This paper focuses on the criminal activities which have been identified as hindering and crippling the tourism industry at uMhlathuze Local Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The main aim of the study was to establish if any mechanisms are in place to curb crime and enhance the safety of tourists within the study area. A structured questionnaire survey and face-to-face interviews were used to collect data. The study used a convenience sampling method to select 124 participants, from different parts of the study area. The results indicate that even though there are some mechanisms in place criminal activities continue occurring in and around uMhlathuze Local Municipality. Some of these criminal activities are not reported to the local authorities and are not known by the community members and thus downplayed. This study recommends that organizations such as Tourism KwaZulu-Natal that are responsible for marketing and promoting tourism, together with uMhlathuze Local Municipality tourism support officers should bring some safety measures and crime tourism awareness by organizing workshops and seminars related to tourist's safety and security at different towns and villages of the local municipality, targeting youths.


Latent Semantic Indexing is a conceptual method in information retrieval systems. In this method, a term-document matrix is built through term weighting techniques. This matrix is mapped to a conceptual space by mathematical decomposition techniques like Singular Value Decomposition. The more documents and key terms collection are, the more element of term-document matrix is created, causes difficulty to manage. Such a huge size of matrix needs more memory space to save and more calculation to find out the solutions. With the assumption of using distribution in order to decrease the required memory space and to reduce the run-time problem, we did a research and implemented distributed LSI. To meet a better improvement, clustering is concerned for document too. In this combination, term-document matrix is recreated for each cluster and retrieval is accomplished on these set of term-document matrices. We evaluate our combinational method on Hamshahri Collection which is the largest collection in Persian language. Evaluation shows remarkable improvement in contrast with non-combinational LSI method.


Despite its importance surprisingly little is known about the influence of colour in advertising. This paper studies the effects of the three components of an ad's colour (hue, saturation and lightness) on the emotions it evokes and on attitudes towards it. It is assumed that the influence of colour varies with the individual, whose optimal stimulation level (OSL) is considered a moderator variable. Analyses of covariance were conducted. The results show that OSL is a moderator variable accounting for the relations between hue and the pleasure evoked by the ad, and hue and the attitude towards the ad. Moreover, OSL proves to be a moderator for the relation between saturation and the same dependent variables.


With rising interest in the role of treatment integrity on student outcomes, research has primarily focused on isolating the techniques and procedures necessary to improve staff's acquisition and maintenance of adequate levels of integrity. Despite increasing numbers of publications on this topic, there has been little discussion of the variables surrounding the collection of integrity data. Using an archived database of logged integrity observations at a residential school for children with brain injury, the authors sought to examine the degree to which integrity data collection conformed to best practices of behavioral assessment with respect to temporal sequencing. Moreover, due to the agency's goal of collecting integrity on each student per month, the authors sought to examine whether the sequencing of integrity observations scalloped similarly to responding on conjunctive fixedinterval—fixed-ratio schedules. Results indicated that a majority of the staff exhibited some form of scalloping in their collection of integrity data. This article discusses possible sources of stimulus control and the potential for reactivity on the part of the teachers being observed when integrity observations are conducted in scalloped patterns. The authors conclude with a discussion on possible procedures to support the distributed collection of integrity data in applied setting.


The lack of systematization in the collection of building defects leads to a wide range of data that is not used to its full potential. Unfortunately, this opportunity is missed since lessons could be drawn from analyzing this data by systematically mapping and investigating building defects. This paper presents the results of a statistical analysis on 27074 cases of building defects provided by a Belgian insurance company, ranging from 1991 up to 2019. This analysis focuses on the types of damage, the occurrence in relation to the construction time and the typology of the claims. Spearman correlation tests, X2 tests, and Kruskal-Wallis tests are performed to assess the significance of correlations. Moisture problems constitute 49% of all technical defects, followed by structural issues (19%), and cracking (17%). Within the category of moisture problems, the roof is the dominant location for problems to occur, followed by basements, façades, windows, and rising damp. 50% of the judicial cases were closed after 3 years, whereas cases without lawsuit are typically settled after 1-2 years.


The HEGRA system of imaging air Cherenkov telescopes has been used to observe the BL Lac object H1426+428 (z= 0:129) for 217.5 hours in 2002. In this data set alone, the source is detected at a confidence level of 5:3, confirming this object as a TeV source. The overall flux level during the observations in 2002 is found to be a factor of 2.5 lower than during the previous observations by HEGRA in 1999 and 2000. A new spectral analysis has been carried out, improving the signal-to-noise ratio at the expense of a slightly increased systematic uncertainty and reducing the relative energy resolution to E=E 12% over a wide range of energies. The new method has also been applied to the previously published data set taken in 1999 and 2000, confirming the earlier claim of a flattening of the energy spectrum between 1 and 5 TeV. The data set taken in 2002 shows again a signal at energies above 1 TeV. We combine the energy spectra as determined by the CAT and VERITAS groups with our reanalyzed result of the 1999 and 2000 data set and apply a correction to account for eects of absorption of high energy photons on extragalactic background light in the optical to mid infrared band. The shape of the inferred source spectrum is mostly sensitive to the characteristics of the extragalactic background light between wavelengths of 1 and 15 m.


Over the last 20 years, conventional automotive engine ancillaries have migrated from being mechanically powered to electrically powered in order to meet market demand. To adopt this trend in heavy trucks requires a higher power electrical system in order to cope with the higher loads placed upon it. Until the advent of the hybrid electric heavy truck (HET) this power infrastructure has not been available. HET's require a higher voltage system in order to reduce losses and provide adequate power and voltage levels for the traction motor. This study investigates for the first time the benefit of electrifying a hydraulic power assisted steering system in an HET. The developed electrical hydraulic power steering (EHPS), using a high-voltage traction battery, is found to drastically reduce the consumed energy over a drive cycle by optimal operation of the pump over the driving cycle. Empirical data from a prototype HET with EHPS confirms the simulation results from Dymola.


This guide was created to support Professor Lisa Goddard-Fitzgerald's English 1 course and library orientation session. This should help students in their study of obedience and disobedience.


Ratings from the assessment center method show considerable evidence of construct validity to measure managerial performance dimensions. Analyses of post-exercise dimension ratings demonstrate the effects of performance dimensions, as well as the effects of specific simulation exercises. Analyses of final dimension ratings aggregated across exercises show correlations with expected cognitive ability, related personality characteristics, and performance on related job criteria. This article summarizes very recent studies as well as historical evidence.


Sodium fluoride was incubated with soils for periods of up to 100 days and at temperatures that ranged from 3° to 80°C. With increasing period and temperature of incubation there were decreases in both the concentration of fluoride in the soil solution and in the fluoride that could be desorbed in a given period. It was concluded that this was due to an increase in the firmness of the link between fluoride and the surface of the soil particles. This increase also changed the adsorption characteristics of the soil, making it less able to adsorb further fluoride and less able to adsorb phosphate. The results were analogous to those obtained on the same soils with phosphate and molybdate. This indicates that the increase with time in the strength of the bond between phosphate or molybdate and the soil cannot be entirely explained by postulating that it is due to forming a second link to the surface through a second oxygen atom.


ABSTRACT The author sought to determine whether business faculty values and background can discriminate between a yes or no response to the introduction of an ethically challenged product. The results reveal that two competing views of the enterprise (stakeholder vs. stockholder) along with a faculty member's departmental membership do discriminate in the expected direction. The results suggest that a faculty member's values have the potential to create student confusion and require additional inquiry concerning impediment removal.


Genetic and epigenetic influences as well as dietary factors play an important role in the initiation and progression of cancer. More specifically, colorectal cancer (CRC) is influenced by dietary habits and it has been established that genetic and epigenetic changes are involved in the carcinogenesis. Within the CRC are hereditary syndromes (hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer and familial adenomatous polyposis), which present germ line mutations on specific genes like hMLH1 and also changes on promoter's methylation, and sporadic cases, where the environment and individual's habits, both major components of epigenetics, partly define the initiation and development of cancer. Therefore the epigenetic is established as another way of carcinogenesis. Identify the factors that would predict the beginning of CRC is critical, as it is a rather silent disease which is observed clinically at an advanced stage.


d Bookkeeping, presents the idea that double-entry bookkeeping arose from the desire in Renaissance Italy for all actions to be brought into conformity with God's requirements, more specifically, with the dictates of the Roman Catholic Church. While the book does not address many modern accounting issues, it does present an interesting examination of the way in which social and cultural forces can shape business practice.


This study provide a new and updated checklist of the freshwater fishes of the Dasht-e Kavir basin of Iran. The list is based on historical literature records and taxon occurrence data obtained as a result of extensive field expeditions, examination of ichthyological collections and literature review. The total confirmed freshwater fish species  of  the  Dasht-e Kavir  basin  comprise  22  species  in  17  genera,  6 families, 4 orders and one class. The most diverse order is the Cypriniformes with 18 species (81.82%) followed by Cyprinodontiformes (2 species, 9.09%), Salmoniformes and Gasterosteiformes each with 1 species (1 species, 4.55%). The most diverse family is the Cyprinidae with 18 species (72.73%), Nemacheilidae (2 species, 9.09%) followed by Salmonidae, Cyprinodontidae, Poeciliidae and Gasterosteidae each with only one species (4.55%). New species are supposed to be discovered, the taxonomic status of some species has been changed, some are being resurrected from synonymy, and some taxonomic problems remain and are commented on briefly. Four endemic species (18.18%) in 4 genera and 2 families; and 12 exotic species (54.55%) in 10 genera and 4 families are listed here.


University-employer cooperation is one of the most important forms of cooperation in the economy, needed for economic development and sustainable growth and has become a key emphasis in higher education policy in recent years. The main goal is to achieve an equal partnership between universities and employers aimed at strengthening of economic development at the national, regional and local level. This goal can be achieved through active support (in information and knowledge) of local businesses and entrepreneurship in developing and realization of their ideas, and by linking students with their future employers, through various employer-seeking students associations and employers associations. Authors will analyze the university-employer cooperation in Poland, United Kingdom and Croatia and try to give an answer if the current cooperation is satisfying, and if is not, how it can be enhanced.


Nowadays in China, the action of "Shantytown Renovation" or "Dilapidated-house Transforming" is being undergone. In the process of it, some unique modern buildings are facing a damaged situation. How to deal with the relation between protection and innovation is worth considering. Thus, this paper, from the connotation of architecture and protection, discusses the present feasible approach of protecting those unique modern buildings, based on the meanings and features of the architecture. Meanwhile, the paper attempts to provide a certain reference for our country's planning of "Shantytown Renovation" or "Dilapidated-house Transforming".


financial administration is an activity to regulate the use, accountability, how to save and others related to financial aspects. Then financial administration can also be divided into 2, namely financial administration in the narrow sense and financial administration in the broad sense. If financial administration in the narrow sense is only limited to a work organization's activities and is also limited to recording the entry and exit of costs, then the administration in the external sense has a larger function and purpose and wider scope.


Indonesia is the fifth highest country with pulmonary TB patients in the world after India, China, South Africa, and Nigeria (WHO, 2009). World Health Organization, declared a global emergency on the subject of Pulmonary TB because,in the most countries it has been uncontrolled. Anti-TB drug resistance case is a difficult one to handle as it is not only more difficult and more expensive, but also has greater side effects with the unsatisfying result. The purpose of this study is to determine the overview of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of TB patients in taking anti-TB drugs with treatment successes in Public Health Center of Pondok Gede Bekasi. The study used a qualitative approach with design study case. Then, the sources of primary data in this study were obtained by interviewing informants and the public health center officers directly. Interviews were conducted in patients who have a history of positive pulmonary TB disease visiting the health center ( primary data) and observations. Furthermore, observations were carried out with the documents used in the implementation of the tuberculosis program. Meanwhile, secondary data were obtained by collecting the public health center written reports.The informants of this study are coordinators and person in charge of TB of the public health center. According to them, the strategy of TB treatment in the public healt h center is by implementing DOTS, Direct Observed Treatment Short-course. Furthermore, they consist of one male, knowledge about and one female, and there is different both of the informant pulmonary TB disease .In addition, it was found that the regularity and duration of the treatment effect on the success of the treatment of anti-TB


Yugoslavia a diffacted country is a state found after The second world war. This state's citizn Rauf Fettah Efendi (1910-1963) was a poet and professor in Skopje.
 Fettah Rauf, as a well-educated person taught at Medah Medrese which was located Skopje. He was imprisoned by the Tito's Regime and was forced to work in miners. After serving sentence he was appointed as an expert to study the ottoman documents in the state archives and died while working in his office.His grave is in Butel Cementery in Skopje.
 Despite being a good poet Rauf Fettah Efendi's poems were not gathered and published in a book. We believe that political environment had an impact for the ban. In our statement our issues are going to be poems written from the Yugoslavian's poet Fettah Rauf Efendi to citizens of Turkey scholars and poets Yahya Kemâl and Mehmed Âkif Ersoy


ABSTRACT This article examines how activism against austerity is organized and manifested in London. Given that anti-austerity activists are addressing issues related to social welfare, we examine whether there are alliances between the activists and voluntary organizations (VOs) that are working in that field. Examining the challenges involved in creating and sustaining alliances, we argue that the regulatory context alone is an insufficient explanation as to why activist–VO alliances are difficult to establish and maintain. We contend that more significantly, it is VOs' and activists' divergent and at times irreconcilable stances, which we refer to as the consensus and dissensus stances, respectively, which impede activist–VO alliances, beyond episodic interactions, from developing.


This paper provides a novel space vector PWM (SVPWM) modulation strategy used in three-level NPC inverter to reduce switching loss. Through coordinate transformation, it can easily obtain the control of the space voltage vector. The whole system has been implemented digitally by using TMS320F240 DSP, and the modulation strategy and control scheme is demonstrated by the experimental waveforms and corresponding spectrums.


Icarisid II, one of the main active components of Herba Epimedii extracts, shows potent antitumor activity in various cancer cell lines, including osteosarcoma cells. However, the anticancer mechanism of icarisid II against osteosarcoma U2OS needs further exploration. This study aims to investigate further antitumor effects of icarisid II on human osteosarcoma cells and elucidate the underlying mechanism. We cultivated human osteosarcoma USO2 cells in vitro using different concentrations of icarisid II (0–30 µM). Cell viability was detected at 24, 48, and 72 h using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide analysis. Cell cycle was tested by flow cytometry after treatment with icarisid II for 48 h. Annexin V–allophycocyanin and 7-aminoactinomycin D staining were conducted to detect cell apoptosis. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot assay were performed to measure the levels of genes and proteins related to cell cycle and apoptosis. Results showed that icarisid II significantly inhibited the proliferation and induced apoptosis of human osteosarcoma U2OS cells. The half maximal inhibitory concentration values were 14.44, 11.02, and 7.37 µM at 24, 48, and 72 h, respectively. Cell cycle was arrested in the G2/M phase in vitro. In addition, icarisid II upregulated the expression levels of P21 and CyclinB1 whereas downregulated the expression levels of CyclinD1, CDC2, and P-Cdc25C, which were related to cell cycle arrest in U2OS cells. The cell apoptotic rate increased in a dose-dependent manner after treatment with icarisid II for 48 h. Icarisid II induced apoptosis by upregulating Bax, downregulating Bcl-2, and activating apoptosis-related proteins, including cleaved caspase-3, caspase-7, caspase-9, and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. These data indicate that icarisid II exhibits an antiproliferation effect on human osteosarcoma cells and induces apoptosis by activating the caspase family in a time- and dose-dependent manner in vitro. Therefore, icarisid II may be used as a candidate agent for the clinical treatment of osteosarcoma in the future.


During defeat of high velocity bullets and fragmentation, large deformations have been shown to occur on the inside of non-metallic helmet shells. If these deformations contact the underlying head there is the potential to cause injury, termed as Behind Helmet Blunt Trauma (BHBT). A method of assessing BHBT is required to fully understand the protective capability of a helmet system. Existing methods using synthetic head models are limited in their ability to predict injury outcome as a result of a lack of available injury criteria. The aim of this study was to improve the prediction of cranial fracture outcomes associated with BHBT, focusing on the effect of impact curvature and flat face diameter.

Representative impact curvatures and flat face diameters were derived from helmet back face deformation measurements in free-air. An instrumented projectile was used to deliver a repeatable impact to a Bovine Scapula Model (BSM); the BSM being a fracture analogue for the cranium. Cranial fracture risk curves were developed using BSM fracture outcomes. These were developed for the different curvatures and flat face diameters tested, using the parameters of peak impact force, impact velocity, bone thickness considered in conjunction with impact velocity, and the Blunt Criterion (BC).

It was concluded that flat impact diameter and radius of curvature should be measured within BHBT assessment to improve the accuracy of cranial fracture prediction. To support application of the risk curves to BHBT assessment methods, it was recommended that fracture outcome should be investigated in terms of the effect of using a rigid projectile when compared to helmet deformation. BHBT assessment methods should consider how to achieve consistent and representative stand-off. Testing should also be completed on full helmet systems as opposed to flat material samples.


The dispersion and stability of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) inside a polymer matrix, especially with a high CNT content, are still big challenges. Moreover, the interaction between CNTs and the polymer matrix should be strong enough to improve the mechanical properties. The efficient dispersion of CNTs is essential for the formation of a uniform distribution of a CNT network in a polymer composite. Polyimide/multiwall CNT nanocomposites were synthesized by in situ polymerization with the aid of a surfactant. A Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy study proved that the surfactant did not hamper the polymerization of the polyimide. The microstructure, storage modulus and electrical conductivity of the nanocomposites were improved using a particular amount of the surfactant. Environmental stability test results showed that the polyimide with 1 wt% of CNTs produced with the aid of the surfactant possessed excellent reliability in high-temperature and high-humidity environments. Surfactants were successfully used to obtain fine-structure polyimide/CNT nanocomposites by in situ polymerization. The enhancement of the mechanical properties was attributed to the incorporation of the surfactant. A percolation of electrical conductivity could be achieved with 1 wt% of CNTs. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry


Using the data from a consumer survey, this study aims to investigate the relationship between consumers' fast food outlet loyalty (in years) and the attitude of young consumers living in Kota Bharu city. The study also investigates the importance of quality of the product that are offered to the customer. It also studies the importance of facility location and layout which bring convenience to the customer and increase efficiency at the outlets. One step further we also walkthrough the service delivery process and service package offered when dealing with customers by fast food outlets. This study was conducted via undergraduate business course students of University Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) who as young customers filled a self-administered brief questionnaire on their visits to various fast food outlets in Kota Bharu, Kelantan State Malaysia. The results indicate that food quality, overall cleanliness of the outlet, service efficiency and facility layout provided by the outlet influences the fast food brand loyalty of young customers. Purchases were mainly due to the four factors-perception of customers on food quality, cleanliness, facility layout, efficiency in service delivery. The research was conducted with students, and while these represent a key target market, any further research should target a more diverse public base. Despite research suggesting a general lack of food quality technical knowledge, results from this 168 person sample indicated familiarity with general likeable quality in food served at fast food outlets by young consumers, general clean conditions maintained in the outlets and facilities provided to attract more customers. There are important implications for global fast-food companies in terms of protecting and developing their brand value; they need to respond to the wider food-related debates in society, in particular those concerning food quality, cleanliness and fast food service package offerings. This will ensure their consistency with brand loyalty and customer retention initiatives. The value of this paper lies in its consumer value in the Malaysian fast food industry as it explores the same through the perceptions and expectations of young consumers of fast food.


For a multi-modal human-computer interface to better serve its user, it is first necessary to get a better understanding of the implicit aspects of human learning and memory. To clarify this claim, this paper first overviews relevant progress in cognitive psychology and presents our recent studies on the implicit learning of complex visual regularity in faces and cross-modal context effects on face and voice recognition. These examples are expected to illustrate the workings and power of an implicit learning mechanism and the intricate interaction of implicit and explicit components of face and voice memory. Implications of these results are then discussed for the design of human-computer interaction.


With the advent of new pain assessment standards and guidelines and advances in the development of analgesic agents, it is timely to discuss current and future approaches to the management of acute pain in orthopaedic practice. With the percentage of elderly patients increasing in the general population, orthopaedic specialists will see an unprecedented number of patients who not only are burdened by pain from acute musculoskeletal conditions but who also expect to stay active longer than did previous generations.

It is increasingly acknowledged that acute postoperative pain from ambulatory surgery is undertreated and that the consequences of this add to the already huge burden of pain management on patients and society1-3. Recent advances in the elucidation of the biologic mechanisms underlying the development of both acute and chronic pain suggest that inadequately treated acute pain can result in the sensitization of the peripheral and central nervous system, which may ultimately lead to the development of chronic pain4-6.

Look for this and other related articles in Instructional Course Lectures , Volume 54, which will be published by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in February 2005:

• "Complex Regional Pain Syndrome," by L. Andrew Koman, MD, Beth Paterson Smith, PhD, Evan Ekman, MD, and Thomas L. Smith, PhD

The most common musculoskeletal injuries are those involving the back or spine, followed by sprains, dislocations, and fractures—the sum of which account for almost one-half of all musculoskeletal injuries7. Ankle injuries are the most common sports and recreational injuries, accounting for 38% to 45% of those injuries8,9. In 2001, 2.6 million people in North America were seen for foot and ankle injuries10. More than 40% of ankle sprains can progress to chronic problems11. Knee injuries …


The need to maintain harmony among one's social contacts is proposed in this paper to impose constraints on the interconnectivity between users of social network sites (SNS). A particular focus is on the connectivity between different social spheres. It is hypothesized that the type and number of social spheres and technological features of SNS interact such that increased levels of social tension result. These ideas are supported by the findings from a survey study among Facebook users. Social diversity of the Facebook network predicted online tension as did the number of family members on Facebook, in contrast to work and social contacts. Furthermore, evidence was found to support the idea that tension might impose an upper limit on network size. Follow-up interview data also showed that online tension was predominantly about unwanted connectivity between the spheres. All the technological features that users reported as problematic focused on the easy access to and broadcast of text and pictures. Findings are discussed in light of unintended, negative side-effects of SNS and social media in general.


This paper explores the complex meanings of paizein and its compound sumpaizein used in connection with young girls and/or Eros in archaic Greek poetry. My basic question is whether the verb necessarily implies a knowing eroticism on the part of the character whom it describes, or whether it is the poet's way of inviting the audience to share his knowledge at the expense of the character, a kind of "wink" of complicity. I argue that there are fundamental ambiguities in this particular use of paizein and that the instability of its semantic field is linked to the liminality of the stage of life to which it commonly refers. When Eros "plays," we know we should be on guard, but a young girl's "play" is somewhat more difficult to interpret. In this context, I suggest that Greek poetry can represent the liminality of a girl's sexual status through the physical setting in which the action takes place: the "players" are placed in a natural environment that reflects their stage in life, namely, the moments just before the loss of innocence, and that locus itself is open to divergent interpretations dependent on the sexual "knowledge" of the viewer. The notion "girls at play" thus resists any single interpretation, as the girls' sexual status always contains within it the potential for rapid and drastic change.


Biologging has revealed many of the mysteries surrounding seabird behavior far from land. However, tagging seabirds with biologgers may influence the very traits they are designed to observe. Such 'tag effects' are often argued to be minimal below a threshold of 3% of body mass. Nonetheless, few studies carefully separate handling from tagging effects, so the effect of tag size is often confounded with the effect of handling. Puffins, including rhinoceros auklets Cerorhinca monocerata, are notoriously difficult to work with due to high nest abandonment rates. To examine tagging and handling effects in rhinoceros auklets, we compared abandonment rates of individuals equipped with a GPS weighing ~2.3% of body mass with abandonment rates of birds handled but not equipped, and of birds not handled at all (controls). We used the egg flotation technique to estimate egg development and predict hatching date, thus allowing treatments to be applied at the appropriate time. Handling more than doubled abandonment rates compared to control birds, and tagging more than doubled abandonment rates compared to birds that were handled but not tagged. Abandonment rates decreased as incubation progressed and were lowest during chick-rearing. We conclude that both handling and tagging of auklets in crease abandonment, and that effects are lowest during chick-rearing.


The induction of type I (αβ) IFN following virus infection is necessary for the stimulation of effective antiviral host defense. In fibroblasts, a subset of primary genes (including those encoding IFN-β and IFN-α4) are induced directly by intracellular dsRNA generated by the virus during its replication. These primary type I IFNs induce expression of IFN regulatory factor (IRF)-7, required for production of a second cascade of IFN-α subtypes and the further establishment of a complete antiviral state. Previously, we had reported on a role for Fas-associated death domain-containing protein (FADD) in the control of TLR-independent innate immune responses to virus infection. Our data in this study demonstrate that FADD is not only required for efficient primary gene induction, but is also essential for induction of Irf7 and effective expression of secondary IFN-αs and other antiviral genes. Ectopic overexpression of IRF-7 partially rescued dsRNA responsiveness and IFN-α production, and a constitutively active variant of IRF-7 displayed normal activity in Fadd−/− murine embryonic fibroblasts. MC159, a FADD-interacting viral protein encoded by the molluscum contagiosum poxvirus was found to inhibit dsRNA-activated signaling events upstream of IRF-7. These data indicate that FADD's antiviral activity involves regulation of IRF-7-dependent production of IFN-α subtypes and consequent induction of secondary antiviral genes.


A technique is described for obtaining asymptotic formulae for the time-domain waveforms associated with double integrals of rapidly-varying isolated pulses. The method is an extension of the theory of the time-domain asymptotics of single integrals given by C. J. Chapman ( Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A437, 25–40 (1992)), and represents a generalization of the method of stationary phase to integrals with non-sinusoidal integrands. Stationary points of the phase function in the domain of integration each give rise to a particular waveform shape in the time-history of the solution; the waveforms associated with interior extrema and saddle points are proportional to the original source function and the Hilbert transform of the source function respectively. Boundary stationary points also give rise to distinctive waveforms, proportional to fractional integral transforms of the source function. The transitional case of the coalescence of two interior stationary points is considered in some detail; an asymptotic formula describing the coalescence is found, and the limiting behaviour of this formula after coalescence is calculated, i. e. the residual waveform after the annihilation of the stationary points. Asymptotic and numerical results are compared for an example integral, and good agreement is found even for moderate values of the asymptotic parameter.


Over past few years, supply chain coordination has been widely studied and numerous practitioners and researchers proposed many models on this field.
Although many previous studies addressed channel competition considering a scenario with an exclusive retailer with only one producer's brand, in real world the retailers sell various products with different brands. This study was to analyze the relation between two suppliers and a common retailer by taking various degree of product sustainability into account. The market is considered to be duopoly. This thesis describes modifying and implementation of a supply chain coordinator tool in order to enhance the profit earned by any of the parties involved in this supply chain.
In this thesis we present a cooperation and collaboration model in a supply chain consisting of two suppliers with a common retailer. We establish the conditions for cooperation in such scenario with popular supply chain contracts. Even though other methods have been reviewed under various scenarios, we confine our interest to apply a coordinating contract and analyse the results.
The type of the contract that can coordinate the supply chain is debatable and it needs to be analyzed depending on the limitations. The methodological approach taken in this study is modifying a contract in order to coordinate the supply chain and leads to better off for all parties.

First we consider the classical model then the whole sale price contract is applied. Later in order to enable the supply chain coordination, facility sharing contract and franchise contract have been modified and implemented. Finally by illustrating the results of implementing each contract, a framework is presented. In this study the linear demand function is used because of tractability in providing analytical results while in real case the nonlinear demand function is widely used.


BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER SYMPTOMS AND SUBSTANCE DEPENDENCE BEFORE AND AFTER JAIL INCARCERATION Jennifer M. Loya, PhD George Mason University, 2021 Dissertation Director: Dr. June P. Tangney Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) commonly co-occur across community, clinical, and correctional settings. Research has begun to examine the relationships between BPD and SUDs. However, it is unclear whether BPD is differentially related to different SUDs – in other words, is BPD more strongly related to some SUDs compared to other SUDs? Second, most of the research examining BPD and SUDs has been cross-sectional; thus, little is known about the directionality of predictive relationships between BPD and SUDs. Across two studies, this dissertation further examines the relationships between BPD and SUDs with a large sample of people currently (Study 1) and formerly (Study 2) incarcerated in an adult detention center (i.e., jail) located in a suburb of Washington, DC. Using structural equational modeling, Study 1 of this dissertation examines whether BPD symptoms assessed shortly after jail incarceration are differentially related to alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and opioid dependence symptoms experienced in the 12 months prior to incarceration. BPD symptoms were significantly related to dependence on each of the four substances, but the link between BPD symptoms and cocaine dependence was stronger than alcohol, cannabis, or opioid dependence. Study 2 of this dissertation utilizes cross-lagged structural equational modeling to determine the directionality of the relationship between symptoms of BPD and dependence on alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and opioids across three post-release timepoints (one year, four years, and seven years after release from jail). In examining the relationships of symptoms of BPD to dependence on cannabis and cocaine, the unidirectional model of BPD symptoms predicting subsequent substance dependence fit the data best. Results were less clear regarding the relationship of BPD symptoms to alcohol dependence. Both unidirectional models – BPD symptoms predicting subsequent alcohol dependence, and alcohol dependence predicting subsequent BPD symptoms – separately fit the data; the bidirectional model, where both directions simultaneously occur, did not significantly improve model fit compared to either unidirectional model. Regarding the relationship of BPD symptoms to opioid dependence, the baseline model fit the data best, as neither unidirectional model significantly improved model fit. Findings from both studies generalized across men and women and across White and Black people currently and formerly incarcerated in jail. Implications of findings and directions for future research are discussed.


Dysmenorrheal is a genetic complaint due to an imbalance of the hormone progesterone in the blood causing the most common pain occurring in women. Women with dysmenorrheal produce prostaglandin in 10 times more than women who are not dysmenorrheal. Prostaglandin causes increased uterine contractions, and excessive levels will activate the large intestine and cause flatus. This condition causes uncomfortable so that daily activities become disturbed. Based on the results of interviews 15 students experienced a sense flatus and defecate at the time of dysmenorrheal pain. This study aims to determine the correlation between dysmenorrheal pain with the occurrence of flatus and defecation. The design of this study by using cross sectional. The sample in this study were 58 students with total sampling technique. The result of this study was chi square test on dysmenorrheal pain with flatus obtained p value <0,05 (0,002) it means that there was correlation between dysmenorrheal pain with flatus. The conclusion of this study that there was a correlation between dysmenorrheal pain with flatus. Suggestions given to respondents is more to improve how to cope with dysmenorrheal such as doing warm compresses on the cramp.


The vertical distribution of macrobenthic organisms in the sediment was studied at 6 sampling stations around the Sado Strait in the Sea of Japan using a small type USNEL box corer (sampling area: 0.1m2). Vertical profiles differed between the sandy and the muddy bottoms. Although majority of organisms were concentrated in the near-surface layer of sediment in the sandy bottom, a considerable portion of the fauna tended to penetrate into the deeper layer in the muddy bottom, the peak of the vertical profile curve shifting downward in the nearshore stations. Polychaetous annelids showed various types of vertical distribution. An analysis of the vertical distribution of each polychaete species revealed that overlapping of the main occurring ranges was not so serious among some dominant species collected at the same station.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of both fermented Cordyceps powder (CS) and prednisone on the Notch2/hes-1 signaling activation in the kidney tubules of rats with acute aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAAN).

METHODS
Totally 50 SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups, i.e., the normal group, the model group, the CS group, the prednisone group, and the CS plus prednisone group, 10 in each group. The AAAN rat model was induced by intragastric administration of pure aristolochic acid A at the daily dose of 100 mg/kg for 3 days. Rats in the CS group were administered with CS at the daily dose of 5.0 g/kg by gastrogavage, while those in the prednisone group were administered with prednisone at the daily dose of 0.5 mg/kg. Rats in the CS plus prednisone group were treated by CS and prednisone. All treatment lasted for 3 successive weeks. Kidney functions [urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (SCr)] were detected. The pathological changes of kidneys were observed by Hematoxylin-Eosin staining. The apoptosis of the renal tubular epithelial cells was detected by TUNEL. The protein expressions of Notch2 and Hes-1 in the renal tissue were detected by immunohistochemical assay and Western blot.

RESULTS
Results of HE staining showed the structure in the nephridial tissue was regular in rats of the normal group. The renal tubular necrosis occurred in the rats of the model group. The pathological changes of kidneys were obviously improved in the CS group, the prednisone group, and the CS plus prednisone group. Compared with the normal group, levels of BUN and SCr, semi-quantitative score of the tubular interstitial tissue, ratio of apoptotic cells, and expressions of Notch2 and Hes-1 proteins significantly increased in the model group (P < 0.01). Compared with the model group, the aforesaid indices significantly decreased in the 3 treatment groups (P < 0.01). All indices decreased most obviously in the CS plus prednisone group (P < 0.05, P < 0. 01).

CONCLUSIONS
Notch2/hes-1 signaling activation might be associated with apoptosis of renal tubular epithelial cells. Both CS and prednisone could play a nephroprotective role for AAAN. But CS plus prednisone could achieve the best effect. Inhabiting the Notch2/hes-1 signaling activation could be its nephroprotective mechanism.


In Brazil, approximately 15% of pregnancies are high risk, the diagnosis of gestational diabetes and hypertension being the most frequent causes of this condition. For the effectiveness of the treatments indicated in those cases, as well as a range of favorable outcomes, the patient's adherence to the recommendations provided by health teams is essential, which makes it essential to the assessment of this indicator. The research presented assessed the adhesion of participants of an interdisciplinary care program of high-risk pregnant women developed by a private general hospital through three instruments: Morisky-Green Questionnaire of adherence to medication, Treatment Adherence Questionnaire, and descriptive qualitative evaluation Question. For eight months, 83 women replied to the questionnaires, which made it possible to identify levels of adherence over their time participating in the program, most frequent situations of non-adherence, as well as variables that interfere in measures of adherence to medication and comprehensive treatment. We considered that the results obtained are feasible as clinical and management indicators, enabling to attest the effectiveness and constant improvement of health routines. Such mechanisms are useful for defining protocols, discussion of clinical cases and even as feedback to patients.


ABSTRACT This article investigates the impacts of global legal rulings and political agreements on domestic sport, and charts the responses of national governing bodies to these changes. The article studies rulings and agreements that impacted on employment practices within professional sport. The impact of the 2003 Kolpak ruling and the 2000 Cotonou Agreement on the movement of sportspeople is analysed. Through the context of English county cricket, this article develops Appadurai's conceptualisation of global flows, particularly ethnoscapes and finanscapes, to investigate how these international rulings and agreements particularly impacted South African migration into the UK. The responses of cricketing governing bodies in England and South Africa are analysed, and the response of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to 'Brexit' is also examined. Longitudinal data were collected on the migration of cricket players within English county cricket from 1998 to 2021 (n = 2,192), a period encompassing the duration of which the Kolpak ruling applied. Further data were collected regarding the financial situation of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Cricket South Africa and the domestic cricket teams. We find four distinct periods within the timeframe, influenced by international policy. Despite cricket governing bodies in the UK and South Africa setting mitigating regulations, the Kolpak ruling led South African cricketers of international standard to migrate to the UK. Ultimately, it required Brexit for cricket's governing bodies to control the migration of sportspeople into the UK.


Objective This study used a high-fidelity infant mannequin to examine the relationship between the quality of bag valve mask ventilation (BVMV) and how providers of varying levels of experience use visual feedback (e.g., electronic vital signs) to guide their performance. Background BVMV is a common and critical procedure for managing pediatric respiratory emergencies. However, providers do not consistently deliver effective BVMV. Efforts to improve BVMV have ignored the question of how providers effectively use feedback often available during BVMV. Method Six expert and six novice respiratory therapists completed two simulations of an infant requiring BVMV. In one, the technology failed to display SpO2, an important but somewhat redundant visual cue. Eye movements, verbal reports, and ventilation rate (in breaths per minute) were measured in each simulation. Results Regardless of SpO2 availability, eye movements and verbal reports suggested that novices depended strongly on electronic vital signs and when SpO2 was absent ventilated at a faster rate (exceeding the recommended range of ventilation rates) than when SpO2 was present. Experts' ventilation rates were comparable and within the recommended range in both conditions. When SpO2 was absent, experts emphasized information from direct observation of the patient that novices neglected. Conclusion Individual differences in the use of feedback during BVMV contribute to the quality of BVMV. This work bears on the theoretical discussions involving the use of automation and nontechnological cues to guide performance. Application These results have the potential to expand the current understanding of factors underlying effective BVMV with implications for training novice providers.


In 2012 the United Kingdom's General Medical Council (GMC) commissioned research to develop guidance for medical schools on how best to support students with mental illness. One of the key findings from medical student focus groups in the study was students' strong belief that medical schools excluded students on mental health grounds. Students believed mental illness was a fitness to practice matter that led to eventual dismissal, although neither personal experience nor empirical evidence supported this belief. The objective of the present study was a deeper exploration of this belief and its underlying social mechanisms. This included any other beliefs that influenced medical students' reluctance to disclose a mental health problem, the factors that reinforced these beliefs, and the feared consequences of revealing a mental illness. The study involved a secondary analysis of qualitative data from seven focus groups involving 40 student participants across five UK medical schools in England, Scotland, and Wales. Student beliefs clustered around (1) the unacceptability of mental illness in medicine, (2) punitive medical school support systems, and (3) the view that becoming a doctor is the only successful career outcome. Reinforcing mechanisms included pressure from senior clinicians, a culture of "presenteeism," distrust of medical school staff, and expectations about conduct. Feared consequences centered on regulatory "fitness to practice" proceedings that would lead to expulsion, reputational damage, and failure to meet parents' expectations. The study's findings provide useful information for veterinary medical educators interested in creating a culture that encourages the disclosure of mental illness and contributes to the debate about mental illness within the veterinary profession.


The dependence of optically stimulated luminescence spectra on the energy of excitation photons has been investigated for a wide range of feldspars. In the vicinity of the 1.44 eV resonance, the spectra are in many cases best described by a Voigt profile with a minor Lorentzian component centred at 1.44 eV. Most samples display a second excitation resonance near 1.57 eV, and more rarely a third peak at 1.3 eV. The shape of the excitation spectrum is the same for both the violet (3.1 eV) and yellow–green (2.2 eV) emission bands and, for one sample, the UV band (3.3–3.7 eV). The shape of the excitation spectrum is unaffected by the polarization direction of the excitation beam. The principal resonance at 1.44 eV broadens little, if at all, with increasing temperature over the range 290–490 K. The initial luminescence decay rate as a function of the initial luminescence intensity per unit energy was determined over a wide range of excitation energies (1.24–2.58 eV) for four feldspars. In every case, the initial slope was observed to increase linearly with the square of the initial intensity over the range 1.24–2.4 eV. All this provides strong evidence that excitation is from a single trap located at least 2.5 eV below the conduction band.


How did people in Tibet view the Islamic World, and vice versa? How did a figure like Galen travel from Ancient Greece, through the Islamic World, and end up as a founding father in Tibetan medical history? In this episode, we speak to Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim about the exchange of knowledge, and especially medicine, between these regions. We discuss objects like musk, which originated in Tibet but played a huge role in the Muslim world, and scholars like Rashid al-Din al-Tabib, who wrote about Buddhism and Chinese medicine from Il-Khanid Iran. The silk road is often thought of as a trade route connecting China and Greece, but Ronit uses a new framework, the "Musk Route," for looking at the transmission of knowledge between Tibet and the Islamic world. She also describes the role of some important archives in shaping our understandings of these connections, like Dunhuang and the Cairo Geniza.


The aim of this study is to provide an agricultural cultivation solution from seawater with a simple process using natural zeolite. In the 21st century, the demand for food is increasing due to the global population growth, and securing farmland is one of the most important factors in food production. Approximately 20 % of farmland in the world is salt-damaged soil with unsuitable properties for agriculture by high salinity water, and simple desalination methods of high salinity water to improve salt-damaged soil is desired. Natural zeolite has a cation exchange ability and is available in large quantities at low cost. In this study, desalination of seawater, as high salinity water, using Japanese clinoptilolite zeolites with typical exchangeable cation, Na+, K+, NH4, Mg2+, and Ca2+, were examined. Ca2+-type zeolite indicates the highest reduction of NaCl from seawater among these ion-exchanged natural zeolites. The column experiment using Ca2+-type natural zeolite shows that pH can be controlled to neutral and salinity can be reduced by the reaction between Ca2+ in zeolite and other ions in seawater. Although Radish sprouts did not grow in seawater, they could be grown in the solution treated with column process of Ca2+-type natural zeolite.


Project Marketing: Beyond Competitive Bidding is the first English language book that focuses specifically on this important, emerging subject. Project marketing relates to the various marketing activities that take place prior to winning a contract. It deals with marketing of large and complex projects such as the construction of buildings and power stations.
Features :

 The authors are all leading international figures in the field of project marketing. Bernard Cova is co-founder and leader of The European Network on Project Marketing and System Selling. The book provides models and methods that are necessary to develop a constructive approach to project marketing. It contains more than 20 short cases drawn from a wide variety of industries e.g. aerospace, construction, engineering, transport and energy. The cases are truly international with examples from Europe, Asia, USA and Africa.

Project Marketing: Beyond Competitive Bidding can be used a textbook for MBA and other masters-level courses in project marketing and project management. It will also be highly relevant for practitioners and participants in executive and in-company training programs.


Campomelic dysplasia (CD) is a semilethal osteochondrodysplasia, characterized by skeletal anomalies that include bending of the long bones, and by XY sex reversal. CD results from haploinsufficiency for the transcription factor SOX9, a key regulator at various steps of cartilage differentiation and of early testis development. Two functional domains are so far recognized for SOX9, a high-mobility group (HMG) DNA-binding domain and a C-terminal transactivation domain. We present two CD patients with de novo mutations in a conserved region preceding the HMG domain. A long-term survivor with the acampomelic form of CD has an A76E amino acid substitution, while a severely affected CD patient had an in-frame deletion of amino acid residues 66-75. The conserved domain has been shown to function in the related transcription factor SOX10 as a DNA-dependent dimerization domain. We show that, like SOX10, SOX9 also binds cooperatively as a dimer to response elements in regulatory regions of some target genes such as the cartilage genes Col11a2 and CD-Rap. Dimerization and the resulting capacity to activate promoters via dimeric binding sites is lost in both mutant SOX9 proteins while other features involved in SOX9 function remained unaltered. These findings establish the dimerization domain as the third domain essential for SOX9 function during chondrogenesis.


Atherosclerosis is the main underlying cause of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), which remain the number one contributor to mortality worldwide. Although current therapies can slow down disease progression, no treatment is available that can fully cure or reverse atherosclerosis. Nanomedicine, which is the application of nanotechnology in medicine, is an emerging field in the treatment of many pathologies, including CVDs. It enables the production of drugs that interact with cellular receptors, and allows for controlling cellular processes after entering these cells. Nanomedicine aims to repair, control and monitor biological and physiological systems via nanoparticles (NPs), which have been shown to be efficient drug carriers. In this review we will, after a general introduction, highlight the advantages and limitations of the use of such nano-based medicine, the potential applications and targeting strategies via NPs. For example, we will provide a detailed discussion on NPs that can target relevant cellular receptors, such as integrins, or cellular processes related to atherogenesis, such as vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation. Furthermore, we will underline the (ongoing) clinical trials focusing on NPs in CVDs, which might bring new insights into this research field.


For the period 1995–2000, the Nepal seismic network recorded 37 ± 8% fewer earthquakes in the summer than in the winter; for local magnitudes ML > 2 to ML > 4 the percentage increases from 31% to 63% respectively. We show the probability of observing this by chance is less than 1%. We find that most surface loading phenomena are either too small, or have the wrong polarity to enhance winter seismicity. We consider enhanced Coulomb failure caused by a pore‐pressure increase at seismogenic depths as a possible mechanism. For this to enhance winter seismicity, however, we find that fluid diffusion following surface hydraulic loading would need to be associated with a six‐month phase lag, which we consider to be possible, though unlikely. We favor instead the suppression of summer seismicity caused by stress‐loading accompanying monsoon rains in the Ganges and northern India, a mechanism that is discussed in a companion article.


In the present study, a practical method to predict cavitation erosion, which caused a critical damage on hydraulic machineries, was developed. Impact and critical velocities were defined to develop a practical method for the prediction of cavitation erosion. To develope the practical method, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was introduced. Cavitating flows with erosion in a converging-diverging nozzle and around a hydrofoil were simulated by developed and validated code. Based on the CFD results, the cavitation erosion coefficient was derived by a curve fitting method. The cavitation erosion coefficient was formulated as the function of the cavitation and Reynolds numbers. A cavitating flow in an axisymmetric nozzle followed by radial divergence was simulated to validate the developed practical method. For the application to a propeller, a cavitating flow around a propeller was simulated. Predicted damage extent showed similar with damaged full-scale propeller blade.


Patients with RA have increased mortality compared with the general population mostly due to higher cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is up to 50% more frequent [1]. Even after adjusting for traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking, diabetes and hypertension, the risk for CVD is increased by up to twofold compared with the normal population [2]. Whilst traditional cardiovascular risk factors, contribute to the increased risk of mortality in RA patients, they do not fully explain increase in cardiovascular risk [3,4]. European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommend regular assessment of cardiovascular risk in patients with RA [5]. Since traditional cardiovascular risk factor assessment equations, such as Framingham and the Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation Score (SCORE) models, underestimate cardiovascular risk in RA, EULAR recommends multiplying such traditional cardiovascular risk scores by 1.5 for patients with RA. Such adjustment operates at the population level. Ideally, cardiovascular biomarkers that can predict future cardiovascular event in the individual patient will improve screening and management. Biomarkers of cardiovascular disease can be divided into five major categories: lipids, inflammation, endocrine, vascular and prothrombotic [7]. HDL and LDL are used in routine clinical practice. However, they do not predict future cardiovascular events in patients with RA as the levels of HDL and LDL are suppressed during inflammation [8]. The ratio of HDL/LDL or total cholesterol/HDL is less affected by inflammation. Other lipid biomarkers include apolipoprotein A-1, apolipoprotein B, cholesterol ester transfer protein lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2, small-dense LDL and paraxonase-1. They have been measured in patients with RA but their precise value in predicting cardiovascular risk in RA has not been determined. High level of inflammation as measured by ESR and CRP is associated with increased cardiovascular risk in patients with RA. EULAR recommended adequate suppression of inflammation as a key strategy to reduce cardiovascular events [5]. Disease flares increased cumulative cardiovascular risk [9]. Many inflammatory mediators are elevated in RA, whether they can add to traditional cardiovascular risk score to improve individual risk prediction should be evaluated. The vascular biomarker of cardiovascular disease, VCAM-1, has also been shown to elevated in patients with RA. High level of VCAM-1 was associated with high cardiovascular risk score[ix]. Metabolic syndrome is common in patients with inflammatory arthritis. Insulin resistance is a feature of metabolic syndrome. Fibrinogen and other prothrombotic molecules are part of the acute phase response, their levels are elevated in RA. Neither endocrine nor prothrombotic factors have been studied systematically in RA. References Meune C, Touze E, Trinquart L, Allanore Y. Rheumatology 2009 Oct; 48(10):1309–13. Gabriel SE. The American Journal of Medicine 2008 Oct;121(10 Suppl 1):S9–14. Dessein PH, Joffe BI, Veller MG, Stevens BA, Tobias M, Reddi K, et al. The Journal of rheumatology 2005 Mar;32(3):435–42. del Rincon ID, Williams K, Stern MP, et al. Arthritis Rheum. 2001;44:2737–2745. Agca R, Heslinga SC, Rollefstad S et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2017 Jan;76(1):17–28. Montgomery JE and Brown JR. Vascular Health and Risk Management. 2013:9 37–45 Choy E and Sattar N. Ann Rheum Dis. 2009 Apr;68(4):460–9. Myasoedova E, et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2016 Mar;75(3):560–5. Davies RD et al ACR 2016 abstract no 1447. Disclosure of Interest E. Choy Grant/research support from: Roche, UCB, Pfizer, Biocancer, Consultant for: Amgen, Biogen, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Chugai Pharma, Eli Lilly, Hospita, I Janssen, Napp, Novimmune, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, R-Pharm, Sanofi-Aventis, Tonix and UCB., Speakers bureau: Amgen, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chugai Pharma, Eli Lilly, Hospira, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, and UCB.


: Objective: Glucocorticoids have been used in the treatment of a number of diseases due to their widely thera-peutic effects. But they have serious side effects. Although glucocorticoid therapy is an effective measure to prevent and treat many diseases in patients, it can cause adverse effects on the cardiovascular system secondary to oxidative stress. It has been suggested that melatonin is a potent antioxidant and that melatonin supplements may protect against such age-related diseases as atherosclerosis, cancer, and Alzheimer disease. In this study, we investigated whether such effects of a single high dose steroid has adverse consequences for the oxidant-antioxidant system of rabbit heart tissue and whether melatonin treatment is protective in the rabbit. For this purpose we measurument some biochemical parameters in the rabbit heart tissue. Methods: Level of malondialdehyde (MDA, a lipid peroxidation product), protein carbonyl (PC, a protein oxidation product) and nitric oxide (NO) were measured from heart tissue samples of all rabbits included in the study. Also antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase activities were measured from heart tissues. In the study, 20 rabbits were used. The rabbits were separated into three groups. Group I: Control group, group II: Methylprednisolone group, group III: Methylprednisolone plus melatonin group. Results: The results of the study; PC levels significantly decreased in methylprednisolone plus melatoninin group compared to the control group (p=0.03). PC levels decreased in methlyprednisolone group compared to the control group and higher than methlyprednisolone + melatonin group but these changes aren't significant statistically. No statistical difference was determined by MDA, NO levels and SOD, GSH-Px, catalase activities of all groups. Conclusion: According to the results of this study we can say that administration of a single high dose methylprednisolone doesn't increase oxidative stress Also, melatonine is a potent antioxidant agent in the heart tissue.


Mitochondria have their own DNA (mtDNA). Genetic variants are likely to accumulate in mtDNA, and its base substitution rate is known to be very fast, 10–20 times faster than that of nuclear DNA. For this reason, mtSNPs (mitochondrial genome single nucleotide polymorphisms) are frequently detected in mtDNA. Several thousands of copies of mtDNA are considered to be present in a cell, and variants that have occurred in mtDNA are expected to markedly affect the intracellular energy production system and ROS (reactive oxygen species) kinetics. Therefore, recently, mtSNPs have come to be considered very important as a determinant of the individual constitution such as the life‐span and disease susceptibility. In this study, we searched for mtSNPs that affect the individual corneocyte size using samples from 358 Japanese women. As a result, mtSNPs 10609C and 12406A were found to be significantly related to the corneocyte size in the outermost layer of the epidermis. There have been a large number of reports concerning the association between mtSNPs and individual constitution, but little evaluation of their relationships with epidermal properties has been made. The results of the present study first suggested that mtSNPs may affect the epidermal properties in Japanese women.


Abstract Sparsity learning with known grouping structure has received considerable attention due to wide modern applications in high-dimensional data analysis. Although advantages of using group information have been well-studied by shrinkage-based approaches, benefits of group sparsity have not been well-documented for greedy-type methods, which much limits our understanding and use of this important class of methods. In this paper, generalizing from a popular forward-backward greedy approach, we propose a new interactive greedy algorithm for group sparsity learning and prove that the proposed greedy-type algorithm attains the desired benefits of group sparsity under high dimensional settings. An estimation error bound refining other existing methods and a guarantee for group support recovery are also established simultaneously. In addition, we incorporate a general M-estimation framework and introduce an interactive feature to allow extra algorithm flexibility without compromise in theoretical properties. The promising use of our proposal is demonstrated through numerical evaluations including a real industrial application in human activity recognition at home. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


This paper deals with ultrasonic imaging in a nondestructive evaluation (NDE) context. In particular, we are focused on the inspection of coarse-grained steels having an heterogeneous composition that creates structural noise in the ultrasonic signals and images. The standard way to beamform the acquired ultrasonic data is by delay-and-sum (DAS). This method is fast but suffers from low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for coarse-grained steel inspection. In this paper, we propose to adapt a coherence-based beamformer called pDAS from the medical imaging community. pDAS beamforming is based on DAS structure but includes p-root and p-power before and after summations, respectively. It results in an enhancement of the coherent summation of signals that improves both resolution and contrast. Coherence-based beamformers are known to enhance information whose acoustic response correlates with geometrical information, that is why they decrease grating lobes and side lobes, specular echoes, reconstruction artifacts and noise due to multiple scattering. In this paper, the pDAS beamformer is proposed for two common acquisition schemes employed in NDE that are plane wave imaging (PWI) and full matrix capture (FMC). The beamformers have been efficiently implemented for parallel computing on graphics processing unit (GPU) in a context of real-time imaging and fast part scanning in NDE. First, experimental results are presented from an austenitic-ferritic sample from the power generation industry that contains side drilled holes (SDH) with diameter 0.4mm at several depths. pDAS (for p from 2 to 5) shows improvements in terms of SNR and resolution compared to standard DAS, both in PWI and FMC modalities. We also show that the computation cost of pDAS is equivalent to DAS. A real application on a sample containing a fatigue crack connected to the backwall is exposed. We show that pDAS beamformer can enhance crack response compared to grains, but it also decreases unwanted information such as backwall specular echoes and reconstruction artifacts.


Despite recent advances, mortality rates after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation remain high and cannot be accurately predicted. During the last years several reports from the Seattle group suggest the use of comorbidity indexes (CI) to provide valid and reliable scoring of pre-transplant comorbidities that predicted non-relapse mortality (NRM) and survival [Blood 2004 (CCI), 2005 (HCT-CI) & Ann Int Med 2006 (PAM)). However whether such indexes could be applied by other groups, and if one index better predicts NRM than another, is unknown yet. Patients undergoing their first allogeneic SCT at Saint-Louis between April 2004 and December 2005 were considered. A total of 183 patients were first included in the study (median age 31, range [4–64], 41% from unrelated donors, 87% intermediate or high-risk diseases). Survival curves were estimated using Kaplan-Meier estimator, and cumulative incidence curves of NRM, treating relapse as competing event. The likelihood ratio statistics in proportional hazards models was computed for each index, with its associated P -value, as a measure of association between the comorbidity indexes collapsed into risk groups and the outcomes. Discriminative performance of comorbidity indexes was then evaluated by the c -index. Standard errors of c -indexes were computed from that of Somers' D xy rank correlation coefficient. P -values for comparison of c -indexes were obtained using a nonparametric bootstrap procedure. Using CCI, 21% of our patients had indexes of 1 or more; median HCT-CI was 1; and median PAM score was 24. The discriminative properties of the 3 CI were rather low in our patient population with c -index of 0.54, 0.49 and 0.57 for the CCI, HCT-CI and PAM indexes, respectively. Comparisons of patients- and transplant-characteristics between our and Seattle group's cohorts however reveal significant differences with more cord blood HCT and HCT for Fanconi anemia in St Louis. Finally direct comparison of scoring items revealed that, unrelated HCT, renal function, and lung function (PFTs) had however similar impact on NRM and OS in our cohort. Additional analyses including patients transplanted in 2006 are underway.


As the value of natural gas began to rapidly escalate in recent years, a number of old concepts for improved gas turbine pipeline station fuel consumption have been analyzed. These concepts include the use of diesel starting devices, inlet air evaporative coolers, higher effectiveness regenerators, steam injection, combined steam and gas turbine cycles, optimum loading of the gas turbine, and more frequent changing of compressor impellers. This paper reviews these concepts in anticipation of higher fuel costs and offers a brief analysis of economic gains.Copyright © 1976 by ASME


ABSTRACT The Olive Mill Wastewater (OMWW) biodegradation in an external ceramic membrane bioreactor (MBR) was investigated with a starting acclimation step with a Ultrafiltration (UF) membrane (150 kDa) and no sludge discharge in order to develop a specific biomass adapted to OMWW biodegradation. After acclimation step, UF was replaced by an Microfiltration (MF) membrane (0.1 µm). Sludge Retention Time (SRT) was set around 25 days and Food to Microorganisms ratio (F/M) was fixed at 0.2 kgCOD kgMLVSS−1 d−1. At stable state, removal of the main phenolic compounds (hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) were successfully reached (95% both). Considered as a predominant fouling factor, but never quantified in MBR treated OMWW, Soluble Microbial Products (SMP) proteins, polysaccharides and humic substances concentrations were determined (80, 110 and 360 mg L−1 respectively). At the same time, fouling was easily managed due to favourable hydraulic conditions of external ceramic MBR. Therefore, OMWW could be efficiently and durably treated by an MF MBR process under adapted operating parameters. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


A transition-metal-free synthesis of heterobiaryl 4-aryl furans through a base-promoted decarboxylative propargylation/cycloisomerization annulation of ethynyl benzoxazinanones and readily accessible β-keto esters or 1,3-diketones has been developed. A series of novel heterobiaryl 4-aryl furans were accessed efficiently in the presence of base under mild reaction conditions. This protocol is significant for probing the reaction mechanism of ethynyl benzoxazinanones and even other propargylic compounds.


This study fills a major gap in the history of medicine, namely the history of medieval Hebrew medicine, in particular of Jewish women's medicine. A general introduction to the history of medieval Jewish medicine, its origins in Muslim countries, the main Arabic and Judeo-Arabic texts, and the renaissance of Hebrew as a language of science in the 12th-15th centuries is followed by a survey and analysis of the 15 extant medieval Jewish gynaecological texts (including translations from Greek, Latin and Arabic as well as original Hebrew treatises) and a comparison of the particular characteristics of Jewish gynaecology to the Latin and Arabic traditions. In the second part of the work the author presents critical editions with translations of six medieval Jewish gynaecological texts.


The subject of the research is the digital transformations implemented in the process of introducing information and communication technologies into business activities. The purpose of the research was to analyze the current state of digital transformation projects of a company and reveal possible internal problems to be faced by the latter in the process of its digitalization along with factors that impede the implementation of digital transformations. The paper describes the company digitalization processes and shows that the technological approach to the implementation of such projects can lead to a loss of understanding by the employees of business effects resulting from digital transformations. The paper presents the key areas of the digitalization as an integrated organizational project and formulates the principles of digital transformations. Particular attention is paid to the role and place of the IT Director as the main carrier of possible technological changes the competent introduction of which should lead to high-quality positive changes in the company. The negative consequences of the artificial race for new technologies are identified. It is concluded that the digitalization of companies is becoming a reality and its management requires new skills from business and IT managers.


Hydro-morphodynamic models are increasingly popular for predicting sedimentation processes in reservoirs. To leverage the accuracy of such models, their boundary conditions have to be defined as precise as possible. While hydrological models provide efficient routines to establish inflow hydrographs at the model boundaries, the determination of the sediment input is challenging and involves large uncertainties. This study identifies prominent parameters that influence the sediment input into a reservoir, and therefore, expected sedimentation rates. For this purpose, erosion and transport processes in the catchment area of the Banja Reservoir (Albania) are analyzed.

The Banja Reservoir is located on the Devoll River in the Southeast of Albania and has a storage capacity of 400 Million m³. The catchment area has a size of 2,900 km² and lies in a mountainous region. The climate is characterized by dry and hot summers and humid winters. There are significant differences in precipitation patterns in the catchment due to topographical conditions and with increasing distance from the coast in the West of the reservoir. Because snowfall is frequent in winter, the runoff regime of the Devoll River and its tributaries is driven by precipitation and snowmelt.

To calculate the sediment input at the inflow boundaries of the reservoir, a comprehensive analysis in combination with hydrological modelling of the catchment is indispensable. This study applies the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model coupled with the SEdiment Delivery Distributed (SEDD) model, as an integrated approach that bridges interdisciplinary expertise in geomorphology and hydrology. Since measured precipitation data neither fulfils minimum requirements in terms of spatio-temporal resolution nor in terms of time series length, the ERA5 reanalysis dataset is used as input data. The coupled model is calibrated with suspended sediment data measured at a monitoring station upstream of the reservoir over a 2–years period. The model enables to approximate the monthly or annual sediment load for any point in the river network. Thus, the sediment load into the reservoir can be assessed for every major tributary, even in areas with limited data availability. In addition, a high spatial resolution (25 m x 25 m) of the model enables the identification of areas that cause particularly high sediment loads.

The optimized coupled model predicts sediment loads that are in good agreement with sediment loads measured at the monitoring station (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency: NSEannual = 0.96; NSEmonthly = 0.81). Consequently, climate reanalysis datasets are a viable alternative in regions with data scarcity. Furthermore, the spatial representation of the results suggests that the sediment load into the reservoir mainly originates from steep and sparsely vegetated or agricultural areas close to the river network. Intensive rainfall additionally fosters erosion, which is why erosion rates are higher in the Western part of the catchment area.


In this article we describe our approach to Chinese information retrieval, where a query is a short natural language description. First, we use automatically extracted short terms from document sets to build indexes and use the short terms in both the query and documents to do initial retrieval. Next, we use long terms extracted from the document collection to reorder the top N retrieved documents to improve precision. Finally, we acquire the relevant terms of the short terms from the Internet and the top retrieved documents and use them to do query expansion. Experiments on the NTCIR-4 CLIR Chinese SLIR sub-collection show that document reranking can both improve the retrieval performance on its own and make a significant contribution to query expansion. The experiments also show that the extended query expansion proposed in this article is more effective than the standard Rocchio query expansion.


The admission of women to the teaching field was conditioned by many different circumstances that varied depending on time and place. This article will examine the evolution of this process in Spain in an attempt to identify some of the contributing factors: a patriarchal mentality which held that women had a special aptitude for teaching; a segregationist and sexist conception of education; the intention of some of the reformist sectors to broaden work opportunities for women; and the struggle of women themselves to enter the workforce, owing to the lack of opportunities for study and work offered to them. I will also examine some of the resistance they had to overcome to gain access to this profession.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To explore home care nurses' experiences of implementation and use of checklists developed for improving continuity of care for older patients (65+ years).

BACKGROUND
The Norwegian Coordination Reform was implemented to improve coordination between hospitals and communities and facilitate a quicker return to home community after hospital discharge. To follow-up, national learning networks were initialised to improve pathways for chronically ill older patients, including the development and use of standardised checklists.

DESIGN
An explorative qualitative design was chosen.

METHODS
Three focus group interviews were conducted, including 18 registered nurses from eight municipalities in southern Norway. Systematic text condensation was used to analyse the interview texts. The COREQ checklist was followed.

RESULTS
Three categories emerged from the analysis. (a) "The implementation process" included the experiences of a chaotic beginning, the importance of involvement, the leaders' role and resource allocation. (b) "Pros and cons of checklists in use" included the informants' experiences of checklists' usefulness for nurses and the patients. (c) "Competence needed" included the need for a comprehensive set of formal, experiential and social competences.

CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
The leaders' role, support and engagement are decisive for a successful implementation. To succeed and establish solid routines, allocating resources when implementing new laborious routines, such as checklists, is important. To improve holistic continuity of care to chronically ill older patients, checklists should be customisable to each patient's needs, be comprehensive enough to grasp the essence in what to be done at several time points, but at the same time brief enough to be operational. Checklists can be a useful tool for home care nurses, if customised to the individual municipality and the staffs' working routines. It is important that the staff have versatile and extensive competencies enabling them to use the checklists appropriately.


terence irwin's monumental three-volume The Development of Ethics is a masterful reconstruction and assessment of figures, traditions, and ideas in the history of ethics in the Western tradition from Socrates through John rawls. 1, 2 The three volumes weigh in at over 11 pounds and span 96 substantial chapters and over 2,700 densely formatted pages (large pages, small margins, and small font). The Development of Ethics covers not only familiar figures, such as Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Aquinas, Hobbes, Locke, Hutcheson, Butler, Hume, Smith, reid, kant, Hegel, Mill, Green, and Sidgwick, but also a rich variety of ancient sources (including the Cynics, Cyrenaics, Skeptics, and Church Fathers, including Augustine), medieval, renaissance, and reformation sources (including Scotus, Ockham, and Machiavelli), sources for natural law (including Hooker, vasquez, Suarez, Grotius, Pufendorf, and Barbeyrac), continental rationalists (including Spinoza and Leibniz), British moralists (including Cumberland, Cudworth, Shaftesbury, Clarke, Balguy, and Price), post-kantians (including Marx, Schopenhauer, kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Heidegger) and twentieth-century English-language sources (including Moore, ross, Stevenson, Ayer, Lewis, and Hare). This is just a sampling of the more familiar historical sources that irwin


The Synthetic Nervous System (SNS) is a biologically inspired neural network (NN). Due to its capability of capturing complex mechanisms underlying neural computation, an SNS model is a candidate for building compact and interpretable NN controllers for robots. Previous work on SNSs has focused on applying the model to the control of legged robots and the design of functional subnetworks (FSNs) to realize dynamical systems. However, the FSN approach has previously relied on the analytical solution of the governing equations, which is difficult for designing more complex NN controllers. Incorporating plasticity into SNSs and using learning algorithms to tune the parameters offers a promising solution for systematic design in this situation. In this paper, we theoretically analyze the computational advantages of SNSs compared with other classical artificial neural networks. We then use learning algorithms to develop compact subnetworks for implementing addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. We also combine the learning-based methodology with a bioinspired architecture to design an interpretable SNS for the pick-and-place control of a simulated gantry system. Finally, we show that the SNS controller is successfully transferred to a real-world robotic platform without further tuning of the parameters, verifying the effectiveness of our approach.


A new Patient's Charter standard relating to timed appointments for community nurses was introduced in 1995. To date, research considering the implications of this standard has been limited, particularly in terms of rural communities. This paper describes a study which explores the issues surrounding the implementation of the standard in rural Shropshire. It measured the success rate with which the standard was met and considered the perceptions of nurses and clients. The paper concludes that if a 100% success rate in meeting the standard is to be achieved significant changes will need to take place in the organisation of community nursing services.


The Piwi subfamily comprises two argonaute (Ago) family proteins, which are defined by the presence of PAZ and Piwi domains, with well known roles in RNA silencing. Hiwi, a human Piwi subfamily member, has been shown to play essential roles in stem cell self-renewal and gametogenesis. Recently, accumulating reports have indicated that abnormal hiwi expression is associated with poorer prognosis of multiple types of human cancers, including examples in the breast. However, little is known about details of the oncogenic role of hiwi in breast cancers. In present study, we confirmed overexpression of hiwi in breast cancer specimens and breast cancer cell lines at both mRNA and protein levels. Thus both RT-qPCR and Western blot data revealed significantly higher hiwi in intratumor than peritumor specimens, overexpression being associated with tumor size, lymph node metastasis and histological grade. Hiwi overexpression was also identified in breast cancer cell lines, MDA- MB-231 and MCF-7, and gain-of-function and loss-of-function strategies were adopted to identify the role of hiwi in the MCF-7 cell growth. Results demonstrated that hiwi expression in MCF-7 cells was significantly up- or down- regulated by the two strategies. We next evaluated the influence of hiwi overexpression or knockdown on the growth of breast cancer cells. Both cell count and colony formation assays confirmed promoting roles of hiwi in MCF-7 cells, which could be inhibited by hiwi specific blockage by siRNAs. In summary, the present study confirmed overexpression of hiwi in breast cancer specimens and breast cancer cell lines, and provided evidence of promotion by hiwi of cell growth. The results imply an oncogenic role of hiwi in breast cancers.


Currently, there is an increasing number of cases of fungal infections caused by opportunistic strains of the yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, mainly in immunocompromised patients during hospitalization. The excessive use of antibiotics and azole compounds increases the risk of resistance to microorganisms. A new alternative to these drugs may be synthetic phthalide lactones with a structure identical to or similar to the natural ones found in celery plants, which show low toxicity and relatively high fungistatic activity. In the present study, the fungistatic activity of seven phthalide lactones was determined against R. mucilaginosa IHEM 18459. We showed that 3-n-butylidenephthalide, the most potent compound selected in the microdilution test, caused a dose-dependent decrease in dry yeast biomass. Phthalide accumulated in yeast cells and contributed to an increase in reactive oxygen species content. The synergistic effect of fluconazole resulted in a reduction in the azole concentration required for yeast inhibition. We observed changes in the color of the yeast cultures; thus, we conducted experiments to prove that the carotenoid profile was altered. The addition of lactones also triggered a decline in fatty acid methyl esters.


The Christian tradition normally portrays disability as a divine punishment for an individual sin or as a chance for God to reveal his omnipotence, through miraculous healings. Since the Nineties of the Twentieth Century, however, Liberation theologies of disability have challenged this narration, which has justified a long-lasting neglect of disabled people in the theological reflection as well as their oppression in religious communities. Therefore, related to disability, 'liberation' means breaking the connection between sin and disability, in order to achieve the disabled people's theoretical and practical inclusion. After a brief analysis of the Christian theological reflection concerning disability, the paper focuses on the key elements of two of the most important Christian liberation theologies of disability (Eiesland's 'Disabled God' and Creamer's 'God with limits'), briefly addressing their relationship with Disability and Feminist Studies and their revolutionary potential. Keywords: Christian theology of disability, Liberation theology of disability, Nancy Eiesland, Deborah Creamer, oppression


BACKGROUND: In light of the recent political and religious upheaval in Nigeria and several incidents where large numbers of trauma patients were brought to Evangel Hospital, the Consultant staff expressed concern at the lack of organization and preparedness for these inevitable situations.
METHOD: In order to address the need for improved performance in mass casualty situations and provide an educational opportunity for the resident doctors, nurses and other hospital staff, we embarked on preparations for a planned mass casualty drill. The stated goals of the mass casualty drill were as follows: evaluate the performance of the hospital staff at every cadre, the communication systems, the adequacy of hospital supplies and equipment and provide immediate feedback to the staff for their educational benefit and improved future performance.
The Consultant staff drafted a mass casualty plan with the senior staff and then began an organized review with each cadre of staff in the hospital of their responsibilities. The drill date was announced to the staff and on the afternoon of the drill, a full mass casualty simulation exercise was enacted. The drill involved the participation of every level of staff and lasted approximately two hours. After the drill, the patient actors were polled for their reactions and there were meetings with each level of staff for both their feedback and instruction from the drill.
The feedback from the actors and staff was invaluable in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the mass casualty protocol.
RESULTS: A great deal was learned through the mass casualty exercise. Good communication early in the drill was critical for the entire exercise. Identifying key leaders and delegation of responsibilities to available staff proved vital as well. The drill enabled the hospital administration to evaluate and make improvements in the adequacy of hospital, equipment and supplies such as stretchers and wheelchairs. The attitudes of the staff toward the actor patients and real patients who were observing provided valuable feedback. The roles of the support services like the laboratory, x-ray, pharmacy and stores were also reviewed. Ongoing regular review of the mass casualty procedures is planned with each cadre of staff, as are biannual drills.
CONCLUSION: As in many parts of the world, Nigerian health care providers will continue to face mass casualty situations from natural disasters, road traffic accidents and political or religious upheavals. Embarking on exercises to improve our preparedness seems prudent for the benefit of the patients we serve and for our own professional integrity. Nigerian Journal of Orthopaedics and Trauma Vol.3(1) 2004: 20-29


The constant modulus (CM) criterion has become popular in the design of blind linear estimators of sub-Gaussian i.i.d. processes transmitted through unknown linear channels in the presence of unknown additive interference. The existence of multiple CM minima, however, makes it difficult for CM-minimizing schemes to generate estimates of the desired source (as opposed to an interferer) in multiuser environments. In this paper, we present three separate sufficient conditions under which gradient descent (GD) minimization of CM cost will locally converge to an estimator of the desired source at a particular delay. The sufficient conditions are expressed in terms of statistical properties of the initial estimates, specifically, CM cost, kurtosis, and signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). Implications on CM-GD initialization methods are also discussed.


After their inherent photoperiodic rhythm as hoggets had been measured in a 15 month penfed experiment, the wethers (sampled from 4 Merino and Polwarth based genotypes) were monitored for seasonal periodic staple length growth at pasture as adults. Samples of hoggets of similar breeding but different drops and years were also monitored. The seasonal staple length growth rhythm of the adult wethers was similar to their inherent photoperiodic rhythm. The seasonal rhythms of other hoggets of similar breeding but in different years were also similar to the inherent photoperiodic rhythm.


A method for deposition of vanadium(V) oxo species from acidic solutions of ammonium metavanadate on zirconia is described. The samples are synthesized by suspension of the support (powder) in solutions containing three different vanadium(V) precursor ions: the dioxovanadium(V) ion, VO2+, the yellow diperoxo anion [VO(O–O)2]− and the red monoperoxo cation [VO(O–O)]+. Application of vanadium(V) peroxo complexes increases
 significantly the uptake of vanadium by zirconia. The state and localization of the VOx species on
 the surface of zirconia were studied by FTIR, UV/VIS and XP spectroscopies. The materials prepared from
 VO2+ ions contain isolated VO4 groups and domains of orthovanadate species, (VO4)n. The FTIR spectra
 of adsorbed CO revealed that the number of exposed Zr4+ ions decreased markedly when vanadium(V) peroxo
 ions were used as precursors. The predominant surface structure in this case was identified as pyrovanadates, V2O7. On all of
 the samples studied
 no separate phase of V2O5 was detected.


Many precision measurements using rotating optical cavities have tight requirement on the level of a rotating platform on which the cavities are installed. We develop a single-stage tilt control system as one part of the experimental setup for testing Lorentz invariance using two optical cavities that are perpendicular to each other. Home built voice-coil actuators, together with a tilt sensor and control electronics, are adopted to simultaneously suppress the tilt of the rotating platform in two orthogonal directions. The large cross coupling between two orthogonal axes is observed, and its mechanism is examined. By adding a compensating weight, the loop instability resulting from the cross coupling is effectively removed. With the active control, the variation of the tilt around each of the two axes is reduced from the free-running value of ±30 µrad to within ±0.2 µrad, independently measured by using a second tilt sensor. This residual tilt has a component at the rotational frequency with an amplitude of 0.1 µrad, which contributes a systematical offset of 1.8 × 10-17 to the Lorentz violating parameter κ e- ZZ, estimated by assuming that the tilt sensitivity of the optical cavity is 1 × 10-16/μrad. Further improvement is still possible by using piezo-electric actuators that exhibit higher resonant frequencies, a different approach that will suppress the residual variation of the tilt to within ±0.01 µrad and allow a reduced systematical offset of 1.8 × 10-18 for κ e- ZZ.