Addressing modern water management challenges requires the integration of physical, environmental and socio-economic aspects, including diverse stakeholders' values, interests and goals. Early stakeholder involvement increases the likelihood of acceptance and legitimacy of potential solutions to these challenges. Participatory modelling allows stakeholders to co-design solutions, thus facilitating knowledge co-construction/social learning. In this work, we combine integrated modelling and participatory modelling to develop and deploy a digital platform supporting decision-making for water management in a semiarid basin under contentious water use. The purpose of this tool is exploring "on-the-fly" alternative water management strategies and potential policy pathways with stakeholders. We first co-designed specific water management strategies/impact indicators and collected local knowledge about farmers' behaviour regarding groundwater regulation. Second, we coupled a node–link water balance model, a groundwater model and an agent-based model in a digital platform (SimCopiapo) for scenario exploration. This was done with constant input from key stakeholders through a participatory process. Our results suggest that reductions of groundwater demand (40%) alone are not sufficient to capture stakeholders' interests and steer the system towards sustainable water use, and thus a portfolio of management strategies including exchanges of water rights, improvements to hydraulic infrastructure and robust enforcement policies is required. The establishment of an efficient enforcement policy to monitor compliance on caps imposed on groundwater use and sanction those breaching this regulation is required to trigger the minimum momentum for policy acceptance. Finally, the participatory modelling process led to the definition of a diverse collection of strategies/impact indicators, which are reflections of the stakeholders' interests. This indicates that not only the final product—i.e., SimCopiapo—is of value but also the process leading to its creation.


This paper presents a new optimization algorithm for designing parallel cyclic redundancy check (CRC) circuits widely adopted to detect burst errors in high-speed communications. Our heuristic algorithm is focused on minimizing the logic level and finding XOR terms shared as many as possible. An Ethernet 32-bit CRC generator, which was designed and mapped to FPGA and a standard cell library, shows the superiority of our approach in reducing the delay and area overhead


The baseline LIU installation activities corresponding to both ion and proton upgrades will be described for the whole injector chain. The additional possible installation activities linked to the pending options on which decision will be made during 2015 will also be reviewed. It will be examined whether any of these activities can be anticipated to earlier shutdowns or  postponed beyond LS2, emphasising the consequences on beam operation and the preparation and performance reach of the LIU beams for HL-LHC. The corresponding support  needed from the various CERN groups together with the required technical expertise will be estimated. Finally, a preliminary LIU installation master schedule will be presented.


Background: There is a lack of research on loss and coping among conflict-affected populations, especially on women specifically. Moreover, this topic has yet to be explored in the Republic of Georgia. The overall aim of the thesis is to explore resource loss and coping strategies among internally displaced women in Georgia.
Methods: A systematic literature review on coping strategies amongst conflict-affected persons in low- and middle-income countries was completed, followed by qualitative field research in Georgia during which 40 semi-structured interviews with internally displaced women were conducted. Hobfoll's Conservation of Resources Theory (1989) and Skinner et al. (2003)'s coping typology were drawn upon to guide the analysis and interpretation of information gleaned on losses and coping respectively.
Findings: The systematic review revealed that gender and exposure to trauma influenced coping efforts. The relationship between coping and mental health outcomes was nuanced, with support seeking and problem solving showing mostly protective effects. Displacement and the loss of property it entailed led to the loss of livelihood, which lead to the loss of social networks, as well as mental and physical health losses. The women reported a range of coping strategies, including problem solving techniques, seeking support from friends, family, and neighbours, escape-avoidance techniques, distraction strategies, and cognitive restructuring approaches. Key differences in the coping behaviours of men and women in the areas of problem solving, support seeking, and escape-avoidance and distraction were evident.
Conclusion: Initial losses due to conflict and displacement may lead to subsequent losses unfolding over time, rendering internally displaced persons potentially vulnerable to the effects of conflict years after the formal cessation of hostilities. The participants in this study reported a plethora of strategies employed to offset such losses. A number of research and policy recommendations are provided based on the thesis findings.


The paper presents the problem of identification in parametric models from the algebraic point of view. We argue that it is not just another perspective but the proper one. That is using our approach we can see the very nature of the identification problem, which is slightly different than that suggested in the literature. In practice it means that in many models we can unambiguously estimate parameters that have been thought as unidentifiable. This is illustrated in the case of Simultaneous Equations Model (SEM), where our analysis leads to conclusion that existing identification conditions, although correct, are based on the inappropriate premise: only the structural parameters that are in one–to–one correspondence with the reduced form parameters are identified. We will show that this is not true. In fact there are other structural parameters, which are identified, but can not be uniquely recovered from the reduced form parameters. Although we apply our theory only to SEM, it can be used in many standard econometric models.


X-ray fluorescence spectrometry was used to determine calcium, copper, and zinc concentrations in paraspinal and gluteal muscles obtained during spinal surgery from patients with scoliosis. Samples of 1-3 mg were sufficient to demonstrate that calcium was higher in idiopathic than in other forms of scoliosis or in normal control muscles. It is suggested that a calcium-related neuromuscular defect could be an important factor in the genesis of idiopathic scoliosis


The Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) and the modified Korteweg-de Vries (MKdV) equations are shown to have, besides the regular real solutions, exact regular complex as well as singular solutions. The singular solution for the KdV is real but for the MKdV it is pure imaginary. Implications of the complex solutions are discussed.


Purpose
Port performance and port choice have been treated as separate streams of research. This hampers the efforts of ports to anticipate on and respond to possible future changes in port choice by shippers, freight forwarders and carriers. The purpose of this paper is to develop and demonstrate a port performance measurement methodology, extended from the perspective of port choice, which includes hinterland performance and a weighting of attributes from a port choice perspective.

Design/methodology/approach
A review of literature is used to extend the scope of port performance indicators. Multi-criteria decision analysis is used to operationalize the context of port choice, presenting a weighted approach using the Best-Worst Method (BWM). An empirical model is built based on an extensive port stakeholder survey.

Findings
Transport costs and times along the transport chain are the dominant factors for port competitiveness. Satisfaction, reputation and flexibility criteria are the other important decision criteria. The results also show how the availability of different modal alternatives impact on the position of a port. A ranking of routes for hinterland regions is done.

Originality/value
The paper focuses on two extensions of port performance measurement. So far, not all factors that determine port choice have been included in port performance studies. Here, first, factors related to hinterland services are included. Second, a weighting of port performance measures is proposed. The importance of factors is assessed using BWM. The approach is demonstrated empirically for a case of the European contestable hinterland regions, which so far have lacked quantitative analysis.


OBJECTIVES
We investigated the effect of extracorporeal shock wave therapy in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis.

METHODS
The study included 13 elbows of 12 patients (8 women, 4 men; mean age 40 years) who did not benefit from conservative therapy for lateral epicondylitis and refused surgical therapy. Under fluoroscopic guidance, extracorporeal shock wave therapy of 1200 pulses at 15-20 kV was administered at a mean of three sessions (range 3 to 7 sessions) with two-day intervals. No immobilization was applied after sessions. The patients were questioned about pain during rest and during dorsiflexion of the wrist against resistance before and after three and 12 months of treatment. The results were evaluated using the Roles and Maudsley pain scores. At the end of 12 months, the patients were asked to lift weight with the shoulder in flexion and the wrist in extension to measure grip strengths in comparison with the unaffected side.

RESULTS
The mean pain score which was 3.4 before treatment decreased to 2 after treatment. The mean grip strength of the affected extremities was 82.1% of the normal side. At final follow-ups, nine patients (10 elbows) (75%) stated that the treatment was beneficial; all these patients achieved at least 85% of grip strength of the normal side. Two patients (16.7%) reported no benefit from therapy and had a poor pain score. The result was fair in one patient (8.3%) who expressed dissatisfaction and had partial relief after the procedure. This patient achieved 60% of grip strength of the unaffected side.

CONCLUSION
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy is an alternative method for patients who do not benefit from conservative treatment and refuse surgical treatment.


Cassava is a root crop originating from South America and a major staple crop in the Tropics, including marginal environments. In this study, we focused on South American and African cassava germplasm and investigated the genetic architecture of Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN), a major component of tuber quality. HCN is a plant defense component against herbivory but also toxic for human consumption. We genotyped 3,354 landraces and modern breeding lines originating from 26 Brazilian states and 1,389 individuals were phenotypically characterized across multi-year trials for HCN. All plant material was subjected to high density genotyping using Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). We performed genome wide association mapping (GWAS) to characterize the genetic architecture and gene mapping of HCN. Field experiment revealed strong broad and narrow-sense trait heritability (0.82 and 0.41 respectively). Two major loci were identified, encoding for an ATPase and a MATE protein and contributing up to 7% and 30% of the cyanide concentration in roots, respectively. We developed diagnostic markers for breeding applications, validated trait architecture consistency in African germplasm and investigated further evidence for domestication of sweet and bitter cassava. Fine genomic loci characterization indicate; (i) a major role played by vacuolar transporter in regulating HCN content, (ii) co-domestication of sweet and bitter cassava major alleles to be geographical zone dependant, and (ii) major loci allele for high cyanide cassava in Manihot esculenta Crantz seems to originate from its ancestor, M. esculenta ssp. flabellifolia. Taken together these findings expand insights on cyanide in cassava and its glycosylated derivatives in plants. One-sentence summary Identification of an intracellular transporter gene and its allelic variation allow to point out cultivars with up to 30 percent decrease in cassava root cyanide content, toxic for human consumption.


I am grateful for Mr Bagger's thoughtful remarks, as well as those of Professors Cousins, Smith, Katz, and Gimello at a recent American Academy of Religion panel devoted to The Problem of Pure Consciousness. But I cannot help but be struck by the tone of Mr Bagger's notice. As one colleague communicated to me after reading the piece, this is one of the most gratuitously rude pieces he had ever seen! If our book is really as bad as all this, it makes one wonder (a) why Religious Studies, or Mr Bagger, would bother to give it such attention, and (b) whether it indicates how deeply we have touched a nerve in the contemporary debate.


This study employs the econometric framework of price transmission to analyze spatial integration of major wheat growing markets in Russia. Russian government frequently intervenes to regulate trade relations by restricting export of wheat abroad in the periods of deficit of supply. Different non-linear models are used to capture the impact of intervention measures. The results show that in isolation from global markets, Russian export-oriented wheat producers increase their presence inside the country and domestic trade becomes more active. As a result, government interventions lead to reduction of wheat deficits.


Cationic surfactants are widely used in industry, medicine, and in studies of a number of physicochemical processes. Analysis of the literature data indicates the high biological activity of cationic surfactants, particularly antimicrobial, antifungal, and in general biocidal. Currently, QSPR methods are increasingly used; they allow the prediction of properties based on the compound's molecular structure. One of the important parameters of cationic surfactants is the ratio of polar (positively charged "head") and non-polar (long hydrocarbon "tail") parts of their molecules. This ratio is called hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB). In 1949, Griffin and Davis developed HLB scales of colloidal surfactants, according to which the HLB parameter can take values in the range from 1 (the substance is insoluble in water but soluble in nonpolar liquids) to 40 (the substance is soluble in water and insoluble in nonpolar liquids) conventional units. Given the complexity of the experimental determination of HLB, mathematical additive models for its calculation were developed.
In our previous studies, methods for the synthesis of cationic 1,2,4-triazolium systems, including cationic surfactants based on 1,3-thiazolo-1,2,4-triazole condensed nucleus, were developed. Thus, 2,3-substituted-5,6-dihydro-3H-[1,3]thiazolo[3,2-b][1,2,4]triazol-7-ium were selected as model objects in this study.
The construction of model compounds was performed in the Avogadro program with subsequent optimization of the geometry using the force field MMFF94. The HLB index was calculated by three methods: Griffin, Davis, and the ratio of polar and nonpolar areas on the isosurface of the molecule using the software package Vega ZZ.
Simple approach for calculating HLB based on the number of carbon atoms in long alkyl substituents have been established. HLB values are the largest when calculating the ratio of polar and non-polar parts of the molecule. The calculated values of HLB vary in a wide range, which allows referring the investigated systems to emulsifiers "oil/water" (for short alkyl chains C1–C4), wetting agents (for short alkyl chains C1–C5), emulsifiers "water/oil" (for alkyl chains C5–C20), antifoams (for alkyl chains C18–C20).


The article "Drawing It Out" by Haidy Geismar (2014) in Visual Anthropology Review (Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 97–113) focused on the use of images in early anthropology. The drawings by Arthur Bernard Deacon (1903–1927), which he made during his field studies in Vanuatu, New Hebrides from 1926 until his sudden death caused by blackwater fever in 1927, are the starting point of Geismar's inquiry.
The author discusses Deacon's drawings and infers the potential of drawing as a methodology for anthropology. Deacon was a young PhD candidate who was sent to Vanuatu from the University of Cambridge. It was his intention to continue the studies of the indigenous culture of the New Hebrides at the time, which had been started by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. In contrast to his expectations, Deacon found a culture in the process of decay. The subject of his study, the indigenous culture, had been threatened by diseases and cultural influences that settlers, missionaries, and traders imported with them since they landed in the middle of the nineteenth century. Deacon described the impossibility of protecting the indigenous culture and critically reflected on his role as an anthropologist (Geismar 2014, p. 102).


More than 80 years ago, artificial materials with molecular recognition sites emerged. The application of molecular imprinting to membrane separation has been studied since 1962. Especially after 1990, such research has been intensively conducted by membranologists and molecular imprinters to understand the advantages of each technique with the aim of constructing an ideal membrane, which is still an active area of research. The present review aims to be a substantial, comprehensive, authoritative, critical, and general-interest review, placed at the cross section of two broad, interconnected, practical, and extremely dynamic fields, namely, the fields of membrane separation and molecularly imprinted polymers. This review describes the recent discoveries that appeared after repeated and fertile collisions between these two fields in the past three years, to which are added the worthy acknowledgments of pioneering discoveries and a look into the future of molecularly imprinted membranes. The review begins with a general introduction in membrane separation, followed by a short theoretical section regarding the basic principles of mass transport through a membrane. Following these general aspects on membrane separation, two principles of obtaining polymeric materials with molecular recognition properties are reviewed, namely, molecular imprinting and alternative molecular imprinting, followed the methods of obtaining and practical applications for the particular case of molecularly imprinted membranes. The review continues with insights into molecularly imprinted nanofiber membranes as a promising, highly optimized type of membrane that could provide a relatively high throughput without a simultaneous unwanted reduction in permselectivity. Finally, potential applications of molecularly imprinted membranes in a variety of fields are highlighted, and a look into the future of membrane separations is offered.


1. The activity of the soluble, calcium-dependent phosphatidylinositol-specific phosphodiesterase (EC 188.8.131.52) against [32P]phosphatidylinositol has been investigated. 2. KC1 (only at neutral pH), Mg2+, positively-charged proteins such as histone, and phospholipids containing a choline headgroup are all inhibitory to the enzyme. Choline-phospholipids cause a 90% inhibition at an equimolar ratio to phosphatidylinositol. 3. Other phospholipids (phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidic acid) are all potent stimulators of the enzyme: maximum stimulation being observed at a ratio of 1 mol activator/5--10 mol phosphatidylinositol. 4. Unsaturated amphiphiles such as oleic and oleoyl alcohol also stimulate the activity, maximum stimulation being observed at about an equimolar ratio to phosphatidylinositol. Saturated amphiphiles (such as stearic acid and stearoyl alcohol) are less effective. 5. The activation by acidic phospholipids and unsaturated amphiphiles appear to be independent as they are additive and, under certain conditions, synergistic. 6. Both types of stimulator (independently or together) can reverse the inhibition caused by histone or phosphatidylcholine. 7. Possible mechanisms of the suppression of the phosphatidylinositol phosphodiesterase in vivo, of its activation, and of the amplification of phosphatidylinositol breakdown are discussed.


Introduction: A reliable source of cultured keratinocytes is essential as a component of oral mucosa substitutes to treat
burns and wounds of the oral and maxillofacial region. Primary monolayer cell cultures have been also extremely helpful
in the study of the basic biology and responses to stimuli, of both oral and skin keratinocytes, and many studies have
used them. There are two techniques in primary culture, the enzymatic and direct explant techniques. The direct explant
technique has been used for 30 years in the culture of human gingival and buccal tissues and has appeared to be a successful
technique in culturing human oral keratinocytes. In addition, it has been suggested that the direct explant technique
obtains the first keratinocytes yield faster than the enzymatic technique. Aim: The aim of this pilot study is to present
our experience in ex vivo production of oral mucosa keratinocytes by using the explant technique. Methods: The
explant technique was used to cultivate oral mucosa keratinocytes. Results: The total success rate of primary culture of
the oral epithelial cells by direct explant technique was 88.9%. No contamination of microorganisms in primary cell cultures
was obtained. Conclusion: Within the limited numbers of samples used in the current pilot study, it can be concluded
that the explant technique piloted in this study appears to be a simple and successful technique in the primary
culture of oral mucosa keratinocytes. A larger study is required to confirm this finding.


Aircraft boarding is a process mainly impacted by the boarding sequence, passenger behaviour and the amount of hand luggage. Whereas these aspects are already addressed in scientific research and operational improvements, the influence of infrastructural changes are only focused upon in the context of future aircraft design. The innovative Side-Slip Seat technology holds the potential for sustainably improving the boarding time by providing a wide aisle during the boarding progress. A comprehensive, validated simulation environment is used to analyse the benefits of this technology and an adapted boarding strategy is identified using evolutionary algorithms. Considering the operational reality of the air transportation domain (e.g. seat load), the individual passenger behaviour (e.g. conformance to procedures), and operational deviations (e.g. delay), the Side-Slip Seat could fasten aircraft boarding by both 20% shorter average boarding time and a more stable boarding progress (smaller standard deviation).


In Natural Language Processing, there is currently a trend towards analyzing subjective language, one of the important topics being emotion detection from text. There have been a number of successful attempts of developing emotion dictionaries in the English language based on emotion theories well established in psychology. However, such resources in Russian are lacking. In the current work, we propose a roadmap for developing a psychologically grounded emotion dictionary in Russian. Based on the related work overview, we propose an emotion classification theory by Carroll Izard including ten basic emotions as a framework for building emotion dictionary. We outline a number of lexical resources for compiling word candidates for the dictionary. Finally, we describe the annotation procedure by volunteers and experts, and psychometric evaluation to measure internal consistency and external validity of the dictionary. The dictionary will be used in emotion detection tasks, compared to other available lexical resources, and supplemented with contextdependent statistical algorithms. Keywords–Emotion dictionary; Russian language; affective language; subjectivity analysis; basic emotions.


Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of esophageal guide wire dilatation in stricture to surgical treatment of esophageal atresia and its outcome.
Patients and Methods
This prospective and descriptive study was carried out at Department of pediatric surgery, the children's hospital, Pakistan institute of medical sciences (PIMS), Islamabad from January 2008 to December 2011. Twenty three patients out of them 15 were males and 8 females, aged one month to 3 years with esophageal stricture secondary to esophageal atresia underwent guide wire esophageal dilatation with savary Gilliard Dilators. Associated gastroesophageal reflux (GER), was noted in 13 patients. All procedures were performed under general anesthesia. Dilatation relieved the stricture in all patients over a follow-up period varying from 3 months to 3 years. Only two patients developed esophageal perforation, which were treated conservatively.
Results:
Conclusions: Guide wire dilatation is a safe and effective method of treatment in the management of strictures secondary to surgical repair of esophageal atresia.


Busulphan is an alkylating agent currently used in conditioning regimen prior to stem cell transplantation (SCT). High dose therapy with busulphan has been shown to contribute to transplantation-related toxicities, such as veno-occlusive disease (VOD) and interstitial pneumonia. Previous pharmacodynamic studies have attempted to define a target systemic exposure to busulphan, and thresholds for different side effects. Pharmacokinetic studies have shown a wide inter-patient variation in the systemic exposure to busulphan after a fixed dose. The wide variation may be due to bioavailability, age, underlying disease, drug-drug interaction and circadian rhythm. The aim of the first part of this thesis was to develop and evaluate an intravenous formulation of busulphan encapsulated in liposomes. Small, uncharged liposomes containing cholesterol suspended in 5% glucose were selected for the preparation of liposomal busulphan (LBu). The distribution of LBu was assessed with 14C labeled busulphan in a rat model, and compared with a solution of free drug. The distribution of LBu was higher to bone marrow and spleen, and lower to brain, lung and heart, compared with free drug, while the distribution to liver was similar. The myelosuppressive effect of LBu was stable and reproducible in a mouse model. Pharmacokinetics of liposomal busulphan was studied in man after either low dose or high dose of LBu. A linear relation between the systemic exposure and the dose was found. The pharmacokinetic parameters were in agreement with those previously reported for orally administered drug. It was feasible to use liposomal busulphan for high dose therapy. The advantageous distribution and good myelosuppressive effect in animals, and the more predictable pharmacokinetics in man have motivated the launching of a phase I/II clinical trial. The aim of the second part of the thesis was to investigate mechanisms of busulphan-induced cytotoxicity, and the role of glutathione (GSH) in this process. The myeloid P39 cell line was used in vitro as a model for induction of differentiation and/or apoptosis with the differentiating agent all-trans retinoic acid and the cytostatic agent etoposide. Both agents induced apoptosis that was mediated through caspase activation, but different pathways were involved. These pathways diverged in kinetics, preceding maturation, cleavage of Bcl-2 and actin, and rescue from apoptosis by granulocyte colonystimulating factor (G-CSF). Busulphanand etoposide-induced apoptosis shared common features, but differed in kinetics. The P39 cells were arrested in G2 phase of the cell cycle before apoptotic morphology developed. Proliferation and clonogenic capacity of the P39 cells showed an inverse linear relation to the exposure to busulphan expressed as AUC. Also in busulphan-treated human CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors, clonogenic capacity was inversely and linearly related to the exposure to busulphan expressed as AUC. Myeloid progenitors were more sensitive than erythroid progenitors (AUCs completely inhibiting colony formation were 69 ± 7.5 μg.hr/ml and 140 ± 36 μg.hr/ml for CFUGM and erythroid colonies, respectively). Neither an increase (induced by N-acetylcysteine), nor a decrease (induced by buthionine sulfoximine) of the cellular content of GSH affected busulphan-induced cytotoxicity in human CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors in vitro, or in murine bone marrow cells in vivo. In conclusion, liposomal busulphan is a suitable formulation for high dose treatment in conditioning regimen prior to stem cell transplantation. N-acetylcysteine does not decrease busulphan-induced cytotoxicity in hematopoietic progenitor cells, and may thus serve as a potential prophylactic agent against transplantation-related hepatotoxicity.


Environmental accounting is an accounting science that shows the real costs of business inputs and processes and ensures cost efficiency, while also being used to measure quality and service costs. The main objective is to comply with environmental protection laws to find efficiencies that reduce environmental impacts. Environmental accounting basically requires the full awareness of other companies or organizations that benefit from the environment. This research was conducted at the hospital, because in hospitals it can produce a lot of waste, therefore hospitals need guidelines to manage waste properly and efficiently with environmental accounting. The purpose of this study is to find out whether the RSUD DR. Sam Ratulangi Tondano has implemented environmental accounting and carried out identification, measurement, recognition, presentation, and disclosure.


Analytical studies of black hole accretion usually presumes the stability of the stationary transonic configuration. Various authors in the past several decades demonstrated the validity of such an assumption for inviscid hydrodynamic flow. Inviscid approximation is a reasonable approach for low angular momentum advection dominated flow in connection to certain supermassive black holes at the centres of the galaxies (including our own) fed from a number of stellar donors. Introduction of a weak viscosity, as a first order linear correction involving the viscosity parameter, however, may sometimes provide a more detail understanding of the observed black hole spectra. The transonic behaviour of the stationary solutions have been studied for the aforementioned quasi-viscous accretion for all possible geometric configurations of axisymmetric flow. For a sufficiently low range of the viscosity parameter, transonic solutions containing one or three critical points have been found for allowed ranges in the astrophysical parameters under the post-Newtonian pseudo-Schwarzschild scheme. With the introduction of such viscosity parameter, the only feasible critical points are of saddle and spiral types in contrary to the inviscid case where centre type points were formed instead of spiral ones. Introduction of linear perturbations on stationary flow solutions and their time evolution in both standing and radially propagating wave forms have been examined (completely analytically) in detail. Our analysis shows that similar kind of secular instability exists in all the considered disk models at large distance in the asymptotic limit, however, the model itself is valid only within a certain length scale and the disks sustain within that length scale only for at least a considerable time scale.


Background Nailfold Capillaroscopy is a non-invasive diagnostic technique designed to evaluate small vessels of the microcirculation. The most important indication for capillaroscopy is Raynaud's phenomenon. The complexity and meticulous evaluation of the eight fingers is difficult to apply in daily practice given the limited availability of time to perform. For this reason it is necessary to develop simple and abbreviated techniques, to achieve an optimal and rapid evaluation of the patient. Objectives Determine the performance of the method of the 4° finger for the diagnosis of SD pattern in patients with Raynaud's Phenomenon taking the eight finger pattern as a gold standard. Methods Cross-sectional study with blinded and independent measurements. Nailfold Capillaroscopy was performed on the four fingers of each hand, except thumbs. Another observer evaluated the 4th finger of the hands. The interobserver agreement was made before carrying out the study and was 100%. The 8-finger method (gold standard) was considered positive when at least one finger has SD pattern and the 4° finger method was considered positive when at least one of them presents the SD pattern. We included patients older than 18 years with a diagnosis of Raynaud Phenomenon. Patients with thickening of the skin in the nailfold, digital lesion that made it difficult to assess (trauma, amputation, burns, etc.) and patients who did not consent to the procedure were excluded. Results We included 78 patients, 90% was female. The mean age was 53 years (DS +/- 13.5). Sixty-three patients had a score of eight fingers positive (cases) and 15 had a score of eight fingers negative (controls). The sensitivity of the 4° finger evaluation method was 89% (95% CI: 82–96%) and 93% specificity (95% CI: 88–99%). The positive predictive value of this method was 98% (95% CI: 95–100%) and the negative predictive value was 67% (95% CI: 56–77%). The positive likelihood ratio was 13 (95% CI: 2–89). Conclusions The simplified method of the 4° finger showed good performance for the diagnosis of SD pattern compared to the standard method of evaluation of the 8 fingers. References Sormani de Fonseca ML. Manual de Capilaroscopía. Buenos Aires: McDowell, 2000. Capítulo 1: 35. Cutolo M, Sulli A, Pizzorni C, Accordo S. Nailfold videocapillaroscopic assessment of microvascular damage in systemic sclerosis. J Rheumatol 2000; 27: 155–60. M. Cutolo et al. Nailfold videocapillaroscopic patterns and serum autoantibodies in systemic sclerosis. Rheumatology 2004; 43: 719–726. Ariane L. Herrick, Maurizio Cutolo. Clinical Implications From Capillaroscopic Analysis in Patients With Raynaud's Phenomenon and Systemic Sclerosis. Arthritis And Rheumatism 2010. Vol 62, No 9: 2595–2604. Sonsoles Piera –Velázquez et al. Patogénesis de la Esclerosis Sistémica. Rev Peruana de Reumatología 2004; 10(3): 34–42. Disclosure of Interest None declared


BACKGROUND It has been indicated that the acute exercise increases the thrombotic events that stem from platelet hyper-reactivity. The present randomized controlled trial study was carried out with the aim to compare high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) with moderate intensity continuous exercise (MICE) in terms of platelet indices and function in patients who had undergone post coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). METHODS 30 men with a history of CABG were recruited and divided into 3 groups (MICE, HIIE-1, and HIIE-2). The MICE protocol consisted of running for 40 minutes with 65% of maximal heart rate (HRmax). Subjects in HIIE-1 group performed an interval exercise with work to rest ratio of 1:1 in which 10 rounds of running (95% HRmax) were followed by active recovery (35% HRmax). HIIE-2 subjects performed an interval exercise with work to rest ratio of 2:1 in which 7 rounds of running (85% HRmax) were followed by active recovery (45% HRmax). Before and immediately after the exercise protocols, blood samples were taken from subjects and analyzed to measure the variables. RESULTS Although platelet count (PLT) and hematocrit (HCT) were increased significantly after HIIE-1 and HIIE-2 in comparison to MICE (P < 0.050), the other platelet indices [mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), plateletcrit (PCT)] were not significantly changed among groups (P > 0.050). The platelet aggregation and fibrinogen were further increased after HIIE-1 and HIIE-2 as compared with MICE; however, such increment were significant between HIIE-2 and MICE (P < 0.050). CONCLUSION It seems that HIIE, regardless of the type, has higher thrombotic potentials compared with MICE. Accordingly, MICE is safer than HIIE for rehabilitation in patients undergoing CABG.


Strain sensors with superb stretchability are highly desirable for applications in wearable devices. Here we report a simple method via immersion-swelling followed by in situ reduction to fabricate a highly stretchable strain sensor with a graphene/AgNPs synergic conductive network and a sandwich structure (i.e., one insulating layer sandwiched between two conductive layers). In the strain sensor, AgNPs were in situ formed without adding any other organic stabilizer, and graphene nanosheets acted as a conductive bridge between them, ensuring the wearable sensor excellent initial electrical conductivity (σ ≈ 1.4 × 105 S m−1). During stretching, the pure graphene/TPU insulating layer of the sandwich structure maintained the high stretchability, and the graphene located between the cracks of AgNPs resulted in the connection of conductivity networks under high strain (1000% maximum strain). What is more, the low detection limit (0.5%), high gauge factor (7 at 50% strain, 476 at 500% strain) and high working stability (more than 1000 cycles at 50% strain) of the strain sensor enable it to meet the needs for numerous applications in wearable devices.


Today, the management of large organizations and industries of Iran and in the world is rising. So in order to proper and competent management of this system, all companies and organizations need to develop appropriate strategies in relation to health, safety and environment. The aim of the study was to evaluate the performance of the education system of Mazandaran in the field of health, safety and environment management. The procedure of research was library, athletics and population by 490 employees and experts of Mazandaran education organization that based on this, the sample size, according to Morgan was 215. Then data collection and analysis them to the research hypothesis test to be explored through the use of a questionnaire with 40 questions. Results have shown that the performance of Mazandaran education organization in HSE (health, safety and environment management). According to studied variables (leadership and commitment, policy, strategic objectives, assessment and risk management, organizing, resources, documentation, audit and updating, implementation and planning) are in the good conditions, this means that the management of health, safety and environment is well planned in this organization.


The Alzheimer's Disease (AD) has become a major threat of human health with its incidence rate ascending year by year. Early diagnosis of AD is very important for AD patients to keep life quality. The resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) which precisely reflects the brain changes on the resting state of individuals provides a quantitative approach, which has been introduced to distinguish AD patients from normal population. In this study, we proposed a method to find the most distinctive features identifying AD patients from rs-fMRI images. The ALFF and ReHo parameters based on pre-processed rs-fMRI data were extracted, and some key parameters of the brain functional network based on graph theory were calculated. Then we tested the recognition performance of different classifiers, and the best classification algorithm, that is, Support Vector Machine (SVM) with linear-kernel are selected. Finally through a recursive feature selection procedure, we got the most distinctive feature set. Additionally, this study also implies that there may be several changes in some particular ROIs of the brain during the AD development.


ECG-based based human recognition is increasingly becoming a popular modality for biometric authentication. Two important features of ECG signals are liveliness and the robustness against falsification. However, ECG features vary due to muscle flexure, baseline wander, and other sources of noise. This paper presents a new method which extracts multiscale geometric features from ECG signals and apply them for human identification. A non-linear filter is applied for preprocessing the ECG signal. The refined ECG signal is then divided into multiple segments and feature matrix is computed by multiscale pattern extraction technique. Feature matrix is finally applied to a simple minimum distance to mean classifier adopting leave-one-out procedure. An experiment with 60 ECG signals from 60 subjects shows promising performance of the proposed method compared to the conventional ECG features.


The surface tensions of binary salt mixtures made up from NaCl and MgCl2 in aqueous solution were measured as a function of concentration and temperature. By analyzing the results, the thermodynamic quantities of surface formation such as entropy (Deltas), Helmholtz free energy (Deltaf), and energy of surface formation (Deltau) were evaluated. The Deltaf of the mixtures positively deviates from the straight line connecting those of NaCl and MgCl2 aqueous solutions. On the other hand, Deltas shows negative deviation from the linear relation. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.


The paper describes an ongoing research for a method of interactive sonification of 2D image data. The method utilizes an existing device (from computer games console), Nintendo's wiimote controller [11] to provide a means of interacting with the image to aid exploration, providing the user with sonic and haptic feedback. This paper presents a method for segmentation and analysis of regions within an image to produce global and local descriptors of the specified region.


A low-Km phosphodiesterase activity, which is acutely stimulated by insulin in vivo, has been identified in plasma membranes and Golgi fractions prepared from rat liver homogenates in isotonic sucrose. Within seconds after insulin injection (25 micrograms/100 g body weight) cAMP phosphodiesterase activity increases by 30-60% in Golgi fractions and by 25% in plasma membranes; activity in crude particulate and microsomal fractions is unaffected. The increase in activity is short-lived in the light and intermediate Golgi fractions, but persists for at least 10 min in the heavy Golgi fraction. It precedes the translocation of insulin and insulin receptors to these fractions, which is maximal at 5 min. The doses of insulin required for half-maximal and maximal activation are, respectively, 7.5 micrograms/100 g and 25 micrograms/100 g body weight. Golgi-associated cAMP phosphodiesterase activity shows non-linear kinetics; a high-affinity component (Vmax, 13 pmol min-1 mg protein-1; Km, 0.35 microM) is detectable. Insulin treatment increases the Vmax 60-70%, but does not affect the Km. Unlike the low-Km cAMP phosphodiesterase associated with crude particulate fractions, the Golgi-associated activity is not easily extractable by solutions of low or high ionic strength. On analytical sucrose density gradients, low-Km cAMP phosphodiesterase associated with the total particulate fraction equilibrates at lower densities than endoplasmic reticulum and lysosomal markers, but at a higher densities than plasma membrane, Golgi markers and insulin receptors. Insulin treatment increases the specific activity of the enzyme by 20-60% at densities below 1.12 g cm-3, and by 20-40% in the density interval 1.23-1.25 g cm-3. Such treatment also causes a slight, but significant shift in the distribution of phosphodiesterase towards lower densities. It is suggested that Golgi elements or physically similar subcellular structures are a major site of localization of insulin-sensitive cAMP phosphodiesterase in rat liver. However, internalization of the insulin-receptor complex is probably not required for enzyme activation.


Despite major breakthroughs in melanoma drug development, there remains a need for new drugs and novel approaches. Of the three forms of skin cancer, malignant melanoma has the most significant impact on human health carrying the highest risk of mortality from metastasis. An estimated 87,110 new cases of invasive melanoma will be diagnosed and 9,730 people will die of melanoma in the USA in 2017. Melanoma accounts for less than one percent of skin cancer cases, but the vast majority of skin cancer deaths. The vast majority of melanomas are caused by the sun. In fact, one UK study found that about 86 percent of melanomas can be attributed to exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. The estimated 5-year survival rate for patients whose melanoma is detected early is about 98 percent in the USA, whereas, the survival rate falls to 62 percent when the disease reaches the lymph nodes, and 18 percent when the disease metastasizes to distant organs. Thus, novel effective therapies are urgently needed to treat this disease. The Isatin (1H-indole-2,3-dione) is found as an endogenous molecule in humans and other mammals and its analogs display diverse types of biological activities including anti-cancer activities. Earlier our group synthesized a novel series of 5,7-dibromoisatin analogs. Various melanoma cells were treated with several Isatin derivatives having functional groups like selenocyanate, thiocyanates, thiourea, and selenourea for 72 hours and the cell survival was estimated by MTS assay. Agents were treated with melanoma cell lines UACC 903, 1205 Lu or normal fibroblast cell line FF2441. Treatment with KS99, a thiocyanate analog and KS101, a selenourea analog of 5,7-dibromoisatin effectively killed melanoma cells after 72 h treatment. Overall, IC50 values of Isatin derivatives on melanoma cell lines were 3.0-5.7μM and 2.1-5.7μM, respectively. IC50 value on normal fibroblast cells with these Isatin derivatives was 5.4-20.7μM. KS101 was toxic to the xenograft mice at 1mg/kg body weight, animals developed vein inflammatic symptoms after 20 days of treatment. However, liposomal formulation of KS101 was safe up to 30mg/kg body weight in 1205 xenografted nude mice when treated alternate days by tail vein injection. The melanoma tumor burden was reduced by 47%. We will discuss structural activity relationship (SAR) of Isatin derivatives, and its in vitro and in vivo inhibitory effects against melanoma. Citation Format: Dhimant H. Desai, Raghvendra Gowda, Krishne Gowda, Saketh S. Dinavahi, Gavin P. Robertson, Shantu G. Amin. Inhibition of melanoma development by Isatin analogs [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2806.


Olivaw is an AI Othello playing agent which autonomously learns how to improve its gameplay by playing against itself. Some top-notch players (including former World Champions) reported that they had the impression that Olivaw's gameplay was human-like. To better investigate the processes related to these impressions, we conducted a pilot study using the Othello Game Evaluation App, a computer application we developed to evaluate pre-recorded Othello games in a controlled setting while assuring an adequate user experience. An exploratory analysis of the results shows that the participants mostly evaluated Olivaw as a human. When asked for a motivation for their choice, some of them reported that they evaluate poor game moves (and, consequently, losing the game) as an indication of the human-likeness of the player.


Despite current advancement in the field of biomedical image processing, propelled by the deep learning revolution, multimodal image registration, due to its several challenges, is still often performed manually by specialists. The recent success of image-to-image (I2I) translation in computer vision applications and its growing use in biomedical areas provide a tempting possibility of transforming the multimodal registration problem into a, potentially easier, monomodal one. We conduct an empirical study of the applicability of modern I2I translation methods for the task of rigid registration of multimodal biomedical and medical 2D and 3D images. We compare the performance of four Generative Adversarial Network (GAN)-based I2I translation methods and one contrastive representation learning method, subsequently combined with two representative monomodal registration methods, to judge the effectiveness of modality translation for multimodal image registration. We evaluate these method combinations on four publicly available multimodal (2D and 3D) datasets and compare with the performance of registration achieved by several well-known approaches acting directly on multimodal image data. Our results suggest that, although I2I translation may be helpful when the modalities to register are clearly correlated, registration of modalities which express distinctly different properties of the sample are not well handled by the I2I translation approach. The evaluated representation learning method, which aims to find abstract image-like representations of the information shared between the modalities, manages better, and so does the Mutual Information maximisation approach, acting directly on the original multimodal images. We share our complete experimental setup as open-source (https://github.com/MIDA-group/MultiRegEval), including method implementations, evaluation code, and all datasets, for further reproducing and benchmarking.


This paper describes a precise numerical calculation of the specific heat ratio and speed of sound in air as a function of temperature, pressure, humidity, and CO2 concentration. The above parameters are calculated utilizing classical thermodynamic relationships and a real gas equation of state over the temperature range 0 °C–30 °C. The shortcomings of previous determinations are also discussed. For both parameters, the coefficients of an interpolating equation are given, which are suitable for use in applications requiring high precision. The overall uncertainty in the specific heat ratio is estimated to be less than 320 ppm and the uncertainty in the speed of sound is similarly estimated to be less than 300 ppm.


The cost of obtaining a complete porosity value using traditional coring methods is relatively high, and as the drilling depth increases, the difficulty of obtaining the porosity value also increases. Nowadays, the prediction of fine reservoir parameters for oil and gas exploration is becoming more and more important. Therefore, high-efficiency and low-cost prediction of porosity based on logging data is necessary. We have developed a machine-learning method based on the traditional long short-term memory (LSTM) model, called multilayer LSTM (MLSTM), to perform the porosity prediction task. We used three different wells in a block in southern China for the prediction task, including a training well and two test wells. One test well has the same logging data type as the training well, whereas the other test well differs from the training well in the logging depth and parameter types. Two different types of test data sets are used to detect the generalization ability of the network. A set of data was used to train the MLSTM network, and the hyperparameters of the network were adjusted through experimental accuracy feedback. We also tested the performance of the network using two sets of log data from different regions, including generalization and sensitivity of the network. During the training phase of the porosity prediction model, the developed MLSTM establishes a minimized objective function, uses the Adam optimization algorithm to update the weight of the network, and adjusts the network hyperparameters to select the best target according to the feedback of the network accuracy. Compared with conventional sequence neural networks, such as the gated recurrent unit and recurrent neural network, the logging data experiments show that MLSTM has better robustness and accuracy in depth sequence prediction. Especially, the porosity value at the depth inflection point can be better predicted when the trend of the depth sequence was predicted. This framework is expected to reduce the porosity prediction errors when data are insufficient and log depths are different.


Insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein 2 (Imp2, IGF2BP2) is expressed during embryonic development in the brain and associated with several types of cancer. In preliminary studies we assessed Imp2 expression in normal brain and glial tumors. Immunohistochemistry revealed that Imp2 is present in 75% cases of the most malignant glial tumor, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), whereas it is absent in low grade gliomas and in normal brain. GBM harbor a subpopulation of undifferentiated, slowly proliferating cells that correspond to the current definition of cancer stem cells (CSC). Analysis of these cells selected based on the CSC-associated CD133 marker expression, revealed that they express higher levels of Imp2 than their CD133-negative counterparts. Primary cultures of gliospheres that allow for CSC enrichment, also expressed high Imp2 levels. Imp2 depletion by shRNA significantly decreased GBM CSC ability to form spheres in single cell clonogenic assays and diminished their tumorigenic potential, suggesting that Imp2 is important for CSC maintenance. To investigate the role of Imp2 in CSC biology, Imp2 ribonucleoprotein complexes were purified and both Imp2-bound mRNA and proteins were analyzed, by microarray and mass spectrometry, respectively. Interestingly, both Imp2-bound RNA and Imp2-associated proteins were implicated in mitochondrial metabolism, in particular with oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos). Involvement of Imp2 in mitochondrial metabolism was therefore tested. Depletion of Imp2 in GBM CSC impaired OxPhos, but did not affect other mitochondrial processes. Moreover, Imp2 knock-down decreased cellular ATP levels, suggesting that OxPhos is the main energy producing pathway in GBM CSC. Accordingly, inhibition of respiratory complex I with rotenone mimicked the Imp2 knock-down phenotype, as it diminished proliferation, sphere formation, oxygen consumption and ATP levels. In contrast, inhibition of anaerobic glycolysis, a pathway associated with cancer bioenergetics, did not affect GBM CSC. The mechanism by which Imp2 controls OxPhos may involve its protein interactors, among which we found three subunits of respiratory complex I, responsible for initiation of complex assembly. Imp2 depletion affects activity and assembly of respiratory complex I, suggesting that the interaction between Imp2 and these subunits is crucial for electron entry into the OxPhos chain. In addition, Imp2 may control cellular respiration by providing mRNA delivery. Purification of mitochondria-bound polyribosomes revealed that overexpression of Imp2 increases the amount of Imp2-bound mRNA in this fraction. These data imply that Imp2 delivers nuclear-encoded mRNA onto ribosomes attached to the mitochondrial surface, where co-translational insertion into mitochondrial membranes can occur. Our results have uncovered a novel function of the oncofetal protein Imp2 related to metabolic requirements of GBM CSC. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1137. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-1137


Absfract-In this paper, a systematic procedure to test for stability of three-dimensional filters (discrete and continuous) is presented. The test is based on repeated applications of an extended Hermite or Schur-Cohn formulation, and use of Sturm's theorem to determine the content of a system of polynomial inequalities in a single indeterminate. The need for generating a constructive algorithm for stability tests for higher than three-dimensional filters using Tarski's generalization of Sturm's theorem is discussed. Application of certain combinatorial rules for transforming the multidimensional digital filter problem to the multidimensional continuous filter problem or vice versa) is made.


John Duns Scotus recognizes complexity in God both at the level of God's being and at the level of God's attributes. Using the formal distinction and the notion of "unitive containment," he argues for real plurality in God, but in a way that permits him to affirm the doctrine of divine simplicity. We argue that his allegiance to the doctrine of divine simplicity is purely verbal, that he flatly denies traditional aspects of the doctrine as he had received it from Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas, and that his denial of the doctrine allows him to escape certain counterintuitive consequences of the doctrine without falling afoul of the worries that motivated the doctrine in the first place. We note also an important consequence of Scotus's approach to simplicity for the correct interpretation of his view of the foundation of morality.


All cellular organisms in aquatic environments are susceptible to virus attack. Viruses are the smallest but most abundant biological entities in freshwaters. This thesis describes interactions between viruses and bacteria in temperate and polar freshwaters with particular emphasis on Arctic and Antarctic aquatic systems. Free virus-like particles in freshwaters are vulnerable and exposed and as parasites their survival is dependent on the existence of a suitable host. I found that high concentrations of humic substances in lakes had a negative impact on viral abundance as viruses may be adsorbed to humic matter and replication or viral infectivity may be lost. This indicates that virus-bacteria interactions in humic lakes may differ from those in clear water lakes. Furthermore, there was a high incidence of lysogenic bacteria in humic lakes when compared to other temperate freshwaters which could indicate that lysogeny may act as a viral survival strategy in environments where high rates of destruction and inactivation may occur. On the contrary, I found that lysogenic bacteria were not common in the Arctic and Antarctic freshwaters and during a seasonal study conducted on two Antarctic ultra-oligotrophic lakes lysogenic bacteria were only detected on 3 out of 10 sampling occasions. As viruses are parasites the metabolic state of their host will largely determine how successful they are in replicating. I found that bacterial growth in the Arctic and Antarctic freshwaters was primarily limited by phosphorus however even though an increase in phosphorus had a positive effect on bacteria this was not reflected in the virus abundance. Using electron microscopy I established that a high percentage of the Arctic and Antarctic bacteria population was visibly infected and that the average number of virus-like particles per cell was low relative to previous reported data. This indicates that virus-bacteria interactions in polar freshwaters differ significantly from those in temperate freshwaters. In microbially dominated Antarctic freshwater lakes the major pathway of energy and carbon flow is through the microbial loop. Viral lysis disrupts this flow and shunts organic carbon back into the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pool making it available for the uninfected bacterial community. I found that viral lysis of bacterial cells could contribute significantly to the DOC pool in Antarctic freshwater lakes. I estimated that over 60% of the carbon supplied to the DOC pool originated from viral lysis during the winter months while during the summer period less than 20% originated from viral lysis. This implies that viral processes in extreme Antarctic lakes may be of quantitative significance with respect to carbon flow. (Less)


were not due to inadvertent intravascular injection, although the episode that followed release of upper arm compression exactly mimicked this. There is good evidence that local anaesthetic can enter large intact vessels following paracervical block;3 it is therefore quite plausible that bupivacaine could have diffused into a relatively empty axillary vein and the bolus effect resulted from venous washout following release of the occluding hand. This case illustrates a potentially serious source of morbidity in an otherwise well-tolerated procedure. The complication is not mentioned in the standard texts, but we consider that anaesthetists should be aware of it. Depariment of Anaesthetics. J.W. MACKENZIE Si Thomas's Hospital, J.A. TYTLER Lombeih Palace Road, London SEl 7EH


This paper considers the problem of asynchronous distributed multi-agent optimization on server-based system architecture. In this problem, each agent has a local cost, and the goal for the agents is to collectively find a minimum of their aggregate cost. A standard algorithm to solve this problem is the iterative distributed gradient-descent (DGD) method being implemented collaboratively by the server and the agents. In the synchronous setting, the algorithm proceeds from one iteration to the next only after all the agents complete their expected communication with the server. However, such synchrony can be expensive and even infeasible in real-world applications. We show that waiting for all the agents is unnecessary in many applications of distributed optimization, including distributed machine learning, due to redundancy in the cost functions (or {\em data}). Specifically, we consider a generic notion of redundancy named $(r,\epsilon)$-redundancy implying solvability of the original multi-agent optimization problem with $\epsilon$ accuracy, despite the removal of up to $r$ (out of total $n$) agents from the system. We present an asynchronous DGD algorithm where in each iteration the server only waits for (any) $n-r$ agents, instead of all the $n$ agents. Assuming $(r,\epsilon)$-redundancy, we show that our asynchronous algorithm converges to an approximate solution with error that is linear in $\epsilon$ and $r$. Moreover, we also present a generalization of our algorithm to tolerate some Byzantine faulty agents in the system. Finally, we demonstrate the improved communication efficiency of our algorithm through experiments on MNIST and Fashion-MNIST using the benchmark neural network LeNet.


Chinese ivory puzzle balls are known for their beauty, finesse and their ability to intrigue viewers. From the eighteenth century until recently, they have been crafted by turning, using a simple lathe and a set of drilling and carving tools developed in the eighteenth century. The craft of Chinese ivory puzzle balls has been described as the 'devil's work', as it requires a great deal of proficiency, accuracy and patience. This study presents a novel method for quantifying the crafting process of Chinese ivory puzzle balls. The method is based on measuring the morphological properties of ivory balls in three-dimensional images obtained using X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) scanning techniques. The accuracy of the crafting process is obtained by comparing the measured properties with an underlying mathematical model of the ball. We apply the proposed method to ivory balls from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The results show substantial differences in the accuracy of the crafting process. From an art-historical perspective, the results show that the accuracy of the crafting process evolved during the eighteenth century. They also suggest that the ivory balls we have analyzed have been crafted with different types of turning tools.


Introduction Percutaneous endoscopic colostomy (PEC) for venting and fixation is a treatment option in patients with severe physical and/or mental disability and chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction/megacolon, who need repeated hospital admissions with acute episodes of pseudo-obstruction with or without sigmoid volvulus. These patients are normally treated by repeated endoscopic decompression but are unfit for major surgery. We present our series of 38 such patients who underwent PEC with a mean follow-up of 10.6 (range 1–79) months. Methods Thirty-eight patients underwent PEC. Mean age was 72.4 (range 40–93) years. One or two PEC tubes were placed in the dilated sigmoid colon for venting and fixation. The tubes were subsequently changed to low-profile ballooned devices which were left in place indefinitely. Patients or carers vented the tubes as necessary to keep the colon decompressed. Data were collected prospectively. Results There were no deaths within 30 days. Two patients underwent Hartmann's operation after early PEC dislodgement. There were no further hospital admissions for pseudo-obstruction or volvulus in the remaining 36 patients after 10.6 (range 1–79) months including four patients whose PEC device fell out at 8–10 months. Two patients died at 10 and 12 months, respectively, due to peritonitis and 13 patients died of unrelated causes. Conclusion PEC is a relatively safe treatment option in high-risk patients with colonic pseudo-obstruction/megacolon with or without volvulus and prevents further hospital admissions in all patients.


In this paper we present the starting point of research in applying human- computer interaction (HCI) techniques to help people with cerebral palsy to use computers via vision-based interaction. Our work includes the development and improvement of vision- based assistive technology, which was tested in experiments with cerebral palsy users. A brief review of current assistive technologies for severely physically impaired people and an explanation of the developed applications of such technologies are also presented. The final part of the paper describes the experimentation goals, process, and preliminary results. Future work directions are also indicated.


Severe airway bleeding or massive hemoptysis is a rare condition that carries high mortality. Patients are at  risk of life-thretening respiratory compromise due to the airways  filling with blood. The main principles in the management of massive hemoptysis are:  maintainance of airway patency, localization of the source of bleeding and control of the hemorrhage. Most cases of massive hemoptysis are caused by inflammatory lung diseases such as aspergiloma, tuberculosis and bronchiectasis while a severe bleeding from a malignant lung tumor is a rare find. We present a case of massive hemoptysis in a 60-year old woman, caused by the invasion of lung cancer into the left pulmonary trunk and aorta, which was successfully managed by an extended left pneumonectomy, with the resection of the proximal part of the descending thoracic aorta and interposition of a vascualar graft without extra corporeal circulation. A complete (R0) resection was also achieved.


This comparative study aims at highlighting the symbolism of the olive tree in Palestinian and Spanish poetry. Since the olive tree is elemental in both cultures, the study attempts to tackle four main themes of such a dominant tree: resistance, peace, eternity, and homeland. In order to conduct the study, a number of poems employing the olive tree are investigated and analyzed in order to highlight the closeness between the Palestinian and the Spanish cultures. The study tries to prove the matchfullness between the symbolism of the olive tree in both poetries. The selection of the poems is based on the common ground of the olive tree symbolism in Palestine and Spain. The only theme in which the poetry in the two cultures does not completely coincide is resistance. In Palestinian poetry, the olive is used to signify resistance against occupation, while this tree is employed to denote the resistance to socioeconomic classism, urban sprawl, and natural disasters. In order to make an outstanding comparison in the three other themes, the author selected poems of both cultures where the olive tree signifies international symbolizations.


Extended sieve element salivation (E1 waveform in the electrical penetration graph) is a characteristic activity during early sieve element punctures, particularly in resistant plants. In order to explore a chemically‐mediated mechanism of resistance associated with sieve element salivation, we compared the pattern of feeding behaviour of the aphid, Sitobion fragariae (Walker), on two cultivars of the wheat Triticum aestivum L., with different concentrations of hydroxamic acids (Hx). During 24 h of electronic monitoring, aphids dedicated over 50% of the total time to phloem ingestion from the sieve elements. Total time allocated to E1 in the experiment, time to first E1 within the experiment, time allocated to E1 before a sustained phloem ingestion (E2) and the contribution of sieve element salivation to the phloem phase (E1/[E1+E2]) were significantly higher in the high‐Hx cultivar. The increased salivation in plants with higher contents of Hx suggests the existence, at least in this system, of a chemically‐mediated sieve element constraint.


Radiation patterns of elevated antennas over spherical earth for scatter propagation in the lower ionosphere incorporating refraction, parallax, spherical divergence, tropospheric defocusing, and near-horizon diffraction have been used to compute the height gain function resulting from raising and lowering symmetric transmitting and receiving antennas for a fixed path length. This height gain function shows that a broad range of lower antenna heights has a gain over that antenna height computed with the same model which places the maximum of the first lobe at the path midpoint. The maximum of this function is defined as the optimum antenna height.


Scientific applications often need to write out large arrays and associated metadata periodically for visualization or restart purposes. In this paper, we present active buffering, a high-level transparent buffering scheme for collective I/O, in which processors actively organize their idle memory into a hierarchy of buffers for periodic output data. It utilizes idle memory on the processors, yet makes no assumption regarding runtime memory availability. Active buffering can perform background I/O while the computation is going on, is extensible to remote I/O for more efficient data migration, and can be implemented in a portable style in today's parallel I/O libraries. It can also mask performance problems of scientific data formats used by many scientists. Performance experiments with both synthetic benchmarks and real simulation codes on multiple platforms show that active buffering can greatly reduce the visible I/O cost from the application's point of view.


The paper presents the results of the comparative analysis of dermatovenerologists service density within West-Siberian railway and territorial entities of Siberian Federal District of Russian Federation. To give an overall characteristic of dermatovenerological service at WSR, a complex assessment of occupied positions, number of individual persons, manning level and the portion of certificated doctors is used.


Cs22In6(SiO4)4 was synthesized by the reaction of appropriate starting materials at 673 K, followed by slow cooling to room temperature, in arc-welded tantalum ampoules. According to single-crystal X-ray analysis, the compound crystallizes in a new structure type (P21/n(no. 14), a = 14.3533(4), b = 16.1712(4), c = 25.0135(7) A, β = 94.368(1), Z = 4), consisting of [In6]6– clusters with the shape of a distorted octahedron or more appropriately described as a condensate of three face sharing tetrahedra. The cluster is the first example of a "hypoelectronic" isolated [In6]6– indium cluster. The oxosilicate indide can be regarded as a "double salt", Cs6In6 on one hand and the oxosilicate Cs4SiO4 ( × 4) on the other, which form the quaternary structure by inhomogeneous intergrowth of partial structures. The electronic structure of Cs22In6(SiO4)4 was examined by DFT calculations and compared to the one of Rb2In3, which exhibits linked In6 polyhedra. According to the DOS the title compound is a semiconductor with a band gap of 0.5 eV, which is in agreement with its observed insulating character. [In6]6– is an "isolated" cluster bearing inert electron pairs at each vertex. In contrast, [In6]4– in Rb2In3 only exhibits inert pairs at the apical atoms. The four basal atoms are linked to neighboring clusters by covalent bonds forming a 2D network. These bonding scenarios are supported by the analysis of the projected density of states, the electron localization function and the partitioning of the electron density according to Bader.


The multidimensional sleep health framework emphasizes that sleep can be characterized across several domains, with implications for developing novel sleep treatments and improved prediction and health screening. However, empirical evidence regarding the domains and representative measures that exist in actigraphy assessed sleep is lacking. We aimed to establish these domains and representative measures in older adults by examining the factor structure of 28 actigraphy-derived sleep measures from 2,841 older men from the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Sleep Study and, separately, from 2,719 older women from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures. Measures included means and standard deviations of actigraphy summary measures and estimates from extended cosine models of the raw actigraphy data. Exploratory factor analyses revealed the same 5 factors in both sexes: Timing (e.g., mean midpoint from sleep onset to wake-up), Efficiency (e.g., mean sleep efficiency), Duration (e.g., mean minutes from sleep onset to wake-up), Sleepiness/Wakefulness (e.g., mean minutes napping, amplitude of rhythm), and Regularity (e.g., standard deviation of the midpoint). Within each sex, confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the one-factor structure of each factor and the entire five-factor structure (Comparative Fit Index and Tucker Lewis Index ≥ 0.95; Root Mean Square Error of Approximation 0.08-0.38). Correlation magnitudes among factors ranged from 0.01 to 0.34. These findings demonstrate the validity of conceptualizing actigraphy sleep as multidimensional, provide a framework for selecting sleep health domains and representative measures, and suggest targets for behavioral interventions. Similar analyses should be performed with additional measures of rhythmicity, other age ranges, and more racially/ethnically diverse samples.


The objective of this work is to study the effect of carbon nanobrushes embedded within hydrogel composites on tissue engineering. The carbon nanobrushes, providing electrical conductivity to the hydrogels, influence the growth and proliferation of clinically relevant cell lines within the hydrogel composite. The composite is comprised of carbon nanobrushes embedded in a biocompatible poloxamer gel. This work assesses the ability of such composite gels to support the growth of tissue by studying fibroblasts and myoctes, which serve as indicators on the feasibility of this platform eventually serving as a matrix to stimulate wound closure and repair injured tissue. In such a model, fibroblasts and myocytes are seeded separately on the composite hydrogel and bathed in culture medium. The experimental model assesses the ability of fibroblasts and myocytes to grow into and adhere to the gel containing carbon nanobrushes. The work demonstrates that carbon nanobrushes can be dispersed within poloxamer gels, and that fibroblasts and myoctyes can proliferate within a poloxamer gel containing homogenously dispersed carbon nanobrushes. The work also examines the role of the carbon nanobrushes in altering the physical properties of the hydrogel composite. This work has relevance for tissue engineering and tissue regeneration in clinical medicine, with a focus on utilizing biomimetic and bioinspired materials, like the carbon nanobrushes, to enhance growth capabilities.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


We investigated by means of nonlinear tools the temporal distribution of 1983-2003 seismicity of the Umbria-Marche region, Central Italy, that was struck by a strong event (M=5.8) on 26 September 1997. Information entropy analysis has been performed over the full and the aftershock-depleted catalogue. We analysed the series of the interevent times between successive earthquakes and the series of their magnitudes. The time evolution of this measure shows a clear anomalous behaviour in correspondence with the stronger event, more evident in the full catalogue than in the aftershock-depleted one.


Abstract During long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD) the peritoneal membrane underlies processes of structural and functional reorganization mediated by high glucose and reactive glucose metabolites that are contained in PD solutions; this process is accompanied by increasing fibrosis. Mechanistically, the peritoneal damage is triggered by the interaction of advanced glycation end-products with their receptor; this is true for rodents as well as for humans. With this knowledge interventional strategies can be tested in rodent models, among them are the lipid soluble vitamin B1 analogue benfotiamine (BF) or detoxifying enzymes such as glyoxalase. Of additional interest is the finding that PD fluids do not only cause local but also systemic damage, in particular renal and cardiovascular. In the case of kidney damage, the intervention with BF was also successful. Taken together, PD can be regarded as a local model for long-term diabetes together with systemic aspects of damage.


Recent attention has been placed on whether computer assisted learning (CAL) can effectively improve learning outcomes. However, the empirical evidence of its impact is mixed. Previous studies suggest that the lack of an impact in developed countries may be attributable to substitution of effort/time away from productive, in-school activities. However, there is little empirical evidence on how effective an in-school programme may be in developing countries. To explore the impact of an in-school CAL programme, we conducted a clustered randomised experiment involving over 4000 third and fifth grade students in 72 rural schools in China. Our results indicate that the in-school CAL programme has significantly improved the overall math scores by 0.16 standard deviations. Both the third graders and the fifth graders benefited from the programme.


Rana temporaria tadpoles which had been naturally infected by larvae of Polystoma integerrimum were kept in the laboratory under conditions precluding the continuous re-infection which occurs in nature. One tadpole was seen to have two larvae attached to the skin of the ventral surface of the body, which were moving towards the posterior end. The tadpole measured 7·9 mm. in body length and 20·8 mm. in total length, and its stage of development corresponded to stage 5 in the table of development and metamorphosis compiled by Rugh (1951); it was collected in mid-May and had been kept for twelve days under laboratory conditions. The tadpole was fixed and dissected: the bladder had not developed, and the gills showed no indication of atrophy; the alimentary canal was long and heavily coiled, and filled with food. In addition to the two larvae observed on the skin, one larva was found in the branchial chamber, two were in the cloacal tube, seven occupied the cloacal chamber and two had travelled up the right ureter to the kidney; the alimentary canal was free of larvae. All fourteen larvae were gyrodactyloids.


Changes in recent EU policy highlight the need for improving building professionals' knowledge and skills regarding energy considerations in building design and construction. The architectural and engineering educational sector in particular is tasked with equipping graduates with the required competencies in order to be able to contribute to a fast-developing energy agenda. Although significant attention is placed on improving knowledge regarding energy in buildings in the industry sector there is less discussion across the UK professional bodies or research on the sort of literacy competencies students require to meet the growing industry and policy demands. Architectural education in the UK is monitored and validated by its professional bodies. Although curricula are required to embed sustainable development within their accreditation criteria for instance, it is less clear how energy considerations are met. The purpose of this paper is to examine how architectural educational institutions provide energy content in their undergraduate curricula. The study analyses 22 out of 45 accredited architecture undergraduate course programme specifications with a focus on exploring how energy content is described in both the learning outcomes and assessment. Preliminary findings demonstrate a varied and at times conflicting set of approaches with emphasis placed on cognitive literacy attributes of understanding and awareness with less consideration of behavioural or psychomotor attributes and little clarity in other cognitive dimensions such as knowledge and skills. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, the findings provide an initial overview of how energy content is considered in curriculum design in architectural education in the UK. Second, the study considers the attributes that shape energy literacy in the context of architectural undergraduate education. There are also implications for policy development in other related educational curricula in the built environment including engineering, architectural technology, planning and surveying.


UDP-Glc:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase (UGGT) has a central role to retain quality control of correctly folded N-glycoprotein in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). A selective and potent inhibitor against UGGT could lead to elucidation of UGGT-related events, but such a molecule has not been identified so far. Examples of small molecules with UGGT inhibitory activity are scarce. Here, we report squaryl group-modified UDP analogs as a promising UGGT inhibitor. Among these, the compound possessing a 2'-amino group of the uridine moiety and hydroxyethyl-substituted squaramide exhibited the highest potency, suggesting its relevance as a molecule for further optimization.


Abstract : Conventional technologies for the treatment of groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvents have limitations that have motivated development of innovative technologies. One such technology currently under development involves using palladium-on-alumina (Pd/Al) as a catalyst to promote dechlorination. Pd/Al catalyst may be used in-well as part of a re-circulating horizontal flow treatment well (HFTW) system. An HFTW system involves two or more dual-screened wells, with in-well reactors, to capture and treat contaminated groundwater without the need to pump the water to the surface. In this study, objective and fitness functions, based on system costs and TCE concentration requirements, were developed to optimize a dual-well HFTW system with in-well Pd/Al reactors in a two-aquifer remediation scenario. A genetic algorithm (GA) was coupled with a three dimensional numerical model of contaminant fate and transport to determine optimized HFTW control parameters (well location, pumping rate, and reactor size). The GA obtained a solution within the specified constraints, but the solution was an artificial solution, as contaminated groundwater in one of the two aquifers received no treatment. Based on these results, new objective and fitness functions were developed in an effort to determine the most cost effective solution to remove contaminant mass from the aquifer. The solution arrived at using this approach, while resulting in minimized values of cost per contaminant mass destroyed, produced unacceptably high downgradient contaminant concentration levels. We conclude that by specifying that only two wells could be used in the HFTW system, we overconstrained the problem and that a multi-well HFTW solution is required.


Age-adjusted rates of total first hospital admissions of U.S. Navy enlisted personnel with diagnoses of infectious and parasitic diseases declined from a high of 112.9 per 10,000 person-years in 1977 to a low of 50.3 per 10,000 person-years in 1982. Ten specific diagnoses accounted for 78% of these hospitalizations. Eight diagnoses exhibited significant increases in rates over the study period. Improved medical care and prophylaxis, greater emphasis on outpatient care, changing social characteristics of Navy personnel, and changes in deployment theaters may account for the observed trends in hospitalization.


Chronic persistent stress is an important cause of gastritis, but the underlying mechanism remains to be further researched, especially the role of the gastric microbiota in this process. Here, we used the water avoidance stress (WAS) test in mouse models for chronic stress‐induced gastritis to investigate the underlying mechanisms of this disease. The effect of stress on the gastric microbiota was analyzed based on 16S rRNA sequencing; the changes in hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and inflammatory cytokine levels in gastric tissues were detected by Western blotting, ELISA, immunofluorescence, and qRT‐PCR. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was used as an indicator of the gastritis histological score. This finding is consistent with previous studies showing that gastric H2S is negatively associated with the inflammatory index and might protect the gastrointestinal tract from inflammation. WAS‐induced gastritis was associated with a reduction in H2S release, which appeared to affect the homeostasis of the gastric microbiota of mice. Inflammation and microbial dysbiosis were partially reversed by sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) and vitamin B6 (VB6) supplementation, suggesting the therapeutic potential of VB6 supplementation for the treatment of stress‐induced gastritis. Gastritis has a serious impact on health and quality of life. An increasing number of people are suffering from chronic gastritis linked to a high‐stress lifestyle, and our research provides clues for the prevention and treatment of stress‐induced gastritis.


There has been a steady increase in popular music programs at Higher Music Education Institutions (HMEIs) across Europe. However, what students actually are supposed to learn at popular music bachelor/master programs has remained largely understudied. Based on 12 in-depth interviews with leaders in higher popular music education, this paper addresses: (1) how popular music is defined and possibly canonized, (2) what the position of popular music programs is, and (3) how the content of popular music programs is constructed—at HMEIs. First, participants struggle to provide a clear definition of popular music. Therefore, they differ in how they name their program – as popular music, pop music or something else. Because there is little consensus over a canon of popular music, our interviewees work from a mini-canon of British/American popular music, add local music to the curriculum, use jazz as a basis and/or work without a canon. Second, despite their growing popularity, popular music programs still struggle to position themselves, particularly at HMEIs with strong classical music departments. Third, program leaders navigate between different approaches of content construction within the constraints of their institution: (a) craft-centered (top-down, teacher-driven, skill-oriented), (b) arts-centered (bottom-up, student-driven, creativity-oriented), and (c) market-centered (side-to-side, industry-driven, commercially-oriented).


textabstractMany problems in computational number theory require the application of some sieve. Efficient implementation of these sieves on modern computers has extended our knowledge of these problems considerably. This is illustrated by three classical problems: the Goldbach conjecture, factoring large numbers, and computing the summatory function of the M'{obius function.


Resonant tunnelling diodes consisting of an MBE-grown AlInAs barrier on each side of a lattice-matched GaInAs well have been fabricated. Current peak/valley ratios up to 7.1 and 39 have been measured at 300 K and 77K, respectively. These represent the largest values reported to date in any double-barrier, single-well device. The enhanced peak/valley ratio has been attributed to thick barriers (72 A) and wide, undoped GaInAs spacer layers (400 A).


Chlorinated solvents are among the most common soil and groundwater contaminants due to their widespread use as cleaning solvents or degreasing agents. Due to their physico-chemical properties, chlorinated solvents produce large-scale plumes of pollution in the groundwater. In the densely populated north western Europe, these pollution plumes often are situated under residential and urban development areas and, therefore, not easily accessible. Vapors can migrate through building slabs and affect the quality of indoor air. That is why the CityChlor project was created. It aims at improving the quality and minimizing pollution of soil and groundwater by developing an integrated approach to tackle the threats caused by contamination with chlorinated solvents in urban areas. One of the goals of the project is to define the most reliable, fast, and cost-effective techniques to detect, characterize, and delineate chlorinated solvent pollution in groundwater. In this context, passive sampling is an innovative way of sampling contaminants in groundwater in Europe, and it seems very promising. Therefore, tests are required at each country level to make regulations concerning these samplers, which will encourage consultants to use them. That is why the aim of this work was to assess the performance of 3 passive samplers to sample chlorinated solvents in groundwater and to compare the results to those obtained with the traditional groundwater sampling method, that is to say well purging prior to groundwater sampling with a pump. The pilot site chosen to conduct these experiments is an in-service facility located in France, 60 km east from Paris, in an urban area. In this factory, door locks and metal fittings have been produced since 1926 and chlorinated solvents are used to remove grease marks from metal fittings. On site, soils are composed of one layer of silty embankments (2 to 3 m) and then a sandy horizon. The water table is at around 2 m below the ground surface and it goes to 10 m deep. In order to test passive sampling, 5 dedicated water wells were installed on site. In this way, the design of the wells was totally known and passive samplers were tested in controlled conditions. One of them was screened from 2 to 8 m deep and the other ones were screened respectively from 2 to 3.5 m; 3.5 to 5 m; 5 to 6.5 m and 6.5 to 8 m. Three passive samplers were therefore tested: PDB (Polyethylene Diffusion Bags), Ceramic Dosimeters and Gore Sorber Modules. Multilevel sampling was done in the well screened from 2 to 8 m and one sampler was installed in the middle of each screened interval of the other wells. This was done for the 3 samplers tested. PDB were very easy to install and the cost of these samplers was lower than the one corresponding to the conventional method with the pump. In addition, these samplers exhibited a good reproducibility. Ceramic dosimeters were very easy to use as well, but results were not reproducible for some compounds. Some tests are still in progress to confirm this trend. For Gore Sorber Modules, the first sampling campaigns gave consistent results comparing to the pump. In general, passive samplers seemed to be very efficient to sample HVOC in groundwater and to be a good alternative to the standard method with purge and sampling with a pump.


The rapid development of technology used in electric vehicles, and in particular their penetration in electricity networks, is a major challenge for the area of electric power systems. The utilization of battery capacity of the interconnected vehicles can bring significant benefits to the network via the Vehicle to Grid (V2G) operation. The V2G operation is a process that can provide primary frequency regulation services in the electric network by exploiting the total capacity of a fleet of electric vehicles. In this paper, the impact of the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in the primary frequency regulation is studied and the effects PHEVs cause in non-interconnected isolated power systems with significant renewable energy sources (RES) penetration. Also it is taken into consideration the requirements of users for charging their vehicles. The V2G operation can be performed either with fluctuations in charging power of vehicles, or by charging or discharging the battery. So an electric vehicle user can participate in V2G operation either during the loading of the vehicle to the charging station, or by connecting the vehicle in the charging station without any further demands to charge its battery. In this paper, the response of PHEVs with respect to the frequency fluctuations of the network is modeled and simulated. Additionally, by using the PowerWorld Simulator software, simulations of the isolated power system of Cyprus Island, including the current RES penetration are performed in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of V2G operation in its primary frequency regulation.


The forests in Finland have been under intensive planning for decades. Currently, mathematical programming is widely used in planning of wood production. Today's multi-functional forestry, however, calls for more flexible decision support methods. MCDM tools have been used in responding to fresh planning challenges. For example, the Finnish Forest and Park Service, entrusted with the care of the vast majority of state-owned natural resources in Finland, endeavours to produce large-scale natural resource plans satisfying the needs of both economic, social, and ecological sustainability. Participatory approach is applied in the process.

Several forestry applications of MCDM methods, particularly those making use of the AHP or the HIPRE program, have been presented. Also, the outranking methods ELECTRE and PROMETHEE have been tested. Due to the nature of forestry applications, statistical techniques for analysing uncertainties in pairwise comparisons and for utilizing interval judgement data have been developed to improve the usability of the AHP. Recently, a hybrid method called A'WOT, making use of the AHP and SWOT, was also introduced into strategic forest planning.

This paper summarizes the experiences gained in applying a MAVT and two outranking methods in connection with a participatory natural resource planning process in Finland. In addition, some results of the method development work related to application needs are briefly presented. The details of the planning cases reviewed here have previously been presented in forestry journals. The purpose of this paper is not only to show how MCDM methods have been applied in forestry, but also to discuss the usability and usefulness of MCDM methods from the viewpoint of supporting forestry decision making—and how they might further be improved. Also, some perspectives for the future development work of MCDM applications in the field of natural resource management are focused on. As a conclusion, the use of more than just one MCDM method in a single planning process is seen usually recommendable. In addition, developing hybrid MCDM methods is regarded as a potential direction for future research. Also, closer co-operation between method developers and appliers is called for to produce more useful applications. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Introduction: Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is the important part of triple assessment in diagnosing the palpable breast lump. It categorizes the lesion into benign, malignant and its subtypes. It can also identify the residual diseases after treatment. Methods: It was a cross sectional descriptive study of cases of breast lump carried out during June 2015 to May 2016 in the Department of Pathology, Gandaki Medical College Teaching Hospital, Pokhara, Nepal. All the patients presenting in Pathology Department with history of breast lump were examined in detail. FNAC was done by standard procedure; smears were prepared and stained with Giemsa and pap for evaluation. Histopathology slides were stained with hematoxylin and eosin stain and evaluated by pathologists in Gandaki Medical College Teaching Hospital. Results: The study showed that, fibroadenoma of breast is the commonest benign lesion among the young populations. Only 13.11% of breast lump is malignant in the elderly population. Conclusion: FNAC is one of the safest and cheapest procedure that can be done in outpatient department for the diagnosis of breast lump. And there is no significant difference in diagnosis made by FNAC and histopatholgy examination.


In this paper, we deal with a class of one-dimensional reflected backward stochastic differential equations driven by a Brownian motion and the martingales of Teugels associated with an independent Lévy process having a stochastic Lipschitz coefficient. We derive the existence and uniqueness of solutions for these equations via Snell envelope and the fixed point theorem. AMS Mathematics Subject Classification : 60H10, 60H20.