Random numbers are used in many sorts of applications. Some applications, like simple software simulation tests, communication protocol verifications, cryptography verification and so forth, need various levels of randomness with various process speeds. In this paper, we propose a fast pseudorandom generator module for embedded systems. The generator module is implemented in hardware which can run in two modes, one of which can generate random numbers with higher randomness but which requires six cycles, the other providing its result within one cycle but with less randomness. An ASIP (Application Specific Instruction set Processor) was designed to implement the proposed pseudorandom generator instruction sets. We designed a processor based on the MIPS architecture,, by using LISA, and have run statistical tests passing the sequence of the Diehard test suite. The HDL models of the processor were generated using CoWare's Processor Designer and synthesized into the Dong-bu 0.18um CMOS cell library using the Synopsys Design Compiler. With the proposed pseudorandom generator module, random number generation performance was 239% faster than software model, but the area increased only 2.0% of the proposed ASIP.


A human endometrial cancer cell line, HEC-1, was found to be resistant to the antiviral and anticellular action of interferon. However, HEC-1 cells were susceptible to the cytotoxicity of natural killer (NK) cells, and interferon enhanced such NK activity. When HEC-1 cells were treated with interferon, sensitivity of HEC cells to the cytotoxicity of NK cells was not suppressed.


In this work, we developed quantitative structure–activity relationships (QSAR) models for prediction of oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) of flavonoids. Both linear (partial least squares—PLS) and non-linear models (artificial neural networks—ANNs) were built using parameters of two well-established antioxidant activity mechanisms, namely, the hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) mechanism defined with the minimum bond dissociation enthalpy, and the sequential proton-loss electron transfer (SPLET) mechanism defined with proton affinity and electron transfer enthalpy. Due to pronounced solvent effects within the ORAC assay, the hydration energy was also considered. The four-parameter PLS-QSAR model yielded relatively high root mean square errors (RMSECV = 0.783, RMSEE = 0.668, RMSEP = 0.900). Conversely, the ANN-QSAR model yielded considerably lower errors (RMSEE = 0.180 ± 0.059, RMSEP1 = 0.164 ± 0.128, and RMSEP2 = 0.151 ± 0.114) due to the inherent non-linear relationships between molecular structures of flavonoids and ORAC values. Five-fold cross-validation was found to be unsuitable for the internal validation of the ANN-QSAR model with a high RMSECV of 0.999 ± 0.253; which is due to limited sample size where resampling with replacement is a considerably better alternative. Chemical domains of applicability were defined for both models confirming their reliability and robustness. Based on the PLS coefficients and partial derivatives, both models were interpreted in terms of the HAT and SPLET mechanisms. Theoretical computations based on density functional theory at ωb97XD/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory were also carried out to further shed light on the plausible mechanism of anti-peroxy radical activity. Calculated energetics for simplified models (genistein and quercetin) with peroxyl radical derived from 2,2′-azobis (2-amidino-propane) dihydrochloride suggested that both SPLET and single electron transfer followed by proton loss (SETPL) mechanisms are competitive and more favorable than HAT in aqueous medium. The finding is in good accord with the ANN-based QSAR modelling results. Finally, the strongly predictive ANN-QSAR model was used to predict antioxidant activities for a series of 115 flavonoids designed combinatorially with flavone as a template. Structural trends were analyzed, and general guidelines for synthesis of new flavonoid derivatives with potentially potent antioxidant activities were given.


A hybrid rocket motor combines components from both solid fuel and liquid fuel rocket motors. The fuel itself is a solid grain, (often paraffin or hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene, known as HTPB) while the oxidizing agent is liquid (often hydrogen peroxide or liquid oxygen). These components are combined in the fuel chamber which doubles as the combustion chamber for the hybrid motor. This review looks at the advances in techniques that have taken place in the development of these motors since 1995. Methods of testing the thrust from rocket motors and of measuring the rocket plume spectroscopically for combustion reaction products have been developed. These assessments allow researchers to more completely understand the effects of additives and physical changes in design, in terms of regression rates and thrust developed. Hybrid rocket motors have been used or tested in many areas of rocketry, including tactical rockets and large launch vehicles. Several additives have shown significant improvements in regression rates and thrust, including Guanidinium azotetrazolate (GAT), and various Aluminum alloys. The most recent discoveries have come from research into nano-particle additives. The nano-particles have been shown to provide enhancements to many parameters of hybrid rocket function, and research into specific areas continues in the sub-field of nano-additives for fuel grains.


The work presented in this thesis is concerned with the design
of discrete coded waveforms for improving range resolution and clutter
performance of radar systems. This approach to signal design offers
many advantages in terms of waveform shaping and digital implementation
of processors. Assuming a matched filter receiver, the bulk of the
work is concentrated on studying the autocorrelation function properties
of these waveforms, which are directly related to the range resolution.
The main objective is to synthesize pulse trains subject to a
fixed amplitude constraint, whose autocorrelation sidelobes are as low
as possible. Constant amplitude waveforms are attractive for a number
of reasons; the principal one being the optimum utilization of
transmitter power.
Pulse .train signals can be synthesized directly by factorizing
the spectrum of specified autocorrelation functions. The problems which
arise if the autocorrelation function is only given in magnitude are
considered and a design method is presented. For some applications,
especially digital implementation, the design objective may be to
approximate the response characteristics of a given analogue waveform.
It is shown that virtually all the desired properties of analogue
signals can be retained if the sampling interval is chosen properly.
In addition various suggestions for reducing the range sidelobes of the
autocorrelation function are discussed.
An attempt is made to solve the signal design problem using
numerical optimization methods that incorporate the fixed amplitude
constraint. In particular, a constrained optimization technique is
developed for synthesizing binary sequences with good autocorrelation
function properties. Moreover, the problem of designing pairs of phase coded pulse trains with low autocorrelation sidelobes and small
mutual crosscorrelation is considered.
In the case of impulse-equivalent sequences known as Huffman
codes, a synthesis method based on uniform pulse trains is shown to
yield sequences with good energy efficiency. Furthermore, a new
approach to the signal design problem using Huffman codes and
parameter variational techniques is presented.
Although the range sidelobes can be reduced quite effectively
by numerical methods, for some applications they might still be too
large. Thus optimum sidelobe reduction filters, which minimize the
detection loss subject to a set of sidelobe constraints, are derived
by mismatching the receiver filter.
Finally, in the case where significant target velocity is
encountered, it becomes necessary to consider not only the range but
also the velocity resolution properties of the transmitted waveform.
This is done for the various types of pulse trains using the standard
range-doppler ambiguity description of Woodward.


This research note updates Cormac Ó Gráda's (1996) critical review of the literature on the connection between the stature of the Irish, on the one hand, and their health and living standards, on the other. We find most of the anthropometric data sets used in this literature pertain to Irish emigrants rather than those who stayed behind. We therefore argue prison registers are a more appropriate source of anthropometric information. But results derived from these registers need to be handled with caution as prisoners are a selected population. We uncover the various observable selection biases inherent in prison data and track how they change across the second half of the nineteenth century. We find changes in selection into crime across time are more likely to have been due to institutional rather than economic factors.


The scientific field of urban climatology has long investigated the two-way interactions between cities and their overlying atmosphere through in-situ observations and climate simulations at various scales. Novel research directions now emerge through recent advancements in sensing and communication technologies, algorithms, and data sources. Coupled with rapid growth in computing power, those advancements augment traditional urban climate methods and provide unprecedented insights into urban atmospheric states and dynamics. The emerging field introduced and discussed here as Urban Climate Informatics (UCI) takes on a multidisciplinary approach to urban climate analyses by synthesizing two established domains: urban climate and climate informatics. UCI is a rapidly evolving field that takes advantage of four technological trends to answer contemporary climate challenges in cities: advances in sensors, improved digital infrastructure (e.g., cloud computing), novel data sources (e.g., crowdsourced or big data), and leading-edge analytical algorithms and platforms (e.g., machine learning, deep learning). This paper outlines the history and development of UCI, reviews recent technological and methodological advances, and highlights various applications that benefit from novel UCI methods and datasets.


Transition-metal-free formal Sonogashira coupling and alpha-carbonyl arylation reactions have been developed. These transformations are based on the nucleophilic aromatic substitution (S(N)Ar) of beta-carbonyl sulfones to electron-deficient aryl fluorides, producing a key intermediate that, depending on the reaction conditions, gives the aromatic alkynes or alpha-aryl carbonyl compounds. The development of these reactions is presented and, based on investigations under basic and acidic conditions, mechanisms have been proposed. To develop the formal Sonogashira coupling further, a milder, two-step protocol is also disclosed that expands the reaction concept. The scope of these reactions is demonstrated for the synthesis of Sonogashira and alpha-carbonyl arylated products from a range of electron-deficient aryl fluorides with a variety of functional groups and aryl-, heteroaryl-, alkyl-, and alkoxy-substituted sulfone nucleophiles. These transition-metal-free reactions complement the metal-catalyzed versions in terms of substitution patterns, simplicity, and reaction conditions.


In monolithic reinforced concrete structures, portions of the floor slabs act as flanges to the girders, thereby increasing the strength and stiffness of the girders. The question of how much the slab contributes to the lateral strength is very important for the design of structures; therefore this paper describes the effect of slabs at the joints in moment-frame structures subjected to large seismic deformations. A simple method to model a beam-column joint subassembly including the effects of both beam growth/elongation and the floor slab is introduced. The model is developed by establishing the slab crack pattern at the joint and the state of strain in the slab bars. The results of the models excluding and including slab effects are verified with the experiential test results. The joint model is incorporated in the nonlinear dynamic analyses for a five-storey and four-bay moment frame structure. Two different ground motions (El-Centro 1940 and Northridge 1994) are considered for the analyses. The results show that the cyclic inelastic bending causes the beams to increase in length and the floor slabs significantly restrain this phenomenon and cause the columns to displace by different amounts, changing the distribution of shear among the columns, and increasing the base shear of the columns. These additional forces may lead to a failure mechanism different from the anticipated one. The effect of floor slab including beam elongation effect is thus illustrated for a two dimensional moment frame building and this model works well for the lateral load analysis of frames.


Email connects 85% of the world. This paper explores the pattern of information overload encountered by majority of email users and examine what steps key email providers are taking to combat the problem. Besides fighting spam, popular email providers offer very limited tools to reduce the amount of unwanted incoming email. Rather, there has been a trend to expand storage space and aid the organization of email. Storing email is very costly and harmful to the environment. Additionally, information overload can be detrimental to productivity. We propose a simple solution that results in drastic reduction of unwanted mail, also known as graymail.


Background: Prolonged urinary leakage after nephrostomy tube removal leads to increased morbidity of PCNL and increased hospitalization. Objective: To evaluate factors affecting post nephrostomy removal urinary leakage after percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Patients and Methods: One hundred eight (108) patients older than 18 years who underwent PCNL were studied prospectively. The reasons that leakage postoperatively were divided into 4 categories according to individual factors including age, gender, and body mass index; Renal factors; including, previous operation, history of ESWL, parenchymal cortical thickness, and grades of hydronephrosis; stone factor (stone burden); and surgical factors including the number of tracts, presence of double J stent, nephrostomy tube diameter and stay duration. These data were compared for postoperative urine leak. Results: Urinary leakage was revealed in 76 of 108 patients (70.3%). There was no statistically significant relationship between individual factors and urinary leakage (P >0.05). Among renal factors, just parenchymal cortical thickness and grade of hydronephrosis were strongly related to the urinary leakage (P <0.001). The renal stone burden did not affect urinary leakage (P >0.05). Among surgical factors, placing of ureteral double-J stent highly minimized the incidence of urinary leakage (P<0.001), and the urinary leakage significantly correlated with the increased diameter of the nephrostomy tube and staying duration (P<0.05). Conclusion: After PCNL surgery, some factors show to influence post-PCNL urinary leakage. however most of the urinary leakage was treated conservatively, but it increases morbidity and hospitalization.


The electronic structures of M-doped SnTe (M = Mg, Mn, Cd, and Hg) are investigated by using first-principles calculations including spin-orbit coupling. It is found that Sn vacancy plays an important role in the band engineering of SnTe, showing a different property from its related compound PbTe. The enlarged band gap and reduced energy separation between two valence bands are in good agreement with experimental measurements. Both of the two band modifications lead to the increase of Seebeck coefficients, which is explicitly confirmed by the followed Boltzmann transport calculations. The calculated Seebeck coefficients for Mn-doped SnTe agree well with the experimental data in a broad range of carrier concentration. Owing to the improved Seebeck coefficients, Mn- and Cd-doped SnTe exhibit promising thermoelectric properties with ZT = 1.32 and 1.65 at around 800 K, respectively.


: This series of articles reviews the current status, clinical techniques and developments in tooth coloured restorative materials and adhesive systems.


This project uses and researches a particular art practice and its works. In it political and critical architectural strategies converge—convergences currently researched, generally, in cultural fields as modes of countering dominant techniques of governance. It investigates and, crucially, enacts and embodies such architectural art practice as a
mode of having knowledge through the figure of non-construction.
As 'creative work' and 'text', in a confluent screening of films and live broadcasts in the Cinema Car as the base of encounter and conversation, and in a confluent writing of quotations and comments along practical, philosophical, and theoretical positions, it addresses and makes the gesture and term of non-construction, now employed in new locations and formulations, available for uses and debates on and in current practices and works of art.
The work draws on diverse fields spanning prehistoric life and art, the relation between art and life since the 1970s, discursive art practice, documentation, cinematographic and theatrical practices, curatorial practices, the relation between ideology, infrastructure and architecture, continental philosophy, and current practices of theory. Particular attention has been paid to the work of Georges Bataille and Walter Benjamin, accompanied by modern and contemporary thinkers and practitioners in art and architecture, often set in unexpected dialogue.
The work is a reflection on praxis. The Study performs a reduction of architectural art practice to discursive practice, supposedly the legitimate contender of contemporary art, revealing the architectural typology of the study as a spatial and material factor of discourse, applicable to the current problematic. A Voiding draws back such practice to architectural art practice probing the strategy of voiding as the discursive architectural gesture of encounter. Building Cinema, finally, actually building films and cinemas, reclaims the practice of filmic documentation as such a discursive
architectural art practice.
Maintained in an economy of overspending, whose aim is not production but an understanding beyond it, the material offers artists the possibility of encounter along architectural strategies of non-construction. It also contributes to architectural discourse offering new possibilities for engaging with architecture through the work of art's transgression of construction's ideological constrains.


The paper deals with the detection of signals with unknown parameters in impulsive noise, modeled as a spherically symmetric random process. The proposed model subsumes several interesting families of noise amplitude distributions: generalized Cauchy, generalized Laplace, generalized Gaussian, contaminated normal. It also allows handling of the case of correlated noise by a whitening approach. The generalized maximum likelihood decision strategy is adopted, resulting in a canonical detector, which is independent of the amplitude distribution of the noise. A general method for performance evaluation is outlined, and a comprehensive performance analysis is carried out for the case of M-ary equal-energy orthogonal signals under several distributional assumptions for the noise. The performance is contrasted with that of the maximum likelihood receiver for completely known signals, so as to assess the loss due to the a-priori uncertainty as to the signal parameters. >


Fat-storing cells in the liver of an adult Schneider's skink were investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy. The fat-storing cells were localized in the perisinusoidal space or in the hepatic "recessus". They revealed a single cilium originating from one of the paired centrioles and projecting into the perisinusoidal space. The functional significance of a single cilium in the fat-storing cell is still unclear.


&NA; Early embryo development from the zygote is an essential stage in the formation of the seed, while seedling development is the beginning of the formation of an individual plant. AtNSE1 and AtNSE3 are subunits of the structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) 5/6 complex and have been identified as non‐SMC elements, but their functions in Arabidopsis growth and development remain as yet unknown. In this study, we found that loss of function of AtNSE1 and AtNSE3 led to severe defects in early embryo development. Partially complemented mutants showed that the development of mutant seedlings was inhibited, that chromosome fragments occurred during anaphase, and that the cell cycle was delayed at G2/M, which led to the occurrence of endoreduplication. Further, a large number of DNA double‐strand breaks (DSBs) occurred in the nse1 and nse3 mutants, and the expression of AtNSE1 and AtNSE3 was up‐regulated following treatment of the plants with DSB inducer compounds, suggesting that AtNSE1 and AtNSE3 have a role in DNA damage repair. Therefore, we conclude that AtNSE1 and AtNSE3 facilitate DSB repair and contribute to maintaining genome stability and cell division in mitotic cells. Thus, we think that AtNSE1 and AtNSE3 may be crucial factors for maintaining proper early embryonic and post‐embryonic development.


Under the background of modern agriculture, the construction of evaluation index system of agricultural scientific and technological progress is of great significance in the evaluation and guidance of agricultural scientific and technological progress. In this paper, the method combining theoretical selection with empirical screening is used to construct an evaluation index system of agricultural scientific and technological progress which composed of 4 dimensions, 10 fields and 30 indexes, and then the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to weight the indexes, forming the evaluation indexes of agricultural scientific and technological progress, which are used for evaluation and analysis of the level of agricultural scientific and technological progress of nine counties of Ningbo City.


[1] Repeated hydrographic surveys off New Jersey about 100 km south of the Hudson River mouth were conducted during spring and summer 2006. Glider observations reveal a strong seasonal variation in the surface salinity. Buoyant water is restricted to an area close to the coast during spring, but spans the entire shelf width during summer. During late July and August, freshwater lenses with large density anomaly are found up to 100 km from the coast. Surface velocity maps, satellite imagery and drifters' trajectories revealed the existence of a jet directed offshore and to the south, from near the river mouth toward the study region. This provides a direct pathway for transporting freshwater and any biogeochemical material it contains, including phytoplankton, dissolved organic and nonalgal particulate matter, across the shelf. The highest frequency of observation of the freshwater lenses offshore occurs when the jet transport is large, and the river discharge is relatively high. The transport in the jet is correlated with upwelling winds on scales of a few days.


This paper proposes a transformation-based approach to design constraint-based analyses for Java at a coarser granularity. In this approach, we design a less or equally precise but more efficient version of an original analysis by transforming the original construction rules into new ones. As applications of this rule transformation, we provide two instances of analysis design by rule-transformation. The first one designs a sparse version of class analysis for Java and the second one deals with a sparse exception analysis for Java. Both are designed based on method-level, and the sparse exception analysis is shown to give the same information for every method as the original analysis.


Abstract Cyclic deformation behaviour of ultrafine-grained (UFG) materials processed by severe plastic deformation is reviewed in the light of possibilities to enhance the fatigue properties of UFG materials. Based on the well-known laws from Coffin-Manson and Basquin the fatigue behaviour of UFG materials for both, the low-cycle fatigue as well as the high-cycle fatigue regimes, are analyzed. The beneficial effects of an annealing heat treatment or a back-pressure modified equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) technique on the fatigue behaviour of UFG materials are demonstrated and critically discussed. In particular, the positive influence of an annealing heat treatment on the fatigue behaviour is explained in terms of an improved cyclic stability of the microstructure after ECAP and of an enhanced ductility. A back-pressure modified ECAP technique was used in order to achieve a ultrafine-grained, high-strength material with increased ductility, which itself is related to a combination of crystallographic slip and grain boundary sliding. The potential of enhancing the fatigue properties of UFG materials by the back-pressure ECAP technique is discussed in the context of the Coffin-Manson and Basquin relations.


For free surface flow problem, a high-order spectral/boundary element method is adapted as an efficient numerical tool. This method is one of the most efficient numerical methods by which the nonlinear gravity waves can be simulated and hydrodynamic forces also can be calculated in time domain. In this method, the velocity potential is expressed as the sum of surface potential and body potential. Then, surface potential is solved by using the high-order spectral method and body potential is solved by using the high-order boundary element method. Using the combination of these two methods, the free surface flow problems of a submerged moving body are solved in time domain. In the present study, lifting surface theory is added to the former work to include effects of lift force. Therefore, a new formulation for the basic mathematical theory is introduced to contain the lift body in calculation.


An irradiation field of high-energy neutrons produced in the forward direction from a thick tungsten target bombarded by 500 MeV protons was arranged at the KENS spallation neutron source facility. In this facility, shielding experiment was performed with an ordinary concrete shield of 4 m thickness assembled in the irradiation room, 2.5 m downstream from the target centre. Activation detectors of bismuth, aluminium, indium and gold were inserted into eight slots inside the shield and attenuations of neutron reaction rates were obtained by measurements of gamma-rays from the activation detectors. A MARS14 Monte Carlo simulation was also performed down to thermal energy, and comparisons between the calculations and measurements show agreements within a factor of 3. This neutron field is useful for studies of shielding, activation and radiation damage of materials for high-energy neutrons, and experimental data are useful to check the accuracies of the transmission and activation calculation codes.


It has been a challenge for failure analysts to isolate non-visible defects due to the limitations of failure analysis (FA) tools and techniques. Sub-nano defects are often difficult to detect, particularly in highly complex integrated circuit devices. This paper emphasizes the growing importance of nano-probing and its capability to detect subtle defects like nano-sized stringer shorts, which previously went undetected. Successful case studies involving the use of nano-probing techniques to help isolate subtle defects (i.e., those that cause device failure) will be discussed.


The effects of altering the eicosanoid precursor pool on several aspects of the nonimmunologically mediated inflammatory and angiogenic processes that follow 1N and 4N NaOH alkali burning of the rabbit cornea were compared with controls. Diets were supplemented with several dosages of oils containing either gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) (borage oil), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (sardine oil), or a combination of the two in a dose-response protocol. Significant changes in serum fatty acid composition were demonstrated. Gamma-linolenic acid proved consistently superior to EPA in modulating the neovascular response judged by three neovascular indices. At 14 days, GLA significantly reduced the polymorphonuclear leukocyte and macrophage inflammatory infiltrate and EPA reduced the macrophage component, both with high dose; EPA also reduced keratocyte proliferation. Wound-healing parameters were unaffected. Evidence for GLA-EPA synergism was modest. Prolonged neovascular responses and chronic inflammation occurring in the clinically relevant context of severe structural damage can be modulated by nutritional alteration of the eicosanoid precursor pool.


This review is a compilation of the green synthetic methods used in the synthesis
of coumarin derivatives. Coumarins are a class of compounds with a pronounced wide
range of biological activities, which have found their application in medicine, pharmacology,
cosmetics and food industry. Their biological activity and potential application are
highly dependent on their structure. Therefore, many researchers have been performing
the synthesis of coumarin derivatives on a daily basis. High demands for their synthesis
often result in an increased generation of different waste chemicals. In order to minimize
the utilization and generation of toxic organic substances, green synthetic methods are applied
in this manner. These methods are getting more attention in the last few decades.
Green chemistry methods cover a wide range of methods, including the application of ultrasound
and microwaves, ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents, solvent-free synthesis, mechanosynthesis
and multicomponent reactions. All typical condensation reactions for coumarin synthesis like Knoevenagel,
Perkin, Kostanecki-Robinson, Pechmann and Reformansky reactions, have been successfully performed using
these green synthetic methods. According to the authors mentioned in this review, not only these methods reduce
the utilization and generation of toxic chemicals, but they can also enhance the reaction performance in
terms of product yields, purity, energy consumption and post-synthetic procedures when compared to the conventional
methods. Due to the significance of coumarins as biologically active systems and the recent demands
of reducing toxic solvents, catalysts and energy consumption, this review provides a first full literature overview
on the application of green synthetic methods in the coumarin synthesis. It covers a literature search over
the period from 1995-2019. The importance of this work is its comprehensive literature survey on a specific
class of heterocyclic compounds, and those researchers working on the coumarin synthesis can find very useful
information on the green synthetic approaches to their synthesis. There are some reviews on the coumarin synthesis,
but most of them cover only specific reactions on coumarin synthesis and none of them the whole range
of green chemistry methods.


Quasicrystals are fascinating and important because of their unconventional atomic arrangements, which challenge traditional notions of crystalline structures. Unlike regular crystals, they lack translational symmetry and generate unique mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties, holding promise for numerous applications. In order to probe the electronic properties of quasicrystals, tools beyond linear response transport measurements are needed, since all spectral regions can be affected by the non-periodic geometry. Here we show that high-harmonic spectroscopy offers an advanced avenue for this goal. Focusing on the quasiperiodic 1D Aubry-Andr\'e-Harper (AAH) model, we leverage high-harmonic spectroscopy to delve into their intricate characteristics: By carefully analyzing emitted harmonic intensities, we extract the multifractal spectrum -- an essential indicator of the spatial distribution of electronic states in quasicrystals. Additionally, we address the detection of mobility edges, vital energy thresholds that demarcate localized and extended eigenstates within generalized AAH models. The precise identification of these mobility edges sheds light on the metal-insulator transition and the behavior of electronic states near these boundaries. Merging high-harmonic spectroscopy with the AAH model provides a powerful framework for understanding the interplay between localization and extended states in quasicrystals for an extremely wide energy range not captured within linear response studies, thereby offering valuable insights for guiding future experimental investigations.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the possibility mechanism of non-side population cells (NSP) of Hep-2 be induced into stem-like cancer cells by chemotherapy drug--cisplatin.

METHOD
Hep-2 cell lines were sorted by fluorescence-actived cell sorting. The acquired NSP cells in trail group were co-cultured with cisplatin for more than 48 hours,while the control group with normal saline(NS). Then identified the percentage of the side population (SP) cells by flow cytometer. The β-catenin, notch-1 mRNA in trial and control group were detected using quantitative realtime PCR, and the β-catenin, notch-1 protein in two groups were compared by Western blot.

RESULT
The percentage of side population cells in two groups were (17.16 ± 0.18)%, (10.05 ± 1.20)%, respectively. There was significant difference between two groups (t = 5.844, P < 0.01). The expression of β-catenin, notch-1 was higher in trail group by qRT-PCR; the protein levels of β- catenin, notch-1 was found to inceased in the trail group by Western blot (t = 5.155, P = 0.031; t = 5.977, P = 0.004). Statistical analysis showed significant difference between two groups (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
NSP cells can be differentiated into stem-like cancer cells after being treating with cisplatin. The supposed mechanism is maybe through wnt/β-catenin, notch signaling transduction pathway abnormalities.


First signs of crisis may be noticed very early, the problem is that usually we see what we want to see. And most often  these are good balance sheets. It is possible to function against bad management, thanks to the resources, special tax exemptions, or loans. Practice shows that even when company managers use their position to make some illegal profits, the companies do not collapse. It happens that even if big amounts of money are illegally taken out of the company, it still has good financial results. As long as the company has money and good opinion, it may function until it runs out of money for covering liabilities. Then, many people wonder how this could have happened and why no one has noticed problems. Then we talk about the crisis


Recent neural approaches to data-to-text generation have mostly focused on improving content fidelity while lacking explicit control over writing styles (e.g., sentence structures, word choices). More traditional systems use templates to determine the realization of text. Yet manual or automatic construction of high-quality templates is difficult, and a template acting as hard constraints could harm content fidelity when it does not match the record perfectly. We study a new way of stylistic control by using existing sentences as "soft" templates. That is, a model learns to imitate the writing style of any given exemplar sentence, with automatic adaptions to faithfully describe the record. The problem is challenging due to the lack of parallel data. We develop a neural approach that includes a hybrid attention-copy mechanism, learns with weak supervisions, and is enhanced with a new content coverage constraint. We conduct experiments in restaurants and sports domains. Results show our approach achieves stronger performance than a range of comparison methods. Our approach balances well between content fidelity and style control given exemplars that match the records to varying degrees.


3D-graphics popularity has steadily increased in a number of areas such as entertainment, scientific visualization, simulation, and virtual reality. Despite this rapid growth the authoring of animated 3D objects in virtual environments is still by no means trivial. This article presents new concepts of the animated 3D programming language SAM (Solid Agents in Motion) and its programming environment. In SAM, the main syntactic objects like agents, rules, and messages are represented as 3D objects. The design of a SAM program is supported by a dedicated 3D structure editor. The editor allows the definition and spatial arrangement of SAM agents in a 3D scene by direct manipulation. The paper gives a number of SAM examples, demonstrating the authoring of simple animated virtual 3D scenarios.


Background: The recent years have witnessed a surge in the incidence of stroke cases worldwide. Stroke is the most common neurological emergency. It is the second most known common cause of death and one among the major cause of disability worldwide.

Aim and Objectives: The main aim of this study is to analyze the major associated risk factors in stroke and assess the awareness among the survivors for the same.

Material and Methods: This was a prospective, cross-sectional, observational study, conducted among 100 patients in both sexes in the age group of 25–75 years admitted in Neurology and General Medicine ward at Mathura Das Mathur Hospital, Dr. Sampurnanand Medical College, Jodhpur. The information was collected by previously designed questionnaire. The data were collected and analyzed using appropriate statistical tests.

Results: In our study, 100 patients with stroke were included. Out of these 100 patients, 72% of patients suffered an ischemic stroke and 28% a hemorrhagic stroke. The incidence of stroke was predominant in male with 55% followed by females (45%). With increasing age, the number of stroke patients also increased. Among the 100 selected, 37 patients were below 50 years of age and out of these, 26 showed ischemic and 11 showed hemorrhagic type of stroke. In patients above 50 years, 63 patients were found, in them, 46 showed ischemic and 17 showed hemorrhagic type of stroke. About 63% of stroke patients were found >50 years age group. It was found that the most common comorbid condition in stroke patients was hypertension (47%) followed by diabetes (21%). Family history of stroke was seen in 18% and dyslipidemia in 17%. Fourteen patients have IHD and 10% of patients have a family history of cardiovascular disease.

Conclusion: This study concluded that with increasing age, the number of stroke patients also increases and hypertension is the most common cause or risk factor for disease.


The Vhambedzi clan is one of the earlier Vhavenda sibs that settled south of the Limpopo (Vhembe) River before the arrival of the Masingo group that later conquered and subjugated them. The Masingo is the ruling elite of Venda. The Vhambedzi claim authorship and occupation of various Zimbabwe-type stone-walled sites (which the Masingo also occupied) in the eastern Soutpansberg area of South Africa. The Vhambedzi represents a segment of the earlier Vhavenda groups that predominantly settled south of the Vhembe River in an area known as Vhambedzi, extending to Tshituzi, Malungudzi (Marungudzi), and Hamatibi in southern Zimbabwe. The dominant legend states that Vhambedzi originated in Malungudzi. Conflicting justifications exist regarding this concern. Other counter-traditions associate them with other known earlier Vhavenda groups, the Vhangona. These earlier groups are autochthonous. The research for this article focused on unfamiliar Zimbabwe-type sites and oral legends clarifying the status of these sites concerning the known Vendaungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, Thulamela, Makahane, and Khami stone building traditions. The cultural continuity transcending the geographical divide, which the Vhambedzi represent, is of great significance.


We study here polaron (soliton) states of electrons or holes in a model describing carbon-type nanotubes. In the Hamiltonian of the system we take into account the electron-phonon interaction that arises from the deformation dependencies of both the on-site and the hopping interaction energies. Using an adiabatic approximation, we derive the equations for self-trapped electron states in zigzag nanotubes. We find the ground states of an electron in such a system and show that the polaron states can have different symmetries depending on the strength of the electron-phonon coupling. Namely, at relatively weak coupling the polarons possess quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) properties and have an azimuthal symmetry. When the coupling constant exceeds some critical value, the azimuthal symmetry breaks down and the polaron spreads out in more than one dimension.
We also study polarons that are formed by the electrons in the conducting band (or by holes in the valence band) in semiconducting carbon nanotubes. We show that their properties are more complex than those of quasi-1D ground state polarons. In particular, polarons in semiconducting carbon nanotubes possess an inner structure: being self-trapped along the nanotube axis they exhibit some modulations around the nanotube.


Abstract— Silica‐rich late‐stage crystallization pockets in the Martian meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 856 were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The pockets occur as wedges between maskelynite laths or between maskelynite and pyroxene. They consist of elongated grains of cristobalite and quartz embedded in a silica‐rich glass. Interstitial to the amorphous phase and silica minerals, a number of small accessory minerals have been identified, typical for late‐stage crystallization products. They are ilmenite, tranquillityite, fayalite, troilite, baddeleyite, apatite, and chloroapatite. Cristobalite and quartz are shocked, as revealed by the occurrence of numerous amorphous lamellae. This assemblage suggests metastable dendritic crystallization under hydrous conditions. Cristobalite crystallization was probably facilitated by the presence of impurities such as Na or H2O. Our observations show that silica minerals can be formed under magmatic conditions on Mars.


Managing and querying moving objects in a highly distributed environment remains a challenge. In this paper, we discuss a fully distributed environment and treat moving object as mobile agents. We analyze the communication scenarios and class hierarchy of moving objects in a distributed environment as mobile agents, and use the extended G-Net to model the communication among different agents. The analysis of the communication model is primarily based upon the context of moving objects/location management.


In a cellular wireless system, users located at cell edges often suffer significant out-of-cell interference. Assuming each base station is equipped with multiple antennas, we can model this scenario as a multiple-input single-output (MISO) interference channel. In this paper we consider a coordinated beamforming approach whereby multiple base stations jointly optimize their downlink beamforming vectors in order to simultaneously improve the data rates of a given group of cell edge users. Assuming perfect channel knowledge, we formulate this problem as the maximization of a system utility (which balances user fairness and average user rates), subject to individual power constraints at each base station. We show that, for the single-carrier case and when the number of antennas at each base station is at least two, the optimal coordinated beamforming problem is NP-hard for both the harmonic mean utility and the proportional fairness utility. For general utilities, we propose a cyclic coordinate descent algorithm, which enables each transmitter to update its beamformer locally with limited information exchange and establish its global convergence to a stationary point. We illustrate its effectiveness in computer simulations by using the space matched beamformer as the benchmark.


Purpose: To demonstrate that retinal microvasculature per se is a reliable biomarker for Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) and, by extension, cardiovascular diseases. Methods: Deep Learning Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) applied to color fundus images for semantic segmentation of the blood vessels and severity classification on both vascular and full images. Vessel reconstruction through harmonic descriptors is also used as a smoothing and de-noising tool. The mathematical background of the theory is also outlined. Results: For diabetic patients, at least 93.8% of DR No-Refer vs. Refer classification can be related to vasculature defects. As for the Non-Sight Threatening vs. Sight Threatening case, the ratio is as high as 96.7%. Conclusion: In the case of DR, most of the disease biomarkers are related topologically to the vasculature. Translational Relevance: Experiments conducted on eye blood vasculature reconstruction as a biomarker shows a strong correlation between vasculature shape and later stages of DR.


The alien JAM has been at war with humanity for over thirty years...or have they? Rei Fukai of the FAF's Special Air Force and his intelligent tactical reconnaissance fighter plane Yukikaze have seen endless battles, but after declaring "Humans are unneccessary now," and forcibly ejecting Fukai, Yukikaze is on its own. Is the target of the JAM's hostility really Earth's machines? And have the artificial intelligences of Earth been acting in concert with the JAM from the start to manipulate Yukikaze? As Rei tries to ascertain the truth behind the intentions of both sides, he realises his own humanity may be at risk, and that the JAM are about to make themselves known to the world at large.


We saw four cases of lightning injury to the ear. Substantial ear damage and hearing loss are common in such cases. Temporal bone pathology showed tympanic membrane rupture, middle ear and mastoid effusion of pus and blood, total rupture of the Reissner membrane, degeneration of the stria vascularis and organ of Corti, edema of the intracanalicular portion of the facial nerve, herniation of a portion of the cerebellum into the internal auditory meatus, and a possible microfracture of the otic capsule. Initial treatment should be conservative and reconstructive surgery deferred until tissues have returned to normal.


The Phalaris genus includes annual weed species such as short-spiked canarygrass (Phalaris brachystachys Link.), little-seed canarygrass (Phalaris minor Retz.) and hood canarygrass (Phalaris paradoxa L.), which are especially problematic in Spain; as such, there is a need to develop models to predict the timing of their emergence. Field experiments were conducted at two different locations during two (2006/07 and 2007/08) and three (from 2005/06 to 2007/08) growing seasons. In both locations, 500 seeds of each Phalaris species were sown each growing season, simulating rain-fed cereal field conditions. In addition, the models were validated with three, four and eight independent experiments for P. brachystachys, P. minor and P. paradoxa, respectively. The emergence period of the three Phalaris species lasted between 31 and 48 days after sowing (DAS), showing two main flushes. The three cardinal points for parametric and non-parametric models were established to be between −1 °C and 1 °C for base temperature, between 9.8 °C and 11.8 °C for optimal temperature and between 21.2 °C and 23.4 °C for ceiling temperature; base water potential was estimated to be between −1 and −1.1 MPa. Both parametric and non-parametric models obtained similar results and were successfully validated in 12 out of 15 independent experiments.


We investigate how very large populations are able to reach a global consensus, out of local "microscopic" interaction rules, in the framework of a recently introduced class of models of semiotic dynamics, the so-called naming game. We compare in particular the convergence mechanism for interacting agents embedded in a low-dimensional lattice with respect to the mean-field case. We highlight that in low dimensions consensus is reached through a coarsening process that requires less cognitive effort of the agents, with respect to the mean-field case, but takes longer to complete. In one dimension, the dynamics of the boundaries is mapped onto a truncated Markov process from which we analytically computed the diffusion coefficient. More generally we show that the convergence process requires a memory per agent scaling as N and lasts a time N1+2/d in dimension d < or = 4 (the upper critical dimension), while in mean field both memory and time scale as N3/2 , for a population of agents. We present analytical and numerical evidence supporting this picture.


Polish system of higher education is now overdimensioned. We have too many schools which aspire to be universities, we have too many young people who are students, we have also overloaded programs and not efficient system of evaluation and assessment, which university is good enough and which one is in fact professional high school. In paper we discuss some sources of observed problems and some cases of reported pathologies. Discussion of the role of Ministry of Science and Higher Education is also presented and some conclusions are suggested.


Abstract:Actress and singer Nina Sibirtzeva (1899, Russia–1957, Buenos Aires) developed her inconspicuous career in the popular Jewish theater in Russia and Eastern Europe and moved to Buenos Aires in 1938, where she adapted her repertoire and from where she toured other cities in the Americas, always performing on circuits that were removed from mainstream entertainment. What can we make of her obscure journey? This article attempts to understand Sibirtzeva's artistic choices and, through them, some structural but unexplored aspects of the globalization of popular music in the twentieth century. Based on evidence rescued from the almost destroyed archives of the IWO (Idisher Visnshaftlejer Institut or Yiddish Research Institute) in Buenos Aires, the article focuses on the meaning of the words popular and populism in music; the engagement of popular artists with musical technologies, markets, migration, and politics; and the conceptual and historiographical question of how to deal with biographies that do not match the cultural mainstream, operating instead at the intersection of different cultural streams.


This paper proposes a methodology based on the unconstrained binary programming (UBP) model and an Adaptive Genetic Algorithm (AGA) to solve the fault section estimation problem in power systems. The UBP model is formulated using the parsimonious set covering theory for associating the alarms of the protective relay functions informed by the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system and the expected states of the protective relay functions. The proposed AGA uses only two control parameters and it has automatic and dynamically calibrated recombination and mutation rates based on the saturation of the current population, having an immediate response to possible premature convergence to local optima. Test results for a part of South-Brazilian electric power system have shown that AGA presents robustness, efficiency and less processing time compared with others methods previously published.


PTEN inactivation occurs commonly in human cancers and putatively activates the PI3K/AKT/ mTOR pathway. Activation of this pathway has been involved in resistance to chemotherapy or anti-EGFR/HER2 therapies. We evaluated the combination of PI3K-mTOR inhibitors with chemotherapy or the pan-HER inhibitor dacomitinib in PTEN-deficient patient-derived tumor xenografts (PDX). Three PDXs were selected for their lack of PTEN expression by immunohistochemistry: a triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a KRAS G12R low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC), and KRAS G12C and TP53 R181P lung adenocarcinoma (LADC). Two dual PI3K-mTOR inhibitors were evaluated—PF-04691502 and PF-05212384—in combination with cisplatin, paclitaxel, or dacomitinib. The addition of PI3K-mTOR inhibitors to cisplatin or paclitaxel increased the activity of chemotherapy in the TNBC and LGSOC models; whereas no added activity was observed in the LADC model. Pharmacodynamic modulation of pS6 and pAKT was observed in the group treated with PI3K-mTOR inhibitor. Our research suggests that the addition of a PI3K-mTOR inhibitor may enhance tumor growth inhibition when compared to chemotherapy alone in certain PTEN-deficient PDXs. However, this benefit was absent in the KRAS and TP53 mutant LADC model. The role of PTEN deficiency in the antitumor activity of these combinations should be further investigated in the clinic.


Gypsum tailings, slag, cement, and oth-er additives are used to produce gypsum building material products with simple technological processes and law costs. It provides a new effective approach to reuse gypsum tail-ings.


Problem definition Nowadays society is very concerned with sustainability. Companies try their best to meet sustainability customers' expectations and regulations. The adoption of Lean and Six Sigma could bring sustainability improvements, but it is not clear how these three areas are combined and how they are currently addressed by companies.
Purpose Explore the relationship between Lean, Six Sigma and Sustainability, and how the deployment of the first two support the overall sustainability of an organization. Moreover, to develop a framework for Lean Six Sigma and Sustainability integration, providing a general guide for a wide scope of companies of different industries.
Methodology The research approach of this thesis is both exploratory and descriptive. It is based in a qualitative mean, done by 4 interviews to relevant companies and a literature study. A further explanatory study to understand the relationships between the concepts is used. This is used for making a framework for LSS and Sustainability integration.
Results and conclusion Nowadays, more than ever, companies have an interest and intent in sustainability, with a focus on the environment and on social aspects such as health and safety. Lean Six Sigma can support that with a structure, which is a solid foundation and a good start for a sustainable business. LSS improves use of resources, reduces waste and improves safety, ethics and leadership. But that alone is not enough for sustainability excellence. LSS doesn't affect material extraction, product use, product disposal or recycling. Therefore, sustainability initiatives are needed to move a company to an excellence spot. Those can be obtained by benchmark and is possible to combine them with Lean Six Sigma through the integrated framework presented in this Master thesis.


In recent years, NADC34-like PRRSV had a strong impact on the pig industry in the United States and Peru; it was also detected in northeastern China in 2017. In this study, we conducted a retrospective survey of NADC34-like PRRSV in Southwest China from 2016 to 2020. Five NADC34-like PRRSV strains were detected in samples and their whole genomes were sequenced, designated as CHSCMY-22019, CHSCYB-32020, CHSCMS-42020 and CHSCLS-22020. This is the first discovery and report of an NADC34-like PRRSV strain in Southwest China. Phylogenetic tree analysis based on the whole genome showed that the five NADC34-like PRRSV strains belonged to sub-lineage 1.5 of PRRV-2. They had 100 aa deletions in the Nsp2 hypervariable region of VR2332, located at 329 to 428 aa, similar to the US isolate IA/2014/NADC34. Recombination analysis showed that CHSCCD-42020 strain was the recombinant strain of QYYZ strain and IA/2014/NADC34 strain in China. The emergence of NADC34-like PRRSV strains in Southwest China indicates a potential threat to PRRS prevention and control in pigs. This study improves our understanding of the epidemic status and genetic variation of NADC34-like PRRSV strains in China. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


A pulsed drift-tube technique has been employed to measure electron attachment coefficients in CF4. Previous measurements have been extended from approximately 45 Td to approximately 20 Td showing a decrease in the reduced attachment coefficient of approximately 2 orders of magnitude through this range of E/N. Absolute attachment coefficients as low as 1*10-4 cm-1 have been determined.


Alcohol dependence is associated with heightened risk tolerance and altered decision-making. This raises the question as to whether alcohol dependent patients (ADP) are incapable of proper risk assessment. We investigated how healthy controls (HC) and ADP engage neural networks to cope with the increased cognitive demands of risky decisions. We collected fMRI data while 34 HC and 16 ADP played a game that included "safe" and "risky" trials. In safe trials, participants accrued money at no risk of a penalty. In risky trials, reward and risk simultaneously increased as participants were instructed to decide when to stop a reward accrual period. If the participant failed to stop before an undisclosed time, the trial would "bust" and participants would not earn the money from that trial. Independent Component Analysis was used to identify networks engaged during the anticipation and the decision execution of risky compared with safe trials. Like HC, ADP demonstrated distinct network engagement for safe and risky trials at anticipation. However, at decision execution, ADP exhibited severely reduced discrimination in network engagement between safe and risky trials. Although ADP behaviorally responded to risk they failed to appropriately modify network engagement as the decision continued, leading ADP to assume similar network engagement regardless of risk prospects. This may reflect disorganized network switching and a facile response strategy uniformly adopted by ADP across risk conditions. We propose that aberrant salience network (SN) engagement in ADP might contribute to ineffective network switching and that the role of the SN in risky decisions warrants further investigation.


The purpose of this pilot study was to examine if a CBT-based guided self-help treatment administered online for people suffering from low self-esteem was associated with a change in self-esteem and life satisfaction. The study was quasi-experimental, without control groups or randomization. Participants were measured pre- and post-treatment. The study revealed a result that was statistically significant in the expected direction for all the scales that were used: Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale's subscales for anxiety (HADS-A) and depression (HADS-D). The conclusions drawn from the study were that it is likely that participation in a CBT-based guided self-help treatment online is associated with a change in self-esteem and life satisfaction for people with low self-esteem.


Abstract In the first part we show a counterexample to a conjecture by Shelah regarding the existence of indiscernible sequences in dependent theories (up to the first inaccessible cardinal). In the second part we discuss generic pairs, and give an example where the pair is not dependent. Then we define the notion of directionality which deals with counting the number of coheirs of a type and we give examples of the different possibilities. Then we discuss nonsplintering, an interesting notion that appears in the work of Rami Grossberg, Andrés Villaveces and Monica VanDieren, and we show that it is not trivial (in the sense that it can be different than splitting) whenever the directionality of the theory is not small. In the appendix we study dense types in RCF.


Purpose: Manufacturing industry is under increasing pressure of global competition, stricter environmental legislation and supply-chain demand for improved sustainability performance. The latter can be achieved through changes in products, processes and systems which are related to the sustainability issues. Sustainability in manufacturing is an appropriate approach; however it is still unified to a higher production rate and benefit. To encounter this problem academic, scientific, cultural and human organizations have to find the way, on a highest level of decision; maybe to rise the sustainability over production growth. This paper also presents some results from modelling and optimization of sustainable machining of Inconel 718. High temperature alloys, such as Nickel and Titanium alloys, pose significant difficulty in machining, due to their unique thermo-mechanical properties. Design/methodology/approach: In the paper are presented and evaluated two sustainable machining alternatives: cryogenic machining and high pressure assisted machining in comparison to conventional machining. The sustainability performance measures refer to environmental impact, energy consumption, safety, personal health, waste management and costs. The sustainability evaluation is supported with machining experiments on hightemperature Ni-alloy (Inconel 718). It is shown that tooling costs are presenting the major contribution to the overall production costs, when hard-to-machine materials are machined, what is contradictory with previous analysis. Findings: As a result, it is shown that sustainable machining alternatives offer economic, environmental and social performance improvement in comparison to conventional machining. The results of the experimental part show that appropriate cooling/lubrication application can provide improved overall machining performance while satisfying sustainable issues in terms of enhanced machined surface quality, tool-life, chip breakability, power consumption and increasing productivity. Research limitations/implications: The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana, Slovenia is implementing two new cutting strategies for the machining of a special material – Inconel. The first one is cryogenic machining and the second is material cutting by assistance of high pressure jet cooling lubrication. Both machining strategy are in rang of sustainable manufacturing. The implications of processes like those are not only nature friendly, but also modern spirit for producers and users of products. Originality/value: Paper present the technical description of two modern machining processes, the comparison of them and benefit, advantages and disantvantages. Really new is the strategy and opinion of spirit, which can be included in product over sustainable manufacturing processes.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the clinical, serologic and radiologic expression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in UK Caucasian and ethnic black patients from Zimbabwe.

METHODS
Standardized protocols and assessment criteria were used to study 84 black patients with no non-Bantu antecedents and 84 UK Caucasian patients with RA (matched for disease duration, sex and age).

RESULTS
Articular manifestations of RA were less severe in the black patients with RA from Zimbabwe as shown by less early morning stiffness (p = 0.001), fewer patients with > or = 3 active joints (p = 0.01), fewer joint deformities (p = 0.004) and better grip strength (p = 0.001) in comparison to the white patients with RA from the UK. Caucasian patients had a higher frequency of extraarticular manifestations (p = 1 x 10(-6)) including rheumatoid nodules (p = 0.0001), Raynaud's (p = 0.01) and Sicca syndrome (p = 0.001). Toxic effects from disease modifying antirheumatic drugs occurred less frequently in black patients (p = 0.0002). More white patients had Ro and La antibodies. The radiologic changes in the black patients were less severe than those in the white patients. The distribution of erosions in hands and feet were different in the 2 groups of patients studied. There were no differences between the urban and rural black patients but a more detailed study involving a large number of patients is required to confirm this observation.

CONCLUSION
Black patients with RA from Zimbabwe have a disease that is clinically and radiologically less severe with fewer extraarticular features when compared to UK white patients.


Up to 10% of healthy people complain about sleepiness during daytime. The results are reduced productivity and injuries at work or while driving a motor vehicle, which may lead to severe consequences for the afflicted and society in general. According to the official statistical police information in Switzerland only 1.4% of the motor vehicle crashes are attributed to sleepiness. This is in contrast to scientific research data from many industrial countries showing that at least 10 to 30% of all injuries are sleepiness related. In our country only very few preventive measures have been undertaken to educate the public, construct safer highways and provide guidelines on how to deal with drivers at fault. The causes of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) are manifold. On the one hand otherwise healthy people suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness due to sleep reduction, shift work or lifestyle-dependent unwise sleep-wake rhythm. On the other hand a number of sleep disorders such as sleep apnoea syndrome, narcolepsy and use of sedative drugs are well-known causes of excessive daytime sleepiness. Since also the risk factors such as driving by night,male sex and young age have been well established and the typical characteristics of EDS-induced motor vehicle crashes elucidated, identification of drivers at fault and appropriate countermeasures could now easily be envisaged. Nobody can fall asleep without preceding signs of sleepiness and a simple possibility to eliminate this sleepiness and prevent injuries is to sleep. Therefore, the most important countermeasure to reduce EDS-induced crashes is information and education! The travelling public must be informed more thoroughly about the potential consequences of sleep deficiency and efficient countermeasures. The traffic police must be trained to recognise crashes caused by excessive daytime sleepiness, and pertinent questions should be included in their report form. Educational programs about the risks of falling asleep while driving are urgently needed for the public and commercial truck drivers. Regulations on driving time checks for professional drivers should be up-dated considering recent scientific knowledge on the circadian sleep propensity factors. In our country the existing law should be applied in order to refer drivers at fault to a sleep specialist. Warning signs along the roads and rumble strips are low-cost measures to reduce motor vehicle crashes. The primary task of the medical doctor is proper diagnosis, therapy and counselling. He or she should make written notes in the patient's records that the driver has strongly been advised not to continue driving while sleepy. Swiss law allows the attending physician to report a non-conforming driver to the authorities. All drivers with preceding EDS-induced crashes, all professional drivers with excessive daytime sleepiness as well as uncooperative or therapyresistant drivers should be referred to a sleep disorder centre for objective measurements of excessive daytime sleepiness and assessment of driving capability.


The subtitle for this proposed special journal of
 Zanj is largely inspired by the organizational activities of the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU 1969-1974) which was founded in Greensboro, NC during the shifting yet highly controversial era of Black Power. According to Black Power scholar Peniel Joseph, SOBU along with organizations such as Malcolm X Liberation University of Greensboro, and the Center for Black Education in Washington, DC were the "second wave" Black Power organizations. From its outset, Black student collectives such as SOBU initiated its organizational line as a Black Nationalist and Pan African student-led organization aimed at assuming the vanguard student leadership position occupied by SNCC but relinquished upon SNCC's disbandment. As SOBU evolved to embrace a Marxist-Leninist ideological line, the organization experienced political shifts and ideological reconsiderations with respect to the Black student relationship with Black youth that may not have been in traditional school but were yet highly active in the Black struggle. Thus, SOBU evolved to become the Youth Organization for Black Unity (YOBU) by 1972 and YOBU re-directed its organizing objectives to align with Black youth and workers to build a vanguard organization aiming to lead the Black Freedom Movement into the 1970s.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy of phloroglucinol in preventing bladder spasm after transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP).

METHODS
Using the random sampling method, we assigned 74 cases of TURP into a treatment group (n = 39), given 80 mg phloroglucinol every day for 3 days, and a control group (n = 35), left untreated. Then we observed the frequency, duration and pain of bladder spasm within the 3 days and compared them between the two groups.

RESULTS
The mean frequency, duration and pain visual analogue score of bladder spasm were (4.3 +/- 1.2) times, (7.2 +/- 2.1) min and 3.2 +/- 1.6 respectively in the treatment group, as compared with (7.5 +/- 2.4) times, (15.6 +/- 6.8) min and 4.7 +/- 2.3 in the control, with statistically significant differences between the two groups (P < 0.05). And no obvious adverse reactions were found in the treatment group.

CONCLUSION
Phloroglucinol is safe and effective for the prevention and treatment of bladder spasm following TURP.


This article evaluates from the Global Dimension of Regional Integration Model (GDRI - MODEL) developed by Estrada (2004) which the level of regional integration in the year of 2007 for the Common Market of the South - MERCOSUR, considering Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (Members of the block). For measurement of Regional Global Development Indexes were used the variables about politics, social, economic and technological had been considered with homogeneous interest. It was verified that: for the year of 2007 the economic indices and politician had been classified as in development. The social indices and technological as developed. It concludes that even so all the indices showed improvements when compared with previous works, is necessary that the countries members of the Mercosur search improvements mainly in the areas technological and politics.


The intraocular pressure response to timolol ophthalmic solution, a beta-adrenergic blocking agent, was tested in two groups of open angle glaucoma patients using the 0,1% and the 0,5% solution. The 0.5% concentration gave a mean IOP reduction of 13 mm Hg in 39 glaucomatous eyes, corresponding to 46% of the pretreatment pressure level. The 0,1% concentration resulted in an average pressure decrease of 11,5 mm Hg in 22 glaucomatous eyes, corresponding to 40% of the pretreatment pressure levels. With both solutions a reduction of the first day's response was noted after repeated administration of timolol. In all patients tested timolol was tolerated well subjectively and objectively without any side effects. Timolol did not affect blood pressure or pulse rate. Tear production was not reduced after topical application of timolol. Pupillary diameter and facility of outflow were not changed significantly under therapy. It is concluded, that timolol acts primarily by reduction of aqueous inflow. The advantages of timolol as antiglaucomatous drug not affecting visual functions like miotics are discussed.


This paper describes a more precise method for statistical treatment of results of repeated measurements, based on the generalized normal distribution law of random errors. The paper also presents physical grounds for the adequacy of this distribution in the application to random errors of measurements. Statistical estimates of parameters and a distribution density form are theoretically substantiated. A procedure for treating results of repeated measurements by statistical means is outlined and compared with that stated in the International Organization for Standardization's Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement. The results obtained when evaluating this method on a number of the standards from the D. I. Mendeleyev Institute for Metrology (VNIIM) are given. Application of the suggested method may yield a significant effect where a measurement result has to be obtained with the maximum possible accuracy.


We investigate a general class of quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols using one-way classical communication. We show that full security can be proven by considering only collective attacks. We derive computable lower and upper bounds on the secret-key rate of those QKD protocols involving only entropies of two-qubit density operators. As an illustration of our results, we determine new bounds for the Bennett-Brassard 1984, the 6-state, and the Bennett 1992 protocols. We show that in all these cases the first classical processing that the legitimate partners should apply consists in adding noise.


This article presents three experiments that examined proenvironmental behaviour during utilisation of electrical consumer products in the domestic domain. One experiment was carried out in the laboratory (N = 48), two others in the field (N = 18, N = 24). First, the work aimed to evaluate various ergonomic measures with regard to their effectiveness to influence proenvironmental behaviour. Second, it examined the relation of person-based factors (e.g., environmental concern) and behaviour. Third, it examined the generalizability of findings from the laboratory to a field setting. The results suggested that design modifications of kettle (e.g., kettle size, integrated user support) are effective in improving proenvironmental behaviour (i.e., resource consumption). Relationships between person-based factors and behaviour have been found, though they were not consistent because the nature of the relationship may be modified by design features (e.g., integrated user support). There was general confirmation of the results from the lab-based experiment by field research, suggesting the suitability of laboratory work to research environmental issues in the domestic domain.


B39 Genetic cancer risk assessment (GCRA) has the potential to identify persons at increased risk for cancer prior to the onset of disease, when early detection or prevention strategies would be most effective. Despite clinical studies documenting the efficacy of cancer risk reduction measures in high-risk individuals, low-income, underinsured or ethnic minority individuals have a disproportionate burden of cancer and limited access to GCRA. Methods: Cancer Screening & Prevention Program Network outreach clinics were established in two regional indigent healthcare delivery systems, QueensCare Health & Faith Partnership and Olive View Medical Center. Ninety-two of 104 (89%) probands referred for GCRA by their clinician attended their scheduled consultation. All participants were consented and enrolled in an IRB-approved hereditary cancer registry at the time of their consultation. The consultation was conducted by an experienced bilingual cancer risk counselor/physician team and risk management recommendations were given based on BRCA test results or empiric risk estimates. In addition, 27 at-risk relatives (ARR) of BRCA carriers entered study and underwent informative BRCA testing. Baseline health behaviors were obtained by survey pre-GCRA and adherence to cancer screening and prevention recommendations was assessed at least 1-year post-GCRA via a mailed follow-up questionnaire. Items included current status of health, perceived cancer risk and risk management activities. A telephone call was made to prompt survey completion one week following the mailing. Results: Of 119 participants, 94 were eligible for 1-year follow-up and constitute the sample for this analysis; follow-up data was obtained on 72 (77%); 57/74 probands and 15/20 ARR. All respondents were female and the majority were of Latina descent (83%). Forty-three (60%) had breast cancer (11 bilateral), 2 (2.8%) had ovarian cancer and 27 were unaffected. Mean age of breast cancer diagnosis was 37.7 years. Deleterious BRCA mutations were detected in 14/40 (35%) probands, and 9/15 (60%) ARR (from 9 families). As of 1-year post-GCRA, risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy was obtained by 7 of 15 (47%) BRCA carriers over age 35, 3 of whom also obtained risk-reducing mastectomy. Across all risk categories, of those with at-risk breast tissue and of appropriate age for screening, post-GCRA 44/62 (71%) were performing monthly self-breast exams, and 57/62 (92%) obtained clinical breast exams and 46/55 (84%) obtained a mammogram as recommended. Overall, compared to baseline more risk appropriate screening and prevention behavior was exhibited post-GCRA. Conclusion: Underserved women embraced the opportunity for GCRA services, attended their scheduled consultations, had a high level of participation in follow-up surveys and showed a positive impact on cancer screening and prevention behaviors.


This chapter presents findings that are part of a wider investigation which aims to understand how children use punctuation to organize publicity discourse. The results presented in this chapter show the influence of discursive marks of axiological modality on punctuation use. The data was obtained by interviewing 60 children (30 pairs) of second, fourth and sixth grade children (Mexican primary education). They were asked to introduce punctuation, where there was none, into the headlines of a children's magazine cover. The first activity was individual punctuation. This task was followed by paired discussion and explanation of the punctuation marks used by each child. The analysis of the children's discussions leads to the following results: some categories of words are clues used to guide decisions about children's use of expressive punctuation marks that best reflects the semantic and / or discursive function in the text; or the opposite, children identify some words that indicate that punctuation is unnecessary in a textual space because the text shows the enunciator's attitude. These results suggest that children's conceptualizations about punctuation evolve in terms of other graphic and semantic aspects of writing.


Hypnoanaesthesia has been used in the past for the treatment of minor trauma in both adults and children. It is of particular value in the latter. However, the time required limits its application in the Accident and Emergency Department. A brief technique for hypnoanaesthesia particularly for children is described, offering a practical solution. A case is reported to illustrate its usefulness.


Previous studies have shown that patients with Raynaud's phenomenon secondary to systemic sclerosis present abnormal endothelial function; the mechanisms responsible for the endothelial dysfunction are unknown but increased vascular oxidative stress could be a possible cause. The hypothesis that a potent water-soluble antioxidant can reverse endothelial dysfunction in these patients was tested in the present study. We examined 11 female patients with Raynaud's phenomenon secondary to systemic sclerosis and ten healthy control women by ultrasound imaging of the brachial artery to assess flow-mediated (endothelium-dependent) and nitrate-induced (endothelium-independent) vasodilatation. Flow-mediated dilatation and nitrate-induced dilatation were significantly reduced in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon, indicating abnormal endothelial and smooth muscle cell function. Patients with Raynaud's phenomenon entered a double-blind, randomized, crossover placebo-controlled trial and received orally 2 g of ascorbic acid or placebo; vascular studies were repeated two hours after ascorbic acid or placebo administration. Flow-mediated dilatation did not improve after ascorbic acid (1.6 +/- 2.2% to 2.2 +/- 2.5%, ns) or placebo administration (1.2 +/- 1.9% to 1.7 +/- 1.4%, ns); also nitrate-induced dilatation was similar after ascorbic acid or placebo (16 +/- 7.4% vs 17 +/- 8%, ns), suggesting no effect of ascorbic acid on endothelial and vascular smooth muscle function. In conclusion, ascorbic acid does not reverse endothelial vasomotor dysfunction in the brachial circulation of patients with Raynaud's phenomenon secondary to systemic sclerosis. The use of different antioxidants or different dosing of ascorbic acid may be required to show a beneficial effect on endothelial vasodilator function.


This article discusses young people's transitions from school to work at a time when educational systems have become more closely connected to the economy than ever before. The serious situation of high unemployment, unstable employment conditions and poverty among young people and young adults in Europe is highlighted. Using Sweden as an illuminative example, it is argued that the increasing commercialisation and competition within the education sector add to the risks connected to school-to-work transitions. The associated shift to outcome-based curricula and focus on narrow competences and skills rather than a broad education including social, cultural and democratic elements, will provide young people with poor navigation instruments in this process. The need to analyse the long-term impact of the market-oriented culture on young people's self-understanding, orientations and choices is emphasized.


Objective: Cystic Echinococcosis (CE) a parasitic disease that affects both human and animal health, shows a broad distribution as well. Parasites are frequently seen in humans and animals living in less developed countries. It is difficult to diagnose in intermediate hosts since the clinical findings are not evident enough. Early diagnosis increases the success rate in the treatment of the disease. The risk factors of the CE in humans can be listed as working in a rural area, keeping a dog, lack of information about the disease, age, gender and potable water supply. Surgical and chemotherapeutic treatment costs of the CE patients, their hospital expenses, deaths, loss of income caused by the fact that they are not able to work when they are ill and during the recovery period create a heavy burden on the economies of the countries. When economic and social losses regarding the cases which cannot be treated since they are not diagnosed are taken into account, control of the disease becomes highly significant. Furthermore, loss of carcass value in sheep, goats and cattle, loss of infected livers and implicit losses in yield cause serious economic loss. Methods: According to the data obtained, no study has been conducted in Ordu province concerning the epidemiology of Hydatid cyst. The aim of this study is to make a retrospective evaluation on the data of Cystic echinococcosis found in sheep and cattle slaughtered between the years 2008-2014 in the abattoir affiliated to the Municipality of Ordu, a province which also has some stray dog population. Results: The data for this study have been obtained from the abattoir records. In the abattoir affiliated to the Municipality of Ordu 26117 cattle and 1791 sheep were slaughtered between 2008-2014. As a result of the analysis performed, 1149 cattle and 114 sheep were infected with cystic echinococcosis. Conclusion: Presence of cattle and sheep with hydatid cyst in this study supports the idea that there are infected dogs in this region. This situation can be explained by the fact that the parasite can complete its evolution through the animals slaughtered in an uncontrolled manner. The study has also shown us that the control activities should be conducted in accordance with the epidemiology of the parasite and the results obtained.


Several composites based on an L-rich poly(lactic acid) (PLA) with different contents of mesoporous Santa Barbara Amorphous (SBA-15) silica were prepared in order to evaluate the effect of the mesoporous silica on the resultant PLA materials by examining morphological aspects, changes in PLA phases and their transitions, and, primarily, the influence on some final properties. Melt extrusion was chosen for the obtainment of the composites, followed by quenching from the melt to prepare films. Completely amorphous samples were then attained, as deduced from X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results demonstrated that the presence of SBA-15 particles in the PLA matrix did not exert any significant influence on the thermal decomposition of these composites. An important nucleation effect of the silica was found in PLA, especially under isothermal crystallization either from the melt or from its glassy state. As expected, isothermal crystallization from the glass was considerably faster than from the molten state, and these high differences were also responsible for a more considerable nucleating role of SBA-15 when crystallizing from the melt. It is remarkable that the PLA under analysis showed very close temperatures for cold crystallization and its subsequent melting. Moreover, the type of developed polymorphs did not accomplish the common rules previously described in the literature. Thus, all the isothermal experiments led to exclusive formation of the α modification, and the observation of the α' crystals required the annealing for long times at temperatures below 80 °C, as ascertained by both DSC and X-ray diffraction experiments. Finally, microhardness (MH) measurements indicated a competition between the PLA physical aging and the silica reinforcement effect in the as-processed amorphous films. Physical aging in the neat PLA was much more important than in the PLA matrix that constituted the composites. Accordingly, the MH trend with SBA-15 content was strongly dependent on aging times.


Most health professionals who work with disabled children probably feel that they have competencies in relating to both disabled children and their families who care for them. Medical training has for many years emphasized the importance of communication with all families. Acutely ill adults or those with a significant medical problem expect doctors and their colleagues to advise on what should be done, and patients want to understand the quality of that advice. Given the stresses of the patient's condition, he or she is motivated to accept it. As we all know, in the situation of chronic disability or illness we have a totally different state of affairs, particularly when, as is the case with the disabled child, treatments and management are not going to be curative. Hence the complication of the relationship between the family and the advisers. Robards1 has usefully discussed under the heading of 'Style of Consultation' four different ways in which partnership with parents may be established and these approaches are based on the descriptions of Appleton and Minchen.2 They describe four patterns of communication between parents and practitioners: the expert model, the transplant model, the consumer rights model, and the social networks model. They then talk about the fifth emerging model of 'empowerment'. There is an implication of moving from the expert model when 'there is little negotiation between the parties, and parents may be reluctant to question the professionals'1 (p 63), to the empowerment model which is seen as moving in the right direction. The empowerment model actively promotes parents' sense of control over decisions affecting their child, is sensitive to the parents' right to opt into the professional system at any level they chose, and encourages the unique adaptive styles that each family and social network will employ. There is, however, an inherent implication that, provided parents accept advice which has been given in one form or another the activities thus induced will benefit the child. From the time of Bowlby (if not from the time of Freud) enormous numbers of studies have been done on relationships between parents and their 'normal' children. The importance of attachment and the consequences of failed attachment indeed underlie child psychiatry. 'Good enough' parenting is regarded as essential for children, and professionals have some ideas about what categorizes satisfactory parenting as opposed to unsatisfactory parenting. However, when we encourage parents to play such a major role in caring for and nurturing their child with a disability, suggesting that this 'will do the child good', we are actually asking parents to play a role for which we have very little evidence. Can good nurturing for the child with a disability alleviate the effects of his or her biological disadvantage? Compliance or non-compliance by the family may affect the outcome for that child of his or her biological disadvantage. Otero and Hodes3 investigated the effects of maternal, emotional, and treatment compliance on E diorial


Harm in Looking? DNA Damage Effects of Microscopy Fluorescence microscopy is very popular for imaging live cells. While it is used for a broad range of studies, it is often assumed that the imaging process itself is not harmful to cells. Using the ''CometChip'', a novel DNA damage-measuring device, Ge and coworkers studied the impact of imaging on the cellular genome. Their results showed that direct light-induced damage is wavelength and time dependent. Even at wavelengths that do not induce pyrimidine dimers, the authors still observed DNA damage and showed that this damage was caused by oxidative DNA adducts. Additionally, there was an unexpected synergistic effect of light exposure in combination with the presence of fluorescent dye. Remarkably, a short exposure time can lead to damage levels equal to a highly toxic dose of radiation. Together, these findings delineate the relative severity of standard imaging procedures and highlight important considerations on imaging parameter selections. In this issue: page 552 FEATURES


Immune checkpoint inhibitors have radically changed the treatment approach to metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). In the present article, we reported and discussed the available data with immunocombinations in mRCC, offering new perspectives in the treatment landscape of these patients. We discussed the main results of pivotal clinical trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of mRCC. Moreover, we discussed novel immuno-based treatments currently under investigation in ongoing clinical trials. Renal cell carcinoma is a particularly immunogenic tumor and immunotherapy is a pivotal treatment approach. A wide series of clinical trials is exploring novel promising immunocombinations in patients with renal cell carcinoma.


I read Oski and Paige's 1 reasonable explanations related to the prevalence of lactose intolerance in the January issue of theArchives. As they indicated, calcium intake is a problem in patients with lactose intolerance because of the avoidance of milk. Although Oski and Paige proposed vegetable sources for meeting the calcium requirement in patients with lactose intolerance, they did not mention the consumption of yogurt, which is another milk product with low lactose content and considerable lactase activity. 2 Because an absolute deficiency of lactose-phlorhizin hydrolase is rare, yogurt could easily be substituted as a milk product for those people with hereditary (or acquired) lactose-phlorhizin hydrolase deficiency. Lactose-phlorhizin hydrolase deficiency is frequent in Turkey as well as in most other Middle Eastern countries. Most people tolerate yogurt well even though they cannot consume milk because of lactosephlorhizin hydrolase deficiency. Calcium absorption from yogurt is better because of its high lactate


Transverse feedback systems use pickups signals to measure the beam instabilities and kickers to correct the beam. The correction signal is calculated according to the transfer matrices between the pickups and the kickers. However, errors due to magnetic field imperfections and magnets misalignments lead to deviations in the transfer matrices from their nominal values, which affects the feedback quality in a negative manner. In this work we address a new concept for robust feedback system against optics errors or uncertainties. A kicker and multiple pickups are used for each transversal direction. We introduce perturbation terms to the transfer matrices between the kicker and the pickups. Subsequently, the Extended Kalman Filter is used to estimate the feedback signal and the perturbation terms using the measurements from the pickups. Results for the heavy ions synchrotron SIS 18 at the GSI are shown.


Mice are prime targets of experimental gene modification and have become object of an increasing number of biologic studies in renal physiology, development, and molecular biology. Phenotypic changes in response to gene modification require detailed information on normal structure. However, detailed analyses of normal mouse kidney structure and organization are lacking. This study describes the 3D organization and ultrastructural, segmental variation of the mouse kidney proximal tubule. A total of 160 proximal tubules in three C57/BL/6J mouse kidneys were analyzed on 800 serial sections from each kidney from the surface to the inner stripe of the outer zone of medulla. All tubules were reconstructed in 3D and visualized by interactive computer graphics. A quantitative ultrastructural analysis of the mouse proximal tubule at every 300 to 400 micro m was performed. The 3D representation revealed a distinct organization of the mouse proximal tubule, each occupying a separate domain within the cortex. Superficial proximal tubules have long straight parts converging into clusters within the medullary rays. Tubules originating deeper within the cortex become longer and increasingly tortuous. In the medullary rays, these are arranged in layers outside the clusters of more superficial tubules. In contrast to rat and human kidney, no major segmental variation in the ultrastructure of the proximal tubule was identified, and no parameters enabled definition of distinct segments in this strain of mice. In conclusion, significant new information on the 3D organization of the murine proximal tubule has been obtained. Quantitative, ultrastructural analyses of mouse proximal tubules reveal substantial differences compared with other species.


Combined least-squares and neural-network forecasts for internuclear separations of main-group diatomic molecules, most with from 9 to 12 atomic valence electrons, are presented. We require that the standard-deviation bounds of the forecasts overlap each other; this requirement is met by 65 molecules, of which 46 seem not to have been studied previously. The composite errors average 0.1036A on either side of the composite predictions. There is agreement with 33 of 41 independent test data (80.5%), and those not in agreement fall outside the composite error limits by an average of 1.83%.


No one can deny that the past ten years have witnessed great changes in the international oil industry. A decade ago, the seven largest international oil companies—Exxon, Shell, British Petroleum, Texaco, Standard Oil of California, Mobil, and Gulf—still dominated the industry in virtually every respect. In 1972, these seven companies accounted for three fifths of the noncommunist world's production of crude oil and refined products, and similar shares of transport and marketing as well. Even these figures fail to reflect the relative profitability of these "seven sisters." They controlled only one third of oil production in the United States, where costs were relatively high and profits correspondingly lower. By contrast, they controlled 88 percent of production in the low-cost, high-profit areas such as the Middle East and Latin America. Among these seven major companies, there were sizable disparities. Exxon, for example, had crude oil production that was nearly three times as large as Mobil's. Taken together, though, the seven big companies probably earned close to three fourths of all oil industry profits.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


The psychodynamic experience of the Vietnam trooper is described and emotionally evoked by the author, who is both a psychiatrist and a combat veteran of that war. It is shown how that experience continues to affect the lives of these men. The special implications of that experience for psychotherapy are then discussed.


Adenocarcinoma of the rectum accounts for approximately 5 percent of new cancer cases and for an estimated 31 percent of new cases of colorectal cancer. Although surgical resection remains the treatment of choice for almost all cases of this disease, a significant number of patients will develop locoregional recurrence after surgery if no other treatment is given. Relatively modest doses of radiation may improve long-term survival and can prevent locoregional relapse after surgery in many high-risk patients.


Among the eight branches of Ayurveda, Rasayana chikitsa is an important branch. The term Rasayana means the proper ayana (path), the footstep of nutritional requirements, which is the basis for a younger and healthy life. Ayurvedic classics explain Rasayana's effect as attaining longevity, memory, intellect, freedom from diseases, youth, excellence of lustre, complexion, voice, etc. Among the various Rasayana yogas mentioned in Ayurveda, Narasimha Rasayana (NR) is a unique formulation mentioned in Ashtanga Hridaya containing ingredients like Khadira, Chitraka, Shimshapa, Vijayasara, Haritaki, Vidanga, Vibhitaki, Bhallataka, Lohashakala, go-dugdha, Bhringaraja, Shatavari which are processed in navaneeta. The indications of the formulation include a strong, swift and steady physique with shining black hair, good complexion, good intellect, digestive power, etc. In the present review, an attempt has been made to analyse the formulation, highlighting the properties of individual ingredients from a classical and modern perspective. The study revealed that the ingredients of Narasimha Rasayana possess antioxidant, immunomodulatory, anti-mutagenic and hemopoietic effects, among other qualities, which point towards a possible rejuvenating impact on the human body.