter (THPP), and contours of various fluid properties. Different roughness and flow parameters are considered for the computational study, like Reynolds number (Re) and non-dimensional pitch (P/e). Re changes from 3800 to 18000, and the non-dimensional pitch changes from 7.5 to 18.75. The non-dimensional height remains constant for the computational study. Aluminum was taken as the material of the absorber plate, and an iso-heat-flux condition was employed on the plate with 1000 W/m2. The highest value of THPP obtained is 2.05 at P/e=7.5 for Re=12000.


Purpose: Mercury is one of the metallic trace elements. This metal is harmful to health. However, Green anis is a plant widely used in the medical field for its various therapeutic virtues. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of subchonic exposure to mercury chloride (HgCl2) on the neurobehavioral status of young wistar rats as well as the neurocorrective effect of essential oil of green anis.

Methods: Extraction of essential oil by hydrodisillation. Exposure of developing rats to a dose of (100mg/L). Then, a group of the intoxicated animals underwent therapy with one dose (0.25 ml/kg) for 21 days intraperitoneally. In addition, the realization of a behavior test battery namely; the forced swimming test to assess the state of despair of the pups, the open field to assess the locomotor activity as well as the exploratory capacities followed by a histopathological study of the brain. Data were analyzed by two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Results: The results of this study demonstrate that exposure to mercury induced significant decreases in body weight (p < 0.001) and brain weight (p < 0.05), respectively, increases the level of depression (p < 0.001), locomotor hypoactivity (p < 0.01) compared to control rats. Histological study revealed Purkinje cell degeneration, vascular congestion and lesions. Administration of Pimpinella anisum oil reduced levels of depression (p < 0.01), corrected locomotor hypoactivity (p < 0.05), and reduced mercury damage.

Conclusion: According to this study, exposure to mercury disrupted the neurobehavioral state of young rats by affecting certain brain structures. These disturbances can be regulated by the essential oil of anis


The segmental dynamics of solid-state poly(methylphenylsilane) were probed with deuterium solid-echo and two-dimensional exchange (2D-X) NMR via a methyl-d3 label. Between 25 and 50 degreesC, the spectra indicated that the polymer consisted of two fractions-a fast fraction with correlation times (tauc) below 10(-5) s and one with tauc's above 10 s. Above 50 degreesC, motion with tauc's around 10(-3) s was also detected. A minimization routine was developed to fit the 2D-X spectra to a model of isotropic rotational diffusion with a distribution of tauc's. The best fits were obtained with trimodal stretched-exponential distributions. The trimodal distributions consisted of a fast mode with tauc's around 10(-5) s, an intermediate mode with tauc's between 10(-4) and 0.3 s, and a slow mode with tauc's generally above 10 s. As the temperature increased from 56 to 90 degreesC, the fast fraction steadily increased from 21% to 50% while its average tauc remained around 10(-5) s; the intermediate fraction remained relatively constant at 23% while its average tauc decreased from 125 to 8 ms, and the rigid fraction decreased from 55% to 32% with an average tauc around 40 s. The fast fraction was attributed to amorphous segments, the rigid fraction to crystalline segments, and the intermediate fraction to segments that formed an interphase between the two.


Olfactory dysfunction is a common symptom in patients with neurodegenerative disorders, including Huntington's disease (HD). Understanding its pathophysiology is important in establishing a preventive and therapeutic plan. In this literature review, we cover the physiology of olfaction, its role in neurodegeneration, and its characteristics in patients with HD. In the general population, olfactory dysfunction is present in 3.8–5.8%and the prevalence increases significantly in those older than 80 years. For HD, data regarding prevalence rates are lacking and the scales used have been inconsistent or have been restructured due to concerns about cross-cultural understanding. Pathogenic huntingtin deposits have been found in the olfactory bulb of individuals with HD, although no studies have correlated this with the grade of olfactory impairment. Olfactory dysfunction is present in both premanifest and manifest patients with HD, showing a progressive decline over time with more severe deficits at advanced stages. No specific treatment for olfactory impairment in HD has been proposed; identifying and avoiding potential medications that cause olfactory dysfunction, as well as general safety recommendations remain the basis of the therapeutic strategy.


Our prisons have failed society because they do not, generally, provide an experience that is likely to help offenders overcome the obstacles that led them to make mistakes for which they are now being punished. Instead, they reinforce the violence and exploitation that many offenders were sentenced to prison for in the first place. They have failed because they do not promote restoration, a key to successful reintegration, and nobody benefits when offenders are more dangerous when they are released than when they entered prison. This Essay proposes that a restorative model of justice replace our failed punitive model. By changing their vision and implementing constructive reforms, policymakers can conquer an addiction that is wasting lives and billions of dollars. CURING AMERICA'S ADDICTION TO PRISONS


The case study analyses the family, education and migration trajectories of Moroccan mothers who attend courses organized by two different Adult Education and Training Centres in Turin. The aim of the research is to explore how migrant women construct and represent their individual agency, using a multidimensional approach. The Moroccan female trajectories are positioned in a stereotypical discourse about the women's proper role in the migrant network. Usually the mothers do not perform themselves as an autonomous agent. Nonetheless, despite this fact, it can be recognized that the women interviewed are not merely dependent migrants, as they explicitly leave their country to expand their capabilities. Moreover, they elaborate their migration strategies actively, create intercultural relations and assure the family reproduction by strengthening a gendered system of transnational care exchange. A concrete example of these processes is their participation in the courses previously cited, with which these women actively try to contrast the stigmatization, to help their children in the school environment and also to increase their job opportunities. The achievement of these purposes is possible thanks to the twofold distinctive functions of these Education Centres. On the one hand, they offer a second chance to the women who dropped out from school earlier in Morocco. On the other hand, they replace the Moroccan qualification with an Italian one. In fact the rules currently regulating the recognition of foreign degree are quite complicated: both educated and non-educated Moroccan women face the same difficulties of integration into the labour market. Some graduated mothers stop looking for a job because they refuse the underemployment. In conclusion, looking deeper in the relational and discursive dynamics that would arise from the case study, I would like to demonstrate that female identities and projects are never fixed or static. On the contrary, they are continuously constructed through the migrant narratives that would be possible to grasp in this field work, narratives that are in ongoing generation by their protagonists. The incorporation of heterogeneous stories into these gendered narratives originates a new stratified discourse about women's migration, in which the stereotypical representations of Moroccan femininity could be - gradually - changed. Keywords: Gender, Family, Migration, Education, Morocco, Italy Parole chiave: Genere, Famiglia, Migrazione, Educazione, Marocco, Italia


Background: Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is mostly hormone receptor-positive (ER+) and associated with higher risk of late relapse (> 5 years after diagnosis) when compared to invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). In this analysis we investigate the magnitude of benefit of endocrine treatment (tamoxifen [tam] or letrozole [let]) and the patterns of relapse over time in patients with ILC (classical subtype) or IDC enrolled in the monotherapy arms of BIG 1-98 study (12-year update). Material and methods: BIG 1-98 was a randomized, phase III study that compared five years of tam or let (monotherapy arms), or their sequences in post-menopausal women with ER+ early BC. There were 4922 patients enrolled in the monotherapy arms of BIG 1-98. This analysis includes patients who had centrally-reviewed histology data (n = 4080) and classified as IDC and ILC (n = 3660). Centrally-defined ER, PgR, Ki-67 were used to defined ER+ subtypes (n = 2923). ER+ subtypes were defined as Luminal A (ER+ and/or PR+ HER2− and Ki67 Results: In the IDC subset, 1436 (44%) and 1163 (36%) were classified as Luminal A and Luminal B, while in the ILC subset 237 (59%) and 87 (22%) were classified as Luminal A and Luminal B, respectively. The 5-year DFS and OS estimates (±SE) for IDC and ILC are described in the table. In multivariate models for DFS adjusted for classic clinicopathological features, significant interactions between treatment and histology (ILC or IDC), (p = 0.01) and treatment and subgroups (Luminal B or A), (p = 0.01) were observed. The DFS HRs for let vs tam were 0.51 (95% CI, 0.33 to 0.79) for ILC Luminal A and 0.35 (95% CI, 0.21 to 0.56) for ILC Luminal B. The DFS HRs for let vs tam were 0.93 (95% CI, 0.74 to 1.77) for IDC-Luminal A and 0.64 (95% CI, 0.52 to 0.78) and IDC-Luminal B. In the models for OS, the data suggest that the effect of letrozole varies by histology (interaction p = 0.053). The OS HRs for let vs tam was 0.39 (95% CI, 0.23 to 0.68) for ILC and 0.70 (95% CI, 0.57 to 0.86) for IDC. The hazards of DFS and OS events increased between 30 and 60 months after diagnosis among ILC pts treated with tam. In contrast, comparable hazard rates were observed for ILC pts treated with let and IDC pts treated with either let or tam. Conclusions: The magnitude of benefit of adjuvant let varies by histology and ER-subgroup. Greater reduction in risk of a DFS event is noted in women with Luminal B for both IDC and ILC. There is a trend for OS favoring let in women with ILC. ILC pts treated with let have similar patterns of relapse over time when compared to IDC. The biologic underpinnings of these observations should be explored. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2012;72(24 Suppl):Abstract nr S1-1.


What are the roles and responsibilities of different levels of government over forests and land use in Vietnam? Over the last two decades how have government priorities shifted? How has decentralisation been realised through changing land laws and forest protection and development programs? Which powers and responsibilities are centralized, and which are decentralized? What role do local people play?This report reviews the statutory distribution of powers and responsibilities across levels and sectors. It outlines the legal mandates held by national and lower level governments with regard to land and forest allocation, afforestation programs, rubber plantations, Payments for Forest Environmental Services (PFES), land use planning, and more. The review considers legal and policy changes in land use and forestry in Vietnam following the 'doi moi' reform in 1986 up to 2014.After a short introduction, the second section describes the decentralization process, including mechanisms for participation. The third section outlines sources of revenue available to different government levels from forest fees and payments for environmental services. The fourth section details the specific distribution of powers and arenas of responsibility related to multiple land use sectors across and within levels, and the fifth and final section concludes on the policy changes and processes in relation to observed forest cover change.The study was commissioned under CIFOR's Global Comparative Study on REDD+, as part of a research project on multilevel governance and carbon management at the landscape scale. It is intended as a reference for researchers and policy makers working on land use issues in Vietnam.


Market orientation and process quality measurement had been regarded in the literature as sources of competitive advantage for business performance.However, both these concepts had been discussed separately in their own
respective academic discipline. In the context of business operation today,the organisation need to work as a team to survive in the challenging business environment. Market orientation originates from the marketing concept. On the other hand, process quality measurement originates from quality management principles and is viewed as one of its tools. Despite their importance, many organisations have not combined them in order to become a market driven and quality oriented organisation. Thus, this study investigated the impact of process quality measurement on the relationship between market orientation and financial performance of manufacturing firms in Malaysia. Although the overall results showed lack of evidence on the impact of process quality measurement on market orientation-financial performance relationships, individual results signified that process quality measurement moderate the relationship between market action and financial
performance.


Do you supervise the operating room (OR) director in your hospital? Are you thinking of applying for an OR director's position? Or are you in the process of clarifying your role as the OR director with your boss? If so, read these authors' analysis of one OR director's role in a large, teaching hospital. Not only will you learn about the functions one OR director performs to lead a 37 million dollar revenue-producing corporate division, but also you will get an appreciation for the pace, complexity, rewards, and dilemmas of such a position.


An approach that is common in the machine learning literature, known as relevance feedback learning, is applied to provide a method for managing agile sensors. In the context of a machine learning application such as image retrieval, relevance feedback proceeds as follows. The user has a goal image in mind that is to be retrieved from a database of images (i.e., learned by the system). The system computes an image or set of images to display (the query). Oftentimes, the decision as to which images to display is done using divergence metrics such as the KullbackLeibler (KL) divergence. The user then indicates the relevance of each image to his goal image and the system updates its estimates (typically a probability mass function on the database of images). The procedure repeats until the desired image is found. Our method for managing agile sensors proceeds in an analogous manner. The goal of the system is to learn the number and states of a group of moving targets occupying a surveillance region. The system computes a sensing action to take (the query), based on a divergence measure called the Ŕ enyi divergence. A measurement is made, providing relevance feedback and the system updates its probability density on the number and states of the targets. This procedure repeats at each time where a sensor is available for use. It is shown using simulated measurements on real recorded target trajectories that this method of sensor management yields a ten fold gain in sensor efficiency when compared to periodic scanning. EDICS Category: 2-INFO


The feasibility of producing extended-release matrix tablets with high drug loadings (80-90% w/w) containing a binary combination of magnesium stearate (MS) and talc (T) at different levels as major dissolution retardants was investigated. Matrix tablets were prepared from a granulation containing theophylline, starch, hydroxypropylcellulose, and varying amounts of MS and T. Using a 32 factorial design, the effect of MS and T levels on the physical properties and drug release characteristics of the tablets was evaluated. Response surface analysis showed that the binary combination of MS and T at levels >3% adversely affected both tensile strength and friability. A parabolic relationship was observed for the increase in time required for the release of 50% of the theophylline (t50%) with increased MS levels. Moreover, as the proportion of MS and T was increased, the release profiles became more linear. A combination of 3% MS and T provided both near zero-order release kinetics as well as a coherent matrix structure. Based on model fitting, a release mechanism combining diffusion and matrix erosion/dissolution is proposed. It may be concluded that in the development of controlled-release systems, the binary combination of MS and T at levels exceeding those conventionally used for lubrication can be employed as an inexpensive, low bulk dissolution retardant for formulations with high drug loading.


Despite continuous calls in literature for an increase in women in engineering, U.S. numbers hover around 20% women graduating with undergraduate degrees in engineering. Although diversity, inclusion, and engineering education researchers have made great strides in understanding the development of engineering identity and capturing the experiences of struggling women and underrepresented students, many women students still experience "chilly" climates in daily interactions in engineering education environments. Women need mentorship, peer support, and mastery experiences that build Self-leadership, resilience, and engineering self-efficacy beliefs to persevere and flourish in such environments. The current work explores the effectiveness of a novel experiential design intervention on these factors for women engineering students. Specifically, we assess the value of a unique experiential design course where women engineering students hiked a portion of the Appalachian Trail guided by women engineering faculty members, and then participated in a follow-on design thinking project. Results suggest such interventions may be effective methods to improve student outcomes.


The object of this investigation was the sensitivity to chemical mutagens of chromosomes of human lymphocytes obtained from different individuals. The distribution of individuals with respect to their sensitivity to fotrin and cytosine-arabinoside was studied. Tests for two characteristics were used, viz. "the percent of aberrant metaphases" and "the number of chrimosome breaks per 100 cells". It is shown by the statistical analysis, that the distribution does not depend on the stage of the cell cycle. The distribution of the individuals tested with respect to their sensitivity to mutagens was shown to be normal. Certain recommendations concerning the planning of experiments and the exposure of the experimental data are given by the authors.


This paper presents a distributed methodology for controlling multi-zone Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems and a fault accommodation scheme for reconfiguring the distributed controller in the presence of unknown sensor faults. The multi-zone HVAC system is modelled as a network of interconnected subsystems representing the temperature dynamics of the storage tank and the various building zones. The distributed control scheme for each subsystem is based on local measurements, as well as measurements from neighboring subsystems. In the presence of a sensor fault, an accommodation scheme is designed by adaptively estimating and compensating the effect of the sensor fault. The estimation of the local sensor fault is exploited not only by the local but also by neighboring controllers to reduce fault propagation effects resulting from the distributed control architecture. Under certain conditions, the closed-loop stability of the multi-zone HVAC system is analyzed in the presence of modeling uncertainty and measurement noise, under both healthy conditions and faulty sensor measurements. Simulation results are used to illustrate the proposed distributed sensor fault accommodation scheme.


Among the most egregious child rights violations, an estimated 300,000 child soldiers are involved in armed conflicts. Although a number of countries have undertaken demobilization and reintegration programs for child soldiers, there remains a dearth of documentation and dissemination of programs experience and best practice to guide the countries. This working paper draws from in-depth case studies on Angola and El Salvador, as well as other country program experience. The study follows the themes of prevention, demobilization, and reintegration, detailing concrete examples and offering checklists on each of the main themes for use in future programs. Although demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers is often seen as hopeless, this study shows that children and youth involved in armed conflict can re-engage positive social relations and productive civilian lives. It is not easy, however, and depends crucially on the political will and resources to include child soldiers in peace agreements and demobilization programs and to support their reintegration into family and community.


The article analyzes the socio-economic consequences of the armed conflict for the economic development of the ATO regions. The key problems related to the temporarily occupied territories were identified, the directions of their solution and the role that impact investment can play in this were specified. A dynamic analysis of indicators of socio-economic development of Ukrainian economy as a whole and in the regional context for the period from 2012 to 2019 was conducted. It is determined that the loss of territorial control has led to a significant deterioration of the economy in Ukraine; the assessment of losses of economic potential at the anti-terrorist operation zone was carried out. The social component of this issue is analyzed separately, namely, how the conflict affected the population, the loss of human capital, in particular due to mass displacement. These include human losses, forced displacement, destruction of physical infrastructure, disruption of so-called soft economic infrastructure (for example, existing links between sellers and consumers). Given the scale of losses and consequences, we can talk about a wide range of areas for impact investment, related to economic recovery in post-conflict regions. The article presents a list of steps to restore the occupied territories, which can be translated into the plane of solving socio-economic problems, as well as an assessment of the overall needs for the restoration of government-controlled areas of the ATO. This allowed us to conclude that the restoration of infrastructure is one of the most promising areas for attracting investment and implementing impact investment. However, a study of this area for investment revealed that not all areas will be cost-effective and attractive to investors. Therefore, the direction of impact investments immediately after the political settlement of the conflict in Donbass in infrastructure should be expected only in the field of telecommunications. Other sectors will receive private investment only after a few years of stability, so only public financial support and public investment policy should be considered a key source of funding.

Keywords: socio-economic consequences, recovery, military conflict, impact investment, loss assessment, development.


By treating conservatism as a style of thought, this essay examines how a flair for abjuring the social contract, social welfare, socialism, indeed, society itself provides pleasure from the pain of violation and lost autonomy. The innovation of Ayn Rand's writing is to make this victimization sexy. For the Randian conservative who feels abused by the social welfare schemes of the liberal state, masochism restores autonomy by making the individual the sole author of his or her pain. Masochism allows Rand's readers to wring intense satisfaction from feelings of vulnerability that notions of consent force on individuals. Rand's penchant for imagining a literally libidinal economy hardly defines the tastes of conservatism tout court. Nevertheless, the masochistic erotic formations in her novels constitute a defining feature of an ideology that views government as a pain.


The determination of alpha-amino nitrogen (alpha-AN) is performed via the formation of amino acid copper complexes and subsequent colorimetric estimation of the dissolved copper as copper diethyldithiocarbamate. The continuous colour reaction by means of an auto-analyzer increases the reliability of the measured values (variation coefficient = 1.7%) compared to the laborious manual method. The stability of the amino acid copper complexes and of copper diethyldithiocarbamate was verified and possible interferences with the colour reaction were discussed. Ammonia does not interfere with the determination of alpha-AN in protein hydrolysates, whereas traces of detergent residues bias the measured values.


Well-tuned emotional regulation is fundamental for human life and psychological well-being. Negative physiological emotions are counterbalanced by positive ones, and this equilibrium is the mainstay of human physiological affective states. However, this mechanism may sometimes become dysfunctional when negative emotions are not correctly counterbalanced, causing maladaptive behaviors, especially during adolescence. A very interesting review by Young et al. was recently published (Brain Sci. 2019, 9(4), 76) and stimulated us to reflect on this topic. The screening for emotional disturbances and dysregulation in adolescents must be included in all the preventive and interventional programs aimed to achieve both physical and psychological well-being of the population and early intervention should be provided in order to avoid progression toward clinically relevant psychiatric disorders in late adolescence and adulthood.


The authors investigate whether net worth poverty (NWP) reduces children's well-being. NWP—having wealth (assets minus debts) less than one fourth of the federal poverty line—is both theoretically and empirically distinct from income poverty (IP) and is the modal form of poverty among children. Data come from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Child Development Supplement on children ages 3 to 17 years observed between 2002 and 2019. The authors use linear mixed-effects models to investigate the associations among NWP, IP, and four cognitive and behavioral outcomes. NWP reduces children's cognitive scores and was associated with increases in both problem behavior scores. Negative associations for NWP are similar in magnitude to those found for IP. Much of the NWP effect operates through asset deprivation rather than high debt. The results illustrate the potential risks many children, previously overlooked in studies of IP, face because of wealth deprivation.


RATIONALE, AIMS, AND OBJECTIVES
Clinical reasoning is an essential aspect of clinical practice, however is largely ignored in the current rehabilitation sciences evidence base. Literature related to clinical reasoning and clinical expertise has evolved concurrently although rehabilitation reasoning frameworks remain relatively generic. The purpose of this study was to explicate the clinical reasoning process of Bobath instructors of a widely used neuro-rehabilitation approach, the Bobath concept.

METHODS
A qualitative interpretive description approach consisting of stimulated recall using video-recorded treatment sessions and in-depth interviews. Purposive sampling was used to recruit members of the International Bobath Instructors Training Association (IBITA). Interview transcripts were transcribed verbatim providing the raw data. Data analysis was progressive, iterative, and inductive.

RESULTS
Twenty-two IBITA instructors from 7 different countries participated. Ranging in clinical experience from 12 to 40 years, and instructor experience from 1 to 35 years. Three themes were developed, (a) a Bobath clinical framework, (b) person-centered, and (c) a Bobath reasoning approach, highlighting the role of practical wisdom, phronesis in the clinical reasoning process. In particular the role of visuospatial-kinesthetic perception, an element of technical expertise, was illuminated as an integral aspect of clinical reasoning in this expert group.

CONCLUSIONS
This study provides an interpretive understanding of the clinical reasoning process used by IBITA instructors illustrating an inactive embodied view of clinical reasoning, specifically the role of phronesis, requiring further investigation in nonexpert Bobath therapists, as well as in novice and experienced therapists in other specialty areas.


Riboswitches are metabolite-sensing RNA structures that have been discovered in regulatory regions of messenger RNA (mRNA). They have the remarkable ability to shut off the transcription or translation of their own mRNAs in response to binding a specific metabolite. In other words, riboswitches regulate their own genes using RNA instead of protein. Three new crystal structures reveal how S-adenosylmethionine and thiamine pyrophosphate riboswitches accomplish this task.


Cyhalofop butyl, [R-(+)-n-butyl-2-(4-(2-fluoro-4-cyanophenoxy) phenoxy) propionate] is a selective rice graminicide, which can control up to the 5-6 leaf stage of Echinochloa crus-galli by foliar application. Japanese agricultural practices requires development of a granule formulation of cyhalofop butyl; however, the conventional type of extruded granule of the herbicide showed unacceptable bioefficacy. Different commercial ester products on KCl core granules were therefore evaluated in greenhouse trials and field trials in Japan to improve this bioefficacy. Among them, ditridecyl phthalate enhanced the efficacy significantly over that of water treatment of cyhalofop butyl EC formulation. Employment of di-tridecyl phthalate contributed to the high concentration of the graminicide on the water surface, prolonged its half life on hydrolysis and enhanced its uptake into plants. These results suggested that cyhalofop butyl granules containing ditridecyl phthalate would be an effective way to maximize bioefficacy of this herbicide.


Abstract Empirical data do not support the conclusion of a crisis of public trust in science. They do support the conclusion of a crisis of conservative trust in science: polls show that American attitudes toward science are highly polarized along political lines. In this essay, we argue that conservative hostility toward science is rooted in conservative hostility toward government regulation of the marketplace, which has morphed in recent decades into conservative hostility to government, tout court. This distrust was cultivated by conservative business leaders for nearly a century, but took strong hold during the Reagan administration, largely in response to scientific evidence of environmental crises that invited governmental response. Thus, science-particularly environmental and public health science-became the target of conservative anti-regulatory attitudes. We argue that contemporary distrust of science is mostly collateral damage, a spillover from carefully orchestrated conservative distrust of government.


The genera of free-living and arthropod-associated Laelapidae were reviewed in an attempt to determine the internal relationships of the family. Using phylogenetic methods, with computations on the PAUPand MacClade programs, a comparative study of eighty-three characters in fifty generic taxa resulted in the construction of nine consensus cladograms illustrating familial and subfamilial relationships. The Leptolaelapidae was used as the sister group and Ologamasidae as the outgroup. The Laelapidae was redefined to include eight subfamilies: Hypoaspidinae Vitzthum, 1940;Melittiphidinae Evans and Till, 1966;Haemogamasinae Oudemans, 1926; AlphalaelapinaeTipton, 1960;LaelapinaeBerlese, 1892; Myonyssinae Bregetova, 1956; Hirstionyssinae Evans and Tul, 1 966 and Mesolaelapinae Tenorio and Radovsky, 1974. The new arrangement of the free-living and arthropod-associated genera is the following: Family Laelapidae, with two subfamilies: Hypoaspidinae, which includes the free-living, predatory and phoretic mites on Coleóptera and Blattaria, with Tribe Pseudoparasitini and Tribe Hypoaspidini, and Melittiphidinae which includes laelapid mites associates of Hymenoptera (Apidae and Formicidae) and Isoptera, with Tribe Laelaspidini, new tribe, Tribe Melittiphidini and Tribe Varroini. The dermanyssoid mites associated with Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Araneae and crustácea are included in the famili Iphiopsididae, with two subfamilies: Scissuralaelapinae, new subfamily and Iphiopsidinae which is divided into Tribe Iphiopsidini and Tribe Gecarcinolaelapini, new tribe. * Laboratorio de Acarología, Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Concepción. Casilla 2407Apartado 10, Concepción, Chile. The genus Urozercon is included for the first time in the family Laelapidae; and the new genus Gecarcinolaelaps is established in Iphiopsididae. The prior ranking of Euvarroa and Varroa as the family Varroidae Delfinado and Baker, 1974 is refuted.


The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on small businesses, substantially accelerating business failure and adversely affecting financial viability. With several sectors of the economy adopting digital transformation initiatives to deal with the pandemic, we consider digital resilience in the market for fitness clubs and gyms. The traditional economics of the fitness industry made them less vulnerable to digital disruption, pre pandemic. The pandemic also shifted patterns of human mobility, where gyms' operating model was suddenly negatively impacted by digital substitution. We consider how these businesses adapted by being entrepreneurially alert and digitally agile in adopting virtualization and greater social media enabled connections with consumers, and how digitization substitutes for co-presence in the relationship between consumers and fitness centers. We examine these issues using a fairly granular data on foot traffic from Safegraph and combining it with data from Google Places, supplemented with hand collected data from individual websites. The empirical challenge is that of disentangling the impact of digital resilience on economic indicators of the well-being of a business, given that small businesses are prone to failure, and that COVID has been a worldwide shock impacting aggregate economic statistics. The mandated lockdowns and re-openings across states provide us with a natural experiment to examine the impact of digital substitution and digital resilience in the fitness sector. By using hand-collected data from each individual gym, we can uniquely identify whether each gym offers virtual services, and if these services were offered in response to the lockdown. Compared to gyms, dentist establishments offer services that are almost impossible to virtualize and have more of an inelastic demand. We therefore conduct a difference-in-difference analysis to quantify the digital resilience for fitness centers, compared to dental establishments. We find that compared to dental services, gyms with virtual services see about 38% displacement in footfalls post-pandemic. By using another set of hand collected data, we examine whether this observed displacement is robust to alternative explanations such as the ownership structures or franchise arrangements in the fitness sector, the distance traveled by consumers, local political partisanship etc.


Analyzing the delay characteristics of System-on-chip network on multi-core chip, establishing the signal flow model based on the signal flow structure and time measurement method, the network transfer mode based on the centralized leading node proposed the network routing algorithm and signal flow priority queuing transmission scheduling algorithm, and gave the signal flow delay time and the least upper bound calculation of router cache. At the same time, certified the scheduling algorithm can make sure the delay constraints, the result of algorithm meet the timely and determinism of real test.


Studies conducted in the past decade have reported nucleostemin (NS) as a nucleolar protein that has a role in self-renewal and cell cycle regulation in cancer/stem cells, but is absent in differentiated cells. The localization and expression patterns of NS have always been disputed, as reports indicate its varied levels among tissues and cells. This study evaluates the expression and localization pattern of NS in normal cells, cancer cell lines, and stem cells. Our findings revealed that the expression of NS was high in cancers originating from the skin and liver compared to the normal cell lines. NS knockdown effects the proliferation of normal cell lines, similar to cancerous cell lines. The localization pattern of NS was analyzed by immunofluorescence, which showed that NS was localized in the nuclei of normal cell lines but is present both in the nucleus and the cytoplasm of cancerous/stem cell lines. Interestingly, we observed that siNS cancerous cell lines had lower NS in the cytoplasm, which did not salvage the reduction in proliferation caused by siNS. We postulate that the loss of NS in the nucleus inhibits the proliferative ability of both normal and cancerous cells at similar rates, although the role of NS in the cytoplasm apart from proliferation needs to be further explored.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development, implementation and impact evaluation of an interactive theater-based workshop by the ADVANCE program at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). The workshop is part of a larger institutional transformation program funded by the National Science Foundation.

Design/methodology/approach
This institutional transformation program relied upon a systems approach to diagnose potential causes for the underrepresentation of women faculty in certain disciplines. This revealed that increasing awareness of, and reducing, implicit gender bias among members of faculty search committees could, in time, contribute to increasing the representation of women faculty at UNH. A committee charged with developing a faculty workshop to achieve this change identified interactive theater as an effective faculty training approach. The committee oversaw the development of customized scripts, and the hiring of professional actors and a facilitator to implement the workshop.

Findings
The workshop's effectiveness in fulfilling its goals was assessed using faculty hiring and composition data, program evaluations, participant interviews and questions in an annual faculty climate survey. Findings indicate that the representation of women faculty increased significantly at UNH since the implementation of the interactive theater workshop. Analysis of the multiple sources of data provides corroborating evidence that a significant portion of the increase is directly attributable to the workshop.

Originality/value
This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of interactive theater-based workshops in an academic environment and of the systems approach in diagnosing and solving organizational problems.


There are various forms and types of machines on the market sander, but that underlie the differences in types and sizes of functions and sizes of material, amounting to what materials will be crushed, there can be determined to use which. For materials with small sizes that can only be
held by the fingers then it is advisable to use a big machine like the one in the Lab. Sisman The problem faced by the operators with the type of sander machine MODEL 6 "Belt and 9" Disc Sander, NS: 121 001 113 existing in the Lab. Juruasn manufacturing system engineering in industrial engineering is the position operator, at operator's position in the machine do the work stands beside the machine and the operator's position must operate in a standing position which causes rapid operator to feel tired. Felt fatigue in the legs because as long as the machine operators to operate in conditions as well as the perceived standing on the waist because at the time of the material making process operator must rotate his body to reach the material or materials to be mashed.
From the problems that the author gives a solution that is designing a chair that could fix the problem condition. Chair design must be able to make the operator does not quickly feel tired and can reduce the pain felt at the waist as before with the design of the rotating chair and
pedestal seat or seats and footrests which can fluctuate by 10 cm with a view to the operator that has a size of more larger or smaller than could persentile adjustable. To achieve the required anthropometric data: height knee, thigh length, width, hip and elbow height in a sitting position, in order to design a machine operator chair Ergonomic sander.


The kidney is critical in the long-term regulation of blood pressure. Oxidative stress is one of the many factors that is accountable for the development of hypertension. The five dopamine receptor subtypes (D1R–D5R) have important roles in the regulation of blood pressure through several mechanisms, such as inhibition of oxidative stress. Dopamine receptors, including those expressed in the kidney, reduce oxidative stress by inhibiting the expression or action of receptors that increase oxidative stress. In addition, dopamine receptors stimulate the expression or action of receptors that decrease oxidative stress. This article examines the importance and relationship between the renal dopaminergic system and oxidative stress in the regulation of renal sodium handling and blood pressure. It discusses the current information on renal dopamine receptor-mediated antioxidative network, which includes the production of reactive oxygen species and abnormalities of renal dopamine receptors. Recognizing the mechanisms by which renal dopamine receptors regulate oxidative stress and their degree of influence on the pathogenesis of hypertension would further advance the understanding of the pathophysiology of hypertension.


Objective. Recent clinical trials with administration of IL-5 antibodies to asthmatic patients have revealed reduction of eosinophilia but unaltered airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). In contrast, inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy eliminates both eosinophilia and AHR. This study was designed to examine the mechanisms by which ICS improves airway hyperresponsiveness in asthmatic patients. Methods. Clinical variables of asthma involving vascular permeability and IL-5 levels were examined in 23 asthmatic patients and 11 normal control subjects. After the first sputum induction, inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP 800 μg/day) was administered to asthmatic patients for 8 weeks, and sputum induction was repeated. Results. IL-5 levels in induced sputum and airway vascular permeability index were significantly higher in asthmatic patients. IL-5 was positively correlated with percentage of eosinophils in induced sputum, and negatively correlated with FEV1, but not correlated with PC20 methacholine. After BDP therapy, eosinophils, ECP, and IL-5 levels were significantly decreased to the same levels as in normal subjects. Conversely, PC20 methacholine and airway vascular permeability did not improve to the same levels as in normal subjects. Increase in PC20 methacholine from before to after BDP therapy was significantly correlated with decrease in airway permeability index, but not with decrease in IL-5 level. Conclusion. Our results suggest a clear dissociation between IL-5 and AHR. ICS therapy improves AHR at least in part through decrease in airway vascular permeability.


France outward-processing trade (OPT) with the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) and Maghreb developed with a high momentum from 1993 to 1997, higher in the former than in the latter area. A crowding out effect of France OPT with Maghreb by France OPT with the CEECs is evident. A substitution relationship between French foreign direct investment (FDI) and OPT is statistically tested, and detrimental to OPT in the case of the CEECs. In Maghreb, French FDI is crowded out by the development of France OPT. The substitution of French FDI to OPT in the CEECs is explained by a number of factors like the abolition of tax privileges for OPT in the EU-CEEC relations, a market-seeking FDI, a non significant impact of labour costs on both FDI and OPT, a determinant role of institutional reforms and lower country-risk in attracting FDI instead of OPT.


This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 208711, "Redefining Operations Reporting Codes to Support Digitalization of Well Operations," by Theresa Baumgartner, SPE, Marcus Ridgway, SPE, and Cameron Bruce, SPE, Shell, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
 Under increasingly volatile market conditions, operators face pressure to increase performance and reduce costs through standardization of engineering, operations, services, and equipment. To this end, an operator has redefined the way it reports onsite operations through the development of a standardized set of reporting activity codes, designed as the backbone of a standardized and digital well-design and -execution process. The operator recognizes the value of industrywide standardization of fit-for-purpose operations codes and offers to donate the codes to the Open Subsurface Data Universe (OSDU) project.

 The use of operations codes (also referred to as activity or reporting codes) to classify detailed well-activity descriptions has been prevalent in the oil and gas industry since the introduction of commercial daily-well-operations-reporting software systems in the 1980s and '90s.
 A limitation of many activity code sets was that they were focused on drilling operations and were light on completions and, especially, well-intervention activities. Today's well-engineering teams are focused on optimizing all well-operation types, not only drilling operations.
 Activity-code sets support a range of coding levels, from simple single-level activity code systems to several hierarchical levels of activity codes, such as the code set the authors propose in this paper. The number of levels is determined based on operator or contractor requirements for tracking operations, regulatory reporting, and performance measurement or optimization requirements.


Unlike many Italian peninsular areas, which are increasingly turning to a diverse supply of renewable resources to generate electricity, Italian not-interconnected small islands continue to rely on oil for their electricity and other energy needs (e.g. transports). Small-scale electricity systems, that are not connected to a larger electricity grid, are usually more expensive. The present paper proposes the functional design of an innovative Smart Grid which allows changing an Italian small not-interconnected island, Pantelleria, into a smart island, towards a more sustainable energy model. In detail, a techno-economic feasibility study is performed in order to design a Smart Grid at Pantelleria Island. The study identifies innovative architectures and characteristics of the main components of the Smart Grid as well as the characteristics both in quantitative and qualitative terms of the renewable energy technologies and electric storage systems to be installed in order to reduce the dependence on fossil energy sources and activate the distribution network of the island.


Transmembrane α-Klotho (TM-Klotho), expressed in renal tubules, is a cofactor for FGF23-receptor. Circulating soluble-α-Klotho (s-Klotho) results from TM-Klotho shedding and acts on Phosphate (P) and Calcium (Ca) tubular transport. Decreased TM-Klotho, described in experimental chronic kidney disease (CKD), prevents actions of FGF23 and lessens circulating s-Klotho. Thus, levels of s-Klotho could represent a marker of CKD-MBD. To evaluate the clinical significance of s-Klotho in CKD we assayed serum s-Klotho and serum FGF23 in 68 patients (age 58 ± 15; eGFR 45 ± 21 mL/min). s-Klotho was lower than normal (519 ± 183 versus 845 ± 330 pg/mL, P < .0001) in renal patients and its reduction was detectable since CKD stage 2 (P < .01). s-Klotho correlated positively with eGFR and serum calcium (Cas) and negatively with serum phosphate (Ps), PTH and FGF23. FGF23 was higher than normal (73 ± 51 versus 36 ± 11, P < .0002) with significantly increased levels since CKD stage 2 (P < .001). Our data indicate a negative effect of renal disease on circulating s-Klotho starting very early in CKD. Assuming that s-Klotho mirrors TM-Klotho synthesis, low circulating s-Klotho seems to reflect the ensuing of tubular resistance to FGF23, which, accordingly, is increased. We endorse s-Klotho as an early marker of CKD-MBD.


The concept of e-government was expected to support the development of the new public sector paradigm and the emerging socio-political trends, endorsing efforts for deliberative and democratic decision-making processes, and advocating the effective, accountable and transparent management of public affairs. In reality, very little of the above-mentioned was achieved, indicating that the current policy-making in the e-government field is inadequate, whereas lacking comprehensive and objective evaluation methodologies consequently results in poor quality planning and implementation of e-government policies. Despite the growing research interest in the last decade or so, the existing evaluation methodologies have been often only marginally and superficially targeting and evaluating the notion of the public interest articulated and addressed by the e-government policies. Moreover, the evaluation of the public interest dimensions is frequently rendered particularly with the evaluation of financial benefits of the e-government policies, additionally reducing the applicability of the evaluation methodologies and undermining the legitimacy of the evaluation results used for strategic planning. Paper provides an analysis of more than 50 methodologies for the evaluation of e-government policies, exploring their capacity and extent to which they facilitate the evaluation of the public interest implemented by the e-government policies. Analysis offers an insight into the current evaluation practice enabling detection of its deficiencies, and could facilitate a significant contribution to the inclusion of the public interest concept in the future design of the evaluation methodologies and provide support to more evidence-based policy-making in the e-government field.


Computational indistinguishability is a notion in complexity-theoretic cryptography and is used to define many security criteria. However, in traditional cryptography, proving computational indistinguishability is usually informal and becomes error-prone when cryptographic constructions are complex. This paper presents a formal proof system based on an extension of Hofmann's SLR language, which can capture probabilistic polynomial-time computations through typing and is sufficient for expressing cryptographic constructions. In particular, we define rules that directly justify the computational indistinguishability between programs, and then prove that these rules are sound with respect to the set-theoretic semantics, and thus the standard definition of security. We also show that it is applicable in cryptography by verifying, in our proof system, Goldreich and Micali's construction of a pseudorandom generator, and the equivalence between next-bit unpredictability and pseudorandomness.


: A simple method of aortic graft plication with a retrocolic omental pedicle is described; plication should protect against both graft infection and graft enteric fistulas.


This paper deals with an application of automatic titling. The aim of such application is to attribute a title for a given text. So, our application relies on three very different automatic titling methods. The first one extracts relevant noun phrases for their use as a heading, the second one automatically constructs headings by selecting words appearing in the text, and, finally, the third one uses nominalization in order to propose informative and catchy titles. Experiments based on 1048 titles have shown that our methods provide relevant titles.


Wireless mesh networking is rapidly gaining in popularity with a variety of users: from municipalities to enterprises, from telecom service providers to public safety and military organizations. This increasing popularity is based on two basic facts: ease of deployment and increase in network capacity expressed in bandwidth per footage; WMNs do not rely on any fixed infrastructure. Many efforts have been used to maximizing throughput of the network in a multi-channel multi-radio wireless mesh network. Current approaches are purely based on either static or dynamic channel allocation approaches. In this paper, we use a hybrid multichannel multi radio wireless mesh networking architecture, where static and dynamic interfaces are built in the nodes. Dynamic Adaptive Channel Allocation protocol (DACA), it considers optimization for both throughput and delay in the channel allocation. The assignment of the channel has been allocated to be codependent with the routing problem in the wireless mesh network and that should be based on passage flow on every link. Temporal and spatial relationship rises to re compute the channel assignment every time when the pattern changes in mesh network, channel assignment algorithms assign channels in network. In this paper a computing path which captures the available path bandwidth is the proposed information and the proficient routing protocol based on the new path which provides both static and dynamic links. The consistency property guarantees that each node makes an appropriate packet forwarding decision and balancing the control usage of the network, so that a data packet will traverse through the right path. Keywords—Wireless mesh network, spatial time division multiple access, hybrid topology, timeslot allocation.


In 1992 the Australian Government adopted the National Mental Health Strategy in an attempt to improve the provision of mental health services. A component was to improve geographical access to hospital-based mental health services. This paper is concerned with determining if this objective has been achieved. Time-series data on patients (at a regional level) with mental illness in the State of Queensland are available for the years from 1968-69 to 2002-03. A change in regional classification by the Australian Bureau of Statistics complicates the analysis by precluding certain empirical tests such as converging utilisation rates by region. To overcome this problem, it was decided to apply concepts of concentration and equality that are commonly employed in industrial economics to the regional data. The empirical results show no evidence of improving regional access following the National Mental Health Strategy: in fact the statistical results show the opposite, i.e. declining regional access.


We aim to add realistic force-feedback to the process of real-time volume removal from a 3D mesh object. We refer to this volume removal as "3D carving". 3D carving is particularly applicable to the computer simulation of surgical procedures involving bone reductions that are performed with a motorized burr tool; however the methods and algorithms presented here are generic enough to be used for other purposes, such as modeling, destructible objects & terrains in games, etc. The system represents the volume of the virtual objects using a voxel-set during carving process. A polygonal mesh is created from this voxel-set to display a smoother rendition of the virtual object. Out system also employs the novel Dynamic Ball-Pivoting Algorithm to generate quick mesh updates when voxel-set revisions occur. The advantages of this being that minor changes to the voxel-set only require minor changes to the mesh, whereas the standard Ball-Pivoting Algorithm approach is to perform a global re-meshing. In our haptic carving system interactions with the aforementioned voxel-set can provide output force-feedback to the system operator. A pen-based haptic tool is used to act as a 3D mouse in order to "feel" the surface of the model as well as to remove select volume segments of the object. Two collision detection schemes are presented here which allow users to feel the surface of virtual objects either using the voxels alone or by using supplemental information from the polygonal mesh. When the burr-tool has its "cutting mode" enabled, which sections of an object's volume are to be removed is decided by evaluating that volume's proximity to the center of the burr.


This is a report of the total Australian experience in coronary artery bypass graft surgery over a two year period from October 1, 1974, to September 30, 1976. It provides data on the results up to discharge from hospital. There were 2349 patients undergoing operation in 9 units in all mainland States. Each of the nine participating units reported preoperative data on age, sex, symptoms, previous history, indications for surgery and special investigations including results of X‐ray examination, electrocardiography (ECG), ventricular and coronary angiograms and left ventricular end diastolic pressure as well as details of surgery which was carried out, and patient status at the time of discharge. The data were collated and analysed at National Heart Foundation headquarters in Canberra.


This paper illustrates versatility of fuzzy control by two applications of fuzzy logic: model based control of nonlinear systems and decision making respectively. In the first application Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model is used to model a nonlinear plant: the laboratory scale heat exchanger. The model is then used in generalized predictive control. In the second application the fuzzy logic is applied for several tasks in the robot soccer game analysis, such as data filtering and analysis of strategy.


Recent work in survey research has made progress in estimating models involving selection bias in a particularly difficult circumstance—all nonrespondents are unit nonresponders, meaning that no data are available for them. These models are reasonably successful in circumstances where the dependent variable of interest is continuous, but they are less practical empirically when it is latent and only discrete outcomes or choices are observed. I develop a method in this article to estimate these models that is much more practical in terms of estimation. The model uses a small amount of auxiliary information to estimate the selection equation parameters, which are then held fixed while estimating the equation of interest parameters in a maximum-likelihood setting. After presenting Monte Carlo analyses to support the model, I apply the technique to a substantive problem: Which interest groups are likely to to be involved in support of potential initiatives to achieve their policy goals?


Wind energy projects impact bald and golden eagle populations. These impacts, including the serious injury and death of eagles from collisions with spinning wind turbines, implicate a host of federal and state environmental laws. Chief among these laws are the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA), both of which impose strict liability for injuries to eagles even where the injury is an incidental result of the activity that caused it. Unfortunately for both eagles and wind developers, bird deaths are an unavoidable consequence of wind energy development. The focus of the article is on the BGEPA's Eagle Permit Rule, passed in 2009, which purports to offer protections for wind developers for permitted incidental takes of eagles. The article points out several aspects of this permitting regime that work to hinder the development of renewable energy in a time of global warming and suggests specific changes to the rule, modeled on the Endangered Species Act's incidental take permit process, that would better balance the important priorities of eagle protection and renewable energy development.


The effects of a nonnegligible source impedance, due to the presence of an input EMI filter, on the stability of power factor preregulators with average current control are analyzed by using a state space averaged model. The modeling allows to derive a simple expression for the loop gain in terms of the converter current loop gain. The overall system stability is studied for boost, Cuk and SEPIC PFP topologies. Based on this model, a simple modification of the standard current control loop is proposed which increases the converter robustness. Comparison between model forecasts and experimental measurements is carried out using two prototypes: one based on the boost topology and the other based on the SEPIC topology both rated at 600 W. Finally, the model accuracy is investigated with measurements at different current loop bandwidths.


The software package contains both usual and new acceptance sampling procedures (essentially by variables) especially for instrumentation and automatic test systems. The main newer procedures implemented in this package are: * By attributes: with finite lot sizes, with classification errors * By variables: bilateral test of the mean measurement, nonparametric sequential, Bayes with minimization of the mean global cost, multidimensional measurements on each sample item, with provision for the internal structure of the items. This software package is aimed at implementation on microprocessors or personal computers, for acceptance sampling by variables and for data logging of measurements. The past four years during which the package has been in use, have been very positive, especially for those applications to electronic instrumentation and automatic test systems, where more standard methods were unsatisfactory or unfit.


Internet of things is a new revolution in the capabilities of the endpoints that are connected to the internet, and is been driven by the advancements in capabilities of sensor networks, mobile devices, wireless communications, networking and cloud technologies. The demand for high-individualized products and services is continually increasing. Global presence and diverse product portfolio further adds to complexity. Visibility is a key challenge in warehouse management as there is need for accurate and timely information on shipments. Due to its increasing complexity, it is difficult to handle with ordinary planning and control practices. In order to overcome the competitive business environment one has to take actions with the implementation of IoT in warehouses. This research work proposes an IoT architecture for order picking process in a warehouse. The major outcome of this work is the design of an IoT architecture for order picking process in a warehouse. The other outcomes are real time tracking and visibility into inventory, reduction of cost of warehouse operations and improved safety and reduced theft & pilferages. The future scope of IoT in warehouse is that while full automation is still relatively rare, even traditional man-to-goods warehouse operations have been impacted by new technologies, though people may still shoulder the greatest part of the workload.


In this paper, we present a methodology for the simulation of continuous-time (CT) sigma-delta converters. This method, based on a fixed-step algorithm, permits not only a time-domain simulation of the modulator output but also the simulation of intermediary signals. The method is based on the discretization of the CT models and the use of a discrete simulator such as Simulink, which is more efficient than an analog simulator. By using filters with a sampling frequency that is higher than the modulator output frequency, the model can simulate input signals with a bandwidth that is higher than half the modulator sampling frequency. The transformation is exact in terms of noise transfer function and asymptotically exact in terms of signal transfer function (the transfer function from the modulator input to each stage filter output rapidly tends to the CT-model transfer function when the number of steps increases).


Optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) was used for study of defects in n-type 6H-SiC. Four ODMR spectra related to spin S = 1 centres were observed. Two of these centres, labelled a and b, have a trigonal symmetry with the symmetry axis along the c-axis of the hexagonal crystal. For the other two centres, labelled c and d, the symmetry is lower (C1h) and the principal axis z of the g- and D-tensor is about 71 degrees off the c-axis. Based on the symmetry axes, the annealing behaviour and the intensity, these spectra are suggested to originate from different configurations of the paired centre between a silicon vacancy and a nearest-neighbour point defect (either a carbon vacancy or a silicon antisite), occupying different inequivalent sites in the 6H-SiC. These defects are non-radiative and act as efficient recombination channels in the material.


In this paper, sliding mode controllers (SMC) are designed for a steerable tractor-trailer system, which is operating in the presence of longitudinal and lateral slips at front and rear wheels. Such vehicles intended for autonomous operations usually traverse at low speeds along straight lines. As very low accelerations are involved kinematic models seem sufficiently accurate for developing controllers. However undulating, sloping and very uncertain terrain, besides rough environment, introduce significant disturbances which makes the control design challenging. To take these effects into account, lateral and longitudinal sliding velocities are incorporated into otherwise ideal kinematic model, and an error model is developed. The slip velocities are estimated by an on-line recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm. The sliding mode controllers are updated adaptively and continuously based on the estimated slip velocities. Since there are two sets of steered wheels, two separate SMCs are developed; one for the tractor and the other for the trailer. For the tractor, an adaptive sliding mode controller with disturbance observer (aDOB-SMC) is proposed to cope with uncertainties and residual errors in the slip estimations. The proposed aDOB-SMC is able to guarantee precision path tracking as well as robustness for a typical tractor-steerable trailer pair. We prove that the combination of the on-line estimations and SMCs provide adaptability, stability and accuracy in the presence of significant slips. The simulation results are compared with two other controllers in the literature.


The effect of chronically increased plasma Na+ concentration, secondary to scalding, on the cerebral electrolyte and water content was studied in rats. In contrast to findings in acute hypernatremia, the water content of the brain remained constant in these experiments. Cerebral adjustment to chronic hypernatremia is supposed to be brought about by an increase of osmotically active solutes in the brain. Regression analyses of the Na+ concentration in brain water versus the plasma Na+ concentration indicate that accumulation of Na+ in brain tissue is responsible only for about 50--60% of the osmotic adjustment to increased plasma osmolality in chronic hypernatremia. Except for animals receiving prednisolone, the cerebral K+ content remained constant. Therefore, it may be concluded that except for this group, formation of idiogenic osmoles comprises about 40--50% of the extra osmolality in brain. Aldosterone and spirolactone do not seem to influence osmotic adaptation of the brain, or formation of idiogenic osmoles under these circumstances. Prednisolone, however, seems to enhance cerebral accumulation of K+ in chronic hypernatremia. This was concluded from the close correlation between the K+ concentration in brain water and the plasma Na+ concentration found in this group.