Genetic recombination was used in Drosophila melanogaster to isolate P elements, inserted at the telomeres of X chromosomes (cytological site IA) from natural populations, in a genetic background devoid of other P elements. We show that complete maternally inherited P repression in the germline (P cytotype) can be elicited by only two autonomous P elements at 1A and that a single element at this site has partial regulatory properties. The analysis of the surrounding chromosomal regions of the P elements at 1A shows that in all cases these elements are flanked by Telomeric Associated Sequences, tandemly repetitive noncoding sequences that have properties of heterochromatin. In addition, we show that the regulatory properties of P elements at 1A can be inhibited by some of the mutant alleles of the Su(var)205 gene and by a deficiency of this gene. However, the regulatory properties of reference P strains (Harwich and Texas 007) are not impaired by Su(var)205 mutations. Su(var)205 encodes Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1). These results suggest that the HP1 dosage effect on the P element properties is site-dependent and could involve the structure of the chromatin.


This paper focuses on the application of steady-state operability to Model Predictive Control (MPC) of the Shell Heavy Oil Fractionator (SHOF) control problem. Operability for non-square systems is a relatively new area in the literature, and investigation into its applicability for higher order dimensions has not yet been addressed. This was done primarily to assess steady-state operability as a tool for evaluating the steady-state performance of high-order non-square systems. New theory and techniques have, however, been developed in the process. For non-square systems there are a number of alternatives in selecting the type (e.g. set-point, zone/interval and funnel) and number of controlled variables. This paper aims to investigate how operability can help the control designer to select these controlled variables (CVs) whilst ensuring robustness to expected disturbances. Different options are assessed for the SHOF, and conclusions and recommendations are made regarding how the concept of operability might be improved.


A new approach based on genetic algorithms to reduce power consumption by communication buses in an embedded system is presented. This approach makes it possible to obtain the truth table of an encoder that minimises switching activity on a bus. This method is static, in the sense that the encoders are generated ad hoc for specific traffic. This is not, however, a limiting hypothesis if the application scenario considered is that of embedded systems. An embedded system, in fact, executes the same application throughout its lifetime and so it is possible to have detailed knowledge of the trace of the patterns transmitted on a bus following execution of a specific application. The approach is compared with the most effective ones already presented in literature, on both multiplexed and separate buses. The results obtained demonstrate the validity of the approach, which on average saves up to 50% of the transitions normally required, in addition to their practical applicability, even in an on-chip environment.


: The authors studied the blood-brain barrier permeability in 70 patients depending on the severity and terms of bacterial meningoencephalitis. It was shown that employment of the probability-statistical analysis of quantitative content of metal in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid allows to evaluate the working regimen of the blood-brain barrier from initial manifestations of functional insufficiency to failure of barrier compensation systems.


Abstract Nineteen companies and institutes participated in the second collaborative study, using the measuring methods VA, PA and C in 3 series of filter-rods of 50 pieces each; 4 participants received 3 series and 3 CFO respectively. The differences of the mean values were much smaller than in the first collaborative study and did not exceed 28 mm water. Also the standard deviation of the single values and the standard deviation of reproducibility have decreased to less than half in comparison to the first collaborative study. There was no difference in the method-mean value over all participants and series. Significant differences arose however between the participant-mean values and the mean values as well of the standard deviations of the participants as also of their standard deviations of reproducibility. A regression between the standard deviation of the single values and the standard deviations of reproducibility could however not be shown. Comparing the values of the standard deviation between the samples of the same participants to the values of the residual variance of the single analysis of variance of the series over all participants, it shows that the latter is mostly based on the systematic participant influence. Also a regression between the standard deviation of the single values and the mean values of the pressure drop could not be noticed. An influence of temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure on the value of the pressure drop could only be stated in series III of measuring method C corr. But it was so small that it could practically be neglected. By means of a rank correlation a connection between the mean values of the first and the second collaborative study could be shown for different parameters with most participants. This fact is another proof that the stated differences in pressure drop are mostly based on factors being characteristic for the individual participants. It is to be aimed at the fact that all these factors are checked more thoroughly in order to improve the agreement of the mean values of the pressure drop between the participants


With the exponential growth of information on the Web, Internet has become one of the most important information sources. However, due to limitation of the network bandwidth, users always have to bear with long time waiting. Web pre-fetching solution is one of the most popular strategies, which is proposed for reducing the perceived access delay and improving the service quality of Web server. This paper proposes a pre-fetching model based on the hidden Markov model (HMM), and utilizes HMM to capture and mine the latent information requirement concepts that the user's access path contains and to make semantic-based pre-fetching decisions. Experimental results show that our scheme has better predictive pre-fetching precision and evidently reduces the users' access time.


The paper is based on the researches carried out in Oradea during 2006-2008 in the following variants: V1= Irrigated, without irrigation suspending; V2= Irrigated, irrigation suspending in May; V3 = Irrigated, irrigation suspending in June; V4= Irrigated, irrigation suspending in July; V5= Irrigated, irrigation suspending in August; V6= Unirrigated. The hybrid used: Fundulea 376. Total nitrogen content of the maize grains was determined in the laboratory of the Agricultural and Development Research Station Oradea. In the variant with optimum irrigation, water reserve on 0-75 cm depth was maintained between easily available water content and field capacity. Pedological drought was determined every year and the irrigation was also needed. The irrigation determined the increase of the total water consumption and yield gain in comparison with unirrigated variant. Irrigation suspending in different months determined the yield losses very significant statistically. The biggest protein content was registered in the variant without irrigation suspending; the values registered in the variants with irrigation suspending in May, June, July and August and in the unirrigated variant are smaller, with differences statistically assured. There was a direct link between de Martonne aridity index values and water consumption, yield and protein content and an inverse link between pedological drought and yield quantity and protein content. These are the arguments for irrigation opportunity in maize from Crişurilor Plain Keyword: pedological drought, de Martonne aridity index, yield, protein content, correlations


Background and Aims
Heavy metals induce changes in root metabolism and physiology, which can lead to a complex remodelling of the root system. The final morphological responses of radish (Raphanus sativus) roots exposed to toxic concentrations of the heavy metal (Cu) include root growth inhibition, differentiation of xylem vessels close to the root tip, enhanced suberin lamellae deposition and enhanced lateral root production. Recently, we have found that such changes in root morphology and anatomy are coupled to the formation of a subero-lignified apical deposit (SLAD) very close to the root tip.

Methods
To clarify the details of the formation of a SLAD in the root tip, we conducted experiments with radish roots exposed to a high Cu concentration (60 µm). Histochemical analysis of lignin and suberin as well as analysis of spatial-temporal characteristics of SLAD formation were performed by bright-field, fluorescence and confocal microscopy.

Key Results
This unique structure, not longer than 100 µm, consists of modified cell walls of the central cylinder that are encircled by a short cylinder of prematurely suberized endodermal cells. A SLAD starts to form, in both primary and lateral roots, after cessation of root elongation, and it is coupled with xylem differentiation and root branching close to the root apex. We noticed that deposition of phenolic substances into a SLAD, mainly suberin in the endodermis, is spatially separated from suberization or lignification in basally located endodermis.

Conclusions
Although the main reason for formation of a SLAD is elusive, we suggest that it is a part of stress-induced responses which relate to decreased root growth or permeability in heavy metal stress.


Many scheduling problems reside in uncertain and dynamic environments – tasks have a nonzero probability of failure and may need to be rescheduled. In these cases, an optimized solution for a short-term time horizon may have a detrimental impact over a broader time scale. We examine a scheduling domain in which time and energy on a phased array radar system is allocated to track objects in orbit around the earth. This domain requires probabilistic modeling to optimize the expected number of successful tasks on a particular day. Failed tasks must be attempted again on subsequent days. Given a set of task requests, we study two long-term objectives: percentage of requests initially successful, and the average time between successful request updates. We investigate adaptive priority weighting strategies that directly influence the short-term objective function and thus indirectly influence the long-term goals. We find that adapting priority weights based on when individual tasks succeed or fail allows a catalog of requests to be filled more quickly. Furthermore, with adaptive priorities, we observe a Pareto-front effect between the two long-term objectives as we modify how priorities are weighted, but an inverse effect of weighting when the priorities are not adapted.


Background: The objective of the study was to identify practice and pattern of self-medication use among new patients attending ophthalmology OPD in a tertiary care hospital of north India. Self-medication practice is a common phenomenon all over the world but it has been reported to be very common in the developing countries especially in India. When consumers self-medicate without consulting the eye care giver, the issues of safety and irrational use of drugs arise. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire based, observational study was planned among the patients reporting for the first time to Ophthalmology OPD in ASCOMS, Jammu. The patients enrolled in the study were randomly selected in the age group ≥18 years. Detailed history regarding self-medication prior to reporting to OPD was obtained. A questionnaire elucidating details of self-medication regarding history of ocular self-medication, type of ocular medication used, their reasons for resorting to ocular self-medication etc. was provided to them. All participants were informed about the scope and purpose of the study. An informed consent was obtained in every case prior to being given the questionnaire. Results: A total of 296 responders were interviewed. Among these 122 (41.2%) admitted to have used eye medicines before coming to hospital. Redness in 38 (31.1%) cases was the most common complaint for which the patients opted self-medication. 49 (40.2%) patients did not know what drug they had used. Among the various drugs used, the commonest was the antibiotic eye medication in 33 (27%) patients followed by steroids 13 (10.7%). Among the responders 9 (7.3%) experienced side-effects after self-medication. Main factors influencing self-medication were advice from friends/relatives, living far from hospital and high cost of treatment at the hospital. Conclusions: Self-medication with eye medicines is common among the population interviewed. Educating the public about the dangers of self-diagnosis and treatment, possibly leading to delay in detection of more serious underlying ailments is essential.


The release of oxygen free radicals from ischemic myocardium has been implicated as a causative factor of cardiac dysfunction after thermal injury. In this study, isolated coronary perfused guinea pig hearts were used to determine if free radical scavengers improve left ventricular (LV) intrinsic contractile response to burn shock. Parameters measured included peak isovolumic LV pressure (LVP) and maximal rate of LVP rise (+dP/dtmax) and fall (-dP/dtmax) at a constant preload. Control animals were immersed in body temperature water and divided into four groups: Group 1, untreated N = 10; Group 2, control animals treated with unbound superoxide dismutase (SOD), N = 5; Group 3, control animals treated with ficoll-SOD, N = 5; and Group 4, control animals treated with PEG-SOD, N = 5. Scald burn equivalent to 45% of total body surface area was produced in 64 animals. Fluid resuscitation was initiated immediately after burn in all animals, and animals were then divided into seven burn experimental groups. In Group 5, 10 animals were treated with fluid alone, lactated Ringer's, 4 mL/kg/% burn. Burned animals in Group 6 (N = 10) received a reduced volume of Ringer's 2 mL/kg/% burn plus unbound-SOD, 50 mg/kg; 10 animals in Group 7 received this volume of Ringer's plus ficoll-SOD, 50 mg/kg. In groups 8, 9, and 10 animals were given fluid, lactated Ringer's, 2 mL/kg/% burn plus varying doses of PEG-SOD (Group 8: N = 9, 1,000 U; Group 9: N = 10, 6,000 U; Group 10: N = 5, 12,000 U). In Group 11 (N = 10), animals received SOD-PEG, 6,000 U, plus catalase, CAT-PEG, 6,000 U, given with 4 mL/kg/% burn lactated Ringer's solution. Hypotension, hypothermia, and hemoconcentration were similar in all animals after thermal injury, regardless of treatment regimen. Burn hearts showed significantly lower LVP, +dP/dt max, and -dP/dt max than control hearts (P less than 0.05). Compared to controls, coronary pressure and coronary vascular resistance were significantly higher in all treated burn groups. There was no significant difference in heart rate or time to peak pressure or time to maximal contraction or relaxation among the groups. Left ventricular function curves for burned hearts were shifted downward and to the right of curves obtained from control hearts (P less than 0.01), regardless of scavenger treatment. PEG-SOD, 6,000 U, improved left ventricular contractility (+dP/dt) at maximal levels of end-diastolic pressure but deficits in left ventricular pressure and relaxation persisted.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Given the age‐related decline in ovarian reserve and oocyte quality, it is unsurprising the global trend of deferring motherhood has resulted in increased levels of involuntary childlessness. The development of oocyte vitrification, with pregnancy and livebirth rates now comparable to using fresh oocytes, has provided an opportunity to cryopreserve oocytes electively for future use, empowering women with the capacity to delay their childbearing years. While it enhances reproductive autonomy, age‐related obstetric complications, economic implications and the risk of unsuccessful future treatment make this a controversial therapeutic option. However, some women have no reasonable alternative, such as single women approaching their late thirties, in whom egg freezing, although not a guarantee against involuntary childlessness, offers hope by extending the window of opportunity to find a partner. Given the upward trend in women electively cryopreserving their eggs, it would appear that a new ice age, from a fertility perspective, is upon us.


The association between emotional inhibition strategies linked to depression has been showed inconsistent among studies. Mild emotional inhibition maybe benefit for social interaction, especially for female among East Asian cultures. The present study aimed to examine whether the inhibition–depression relationship is dependent on level of emotion inhibition and gender context, given differing value of suppressing emotional displays. We hypothesized that the negative associations between inhibition and adolescent depression would not directly, in which affected by interaction between emotion inhibition and gender. To test this hypothesis, we asked 309 junior high school students which age range from 12 to14 years old to report on their use of emotion inhibition and depression syndrome. A multiple regressions analysis revealed that significant interaction that gender as a moderator to the relationships between emotion inhibition and adolescent depression. The group with the highest level of depression was girls with high levels of emotion inhibition, whose depression score was higher than that of boys with high levels of emotion inhibition. The result highlights that the importance of context in understanding the inhibition-depression relationship. Keywords—Emotional inhibition strategies, gender, adolescent depression.


An experience with treatment of postoperative complications in patients with colorectal cancer in specialized and surgical hospitals and an analysis of results of treatment of patients with incompetent intestinal anastomoses depending on the surgical strategy have shown that reoperations for exclusion of the gut with the incompetent anastomosis with the first symptoms of a developing complication allows prevention of possible complication.


As a bot communicates with a malicious controller over a normal communication or an encrypted channel and updates its code frequently, it becomes difficult to detect an infected personal computer (PC) using a signature-based intrusion detection system (IDS) and an antivirus system (AV). As sending control and attack packets from the bot process are independent of the user operation, a behavior monitor is effective in detecting an anomaly communication. In this paper, we propose a bot detection technique that checks outbound packets with destination-based whitelists. If any outbound packets during the non-operating duration do not match the whitelists, the PC is considered to be infected by the bot. The whitelists are a set of legitimate IP addresses (IPs) and/or domain names (DNs). We implement the proposal system as a host-based detector and evaluate false negative (FN) and false positive (FP) performance.


Coaches are central in the technical development of athletes. They guide athletes towards achievement of optimum performance and serve as their role models, counselors and teachers. Coaches must therefore, be well educated, professionally trained and have acceptable and admirable attributes. It is against this background that the present study set out to establish the profiles of Kenya's top athletics coaches. A sample of 101 (75%) out of a total of 134 provincial and national athletics coaches were randomly selected for the study. A questionnaire was used to gather data on the demographic details of the coaches. The results revealed that majority of the coaches, (79; 79.22%), were male, married and had children. A larger proportion of the coaches, (42;41.5), were aged between 40 and 49 years, followed by a proportion of 25 (24J5%) whose age ranged from 35 to 39 years, and 18 (17.82%) above 50 years. The largest proportion of the coaches, 89.11% possessed academic credentials above the ordinary level. Most of them, (86; 85.15%) had other regular employment apart from coaching, and majority, (56; 55.45%) were certified by IAAF. Most of the coaches also specialized in middle and long distance races. Arising from these, it was recommended that more female and younger coaches in all areas of athletics be trained. The need for full-time coaches and establishment of centralized national institute to train coaches is-also emphasized.


Diagnosis of the productive activity of the bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in the Brunca Region from Costa Rica: Harvest time: 1995-1996. Nine localities were selected by their tradition in the bean cultivation in order to carry out a survey and diagnose of the situation of this productive activity. Based on surveys and visits to properties of farmers, it was that in the majority of the localities prevailed the use of Creole varieties. Creole varieties with a major commercial use were important for their precocity. A longer vegetative cycle of the improved varieties was a disadvantage which caused grain deterioration during the rain season. Quality and seed availability were the main problems. Inoculants of Antracnosis was found in the field and in the seeds. Web blight was an important pathogen affecting bean crops followed by leaf spot anthracnose. It was found that weeds were an important problem in the Brunca region.


Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder and the 5th cause of death in developed countries. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is an impaired glucose tolerance in pregnancy period. Fourteen-eighteen percent of pregnant women are at risk of GDM, 3-4 percent of whom suffer from it. The present study was conducted to determine the most important causes of DM in a regression model. Materials and Methods : In a case control study 70 GDM patients were compared with 350 non-GDM pregnant women referring to Shiraz hospital for delivery. The data were gathered and analyzed using Fisher exact test, in univariate t-test method and binary logistic regression at multivariate model. Results : The mean age in cases and controls was 31.2 ± 6.03 and 26.32 ± 5.03, respectively. All of variables showed significant difference between two groups, except history of infertility malformation of twine pregnancy, toxemia and previous preterm delivery having no relation with GDM. In final regression model, GD history (OR=21.93), glocosuria in three trimester (OR=10.34), age older 35 years (OR=9.57), family history of GD (OR=8.13) and preeclampsia (OR=3.81) were the most important predictors of GDM, respectively. Conclusion : To prevent diabetes and its unpleasant outcomes in pregnant women it is suggested that they should avoid creating factors of glocosuria, especially in older mothers with family history of GD and GDM history.


Abstract. The old town of Gjirokastra (Albania), was included in the World Heritage List in 2005 thanks to the valuable presence of several remarkable examples of Ottoman-styled houses and in the integrity of the vernacular urban landscape. The urban structure is strongly influenced by the orography of the Drino valley and its slopes where the city was founded. Stone is the building material that characterizes the paving of the streets, the walls of the buildings and the roof coverings. The wood, mostly local, was used to build the frame structure of the upper floors and the roofs, in order to provide large windows and bright interior spaces. In December 2018, as part of the activities of the 3D Past project, founded by Eu Creative Europe Programme, Italian and Albanian students took part in a workshop in Gjirokastra. Such an initiative was designed to understand the tangible and intangible components of the vernacular heritage of Gjrokastra. In a multidisciplinary approach, students, professors, researchers and local experts analysed the morphological features of the historic center, the public spaces, and the traditional building systems. Traditional instruments such as the direct survey, the on-site observation and the interviews were adopted in combination with more innovative tools such as the laser scanner and the photogrammetry. This contribution not only illustrates the results of a multi-scale analysis, but it also highlights the transformations and threats that endanger the transmission of the unique characteristics of the city to the future generations. Moreover, it deals with the conservation strategies currently in use and some possible future measures that can contribute to the sustainable safeguard and development of the site.


The selective and efficient removal of oxygenated groups from lignin-derived phenols is a critical challenge to utilize lignin as a source for renewable aromatic chemicals. This report describes that surface modification of a zeolite-supported Pt catalyst using ionic liquids (ILs) remarkably increases selectivity for the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of phenols into arenes under mild reaction conditions using atmospheric pressure H₂. Unmodified Pt/H-ZSM-5 converts phenols into aliphatic species as the major products along with a slight amount of arenes (10% selectivity). In contrast, the catalyst modified with an IL, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium triflate, keeps up to 76% selectivity for arenes even at a nearly complete conversion of phenols. The IL on the surface of Pt catalyst may offer the adsorption of phenols in an edge-to-face manner onto the surface, thus accelerating the HDO without the ring hydrogenation.


We report an experimental and first-principles study of the thermal decomposition of 6H-SiC wafers, yielding graphite on the Si-terminated face and carbon nanotubes on the C-terminated face. The asymmetry of the carbon structure formation mechanisms is rationalized in terms of the different termination geometries of the opposite SiC faces. First-principles modeling reveals that horizontal, xr-delocalized carbon structures form on the Si-terminated face. The bonding network geometry of the C-terminated face favors instead the formation of vertically oriented carbon structures, which can be interpreted as nanotube lateral wall precursors.


The equivalent of carbon dioxide of the plate heat exchangers used for chilled water distribution contributed to Global Warming Potential (GWP). The effect of GWP is increasing of environment temperature due to high concentration of CO₂ in atmosphere. Since the energy inlet of the heat exchanger is not equal to the energy outlet, thus the evaluation of CO₂ released to environment can be estimated from the heat loss by the plate heat exchanger. The heat transfer between the primary and secondary lines of chilled water in the plate heat exchanger caused heat loss being generated and emitted to the environment. The chilled water distribution in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS is the focus in this study. Two (2) months data of chilled water flowing through the two plate heat exchangers were acquired and analyzed in order to calculate the amount of heat loss to the environment. Two (2) time interval of 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and 8:00 am to 5:00 pm were used in evaluating the average emission of CO₂ equivalent by both plate of the heat exchangers in order to assess the difference. In addition, the total average emission of CO₂ equivalent for 10 years, 15 years and 20 years were also calculated. The energy balance principle was adopted in this evaluation. Results indicate that the amount of CO₂ emission released to environment in 20 years was about 2.84E+08 kg of CO₂.


Abstract The Maz Metasedimentary Series is part of the Maz Complex that crops out in the sierras of Maz and Espinal (Western Sierras Pampeanas) and in the Sierra de Umango (Andean Frontal Cordillera), northwestern Argentina. The Maz Complex is found within a thrust stack of Silurian age, which later underwent open folding. The Maz Metasedimentary Series mainly consists of medium-grade garnet–staurolite–kyanite–sillimanite schists and quartzites, with minor amounts of marble and calc-silicate rocks. Transposed metadacite dykes have been recognized along with amphibolites, metagabbros, metadiorites and orthogneisses. Schist, quartzite and metadacite samples were analysed for SHRIMP U–Pb zircon dating. The Maz Metasedimentary Series is polymetamorphic and records probably three metamorphic events during the Grenvillian orogeny, at c. 1235, 1155 and 1035 Ma, and a younger metamorphism at c. 440–420 Ma resulting from reactivation during the Famatinian orogeny. The sedimentary protoliths were deposited between 1.86 and 1.33–1.26 Ga (the age of the Andean-type Grenvillian magmatism recorded in the Maz Complex), and probably before 1.75 Ga. The main source areas correspond to Palaeoproterozoic and, to a lesser magnitude, Meso-Neoarchaean rocks. The probable depositional age and the detrital zircon age pattern suggest that the Maz Metasedimentary Series was laid down in a basin of the Columbia supercontinent, mainly accreted between 2.1 and 1.8 Ga. The sedimentary sources were diverse, and we hypothesize that deposition took place before Columbia broke up. The Rio Apa block, and the Río de la Plata, Amazonia and proto-Kalahari cratons, which have nearby locations in the palaeogeographic reconstructions, were probably the main blocks that supplied sediments to this basin.


Drs. Wahn, Ernsting & Peterson suggest in their report (Allergy 1990: 45: 109-14) that spontaneous basophil histamine releasability may not be important in allergic disorders, or reflect allergic disease activities. They also pointed out the difference in measurable histamine released from washed cells or whole blood from the same subjects. There are two important facts about the study which may have led to overstatement of the meaning of the results. The first is subject sample. According to the authors, the study volunteers were off systemic medications for at least 3 weeks. We have no idea of how symptomatic the subjects were. This is critical to their hypothesis. Other investigators have demonstrated that spontaneous basophil histamine release may correlate with if not contribute to disease activity. The trend is for this abnormality to return to normal values as the allergic disorder is controlled. The second concern is the total histamine content of the different specimens. This is not mentioned, but a standard histamine curve can be run along with the cells. I believe we all agree that the absolute amount of mediator release is important in disease. Without approaches which consider the disease activity in each patient, the authors conclusions are unsubstantiated.


These days, it is not common for people to have time to do physical activities regularly because of their own work. So, they perform physical activities all at once, which is often called the "weekend warrior". Therefore, this study aimed to examine the association of the "weekend warrior" and other physical activity patterns with metabolic syndrome. Data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used, and 27,788 participants were included. The participants were divided into inactive, weekend warriors, and regularly active based on physical activity patterns. The risk of metabolic syndrome in each group was analyzed using multiple logistic regression. The inactive and weekend warrior groups showed a higher likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome than the regularly active groups (weekend warrior: odds ratio (OR) 1.29, confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.65; inactive: OR 1.38, CI 1.25–1.53). According to the physical activity patterns, the weekend warrior group showed a dose-response relationship compared to the regularly active group (only moderate: OR 1.85, CI 1.25–2.72; only vigorous: OR 1.41, CI 0.93–2.14; both: OR 0.84, CI 0.56–1.27). This study found increasing the amount of physical activity and performing vigorous-intensity physical activity helped manage metabolic syndrome in the weekend warrior group.


In this article we combine ideas from spatial statistics with lifetime data analysis techniques to investigate possible spatial variation in survival of adult acute myeloid leukemia patients in northwest England. Exploratory analysis suggests both clinically and statistically significant variation in survival rates across the region. A multivariate gamma frailty model incorporating spatial dependence is proposed and applied, with results confirming the dependence of hazard on location.


1. The individual cytochrome P450 isoforms in dextropropoxyphene N-demethylation to nordextropropoxyphene were determined and the pharmacokinetics of dextropropoxyphene and nordextropropoxyphene in cytochrome P4502D6 (CYP2D6) extensive (EM) and poor (PM) subjects were characterized. 2. Microsomes from six CYP2D6 extensive metabolizers and one CYP2D6 poor metabolizer were used with isoform specific chemical and antibody inhibitors and expressed recombinant CYP enzymes. Groups of three CYP2D6 EM and PM subjects received a single 65-mg oral dose of dextropropoxyphene, and blood and urine were collected for 168 and 96 h, respectively. 3. Nordextropropoxyphene formation in vitro was not different between the CYP2D6 extensive metabolizers (Km = 179 ± 74 μM, Clint = 0.41 ± 0.26 ml mg−1 h−1) and the PM subject (Km = 225 μM, Clint = 0.19 ml mg−1 h−1) and was catalysed predominantly by CYP3A4. There was no apparent difference in the pharmacokinetics of dextropropoxyphene and nordextropropoxyphene in CYP2D6 EM and PM subjects. 4. CYP3A4 is the major CYP enzyme catalysing the major metabolic pathway of dextropropoxyphene metabolism. Hence variability in the pharmacodynamic effects of dextropropoxyphene are likely due to intersubject variability in hepatic CYP3A4 expression and/or drug–drug interactions. Reported CYP2D6 phenocopying is not due to dextropropoxyphene being a CYP2D6 substrate.


In this article, I revisit some basic issues concerning structural uncertainty and catastrophic climate change. My target audience here are general economists, so this article could also be viewed as a somewhat less technical exposition that supplements my previous work. Using empirical examples, I argue that it is implausible that low-probability, high-negative impact events would not much influence an economic analysis of climate change. I then try to integrate the empirical examples and the theory together into a unified package with a unified message that the possibility of catastrophic climate change needs to be taken seriously.


Almond leaf scorch disease (ALSD) has been a chronic problem for California almond growers. This disease is caused by the bacterial pathogen Xylella fastidiosa and is transmitted by xylem-feeding insects. Previous research suggested that retaining, rather than roguing, ALSD-affected trees may be more economically beneficial because ALSD-affected trees produced a reasonable yield and did not die over a 3-year period. Because almond orchards are kept in production for approximately 25 years, longer-term data are needed to fully evaluate the merits of retaining ALSD-affected trees. Extension of yield evaluations from 3 to 5 years demonstrated that yield loss due to ALSD was consistent over 5 years, with yields of ALSD-affected trees reduced by 20 and 40% compared with unaffected trees for 'Nonpareil' and 'Sonora', respectively. To assess risk of ALSD-affected trees serving as a source of inocula for secondary (tree-to-tree) spread and to evaluate vitality of ALSD-affected trees, previous surveys of two orchards were extended from 3 to 6 or 7 years. The relationship between disease incidence (percentage of trees infected) and survey year was linear for all cultivars examined at both orchards. Furthermore, at each orchard, the spatial location of infections detected after the first survey was random with respect to the spatial location of infections identified during the first survey, suggesting that ALSD-affected trees retained in orchards did not serve as a source for secondary spread. Over the 6- to 7-year study period, death of ALSD-affected trees was rare, with only 9% of ALSD-affected trees dying. Because orchards used in this study had relatively high disease incidence, 61 orchards containing Sonora were surveyed to determine typical levels of ALSD incidence. ALSD was widespread, with at least one infected tree in 56% of orchards surveyed, but incidence was typically low (mean incidence = 0.47%). Collectively, the results suggest that retaining ALSD-affected trees may be economically beneficial in older orchards.


Cilostazol is a selective, reversible inhibitor of phosphodiesterase type 3, which inhibits platelet aggregation and exerts a vasodilation effect. These therapeutic properties justified its use in the conservative treatment of chronic lower limb ischemia. Cilostazol is used worldwide for over 15 years, but has not been widely available in Poland. Randomized clinical trials with placebo showed that the drug used at a dose of 100 mg twice daily increases the claudication distance of by an average of 30–40 meters. In addition, clinical observations indicate its potential benefits in patients with critical ischemia of the lower limbs, pointing out lower incidence of amputation and acceleration of ulcers healing. The use of cilostazol, like aspirin, reduces the risk of stroke, and in patients after endovascular treatment (the femoro-popliteal stenting) reduces the risk of stent thrombosis and restenosis. The potential benefits of cilostazol in the combination with other antiplatelet agents are being questioned and remain subject to scientific debates. Recently published studies indicate the potential benefits related to slowing progression of Alzheimer's disease and reduced pulmonary artery pressure in patients treated with cilostazol. 7 Jerzy Chudek, Damian Ziaja Chirurgia Polska 2014, 16, 1 Cilostazol w leczeniu niedokrwienia kończyn dolnych This article summarizes current knowledge on the use of cilostazol and its limitations in the treatment of chronic ischemia of the lower limbs, and presenting the recommendations of the European Medicines Agency issued in 2013.


BACKGROUND
Most closed clavicle fractures are treated nonoperatively. Research during the past decade has reported differences in the treatment of clavicle fractures based on insurance status in the US and may highlight unmet needs in a vulnerable population, particularly because new data show that surgery may lead to improved outcomes in select populations. Large-scale, national data are needed to better inform this debate.

QUESTIONS/PURPOSES
(1) Does the likelihood of operative fixation of closed clavicle fractures vary among patients with different types of insurance? (2) What demographic and socioeconomic factors are associated with the likelihood of clavicle fracture surgery? (3) Has the proportion of operative fixation of clavicle fractures changed over time?

METHODS
A retrospective analysis of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample 2001-2013 database was performed. This database is the largest publicly available all-payer inpatient database in the US that provides pertinent socioeconomic data on a nationwide scale. Data were queried for patients with closed clavicle fractures using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) diagnostic codes, and surgery was determined using ICD-9 procedural codes. A total of 252,109 patients were included in the final analysis after 158,619 patients were excluded because of missing demographic or insurance data, ambiguous fracture location, or age younger than 19 years. Of the 252,109 included patients, 21,638 (9%) underwent surgical fixation of clavicle fractures. A chi-square analysis was performed to determine variables to be included in a multivariable analysis. A binary logistic regression analysis was used to examine demographic and other important variables, with a significance level of p < 0.01. Poisson's regression and a t-test were used to analyze trends over time. Results were recorded as odds ratios (OR) and incidence rate ratios.

RESULTS
After controlling for demographic and potentially relevant variables, such as the median income and fracture location, we found that patients with Medicare, Medicaid, and no insurance had a lower likelihood of undergoing operative fixation of clavicle fractures than did those with private insurance. Patients without insurance were the least likely to undergo surgery (OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.60-0.66; p < 0.001), followed by those with Medicare (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.70-0.78; p < 0.001) and those with Medicaid (OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.69-0.78; p < 0.001). Women, black, and Hispanic patients were also less likely to undergo surgery than men and white patients (OR, 0.95; p = 0.003; OR = 0.67; p < 0.001; and OR = 0.82; p < 0.001, respectively) There was an increase in the overall proportion of patients undergoing surgery, from 5% in 2001 to 11% in 2013 (incidence rate ratio, 2.99; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
We believe that the greater use of surgery among adult patients with clavicle fractures who have private insurance than among those with nonprivate or no insurance-as well as among men and white patients compared with women and patients of color-may be a manifestation of important health care disparities in the inpatient population. This may be owing to variable access to care or a difference in the likelihood that a surgeon will offer surgery based on a patient's insurance status. Because operative fixation of closed clavicle fractures increases in the adult population, future research should elucidate conscious and subconscious motivations of patients and surgeons to better inform the discussion of health care disparities in orthopaedics.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Level III, therapeutic study.


The Solomon Islands' Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) commissioned this Health Facilities Costing Study ('the study') to better understand how resources are used to deliver health services. The MHMS oversees two main sources of recurrent funds in support of this system: annual appropriations from domestic government resources and budget support from its development partners, including via the Health Sector Support Program (HSSP). The MHMS recorded recurrent expenditures of SBD 403 million in 2013, including SBD 262 million from domestic resources and SBD 141 million from HSSP, which amounted to 17 percent of total government recurrent expenditure. The MHMS uses these funds to support facilities at all levels of the health system, the National Referral Hospital (NRH; unless NRH is specifically mentioned it is not included as part of general reference to 'hospitals'), provincial and church hospitals (referred to as hospitals in this report unless otherwise specified), Area Health Centres (AHC), Rural Health Clinics (RHC) and Nurse Aid Posts (NAP), and national programs. This study focuses on the facilities only. Although the MHMS manages an estimated 96 percent of total health expenditure, little is known about how resources are used by these facilities. The study was designed to estimate the recurrent costs (staffing, medical supplies, transport, utilities and maintenance) currently incurred by health facilities, taking into account funds from the MHMS, as well as from churches, private organisations and patients.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
High blood pressure is frequent in patients with acute stroke. It frequently returns back to normal values within the first days after onset. It is not yet established whether it requires treatment or not. The Efficacy of Nitric Oxide in Stroke (ENOS) trial aims to assess the efficacy of transdermal glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) patches versus control and stopping or continuing antihypertensive treatments in stroke. The rationale for the study is presented and characteristics of patients recruited in Poland and elsewhere compared.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Patients were recruited to the ENOS study by 1 November, 2007. Baseline characteristics and outcome at 90 days were compared.

RESULTS
Of 783 patients overall, 78 patients were recruited in Poland. The age of the patients was similar in the two groups (70.0 vs. 69.1 years). There were fewer males among Polish patients (46.8% vs. 58.3%) and fewer intracranial haemorrhages (3.8% vs. 16.7%). There were more patients with no lesions on CT (41.8% vs. 19.3%). Polish patients more frequently had hypertension (76.0% vs. 66.4%) and subsequently more frequently had antihypertensive treatment (60.8% vs. 45.3%) and nitrates (10.1% vs. 5.0%). The number of patients independent after 3 months was similar.

CONCLUSIONS
Polish patients are slightly different from those treated in other countries, but at the moment the patient groups are too small to fully compare patient characteristics in different countries. The trial is ongoing and more centres are welcome to join.


We formulate and argue in favor of the following conjecture: There exists an intimate connection between Wigner's quantum mechanical phase space distribution function and classical Fresnel optics.


Abstract: In this paper, the nonclassical approach to dynamic programming for the optimal control problem via strongly continuous semigroup has been presented. The dual value function VD ( .,. ) of the problem is defined and characterized. We find that it satisfied the dual dynamic programming principle and dual Hamilton Jacobi – Bellman equation. Also, some properties of VD (. , .) have been studied, such as, various kinds of continuities and boundedness, these properties used to give a sufficient condition for optimality. A suitable verification theorem to find a dual optimal feedback control has been proved. Finally gives an example which illustrates the value of the theorem which deals with the sufficient condition for optimality.


Although limited by economic constraints, builder-dwellers in informal, self-made environments are free to choose housing forms and materials without external constraint or control. This situation potentially offers considerable freedom for expressive gestures, originality and individuality. Drawing on data from a longitudinal ethnographic study in Colombia this paper explores how dwelling forms and practices are characterised by imitative behaviours at a range of scales including settlement layouts, house plans, selection of materials and house furnishings. The main arena for competitive display and distinction is on the front facades of the dwellings where variations in colour and form become increasingly evident as settlements consolidate. The paper utilises Bourdieu's concepts of distinction and cultural capital to explore the changing dynamics of housing design and display, and to explain why as dwellings consolidate, there appears to be an increasing divergence between dwelling forms and domestic practices.


Mineralization studies are the first step in determining the usefulness of an amendment such as fertilizer, and are essential to creating guidelines for dairy waste management to help producers make informed decisions. Our goal was to assess the effects of dairy raw, composted, and digested manure amendments on C, N, and P mineralization to evaluate the feasibility of their in-farm production and use as organic fertilizers. The liquid and solid fractions of dairy effluent (LDE, SDE), dairy effluent digestate (DED), onion–cattle manure digestate and compost (OCMD, OCMC) were characterized by chemical and spectroscopic methods. Soil microcosms with LDE, SDE, DED, OCMD and OCMC and the C, N and P mineralization were determined periodically. Elemental and structural differences among amendments led to contrasting profiles of C, N, and P mineralization, and thus to differences in nutrient availability, immobilization, and CO2 emission. All processed materials were more stable than untreated waste, reducing C emissions. Digestates showed net C immobilization, and supplied the highest levels of available N, creating a relative P deficit. Instead, the compost supplied N and P via mineralization, producing a relative P excess. Future studies should aim at evaluating fertilization strategies that combine both kinds of amendments, to exploit their complimentary agronomic characteristics.


Background Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs, 26-31 nucleotides) are recently described short regulatory RNAs, which build functional complexes with the four argonaute-subfamily members PIWI-like proteins to repress gene expression of retrotransposons. We recently presented that PIWIL4 is highly expressed in RA synovial fibroblasts. Objectives The aim of our study here was to analyze the expression of piRNAs (piR-651, piR-823 and piR-4987) which are associated with invasion and proliferation of cancer cells. Methods Expression of piRNAs (piR-651, piR-823 and piR-4987) was analyzed by TaqMan RealTime-PCR and normalized to RNU6B and RNU48 in synovial fibroblasts (SF) from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) patients (n=8 each) and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) isolated from patients with RA and from healthy controls (HC, n=8 each). HeLa and HEK293 cell lines served as positive controls. RASF (n=4-8) were stimulated or not for 24 hours with Poly(I:C) (10ug/ml), LPS (100ng/ml) or TNFα (10ng/ml) in combination with IL1β (1ng/ml). PIWIL4 was silenced in RASF (n=5) with siRNA and the expression of piRNAs was analyzed 48h later. Results High expression of piR-651, piR-823 and piR-4987 could be detected in both RA and OASF (RA/OA mean dCt= -9.0/-8.9, -4.7/-4.2, 0.8/0.9). A strong expression of piR-651, piR-823 and piR-4987 was also found in PBMC of patients with RA and HC (mean dCt= - 3.4/-3.7, 7.2/7.1, 11.7/12.7). In the cancer cell lines, piR-651, piR-823 and piR-4987 were expressed as follows: HeLa (dCt= -10.2/-3.6/-1.1), HEK293 (dCt= -9.9/-4.9/-1.3). Levels of piR-4987 in RASF were further enhanced by Poly(I:C) (to 3.0-fold, p=0.002) and by LPS (to 3.5-fold, p=0.071), but not by TNFα in combination with IL1β. Expression of piR-651 and piR-823 was not changed neither by Poly(I:C) nor by LPS or TNFα in combination with IL1β. PIWIL4 silencing (to 0.3-fold, p<0.0001) in RASF did not change expression of the piR-651 (to 1.0-fold, p=0.968), piR-823 (to 0.8-fold, p=0.107) or piR-4987 (to 0.8-fold, p=0.075). Conclusions We have demonstrated high expression of piR-651, piR-823 and piR-4987 in synovial fibroblasts and PBMC in RA. Levels of those piRNAs in RA are similar to those in OA. The up regulation of piR-4987 after innate immune stimulation suggests a functional role in synovial fibroblasts in RA. Acknowledgements OSTEOIMMUNE, IMI-BTCure, EuroTEAM, IAR, MHCR project 023728 Disclosure of Interest None declared


The mechanism by which the absorption wavelength of a molecule is modified by a protein is known as spectral tuning. Spectral tuning is often achieved by electrostatic interactions that stabilize/destabilize or modify the shape of the excited and ground-state potential energy surfaces of the chromophore. We present a protocol for the construction of three-dimensional "electrostatic spectral tuning maps" that describe how vertical excitation energies in a chromophore are influenced by nearby charges. The maps are built by moving a charge on the van der Waals surface of the chromophore and calculating the change in its excitation energy. The maps are useful guides for protein engineering of color variants, for interpreting spectra of chromophores that act as probes of their environment, and as starting points for further quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical studies. The maps are semiquantitative and can approximate the magnitude of the spectral shift induced by a point charge at a given position with respect to the chromophore. We generate and discuss electrostatic spectral tuning maps for model chromophores of photoreceptor proteins, fluorescent proteins, and aromatic amino acids. Such maps may be extended to other properties such as oscillator strengths, absolute energies (stability), ionization energies, and electron affinities.


The expression of Ia antigens on murine macrophages was studied by indirect immunofluorescence, microcytotoxicity, and biosynthetic labeling. The majority of peritoneal macrophages lacked Ia antigens. When splenic macrophages were examined, it was found that the majority of these cells expressed Ia antigens and that these were synthesized by the macrophages. All the splenic macrophages which reacted with alloantibody raised against the whole I region expressed I-A subregion antigens, while only a subset of these cells also expressed I-E or C subregion antigens.
 When antigen-pulsed normal peritoneal and spleen macrophage-enriched cell populations were compared for their ability to stimulate antigen specific proliferation of primed lymph node T cells, a positive correlation was found between the number of Ia bearing phagocytic cells and T cell DNA synthesis. Spleen adherent cells and T cells were then treated with subregion restricted anti-Ia antisera and complement.


Introduction. It is necessary to consider the employee's age and health status to increase the reliability and accuracy of predicting occupational risk based on working conditions. Moreover, knowledge about the age dynamics of a person's working capacity is also required to preserve its longevity in pre-retirement and retirement age. The length of the working week (LWW) and work intensity (WI) often become the primary risk of chronic fatigue and related diseases. The latter is common among employees of industrial enterprises, doctors, teachers. The study aims to research the age dynamics of working capacity and the risk of industrial fatigue of employees of industrial enterprises, education and healthcare. Materials and methods. We examined six groups of employees. The central employees of large factories: workers engaged in regional physical labor (GR 1.1, 1175 people) and precision work (GR 1.2, 708 people), specialists, and managers (GR 1.3, 307 people). Medical workers (GR 2, 1041 people). University teachers (GR 3.1, 694 people). School teachers (GR 3.2, 130 people). Researchers studied groups by different methods, depending on the degree of diversity of the content of labor actions during the working day and their variation by days of the working week. We used the survey method to determine the degree, frequency, and duration of employee fatigue. Results. All factory workers in the age range of 18-49 years have a monotonous increase in the risk of severe fatigue at work (SFW) due to the rise in fatigue disappearance and increasing the intensity of work (IW). With an increase in the age of employees, GR 1.2 IW and working week duration (WWD) do not decrease, but all indicators of the physiological cost of maintaining the level of labor productivity increase. In workers of GR 2 and GR 3.1, the value of SWF in the age group of 30-40 years is from 6 to 14%, which is two times lower than in GR 1.1 and GR 1.2. In group GR 3.1, there is a lowering of the value of WI. We tend to reduce SFW up to 70-75 years of age; 20-35% of teachers have WWD more than 50 hours. The greatest WWD we observe at the age of 50-60 years. Also, we follow the lowering of WWD in healthcare workers, while it monotonically decreases with age. Teachers have increased WI, and there is no age-related tendency to decrease the value of SWF in them. The most significant number of university employees falls in the age group of 60-64 years and GR 1.2 - on the age of 30-34 years. Conclusions. The age dynamics of working capacity we consider as a process of biological aging of the body, the speed of which depends on the psychophysiological requirements of labor standards and the degree of their fatigue.With a tiring level of labor intensity, when the performance of labor standards requires the employee to speed and volume of sensorimotor tasks, performance decreases significantly with age. With regional physical labor without increased requirements for the accuracy of visual-motor reactions, performance decreases at the age of 51-55 years to 0.9; at 56-60 years - to 0.8; in 61-65 years - up to 0.75. With high sensorimotor requirements, performance decreases earlier and more significantly - at the age of 46-50 years to 0.7, at 51-55 years to 0.5, at the age of more than 55 years, the ability to fulfill labor standards decreases two times. With tireless work, when its result depends not on its physiological intensity (density and pace of labor actions), but on the knowledge and experience of the employee, the ability of a person to fulfill labor standards remains up to 75 years, and there is no age decrement of working capacity. Therefore, the indicator "long working hours per week" (extended hours) is a risk factor for employees' health only when combined with the physiological intensity of work that causes their fatigue on working days.


A breakwater is a coastal structure that breaks the wave energy coming towards the beach. When a wave hits an object, it will be reflected entirely or partially. Initially, the primary layer units on the coastal protection structure were only composed of large piles of natural stone. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a natural stone of the right size, and to prevent its scarcity; natural stones are commonly replaced with concrete blocks. This study conducted the reflection coefficient analysis on the BPPT Lock concrete armor unit. Physical model testing was carried out on the wave channel of the Coastal and Port Infrastructure Laboratory, Department of Ocean Engineering ITS. From this study, it was found that the reflection coefficient on BPPT Lock ranges from 0.512 to 0.828 at a wave steepness of 0.002088 to 0.0117 with a structural slope angle of 1: 2. The reflection coefficient value is influenced by wave height, wave period, and the slope angle of the structure.


Commercial banks in Kenya as per the World Bank report recorded higher non-performance in loans than the standard globally in spite of Kenya having the most stable and developed banking system in East and Central Africa region. Commercial banks non-performing loans for five years from 2015 to 2018 averaged eleven percent which was higher than the recommended rate of one percent. In Kenya, commercial banks' non-performing loans remain higher than the recommended rate which could be due to inadequate credit management practices. The study therefore aimed at examining the moderating role of the central bank regulations on the relationship between credit management practices and loan performance. The underpinning theory of the study was the credit risk theory. The study used explanatory research design and the research philosophy adopted was positivism. The target population was 44 commercial banks in Kenya and a census approach was used. Both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data was collected through structured questionnaires and related to credit management practices while secondary data was obtained from review of existing bank loan records in relation to loan amount advanced and non-performing loans for a period of four years from 2015-2018. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the study hypothesis. The study found out that Central Bank Regulations had no significant moderating effect on the relationship that exists between credit management practices and loan performance. Therefore, the study concluded that the moderating role of central bank regulations could not be confirmed. The study recommended that the central bank of Kenya to continuously assess and update credit management practices and the central bank regulations. The Government through regulating bodies should thus establish credit policies that regulate traditional and emerging credit practices among financial institutions.


was an independent risk factor for incident stroke in an older population. The authors suggested that silent cerebrovascular disease may be an important contributing factor to cognitive impairment and stroke occurrence in older clinically stroke-free persons. We would like to offer our own observations supporting the proposed relationship between cognitive impairment and stroke risk. We examined 242 patients 60 years of age or older consecutively hospitalized with acute ischemic stroke who had survived the first 3 months without recurrence, and we followed them prospectively to investigate risk factors for long-term stroke recurrence. Among many variables, we examined dementia status, which was determined 3 months after stroke onset using modified DSM-III-R criteria based on neuropsychological and functional assessments, as a risk factor for recurrent stroke. We found that dementia was a significant independent predictor of stroke recurrence (RR = 2.71, 95% CI = 1.15 to 4.12) after adjusting for demographic characteristics and conventional stroke risk factors." Previous studies have found that stroke itself significantly increases the immediate and long-term risk of dementia,3,4 whereas our study suggests that dementia after stroke in older stroke populations confers a significantly increased risk of recurrent cerebrovascular events. Taken in aggregate, these findings suggest a complex relationship between cognitive impairment and stroke risk such that one may lead to the other in a bidirectional sequence of events. Further prospective epidemiological studies are needed to elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms by which cognitive impairment leads to an increased stroke risk in persons with and without a history of clinically evident stroke. As suggested by Ferrucci and colleagues,' for example, cognitive impairment may be an early manifestation of silent cerebrovascular disease in older adults. A better understanding of these pathogenic mechanisms could lead to targeted interventions to help reduce the significant public health burden of stroke and dementia in the older population.


Taiga bean goose (Anser fabalis fabalis) is an endangered subspecies that breeds sporadically in remote habitats in the arctic and boreal zones. Due to its elusive behaviour, there is a paucity of knowledge on the behaviour of taiga bean goose during the breeding season, and survey methods for monitoring numbers in the breeding areas are lacking. Camera traps are a useful tool for wildlife monitoring, particularly when there is a need for non-invasive methods due to the shy nature of the species. In this study, we tested the use of camera traps to investigate seasonal and diel activity patterns of taiga bean goose in Finland over two successive breeding seasons, 2018 and 2019. We did this by modelling counts of geese from images with generalized linear and additive mixed models. The camera type (cameras placed by experts specialized in bean goose ecology vs randomly placed cameras) did not influence the count of taiga bean goose (p = 0.386). However, the activity varied significantly by region, Julian day, time of day and temperature, with the study site (individual peatland) and year adding substantial random variation and uncertainty in the counts. Altogether, the best fitting model explained nearly 70% of the variation in taiga bean goose activity. The peak in activity occurred about a month later in the southernmost region compared to the more northern regions, which may indicate behaviours related to migration rather than breeding and moulting. Our results show that long-term monitoring with game camera traps provide a potential unobtrusive approach for studying the behavioural patterns of taiga bean goose and can increase our ecological knowledge of this little-known subspecies. The results can be applied to planning of the annual censuses and finding the optimal time frame for their execution.


This papers describes ongoing work to demonstrate high datarate wireless and wireline communication based on InP DHBT and SiGe BiCMOS MMIC-technologies. A RX/TX chipset was developed at D-band (110–170 GHz) and wireless and wireline communication up to 48 Gbps was demonstrated with QPSK-modulation. Error free communication with 7 bit/symbol was demonstrated at 870 MBaud symbolrate in a 1 GHz wide channel. Recently developed MMICs for communication applications, working in G-band and H-band are presented.


Lightning activity is usually associated with precipitations events and represents a possible indicator of climate change, even contributing to its increase with the production of NOx gases. The study of lightning activity on long temporal periods is crucial for fields related to atmospheric phenomena from intense rain-related hazard processes to long-term climate changes. This study focuses on 19 years of lightning-activity data, recorded from Italian Lightning Detection Network SIRF, part of the European network EUCLID (European Cooperation for Lightning Detection). Preliminary analysis was dedicated to the spatial and temporal assessment of lightning through detection in the Central Mediterranean area, focusing on yearly and monthly data. Temporal and spatial features have been analyzed, measuring clustering through the application of global Moran's I statistics and spatial local autocorrelation; a Mann–Kendall trend test was performed on monthly series aggregating the original data on a 5 × 5 km cell. A local statistically significant trend emerged from the analysis, suggesting possible linkage between surface warming and lightning activity.


The great majority of Southern African aquifers depend on rainfall for their recharge. The accurate estimation of recharge remains one of the biggest challenges for groundwater investigators. Accurate recharge estimations are needed for proper groundwater management as this governs the estimation of sustainable exploitation. Current estimates of recharge to aquifers range between 0.2 and 3% of annual rainfall for the drier Karoo and Kalahari areas and up to 20% for the winter rainfall region of the Western Cape. Important input for determining recharge is knowledge of the chemical and isotopic composition of rainfall. This paper describes a simple, low-cost and low-maintenance tool, the cumulative rainfall collector (CRC), which provides a cumulative sample of rainfall which is unaffected by evaporation. The instrument is capable of collecting rainfall over periods of up to one year. The crucial aspect is to store sufficient rainfall, to eliminate evaporation by covering the water sample with silicon oil and to reduce interference by birds. CRCs were installed at Struisbaai, the West Coast and the South Coast of the Western Cape Province. CRC data for Struisbaai indicate that recharge to the Table Mountain Group (TMG) Aquifer is 17.4% of mean annual rainfall. The West Coast transect includes two production wellfields. CRC data indicate that recharge is 9.7% to 13.5% for the Bredasdorp Formation of the Langebaan Road Wellfield. At Agter Witzenberg recharge estimations range from 24% to 46% to the Nardouw Formation of the TMG. The South Coast transect encompasses the Klein Karoo Rural Water Supply Scheme and CRC data indicate that recharge to the Peninsula Formation of the TMG is 5%.


Abstract : The primary goal of the research described in the initial Statement of Work is to advance the development of BHB/M so that it is ready for deployment as a portable fast-acting therapy for blood loss. To facilitate deployment, studies will optimize the formulation by increasing our understanding of its mechanism of action in animal models under conditions of 60% blood loss. The low concentration end of the full-factorial design described in Specific Aim 1 was explored in rats. Survival curves were compared after 24 hours using a Wilcoxon test. There was a significant difference (p less than 0.05) in survival: treatment no. 1 (0.4 M D-BHB, 4/3 mM melatonin, 10% DMSO) showed 33% survival; treatment no 2 (2 M D-BHB, 4.3 mM melatonin, 10% DMSO), 71% survival. From our data and that of Klein et al, it appears that the animal requires a high concentration of D-BHB in order to overcome the negative effects of hemorrhagic shock.


A slotted statistical multiplexer with a finite number of input links is considered in this paper. Messages arriving on each input link contain a fixed number of fixed??-??length packets and are carried to the multiplexer in the form of a packet ?>train ?> at the rate of one packet per slot. Several messages may arrive contiguously on an input link; idle periods are geometrically distributed. The multiplexer buffer is modeled as a discrete??-??time single??-??server queueing system with train arrivals. By means of a generating function approach, a technique to derive the moments of the buffer occupancy is developed and an explicit expression for the mean buffer occupancy is given. Furthermore, an approximate method is presented to get a tight upper bound for the tail distribution of the buffer occupancy, especially for large traffic load.


Islamic Criminal Law could play a significant role in addressing trafficking in persons. Interestingly, Islam is a way of life and the dominant national religion in most of Muslim countries. Therefore, examining trafficking in persons from an Islamic Law perspective may reflect the general thinking of people in these countries. Remarkable, the legal systems and traditions in most of Muslim countries depend primarily on Islamic Law. Accordingly, it is significant to understand the position of Islam on trafficking in persons; as such understanding has the potential to develop a comprehensive approach in addressing trafficking in persons. Notably, the significant role of Islam in addressing trafficking in persons could be illustrated on how Islam addresses several forms of exploitation. It is noteworthy that exploitation is considered the main element in the definition of trafficking in persons. Indeed, Islam addresses a number of practices falling under the concept of exploitation. By way of illustration, Islam addresses the exploitation of labour, sexual exploitation, slavery, practices similar to slavery, and selling or buying of human organs. Consequently, by acknowledging how Islam has addressed these practices, Islam could play an important role in addressing trafficking in persons by adopting an Islamic approach in the fight against trafficking in persons.It is worth noting that Islamic Law is in line with international law concerning trafficking- in-persons issues. Furthermore, the Islamic position condemns trafficking in persons. This is important because it might bring an ideological aspect in the fight against trafficking in persons.


Given the prevalence of children's mental health disorders, teachers' roles have expanded to include identifying students with mental health needs and delivering mental health interventions. However, teachers rarely receive mental health training. This study's purpose was to explore teachers' perspectives on an educator mental health competency framework proposed by a group of researchers using the following questions: (a) how the competencies could guide and inform their practice; (b) how the teachers would react if the competencies were adopted; and (c) what suggestions they had for improving the competencies. The participants' responses indicated that they needed more knowledge on mental health and larger systems of support to increase their classroom effectiveness. Overall, the teachers supported the adoption of the competencies but had reservations regarding the necessary training and implementation process. Although the participants did not provide direct suggestions on revisions to the competencies, they did imply suggestions. Findings support the use of the mental health curriculum framework in the development of teacher mental health training. Several implications for practice are proposed including the addition of mental health curriculum in teacher preparation programs and the necessity for school administrators to create a school culture and infrastructure to effectively support school mental health.


The growth in hydrocarbon extraction from shale basins has come with a set of challenges in doing so efficiently, safely and in an economically viable manner. The emergence of practices like Continuous Frac and Simul-Frac have become commonplace as operators continue to drive efficiency up, further increasing the frequency and complexity of decision-making throughout the job. Thus the impact of incorrect or non-timely decisions is accentuated, with unplanned downtime caused by unexpected equipment failure or human mistakes among the top reasons of Non-Productive Time. Hydraulic fracturing processes in North America have progressed majorly since its inception from a process once predominantly dependent upon human intervention towards more human-assisted automated operation.
 In this paper, the authors have investigated the potential for providing AI-enabled assistance for the regular operational tasks as the solution for providing high centainty data-supported insights to support decision-making. Specifically, we looked at providing early alerts of probable equipment failures and flagging up process inefficiencies, or deviations, that may be subsequently addressed to further improve performance. We show the steps taken by TechnipFMC to successfully develop and deploy a digital control and assistant system within its iComplete offering that enables a shift from direct manual to semi- and fully autonomous operation, from reactive to a proactive approach to maintenance and failure prevention, all which in turn have resulted in prolonged operational life and efficiency of equipment, thus reducing Non-Productive Time.


Acute Pain Units aim to apply effective methods for analgesic control, providing an organised and systematic health care adapted to each patient. The Acute Pain Unit Staff Nurse will put into effect high quality nursing care to the surgical patient through an interprofessional approach in the personalization, seamless care and postoperative acute pain treatment.


The knowledge of gas liquid mixing is a vital part of chemical engineering discipline. The application of gas liquid dispersion is widely practiced in the industries nowadays where the gas liquid mass transfer rate is the main interest in the process. In order to enhance the mass transfer the volumetric mass transfer, the stirred tank contactor vessel is used in the industries as well as in the lab. However a problem arise when the parameters that affect the rate of mass transfer is not well studied and understood which can lead to bad operation of the gas liquid mass transfer in stirred contactor. Prior to the problem, three main parameters affecting the volumetric mass transfer in the gas liquid stirred contactor will be studied which is the impeller speeds and the flow rate of the gas flowing into the vessel. The proposed experiment will be conducted by varying the operating parameters. In studying the effect of gas flow rate to the mass transfer rate, the impeller speed and the power of the impeller is treated as the fixed variables and vice versa.


Background
To evaluate the possible clinical use of the compressed sensing-volumetric-interpolated breath-hold examination (CS-VIBE) in patients with liver tumors by evaluating tumor contrast enhancement effect by radiologists.

Methods
We examined 22 patients with pathologically confirmed neoplastic lesions in the liver and 62 patients with lesions confirmed by imaging and clinical observation. To evaluate image quality, dynamic contrast-enhanced multiphase breath-hold magnetic resonance imaging was performed. The contrast agent used in this study was gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid. Image quality was assessed by three radiologists experienced in this field. Using a four-point scale, we evaluated the gradual contrast enhancement effect of the portal vein to determine whether a decent arterial phase could be obtained. We assessed interobserver agreement using the Fleiss kappa to evaluate image quality between readers. The detection and evaluation of the tumor itself by its enhancement effects are very important in contrast studies. Thus, we evaluated the contrast enhancement effect of the tumors on a three-point scale in 26 patients already known to have hypervascularized tumors using ultrasound or computed tomography as assessed by experienced radiologists.

Results
In terms of contrast enhancement effects of the portal vein, the mean value of the readers was 1.85 in the first phase, 2.07 in the second phase, 2.66 in the third phase, 3.05 in the fourth phase, and 3.24 in the fifth phase. Moreover, the interreader agreement was moderate (kappa 0.400-0.502) for all evaluated scores. In the signal of the portal vein, the score of the second arterial phase increased gradually, and in the third arterial phase, the mean score varied from 2 to 3. Compared with ultrasound or computed tomography, CS-VIBE identified 92.3% tumors with hypervascularized tumors (24 of 26 patients with findings hypervascularized tumors). In the results, the interreader agreement was fair to moderate (kappa 0.414-0.521).

Conclusions
We obtained multiphase images, including at least one phase, which are useful for the evaluation of liver tumors. Furthermore, the radiologist was able to detect the tumor as before. Therefore, compressed sensing-volumetric-interpolated breath-hold examination is clinically useful in Ethoxybenzyl liver studies.


It is well known that openFoam has become a very popular tool for research work in different fields and particularly, in fluid dynamics. But, it is also known its lack of detailed documentation supporting solvers made using the set of libraries provided by openFoam. Therefore, it becomes necessary to establish appropriate verifications that can be useful to users going for instance, through the selection of equations discretization schemes from fvSchemes libraries and of solution solvers from fvSolutions libraries, to be later applied in the simulation of a given specific problem. With this purpose, executable
solvers available in openFoam 1.7 version to solve supersonic air flow problems are tested. Two different approaches have been taken in developing numerical methods to solve problems in transport phenomena at all Mach numbers and traditionally, they have been referred to as pressure-based and density-based methods. In this work, the advantages or disadvantages in applying any one of these methods, are addressed.
To accomplish the proposed tasks, 2D and axisymmetric numerical simulations of well posed problems that have either an analytical solution or available experimental data to compare with, are performed.


We analyse the interactions between the biofilm growth and the liquid flow distribution in a trickling filter. Experiments are carried out on 0.5 m 3 pilot scale reactor. We determine both the liquid flowrate distribution by local measurements and the filter performance by measuring the conversion. The liquid superficial flowrate ranges between 0 and 0.9 m/h. The synthetic effluent consists of a water solution of beet molasses and potassium dihydrogenophosphate. The hydrodynamic modelling allows us to relate the characteristics of the liquid flow distribution and the reactor performance to a single set of packing parameters. The packing irrigation rate plays a key role. Our results confirm the definite effect that the biofilm activity may have on the quality of the liquid flow distribution.


An ultrasound detection system with optical heterodynes shows nonlinear behavior in the large-ultrasonic-amplitude region ( >λ/8, λ : wavelength of detecting light), and possesses some problems in the measurement of laser ultrasound (ultrasound generated by laser deposition), especially of thin specimens. We studied the mechanism of the nonlinear response and found a method to improve it. Through experiments, we obtained an improved demodulation method using signal processing techniques to extract actual ultrasonic waveforms in the large-amplitude region, and confirmed its effectiveness. We also carried out numerical experiments on the characteristics of our improved demodulation, method and the standard demodulation method. The results show that compared with the standard demodulation method, our method is more robust against noise of beat signals, and more useful for measuring laser ultrasound even in the small-amplitude region.


A histological aging study of femoral midshafts in a late Roman period sample from the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, showed discrete fluorochrome labelling. The fluorochrome is yellow-green in colour and fluoresces at a wavelength of 525 nm. The labelling occurs at the mineralization fronts and is so distinct that several histomorphometric measurements were made. The percent labelled surface values ranged from 6.03% to 59.34%, and the mean distance between labels ranged from 13.57 to 20.63 microns. Teeth from several individuals were also labelled within the enamel matrix. Comparisons were made between the patterns of fluorescent labelling from this population and from patients treated with interval and continuous dosages of tetracycline. The results collectively indicate that the fluorochrome is most likely tetracycline that made its way into the bone (in vivo) via stored grain contaminated by Streptomycetes. The labelling was differential, much like that of the patient on interval doses of tetracycline, so it is argued that the tetracycline was ingested occasionally, probably on a seasonal basis. The lack of bone infection in the adults (n = 29) suggests that the tetracycline may have provided some antibiotic protection in this population.


A multiband antenna is proposed in this paper, accomplished with a split ring resonator (SRR) in the ground plane for portable and wireless applications. The rectangular radiator is unified with a semi-circular stub improving the impedance matching in the antenna. Further, the radiator creates an optimized rectangular slot to obtain the multiband operation. The SRR in the ground plane demonstrates the metamaterial (MTM) characteristics that significantly improve the 10 dB impedance bandwidths (IBW) and enhance realized gain in the multi-band antenna. The proposed antenna is procuring the five 10 dB IBW, which can be prominent for RADAR (2.96 GHz - 3.06 GHz), 5G (3.92 GHz - 4.32 GHz and 4.64 GHz - 5.04 GHz), WLAN (5.32 GHz - 5.64 GHz) and ISM band (5.7 GHz - 6 GHz) applications. The gain enhancement is obtained in all operating bands of the antenna, and a maximum 5.24 dB gain is achieved at a 4.14 GHz frequency.


Abstract Background The chromogenic anti‐Xa assay, the gold standard for monitoring the anti‐Xa effect of rivaroxaban, is not available as a cage‐side diagnostic test for use in a clinical setting. Hypothesis/Objectives To evaluate clinical modalities for measuring the anticoagulant effects of rivaroxaban using a point‐of‐care prothrombin time (PT) and thromboelastography (TEG). Animals Six healthy Beagle dogs. Methods Prospective, experimental study. Four different doses of rivaroxaban (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 mg/kg) were administered PO to dogs. Single PO and 3 consecutive dosing regimens also were assessed. Plasma rivaroxaban concentration was determined using a chromogenic anti‐Xa assay, point‐of‐care PT, and TEG analysis with 4 activators (RapidTEG, 1 : 100 tissue factor [TF100], 1 : 3700 tissue factor [TF3700], and kaolin), and results were compared. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated between ratios (peak to baseline PT; peak reaction time [R] of TEG to baseline [R] of TEG) and anti‐Xa concentration. Results Anti‐Xa concentration had a significant correlation with point‐of‐care PT (R = 0.82, P < .001) and RapidTEG‐TEG, TF100‐TEG, and TF3700‐TEG (R = 0.76, P < .001; R = 0.82, P < .001; and R = 0.83, P < .001, respectively). Conclusions and Clinical Importance Overall, a 1.5‐1.9 × delay in PT and R values of TEG 3 hours after rivaroxaban administration is required to achieve therapeutic anti‐Xa concentrations of rivaroxaban in canine plasma. The R values of TEG, specifically using tissue factors (RapidTEG, TF100, TF3700) and point‐of‐care PT for rivaroxaban can be used practically for therapeutic monitoring of rivaroxaban in dogs.


There seems to be no reasonable doubt that the lungs in a newborn expand progressively during the first few days of life. Some degree of atelectasis seems to be perfectly normal. This is indicated by a number of roentgenographic studies (including those here reported); by the reported findings of pathologists; by the fact that in experimental animals the lungs inflated very unevenly; and by the fact that aeration of only a portion of the lung is needed for complete oxygenation of the blood. The relation of atelectasis to neonatal death is not entirely clear and is probably not always the same. The infant may die from other causes before the lungs are fully expanded. Atelectasis may develop secondarily to other debilitating conditions. The frequent coincidence of prematurity and extensive atelectasis is impressive. It may be that the lungs are so incompletely formed that they cannot expand. On the other hand, atelectasis and massive collapse in the adult is a serious condition and there seems to be no good reason to suppose that this cannot also occur in infants and be serious per se. The air pressures found necessary to expand the lungs in rabbit fetuses were found to be about ten times what adult humans use in quiet respiration and were of about the same magnitude as the pressures found necessary to expand the lungs of stillborn humans. An attempt to produce atelectasis in newborn rabbits by chilling was most inconclusive. Atelectasis did develop in three of 15 animals used in the experiment, but the relation to chilling was not at all clear.


Fighting Men of London explores the lives of seven former professional boxers who fought in the capital between the 1930s and 1960s. Set around a series of interviews, it resurrects a golden age of the sport when boxing was as popular as football and Britain's leading fighters were working-class heroes. Dramatic, poignant, inspiring and at times funny, the book covers such subjects as booth fighting, exploitation in boxing, East End poverty, World War Two London, Jewish culture, fame and success, crime, prison life and encounters with such figures as the Kray twins, the Great Train Robbers and Britain's most infamous inmate, Charles Bronson. Fighting Men of London takes us on a journey through a lost era of smoky fight halls, ramshackle boxing arenas and courageous fighting men. It features the previously untold stories of 1950s boxing star Sammy McCarthy, Bethnal Green knockout specialist Ted Berry (an associate of the Kray twins) and Sid Nathan, who as one of Britain's last surviving 1930s boxers once shared a fight bill with the great Jack Kid Berg. This isn't a single story, but seven stories of seven very different men. The common bond they shared was boxing.


Education is the only major weapon that enables nations to progress socio-economically and gives a huge rise to their human development index. More so, it is considered to be the most fundamental requirement for poverty eradication, for addressing socio-political issues and for stabilizing peace and harmony among nations. Education is a lifelong process and does not have a preset parameter for its accessibility and provision (Sharkey, 1998). Learning is innate and natural and the human mind is set to learn since its conception. Additionally, in the recent era, investigations are focused on education and learning even before birth and extensive emphasis is now paid on experimenting on prenatal education by providing pre-birth interventions for babies inside the womb (Hepper, 1991; Kleindorfer & Robertson, 2013; Partanen, et al., 2013; Sharkey, 1998).


The modelling of a process of a semi-circular vault raising on a rigid cylindrical centering is conducted. Within the bounds of accreted solids mechanics the evolution of the vault stress-strain state under gravity action during the raising and after its completion is investigated. The vault material is described with defining relationships for elastic or aging viscoelastic materials. The formulation of the non-classical quasi-static initial-boundary accretion problem is given. Its analytical solution in series and quadratures is built. An effective method of calculation of residual stresses in the finished vault after supporting centering removing is offered.


Subject
 The Trump administration's policy on the Libya conflict.

 Significance
 In recent weeks, the United States has pursued a more active foreign policy towards Libya. This is a departure from its position of the past eight years of 'leading from the back' on Libya and comes as US President Donald Trump faces an impeachment investigation and elections in November 2020. With the vote approaching, Trump's opponents have increasingly criticised his position on Moscow, drawing attention to the presence of Russian mercenaries in Libya.

 Impacts
 Ties with Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and the relative influence Russia has with them, will weigh on the administration's thinking.
 The State Department may push more actively for a ceasefire when a conference of external actors in Libya takes place in Berlin.
 A ceasefire could fragment the forces fighting Haftar without robust external guarantees that his forces would not violate it.


Recently, it was shown that molecules rotating in superfluid helium can be described in terms of the angulon quasiparticles [Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 095301 (2017)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.118.095301]. Here, we demonstrate that in the experimentally realized regime the angulon can be seen as a point charge on a two-sphere interacting with a gauge field of a non-Abelian magnetic monopole. Unlike in several other settings, the gauge fields of the angulon problem emerge in the real coordinate space, as opposed to the momentum space or some effective parameter space. Furthermore, we find a topological transition associated with making the monopole Abelian, which takes place in the vicinity of the previously reported angulon instabilities. These results pave the way for studying topological phenomena in experiments on molecules trapped in superfluid helium nanodroplets, as well as on other realizations of orbital impurity problems.


Samples and borings on the continental shelf and in the bays along the Texas coast have provided relict nearshore and shallow-bay macro-organisms, allowing the dating of the Holocene (post-glacial) rise of sea level along this relatively stable coast. The rise of sea level has been dated from 300 feet below the present at 17,000 years before the present, to about 40 feet at 8,000 years B.P. There is evidence suggesting that the rise has continued very slowly during most of the remaining period, but there is a possibility that the data are deceptive and that either the levels have fluctuated or the sea has been fairly constant for several thousand years. Fluctuations during the 17,000-8,000 B.P. interval are indicated by eastward sloping drowned barriers that can be best explained as due to brief periods of regression produced by renewed growth of glaciers on the lands. These periods appear to correspond with some of the known readvances of the continental ice sheets. The history of rise along the Texas coast appears to agree with that along other stable areas. On the other hand, the records obtained from the area around the Mississippi Delta appear to indicate an independent subsidence of that area of the order of about 1 foot per century.


I n the 1950s, former African National Congress (ANC) President Chief Albert Luthuli said that the struggle in South Africa was not so much about the ANC coming into power, as it was the recognition and realisation of human dignity for African people, who were brutalised first under colonial rule and then under apartheid. Through his own realisation, former Constitutional Court Justice Laurie Ackermann gives expression to Chief Luthuli's thoughts in this book. It came as no surprise that, at the dawn of democracy in 1994, President Nelson Mandela invited the author to join the first Bench of the Constitutional Court. The book traces the theoretical background to human dignity, equality and non-discrimination as constitutional legal concepts; provides a provocative treatment of human dignity and equality in the Constitution; locates the role of human dignity when the equality and nondiscrimination rights in the Constitution are applied horizontally between subjects of the state; and concludes with a remedy in the sphere of restitutionary or remedial equality. The central theme is around a hypothesis, which the author posits as the 'logico-grammatical criterion of reference or attribution', to give intelligible meaning to the concept of 'equality'. In terms of this hypothesis, legal concepts such as equality and non-discrimination, when applied to human beings, invariably raise the questions: Equality of what? In respect of what are all human beings equal and in respect of what may no one be discriminated against? In the view of the author, the answer is human worth or human dignity. In essence, the author makes the point that the legal concepts of equality and non-discrimination as basic constitutional human rights, accorded to all citizens, would be meaningless unless their practical application and limits are spelt out. To support his hypothesis, the author refers to certain theological views in the so-called Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), German and Canadian jurisprudence ('to establish the norms that apply in open and democratic societies based on freedom and equality') and the works of philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, Bernard Williams, Amartya Sen, Ronald Dworkin and John Rawls to demonstrate the resultant influence on the concept of human dignity and the legal development of equality and freedom. The author justifies the link between law and philosophy and his reliance on Kant's ethical thought of human dignity because, through Kant, he was able to discover what was so obscene about apartheid. Following on the development of personality rights, the author puts forward compelling arguments to locate human dignity, together with freedom and equality, as founding values in the Constitution, although he admits that the main difficulty would be where to draw the outer limit of the right and value of human dignity. He devotes an entire chapter to the tension or conflict between rights of private subjects in the horizontal application of the Bill of Rights and argues that, although the rights to freedom and privacy would trump the right to equality and non-discrimination in the horizontal sphere, this could change once the legal relations of private subjects move into the public domain. Finally, the author argues that the private law principles of unjustified enrichment could provide a remedy for restitutional equality under the Constitution in favour of those who are still disadvantaged by unfair discrimination that occurred in the past at the expense of 'innocent' beneficiaries who were unjustifiably enriched. A single line in the report of a Prussian police agent who broke into Karl Marx's London flat, which read: '[T]he whole world comes and goes through his room,' inadvertently became one of the greatest tributes to the intellect of the revolutionary German philosopher. Retaining the analogy, the author's systematic and theoretically enriching arguments on equality jurisprudence are revolutionary and create a tiny eye in a needle through which the evolution of South African society must pass in the search for and realisation of human dignity. This book is compulsory reading for constitutional law practitioners, jurists, legal academics and those who wish to take up the author's invitation to contribute to the development of South Africa's constitutional jurisprudence.


This paper investigates the periodic death and anabiosis of the entanglement between two moving atoms interacting with the mode field, and discusses the influences of the atomic motion and the parameter of the mode field. The results show that, the atomic motion leads to the periodic death and anabiosis of the entanglement between two moving atoms, the time of the death and the amplitude of the anabiosis of the entanglement between two moving atoms depend on the initial states of two moving atoms and the parameter of the mode field.


The ability to simulate a biological organism by employing a computer is related to the
ability of the computer to calculate the behavior of such a dynamical system, or the "computability" of the system.* However, the two questions of computability and simulation are not equivalent. Since the question of computability can be given a precise answer in terms of recursive functions, automata theory and dynamical systems, it will be appropriate to consider it first. The more elusive question of adequate simulation of biological systems by a computer will be then addressed and a possible connection between the two answers given will be considered. A conjecture is formulated that suggests the possibility of employing an algebraic-topological, "quantum" computer (Baianu, 1971b)
for analogous and symbolic simulations of biological systems that may include chaotic processes that are not, in genral, either recursively or digitally computable. Depending on the biological network being modelled, such as the Human Genome/Cell Interactome or a trillion-cell Cognitive Neural Network system, the appropriate logical structure for such simulations might be either the Quantum MV-Logic (QMV) discussed in recent publications (Chiara, 2004, and references cited therein)or Lukasiewicz Logic Algebras that were shown to be isomorphic to MV-logic algebras (Georgescu et al, 2001).