One of the characteristic features of low-mass stars is their propensity to shed large amounts of angular momentum throughout their evolution. This distinguishs them from brown dwarfs which remain fast rotators over timescales of gigayears. Brown dwarfs with rotation periods longer than a couple of days have only been found in star forming regions and young clusters. This is a useful constraint on the mass dependency of mechanisms for angular momentum regular in stars. Rotational braking by disks and winds become highly inefficient in the substellar regime. In this short review I discuss the observational evidence for the fast rotation in brown dwarfs, the implications, and the link to the spin-mass relation in planets.


Samples of soil and vegetation from some tin mining areas of Nigeria were analysed for lead, zinc, copper and cadmium content. The levels of Pb and Zn were found to be high in some samples. The mean levels of metal in the vegetation were: 86.6+ 36.0, 49.6+ 28.3, 12.6+4.8 and 1.4+0.8 µgg-1 dry weight for Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd respectively whilst those in the soil were 736+120, 690+ 216, 43+ 18 and 18+12 µgg-1 dry weight for Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd respectively. The variability of metal levels in the area indicates that in addition to mining, other anthropogenic sources of metal contribute significantly to metal levels in the area. The EDTA – extractable metal fractions suggest that trace metals are being mobilised in the soil and made available to crops. The metal levels in the vegetation samples were higher than those recorded for areas of low atmospheric metal pollution in Nigeria with no identifiable sources. Although, there have been no cases of recorded metal toxicity in the area, there is the need to regulate and control mining wastes in order to prevent the effects of metal pollution in the area.
Key words: metals, environmental samples, mining areas.
[Global Jnl Pure & Appl. Sci. Vol.9(3) 2003: 331-338]


This thesis deals with the studies carried out by the writer for the past three
years on the "Development and validation of in vitro-in vivo correlations for some
modified release formulations".
Thesis begins with a brief account of the in vitro - in vivo correlations,
biopharmaceutical classification systems, IVIVC models, in vitro dissolutions and
estimation of drugs in biological medium. The methods used for the IVIVC model
development, validation, the steps involved in bio analytical method development,
in vitro dissolution methods and their importance have also been discussed. A
review of literature on IVIVC model development available for the drugs in
biological fluids is presented.
Thesis deals with the scope and objective of the present investigation. The
merits of IVIVC in the development of dosage forms and how IVIVC model
development necessitates development of in vitro dissolution methods, bio
analytical method development and validation are discussed. The objectives of the
present study, namely, to optimize the chromatographic conditions, to develop and
validate the methods to estimate the selected drugs in the biological fluids by
HPLC, development of in vitro dissolution methods and IVIVC model development
and validation have been described.
Thesis also deals with the experimental procedures adopted. It describes in
detail the procedures adopted for the bioequivalence study design & data handling,
optimization and validation of the chromatographic conditions for the estimation
of the drugs in plasma and selected modifies release (MR) formulations, IVIVC
model development and validation.
The results obtained are presented, supported by tables and figures and
discussed in detail.

In conclusion, it may be pointed out that the developed in vitro dissolution
methods can replace absorption studies during the pre-approval process to develop
a desirable formulation and to ensure batch-to-batch bioequivalence. It will also be
very useful in performing possible post-approval changes in the formulation scale up
or changes in the drug substance or excipients supplier.

Recommendations
This In Vitro- In Vivo correlations (IVIVC) have been applied for setting biorelevant
dissolution specifications, guiding new product development, supporting
Scale-Up and Post Approval Changes (SUPAC), waiving bioequivalence study and
more importantly, ensuring commercial product quality over the years. However,
further investigations in human are required to prove the clinical usability of the
experimental extended-release formulation.


This paper attempts to investigate the effect of fiscal and monetary policy on Indonesian Stock price as well as main sectors stock price such as agricultural, mining, manufacture, and financial sector indexes. We consider the world oil price as a foreign variable that will influence domestic economy as in regular small open economy model. In this paper, we employ the Monte Carlo algorithm to Near-SVAR models (If some of the VAR equations have regressors not included in the others). We find that there is a positive stock price response to monetary policy shock both aggregated and sectoral stock price. In term of interaction between fiscal policy shock and stock market, we find that all sectors respond negative relationship. From this empirical finding, fiscal policy crowd out private sector activity in market, thus, its effect will be impotent in economy. We also provide the evidence that not only both policies are able to influence the stock price individually, but also the interaction between monetary and fiscal policy is important in explaining stock market performance.


In recent years, rapidly increasing trade and travel across the China–Kazakhstan border has increased the potential risk of the introduction and exportation of vectors and their related diseases. The Ebinur Lake Nature Reserve is located in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, near the China–Kazakhstan border, with a suitable ecosystem for mosquito breeding. In our previous work, a novel Orthobunyavirus species named Ebinur Lake virus (EBIV) was isolated in the reserve. To gain insights into the potential risk of EBIV in this region, we conducted a study that aimed to clearly outline EBIV's biological characteristics and its human seroprevalence in this region. Phylogenetically, the analysis of all three segments of EBIV demonstrated that it belongs to the genus Orthobunyavirus, which is clustered in the Bunyamwera serogroup. EBIV replicated efficiently and caused cytopathic effects (CPEs) in vertebrate cells. The survival rates of the EBIV-challenged mice were 0 and 20% when inoculated with viral concentrations ≥104 or 102 plaque-forming units, respectively. For EBIV-infected mice, internal bleeding and pathological changes were observed. In addition, the overall immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody [1:4 by immunofluorescence assay (IFA)], immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody (1:10 by IFA), and neutralizing antibody [90% plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT)] prevalence was 8.05, 12.3, and 0.95%, respectively, in the studied residents. In summary, EBIV is a new member of the Bunyamwera serogroup and is able to competently infect cells derived from mosquitoes, rodents, monkeys, or humans. Furthermore, EBIV caused severe disease and even death in challenged Kunming mice, and the antibodies against EBIV have been detected in local residents, indicating that the virus is a potential animal or human pathogen.


To those who are unfamiliar with the method, eXtreme Programming might conjure up visions of programmers madly hacking away without concern for analysis, architecture, design, or consequences. Indeed, people have frequently made such accusations. Yet such claims are not only baseless, they are diametrically opposed to what XP is all about. XP is the brainchild of K. Beck (2000). It is a software development method that views people, rather than paper, as a project's most potent element. Its primary motive is to start a dialog between the people involved in a project (customers and programmers). It facilitates this by identifying the parties in the conversation and arming them with the clear knowledge of what they are responsible for communicating to others.


The objective of the study was to determine the post-test counselling (PTC) rates for HIV-infected and uninfected individuals receiving HIV counselling and testing on a mobile STD/HIV screening clinic and to determine whether individuals at highest risk for transmitting their infection were less likely to receive PTC than those at lower risk for transmitting. Clients presenting for HIV counselling and testing were asked about their demographic characteristics, clinical history, personal risk behaviours, and partner risk factors and told to return after 14 days for results. Disease intervention specialists (DIS) attempted to locate and counsel positive clients. The PTC rate among infected and uninfected clients was 66% and 46%, respectively. There were significant differences in demographics and risk factors for those who were post-test counselled versus those who were not. Among HIV-uninfected clients, there was a positive association between PTC and drug treatment in the past three months and having engaged in sex work within the last three months. Being female was negatively associated with PTC. Among HIV-infected clients, there was a positive association between PTC and current enrolment in drug treatment. These data suggest that mobile STD/HIV screening clinics may be limited in their effectiveness by low rates of PTC.


The complex dynamic pathophysiological interplay between the heart and kidney causes a vicious cycle of worsening renal and/or cardiovascular function. Acute decompensated heart failure causing worsening renal function defines Type 1 cardiorenal syndrome (CRS). Altered hemodynamics coupled with a multitude of nonhemodynamic factors namely pathological activation of the renin angiotensin aldosterone system and systemic inflammatory pathways mechanistically incite CRS type 1. A multipronged diagnostic approach utilizing laboratory markers, noninvasive and/or invasive modalities must be implemented to enable timely initiation of effective treatment strategies. In this review, we discuss the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and emerging treatment options for CRS type 1.


Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cancer. Although numerous studies have investigated the association between VEGF expression and pathogenesis of retinoblastoma, the results remained inconsistent. To illuminate the association, we performed a meta-analysis study. Methods: According to the PRISMA guideline, eligible studies were searched in the Medicine, Embase, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases. Stata 14.0 software was used to calculate the relevant statistical parameters. Results: Seventeen studies with 296 controls and 470 patients with retinoblastoma were included from 17 eligible literatures. Overall, significant association between VEGF overexpression and susceptibility of retinoblastoma was observed in Chinese population (odds ratio [OR] = 21.67, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 13.96–33.62). Subgroup analysis based on control sample type showed that VEGF overexpression was significantly associated with the risk of retinoblastoma (Normal retina tissue, OR = 23.97, 95% CI = 9.67–59.42; retinoblastoma adjacent tissue, OR = 20.85, 95% CI = 12.64–34.37). Significant associations of VEGF overexpression with optic nerve involvement and differentiation of retinoblastoma were found (Optic nerve involvement, OR = 6.90, 95% CI = 4.01–11.88; Differentiation, OR = 0.18, 95% CI = 0.12–0.28). In addition, only 1 study was included to analyze the role of VEGF protein expression in the prognosis of retinoblastoma, and the result showed that VEGF expression was significantly associated with the prognosis of retinoblastoma, which should be verified in the future studies. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that VEGF overexpression was significantly associated with the risk of retinoblastoma. Besides, the results suggested that VEGF overexpression might have a crucial effect on the optic nerve involvement and differentiation of retinoblastoma.


The main objective of this review was to identity the usage of thermography in diagnosis of orofacial pain. Thermography is a method of measurement of skin temperature distribution on the body over a given period of time. Hence using the skin temperature, an advantages result can be obtained in identifying diseased condition in orofacial region. This article highlights the basics of thermography as a diagnostic tool in dentistry in identifying orofacial pain. PUBMED and Google Scholar were searched to identify all the clinical trials which evaluated the use of thermography in diagnosis of orofacial pain. The included studies involved 6 clinical trials. From all the included studies, an advantages result was obtained by using thermography in assessing orofacial disorders between symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. All the findings obtained, suggest that thermography can be helpful in evaluating myogenous temporomandibular disorder and can be used as a clinical screening method and for improving diagnostic accuracy. In few studies, the sensitivity of thermography in the diagnosis of orofacial disorder is low, but has high specificity which helped in evaluation of orofacial disorder and is therefore applicable to patients with orofacial pain. Thermography benefits by locating the temperature difference between symptomatic and asymptomatic facial region thus indicating its aid in diagnoses of orofacial disorder. However due to limited evidence and short term studies, it is recommended that more of long term studies with large sample size should be emphasised to use thermography as routine diagnostic tool in identifying orofacial disorder.


Thin film and bulk, sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) have been subjected to a thermal treatment at 160–250 °C for up to 15 h. Exposing the films to 160 °C already causes partial desulfonation, and heating to temperatures exceeding 200 °C results in increased conjugation in the material, most likely via a slight cross-linking by H-substitution. It is well-known that the sulfonate proton plays a major role in the desulfonation reactions, and exchanging the protons with other cations can inhibit both protodesulfonation as well as electrophilic cross-linking reactions of the sulfonate group with other chains. Yet, the implications of such ion-exchange for the thermal processing of sulfonated polymer films has not been recognized. Our study demonstrates that the ion exchange stabilizes thin films and bulk SPEEK up to temperatures exceeding 200 °C, opening up ways for the thermal processing of SPEEK in the temperature range of 160–220 °C without adverse effects.


ABSTRACT Cao, D.P.; Jian, W.; Huang, Z.H., and Lo, E.Y.M., 2018. Prediction of wave runup on columns of two semisubmersibles models. In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 1031–1035. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Water wave runup on columns of semi-submersibles has important implications on negative air-gaps created and slamming forces exerted on the underside of such platforms and their safe operations in rough seas. Many prediction formulas have been developed for wave runup on single vertical columns though none could be directly used for runup predictions on the columns of semi-submersibles due to the more complicated geometrical and diffraction effects. In the present study, small-scale experimental tests and limited numerical simulations using the linear diffraction and CFD solvers were conducted on two typical semi-submersible models, a twin-pontoon and a ringpontoon platform, to determine the runup on the columns. The experimental tests have the semi-models tested in a fixed configuration under regular and irregular waves and at different heading angles. Wave gauges and video recordings were used to capture the wave field and the runup on the columns. Key features observed were that sloshing between the front and rear columns created localized breaking over the pontoon, and that the maximum wave runup occurred at the downstream columns. A recently developed predictive runup equation (Cao et al., Coast Eng Jour. 59(3), 2017) is extended through by introducing an equivalent cylinder radius. The extension accounted for possible wave diffraction effects which led to higher runups than seen for single columns. The results from the limited numerical simulations were in quantitative agreement with experiments.


Previous research suggests that gender wage discrimination contributes to economic growth in the context of female-dominated low-tech manufacturing and patriarchal employment systems, such as the ones found in the East Asian Tigers in the 1960s to 1980s. In a panel data analysis, this thesis investigates the relationship between the gender wage gap and economic growth in the four East Asian Tigers from 1980 to 2010. It thereby assesses whether findings of previous research hold throughout the countries' later structural transformation. The findings suggest that in economies experiencing the decline of typically female-dominated low-tech sectors, gender wage discrimination is negatively related to economic growth. In economies who do not experience the decline of such sectors, the relationship remains positive. This implies that economies with large female-dominated low-tech sectors may consider reducing gender wage discrimination in favour of economic growth in the course of structural transformation. (Less)


The studies included in this chapter examine the learned food aversions that develop as a result of cancer and cancer treatment. Clinical studies have shown that cancer patients can develop learned aversions to a novel ice cream flavor when it is consumed before drug treatments that produce nausea and vomiting. They also provided evidence that patients can acquire aversions to food in their usual diets when these foods are eaten before similar drug treatments. Observations in the clinic, supported by complementary studies with animal models, suggest that learned aversions are more likely to arise to protein foods than to other nutrient sources and that the presentation of a novel food in association with drug treatments may act as a "scapegoat" in blocking the development of aversions to foods in the normal diet. Laboratory studies using transplantable tumors in rats have shown that tumor growth can be associated with the development of strong aversions to the available diet. These aversions are specific to the diet eaten during tumor growth and they appear to play a causal role in the development of tumor-induced anorexia. The food aversions apparent in animals with certain experimental tumors point to physiological consequences of tumor growth that act as unconditioned stimuli in taste aversion conditioning. The identification of these changes and development of methods for correcting them are the current goals of our research in this area.


Most dental lasers claim that they can aid in hemostasis during oral and periodontal surgery. To date, there are no studies that compare different lasers' ability to congeal pooled blood. The aim of the study was to see if there was a difference in dental lasers' ability to congeal pooled human blood in vitro. Whole blood was collected from donors, with 0.5 mL (premolar socket volume for all tests) aliquoted into microcentrifuge tubes. Different dental lasers (810-nm diode, 940-nm diode, 1,064-nm Nd:YAG, 2,790-nm Er,Cr:YSGG, 2,940-nm Er:YAG, and 10,600-nm CO2) were applied to the whole blood for 0, 15, 30, and 45 seconds. The sample tubes were centrifuged, and the supernatant color was scored to assess the degree of congealing. Additional samples of blood were tested for time needed for maximum congealing and temperature change. Analysis of supernatant colors showed that there were significant differences in the degrees of congealing for the 810-nm diode, 940-nm diode, and 2,790-nm Er,Cr:YSGG lasers when compared to the 1,064-nm Nd:YAG, 2,940-nm Er:YAG, and 10,600-nm CO2 lasers, but not within those groupings. Additionally, the 1,064-nm Nd:YAG laser increased the temperature of the blood samples more than the other lasers and had a shorter time for maximum congealing. There were differences in the dental lasers' ability to congeal pooled human blood in an in vitro model. Nd:YAG, Er:YAG, and 10,600-nm CO2 lasers were able to achieve a greater degree of congealing at an earlier time point. The Nd:YAG laser produced the most heat and was the fastest to complete coagulation.


Tyler Reid is a Ph.D. candidate in the GPS Research Laboratory working under the guidance of Professor Per Enge and Dr. Todd Walter in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. He received his B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University, Montreal, Canada in 2010 and his M.Sc. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in 2012. He is also an alumnus of the International Space University (ISU) Space Studies Program (SSP) of 2011 held at the Technical University of Graz in Austria. His research interests are in global navigation satellite and augmentation systems, navigation integrity, arctic navigation, orbital mechanics, and space applications.


The synthesis of heterocycles via reactive intermediates, (e.g. azadienes, munchnones, aza- and diazafulvenium methides) generated from 1,3-thiazolidines is described. The use of thiazolidines' diastereoselective reactions for the synthesis of chiral heterocyclic compounds is also reported.


An objective hybrid classification of daily surface weather maps for Churchill, Manitoba, was used to determine the dominant synoptic conditions during the snowmelt and snow-free periods for the Canadian central subarctic. This classification yielded different dominant synoptic types for the two normal and one El Niño (EN) seasons. The analysis produced seven dominant synoptic types for the study location during the pre-growing and growing periods (April 20 to September 7), accounting for approximately 90% of the days in the study period, during the normal seasons (1996 and 1997). However, during the EN season (1998), the classification yielded eight dominant synoptic types, also accounting for approximately 90% of the days in the study period. The effects of source regions were used to explain the observed air mass characteristics, and their influence on the study location. Cooler, drier air masses were the most frequent at the study location during the normal seasons. Arctic high pressure systems approaching from the northwest and stationary high pressure systems to the south brought the coolest and warmest conditions, respectively. During the EN season, there was a change in the frequency distribution of the dominant synoptic types over the pre-growing and growing periods. This frequency distribution in conjunction with the change in source region characteristics caused by the EN influence proved to be important to the influx of moisture to the region during the pre-growing period. These synoptic regimes and source region interactions exerted strong controls on the precipitation and evaporation components of the water balance during the normal and EN seasons as observed in terms of cloud cover, radiation, and precipitation and evaporation efficiencies. [Key words: synoptic climatology, subarctic, evaporation, El Niño (EN).]


The concern about the quality of medicinal herbs is becoming important due to the poor quality of commercial products like cosmetics, functional foods, and natural medicine produced from them. However, there is a lack of modern analytical methods to evaluate the constituents of P. macrophyllus until the moment. This paper reports an analytical method based on UHPLC-DAD and UHPLC-MS/MS MRM methods to evaluate the ethanolic extracts of P. macrophyllus leaves and twigs. 15 main constituents were identified using a UHPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS profiling. Subsequently, a reliable analytical method was established and successfully used to quantitate the constituent's content using four marker compounds in leaf and twig extracts of this plant. The result obtained from the current study demonstrated the secondary metabolites and the variety of their derivatives in this plant. The analytical method can help evaluate the quality of P. macrophyllus and develop high-value functional materials.


This paper demonstrates the implementation of Six Sigma in a nuclear piping facility of a Nuclear Research organization in India to reduce the GTAW defect of "Tungsten Inclusion" in SS pipe weld joints and thereby enhance nuclear safety and also reduce project overrun and rework cost. This study verifies the applicability of DMAIC methodology in implementing Six Sigma in GTAW process, a non-repetitive activity. The findings of the research suggests devotion of serious consideration to welders" skill, experience in GTAW and formal technical qualification in order to reduce "Tungsten Inclusion" defect in GTAW process. Till date no comprehensive research has been undertaken to implement Six Sigma in GTAW process. The challenging issue of choosing the correct approach and tools and the nonexistence of research in this field motivated the study.


: Multimedia has become a focus of research in educational delivery, learning and its assessment. This paper looks at how multimedia is used in education as an educational tool, discussing how the materials are used in teaching and how human learners are treated with the underlying curriculum and learning theories and assumptions contained in them about the nature of knowledge, instruction and learning. The paper also discusses the advantages, requirements and the limiting factors to be considered for creation of multimedia applications in education.


The SpMV kernel is characterized by high performance variation per input matrix and computing platform. While GPUs were considered State-of-the-Art for SpMV, with the emergence of advanced multicore CPUs and low-power FPGA accelerators, we need to revisit its performance and energy efficiency. This paper provides a high-level SpMV performance analysis based on structural features of matrices related to common bottlenecks of memory-bandwidth intensity, low ILP, load imbalance and memory latency overheads. Towards this, we create a wide artificial matrix dataset that spans these features and study the performance of different storage formats in nine modern HPC platforms; five CPUs, three GPUs and an FPGA. After validating our proposed methodology using real-world matrices, we analyze our extensive experimental results and draw key insights on the competitiveness of different target architectures for SpMV and the impact of each feature/bottleneck on its performance.


The paper aims to relate a specific aspect of the proposed methodology for digital design, presented on the PhD research called Cibersemiotica e Processos de Projeto: Metodologia em Revisao, developed at the University of Sao Paulo (USP), with the didactic experience conducted at the subject Representacao e Criacao Digital 2, developed at the Architecture and Urbanism Course of the Federal University of Campo Grande (UFMS), Brazil. The paper's theoretical foundation is based on the cybersemiotic work produced by the Danish philosopher Soren Brier, which unifies two important conceptual frameworks: the Charles Sanders Peirce's Semiotics, and the Second Order Cybernetics proposed by Heinz von Foerster.


Photoconductive characteristics of CdSSe(Cu) in a silicone resin binder layer have been studied in a configuration similar to that under actual use in a solid-state image intensifier (SSII). The dark current was measured for various fields and at different temperatures. The dependence of photocurrent on applied voltage, temperature, and intensity and wavelength of incident light has also been studied. The observed space-charge-limited photocurrent for high illumination and fields is ascribed to non-uniform illumination of the sample. The intensity dependence of photocurrent suggests an exponential trap distribution, which also explains the response time variation with temperature. Spectral studies indicate an increase in the red sensitivity over that expected on the basis of the band gap. This has been attributed to the filtering effect of selective absorption. The photocurrent to dark current ratio is shown to be greater than 104 for the light intensities and voltage used. It has been concluded from the above studies that CdSSe(Cu) can be used in SSII.


For many applications it is desirable to be able to estimate latency in a decentralised network when it is not practical to explicitly measure it. It has previously been shown that latency can be approximated by assigning hosts coordinates in some geometric space such that the Euclidean distance between two hosts in this space is equivalent to latency, a method known as a Network Coordinate (NC) system. This is commonly achieved by a large scale distributed optimisation which seeks to minimise the error between latency and Euclidean distance. In this work we challenge the assumption of Euclidean space as a satisfactory model for embedding Internet-like networks, due to the curved nature of network distances. We present a novel distributed optimisation methodology: Non-Euclidean Internet Coordinates Embedding (NICE). NICE uses a polynomial regression model to explicitly learn the most effective distance function for latency estimation within a geometric space, in addition to a distributed non linear dimensionality reduction method. Dimensionality reduction is achieved via a variant of Landmark Multi Dimensional Scaling (LMDS) and a distributed optimisation algorithm. This allows the distributed system to create a set of coordinates for each of the participating hosts that can be used to accurately estimate latency. The system is implemented within the Java based PeerSim network simulator using both real and artificially generated input topologies and then compared to two of the most widely implemented NC systems: GNP and Vivaldi. By experimental simulation we show that NICE is significantly more accurate than either method while still remaining robust in the face of real network conditions.


SUMMARY:  With the introduction of the calcimimetic cinacalcet HCl, some patients who would previously have undergone parathyroidectomy are likely to remain on medical therapy. Data is available on complication rates and some important outcome measures of parathyroidectomy, but the efficacy of calcimimetics to influence patient‐based endpoints such as cardiovascular mortality and renal osteodystrophy has not been established. Nevertheless, cinacalcet HCl has been demonstrated to improve levels of calcium, phosphate, the calcium phosphate product and parathyroid hormone (PTH). Based on available data, parathyroidectomy is proposed as the preferred treatment option when averaged levels of intact PTH (iPTH) exceed 85–95 pmol/L despite optimal therapy. When iPTH levels exceed 50 pmol/L, parathyroidectomy should be considered if levels of serum calcium, phosphate or the calcium phosphate product are above established target ranges or when patients with established osteoporosis have progressive loss of bone mineral density. Because the currently‐recommended biochemical targets are difficult to achieve and maintain for many patients on dialysis, parathyroidectomy rates are likely to increase if these management proposals are followed. This highlights the need for prospective studies with 'hard' endpoints, to establish evidence‐based roles for parathyroidectomy and calcimimetic therapy.


Clay‐rich geological formations are responsible for many landslides, the dynamics of which are still poorly understood and intensely debated. Analysis of landslide motion shows that slow clayey slope movements can suddenly accelerate and fluidize as a result of sudden loading or heavy rainfall. This solid‐fluid transition, which involves disorganization of the particle network, is accompanied by a loss in rigidity that could potentially be monitored by S‐wave velocity (Vs) variations. To investigate this hypothesis, two types of laboratory experiments were performed on clay samples originating from an area affected by numerous landslides (Trièves, French Alps). First, creep and oscillatory rheometric tests revealed the thixotropic behavior of the clay with a highly pronounced viscosity bifurcation at a critical stress τc. In relation with this reduction in apparent viscosity, a significant drop in Vs is also observed over τc. Second, at zero stress, acoustic surface wave propagation experiments showed a rapid linear Vs decrease with the gravimetric water content (w) in the plastic domain, and a much lower decay in the liquid domain. The geotechnically‐defined liquid limit then appears as a break in theVs‐wcurve. For water contents in the liquid domain in particular, both experiments gave consistent results. These laboratory results demonstrate that rheological changes in clay can be revealed through Vs variations, offering the possibility of monitoring solid‐to‐fluid transitions in the field.


We studied the prevalence of infection by trypanosomatid parasites in Didelphis marsupialis and its relationship with morphological/age aspects in a rural area of El Carmen de Bolivar, Colombia. Five visits were made to the Vereda El Alférez; each of which lasted three consecutive nights. During these visits, Tomahawk® traps were installed in the peridomestic and wild ecotopes of the Vereda El Alférez. Body measurements, sex and age were determined from the collected animals. Blood was extracted by cardiopuncture, after sedation, in order to obtain total deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and amplify the conserved region of the kinetoplast minicircle DNA (kDNA) of parasitic trypanosomatids. The association between morphological parameters of didelphids and their frequency of infection by parasitic trypanosomatids was determined by binomial regression. Thirty D. marsupialis specimens (60.0% females and 40.0% males/66.7% adults and 33.3% juveniles) were collected. Molecular diagnosis revealed a frequency of trypanosomatid parasite infection of 46.7%. Stage (p=0.024) was a determinant for infection. We discuss the role of D. marsupialis as a potential reservoir of parasitic trypanosomatids in the Vereda El Alférez.


Pregnancy rats and mice received high doses of cocaine hydrochloride by intraperitoneal injection. Despite treatment periods which included most of organogenesis, no increase in congenital abnormalities was observed. Rats showed significant reductions in maternal and fetal weights as well as increased resorption frequencies. Fetal edema was also found. Mice showed only decreased fetal weights with no increase in malformations.


PurposeThe aim of this paper is to develop a contribution to knowledge that adds to the empirical evidence of predictive condition-based maintenance by demonstrating how the availability and reliability of current assets can be improved without costly capital investment, resulting in overall system performance improvementsDesign/methodology/approachThe empirical, experimental approach, technical action research (TAR), was designed to study a major Middle Eastern airport baggage handling operation. A predictive condition-based maintenance prototype station was installed to monitor the condition of a highly complex system of static and moving assets.FindingsThe research provides evidence that the performance frontier for airport baggage handling systems can be improved using automated dynamic monitoring of the vibration and digital image data on baggage trays as they pass a service station. The introduction of low-end innovation, which combines advanced technology and low-cost hardware, reduced asset failures in this complex, high-speed operating environment.Originality/valueThe originality derives from the application of existing hardware with the combination of edge and cloud computing software through architectural innovation, resulting in adaptations to an existing baggage handling system within the context of a time-critical logistics system.


Human pathogenic viruses can be detected in the hospital environment, on contaminated surfaces or medical instruments. Their transmission to patients or staff has already been reported. Lipophilic viruses (HIV, HBV, HCV,...) are susceptible to many liquid chemicals, but they can survive during short time on inadequately disinfected surfaces. Hydrophilic viruses, without envelope, are more resistant, but generally not associated with severe illnesses. Viruses survival in environment depends on many factors and is always improved with viral aggregation and low temperature, whereas organic matters and relative humidity effects are contrasted. The mechanism of virucide disinfectants is not yet well established, and their targets are not known with precision. Different disinfection procedures (disinfectant concentration, contact time, temperature, pH) can provide a similar virucidal activity on a given virus. The virucidal activity of a disinfectant is evaluated with a cell culture assay in Afnor guidelines. But, there are three major problems with this method, concerning need of high viruses titers, residual disinfectant cytotoxicity on cell culture, and non cultivable viruses. Non standardized tests are also described in papers, but their results can generally not be compared. Molecular biology improvements may lead to reproducible and sensitive tests. At present, no general disinfection procedure effective for most of the viruses, without risks for staff or materials, and with an acceptable economic cost can be recommended.


System on Chip (SoC) design is becoming challenging due to its complexity and the necessity of Intellectual Properties (IP) reuse to shorten the design time. An efficient bus protocol for the core communication between IP block is OCP. Open Core Protocol (OCP) defines the only non-proprietary, openly licensed, core centric protocol with high-performance, bus-independent interface between IP cores that reduces design time, design risk, and manufacturing costs and promote IP core reusability for SOC designs. Bus Bridge interconnects other bus standard to OCP. I2C is a simple bi-directional two wire bus for efficient inter IC control. This paper focus on the design and implementation of Bus Bridge using OCP master and I2C slave protocol. The power reduction using Multi voltage design is the important feature of the paper. The developed FSM's for OCP and I2C were implemented in VHDL and the Synthesis is done using Xilinx ISE 10.1 and Synopsys ASIC synthesis tool design compiler.


The objective of this study was to validate the CowManager SensOor ear-tag accelerometer (Agis Automatisering BV, Harmelen, the Netherlands) against visual observations of feeding, rumination, resting, and active behaviors of tiestall-housed dairy cows. Prior validation of the sensor has been published for freestall and grazing dairy herds. However, the behavioral differences that exist among these and a tiestall system necessitate additional validation. Lactating Holstein cows (n = 10) at different lactation stages and parities were included in the study. Cows were monitored both visually and with the sensor for 10 h/d for 4 consecutive days (10 cows × 10 h × 4 d = 400 h of observation total). A single trained observer classified each minute of visual observation into 1 of 13 behaviors and then summarized them into the 4 behavioral categories of eating, rumination, not active, or active. The sensor registered ear movements continuously and, based on a proprietary model, converted them into the behavioral categories. Multivariate mixed models were run to obtain covariance estimates, from which correlation coefficients were computed to assess agreement between visual observation and sensor data. The models included the percentage of time spent performing each behavior per day as the dependent variable and technology (visual observation versus sensor) and day as fixed effects. The models also included the random effects of technology and the repeated effects of technology and day. The correlation strength between visual observation and sensor data varied from poor to almost perfect by behavioral category (eating: r = 0.27; rumination: r = 0.69; eating-rumination: r = 0.83; not active: r = 0.95; and active: r = 0.89). The results suggest that the sensor can be used to accurately monitor active and not-active behaviors of tiestall-housed dairy cows. The results also suggest that although the sensor shows promise for identifying feeding behaviors in general, the independent classification of rumination and eating requires additional sensitivity.


In this paper, theoretical models of the critical indentation depth and critical force on brittle materials using cleavage strength and contact theory are proposed. A Berkovich indenter is adopted for nanoindentation tests on a 4H-SiC single crystal sample to evaluate its mechanical behaviors. The stages of brittle material deformation (elastic, plastic, and brittle) can be characterized by the load versus indentation depth curves through the nanoindentation test. The curve of the elastic deformation stage follows the Hertz contact theory, and plastic deformation occurs at an indentation depth of up to 10 nm. The mechanism of 4H-SiC single crystal cracking is discussed, and the critical indentation depth and critical force for the plastic–brittle transition are obtained through the occurrence of the pop-in point. This shows that the theoretical results have good coherence with the test results. Both the values of the elastic modulus and hardness decrease as the crack length increases. In order to obtain more accurate mechanical property values in the nanoindentation test for brittle materials such as SiC, GaN, and sapphire, an appropriate load that avoids surface cracks should be adopted.


In this paper we take on the challenge of characterizing the effect of network structure on the economy of public goods by studying a natural model of public facilities with cascading utility. In this game of public facilities, each node of the network is a strategic agent that has the choice to either open a public facility at its location for a certain purchase-cost or take advantage of a public facility opened by another node. It is assumed that using a facility at another node has a cost relative to its distance from the agent. We study the behavior of agents in this game and show that there always exists a pure Nash equilibrium for the game. Moreover, best-response dynamics converges to a pure Nash equilibrium in finitely many steps. We also explore a set of related optimization problems including finding a social optimum for the game and also present a simple algorithm for finding a Nash equilibrium. We then compare the social welfare of the Nash equilibria to that of the social optima using standard game theoretic measures. We show that the price of anarchy is upper-bounded by the diameter of the network and the universal purchase-cost.


This paper explores Edward Said's journalistic collocations as a discursive practice of the social actors that Said frequently referred to in Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper. Towards this end, a corpus-based approach has been utilized in a methodological synergy that combines the corpus techniques of extracting keywords and calculating collocations as well as the qualitative method of analysing social-actor representations (Van Leeuwen, 1996, 2008). The data used for analysis comprise a corpus of virtually all the articles written by Said in Al-Ahram Weekly from 1998 till 2003. The corpus is 105,031words and has been electronically manipulated by the corpus software tools of Wmatrix (Rayson, 2003) and WordSmith (Scott, 2012). The paper has reached three findings. First, Said's journalistic discourse in Al-Ahram Weekly revolves around 38 social-actor keywords that reflect his thematic foci all through the time span he was writing articles for the newspaper. Second, of all these keywords, only twelve node words have been identified to associate with peculiar collocates; the node words were divided into (1) nominations of political personas and (2) genericizations with various discourse functions. Third, Said's peculiar collocations reflected his ideological orientations towards certain political personas and specific topics in his journalistic discourse.


The finite–element (FE) method is commonly used to solve boundary value problems in continua. Constitutive equations based on crystal plasticity have been implemented in FE simulations, and these slip–based calculations have the potential to model a variety of interesting phenomena. However, the substructure of the deformed state in metals is inherently discontinuous. To what extent continuum plasticity calculations can be reasonably used for deformation microstructure predictions depends on the microstructural interpretation of the constitutive models. It is possible with quite simple models to predict orientation gradients at large second–phase particles and at grain boundaries. Because of the implicit link between the substructure and mechanical behaviour of metals, and the great flexibility that crystal plasticity models have, the prediction of at least some of the more important aspects of substructure, by association with state variables, is possible.


We report the preparation procedure of RuSr2(Gd2−xCex)Cu2Oz (Ru-l222) cuprate superconductors from x = 0.5 to 0.7 using the solid state reaction method. All compositions showed an almost single Ru-l222 phase with tetragonal symmetry in the 14/mmm space group and semiconducting or semi-metallic normal state behaviour. The RuSr2(Gd1.4Ce0.6)Cu2Oz material exhibits the highest transition temperature with Tc onset near 48 K and Tc zero at 30 K. The transition temperature is very much dependent on the preparation procedure and can be further improved by optimizing the doping levels.


Pygopus is a core component of the beta-catenin/TCF (T-cell factor) transcriptional activation complex required for the expression of canonical Wnt target genes. Recent evidence suggests that Pygopus could interpret histone methylation associated with target genes and it was shown to be required for histone acetylation. The involvement of a specific acetyltransferase, however, was not determined. In this report, we demonstrate that Pygopus can interact with the HAT (histone acetyltransferase) CBP [CREB (cAMP-responsive-element-binding protein)-binding protein]. The interaction is via the NHD (N-terminal homology domain) of Pygopus, which binds to two regions in the vicinity of the HAT domain of CBP. Transfected and endogenous hPygo2 (human Pygopus2) and CBP proteins co-immunoprecipitate in HEK-293 (human embryonic kidney 293) cells and both proteins co-localize in SW480 colorectal cancer cells. The interaction with CBP also enhances both DNA-tethered and TCF/LEF1 (lymphoid enhancing factor 1)-dependent transcriptional activity of Pygopus. Furthermore, immunoprecipitated Pygopus protein complexes displayed CBP-dependent histone acetyltransferase activity. Our data support a model in which the NHD region of Pygopus is required to augment TCF/beta-catenin-mediated transcriptional activation by a mechanism that includes both transcriptional activation and histone acetylation resulting from the recruitment of the CBP histone acetyltransferase.


Indonesia's location in the equator gives an ideal condition for agriculture. However, agriculture suffers the issue of old farming due to a lack of youth interest working in this sector. This problem can be overcome by applying digital farming methods, in which one of them is by employing robots. Robotics technology is suitable for handling the harvested product, such as a sorting robot. This paper presents the application of a 4DOF fruit sorting robot based on color and size in a packaging system. The sorting is made possible by image processing where color is recognized by HSV analysis, and the diameter is known in the grayscale image and setting the thresholding. The fruit to be sorted is red and green tomatoes and red and green grapes. The experiments were conducted to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. The time requires for the robot to accomplish the task is 11.91s for red tomatoes, 11.76s for green tomatoes, 12.56s for red grapes, and 12.92s for green grapes. The time difference is due to the position of the boxes for the sorted fruit. The experimental results show that the arm robot manipulator is applicable for a sorting robot using the proposed method.


SUMMARY Granule size distribution of wheat starch is an important characteristic that may affect the functionality of wheat products. Light intensity is one of the main factors affecting grain yield and quality. Two high-yield winter wheat cultivars were grown under shade to evaluate the effect of low light intensity after anthesis on starch granule size distribution and starch components in wheat grains at maturity. Shading caused a marked drop in both grain yield and starch yield and led to a significant reduction in the proportion (both by volume and by surface area) of B-type starch granules (⩽9·9 μm), with an increase in those of A-type starch granules (>9·9 μm). This would suggest that the production of B-type starch granules was more sensitive to shading than that of A-type starch granules. It was also found that the proportion by volume of A-type starch granules was significantly increased and that of B-type starch granules was significantly decreased by shading at different grain filling stages, especially at middle and late grain-filling stages. However, shading had little effect on the proportional number of B-type starch granules. The present results suggested that, under dim light conditions, the limited substrate for starch accumulation was mainly partitioned towards hypertrophy (larger granules) not hyperplasia (more) of starch granules.


Recent studies have shown that lithium pretreatment of rats potentiates the convulsant effect of pilocarpine. A large body of evidence support the hypothesis that calcium channel antagonists possess antiepileptic properties in various models of epilepsy. This study was designed to investigate effect of calcium channel antagonist, nifedipine on lithium-pilocarpine-induced convulsions in rats. Pretreatment of rats with nifedipine (5 or 10 mg/kg) as well as with a calcium channel agonist BAY k-8644 (2 mg/kg) increased convulsant effect induced by lithium and pilocarpine. The facilitating effect of nifedipine on lithium-pilocarpine-induced convulsions was prevented by pretreatment with a cholinergic antagonist atropine. It can be concluded that nifedipine facilitates convulsions in lithium-pilocarpine model of epilepsy and that cholinergic system may be involved in this effect.


Athermal resistance to the motion of a phase interface due to a precipitate is investigated. The coupled phase field and elasticity equations are solved for the phase transformation (PT). The volumetric misfit strain due to the precipitate is included using the error and rectangular functions. Due to the presence of precipitates, the critical thermal driving forces remarkably differ between the direct and reverse PTs, resulting in a hysteresis behavior. For the precipitate radius small compared to the interface width, the misfit strain does not practically show any effect on the critical thermal driving force. Also, the critical thermal driving force value nonlinearly increases vs. the precipitate concentration for both the direct and reverse PTs. Change in the precipitate surface energy significantly changes the PT morphology and the critical thermal driving forces. The critical thermal driving force shows dependence on the misfit strain for large precipitate sizes compared to the interface width. For both the constant surface energy (CSE) and variable surface energy (VSE) boundary conditions (BCs) at the precipitate surface, the critical thermal driving force linearly increases vs. the misfit strain coefficient for the direct PT while it is almost independent of it for the reverse PT. For larger precipitates, the critical thermal driving force nonlinearly increases vs. the precipitate concentration for the direct PT. For the reverse PT, however, its value for the CSE BCs linearly increases vs. the precipitate concentration while it is almost independent of the precipitate concentration for the VSE BCs. Also, for any concentration, the VSE BCs result in higher thermal critical driving forces, a smaller hysteresis range, and a larger transformation rate. The obtained critical microstructure and thermal driving forces are validated using the thermodynamic phase equilibrium condition for stationary interfaces. The obtained results help for a better understanding of athermal friction mechanism for interfaces and similar defect effects on various PTs at the nanoscale.


For a number of years there has been a tendency towards the privatization of Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), particularly in Europe. In this article a definition of the term 'privatization' will be outlined. Furthermore, the authors provide a review of the history of the English, French and German ANSPs in order to illustrate the differences in the development of European ANSPs. Thereafter, arguments for and against privatization will be summarized. During the last decade the European Union has strengthened its efforts in air law, as demonstrated by the issuance of the Single European Sky Regulations. Therefore, it is necessary to review the status of existing European ANSPs and their compliance with EU laws. Subsequently, the authors demonstrate that there is a trend towards commercialization, even though no mandatory rules are prescribed for the privatization of the core functions of ANSPs.


Anchote ( Coccinia abyssinica ), is a perennial climbing, monoecious root crop, endemic and indigenous to Ethiopia. It is the richest in protein, iron, calcium and phosphate contents with minimum anti-nutritional content as compared to other root and tuber crops. Despite its importance the production and productivity is hampered by biotic and abiotic factors. Among the abiotic factors drought stress is the most serious threat to world food security. Therefore, understanding the extent of drought stress and assessing the mechanisms of drought tolerance in plants is very crucial to devise different coping mechanisms with the stresses.


Objective: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a serious multifactorial disorder. Patients with severe mental illness have a higher risk of developing the condition compared to the general population. Methods: We observed 10 cases of VTE in patients with mental illness who were treated with the antipsychotic drug olanzapine. The diagnosis of VTE was made at the University Hospital Hradec Kralove (UH HK) from 2004 to 2013. VTE was objectively determined by imaging techniques (duplex ultrasonography, CT angiography) and laboratory tests (D-dimer). The average age was 46 years. The clinical manifestation of VTE was deep vein thrombosis in nine cases, including one case of simultaneous pulmonary embolism and one case of a concurrent ischemic cerebrovascular accident (iCVA). None of our patients had a history of malignant disease, trauma, or surgery. Results: Apart from antipsychotic medication, all the patients had clinical or laboratory risk factors for VTE. The most frequent clinical risk factors were obesity (n = 7) and smoking (n = 6). The most frequent laboratory risk factors were increased levels of FVIII (n = 4), mild hyperhomocysteinemia (n = 3), and factor V Leiden mutation (n = 2). VTE developed within 3 months after antipsychotic drug initiation in three patients and within 6 months in three patients. Conclusion: Olanzapine can be considered a precipitating factor for VTE formation. When olanzapine is administered, we need to monitor for clinical signs and symptoms of VTE, especially when other risk factors are present.


Knowledge base and knowledge base technology provide data support and theoretical basis for modules of blast furnace expert system.It is very important for blast furnace expert system that organization of knowledge base is appropriate.Snort is a good open-source intrusion detection system and the establishment and approach of rules base are the basis of its outstanding performance,which is a good reference for knowledge base construction of blast furnace expert system.Snort rules base structure was introduced,and by combining with characteristic parameters of blast furnace,Snort rules base structure was redefined,and transplanted to threedimensional link list structure of blast furnace expert system,which is illustrated with legend.The rensoning process based on the structure above is explained.


Distance education using e-learning has become popular in educational situations. One problem is that the instruction strategy tends to be one way, so sometimes learners find it more boring than conventional instruction methods. This chapter proposes a method of online outlier detection of learners' irregular learning processes using the learners' response time to e-learning content. The unique features of this method are as follows: (1) It uses the Bayesian predictive distribution, (2) It can be used for small samples, (3) It unifies the methods of various statistical tests using a hyper-parameter and provides more accurate test results than one of the traditional methods alone. (4) It assists two-way instruction using data mining results of learners learning processes. (5) Outlier statistics are estimated by considering both students' abilities and the difficulty of content. In addition, this chapter proposes an animated agent which provides adaptive messages to the learners using the data mining. Moreover, the system was evaluated and the results showed the effectiveness of the system.


Mixing experiments have been performed using Si/Al/Au trilayer targets accelerated with laser beams smoothed by random phase plates. The Al-Au mixing is detected by heating the rear of the target with a probe beam and observing the Al line emissions. A null-mix experiment has been performed with Si/Al/Si, which is stable according to Rayleigh and Taylor, in order to check that the probe beam does not induce a specific mixing. Simulations with a hydrocode have been made to characterize the main features of the target when the instabilities occur. In the case of Si/Al/Au targets, the Al emission indicates a mixing of Al and Au for a driver irradiance as low as 1013 W/cm2 and that most of the Au is mixed with Al


The First International Symposium on Melanoma and Other Cutaneous Malignancies, held in New York City on 23 – 25 April 2004, brought together researchers and clinicians from all over the world to discuss recent advances in the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of melanoma and other cutaneous malignancies. Discussion topics included primary and secondary prevention; advances in surgical therapy, including sentinel and elective lymph node dissection; the biology and pathogenesis of melanoma, including pathways of drug resistance; genomic analysis of melanoma, serum and tumour cell markers; with point and counterpoint sessions debating therapeutic controversies. The role of vaccines in the management of melanoma was discussed, including cell vaccines, dendritic cell-based vaccination and present research to improve the generation of melanoma vaccine-specific immunity. Adjuvant immunotherapy with high-dose IFN-α and an ongoing trial with biochemotherapy were debated. In addition, the role of chemotherapy and novel targeted agents in metastatic melanoma were discussed. Among the emerging agents and therapeutic targets presented were Bcl-2 antisense therapy, RAF kinases, heat-shock proteins, thalidomide and newer immunomodulatory drugs, cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 antibody and topical imiquimod. The symposium also provided an overview of existing and emerging agents and modalities in the management of patients with cutaneous T cell lymphomas, ocular melanoma and melanoma involving brain metastases. Sessions also included case-based learning and devoted ample time to providing 'how to' information for practising physicians.


1 The uptake of radiocalcium by nerve‐ending particles isolated from rat brain was studied in vitro by means of a rapid lanthanum quenching technique. 2 The observed uptake fits a theoretical three‐compartment model with two separate uptake phases, a fast, initial phase followed by a late, slow phase. This holds true during control conditions as well as during high‐potassium stimulation. 3 The uptake as a function of the external calcium concentration can be described in terms of Michaelis‐Menten kinetics during high‐potassium stimulation. Under control conditions the fit is clearly applicable but statistically not as good as during potassium stimulation. 4 The affinity for the uptake of calcium remains unchanged under control conditions while during high‐potassium stimulation the affinity drastically decreases during the late, slow phase of uptake. 5 During high‐potassium stimulation the maximal velocity of calcium uptake is twice that during control conditions. This holds true for both the fast and the slow phases of the uptake. 6 Mg2+ has an inhibitory effect on the uptake, the inhibition being more effective during high‐potassium stimulation. Tetrodotoxin has a slight inhibitory effect additional to that exerted by Mg2+ during the initial phase of uptake into high potassium stimulated synaptosomes.


This article looks at pre-crime in the context of counter-terrorism. Pre-crime links coercive state actions to suspicion without the need for charge, prosecution or conviction. It also includes measures that expand the remit of the criminal law to include activities or associations that are deemed to precede the substantive offence targeted for prevention. The trend towards anticipating risks as a driving principle in criminal justice was identified well before 2001. However, risk and threat anticipation have substantially expanded in the context of contemporary counter-terrorism frameworks. Although pre-crime counter-terrorism measures are rationalized on the grounds of preventing terrorism, these measures do not fit in the frame of conventional crime prevention. The article argues that the shift to pre-crime embodies a trend towards integrating national security into criminal justice along with a temporal and geographic shift that encompasses a blurring of the borders between the states' internal and external coercive capacities. The counter-terrorism framework incorporates and combines elements of criminal justice and national security, giving rise to a number of tensions. One key tension is between the ideal of impartial criminal justice and the politically charged concept of national security. Pre-crime counter-terrorism measures can be traced through a number of interlinking historical trajectories including the wars on crime and drugs, criminalization and, more fundamentally, in colonial strategies of domination, control and repression. The article concludes by identifying a number of challenges and opportunities for criminology in the shift from post-crime criminal justice to pre-crime national security.


Digital course libraries are educational Web applications that contain instructional materials to assist students' learning in a specific discipline (course). To address the critical issues of findability and reusability of learning resources, we propose a general framework for standards-based, ontologyaware course libraries and use it to develop an environment for building, maintaining, and using such libraries. The proposed environment, TM4L (Topic Maps for Learning), is based on the new ISO standard XML Topic Maps that provides a paradigm for organizing and retrieving online information and for interchanging semantic information on the Web. In this paper we present the TM4L authoring tool for creating ontology-aware Topic Maps-based repositories of learning materials (TM4L Editor).


A low-cost and easy-process scheme for solution-processed organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) was provided to overcome the flaws of poly(styrene sulfonic acid)-doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiphene) (PEDOT:PSS) together with the indium tin oxide anode. The modified PEDOT:PSS with higher work function (5.66 eV) and more efficient hole injecting ability was obtained by simply mixing the aqueous PEDOT:PSS with InCl3 and then consecutive ultraviolet-ozone treatment. The simply structured and solution-processed OLEDs with our modified PEDOT:PSS achieved a very high external quantum efficiency of 21.0% using a classic thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitter, 2,4,5,6-tetrakis(carbazol-9-yl)-1,3-dicyanobenzene. The origin of this great promotion was explored through photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared reflection spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy, from which we inferred that InCl3 itself, the losing of insulting PSS outer shell, and transformation to quinoid structure of PEDOT chains accounted for this improvement. Our modification method of PEDOT:PSS is beneficial for promoting solution-processed organic semiconducting devices.


Obtaining compact, while cryptographically strong, S-boxes is a challenging task required for hardware implementations of lightweight cryptography. Contrarily to 4-bit permutations design which is somewhat well understood, 8-bit permutations have mainly been investigated only through structured S-boxes built from 4-bit ones by means of Feistel, MISTY or SPN schemes. In this paper, we depart from this common habit and search for compact designs directly in the space of 8-bit permutations. We propose two methods for searching good and compact 8-bit S-boxes. One is derived from an adaptation to 8-bit circuits of a systematic bottom-up exploration already used in previous works for 4bit permutations. The other is the use of a genetic algorithm that samples solutions in the 8-bit permutations space and makes them evolve toward predefined criteria. Contrarily to similar previous attempts, we chose to encode permutations by their circuits rather than by their tables, which allows to optimize non only w.r.t the cryptographic quality but also w.r.t. compactness. We obtain results which show competitive compared to structured designs and we provide an overview of the relation between quality and compactness in the range of rather small 8-bit circuits. Beside, we also exhibit a 8-gate circuit made of only AND and XOR gates that represents a 4-bit permutation belonging to an optimal equivalence class. This shows that such optimal class can be instantiated by threshold implementation friendly circuits with no extra cost compared to previous works.


We have previously shown that yeast mutants of the THO complex have a defect in gene expression, observed as an impairment of lacZ transcription. Here we analyze the ability of mutants of different transcription elongation factors to transcribe lacZ. We found that spt4Δ, like THO mutants, impaired transcription of lacZ and of long and GC‐rich DNA sequences fused to the GAL1 promoter. Using a newly developed in vitro transcription elongation assay, we show that Spt4 is required in elongation. There is a functional interaction between Spt4 and THO, detected by the lethality or strong gene expression defect and hyper‐recombination phenotypes of double mutants in the W303 genetic background. Our results indicate that Spt4–Spt5 has a positive role in transcription elongation and suggest that Spt4–Spt5 and THO act at different steps during mRNA biogenesis.


Periodontitis is an infection characterized by the occurrence of supporting tissue destruction with an episodic nature. Disease progression is often determined by the loss of attachment level or alveolar bone, and sequential probing of periodontal attachment remains the most commonly utilized method to diagnose progressive destruction of the periodontium. The tolerance method has been the most extensive clinical method used in recent years to determine site-specific attachment level changes. There is abundant evidence that major tissue destruction in periodontal lesions results from the recruitment of immune cells. Considerable effort has been made to study the host cell and mediator profiles involved in the pathogenesis of chronic periodontitis, but the definition of active sites, where current periodontal breakdown occurs, and consecutive characterization of the mediators involved are still among the main concerns. In the present review, we summarize periodontopathic bacteria and host factors, including infiltrating cell populations, cytokines, and host matrix metalloproteinases, associated with under-going episodic attachment loss that could partly explain the mechanisms involved in destruction of the supporting tissues of the tooth.


A novel algorithm (TSA-SPA) that combines the Two-Sided Arnoldi method (TSA) and the Sensitive Pole Algorithm (SPA) is proposed in this paper for calculation of the most sensitive eigenvalues to control parameters in large power systems. In the proposed method, first, with the shift-invert transformation precondition, TSA builds two Krylov subspaces and obtains a reduced matrix of a much smaller scale, which contains eigenvalues close to the chosen shift point. Second, SPA is adopted to realize the most sensitive eigenvalue computation. TSA-SPA can find the most sensitive eigenvalues of interest, with satisfactory reliability and convergence, in a specified frequency domain. With proper selection of sizes of Krylov subspace and the reduced matrix, the convergence to good eigenvalue approximations is practically guaranteed. Moreover, with the deflation technique, the algorithm is also capable of finding several other dominant eigentriplets which may relate to inter-area and/or local control modes. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm has been validated on small and large-scale power systems. It has been found that compared to other available sensitive pole algorithms, the proposed algorithm has more robust and reliable performance. The proposed algorithm is suitable for practical applications in large-scale power systems.


The teleprogramming paradigm has been proposed as a means to efficiently perform teleoperation in the subsea environment via an acoustical link. In such a system the effects of both limited bandwidth channels and delayed communications are overcome by transmitting not Cartesian or joint level information but rather symbolic, error-tolerant, program instructions to the remote site. The operator interacts with a virtual reality of the remote site which provides immediate visual and kinesthetic feedback. The uncertainty in this model can be reduced based on information received from the slave manipulator's tactile contact with the environment. It is suggested that the current state of the model be made available to the operator via a graphical display which shows not only the position of objects at the remote site but also, through the use of color clues, the uncertainty associated with those positions. The provision of uncertainty information is important since it allows the operator to compromise between speed and accuracy. An additional operator aid, which we term synthetic fixturing, is proposed. Synthetic fixtures provide the operator of the teleprogramming system with the teleoperation equivalent of the "snap" commands common in computer aided design programs. By guiding the position and/or orientation of the master manipulator toward specific points, lines or planes the system is able to increase both the speed and precision with which the operator can control the slave arm without requiring sophisticated hardware. Comments University of Pennsylvania Department of Computer Science Technical Report No. 93-15. This technical report is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/cis_reports/449 Operating Interact ion and Teleprogramming for Subsea Manipulation MS-CIS-93-15 GRASP LAB 344 Craig Sayers Richard Paul Max Mintz University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science Computer and Information Science Department Philadelphia, PA 19104-6389


In the present study famotidine floating pulsatile drug delivery system was developed. Various type and different concentrations of superdisintegrants and polymer affect the drug release. FTIR studies concluded that there is no interaction between drug and excipients. Based on disintegration time and dissolution time the formulation (F2) which contains 8% sodium starch glycollate was optimised. The optimised formulation F2 was further coated with different concentrations of HPMC K4M,HPMC K 15M and HPMC K 100M..Based on the concentration of the coating layer and solubility of the coating layer and the dissolution data the formulation (F6) which was coated with 150mg of HPMC K 15M was optimised.


The Hubble space-based telescope is a great tribute to our progress in space. The ability to place an optical telescope at a significant distance from the Earth's surface, away from the interference of the planet's unsteady atmosphere, have already paid off by producing magnificent records of astronomical activities in the depths of outer space. In the past the problems with the alignment of the Hubble's optics were blamed on the manufacturers of it's optical components. The hastily set investigation concluded that the problem is a spherical aberration of the primary mirror (the primary mirror is said to be 2 microns too flat at the edges). It is suggested that the real culprit is the Parker Effect. Since the time of Galileo Galilei, all telescopes were built, aligned, and used on the Earth's surface. Hubble is the first telescope to be built and aligned on Earth for use in space. Because of this we have to consider the fundamental differences between the alignment of surface-based and space-based telescopes. For those who missed our article "The Parker Effect and Navigation in Space" published in the January issue. The Parker Effect describes the result of interaction between inertial bodies (anything that has mass) and non-inertial media (light or other E/M fields).


Wireless power transfer (WPT) has been receiving a considerable amount of interest recently. This paper presents a novel device with respect to WPT by using two transmitting resonant coils which are not in parallel to each other. It can change the path of power flow transferred by the device using vector control technology. An analytical model is developed to analyze the characteristics of vector control method used in the device. Electromagnetic simulation was contributed to illustrate the vector direction of power flow path, and a prototype is fabricated and tested. The experimental results show close agreement with the analytical results in trend. The power flow path of the device can vary in any direction by regulating the ratio ζ of current with both transmitting coil with phase shift θ = kπ and it can rotate with phase shiftθ = (1/2 + k)π.


Brenneria quercina has been reported as one of the causal agents of oak decline in Spain. To investigate the bacterial variability of this pathogen from different Spanish oak forests, a collection of 38 bacterial isolates from seven geographic locations and from different oak species was analysed by sequencing 16S rDNA and rep-PCR fingerprinting. All Spanish isolates of B. quercina were grouped by rep-PCR into a homogenous cluster that differed significantly from B. quercina reference strains from California. 16S rDNA analysis revealed that 34 out of 38 isolates were Brenneria . However, four isolates belonged to the genus Serratia , suggesting that this bacterium could cause cankers in oak trees. The information obtained by rep-PCR fingerprint analysis was used to develop PCR primers for the sensitive and specific detection of B. quercina from infected plant tissues. Pathogenicity tests performed with Brenneria and Serratia isolates showed that both were able to grow and cause cankers in oak trees.


We study the masses of the low-lying charm and bottom mesons within the framework of heavy-hadron chiral perturbation theory. We work to third order in the chiral expansion, where meson loops contribute. In contrast to previous approaches, we use physical meson masses in evaluating these loops. This ensures that their imaginary parts are consistent with the observed widths of the D-mesons. The lowest odd- and even-parity, strange and nonstrange mesons provide enough constraints to determine onlycertain linear combinations of the low-energy constants (LECs) in the effective Lagrangian. We comment on how lattice QCD could provide further information to disentangle these constants.Then we use the results from the charm sector to predict the spectrum of odd- and even-parity of the bottom mesons.The predicted masses from our theory arein good agreement with experimentally measured massesfor the case of the odd-parity sector.For the even-parity sector, the $B$-meson states have not yet been observed; thus,our results provide usefulinformation for experimentalists investigating such states. The near degeneracy of nonstrange and strange scalar $B$ mesonsis confirmed in our predictions using $\mathrm{HHChPT}$.Finally,we show why previous approachesof using$\mathrm{HHChPT}$ in studying the mass degeneracy in the scalar statesof charm and bottom meson sectorsgave unsatisfactory results.Interactions between these heavy mesons are treated using effectivetheories similar to those used to study nuclear forces.We first look at astrongly-interacting channel which produces a bound or virtual state anda dimer state which couples weakly to a weakly-interacting channel to produce a narrow resonance.We also look at theshort-range interactions intwo channels. We consider two cases:two channels where one has a strong $s$-wave interactionwhich produces bound or virtual states,and a dimer state which couples weakly to weakly-coupled channels which in turn can produce narrow resonances.For each of these systems, we use well-defined power-counting schemes.The results can be used to investigateresonances in the charmonium and bottomonium systems. We demonstrate howthe method can be applied to the $X(3872)$.The widths of the $X(3872)$for decay processes to $\bar{D}^0 D^{*0}$ and $\bar{D}^0D^0\pi$are calculated.We use these results to obtain the line shapes of the $X(3872)$ under different assumptions about the nature of this state.


This paper defines citizen ownership of the state (COS) as a combination of an acceptable election and implementation of the election promises. It introduces a two-tier measurement of the COS. Tier 1 by using election results determines whether the COS existed or not during a past period of time and Tier 2 using election promise implementation status determines how much the COS existed. Then, a combination of Tier 1 and Tier 2 scores results in an overall COS. At Tier 2, the paper argues, the level of implementation of election promises is a measurement of the COS. The paper models the authority of a representative government to a power of attorney. The citizen as principal awards a power of attorney to the winning individual, party or alliance as an agent in their election. In the election, the set of election promises of the agent becomes the only written part of the power of attorney. The 2009-2012 tenure of USA President Barack Obama is used to test how the methodological approach works with empirical data. The test finds Tier 2 COS at 70.7 percent and party intrusion into the COS at 29.3 percent in the tenure. After averaging Tier 1 and Tier 2 COS scores, the overall COS stands at 85.35 percent on a 0-100 scale.


Schottky diode properties of semitransparent Ag(4 nm)/Au(4 nm) metal stack on In0.2Ga0.8N were investigated and defect characterization was performed using capacitance deep level transient (DLTS) and optical spectroscopy (DLOS). DLTS measurements made on the In0.2Ga0.8N Schottky diodes, which displayed a barrier height of 0.66 eV, revealed the presence of two deep levels located at Ec-0.39 eV and Ec-0.89 eV with nearly identical concentrations of ∼1.2 × 1015 cm−3. Three deeper defect levels were observed by DLOS at Ec-1.45 eV, Ec-1.76 eV, and Ec-2.50 eV with concentrations of 1.3 × 1015cm−3, 3.2 × 1015cm−3, and 6.1 × 1016 cm−3, respectively. The latter, with its high trap concentration and energy position lying 0.4 eV above the valance band, suggests a possible role in compensation of carrier concentration, whereas the mid-gap positions of the other two levels imply that they will be important recombination-generation centers


The title of this book is a misnomer. It was written to help young adults and mature students; it does not give confidence in mathematics, but it can help the conscientious student to acquire numeracy and to use arithmetic with confidence. The cover is attractive, the layout is good, the type and diagrams are clear and the text is illustrated with amusing cartoons. The first half of the book is devoted to basic arithmetic and includes all the topics to be tested in a traditional arithmetic examination. The second half of the book covers electronic calculators, scale diagrams, graphs, descriptive statistics, mensuration, transport timetables, domestic expenses and the financial responsibilities of employees. There are worked examples and numerous graded exercises on each topic; eight chapters conclude with a set of multiple choice questions. I regret that the student is not advised to estimate the final answer before using a calculator. When taking n as 3-142 or as 3-14, answers to examples are given to five significant figures! However, I think this is a useful textb >ok for an examination in arithmetic and mensuration and I hope every public library, school and further education establishment will obtain a copy. The arithmetic may be traditional but the applications are contemporary. M. L. DRUKKER 73 Chandos Way, London NW11 7HF


Justice is so central to the mission of public health that it has been described as the field's core value. This account of justice stresses the fair disbursement of common advantages and the sharing of common burdens. It captures the twin moral impulses that animate public health: to advance human well-being by improving health and to do so particularly by focusing on the needs of the most disadvantaged. This Commentary explores how social justice sheds light on major ongoing controversies in the field, and it provides examples of the kinds of policies that public health agencies, guided by a robust conception of justice, would adopt.


Tone recognition is a critical component for speech recognition in a tone language. One of the main problems of tone recognition in continuous speech is that several interacting factors affect F0 realization of tones. In this paper, we focus on the coarticulatory, intonation, and stress effects. These effects are compensated by the tone information of neighboring syllables, the adjustment of F0 heights and the stress acoustic features, respectively. The experiments, which compare all tone features, were conducted by feedforward neural networks. The highest recognition rates are improved from 84.07% to 93.60% and 82.48% to 92.67% for Thai proper name and Thai animal story corpora, respectively.


Text from the introduction

 One of the most striking aspects of the field of criminal justice and crime prevention to relative outsiders (most of our work is in the field of health and social care) is, that when they are mentioned at all, enormous emphasis is put on the costs of crime. Take this opening paragraph: 'Approaching £10,000 million are spent annually on police, courts, probation service and prisons whose task is to grapple with crime and its consequences. Yet out of all the crimes against property and individuals each year - an estimated 18 million in England and Wales - fewer than half are ever reported to the police, fewer than 5 per cent are officially "cleared up" and just 3 per cent result in the offender being cautioned by the police or convicted by the courts.' (Utting, 1996)

 Today I want to argue that such starting points can have a profound and unhelpful effect on the design of evaluations that are intended to reduce the levels of crime or divert people from criminal justice options. There are three common assumptions: the first assumption is that crime is expensive - that there is an iceberg of costs out there and that we don't know the half of it. the second assumption is that the operation of the criminal justice system is expensive - that there is this huge bureaucracy and associated services that are probably very inefficient as they clearly cost such a lot from whichever estimates or guesstimates you take. the third assumption is that prison is expensive - that it costs more to lock people up than it does to administer community penalties or other alternatives. Following on from such assumptions it will often seem self-evident to those involved in proposing or implementing approaches that are designed to prevent crime, divert people from prosecution or keep people out of prison that if they succeed in their aim, by definition they must be cost-effective. In setting up the evaluation therefore they tend to identify the aim and ask in the economists to find out how much they are saving. In our experience the economists have a tendency to identify few if any savings and sometimes clear areas of increased cost. If economics had not had the reputation of the 'dismal science' before it certainly would have got it after a few of these encounters.

 This is not always the case, of course, and examples such as the High Scope Perry Pre-school programme which you have just heard about illustrate a clear cut economic advantage (Barnett, 1985). But such clear straightforward messages of increased benefit and lower cost tend to be the exception rather than the rule. When evaluating the economics of a particular innovation it is important to have a framework that can address the mixed messages that often emerge from evaluations. Today I want to start by outlining a framework which has been developed in the field of health and social care but which we have found to have broader applicability and then discuss the four main principles which flow from this and their application to the field of crime prevention and criminal justice.

 Paper presented at Crime Prevention: Money Well Spent? Seminar on the social and cost effectiveness of crime prevention, September 30 1996, Ottowa, Ontario.


In this paper, large grain polycrystalline silicon films on glass substrates have been fabricated at a low temperature of 350°C. The amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor (PECVD) were transformed to polysilicon films by using nano-aluminum induced crystallization (AIC) at a low temperature. Effect of the annealing time on the grain size and crystalline phase were discussed. The polycrystalline silicon films were characterized by using XRD, Raman and SEM. The surface morphology, sheet resistance and the crystallization mechanism were also discussed. Polycrystalline silicon films with grain sizes larger than 3 microns were obtained in this study at 350°C.


Price studies have been extensively investigated in agricultural economics literature. In the grain market, it seems that more information is available in terms of price behavior and relationships across markets. In the dairy market, on the other hand, price information is more limited. There are studies related to milk price relationships, but none explore the short-run and long-run relationship between milk prices across countries. This analysis aims to fill this gap in the literature. Insights from this work, which may help private companies and policymakers on how milk prices behave across the world, are provided. Data are offered by the IFCN Dairy research network, located in Kiel, Germany, and includes monthly price data from the United States, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, India, China, and New Zealand. A Vector Error Correction (VEC) model is used to summarize the long-run relationship among prices from these nine countries. Contemporaneous innovations are modeled as an acyclic graph using recently developed algorithms from the machine literature. Forecast error variance decompositions are also estimated to visualize the relationships among variables in the system. As for validation, out-of-sample forecasts from the estimated Vector Autoregression (VAR) and VEC models are performed and the latter performed better. This forecasting exercise also supports the imposition of a low number of cointegrating vectors, which coheres well with trace tests and information criteria. The United States, New Zealand, and the IFCN milk price play an important role in the international dairy market.


Paint scraping with the traditional triangular scraper is a tiring job causing hazardous forces and high wrist moments (Van Rhijn & Eikhout, 1998). As an answer to those problems the recently developed scraper has been designed with the end user in mind. This paper reviews a field study testing the new product with 20 professional painters. The results show that the new scraper, in comparison with the traditional one, has strong positive effects on physical load: wrist moments and forces are reduced. Furthermore, the new paint scraper was considered very user-friendly by professionals and ergonomic experts.


Abstract Lambert, C, Beck, BR, and Weeks, BK. Concurrent validity and reliability of a linear positional transducer and an accelerometer to measure punch characteristics. J Strength Cond Res 32(3): 675–680, 2018—Punch speed is an important factor in the sport of boxing, and its measurement has important implications for monitoring training progression and outcomes. The aim of the current study was to establish the concurrent validity and reliability of a linear positional transducer and an accelerometer for the quantification of punch characteristics in untrained adults. Men and women aged 18–30 years with no previous boxing experience and no upper-limb musculoskeletal injuries were recruited. Participants performed 6 straight right punches; 3 at a self-determined 50% effort; and 3 at maximum effort. An accelerometer (Crossbow) and a linear positional transducer (GymAware) were used to examine peak velocity and acceleration of each punch. Validity was examined using Pearson's correlation analyses and by calculating mean bias and limits of agreement between measures from each device, whereas reliability was established using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Forty-four healthy young adults (28M and 16F; age 22.2 ± 2.9 years) participated. Moderate-to-strong positive associations were observed for both devices at 50% effort for velocity (r = 0.572–0.696) and acceleration (r = 0.867–0.921) and at maximum effort for velocity (r = 0.748–0.781) and acceleration (r = 0.897–0.946). High levels of reliability were observed with maximum punches for both devices (ICC = 0.922–0.981). Overall, moderate-strong measurement validity and reliability for punch speed was observed between the accelerometer and GymAware. Thus, the GymAware linear positional transducer is an acceptable measurement tool for the quantification of punch speed for straight punches in untrained adults.


Allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis (ABPM) is a hypersensitivity reaction to fungal antigens, which may particularly plague uncontrolled asthmatics. Non-aspergillus fungal organisms may be implicated and may elicit a more severe immunologic response. Exophiala pisciphila, a marine organism, has not been reported as a culprit yet. However, this report indicates it may be implicated in unrelenting symptoms in a severe asthmatic patient who had become dependent on corticosteroids. Proper identification and adequate therapy of this organism led to complete resolution of respiratory symptoms, with adequate subsequent control of the asthma. ABPM may complicate asthma and lead to a lack of its control. Proper awareness, testing and treatment of non-aspergillus pulmonary mycosis is essential to proper asthma care and beneficial for its control.


We investigated the apparent spatial layout of cast shadows up to very wide fields of view. We presented up to 130° wide images in which two 'flat poles' were standing on a green lawn under a cloudless blue sky on a sunny day. The poles threw sharp cast shadows on the green, of which one was fixed. The observer's task was to adjust the azimuth of the shadow of the other pole such that it fitted the scene. The source elevation was kept constant. The two cast shadows are, of course, parallel in physical space, but generically not in the picture plane because of the wide perspective. We found that observers made huge systematic errors, indicating that, generically, they fail to account for these perspective effects. The systematic deviations could be well described by a weighted linear combination of the directions in the picture plane and in the physical space, with weights that depended on the positions of, and distance between, the poles.


Frey's medium supplemented with artificial liposomes substituting for serum was evaluated for Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) serum plate agglutination (SPA) antigen. Antigens prepared in batch (static) culture were compared with antigens grown in a fermenter. All batch-grown MG liposome antigens were highly sensitive, specific, and resulted in a greater yield compared with fermenter-grown liposome antigens. Compared with antigens prepared in Frey's medium with 12% swine serum (regular FMS) or with commercial SPA antigens, liposome antigens had a higher degree of specificity; however, they were similar in sensitivity and antigen yield. The only growth parameter to affect the yield per liter of batch-grown liposome antigen was the concentration of liposomes in the growth medium. The reduced yield and sensitivity of antigens grown in a fermenter may have been due to autoclaving the medium instead of sterilizing by filtration. There was no obvious difference between patterns of serum-medium-grown, liposome-medium-grown, or commercial SPA antigens upon sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.


Using sodium fluoride and rare earth nitrate as raw materials and sodium citrate as surfactant, micron grade NaYF4 upconversion luminescent materials were prepared by hydrothermal method. By X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscope(SEM) and fluorescence spectrometer, the crystal phase, morphology and luminescent characteristics of the prepared samples were investigated. The results showed that the phase of the samples could generate a transition from cubic phase to hexagonal phase by adjusting the proportion (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11) of NaF/RE , and the X ray diffraction peaks for the cubic and hexagonal phase of samples exactly matched with those of the standard card of PDF# 77-2042 and PDF# 16-0334, respectively. The SEM photographs showed that the crystallinity of samples was high and the dispersibility was favourable, the morphology were translated from microrods to hexagonal microplates. The samples upconversion luminescent spectra showed the intensity enhancement of red and green light emission peaks with increasement of the ratio of NaF/RE3+. The green emission peaks of samples at 520 and 539 nm corresponded to the ²H¹¹/²-⁴-->I₁₅/₂ and ⁴S₃/₂-->⁴I₁₅/₂ level transition of Er³⁺ ion, and the red light emission peaks of samples at 653 nm corresponded to the ⁴F₉/₂-->⁴I₁₅/₂ levelt ransition of Er+ ion. The chromaticity coordinate diagram exhibited that the change of the luminescent color of samples could be achieved by adjusting the ratio of NaF/RE³⁺. With the increasing of NaF/RE³⁺ ratio, for the whole light-emitting colors of samples, the shift from yellow region to near red region could be realized. It can be concluded that through the relatively simple experimental procedure and lower cost materials, the change of phase and morphology, the moving of light-emitting color for sample NaYF4:Yb³⁺, Er³⁺ could be well controlled only by changing the single component (NaF) molar ratio in the raw materials. The effect of phase and morphology of fluorescent materials on their upconversion luminescence has great potential applications in photonic devices and bioanalysis research.


BACKGROUND
Destructive eye surgery is a management option offered patients when further retention of the globe is likely to affect ocular and general health or jeopardize survival. Indications for this procedure vary and could reflect the pattern of severe or end stage ocular morbidities in a given environment.

AIM
To assess the indications for destructive eye surgeries and to ascertain the proportion avoidable.

SETTING
Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria.

METHODOLOGY
The ophthalmic surgical database of our facility was retrospectively reviewed to obtain information on patients who had destructive eye surgery from January 2008 - December 2015. These included demographics, clinical features, preoperative diagnosis, indication for surgery and type of destructive eye surgeries. The total number of ophthalmic surgeries within the study period was also computed. The data was entered into Epi Info statistical software, version3.4 (Epi InfoTM, Atlanta, Georgia,USA) and analyzed after validation by double entry.

RESULTS
Eighty five destructive eye surgeries consisting of 2.5% of all surgical operations were performed on adults (aged ≥18years). There were 51(60%) males with a male: female ratio of 1.5:1 (p<0.005), mean age of 46.4 ± 19years. A sustained decline in the proportion of surgeries attributable to destructive eye surgeries was observed from the year 2012. A total of 75(88.2%) patients had evisceration, 3(3.5%) had enucleation and 7(8.2%) had exenteration. The main indications for destructive eye surgeries included trauma to the eyes in 39(45.9%), intractable infections in 32(37.6%), tumours in 7(8.2%) and painful blind eye in 3(3.5%); anterior staphyloma and phthisis bulbi each accounted for 2(2.4%). We observed that an adult male was four times more likely to lose an eye from trauma than a female (p<0.05). An individual was less likely to lose an eye to trauma with increasing age (p<0.05) but more likely to lose an eye to intractable infection with increasing age (p<0.001).

CONCLUSION
There is a downtrend in the frequency of destructive eye surgeries in our center with males more likely to lose an eye to trauma and the elderly more likely to lose an eye to infection. Most of the indications for eye removal are avoidable.