Abstract The existence of a shared constraint hierarchy is one of the criteria that defines and delimits speech communities. In particular, women and men are thought to differ only in their rates of variable usage, not in the constraints governing their variation; that is, women and men are typically considered to belong to the same speech community. We find that in early twentieth century Southland, New Zealand, women and men had different constraint hierarchies for rhoticity, with a community grammar of rhoticity only developing later. These results may be a product of a particular set of sociohistorical facts thatare not peculiar to Southland. We suggest that further research in other geographical locations may indeed reveal that men and women have different constraint hierarchies for other variables. Speech communities may thus be delimited along social lines in ways that have not been previously considered.


For surface wave produced argon plasmas in the 60-180 MHz range, electron energy distribution functions are calculated from the electron Boltzmann equation solved in the Lorentz approximation. Breakdown and maintenance field strengths are determined self-consistently by satisfying additional balance equations. The influence of space charge fields and the limits of the approximations used are discussed.


The small-signal amplitude modulation, threshold, and spectral characteristics of microdisk lasers with InGaAs/GaAs quantum well-dots active region were studied jointly with the spectral and threshold parameters of edge-emitting lasers made from the same epitaxial heterostructure. Using the obtained material parameters, the relative intensity noise of the microdisk lasers was calculated as a function of the bias current and side-mode suppression ratio. It is shown that the integral noise is low enough for error-free optical data transmission with the maximum possible bitrate limited by the microdisk modulation bandwidth, if the bias current is above 1.7× threshold current (for side mode suppression ratio > 20 dB).


Key words: Improving, Reading Comprehension, Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR),
 Reading is one of the four English skills that must be taught to the students of Junior High School. It has important role in teaching learning English and it is usually taught in integration with three other language skills (listening, speaking, and writing). The aim of teaching reading comprehension is to enable students to read, understand texts, and materials written in English. To be more specific, they are expected to have skills in the levels of literal, inferential, and evaluative reading comprehension. Yet, the result of the teaching reading comprehension at MTsN Aryojeding , Rejotangan Tulungagung especially 8th years grade did not anymore reach the passing grade (75) and classical mastery (75%) officially stated by school.
 On the preliminary study conducted at MTsN Aryojeding, Rejotangan, Tulungagung it was found that:1) the students are lack of motivation: they are often looks feels bored to read and shy to answer or afraid to make mistake. 2) The students are lack of vocabulary and structure, they always open the dictionary if they find the difficult words, so it needs much time and their grammar weakness is influenced by their L1. 3) The students has no cooperative skills, they are shy and afraid to share their problem in reading with their teacher and friends. 4)The students had low ability in comprehending English text.
 So based on the problems above, the study was intended to improve student's ability in comprehending English text by using Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR). The strategy has four phases; preview, click and clunk, get the gist, and wrap up. The students has special roles; a leader, a clunk expert, an announcer , an encourager, and a reporter. CSR is an effective strategy for teaching reading comprehension since during teaching learning the teacher make some small heterogeneous groups or pairs in order that they can cooperate each other.
 The objective of the study is to improve the student's ability in reading comprehension. The study is Classroom Action Research (CAR) using a collaborative design. The procedures of the study consist of five steps, namely: preliminary study, planning, implementing the plan, observing the action, and reflecting on the action. The study is conducted in two cycles in which each cycle is ended by the administration of reading comprehension test to evaluate the student's achievement in reading comprehension.
 The study was conducted at MTsN Aryojeding located in JL. raya Blitar Rejotangan Tulungagung. It was applied in the 2nd semester of the academic year 2011-2012. The subjects of the study were the 8th year students (VIII G) comprising 42 students.
 The data of the study were obtained from the following research instrument: field notes, observation sheet, test, and interview. As qualitative data of the study, the observation sheet, field notes, and interview were used to describe the process of the implementation was used to evaluate the student's achievement in reading comprehension. Conversely, as quantitative data, the result of test in each cycle was used to evaluate the student's achievement in reading comprehension of narrative text.
 The result of the study showed that the implementation of the Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) improved the student's reading comprehension (literal, inferential, and evaluative). It also motivated students to be more active and cooperate with their friends in following instruction. The improvement was indicated by the increasing of the student's mean scores or reading comprehension test administered at the end of each cycle.


The purpose of this study is to analyze the association between technical features such as goal, pass, shot, ball possession and ball stealing and the goals scored in matches played by teams who qualified out of the group (n=16)  and who could not (n=8) in 2016 UEFA European Championship. The data of the study were obtained by using computerized multiple camera surveillance system (Prozone). SPSS 22.0 program was used for the statistical analyses of this study. Independent T test was used to compare the parameters of teams who qualified out of the team and those who could not, while Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the association between variables. When the total shot parameters per match apart from shots, total pass, total pass to the third zone and ball stealing total data were compared, significant difference was found (p<0.05). In all of the shot parameters, especially in total goals scored and total shots on target (r=0.903), a positive high association was found in total ball stealing (r=0.796), total pass (r=0.753), total forward pass (r=0.819) and total pass to the third zone (r=0.748), while a negative intermediate association was found in average pass length per match (34+M) (r=-0.449). When the results were examined, it can be said that the teams who qualified out of the game can use technical properties effectively. It can be stated that in order to be successful in elite tournaments in the world, analysis practices should be taken more into consideration as well as technical and tactical practices.


This paper focuses on the problem of outliers in binary choice models. It is show that identifying outliers as observation with a residual close to one in absolute value might be misleading and outlier detection procedures should rely on influence measures on the fit. Two scalar measures are derived to evaluate the influence of each observation as well as the influence of a group of observations on i) the vector of estimated parameters and ii) the vector of estimated probabilities. Also, the method proposed by Pena and Yohai (1995) to treat the problem of masking in linear models has been generalized to the case of binary choice models. A small Monte Carlo study analyzes the performance of a11 measures and an empirical application presents a diagnostic strategy for detection of outliers.


The present investigation was carried out with 30 genotypes of rice (Oryza sativa L.) to study the variability and genetic divergence for yield contributing characters and gall midge incidence at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Warangal, Telangana during kharif, 2021 (July–November) in RBD replicated twice for eight quantitative traits. The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was slightly higher than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all traits, indicating that environmental influences affect the expression of these traits. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as % of the mean values were observed for 1000 grain weight and number of grains panicle-1 suggesting that selection for the improvement of these traits may be rewarding. The PCA analysis showed that first three principal components accounted for about 91.57%. Based on D2 studies, 30 genotypes were grouped into seven clusters with the cluster I (13) containing maximum number of genotypes followed by cluster III (9) and cluster II (4). Highest inter cluster distances were observed between the clusters IV and VII (1272.49) followed by IV and V (1097.39), VI and VII (1013.83) and II and VII (944.20) indicating the importance of the genotypes present in these clusters for exploiting heterosis for the desirable traits of these clusters. Days to 50% flowering (27.58%),1000-grain weight (27.36%) and plant height (27.36%) were found to be the most contributing traits towards total genetic diversity, which could be given due importance by the breeders for development of superior rice genotypes under crop improvement programme.


Google Wave, launched in 2009, can generate a wave, which is a kind of conversation between users and at the same time a document. The conversation can be made of text, pictures, videos, maps, and more. This poster will show some possibility Google Wave give academic libraries to support research, and to help and engage cooperation between teacher and student. Google Wave have the possibility to enable co-writing in different language, and maybe across cultural boundaries, since the system translate seamless between languages while the user is writing. Possible scenarios will be presented. The first one is based on the property Google wave have to rewind and play again the discourse of the participants. With this context we will explore the possibility academic libraries have to develop wave modules for courses. Another scenario will try to introduce the "Wave librarian", who is a new role academic libraries can fill with help from this new shared service. The University of Oslo is cooperating with other Universities in developing countries, especially in Tanzania. An interesting scenario for the University Library could be if this new tool can help to overcome problems in the communicative landscape of culture and language and give new learning possibility. Using well known didactical framework (Bjorndal, Lieberg 1978) and discussions of learning in library (Sundin 2005), we will stress the Google Wave services to find out if it can really facilitate learning in a new way.


Measurements have been made of the drift velocities and the ratios of the diffusion coefficient to mobility (D/μ) of electrons in SF6 over the range 115<E/p<210 V cm−1 Torr−1 normalized to 20°C with gas pressures in the range 06 to 2 Torr and for diffusion gap distances of 3, 5 and 7 cm. In the derivation of the D/μ values, Townsend's primary ionization and electron attachment coefficients reported by Bhalla and Craggs (for the range 110 <E/p<160) and Moruzzi (for the range 160 <E/p<210) were used. The close agreement obtained between the D/μ values at various pressures and gap lengths supports the data of these workers. Anomalous diffusion of electrons was observed particularly at high pressures for E/p<130.


Methods are presented for obtaining highly purified preparations of basophilic leukocytes from the blood (mean purity, 62%) and bone marrow (mean purity, 38%) of guinea pigs. The following steps are performed in sequence: harvest of blood or bone marrow cells from animals primed with antigen to develop a basophilia; phagocytosis of carbonyl iron particles by neutrophils and monocytes; sedimentation of erythrocytes with gelatin (in the case of peripheral blood); removal of phagocytic cells and residual-free iron particles by passage through a magnetic field; centrifugation on a newly developed 4.5 to 9.5% linear Ficoll density gradient; and removal of residual erythrocytes by Tris-NH4Cl (optional step for peripheral blood). The basophils isolated are viable, functional cells, and, depending on the source and degree of purity desired, may be obtained in quantities of 5 × 106 to 2 × 108 and in an overall yield of 25 to 100%.


This study investigates the nexus between foreign direct investment and economic growth for Pakistan for 1980-2016. Using autoregressive distributed lag bounds co-integration and granger causality test. The results of ARDL bounds test shows the existence of co-integration between economic growth, FDI, trade, physical capital and human capital. The results indicate the unidirectional causality from economic growth to FDI, to physical capital and to trade. The findings also express the one-way causality from human capital to labour force and physical capital. The bidirectional causality is found between physical capital and FDI, and between physical capital and human capital. The study suggests to adopt such policies that enhance human skills to attract more FDI for economic growth.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Background: ABT-888 is an inhibitor of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase1 (PARP1) and PARP2, two highly conserved enzymes implicated in DNA repair, maintenance of genomic stability, and regulation of transcription. Topotecan (TPT) is a water soluble camptothecin derivative with antitumor activity against ovarian tumors. The combination of ABT-888 with TPT is under investigation in phase I trials because PARP inhibition sensitizes tumors cells to TPT in vitro and in vivo. In those trials, the pharmacokinetics of TPT and ABT-888 are being studied to determine if ABT-888 levels are sufficient to modulate PARP activity and to investigate the potential interaction between TPT and ABT-888.

Methods: Advanced cancer patients with ECOG performance scores 0-2, adequate hematological, renal and hepatic function were treated with ABT-888 on days 1-3, 8-10, and 15-17 every 28 days. Topotecan was administered on days 2, 9 and 16 every 28 days. DLTs were defined as grade 4 neutropenia, grade 4 thrombocytopenia, grade 4 anemia or ≥ grade 3 non-hematologic toxicities despite maximal supportive care. ABT-888 and Toptoecan pharmacokinetics were characterized in all patients. Analysis of urinary recovery is ongoing.

Results: In this ongoing Phase I trial, 13 female patients with ovarian (n=12) or breast (n=1) cancer have been enrolled to date and pharmacokinetic data is available for 12 of those patients. ABT-888/TPT dose levels are: Level 1- 10 mg/ 2 mg/m2, Level 2- 20 mg/2 mg/m2, Level 3- 10 mg/3 mg/m2, and Level 4- 20 mg/3 mg/m2. The combination of ABT-888 with topotecan has been tolerable, with no dose limiting toxicity, and dose escalation continues at dose level 5. Topotecan t1/2 and clearance values were 3.0 ± 0.5 hrs and 9.50 ± 1.51 L/hr/m2 when administered alone, and were not affected by administration with ABT-888. When administered alone, ABT-888 t1/2, Cmax, AUC0-∞ values after the 10 mg dose were 8.2 ± 2.4 hrs, 432 ± 217 nM, and 2568 ± 1300 nM*hr, respectively. ABT-888 t1/2, Cmax, AUC values after the 20 mg dose were 5.7 ± 3.1 hrs, 600 ± 165 nM, and 3870± 934 respectively. When administered with TPT, ABT-888 t1/2, Cmax, AUC values after the 10 mg dose were 7.2 ± 2.1 hrs, 412 ± 283 nM, and 2705± 1089 nM*hr are: nM*hr respectively. ABT-888 t1/2, Cmax and AUC values after the 20 mg dose combined with TPT were 5.8 ± 2.2 hrs, 664 ± 97.6 nM, and 4283± 936 nM*hr respectively.

Conclusions: Plasma clearance of TPT and ABT-888 does not appear to be altered when they are administered together. The effect of co-administration of these agents on renal clearance is presently under investigation and those results will be presented. This work was supported by NIH grants R25 GM75148-04, U01CA069912-16S and MM01-RR00585.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1301. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1301


The three-level neutral-point-clamped (3L-NPC) converter is a promising multilevel topology in the application of mega-watts wind power generation system. However, the growing requirements by grid codes may impose high stress and even give reliability problem to this converter topology. This paper investigates the loss and thermal performances of a 10 MW 3L-NPC wind power inverter undergoing Low Voltage Ride Through (LVRT) operation. A series of new space vector modulation methods are then proposed to relocate the thermal loading among the power switching devices. It is concluded that, with the proposed modulation methods, the thermal distribution in the 3L-NPC wind power inverter undergoing LVRT becomes more equal, and the junction temperature of the most stressed devices can be also relieved. Also the control ability of DC-bus neutral point potential, which is one of the crucial considerations for the 3L-NPC converter, is not compromised by the proposed modulation methods.


The skin is an attractive organ for immunization because of the presence of antigen-presenting cells. Intradermal delivery via tattooing has demonstrated superior vaccine immunogenicity of DNA vaccines in comparison to conventional delivery methods. In this study, we explored the efficacy of tattoo injection of a tumor vaccine based on recombinant Semliki Forest virus replicon particles (rSFV) targeting human papillomavirus (HPV). Tattoo injection of rSFV particles resulted in antigen expression in both the skin and draining lymph nodes. In comparison with intramuscular injection, the overall antigen expression determined at the site of administration and draining lymph nodes was 10-fold lower upon tattoo injection. Delivery of SFV particles encoding the E6 and E7 antigens of human papillomavirus type 16 (SFVeE6,7) via tattooing resulted in HPV-specific cytotoxic T cells and in vivo therapeutic antitumor response. Strikingly, despite the observed lower overall transgene expression, SFVeE6,7 delivered via tattoo injection resulted in higher or equal levels of immune responses as compared to intramuscular injection. The intrinsic immunogenic potential of tattooing provides a benefit for immunotherapy based on an alphavirus.


The objective of this study was to examine self-reported occupational health risks and health complaints of barbers and hairdressers. A total of 1284 individuals from 300 workplaces in Izmir participated in this study. The workers completed the questionnaires during their training in occupational health. Self-reported symptoms were allergy: 35% and musculoskeletal symptoms: 32%. The frequency of allergy complaints was found to be significantly higher in older individuals and in women. Allergic complaints were more frequent in i) those having history of allergy, ii) in the group where the use of protective clothing and gloves was lower, iii) in smokers and in those who found ventilation in the workplace to be inadequate. Only 41.2% reported that they used gloves and 15.2% reported the use of protective clothing within the last month. It appears that poor occupational factors in barbers' salons and exposure to hairdressing chemicals bring about health problems of the hairdressers.


Citation for published version (APA): Börjars, K., Denison, D., Krajewski, G., & Scott, A. K. (2013). Expression of possession in English: The significance of the right edge: Structural factors. In K. Börjars, D. Denison, & A. K. Scott (Eds.), Morphosyntactic categories and the expression of possession (pp. 123-148). (Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today; Vol. 199). John Benjamins Publishing Company.


The precautionary principle is an influential concept that has been widely used in international treaties and declarations involving the protection of the environment. The principle is now being applied to the development of transfusion policy. In this article, we examine the application of the precautionary principle in the policy process leading to Canada's decision to defer donations from individuals who had traveled to the United Kingdom because of concerns over variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. We found that, although the principle prominently influenced the decision-making process, problems existed with its interpretation. In particular, there was difficulty in balancing the risk prevented by applying a precautionary measure against the risk introduced by the same measure; in this case, the potential for shortages of blood. This dilemma is somewhat unique to the public health sector and will likely recur in future applications of the principle to transfusion policy.


IntroductionEagle syndrome (ES) is an uncommon complication of styloid process elongation with stylohyoideal complex symptomatic calcification. It is an uncommon condition (4% of the population) that is symptomatic in only 4% of the cases. Eagle syndrome is usually an acquired condition that can be related to tonsillectomy or to a neck trauma. A type of ES is the styloid-carotid syndrome, a consequence of the irritation of pericarotid sympathetic fibers and compression on the carotid artery. Clinical manifestations are found most frequently after head turning and neck compression. Although conservative treatment (analgesics, anticonvulsants, antidepressants, local infiltration with steroids, or anesthetic agents) have been used, surgical treatment is often the only effective treatment in symptomatic cases. Materials and MethodsWe present the case of a 55-year-old patient, successfully treated under endotracheal anesthesia. The cranial portion of the calcified styloid process was shortened through an external approach, using a piezoelectric cutting device (Piezosurgery Medical II; Mectron Medical Technology, Carasco, Italy) with MT1-10 insert, pump level 4, vibration level 7. ResultsNo major postoperative complications such as nerve damage, hematoma, or wound dehiscence occurred. After 6 months, the patient was completely recovered. Two years after the surgery, the patient did not refer any symptoms related to ES. ConclusionsThe transcervical surgical approach in patients with ES seems to be safe and effective, despite the remarkable risk for transient marginal mandibular nerve palsy. This risk can be decreased by the use of the piezoelectric device for its distinctive characteristics—such as precision, selective cut action, and bloodless cut.


Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors are marketed as therapeutic drugs for diabetes that act through the inhibition of carbohydrate metabolism. Inhibitors of the alpha-glucosidases that are involved in the biosynthesis of N-linked oligosaccharide chains have been reported to have antitumor, antiviral, and apoptosis-inducing activities, and some have been used clinically. alpha-Glucosidase inhibitors have interesting biological activities, and their design, synthesis, and screening are being actively performed. In quite a few reports, however, alpha-glucosidases with different origins than the target alpha-glucosidases, have been used to evaluate inhibitory activities. There might be confusion regarding the naming of alpha-glucosidases. For example, the term alpha-glucosidase is sometimes used as a generic name for alpha-glucoside hydrolases. Moreover, IUBMB recommends the use of "alpha-glucosidase" (EC 126.96.36.199) for exo-alpha-1,4-glucosidases, which are further classified into four families based on amino acid sequence similarities. Accordingly, substrate specificity and susceptibility to inhibitors varies markedly among enzymes in the IUBMB alpha-glucosidases. The design and screening of inhibitors without consideration of these differences is not efficient. For the development of a practical inhibitor that is operational in cells, HTS using the target alpha-glucosidase and the computer-aided design of inhibitors based on enzymatic information concerning the same alpha-glucosidase are essential.


Abstract This article asks whether there is a role for weather in archaeological narratives. In archaeology, ideas of weather have been expressed almost solely through the aggregated measure of climate. A number of theoretical and practical problems arise from this, specifically in questioning how climatic change can be related to social change. The article reviews how other disciplines have developed a sense of climate that is more embedded in the human experience of landscape. A case study of a township in Cumbria uses the inhabited perspectives of two 18th-century diarists to explore how we might develop and apply these ideas in an archaeological context. The conclusion outlines some of the challenges for future research, arguing that we should consider weather as a material condition of the landscape – something as much open to archaeological investigation as any other aspect of the past.


In this paper, we study the problem of tracking and encircling a moving target by agents in 3D. Specifically, a group of agents are driven to some desired formation on a spherical surface and simultaneously keep the center of this spherical formation coinciding with the target to be tracked. In our control design, the desired formation is not used as a reference signal for tracking. Rather by designing communication topology for the agents we can achieve the desired formation using relative positions only. We can also place the desired cyclic formation on the equator if the north pole is specified.


The rates at which aggregates approach their 24-h water absorption values have been measured for a variety of aggregates. The aggregates varied widely in both their total pore volume and median pore size. The rates of water uptake were found to vary greatly, with some aggregates taking in about 90% of their 24-h uptake within the first minute and others taking in only about 20%. Larger pore sizes and pore volumes seem to promote faster rates. It was found that aggregates with a rapid uptake would have given erroneous Iowa Pore Index test results. It was also found that there was no correlation between an aggregate's early rate of absorption and its freeze/thaw durability.


Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of preoperative inhalation of milrinone on cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB)-related inflammation. Subjects and Methods: A total of 30 patients undergoing cardiac surgery were recruited and randomized for preoperative inhalation of milrinone (Mil group) or normal saline (NS group), respectively. Each group had 15 patients. Their hemodynamic parameters were measured and blood samples were obtained longitudinally. The levels of serum interleukin (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 were determined by ELISA. Results: The levels of serum IL-6, TNF-α, and MMP-9 significantly increased at the end of cardiac surgery and remained high for 24 h in both groups of patients. However, the levels of proinflammatory cytokines at the end of cardiac surgery in the Mil group of patients were significantly lower than those of the NS group of patients. Conclusions: Our data indicated that preoperative inhalation of milrinone significantly mitigated CPB-related inflammation.


The objective of this study was to describe client-assessed long-term functional outcome following surgical site infection (SSI) in dogs that underwent tibial plateau levelling osteotomy (TPLO) and identify predictive factors for infection development and management. This study is a retrospective clinical case series. Clinical records of dogs (n=545) undergoing TPLO surgery (n=683) were reviewed. Signalment, clinical details, surgical management and postoperative complications were recorded. Multilevel analysis was used to assess the relationship between signalment and clinical variables and the subsequent development of SSI. Additionally, SSIs were analysed to identify predictors for management. Long-term functional outcome was evaluated using a previously validated clinical metrology instrument (Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs (LOAD) questionnaire). SSI occurred in 4.7 per cent (95 per cent CI 3.3 per cent to 6.5 per cent) procedures. Of the dogs with SSI, 37.5 per cent required implant retrieval and later onset SSI was associated with increased requirement for retrieval (P=0.04). There was no significant difference in LOAD score (P=0.7) in dogs with or without SSI. Crossbreed dogs had a lower risk of developing SSI (P=0.03). There was no association between SSI and long-term functional outcome (as assessed by LOAD) in dogs following TPLO. Later onset of SSI is more likely to require implant retrieval to resolve. Crossbreed dogs may be at reduced risk of developing SSI.


We present a cross-domain approach for automated measurement and context extraction based on pre-trained language models. We construct a multi-source, multi-domain corpus and train an end-to-end extraction pipeline. We then apply multi-source task-adaptive pre-training and fine-tuning to benchmark the cross-domain generalization capability of our model. Further, we conceptualize and apply a task-specific error analysis and derive insights for future work. Our results suggest that multi-source training leads to the best overall results, while single-source training yields the best results for the respective individual domain. While our setup is successful at extracting quantity values and units, more research is needed to improve the extraction of contextual entities. We make the cross-domain corpus used in this work available online.


Due to the effect of cold treatment on the amino acid profile of meat has not sufficiently studied. This study aimed to study the effect of freezing temperature and duration of frozen storage on amino acid profile and fatty acid pattern in imported beef meat, local beef meat, chicken breast and Nile tilapia fish. The effect of freezing on lipid and protein oxidative stability of meat was also measured. The selected meat under research was frozen at different temperature (- 7 o C) for 1month of local beef, fish and chicken breast meat and (- 18 o C) for 3 and 6 months of imported meat. The result show the effect of freezing on amino acid as the total amount of essential and nonessential amino acids and amount of each amino acid of meat samples are reduced during the freezing process. However there is no significant difference between the frozen imported meat beef for 3 and 6 months except glycine and glutamic acid were changed from 17.02±0.41 to ( 14.28±0.66 ; 12.73±0.36 ) and from ( 49.24±0.46 to 46.90±0.37 ; 45.05±0.38) respectively. There is a significant effect of frozen storage duration on saturated fatty acids (SFA), unsaturated fatty acids (USFA) and total fatty acids (TFAs). A significant (P >0.05) increase in total volatile nitrogen (TVN) value after freezing for 3 and 6 months in imported beef meat from 14.41±0.21 to 15.50± 0.29 and 18.25±0.27 respectively, also in frozen fish samples from 18.41±0.35 to 21.11±0.47. While there is no significant (P>0.05) difference in frozen local beef meat and frozen chicken meat samples. Moreover, there was an increment in the rate of lipid oxidation during frozen storage of the examined samples but within acceptable limit. The present study concluded that cold treatment had a great impact on chemical composition of meat especially amino acids profile and fatty acids pattern regardless the duration of freezing storage.


Outsider Art. The Musgrave Kinley Collection from the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, until 2 June 2002. www.whitworth.man.ac.uk. Rating: ★★★★

What is the last piece of art that you looked at? The chances are that it was in a gallery, produced by an art school graduate, and that it was worth a small fortune in the lucrative art market. Even if it was a radical or conceptual piece—a cow sliced in half, a pile of bricks—it was probably deeply rooted in a cosy art establishment.

But there is another kind of art being made that is "exhibited" in psychiatric hospitals and orphanages, on prison walls, and in bus shelters and public lavatories. The artists are usually socially excluded, untrained, and often severely mentally ill. They are "outsiders"—not part of the sophisticated art world—expressing their inner lives through art, with no intention of becoming professionals.

The Whitworth Art Gallery is showing one of the most important collections of such art, a collection initiated in 1981 by the poet, film maker, and gallery director Victor Musgrave, with his partner, Monika Kinley. It is easy to see why "outsider art" is also called Art Brut (raw art), since the paintings and sculptures are informal, unfettered by art conventions, bursting with colour, and laden with powerful, often bizarre, imagery.

Looking at this imagery as a doctor, it is tempting to focus on the clues that it contains about the artists' psychotic illnesses. For example, many of the paintings include writings, such as neologisms and jumbled sentences—often in painstakingly tiny script—that suggest disordered thought. There are religious symbols and repetitive motifs that may represent automatisms. Indeed psychiatrists from as early as the late 19th century began collecting their patients' art as "specimens" to help guide diagnosis and treatment.

But there is a danger in viewing "outsider art" in this way. By dismissing it merely as diagnostic clues, we risk seeing the creative process of the outsider artist as a byproduct of illness, and one that is fundamentally different to that used by "real" artists.

It was the psychiatrist Dr Hans Prinzhorn, of the Heidelberg Psychiatric Clinic, who first rejected the idea that art produced by mentally ill artists must somehow have different roots from the "normal" creative process. In his 1922 book Artistry of the Mentally Ill, he presented a detailed analysis of art by patients, including 10 known as the "schizophrenic masters." Visual creativity, Prinzhorn argued, was not the preserve of the cultured or educated, but was a basic human trait within each of us.

The biographies of the artists shown in the Musgrave Kinley collection are as complicated and fascinating as the art itself. For example, there are two line drawings by the Californian artist Dwight Mackintosh, who was nicknamed "the boy who time forgot."

Diagnosed as mentally disabled as a boy, Mackintosh lived most of his life in psychiatric hospitals, and was finally released at the age of 72, after 56 years of institutionalisation. After his release, he became a prolific artist, using mostly felt tip pens to draw an array of damaged machinery, cars and buses, animals, and musical instruments, most of which are accompanied by intriguing snippets of text.

Perhaps the best known artist in the collection is Henry Darger. His intricate pictures show strange creatures and androgynous, fused femaleforms, involved in epic battles of good against evil. Darger's life story sheds some light on these recurring themes.

Darger's mother died when he was four, shortly after giving birth to his sister, who was subsequently given up for adoption. The loss of his sister is thought to have been the pivotal event in Darger's life. Abandoned at the age of 8 by his father, at the age of 12 he was committed to the Lincoln Asylum for Feeble Minded Children in Illinois. The diagnosis? Masturbation.

He escaped five years later, and ended up living most of his life in a single room, working as a bandage roller and toilet cleaner in hospitals in Chicago. It was in this room that Darger secretly painted, while also writing an eight volume autobiography and a 12 volume epic called The Realms of the Unreal featuring a mythical group of siblings called the Vivian girls.

Not all the works on show are as complex as Darger's. There is a beautifully understated line drawing of a pair of spectacles by Oswald Tschirtner, and simple rooftops drawn with coloured pencils by Frederic Vaudour.

So much of contemporary art, said Victor Musgrave, is "bland and supine in the well-crafted chains of its own making." In contrast, the outsiders "give a great and joyous shout: 'We are artists, we are explorers, we go where no man has trod before. Follow us if you dare!'" This is a fitting invitation to this refreshing, uplifting exhibition.


BACKGROUND:
Palliative care (PC) workforce shortages have led to a need for primary PC provided by non-specialists. The Care Management by Oncology Nurses (CONNECT) intervention provides infusion room oncology nurses with training and support to provide primary PC.

AIMS:
To describe nurses' perspectives on the personal and professional impact of training and provision of primary PC as part of CONNECT.

METHODS:
This qualitative study consisted of in-depth telephone interviews with 11 nurses at oncology practices in Pennsylvania. Data was analysed using qualitative content analysis.

FINDINGS:
Nurses reported a sense of personal and professional fulfillment from providing primary PC, while noting the risk of increased emotional attachment to patients. Participation improved nursing communication skills. A supportive workplace helped to minimise stress related to incorporating primary PC into busy treatment schedules.

CONCLUSION:
Providing primary PC challenges the task-oriented paradigm of nursing practice and will potentially alter the professional roles and workloads of infusion room nurses.


Abstract. This paper is a set of lecture notes for a short introductory course on homogenization. It covers the basic tools of periodic homogenization (two-scale asymptotic expansions, the oscillating test function method and two-scale convergence) and briefly describes the main results of the more general theory of G− or H−convergence. Several applications of the method are given: derivation of Darcy's law for flows in porous media, derivation of the porosity model and long time behavior of a diffusion equation. Numerical agorithms for homogenization are also discussed, including multiscale finite element methods.


Left ventricular myxoma are quite rare and have not been reported in children. We report a left ventricular myxoma arising from interventricular septum in a 12-year-old girl who presented with history of single episode of syncope while playing in school. General examination of the child did not reveal any abnormality except a grade II/VI systolic murmur in left parasternal area. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a round pedunculated mass (18 × 30 mm) in left ventricle arising from middle of interventricular septum with a pedicle measuring 4 mm at its base. The tumour was projecting through aortic valve in systole. Syncope in this case was probably due to obstruction of left ventricular outflow tract by myxoma leading to a decrease in cardiac output. Complete excision of myxoma was done through transmitral approach.


The Gram-negative bacterium Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri, the causal agent of citrus canker, is a major threat to the citrus industry worldwide. Although this is a leaf spot pathogen, it bears genes highly related to degradation of plant cell walls, which are typically found in plant pathogens that cause symptoms of tissue maceration. Little is known on Xac capacity to cause disease and hydrolyze cellulose. We investigated the contribution of various open reading frames on degradation of a cellulose compound by means of a global mutational assay to selectively screen for a defect in carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase) secretion in X. axonopodis pv. citri. Screening on CMC agar revealed one mutant clone defective in extracellular glycanase activity, out of nearly 3,000 clones. The insertion was located in the xpsD gene, a component of the type II secretion system (T2SS) showing an influence in the ability of Xac to colonize tissues and hydrolyze cellulose. In summary, these data show for the first time, that X. axonopodis pv. citri is capable of hydrolyzing cellulose in a T2SS-dependent process. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the ability to degrade cellulose contributes to the infection process as a whole.


BACKGROUND
Annually, 100 people die as a result of residential fires in Sweden and almost a third of the fatal fires are known to be caused by smoking. In an attempt to reduce the occurrence of these events, reduced ignition propensity (RIP) cigarettes have been developed. They are designed to reduce the risk of fire by preventing the cigarette from burning through the full length when left unattended. In November 2011, a ban was introduced, forbidding the production and sale of all non-RIP cigarettes in all member states of the European Union, including Sweden.

METHODS
Monthly data on all recorded residential fires and associated fatalities in Sweden from January 2000 to December 2013 were analyzed using an interrupted time series design. The effect of the intervention [in relative risk (RR)] was quantified using generalised additive models for location, shape and scale.

RESULTS
There were no statistically significant intervention effects on residential fires (RR 0.95 [95% CI: 0.89-1.01]), fatal residential fires (RR 0.99 [95% CI: 0.80-1.23]), residential fires where smoking was a known cause (RR 1.10 [95% CI: 0.95-1.28]) or fatal residential fires where smoking was a known cause (RR 0.92 [95% CI: 0.63-1.35]).

CONCLUSION
No evidence of an effect of the ban on all non-RIP cigarettes on the risk of residential fires in Sweden was found. The results may not be generalisable to other countries.


Electro-Discharge Machining (EDM) has found widespread application in the fabrication of Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), tool and mold industries and aerospace industries. The machining technique now plays an indispensable role in the fabrication of a wide variety of components. However due to rapid heating and cooling during machining, a thermally affected layer will form on the machined surface. A close inspection reveals the presence of many surface defects such as void, cracks, shallow crater and debris on this layer. Tungsten carbide (WC) with 15% of cobalt content is selected as the workpiece material and the copper tungsten as the electrode in this experiment. The electrodes are consisting in three different sizes are 3mm, 6mm and 8mm of diameter. Since EDM has been shown to be a versatile method for machining difficult-to-work materials, it is believed that the EDM process will open up an opportunity for the machining of tungsten carbide (WC). The aim of this study is to analyzes the machined surface in term of surface roughness that influenced by the different size of electrodes. After completion the experiment process, scanning electron microscope (SEM) will be employed to analyze the surface topography and the surface roughness tester will be used to measure the surface roughness on the machined surface.


This guide will explain how to create an account and access the New York Times using your Franklin Pierce University email address.


To the Editor. —Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE, CAS No. 1634-04-4) is a water-soluble gasoline additive of such increasing use that it is the fastest growing chemical product in US industry (Chem Eng News. June 10, 1991:13). A recent familial exposure suggests that the foul odor of MTBE may fortuitously serve as a sentinel for gasoline contamination. A family of five moved to a farmstead on a quarter-mile tract between a gasoline pipeline terminal and a river. Six months earlier, the groundwater (6 to 8 feet in depth) at the terminal had been visibly contaminated with gasoline. The family sank a new well to 60 feet. Thirty months later, the household water became rapidly and progressively malodorous. It did not smell like gasoline. The family drank bottled water, but the tap water used for baths, laundry, and dishwashing evoked headache, dizziness, nausea, and dyspnea in all five family members. Well-water


Various criticisms of the spin-wave theory of antiferromagnetism are discussed. In particular, it is pointed out that the use of the Holstein-Primakoff (1940) notation introduces into the formulae large contributions from fictitious states which have no physical existence. This is in contrast with the ferromagnetic problem where contributions from these fictitious states are negligible. Hence conclusions drawn from the spin-wave theory, particularly as to the conditions required for antiferromagnetism, are not to be relied upon.


Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate significant motor impairments in visuomotor and body coordination, agility, and strength. Around 87% of children with ASD are at risk for motor impairments. However, only about 31% of these children receive rehabilitation services to address their motor needs.

 Our randomized clinical trial assessed the effects of a general movement (GM) intervention compared to a standard-of-care seated play (SP) intervention delivered to children via face-to-face (F2F) and telehealth (TH)–based modes of intervention delivery on motor performance, agility, and locomotor skills in children with ASD.

 Thirty 5- to 14-year-old children were matched on age, gender, and level of functioning and randomly assigned to the GM or SP groups. Children participated in the study for 10 weeks with pretests and posttests conducted during the first and last weeks and training in the interim 8 weeks with 2 sessions conducted per week. The strength and running speed and agility subtests of Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT-2) and the locomotor subtest of the Test of Gross-motor development (TGMD) were administered at pretest and posttest. In addition, in the GM group, task-specific games involving locomotor skills were assessed during early and late training sessions for changes in movement form or accuracy and the amount of prompting required to complete the actions.

 We found significant improvements in standard scores of the TGMD from pretest to posttest in the GM group (pretest mean 6.1, SE 1.0; posttest mean 8.1, SE 0.9; P<.001) but not the SP group. Within the GM group, there were no significant differences in the rates of improvement for children seen F2F versus via TH (F2F mean 1.8, SE 0.8; TH mean 2.0, SE 1.7; P=.87). On the BOT-2, the GM (pretest mean 36.1, SE 2.6; posttest mean 40.9, SE 3.1; P<.001) but not SP group showed improvements in standard scores on the strength and agility composite. Similar to the trends reported above, there were no differences in the magnitude of improvement for children seen F2F versus via TH (F2F mean 3.7, SD 1.3; TH mean 5.6, SD 1.5; P=.37). On the training-specific test of locomotor skills, children in the GM group improved their movement accuracy (pretest mean 74.4, SE 6.2; posttest mean 86.5, SE 4.7; P<.001) and reduced prompting (pretest mean 22.5, SE 3.5; posttest mean 16.9, SE 4.2; P=.02) required to complete the movements. Both children seen F2F as well as via TH showed similar trends, with no significant differences between the intervention delivery modes.

 Our data suggest that TH is an effective mode of delivery of gross motor interventions and can be used to promote agility and motor coordination in children with ASD.

 None declared.


Background—Prior studies have found that obese patients have paradoxically lower in-hospital mortality after non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction than their normal-weight counterparts, yet whether these associations persist long term is unknown. Methods and Results—We linked detailed clinical data for patients with non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction aged ≥65 years in the Can Rapid Risk Stratification of Unstable Angina Patients Suppress Adverse Outcomes With Early Implementation of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guidelines (CRUSADE) Registry to Medicare claims data to obtain longitudinal outcomes. Using height and weight measured on admission, patients were categorized into 6 body mass index (BMI [kilograms per meter squared]) groups. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the association between BMI and (1) all-cause mortality, (2) all-cause readmission, (3) cardiovascular readmission, and (4) noncardiovascular readmission for 3 years after hospital discharge. Among older patients with non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction (n=34 465), 36.3% were overweight and 27.7% were obese. Obese patients were younger and more likely to have hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia than normal or underweight patients. Relative to normal-weight patients, long-term mortality was lower for patients classified as overweight (BMI, 25.0–29.9), obese class I (BMI, 30.0–34.9), and obese class II (BMI, 35.0–39.9), but not obese class III (BMI ≥40.0). In contrast, 3-year all-cause and cardiovascular readmission were similar across BMI categories. Relative to normal-weight patients, noncardiovascular readmissions were similar for obese class I but higher for obese class II and obese class III. Conclusions—All-cause long-term mortality was generally lower for overweight and obese older patients after non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction relative to those with normal weight. Longitudinal readmissions were similar or higher with increasing BMI.


BACKGROUND
Beyond the health-enhancing effects, work also has the potential of causing or worsening different health conditions in the same individual. However, research on within-worker aggregation of work-related health problems is scarce.

OBJECTIVE
To describe the history and aggregation of work-related health problems in a population-based sample of women.

METHODS
A total of 4330 women were asked whether they had ever had "a physical or mental health problem that was caused or made worse by your work". The aggregation of work-related health problems was assessed using an exploratory factor analysis.

RESULTS
Five groups were identified. Factor 1 included all items on musculoskeletal disorders - lower socioeconomic position, higher BMI, smokers and history of occupational accidents. Factor 2 included mental disorders together with headache and/or eyestrain - higher socioeconomic position. Factor 3 included the other disorders item with some loading from digestive disorders - older and public sector workers. Factor 4 included respiratory disorders - lower socioeconomic position and history of occupational accidents. Factor 5 included hearing and ear problems - blue-collar workers.

CONCLUSION
There was a relevant aggregation of work-related health problems, which may inform the selection of specific components for interventions that aim to improve women's work-related health.


After the hazardous effects of xylene became indisputable in the 1970s, many potential substitutes became available, some with as many if not more hazards. This article discusses the inadequacy of 5 vegetable oils as substitutes, as well as the characteristics of 22 D-limonene–based substitutes, all less effective in their chemical role, some capable of inducing health problems, and costing more than twice as much as xylene. Some of the 35 alkane-based substitutes discussed are effective for tissue processing, less toxic, with a cost about the same as xylene, but are not very effective for dewaxing and other staining tasks. Isopropanol (2-propanol) alone or mixed with molten paraffin is a technically acceptable and cost-effective substitute for xylene for tissue processing, but in this study, we demonstrate that the best clearing agents from the sectioning quality and diagnostic value point of view, with automated or manual protocols, are mixtures of 5:1 and 2:1 isopropanol and mineral oil, followed by undiluted mineral oil, all at 50°C, making them a safer and cheaper substitute than xylene. Using a 1.7% dishwasher soap aqueous solution at 90°C to dewax before staining and oven drying the stained sections before coverslipping will eliminate xylene from the staining tasks. Tissue processors retorts and conduits can be dewaxed with a 2% solution of a strong glassware laboratory detergent. These 4 methodologies will make the histology laboratory xylene-free but, due to the natural resistance to change, many histotechs will be reluctant to adopt them if they think that their technical expertise could be jeopardized, and the only way these changes will succeed is if the pathologists, as stewards of the histology laboratory, commit to their implementation.


FOR more than a century, the dominant mode of pedagogy in American law schools has been the Socratic method, first introduced by Dean Christopher Columbus Langdell of Harvard Law School in the late 1800's. As long as the primary goal of law schools was to train students to "think like a lawyer," the dialogue-based Socratic method has served law schools fairly well.In recent years, however, law schools have faced increasing pressure to train students not only to think like lawyers but to behave and perform like lawyers. Particularly since the recession, clients have become increasingly unwilling to pay the hourly rates of recent law school graduates who often knew little about practice and were effectively being trained on the job. Legal employers, in turn, have become more reluctant to hire associates without experience. This has left new lawyers in classic "Catch-22," and has put pressure on law schools to make students more practice-ready upon graduation, as well as offer post-graduate programs such as incubators, residencies, and fellowships to ease graduates' transition into the employment market.But the calls for reform in legal education long pre-date the recession. In 1992, the ABA's "MacCrate Report"1 made a variety of recommendations for "narrowing the gap" between law schools and the profession. And in 2007, two influential reports-commonly referred to as the "Carnegie Report"2 and "Best Practices"3-exhorted law professors to infuse their teaching with practical skills and professionalism.In order to serve the needs of the next generation of law students as well as the changing needs of the legal profession, law schools must strengthen their ties to the practicing bar. And law school faculties, in turn, must strengthen their ties to practice. My own foray back into practice proved to be extremely beneficial; but it remains, unfortunately, an anomaly.I. The Limited Practice-Oriented Focus Among Law ProfessorsAlthough some institutions have embraced reform, law schools as a whole have been slow to change. This is due in part to the ostensible tension between a focus on "practice" and "research":Like all professional schools, law schools are hybrid institutions. One parent is the historic community of practitioners, deeply immersed in the common law and carrying on traditional of craft, judgment, and public responsibility. The other heritage is that of the modern research university... [A]s American law schools have developed, their academic genes have become dominant.4Numerous lawyers and judges have criticized legal scholarship for becoming increasingly abstract and irrelevant to the modern practitioner.5 And survey evidence shows that law students want professors' teaching geared toward the realities of practice, and that practicing attorneys regret that they did not get better training in these areas while in law school.6To some extent, law schools can rely on part-time adjuncts or visitors to provide practical training and assign their full-time tenure-track faculty to traditional doctrinal courses. But the Carnegie Report rejects this division and urges schools to adopt an approach that integrates "each aspect of the legal apprenticeship-the cognitive, the practical and the ethical-social."7The notion of an "apprenticeship" implies the presence of a master or expert to which one can be an apprentice. Not surprisingly, the reform literature has widely acknowledged that law professors can and should serve as models of competent and ethical lawyering.8The problem is, not only do most law professors not practice law, but many have not done so in a long time, if ever;9 they did so under fairly homogenous condi- tions-no more than several years doing mostly research and writing at a large firm;10 and they often did not particularly enjoy the experience (or else they would not have left practice to teach).11 Indeed, the current trend is to hire law professors with less practical experience than ever before. …


At the center of this essay is the question of how libertarianism can contribute to the foundation of free will. It has often been argued against the libertarian actor-causal approach that it is inconsistent in itself and incompatible with scientific research findings. This book argues that the objections based on natural-philosophical, ontological and phenomenological investigations are not valid. It is also the aim of the study to show in a critical comparison the strengths of the actor-causal approach versus purely event-driven libertarian positions. In its closing part, central assumptions of actor-causal libertarianism are therefore subjected to further substantiation under aspects of enactivity within the framework of a theory of embodiment. An example of this is the view that persons as substances are subject to causal relations.


Much circumstantial evidence has pointed to peripheral blood leukocytes as one site of persistence of Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in healthy carriers. However, the exact population of peripheral blood cells that carry HCMV and to what extent they express HCMV gene products in not known. I have examined the sites of HCMV persistence in the peripheral blood of healthy carriers. Analysis of pure cell populations by the use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), sensitive to between 1 and 10 copies of the HCMV genome, showed that the predominant site of persistence was the monocyte. In addition, analysis of healthy seronegative subjects revealed that a significant number (30%) also harbored HCMV. Finally, study of granulocytes demonstrated no evidence of persistent HCMV.

Expression of HCMV during persistence was also analyzed, by using reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) with a sensitivity of between 1 and 100 infected fibroblasts. RNA from monocytes showed no evidence of polyadenylated immediate early (IE) or late transcripts. In contrast, in vitro differentiated monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) did show evidence of HCMV gene expression with the class of HCMV genes expressed dependent on the method of differentiation. MDM treated with hydrocortisone (HC) and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, expressed only lEI, but not IE2, glycoprotein B (gB) or phosphoprotein 28 (pp28) transcripts. Whereas, MDM treated with granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor and HC expressed lEI, IE2 and gB, but not pp28 transcripts. In both cases, cocultivation experiments did not show plaques. Therefore, in the healthy carrier, persistence of HCMV in monocytes is independent of HCMV lytic gene expression, but in vitro differentiation of monocytes to MDM induced endogenous HCMV transcription consistent with the known permissivity of in vivo differentiated macrophages to HCMV infection.


The mechanisms and consequences of Vitamin E deficiency were studied in 12 children presenting with chronic cholestasis. Preliminary results indicate that: (1) Vitamin E serum levels are lowest in children with the long-lasting cholestasis and in children in whom fat malabsorption is deepest. (2) Signs of neurologic dysfunction involving peripheral nerves, cerebellum, eye movements and retina were present in 7 children. (3) In vitro study of RBC showed increased hemolysis with oxidating agents and in physiological saline. Degree of hemolysis was inversely related to the serum level of vitamin E. (4) Increased platelet aggregation was observed in 8 patients; 6 of these also had low levels of serum Vitamin E.


A new electronic transducer system has been developed for intraluminal pressure studies in the gastrointestinal tract. In contrast to other devices, inductance was used for the transformation of pressure into electrical signals. High sensitivity with a frequency response of 10(4) Hz guarantees accurate recording of sphincter as well as of peristaltic pressures. Pull-throughs can be carried out manually. Studies may be performed in the sitting as well as in the supine position since no hydraulic effects are present. No measurable temperature sensitivity was found; linearity is present in the physiological pressure range required. Small size, mechanical and electrical stability and simple handling make the PI-transducer system a suitable diagnostic tool for clinical as well as for investigatory purposes. By this method functional disorders of the esophagus, as in scleroderma, achalasia or hiatus hernia, of the pylorus and of the anal sphincter may be evaluated. The results of lower esophageal sphincter measurements in 30 asymptomatic volunteers and in 19 patients with symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux agree with the data obtained by conventional methods.


Noninvasive neurostimulation techniques have been used alone or in conjunction with rehabilitation therapy to treat the neurological sequelae of brain damage with rather variable therapeutic outcomes. One potential factor limiting a consistent success for such techniques may be the limited number of sessions carried out in patients, despite reports that their accrual may play a key role in alleviating neurological deficits long‐term. In this study, we tested the effects of seventy consecutive sessions of perilesional high‐frequency (10 Hz) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in the treatment of chronic neglect deficits in a well‐established feline model of visuospatial neglect. Under identical rTMS parameters and visuospatial testing regimes, half of the subjects improved in visuospatial orienting performance. The other half experienced either none or extremely moderate ameliorations in the neglected hemispace and displayed transient patterns of maladaptive visuospatial behavior. Detailed analyses suggest that lesion location and extent did not account for the behavioral differences observed between these two groups of animals. We conclude that multi‐session perilesional rTMS regimes have the potential to induce functional ameliorations following focal chronic brain injury, and that behavioral performance prior to the onset of the rTMS treatment is the factor that best predicts positive outcomes for noninvasive neurostimulation treatments in visuospatial neglect.


This article presents experimental studies on drying kinetics and quality effects of red beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) after convective drying with a preliminary osmotic pretreatment. The effects of the osmotic agent (NaCl) concentration and the osmotic bath time on the product colour and nutrient content preservation, the water activity, and rehydration ability after drying were analysed. Osmotic dehydration curves and Solid Gain (SG), Water Loss (WL), Weight Reduction (WR) were determined. It was proved that drying of beetroot with osmotic pretreatment contributes to shorter drying time, smaller water activity, higher retention of betanin, better colour preservation, and a greater degree of water resorption.


In this paper we propose a novel technique to automatically structure problem tickets consisting of free form, heterogeneous textual data, so that IT problem isolation and resolution can be performed rapidly. The originality of our technique consists in applying the conditional random fields (CRFs) supervised learning process to automatically identify individual units of information in the raw data. The CRFs have been shown to be effective on real-world tasks in various fields. We apply our technique to identify structural patterns specific to the problem ticket data used in call centers to enhance the problem resolution system used by remote technical assistance personnel. Most of the existing ticketing data is not explicitly structured, is highly noisy, and very heterogeneous in content, making it hard to effectively apply common data mining techniques to analyze and search the raw data. An example of such an analysis is the detection of the units of information containing the steps taken by the technical people to resolve a particular customer issue. We present a study of the accuracy of our results.


Privacy preservation in data mining demands protecting both input and output privacy. The former refers to sanitizing the raw data itself before performing mining. The latter refers to preventing the mining output (model/pattern) from malicious pattern-based inference attacks. The preservation of input privacy does not necessarily lead to that of output privacy. This work studies the problem of protecting output privacy in the context of frequent pattern mining over data streams. After exposing the privacy breaches existing in current stream mining systems, we propose Butterfly, a light-weighted countermeasure that can effectively eliminate these breaches without explicitly detecting them, meanwhile minimizing the loss of the output accuracy. We further optimize the basic scheme by taking account of two types of semantic constraints, aiming at maximally preserving utilityrelated semantics while maintaining the hard privacy and accuracy guarantee. We conduct extensive experiments over real-life datasets to show the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach.


The projected rise in health-related suffering warrants the integration of palliative care across all health systems. For traditionally non-palliative care settings, barriers and enablers to palliative care integration remain poorly understood. This study sought to explore these barriers and enablers in the Emergency and Burn Units across two healthcare facilities in the middle belt of Ghana using qualitative description. Thirty-nine healthcare staff comprising 20 burn care staff and 19 ED staff were purposively recruited and interviewed. Interviews were transcribed following which thematic analysis was performed inductively. Two themes and six subthemes emerged from the data. The Ghanaian socio-cultural context often crippled the discussion of death and dying. Overall, there is a perceived tension between emergency/burns and end-of-life care. Opportunities however exist to improve the situation which will require more work regarding curricula improvement, providing avenues for professional development, culturally sensitive communication, and identifying strategies of engaging relatives.


The effects of HCO3Na load on acid-base balance and muscle intracellular bioenergetics have been investigated using 31P-magnetic resonance spectroscopy in an experimental model of endotoxinic shock. Anesthetized, mechanically ventilated, and paralyzed rats (n = 16) were given an intravenous bolus of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (15 mg/kg). When shock was established they were randomly assigned to receive either HCO3Na intravenously (2 mmol/kg in 2 min) or an equimolar saline injection. Lipopolysaccharide induced a significant decrease in the levels of mean arterial pressure (58 ± 6 vs. 120 ± 8 mmHg), arterial pH (7.20 ± .03 vs. 7.35 ± .01), intracellular pH (6.86 ± .04 vs. 7.08 ± .01), a marked hyperlactatemia (7 ± 3 vs. 1.2 ± .2 mmol/L) and a drop in the phosphocreatine-inorganic phosphate ratio. In the bicarbonate-loaded rats, mean arterial pressure further decreased whereas it remained unchanged in the saline group. Bicarbonate increased arterial pH and PaCO2 transiently. In the saline group, arterial pH decreased and PaCO2 remained stable. In both groups, intracellular pH and high energy phosphates had a similar evolution. In this model of septic shock, partial correction of arterial pH using HCO3Na did not reduce the metabolic cellular injury in skeletal muscle. Based on these results, HCO3Na may be of limited therapeutic value in severe septic metabolic acidosis.


As the European Union (EU) funded SmartSociety project aims to create a toolset for rapidly and systematically engineering collective intelligence systems to support daily living, it simultaneously wants to ameliorate the risks to individuals of participating in these types of hyper-connected digital systems. This paper reports on a panel session at the close at of the 2015 IFIP summer school that reflected upon a keynote speech covering SmartSociety concepts, technologies and ethical dilemmas. The panel session was conceived as a consultative exercise as part of the ongoing Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) approach embedded within the SmartSociety project. In this chapter we present an analysis of the panel session discussion, which touched on several key issues, including the relationships between technology and society, what we should expect from a 'SmartSociety', barriers and horizons in managing ethical issues, and brokerage as a methodological approach to weaving multiple perspectives into design.


Various studies have been done to improve solar still performance, especially in water streams. Various methods create thin water flow on the absorbent plate, including using porous media. The research aims to identify temperature distribution and evaporation rate in porous media. The use of porous media as an absorber plate material in solar still applications is investigated in this study. Five types of porous media have been researched, such as concrete consisting of river sand and iron with a particle size of 0.125 and 0.250 mm, and natural stone. A comparison of 5 specimen types is held by conducting evaporation tests. The pore media specimen 5x1x10 cm is heated by an electric heater with a power of 36, 4 W. The bottom side of the specimen is exposed to a constant high salt water reservoir. Data is collected periodically for 2 hours. Research produces specimens at smaller particle sizes with thermal conductivity and greater heat transfer rates. Iron sand concrete as aggregate has better temperature distribution than the specimen of river sand. The largest high-dampened front reduction is obtained on specimen C with a value of 0.051 m. The largest evaporation rate is owned by specimen C with the amount of 2.38 ml in 7200 s. Concrete with an aggregate of iron sand (0.125 mm particle size) is recommended as a solar still absorbent plate material; however, natural stone materials also have a high potential to be used as a solar still absorbent plate material.


Correction for 'Computational approaches to cell-nanomaterial interactions: keeping balance between therapeutic efficiency and cytotoxicity' by Hong-ming Ding et al., Nanoscale Horiz., 2018, 3, 6-27.


Philosophers have relied heavily on the distinction between analytic truths and synthetic ones for various philosophical pursuits. In this paper I explore Immanuel Kant's explanation of the distinction, W.V.O. Quine's qualms with it, and the attempt of H.P. Grice and Strawson at saving synonymy in order to salvage analyticity from doubts. I conclude that although valiant, the efforts put forth by Grice and Strawson fall short. I argue that this is so because they attack a weak interpretation of Quine's contention. Maité Castillo Humboldt State University firstname.lastname@example.com https://doi.org/10.7710/2155-4838.1175 Volume 9, Issue 1 Res Cogitans 2 | eP1175 Res Cogitans The following paper is an evaluative assessment of the distinction between analytic and synthetic judgments. To do this I have examined Quine's "Two Dogmas of Empiricism"1 and Kant's The Critique of Pure Reason2 to contrast the views that Quine and Kant had of this distinction. Whereas Kant was proud to make this distinction in an effort to revive the study of metaphysics, Quine eventually, after a long period of accepting the distinction, followed with a rejection of analyticity as it was used in metaphysics for establishing necessary truths; claiming that all explanations of analytic truths in that way are circular, "or something like a closed curve in space."3 Quine asserts that 'necessity' in the case of analytic statements does not do the work that past philosophers, such as Kant, wanted it to. I have also explored the criticisms of Quine put forth by Grice and Strawson in "In Defense of a Dogma"4 to see if they restore the analytic and synthetic distinction. I have mainly been concerned with the philosophical problem of establishing the possibility of objective necessary truths through the lenses of Kant, Quine, Grice, and Strawson. I intend to defend Quine by showing where Grice and Strawson fall short in their endeavor. Let us begin with Kant. In The Critique of Pure Reason, Kant attempts to answer the question of how synthetic a priori knowledge is possible. I will begin by explaining the distinctions between ways of conceptualizing or making theoretical judgments of the world, according to Kant, then I will explain his view of metaphysics by way of the possibility of synthetic a priori judgments. Kant distinguishes between a priori judgments that occur unconnected of all outside experiences and pure a priori judgments that happen completely free of experience without anything empirical intermixed. To highlight this distinction he uses an example of a man whose house has a faulty foundation. Given a flaw in infrastructure one can expect without waiting to experience it that the house will fall in on itself, i.e., one can predict it a priori. Reasoning is done a priori by modus ponens to arrive at the conclusion: "If there's a faulty foundation, then the house will collapse. I see that there is no foundation, therefore the house will collapse." The sentences themselves that make up the premises are a posteriori. The a priori judgment is not pure since 1 W.V.O. Quine, "Two Dogmas of Empiricism", The Philosophical Review, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Jan., 1951), pp. 20-43 2 Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1781


Oil and gas transport is today a vital part of the industry. Oil cooled during transport in pipelines may precipitate paraffin wax. Precipitated wax may deposit on pipe walls and cause flow restrictions. Deposition models are used to understand and predict deposition of solids. A deposition model can help predict wax problems before a pipe line is set into operation. If the amount of deposited wax is predicted it can help operators to develop removal plans and strategies. A total of 21 wax deposition experiments performed by others were digitized and evaluated. The logarithmic deposition-release model showed a good match with 18 of the experiments. The experiments tested the effect of varying flow rate, temperature or both. Most experiments behaved as expected when flow rate and temperature were varied. The deposition-release model consists of two coefficients, k1 and k2. Both coefficients were evaluated against wall shear stress for the varying rate experiments. The coefficients in the varying temperature series were evaluated against the temperature driving force. Linear trends between most coefficients and physical parameters were found. These linear trends lead to the development of four models that predict wax deposition. The models use either wall shear stress, the temperature driving force or both as an input. All models produce similar results. Each model was based on an experimental series. A study of a real pipeline with wax deposition was also investigated. Temperature and viscosity calculations matched well with values used in the study. The study reported calculated wax thickness based on measurements of pressure drop. The pressure drop method was evaluated and explained. The method does not consider an altered pressure drop due to increased pipe roughness and non-evenly distribution of deposits. Both of these effects will increase the pressure drop. It was found that neglecting these will cause the calculated thickness to be overestimated. Because of the overestimation of thickness it was hard to get an accurate match with models.


The microstructure, martensite transformation behavior, thermal stability and shape memory behavior of Ti—20Zr—10Ta high temperature shape memory alloy were investigated. The Ti—20Zr—10Ta alloy exhibited a reversible transformation with the high martensite transformation temperature of 500 °C and good thermal stability. The alloy displayed the elongation of 15% and a maximum recovery stain of 5.5% with 8% pre-strain.


N(6)-(N'-Arylcarbamoyl)-2'-deoxyadenosine-H-phosphonates displayed molecular recognition towards cationic phenothiazinium and phenoxazinium dyes in aqueous solutions; studies have shown that binding is driven mainly by aromatic interactions and that size and shape-complementarity of the aromatic rings in host and guest provides selectivity.


In this issue of the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases Wallenius et al 1 report an increase in the onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other arthritides just after delivery ( see article on page 332 ). They have shown this by linking two national registers—namely, the Norwegian Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drug (NOR-DMARD) Register and the Medical Birth Register of Norway. This report confirms previous studies2 3 4 on RA and additionally extends our knowledge to other forms of arthritis. Owing to the low incidence of RA occurring simultaneously or just after pregnancy, the previous studies on this subject were mainly of a matched case–control design.2 4 Since every study design carries the risk of introducing its own type of bias, conformation of this finding in a different setting is important.

In these previous studies it has been shown that the increased incidence of RA after delivery is accompanied by a lower incidence during pregnancy.2 4 This suggests that the increased incidence of RA after delivery is not a true increased incidence, but rather that the occurrence of RA is postponed until after delivery.

How can these data be interpreted? It is clear that they can be seen in the scope of the well-known ameliorating effect of pregnancy on the course of existing RA and the flare-up of disease activity in the postpartum period. Since the first description of this phenomenon by Hench in 1938,5 this finding has been reconfirmed in several studies,6 7 most recently in a large prospective study from before conception and onwards.8 In this first large prospective study using validated instruments to determine disease activity,9 it was shown that almost half of …


In this article, I review legal initiativaes to improve conditions for the Roma peoples who live in the states of Europe. The question is timely given the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007. Romania contains the largest concentration of the Roma population in Europe. My article uncovers a schism between political theory and international law on the question of minority rights. I distinguish how the conclusions of Will Kymlicka, one of the most prolific writers on the subject of multiculturalism in political theory, differ from the international jurisprudence that protects minority groups. In this essay, I analyse Kymlicka's claim that multicultural policies are contextually dependent, and an inappropriate subject for a common legal regime of international human rights treaties. To determine the implications of human rights jurisprudence for this normative claim, I also research court cases filed by the Roma under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of Minorities and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. I contrast the international treaties that protect minority groups from political theorist accounts of multiculturalism in three areas. First, my article discusses jurisdictional issues concerning whether the particular groups defined by minority rights, irrespective of their geographical location or contextual experience, are proper subjects for protection by a common rights regime. Next, I illustrate how cultural rights are distinguishable from traditional civil rights laws. Finally, I examine how the historic persecution of the Roma violates human rights standards that protect minorities. The Roma have a long and unique relationship with the European states, which serves to demonstrate whether or not a common regime of minority rights safeguards the cultural development of the Roma.


Disasters do not follow a predictable timetable. Rapid situational awareness is essential for disaster management. People witnessing a disaster in the same area and beyond often use social media to report, inform, summarize, update, or warn each other. These warnings and recommendations are faster than traditional news and mainstream media. However, due to the massive amount of raw and unfiltered information, the data cannot be managed by humans in time. Automated situational awareness reporting could significantly and sustainably improve disaster management and save lives by quickly filtering, detecting, and summarizing important information. In this work, we aim to provide a novel approach towards automated situational awareness reporting using microblogging data through event detection and summarization. Therefore, we combine an event detection algorithm with different summarization libraries. We test the proposed approach against data from the Russo-Ukrainian war to evaluate its real-time capabilities and determine how many of the events that occurred could be highlighted. The results reveal that the proposed approach can outline significant events. Further research can be carried out to improve short-text summarization and filtering.


Human activities have changed the composition of the atmosphere resulting in rising global temperatures and sea levels. Agriculture contributes significantly to climate change through the emission of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O). Continuation of the trends of greenhouse gas emissions will result in a further increase of global warming in the coming decades. The most recent projections indicate a global warming of 1.1-6.4°C by the year 2100, but in North Western Europe warming is expected to be even higher. This will result in a sea-level rise of up to 0.8 m by the year 2100. Field vegetable production systems contribute to climate change through emission of the greenhouse gases CO 2 and N 2 O. Since field vegetables like all other plants fix atmospheric CO 2 , the net emission of CO 2 from vegetable production systems will be insignificant, especially when high-yielding varieties are used, crop residues are not removed from the field, inorganic fertilizers are replaced by organic manures and reduced tillage is applied. N 2 O emission can be reduced by increasing the efficiency of N use by the vegetables. Field vegetable production systems will have to adapt to changing weather conditions, such as dryer summers and wetter winters. This implies that crops or varieties have to be used that are more stress tolerant to drought and salinity.


Some authors recently suggested a significant increase in the target dose of radioiodine treatment in Graves' disease. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of thyroid gland mass on the success rate of radioiodine treatment. For this purpose, the thyroid function of 105 consecutive Graves' patients was assessed 6 and 12 months after a 131I treatment and correlated to the gland mass. The patients were categorized according to the gland mass into small (< or = 30 g; 19 patients), medium size (31-50 g; 40 patients), and large size (> 50 g; 46 patients) groups (S, M, L groups, respectively). None of the patients received more than a 10,000-rad (100-Gy) target dose. During the calculation of administered 131I activity, late uptake measurement has also been routinely used, in addition to the usual maximal uptake parameter. The established effective half-life of 131I was highly variable (5 +/- 1.2 days; range: 2-7.6 days) and could not be predicted based on other clinical data without measuring an extended radioiodine uptake curve of the given patient. However, the correlation between the administered activity calculated from the complete set of uptake values and that of only a single late one was excellent (r = 0.99). Six months after the 131I treatment, hyperthyroidism was cured in 81% of patients with small and medium size thyroid glands, with 62% euthyroid and 19% hypothyroid ratios respectively. In the early phase of study for large goiters, the same linear mass activity function was used during calculation as in smaller glands. In these 17 patients the nonhyperthyroid result was comparable to the results of treatment of the small and medium size gland groups only after 1 year (77%), but the 6-month success rate was significantly lower (53%; p < 0.05). After obtaining these results, the usual 7000-rad target dose was increased to 8000-10,000 rad (depending on the gland mass) in another group of 29 patients with large thyroid glands that result in an acceptable 6-month success rate of 72%. In conclusion, instead of the "mCi 131I/g gland mass/maximal uptake" dose calculation, we suggest a method in which (1) the late 131I uptake measurement is taken into account and (2) for large goiters there is an additional dose adjustment, ie, increase is needed over the usual linear, size driven calculation. No overall increase of target dose over 10,000 rad is necessary if no antithyroid medication is given shortly before 131I treatment.


niques for nerve conduction measurement, ture and function of the nervous system and written by three American specialists in in the preface the authors indicate that it is rehabilitation medicine, has been expanded aimed at the "beginning student" wanting a to include techniques for somatosensory brief overview of neuroanatomy and neuroy,voked potential recording. It is aimed at physiology or the advanced student wishing physicians who perform electrodiagnostic to review the topic. The fact that it has gone tests and at practising electromyographers. to seven editions suggests that it fulfills these The ringbound book is laid out in small secaims and has found an appropriate auditions, each of which describes for a particuence, and in my assessment of it I have parlar nerve, electrode placements for stimuticularly born in mind its potential audience. lation and recording, amplifier settings and Two summers ago I spent a few months normal values. Each section is in fact an looking in detail at all the neuroanatomy ._abstract from an original investigation, the and neurophysiology books available in an reference to which is given. The authors are attempt to find a suitable text book that we obsessive about temperature control and could recommend to our undergraduate stuone of the initial sections of the book deals dents. There are many such books, some with the effects of temperature on nerve conlarge and some small, and I concluded then duction measurements; equations are given that an earlier edition of this book did not which allow correction of measured values fulfil our needs. How then does the current to a standard temperature. In their preface edition rate and for whom is it suitable? Ihe authors state that they "present studies It begins with a traditional review of the that use standardised distance and docuanatomy and physiology of neurons and ment skin temperature". However, in many then follows with separate chapters on all of the techniques described, the original the main components of the nervous system. authors did not control temperature rigidly. Some of these, such as the section on the The normal values quoted are therefore brain stem and cranial nerves, are very more appropriately used without recourse to detailed and this seems to be the rule in a temperature correction. many similar books. How many of us, as


Criminal justice institution undertakes the duty to investigate about legal cases and complaints, to issue the judgment and to enforce it on time through proper hearing and without any dely. Such actions can play an effective role in reducing the possibility of delinquency and victimization. As an essential element of procedure, victimization has not succeeded to recover its real right. Many criminologists have focused their researches on victims to solve the riddle of victimization and etiology of crimes. Criminologists also intended to assess victims' roles and shares in the process of crime commission. In addition, they intend to amend criminal provisions based on a victim-based approach to protect the victims through establishing new criminal institutions. Because of this, criminal justice system will change due to the effects of revolutions of victimization considered as the central core. This has led to an increase in paying attention to the victim's needs and rights in criminal system. The necessity of protecting the victim has not yet been recognized in Iranian statutes. This issue has not a place in criminology researches in Iran. However, we can observe the existing shortages in the area of protecting the victim and their status in Procedure Code through studying the victim's role. The author of the present article has studied the necessity of establishing special institutions to fill the existing gaps considered by Iranian legislator in New Criminal Procedure Code 2013. The author has also dealt with the protection of victims based on literature review, library search and related sources.


A novel human gene, FN1BP1 (fibronectin 1 binding protein 1), was identified using the human placenta cDNA library. Northern blotting showed a transcript of ∼2.8 kb in human placenta, liver, and skeletal muscle tissues. This mRNA transcript length was similar to the full FN1BP1 sequence obtained previously. We established a conditionally induced stable cell line of Hep3B-Tet-on-FN1BP1 to investigate the preliminary function and mechanism of the secretory FN1BP1 protein. Cell-proliferation and colony-conformation assays demonstrated that FN1BP1 protein suppressed Hep3B cell growth and colonization in vitro. Analysis of Atlas human cDNA expression indicated that after FN1BP1 Dox-inducing expression for 24 h, 19 genes were up-regulated and 22 genes were down-regulated more than two-fold. Most of these gene changes were related to cell-cycle-arrest proteins (p21cip1, p15, and cyclin E1), transcription factors (general transcription factors, zinc finger proteins, transcriptional enhancer factors), SWI/SNF (SWItch/Sucrose NonFermentable) complex units, early-response proteins, and nerve growth or neurotrophic factors. Down-regulated genes were subject to colony-stimulating factors (e.g., GMSFs), and many repair genes were involved in DNA damage (RAD, ERCC, DNA topoisomerase, polymerase, and ligase). Some interesting genes (p21cip1, ID2, GMSF, ERCC5, and RPA1), which changed in the cDNA microarray analysis, were confirmed by semi-qRT-PCR, and similar changes in expression were observed. FCM cell-cycle analysis indicated that FN1BP1 over-expression could result in G1 phase arrest. FN1BP1 might inhibit cell growth and/or colony conformation through G1 phase arrest of the Hep3B cell cycle. These results indicate the potential role of FN1BP1 as a treatment target for hepatocellular carcinoma.


Purpose: Over the last decade, there has been a general outcry on the loss of livelihood by communities through land acquisition schemes to accommodate large scale farming in Africa. Interventions by the African Union through Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in July 2009 – the LSLBI and the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of the Tenure of Land, Forests and Fisheries (VGGT) have addressed this to a very great extent. Notwithstanding these interventions, local communities continue to be insufficiently compensated, under-consulted, and left with their livelihoods threatened. The basic question as to who is to improve land governance in LSLBI remains unanswered and, it is intriguing to establish whether the VGGT are sufficiently understood and operational.Methodology: through documentary and government policy reviews, the study evaluated three projects in the Coast and Kigoma regions of Tanzania.Findings: It is clear where local communities were directly consulted; there was consensus on how to address the livelihood issue and the project objectives were more likely to be achieved. Local communities were more readily to adapt to a new arrangement if offered some ownership rights in the subsequent investors' project than monetary compensation.Research limitations the studied projects had been stalled on account of hostile communities and political interventions in the past. They nevertheless present a good case for understanding the underlying factors that may hinder large scale agricultural investment in countries such as Tanzania.Practi al implication Monetary compensation for land to be acquired has been a source of disputes for too long. An alternative scheme such as equity participation in a new venture assures continued rights and food security.Value of Work: A framework for improving FAO Guidelines and customizing them for the African local conditions is given. Besides, the land assessment and compensation problem has been addressed.


Recently, online social media has become a primary source for new information and misinformation or rumours. In the absence of an automatic rumour detection system the propagation of rumours has increased manifold leading to serious societal damages. In this work, we propose a novel method for building automatic rumour detection system by focusing on oversampling to alleviating the fundamental challenges of class imbalance in rumour detection task. Our oversampling method relies on contextualised data augmentation to generate synthetic samples for underrepresented classes in the dataset. The key idea exploits selection of tweets in a thread for augmentation which can be achieved by introducing a non-random selection criteria to focus the augmentation process on relevant tweets. Furthermore, we propose two graph neural networks(GNN) to model non-linear conversations on a thread. To enhance the tweet representations in our method we employed a custom feature selection technique based on state-of-the-art BERTweet model. Experiments of three publicly available datasets confirm that 1) our GNN models outperform the the current state-of-the-art classifiers by more than 20%(F1-score); 2) our oversampling technique increases the model performance by more than 9%;(F1-score) 3) focusing on relevant tweets for data augmentation via non-random selection criteria can further improve the results; and 4) our method has superior capabilities to detect rumours at very early stage.


Abstract Objectives: To compare excessive sleepiness and quality of life (QoL) scores in shift workers who report having a diagnosis of shift work disorder (SWD) with those who report having no such diagnosis. Methods: An Internet-based survey was conducted between March and April 2009 that included shift workers with or without a self-reported diagnosis of SWD. Participation required working ≥ 21 hours/week for 2 weeks prior, a diagnosis of SWD or a score of ≥ 10 on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and a score of ≥ 5 on any subscale of the Sheehan Disability Scale. Results: Surveys included 260 shift workers (103 with an SWD diagnosis and 157 without an SWD diagnosis). Diagnosed and undiagnosed respondents demonstrated similar Epworth Sleepiness Scale (13.7 vs 13.6, respectively) and Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (6.0 vs 5.5, respectively) scores. Sheehan Disability Scale social life and family life scores were similar between the 2 groups, although diagnosed respondents had a greater mean Sheehan Disability Scale work disability score compared with undiagnosed respondents (6.7 vs 5.5; P < 0.0001). Quality of life was more impaired in diagnosed patients in terms of ability to drive safely, propensity for accidents, work performance, and anxiety (P ≤ 0.039 vs undiagnosed). Work-related accidents (16% vs 5%; P = 0.0076) and injuries at work (17% vs 7%; P = 0.0233) were also reported by more diagnosed respondents than by undiagnosed respondents. Many respondents used caffeine and 57% of diagnosed respondents received prescription medication to treat symptoms of SWD. Conclusion: Individuals with diagnosed SWD demonstrated impairment in QoL and reported more work-related accidents and injuries, although many measures of QoL and prescription drug use were similar between groups. Shift work disorder is underrecognized by clinicians and patients, resulting in undertreatment, despite the availability of several behavioral and therapeutic treatment options.


Investigations have been carried out, both in the field and in the laboratory, into certain aspects of the biology of three species of millipede (Spirostreptus assiniensis, Oxydesmus sp., and Habrodesmus falx) which commonly occur during the rainy season in the Ibadan area of Western Nigeria. The feeding, mating, egg-laying, and moulting habits of the three species are described. A detailed description is given of the nest-building habit of the larvae of Oxydesmus sp. The elaborate nests which are built primarily for moulting also protect the larvae during the dry season when moisture conditions become unfavourable. Swarming behaviour, uncommon in millipedes, is shown by the larvae of H. falx. This behaviour which appears to be of survival value to the species is described.


Every season, circulating influenza viruses change; therefore, vaccines must be reformulated each year. We aimed to estimate vaccine effectiveness (VE) against severe influenza infection for the 2018/19 season in Italy. We conducted a test-negative design case-control study at five Italian hospitals. We estimated influenza VE against severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) requiring hospitalisation overall, and by virus subtype, vaccine brand, and age. The 2018/19 season was characterised by A(H1N1)pmd09 and A(H3N2) influenza viruses. Vaccine coverage among <18 years recruited SARI cases was very low (3.2%). Seasonal vaccines were moderately effective against type A influenza overall (adjusted VE = 40.5%; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 18.7–56.4%) and subtype A(H1N1)pmd09 viruses (adjusted VE = 55%; 95% CI = 34.5–69.1%), but ineffective against subtype A(H3N2) viruses (adjusted VE = 2.5%; 95% CI = −50.0–36.7%). Both Fluad and Fluarix Tetra vaccines were effective against type A influenza overall and subtype A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses. VE appeared to be similar across age groups (0–64 years, ≥65 years). Seasonal influenza vaccines in the 2018/19 season were moderately effective in preventing SARI caused by A(H1N1)pdm09 influenza but ineffective against A(H3N2).