We use a large data set of Russian manufacturing firms to describe the ownership structure in the Russian industry at the end of the mass privatization program in 1994 and its subsequent evolution. The data shows a high, but gradually decreasing ownership stakes of firm insiders (managers and workers). We estimate the effect of a wide range of firm characteristics on the decision to privatize, the initial ownership structure after privatization, and on subsequent changes of ownership stakes. We test and find support for several predictions of the model by Aghion and Blanchard (1998). For example, collusion among workers makes them more reluctant to sell shares to outsiders. Firms in financial distress show a higher incidence of insiders selecting the option of privatization leading to high insider ownership. This can be explained by their desire to insure against unemployment in the case of restructuring by outsiders. No evidence is found of a sequencing in privatization according to the performance of firms before privatization. A methodological novelty of this paper is the application of a tobit model with sample selection to the choice of ownership stakes.


This report presents the application of a regional ocean circulation model to simulate current conditions and mid-term projections of climate variability in the Mediterranean Sea. On the basis of IPCC-AR5 climate projections and previous projects findings, a detailed analysis of the available external forcing data was carried out to define the most up-to-date scenarios for the investigation period (2000-2050). A synthesis of the results obtained with the regional model for current and future climate is provided, by focusing on the state of the seawater temperature and salinity for specific marine regions of the Mediterranean Sea.


: The growth of gram-negative sporulating bacteria and yeast-like fungi used in a microbilogical assay of antibiotic activity was studied on solid synthetic media of simple composition. Their reproduction with the microbial growth of different density was shown to be possible on media containing available and strictly standardized components, such as salts, glucose and disubstituted sodium phosphate. The cultures tested were not similar by their growth requirements.


Banking industries play an important role in the survival of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and it is known to provide a good business environment or investment climate that encourages private firms to be well managed, efficient, create jobs, increase the rate of economic growth and reduce poverty. The degree of backwardness of small and medium enterprises in Nigeria is not only associated by the poor management of the enterprise but also other complimentary services such as financial assistant of banking industry that would see businesses through their teething stages. Yet little or nothing is known about the impact of financial institution on the survival of SMEs in Nigeria. Hence this study analyzed the impact of bank finance on growth of small and medium Enterprises in relation to GDP growth. Secondary data was used for this study. The secondary data spanning from 1999-2013 was obtained from the World Bank's Development indicators for 1999- 2013, and all other variables were obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics annual report, 2013 and Central Bank of Nigeria bulletin for 2013. The data collected was analyzed using Multiple Regression and Co-integration Model. The long-run results indicate that finance, credit from private sectors, fiscal deficit and management of accounting information have a significant and positive effect on SMEs growth in Nigeria. Gross fixed capital formulation has an insignificant effect on GDP growth in the long run. An increase of 1 percent in finance will, on average, lead to an increase of about 8 percent in SMEs growth. This implies that the Nigerian economy has been enhanced by the SME sector, possibly through innovations leading to employment generation, job creation, and poverty alleviation. The lag length of the long-run model was selected on the basis of the AIC.. The F-statistic value of the long-run model is also significant and implies that all the independent variables are jointly significant. The Durbin–Watson (DW) test statistic shows an absence of autocorrelation in the model. Keywords : Bank, finance, SMEs, Survival, Nigeria


Measurements of (n,p) and (n,{alpha}) cross sections are crucial for a better understanding of many scenarios of nucleosynthesis. Current problems in which such reactions play a roll include the possible synthesis of heavy element during the big bang. The production of several rare isotopes in explosive nucleosynthesis, and a better understanding of the role of the s process in the synthesis of light and intermediate mass nuclei. We have recently completed measurements of several (n,p) and (n,{alpha}) cross sections of importance to nuclear astrophysics. The cross sections were measured in the range from thermal energy to approximately 1 MeV by using the white neutron source at the Manuel Lujan, Jr. Neutron Scattering Center (LANSCE) in Los Alamos. We have also made complementary measurements at the Karlsruhe Van de Graaff and at thee Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator (ORELA). We discuss the impact of the results on nuclear astrophysics as well as recent improvements and future plans.


Digital computers are widely used in the mechanical operations involved in publishing; one application may be to one of the classes of editorial functions which requires no judgment-the detection and correction of misspelled words. This paper describes a computer program written to correct spelling errors through vector representation. Words are uniquely identified through their vectors, and comparison of the vectors of input words with stored vectors permits the detection and correction of four common types of spelling errors. The program is considerably more efficient than programs which use dictionary look-up and letter-by-letter comparison of the stored word with the input word. With appropriate vectors, a similar method could be used to scan sentences and perform other editorial functions.


The largest known structure in the high-redshift universe is mapped by at least 18 quasars and spans ~5° × 2.°5 on the sky, with a quasar spatial overdensity of 6-10 times above the mean. This large quasar group provides an extraordinary laboratory ~100 × 200 × 200 h-3 comoving Mpc3 in size (q0 = 0.5, Λ = 0, H0 = 100 h km s-1 Mpc-1) covering 1.20 < z < 1.39 in redshift. One approach to establishing how large quasar groups relate to mass (galaxy) enhancements is to probe their gas content and distribution via background quasars. We performed a survey for Mg II absorption systems in a ~2.°5 × 2.°5 subfield in the large quasar group and found 38 absorbers to a rest equivalent width limit of W0 = 0.3 Å over 0.69 < z < 2.02. Only 24 absorbers were expected; thus, we find a 2 σ overdensity over all redshifts in our survey. We have found the large quasar group to be associated with 11 Mg II absorption systems at 1.2 < z < 1.4; 0.02%-2.05% of simulations with random Mg II redshifts match or exceed this number in that redshift interval, depending on the normalization method used. The minimal spanning tree test also supports the existence of a structure of Mg II absorbers coincident with the large quasar group and additionally indicates a foreground structure populated by Mg II absorbers and quasars at z ~ 0.8. Finally, we find a tendency for Mg II absorbers over all redshifts in our survey to correlate with field quasars (i.e., quasars both inside and outside of the large quasar group) at a projected scale length on the sky of 9 h-1 Mpc and a velocity difference |Δv| = 3000-4500 km s-1. While the correlation is on a scale consistent with observed galaxy-active galactic nucleus distributions, the nonzero velocity offset could be due to the "periphery effect," in which quasars tend to populate the outskirts of clusters of galaxies and metal absorption systems, or to peculiar velocity effects.


BACKGROUND
Gardnerella vaginalis is implicated as 1 of the causative agents of bacterial vaginosis, but it can also be isolated from the vagina of healthy women. Previous efforts to study G. vaginalis identified 4 to 6 clades, but average nucleotide identity analysis indicates that G. vaginalis may be multiple species. Recently, Gardnerella was determined to be 13 genomospecies, with Gardnerella piottii, Gardnerella leopoldii, and Gardnerella swidsinkii delineated as separate species.

METHODS
We accessed 103 publicly available genomes annotated as G. vaginalis. We performed comprehensive taxonomic and phylogenomic analysis to quantify the number of species called G. vaginalis, the similarity of their core genes, and their burden of their accessory genes. We additionally analyzed publicly available metatranscriptomic data sets of bacterial vaginosis to determine whether the newly delineated genomospecies are present, and to identify putative conserved features of Gardnerella pathogenesis.

RESULTS
Gardnerella could be classified into 8 to 14 genomospecies depending on the in silico classification tools used. Consensus classification identified 9 different Gardnerella genomospecies, here annotated as GS01 through GS09. The genomospecies could be readily distinguished by the phylogeny of their shared genes and burden of accessory genes. All of the new genomospecies were identified in metatranscriptomes of bacterial vaginosis.

CONCLUSIONS
Multiple Gardnerella genomospecies operating in isolation or in concert with one another may be responsible for bacterial vaginosis. These results have important implications for future efforts to understand the evolution of the Gardnerella genomospecies, host- pathogen interactions of the genomospecies during bacterial vaginosis, diagnostic assay development for bacterial vaginosis, and metagenomic investigations of the vaginal microbiota.


How do student nurses develop their understanding of the nebulous and ill-defined concept of family-centred care? Semi-structured interviews were used to explore how 10 child branch students described the concept and how they perceived the development of their understanding of it. According to the students, the concept incorporates interaction between the child, family and nurses to provide holistic care. Students learnt through reflection and by applying theory to practice. Although the practice they observed was varied, some of the students used more experienced nurses as role models. These findings emphasize the importance of clarifying the concept of family-centred care, of monitoring and updating the practice of supervisors in clinical areas and of encouraging reflection to help bridge the theory/practice gap.


This paper discusses the general character of post-war Philippine economic develop ment and the elements and implications of an agricultureand employment-led de velopment strategy (AEDS) that is deemed superior to addressing the twin problems of abject poverty and high unemployment and underemployment in the Philippines. AEDS, proposed as an alternative development strategy, calls for the elimination of the biases of public policy against agriculture, thereby giving agriculture a central place in the development process. The key is to enhance rural income growth and industrialization through the employment and income multiplier effects of productivity increases in agriculture. While agricultural growth is not the ultimate objective of development policy, it is a critical step which must not be missed, for the mechanism of agricultural growth and the sequence of employment and income multiplier effects it sets in motion throughout the economy represent the key to a rapid, broad-based, and self-sustaining economic development.


Background Between 2,000 and 19,000 Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders (SIVH) from Iraq and Afghanistan resettle in the United States annually. Despite the increase in SIV admissions to the US over recent years, little is known about the health conditions in SIV populations. We assessed the burden of select communicable and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in SIV adults to guide recommendations to clinicians in the US. Methods and findings We analyzed overseas medical exam data in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Electronic Disease Notification system (EDN) for 19,167 SIV Iraqi and Afghan adults who resettled to the US from April 2009 through December 2017 in this cross-sectional analysis. We describe demographic characteristics, tuberculosis screening results, self-reported NCDs, and risk factors for NCDs (such as obesity and tobacco use). In our data set, most SIVH were male (Iraqi: 59.7%; Afghan: 54.7%) and aged 18–44 (Iraqi: 86.3%; Afghan: 95.6%). About 2.3% of Afghan SIVH and 1.1% of Iraqi SIVH had a tuberculosis condition. About 0.3% of all SIVH reported having chronic hepatitis. Among all SIVH, 56.5% were overweight or had obesity, 2.4% reported hypertension, 1.1% reported diabetes, and 19.4% reported current or previous tobacco use. Iraqi SIVH were 3.7 times more likely to have obesity (95% CI: 3.4–4.0), 2.5 times more likely to report diabetes (95% CI: 1.7–3.5), and 2.5 times more likely to be current or former smokers (95% CI: 2.3–2.7) than Afghan SIVH. Limitations include the inability to obtain all SIVH records, self-reported medical history of NCDs, and the underdiagnosis of NCDs such as hypertension and diabetes because formal laboratory testing for NCDs is not used during overseas medical exams. Conclusion In this analysis, we found that 56.5% of all SIVH were overweight or had obesity, 2.4% reported hypertension, 1.1% reported diabetes, and 19.4% reported current or previous tobacco use. In general, Iraqi SIVH were more likely to have obesity, diabetes, and be current or former smokers than Afghan SIVH. State public health agencies and clinicians doing domestic screening examinations of SIVH should consider screening for obesity—as per the CDC's Guidelines for the US Domestic Medical Examination for Newly Arriving Refugees—and smoking and, if appropriate, referral to weight management and smoking cessation services. US clinicians can consider screening for other NCDs at the domestic screening examination. Future studies can explore the health profile of SIV populations, including the prevalence of mental health conditions, after integration into the US.


ABSTRACT The demand for residential care by older people is increasing in Beijing as a result of dramatic demographic and socio-economic transformations. Little is known about the way older people access residential care in the context of Beijing. In this research, qualitative data collected from 46 in-depth semi-structured interviews with residential care facility (RCF) managers, older residents, and their family members in six RCFs in Beijing were transcribed and analysed using the constant comparative method. The findings included the following themes: access to residential care as geographical access, information access, economic access, socio-cultural access, and the socio-managerial environment. Geographical access is influenced by location, distance, and the micro-physical environment and amenities of RCFs. Information access refers to the capability to acquire related information on available resources. Economic access is the financial affordability for the resources. Socio-cultural access is affected by individual attitudes and aggregative cultural values on ageing and care of older people. Additionally, the social-managerial environment such as reputations of RCFs, quality of services, and management mechanisms are also important to the decision-making process. All these factors influence older people and their family members' decision-making process of which RCF to choose. The research provides a multi-perspective analysis of access to residential care and suggestions on improving the accessibility of residential care for older people in Beijing.


We analyze the stability property of a class of nonlinear time-delay systems with time-varying delays. We present a time-delay independent sufficient condition for the global asymptotic stability. In order to prove the sufficient condition, we exploit the inherent property of the considered systems instead of applying the Krasovskii or Razumikhin stability theory that may cause the mathematical difficulty of analysis. We prove the sufficient condition by constructing two sequences that represent the lower and upper bound variations of system state in time, and showing the two sequences converge to an identical point, which is the equilibrium point of the system. The simulation results illustrate the validity of the sufficient condition for the global asymptotic stability.


To detect low levels of microorganisms in environmental samples by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-gene probe detection, samples were concentrated by filtration. Fluoropore (Millipore Corp.) filters were compatible with PCR DNA amplification, whereas various other filters including nitrocellulose and cellulose acetate filters inhibited PCR amplification. By concentrating cells on Fluoropore filters and releasing the DNA by freeze-thaw cycling, PCR DNA amplification could be performed without removing the filter. Concentration with Fluoropore FHLP and FGLP filters permitted the detection of single cells of microorganisms in 100-ml samples by PCR-gene probes.


The utilization of supplementary cementitious materials is well accepted because of the several improvements possible in the concrete composites, and due to the overall economy. This report introduces studies and the properties of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). As concrete being important constituent in construction industry, improvements need to be done in concrete. Use of GGBS improves the quality of concrete. GGBS concrete is characterized by high strength, lower heat of hydration, and resistance to chemical corrosion. In recent years GGBS when replaced with cement has emerged as a major alternative to conventional concrete and has rapidly drawn the concrete industry attention due to its cement savings, energy savings, and cost savings, environmental and socio-economic benefits. The optimum GGBS replacement as cementitious material is characterized by high compressive strength, low heat of hydration, resistance to chemical attack, better workability, and good durability and cost-effective. From this study it can be concluded that, since the grain size of GGBS is less than ordinary Portland cement, its strength at early ages is less but continues to gain strength over a long period . This report includes effect of GGBS on various physical and chemical properties of concrete. Low carbon concrete (LCC) can be produced by replacing OPC with GGBS thus reducing emission of carbon dioxide by about 60% and at the same time quality of concrete is improved.


Temperature and field dependences of the elastic constants of Fe65(Ni1-xMnx)35 invar alloys have been measured by an ultrasonic pulse-echo technique from 4.2 up to 750 K. All of the elastic moduli, CL, C44 and C', show softening due to magnetoelastic coupling. The softening of shear moduli, Delta C44 and Delta C', is proportional to the square of the magnetisation. The softening of the bulk modulus is mainly ascribed to an inverse effect of the volume magnetostriction, Delta Bomega . The authors have shown that magnetic ordering gives rise to an increase of the bulk modulus, Delta Bm. The large negative field dependence of shear moduli in the para-process is explained as a result of the increase of magnetisation caused by an external field. The positive field dependence of the bulk modulus for x 0.1 are also explained by taking into account the magnetic contributions to the bulk modulus, Delta Bomega and Delta Bm.


The use of gene expression signatures to classify compounds, identify efficacy or toxicity, and differentiate close analogs relies on the sensitivity of the method to identify modulated genes. We used a novel ligation-based targeted whole transcriptome expression profiling assay, TempO-Seq®, to determine whether previously unreported compound-responsive genes could be identified and incorporated into a broad but specific compound signature. TempO-Seq exhibits 99.6% specificity, single cell sensitivity, and excellent correlation with fold differences measured by RNA-Seq (R2 = 0.9) for 20,629 targets. Unlike many expression assays, TempO-Seq does not require RNA purification, cDNA synthesis, or capture of targeted RNA, and lacks a 3′ end bias. To investigate the sensitivity of the TempO-Seq assay to identify significantly modulated compound-responsive genes, we derived whole transcriptome profiles from MCF-7 cells treated with the histone deacetylase inhibitor Trichostatin A (TSA) and identified more than 9,000 differentially expressed genes. The TSA profile for MCF-7 cells overlapped those for HL-60 and PC-3 cells in the Connectivity Map (cMAP) database, suggesting a common TSA-specific expression profile independent of baseline gene expression. A 43-gene cell-independent TSA signature was extracted from cMAP and confirmed in TempO-Seq MCF-7 data. Additional genes that were not previously reported to be TSA responsive in the cMAP database were also identified. TSA treatment of 5 cell types revealed 1,136 differentially expressed genes in common, including 785 genes not previously reported to be TSA responsive. We conclude that TSA induces a specific expression signature that is consistent across widely different cell types, that this signature contains genes not previously associated with TSA responses, and that TempO-Seq provides the sensitive differential expression detection needed to define such compound-specific, cell-independent, changes in expression.


Advances in instrumentation now allow the development of screening assays that are capable of monitoring multiple readouts such as transcript or protein levels, or even multiple parameters derived from images. Such advances in assay technologies highlight the complex nature of biology and disease. Harnessing this complexity requires integration of all the different parameters that can be measured rather than just monitoring a single dimension as is commonly used. Although some of the methods used to combine multiple measurements, such as principal component analysis, are commonly used for microarray analysis, biologists are not yet using many of the tools that have been developed in other fields to address such issues. Visualization of multiparametric data sets is one of the major challenges in this field, and a depiction of the results in a manner that can be readily interpreted is essential. This article describes a number of assay systems being used to generate such data sets en masse, and the methods being applied to their visualization and analysis. We also discuss some of the challenges of applying methods developed in other fields to biology.


Since the discovery of hF-GRP, several analogs have been synthesized in order to see their effects on the gonadotropin releasing activity, either as agonists or antagonists to this peptide. TF14 is one of these analogs, whose 14th position in the primary sequence is Phe instead of Asn in hF-GRP, while its activity is doubled. 2D-NMR (TOCSY, ROESY) was used to determine the conformation of TF14 in solution. Compared with hF-GRP, the whole peptide is in a non-typical more extended conformation, which may give some clue to the relation between structure and function of these two peptides.


Any depression of the refractive index along the axis of the core of a conventional optical fibre tends to confine waves transmitted along it to the concentric layer of higher-refractive-index material. Moreover, the inner radius, in the transverse plane of this layer, proves to be a particularly important factor in determining propagation behaviour and this paper shows how the HE11, the EH11, the TE01 and the TM01 modes are affected. The EH11 mode is found to be extremely sensitive to a minute filament of depressed refractive index along the axis and this apparently can provide for limited propagation of that mode at the bottom end of the frequency scale. The implication is that single-mode operation in the HE11 pattern is only surely established when the core is of uniform refractive index extending right to the axis of the fibre.


Study Design. A prospective cohort. Objectives. To compare the effectiveness of standard care, early intervention treatment, and occupational management in the management of Workers' Compensation injury claims. Summary of Background Data. The current management of occupational back pain and work-related upper extremity disorders with either standard care or early intervention treatment appears to be ineffective. Methods. A prospective cohort looked at the effect of one company with access to standard care (primary care) changing to occupational management (worksite encouragement to resume activity and work as soon as safely possible) and then to early intervention treatment (offsite work hardening). This information was then compared with the control company with access to early intervention treatment, which later changed to a combined occupational management/early intervention treatment approach. Survival analysis was used to attempt to explain differences in time to injury claim closure. Results. Occupational management resulted in lower injury claim incidence, duration, and costs than early intervention treatment. Only the covariate of enhanced physical therapist (work hardening) involvement (2001 hazard rate ratio 17.41, 95% confidence interval 3.72–41.51 and 2002 hazard rate ratio 6.22, 95% confidence interval 2.51–15.40) was associated with delayed time to injury claim closure when the company had access to early intervention treatment. Only the covariate of serious injury was associated with delayed time to injury claim closure in the company when it had access to occupational management (hazard rate ratio 1.67, 95% confidence interval 1.05–27.20). Conclusions. It is recommended that an occupational management approach, in comparison to early intervention treatment and standard care, be considered for management of occupational injuries.


Present status and problems of evidence-based medicine (EBM) in our country are discussed in this paper based on the report from the committee on the EBM of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of our country. Before introducing the content of the report from the above-mentioned governmental committee, a short history of the development of EBM and necessity of introducing the EBM in our country are discussed. In this report, 3 factors necessary to conduct the EBM; 1) clinical practice guidelines which are going to be developed in our country, 2) a strategy to conduct EBM in our country, and 3) problems of EBM in clinical practice have been discussed with a proposal of strategies for the future development of EBM in our country.


The difference between qualitative and quantitative approaches to research is often said to be grounded in two distinct paradigms, each with its own, mutually contradictory, philosophical presuppositions. Quantitative research, the argument goes, presupposes objective truths and a singular, unequivocal reality; qualitative research presupposes a world which is inherently subjective, with no unequivocal reality. In this article, I try to show that the 'paradigm' interpretation of the difference between quantitative and qualitative research comes very close to being incoherent, since it either slides into extreme relativism or ends up contradicting itself. I argue, instead, that qualitative methods and quantitative methods are simply tools, fit for a range of scientific purposes. In common with other tools, whether maps or cutlery, they are useful in different types of situations; and it is rather strange to think that they have philosophical presuppositions 'built into' them. I illustrate this idea by comparing motorway maps with surveys and Ordnance Survey maps with ethnography. The article concludes by proposing an explanation of why it is tempting to argue in favour of the 'paradigm' interpretation, but also suggests that this is the wrong strategy.


This study examined the impact of the 3-year implementation of a professional development intervention on science achievement of culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students. Teachers were provided with instructional units and workshops that were designed to improve teaching practices and foster positive beliefs about science and literacy with diverse student groups. The study involved third, fourth, and fifth grade students at six elementary schools in a large urban school district during the 2001 through 2004 school years. Significance tests of mean scores between pre- and posttests indicated statistically significant increases each year on all measures of science at all three grade levels. Achievement gaps among demographic subgroups sometimes narrowed among fourth grade students and remained consistent among third and fifth grade students. Item-by-item comparisons with NAEP and TIMSS samples indicated overall positive performance by students at the end of each school year. The consistent patterns of positive outcomes indicate the effectiveness of our intervention in producing achievement gains at all three grade levels while also reducing achievement gaps among demographic subgroups at the fourth grade. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 726–747, 2008


We introduce Doppler time-of-flight (D-ToF) rendering, an extension of ToF rendering for dynamic scenes, with applications in simulating D-ToF cameras. D-ToF cameras use high-frequency modulation of illumination and exposure, and measure the Doppler frequency shift to compute the radial velocity of dynamic objects. The time-varying scene geometry and high-frequency modulation functions used in such cameras make it challenging to accurately and efficiently simulate their measurements with existing ToF rendering algorithms. We overcome these challenges in a twofold manner: To achieve accuracy, we derive path integral expressions for D-ToF measurements under global illumination and form unbiased Monte Carlo estimates of these integrals. To achieve efficiency, we develop a tailored time-path sampling technique that combines antithetic time sampling with correlated path sampling. We show experimentally that our sampling technique achieves up to two orders of magnitude lower variance compared to naive time-path sampling. We provide an open-source simulator that serves as a digital twin for D-ToF imaging systems, allowing imaging researchers, for the first time, to investigate the impact of modulation functions, material properties, and global illumination on D-ToF imaging performance.


The thermal discharge from the Houshi power plant in China has been increased continuously with the increase in power supply. In order to understand the waste heat pollution conditions in the coastal areas of the Houshi power plant, we proposed a modified Princeton Ocean Model (POM) model to conduct three-dimensional numerical simulations for heat transport in the coastal areas of the plant. The proposed model has been verified to be valid in our previous study. This study employed the verified model to predict heat transport under the future operational conditions of the power plant with a thermal discharge of 217m3/s. The prediction results indicate that a larger area of waters near the plant outfall will have a temperature rise larger than 4°C, and this area of temperature rise is close to the water intake of the power plant. Besides, the heat accumulation phenomena will be serious in the depth direction and this will bring great influence to marine ecological environment, especially to benthic organisms. It is suggested that some measures are necessary to reduce temperature rise in the coastal areas of the Houshi power plant in the future.


Background: Since the discovery of alcohol, alcoholic beverages and the problems they engender have been familiar in human societies. About 3.5% of the global burdens of disease are attributable to alcohol. Alcohol metabolism in the liver results in the generation of acetaldehyde and highly reactive oxygen-containing molecules known as ROS. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of alcohol consumption on serum levels of lipid profile, apolipoprotein B-100 (Apo B-100) and serum cardiac biomarkers (Troponin I and Creatine kinase). This study was a case-control study carried out in Anambra State, Nigeria. A total of 200 men (aged 30 to 70 years) consisting of 105 alcoholics (test) and 95 non alcoholics (control) subjects were recruited for the study. Their mean ages were 52.59 ±13.00 and 53.00 ±10.90 respectively. Four (4ml) of blood was collected after overnight fasting of 12 hours. Their serum lipid profile (triglyceride, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, & low density lipoprotein) and Apo B-100 were measured using standard methods. Student's t test was used to compare averages between groups of the study and data were presented as means ± SD. Level of significance was taken at P values <0.05. All lipid profile parameters except TG and Apo B-100 were significantly higher in alcoholics compared to non-alcoholics. There was no statistical significant difference in the mean levels of TG and Apo B-100 between the test and control subjects. Troponin and Creatine Kinase-MB were also significantly increased in the alcoholics when compared to non-alcoholics. In conclusion, significantly altered lipid profile and cardiac markers is found in alcoholics compared to non-alcoholics, which indicates that, the alcoholics have an increased risk of dyslipidaemia and cardiovascular diseases.


Residential solar and utility scale solar are low-hanging fruit in the renewables transition, but targeting low-hanging fruit can only go so far. Can states innovate, reach further, and ignite near-universal consumer demand for clean energy and achieve social justice goals through equitable community solar? For the last decade, the goal of mitigating climate change primarily drove the transition to renewable energy in states and countries that took the climate change crisis seriously. But there is even greater promise. The shift to renewable energy holds the transformative potential for broader social benefits, such as wealth-building opportunities, good jobs, health improvements, energy bill savings, and resilience in the face of power outages. Manifesting this potential requires intentional policy. Unfortunately, even in California, a state determined to lead the transition to renewable energy, the implementation of climate action is poised for inequitable disparities. Although advocates saw community solar— cooperatively generating solar energy—as an avenue for all communities to benefit from the energy transition, the state poorly designed its first community solar policy, and the program has been a failure. California is now embarking on a significantly smaller second attempt at community solar targeted at serving disadvantaged communities: the Community Solar Green Tariff. But has the state learned from its first failure? This Article analyzes California's new community solar program and proposes a framework for "equitable community solar" to improve program design, in hopes that other states learn from where the Golden State has stumbled.


The arrival-time spectra (ATS) of electrons in mixtures of nitrogen and carbon dioxide have been measured for reduced electric fields from 100 to 1000 Td at room temperature by using a double-shutter drift tube. The drift velocity of the electrons in and mixtures was evaluated from a previously reported ATS method. In mixtures of and , we found that is larger than the value predicted by a linear combination of the drift velocities of the pure gases based on the mole fraction (partial pressure) of in the mixture, k, in the range of low . We refer to this as the `mixing effect'. In contrast, a linear combination of the drift velocities of the pure gases based on k was found to accurately predict the drift velocities in mixtures in the higher region . In addition to the experimental evaluation, calculations of in these gas mixtures were carried out by a Boltzmann equation analysis, and the results were compared with those from the ATS measurements. The ratio of the longitudinal diffusion coefficient to the electron mobility was also estimated. The value of , called the characteristic energy, also shows a small mixing effect with increasing k in the range of low and increases monotonically in the range of , while the value decreases linearly as k increases in the higher range.


With prognosis bleak in most countries for meeting the MDGs by 2015, development approaches are being scrutinised in an effort to identify gaps and opportunities in policy and practice. Can faith fill some of the current gaps or will it merely get in the way of the (mainly secular) development agenda? This article reviews four books on the subject and focuses on their underlying themes: the linkages between faith and development and how faith-based communities can make a positive contribution to the reduction of global poverty. Despite growing acknowledgement by the secular development community that issues of faith may be more relevant than previously recognised, many of the tensions that have polarised the faith and development worlds for so long still abound. These books highlight that a just world should not merely be considered a singular aim of both the development and faith communities, but needs to be understood as a shared aim. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The main purpose of the project was to develop computerized instruments that could be used by nurses and patients to assess their cooperation and mutual contributions to care. This paper presents a part of the project: the reliability and validity testing phase of a process of instrument development. To test the validity and reliability of the instruments, data were collected with questionnaires from nurses (n = 146) and patients (n = 286). The validity evaluated as construct validity and the reliability evaluated as internal consistency of the instruments were quite good. Construct validity was tested by factor analysis, and internal consistency was tested by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which varied from 0.69 to 0.79. The instruments, which consisted of a software application that can be operated in a www environment, were meant to be used as tools in the psychiatric nursing context for assessing the cooperation between the nurses and patients and the patient's participation in his/her care. Furthermore, the computer programme can be used as a tool for developing and assessing the patient orientation in nursing.


The objective of the study was to determine for Australian wild rabbits the specificity of a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) developed in Italy for detecting antibodies to RHDV. Analysis of 657 sera collected before the arrival of RHDV (pre-RHD) indicated that between 17 and 38% appeared to give false positive results depending on the cut-off criteria used. The finding of pre-RHD sera reacting positively in the cELISA prompted the testing of sera in a cELISA using as antigen smooth forms of RHDV (cELISA-sf) and a solid-phase ELISA (spELISA), both of which detect reactivity to an epitope shared by the lagomorph caliciviruses. Testing of a subset of the pre-RHD sera in the cELISA-sf and the spELISA revealed that 86 and 91%, respectively, were positive. Similar results were obtained for a set of sera collected pre-RHD in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Sera collected from wild-stock rabbits born and raised in isolation in an animal house in the ACT were all negative in the cELISA, 6% were positive in the cELISA-sf and 13% in the spELISA. It was concluded that a calicivirus related to RHDV and European brown hare syndrome virus (EBHSV) was present in the rabbit population before the arrival of RHDV, and may still be present. The potential consequences of these findings for epidemiological studies on RHD in Australia are discussed.


ABSTRACT Why is the implementation of civil war peace agreements comparatively higher in some countries than in other countries? In this study, I address this puzzle by investigating the effects of insider-outsider leader turnover on the execution of peace agreements. The idea is that leaders should be the fundamental units of analysis to explain the implementation of peace agreements due to more frequent leadership changes than state-level variables, such as the level of democracy, political system, military capability, and GDP per capita. Besides, leader turnover poses a commitment problem in peace processes if outsider leaders differ in their resolve and revise inherited agreements. I test this hypothesis quantitatively using feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) regressions to analyze the panel dataset of this research that covers 34 comprehensive peace agreements of 31 countries from 1989 to 2015. The findings of this study demonstrate the positive impacts of insider leader turnover and the adverse effects of outsider leader turnover on the execution of peace agreements. Hence, whether the implementation of peace agreements will continue depends on who comes to power.


We analyze the packet dropping performance in an ideal reservation time-division multiple-access (TDMA) multiplexing voice system with the focus on the probability distribution of the number of packets dropped in a particular talkspurt. Our analysis method is based on the discrete three-state Markov speech model which corresponds to the voice source equipped with a fast speech activity detector (SAD). The numerical results for a system of 14 slots/frame reveal that the probability of losing several packets in a talkspurt is much higher than expected (by geometric distribution) and thus not negligible.


Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been recognized as a pathogen of major importance in the patient with cystic fibrosis (CF). However, no information is available regarding the histologic quantification of P. aeruginosa organisms in the CF tracheobronchial tree. We retrieved all formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded lung blocks from 20 consecutive autopsies of cystic fibrosis patients. Serial histologic sections were made and stained by three methods: hematoxylin and eosin, immunoperoxidase with anti-P. aeruginosa rabbit serum as the primary antibody, and immunoperoxidase with normal rabbit serum as the primary antibody. By studying the hematoxylin and eosin section, we classified five areas in the lung as bronchi, large bronchioles, small bronchioles, bronchioloectatic areas, and abscess/airways with destroyed epithelium. The areas stained by an anti-P. aeruginosa immunoperoxidase method were examined under high-power magnification, and the bacteria within random fields were counted. Pseudomonas aeruginosa organisms were identified in 14 of 20 cases, including 13 of 16 cases in which P. aeruginosa was specifically cultured at autopsy. Quantification of organisms within the lumens of all five airway types showed that the bacterial density in cystic fibrosis airways is highest in bronchi.


Mosasaurs, ancient marine reptiles, dominated the late Cretaceous oceans. However, their ecological success is a contentious topic. Were they ectothermic, like their modern relatives the varanid lizards? Or endothermic like extant marine mammals? Stable isotopes can reveal temperature and physiological variances within skeletons, but do not differentiate between body temperature and ambient environmental temperature. A rare mosasaur specimen from the Smoky Hill Chalk of a partial, articulated Platecarpus tympaniticus with stomach contents of belemnites provides a possible direct temperature contrast between predator and prey. The belemnites, related to modern coleoids, are identified as Actinocamax sternbergi. These animals possessed body temperatures equivalent to the ambient seawater. Stable oxygen isotope ratio values, reported as δ18O values, preserve temperature signature proxies during bioapatite and calcite precipitation. Utilizing previous stable isotopic studies, these values can be interpreted to paleotemperatures through equations describing known phosphate and carbonate ion deposition. Contrasting temperatures between the mosasaur and belemnites would indicate an elevated thermophysiology of the mosasaur compared to its environment.\r Bone, chalk, and belemnite rostrum samples were collected as powdered samples by drilling into visually undamaged zones. Bone samples underwent two different treatment methods to isolate phosphate and structural carbonate ions for analysis. For the phosphates, bone powder was dissolved in nitric acid to isolate and precipitate the phosphate ions as silver phosphate for analysis. Silver phosphate samples underwent pyrolysis and the resulting carbon monoxide gas analyzed in a mass spectrometer for δ18O values.\r For structural carbonate, bone powder was soaked in a triammonium citrate solution to dissolve secondary calcite formed during the fossilization process, leaving the structural carbonate ion within the bone behind. These treated samples, along with untreated samples, chalk, and belemnite rostrum powder samples were reacted in orthophosphoric acid to release carbon dioxide for analysis in a gas-chromatograph mass spectrometer to give δ13C and δ18O values.\r Bone phosphate values (n=26) (δ18OP) ranged from 14.83 to 21.12‰ with a mean value of 18.30 ± 1.53‰ (1σ). Untreated bone carbonate values (n=6) (δ13Ccc, δ18Occ) ranged from -4.9 to -0.8‰ with a mean value of -2.3 ± 1.6‰; and -9.5 to -7.6‰ with a mean value of -8.5 ± 0.8‰ respectively. Treated bone carbonate values (n=6) (δ13Cc, δ18Oc) ranged from -5.7 to -0.7‰ with a mean value of -3.0 ± 1.9‰; and -9.2 to -7.3‰ with a mean value of -8.1 ± 0.8‰ respectively. Chalk sample values (n=4) (δ13CM, δ18OM) ranged from 2.1 to 2.3‰ with a mean value of 2.2 ± 0.08‰; and -6.5 to -6.4‰ with a mean value of -6.4 ± 0.04‰ respectively. Belemnite sample values (n=3) (δ13CBEL, δ18OBEL) ranged from 0.4 to 0.5‰ with a mean of 0.4 ± 0.06‰; and -3.4 to -3.0‰ with a mean value of -3.3 ± 0.25‰.\r Bone powder samples revealed diagenetic alteration of the structural carbonate. Secondary alteration, however, did not impact oxygen isotope values from the bone phosphate, belemnite rostrum carbonate, or the chalk. Scanning electron microscope and energy dispersion system images confirm the isotopic integrity of the phosphates and carbonates for analysis. Intra- and inter-variation of the bone phosphate values within each bone and across the skeleton suggest temperature fluctuations of the entire body or changes in body water oxygen isotopic composition reflecting migration into different bodies of water throughout the animal's life.\r Direct comparison of the calculated temperatures from the belemnites (15.0℃), chalk (22.1℃), and the mosasaur (36.2 – 37.5℃) provides evidence that this mosasaur possessed an elevated thermophysiology relative to its prey and environment. Variable bone phosphate oxygen isotope values across the appendicular and axial skeleton infer this mosasaur exhibited heterothermic endothermy, a hot body core with varying temperatures in the flippers. The interpreted temperatures of the chalk and belemnites suggest the presence of a thermocline in the Western Interior Seaway. Diving to feed on belemnites is an inferred behavior from the isotope-derived colder temperatures preserved in the rostrums and avascular necrosis associated to decompression-sickness syndrome in other Platecarpus specimens.


Introduction: Oxidative stress seems to play a major role in diabetes-induced cardiac dysfunction, known as diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase 2 is considered as one of the main enzymatic systems which primarily contributes to the production of reactive oxygen species in various organs including the heart. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of 8 weeks of aerobic exercise (AE) on the expression of p47phox and p67phox, which are regarded as the regulatory subunits of NADPH oxidase 2 in the cardiac tissue in diabetic rats. Methods: A total of 36 male Wistar rats with a mean weight of 231±25 g were randomly divided into non-diabetic, control diabetic, and trained diabetic groups (each containing 12 rats). Nicotinamide and streptozotocin were used to induce diabetes in the rats. The cardiac muscle was removed under sterile conditions 48 hours following the last training session. Finally, the mRNA levels of p47phox and p67phox were evaluated using the real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: The results showed that diabetes induction significantly increased the gene expressions of p47phox and p67phox in the cardiac tissue of diabetic rats. The expression of these genes was significantly attenuated after 8 weeks of AE. Conclusion: In general, AE was found to prevent the negative effects of diabetes by suppressing p47phox and p67phox in the cardiac tissue of diabetic rats. Therefore, this can improve cardiac function and may be a potential preventive or therapeutic modality for DCM.


This paper explores variation in lexico-grammatical register features across text lengths in a large-scale sample of Reddit comments. Very short texts are known to be problematic for many statistical methods, so understanding their nature is important for the corpus-linguistic study of social media, where most contributions are short. I show that the frequencies of linguistic features change with comment length, even between longer comments, although longer texts are often considered similar in statistical terms. Moreover, I classify the variation found between short comments of different lengths into two main patterns, although other patterns can also be found, and there is variation even within these patterns. Furthermore, I interpret the observed differences in terms of register variation. For example, shorter comments appear to be more casual and less edited in terms of their feature makeup, whereas narrative and informational registers seem to favor longer comments.


Partial discharge is a main factor which causes cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cable damaged. In order to research the Partial Discharge detecting methods of 10kV XLPE power cable, the electrostatic field is firstly simulated in order to analysis the electric filed at the distortion of the cable. According to the simulation mode, portable thermal infrared imager and ultraviolet imaging instrument is utilized to detect partial discharge of power cable terminals. The experimental results demonstrate that the use of ultraviolet imaging instrument to detect the location of defects is efficient and can observe corona photons; and thermal infrared imager can detect the temperature rising caused by Partial discharge. And this result also verified the simulation result that electric field concentration resulted in partial discharge. Test results also show that in short period of time partial discharge changes not much. This is mainly because the energy caused by PD does not accumulate so much in short time. That is contributing to the discovery of potential defects.


The aim of this report is to provide an overview of stakeholders? perspectives of work quality in domiciliary elderly care in the UK, which employs approximately 675,000 persons, nearly twenty-five percent of the 2.7 million employed in the health and social care sector (Office for National Statistics, 2010; Skills for Care, 2010). Domiciliary elderly care involves the provision of personal care (e.g., preparing meals, bathing, dressing) to older adults in their own homes and is a growing area within the health and social care sector. A key change within this sector over the last twenty years has been the movement from publically funded care being provided in-house by local authorities, to local authorities being responsible for contracting out the work to private and not-for-profit organisations, i.e., the independent sector. Five stakeholders were invited to discuss employment conditions and trends within the domiciliary elderly care sector, including a local authority, an employers? association, the regulatory body concerned with standards of care provision, the sector skills council that is responsible for skill provision in the social care sector, and a trade union.


In the present paper the following problems are reviewed and discussed: 1. interrelations between structure and antiviral activity of polysaccharides, 2. antiviral activity of polysaccharides and their possible mode of action, 3. perspectives of using the polysaccharides for the limitation of plant and animal infections.


Background: The production of bioactive compounds using microbial hosts is considered a safe, cost competitive and scalable approach. However, the efficient engineering of cell factories with well stability, such as for the production of L-aspartate family amino acids and derivatives, remains an outstanding challenge.Results: In the work, the toxin/antitoxin system and genome modification strategy were used to construct a stable Escherichia coli strain for L-homoserine production. The metabolic engineering strategies were focused on the enhancement of precursors for L-homoserine synthesis, reinforcement of the NADPH generation and efflux transporters using CRISPR-Cas9 system at the genome level. To improve the plasmid stability, two strategies were explored, including construction of the aspartate-auxotrophic and hok/sok systems. Constructing the auxotrophic complementation system to maintain plasmid stability was failed herein. The plasmid stability was improved by introducing the hok/sok system, resulting in 6.1 g/L (shake flask) and 44.4 g/L (5 L fermenter) L-homoserine production of the final engineered strain SHL19 without antibiotics addition. Moreover, the hok/sok system was also used to improve the plasmid stability for ectoine production, resulting in 36.7% and 46.5% higher titer of ectoine at shake flask and 5L fermenter without antibiotics addition, respectively. Conclusion: This work provides valuable strategies to improve plasmid stability for producing L-aspartate family amino acids and derivatives and eliminate environmental concerns associated with the application of antibiotics.


It is a common belief that snowboarding might carry a higher risk of accident than alpine skiing. In order to prove this suspicion but also to figure out a basic knowledge to develop special security precautions for snowboarding 204 snowboarding-accidents in the Alps have been registered and analysed. The major purpose of this study was to find out the crucial points of risks of this new way of performing winter sports and to compare these risks with the risk-profile of alpine skiing. These have been the main results: More than two thirds of all accidents happen on icy or hard courses. Few more than the half of all injuries affect the lower extremity, one third the upper extremity whereby injuries of the ankle, knee, shoulder and hand emphasize. Strains and fractures are placed in the foreground. Two thirds of all injuries of the lower extremity affect the front of the leg, whereby nearly two thirds of all leg-injuries result from a mechanism which is a combination between bending forward and torsions. Depending on the different types of boot characteristic crucial points have been shown with injuries of either the ankle or the knee. As a principal demand for better safety at least for beginners a functional safety-binding should be developed. Regarding to the most common critics that snowboarding will increase the incidence of collisions (on-course) and avalanche-accidents (off-course), this study could fortunately not prove these suspicions.


Creative economy and tourist destinations are two interconnected currencies and need to be developed theoretically. This research discusses community empowerment in The City of Blitar, The focus of research on Kampung Batok which is one of the icons of educational villages that can increase the income of the surrounding community. The problem in Kampung Batok is that the maximum promotion and also the government's participation in developing the creative economy is still not maximal. This research uses the method of literature study, namely the study of research objects in the form of literature works in the form of scientific journals, books, articles in the mass media, and statistical data. With Kampung Batok is able to absorb labor and reduce unemployment in Tanjung Sari Village. What still needs attention is that there has been no training from the Blitar city government in providing training in designing, promoting tourist attractions and also handicrafts in a sustainability way. So far, the government only includes representatives of Kampung Batok group to follow the bazaar at certain events.
Keywords:  Empowerment, Creative Economy, Educational Tourism


the kingdom of God as the Christian home". Many lives end in an unraveled old age or in tragic failure because their parents had not learned. and they had not shared the blessings of the highest of all arts-home-making. The book is a worthy, manysided and telling appeal to all who want to see their own or others' home life made "radiant with the Spirit of Christ, rich in high satisfactions and crowned with a usefulness reaching down to remotest generations and up to God's eternity". Young married people would find it a valuable aid in supplying conscious deficiencies, developing sound principles and achieving a true success in the practice of Christian living and this noblest of all arts-home-making. GEO. B. EAGER.


GUIDELINE QUESTION
How effective is epirubicin compared with doxorubicin in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer?

OBJECTIVE
To make recommendations about the use of epirubicin, particularly compared with doxorubicin, in women with metastatic breast cancer.

OUTCOMES
Outcomes of interest are response rate, survival and toxicity.

PERSPECTIVE (VALUES)
Evidence was reviewed and summarized by a member of the Provincial Systemic Treatment Disease Site Group (DSG) of the Cancer Care Ontario Practice Guidelines Initiative. Drafts of the practice guideline were reviewed and discussed by the Breast Cancer DSG of the Cancer Care Ontario Practice Guidelines Initiative. The 2 DSGs comprise medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons, epidemiologists, pathologists, nurses, pharmacists, a medical sociologist and a community representative.

QUALITY OF EVIDENCE
Thirteen randomized controlled trials (11 published reports and 2 reports in abstract form) were reviewed that compared epirubicin and doxorubicin at equal doses, epirubicin at a higher dose than that of doxorubicin, and epirubicin at escalating doses.

BENEFITS
No significant differences were observed in response rate or median survival in the 7 trials comparing equal doses of epirubicin and doxorubicin or in the 3 trials comparing epirubicin at a higher dose than that of doxorubicin. An increased response rate was observed with higher doses of epirubicin in the 3 trials that compared escalating doses; no difference in survival was observed.

HARMS
Compared with doxorubicin, epirubicin was associated with less nausea and vomiting (risk ratio [RR] 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.63 to 0.92; p = 0.0048), less neutropenia (RR 0.52; 95% CI 0.35 to 0.78; p = 0.0017) and less cardiotoxicity (RR 0.43; 95% CI 0.24 to 0.77; p = 0.0044), including a trend toward fewer episodes of congestive heart failure (RR 0.38; 95% CI 0.14 to 1.04; p = 0.059).

PRACTICE GUIDELINE
For the treatment of metastatic breast cancer in which the goal of treatment is palliation, epirubicin (at doses equivalent to doxorubicin) has been shown to be equally efficacious and less toxic than doxorubicin. Doxorubicin, however, is an acceptable alternative. CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINE DATE: Oct. 2, 1997.


For the first time the role of rhyncholites in the process of epibiota has been figured out. Serpulidae inlay is detected in 39 rhyncholites of 979 specimens, representing 4% of the all studied material. This fact demonstrates that rhyncholites were used extremely rarely by encrusting species as a substrate. No other epibionts were found. Polychaetes were found in the genus Hadrocheilus (87%) and in the genus Akidocheilus. Size of the inlaid rhyncholites ranges from 7 to 23 mm. Serpulidae cover usually only the ventral side of rhyncholites, herewith, at 48,7% of the samples epibionts with different degrees of intensity are developed throughout the ventral surface, at 30,7% of the samples they are observed only on the ventral side of the hood and at 20,6% serpulidae are present only on the ventral surface of the arm. At four exemplars of the genus Hadrocheilus (10 % of the total amount) polychaetes are developed on the dorsal surface, but they are always and usually very wide developed on the ventral side of rhyncholites. No samples were found in which serpulidae were found only on the dorsal surface. Among the remains of polychaete worms, large and small tubes were identified and described. The presence of serpulidae on the handle of rhyncholites, that during the life of the cephalopod mollusk was located in a horny jaw, is a clear indication of the settlement's epibionts on isolated skeletal structures of the already dead cephalopod. Cases when serpulidae are observed only on the ventral side of the hood in representatives of the genus Akidocheilus, suggest that planktonic trochophore – larvae of polychaetes can settle on the inner surface of the mandible of living ammonoids, where they turned into an adult worm. At the same time, polychaetes gained access not only to traditional prey, represented by various microscopic organisms, but also to additional food resources associated with the life activity of cephalopodas.


This article describes the features of the dynamics of the bumper with permanent magnets. Pictures of the magnetic field in 3D are presented, transients are calculated. It is shown that operation of this system depends on the parameters of the magnets, body weight, amplitude, shape and frequency of oscillations. It is shown that operation of the system mainly depends on the damping force, which must be considerable. It is shown that the bumpers, built on the basis of permanent magnets with radial magnetization, require forced stabilization in the radial direction regardless of their number and spatial distribution.


In the first chapter of this report, our aim is to introduce harmonic maps between Riemann surfaces using the Energy integral of a map. Once we have the desired prerequisites, we move on to show how to continuously deform a given map to a harmonic map (i.e., find a harmonic map in its homotopy class). We follow J¨urgen Jost's approach using classical potential theory techniques. Subsequently, we analyze the additional conditions needed to ensure a certain uniqueness property of harmonic maps within a given homotopy class. In conclusion, we look at a couple of applications of what we have shown thus far and we find a neat proof of a slightly weaker version of Hurwitz's Automorphism Theorem.
In the second chapter, we introduce the concept of minimal surfaces. After exploring a few examples, we mathematically formulate Plateau's problem regarding the existence of a soap film spanning each closed, simple wire frame and discuss a solution. In conclusion, a partial result (due to Rad´o) regarding the uniqueness of such a soap film is discussed.


The neck is essential and vital for all head movements and performing daily functional activities. The second-degree deep dermal and full-thickness burns causing anterior neck contracture restricts movement and if untreated develop deformities, in the oral cavity, eyes, posture, and chin growth and development, especially in children. Neck contracture results in kyphoscoliosis, lower lip seal resulting in impaired vision, balance, swallowing, feeding, and speech as well as social stigma, depression, and embarrassment. The treatment for post-burn anterior neck contractures is contracture release and reconstruction with skin grafts (split and full-thickness), axial pattern flaps, perforator propeller flaps, microvascular free flaps, tissue expansion, prefabrications, and skin substitutes. In addition to functional and esthetic recovery, post-surgery social and vocational rehabilitation is essential for children. We report a ten-year-old boy with severe anterior neck post-burn contracture managed with unilateral supraclavicular flap and residual areas with a split-thickness skin graft.


In this work we demonstrate the potential of synchrotron X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to provide quantitative information on the intrinsic dimensions of core–shell nanoparticles. The methodology is based on the simulation of depth profiling curves, using simplified quantitative models earlier proposed in the literature. Three model systems consisting of X@Fe2O3 (with X = Au, Pt, and Rh) metal–iron oxide core–shell nanoparticles, formed via oxidation of size-selected 5 nm bimetallic FeX nanoparticles inside the spectrometer, were measured in situ by near ambient pressure XPS. We show that when the shell layer is composed of a unique component, the experimental depth profiling curve can be simulated by the quantitative calculations and reveal the core and the shell thickness of the nanoparticles. On the contrary, a significant offset between the experimental and the theoretical depth profiling curves implies intermixing between the core and the shell layers. In this case the theoretical model has ...


Objective To investigate the relationship between alcohol and smoking and the development of pancreatic calcification in chronic pancreatitis (CP) in China. Methods The patients were divided into two groups according to the presence of pancreatic calcification at admission and the data were analyzed; furthermore, the discharged patients without pancreatic calcification were divided into two groups as newly diagnosed pancreatic calcification group and persistent non-pancreatic calcification group. Logistic regression and Cox proportional-hazards model was used for multivariate analysis of the risk factors for pancreatic calcification. Results From January1997 to July 2007, 449 patients with CP were enrolled and followed up successfully. 248 patients presented with pancreatic calcification at admission; among the 201 patients presented without pancreatic calcification, 13 patients developed pancreatic calcification after discharge. Patients with pancreatic calcification had a young age at onset, long CP history, higher incidence of diabetes mellitus and diarrhea. Age at onset ≤ 40, alcohol intake over 20 g/day, and diabetes mellitus and diarrhea were risk factors for pancreatic calcification. The only risk factor of development of pancreatic calcification after discharge was excessive alcohol intake (OR: 3.2). Conclusions Alcohol intake increased the risk of pancreatic calcifications, suggesting the patients abstain from alcohol intake. Further studies are necessary to clarify the role of smoking.

Key words:
Pancreatitis,chronic; Calcinosis; Smoking; Alcohol drinking


Despite the importance of single-crystal elastic constants of β-phase titanium alloys in understanding their low Young's modulus—a property crucial for many applications, such data are often difficult to obtain when the alloy composition is close to the instability limit of the β phase, where the presence of α" martensite precludes the fabrication of β-phase single crystal. In the present study, we extracted the single-crystal elastic constants of such a β-phase titanium alloy with low Young's modulus, Ti-36Nb-5Zr (wt. %), from polycrystalline specimens by using an in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction technique. It is indicated that the low Young's modulus of the alloy originates from the anomalously low shear modulus C44 as well as the low shear modulus C′, which is different from a common viewpoint that the Young's modulus of β-phase titanium alloys is dominantly controlled by the C′. This suggests that low C44 is an important contributor to low Young's modulus for instable β-phase titanium alloys.


Increasing amounts of information and diverse formats have forced organizations to create large data repositories in response to the information explosion in the 21st century. As a result, the model of a data warehouse has been introduced to define a large data repository. The purpose of this article is to describe the principles of data warehousing in business and how it can enhance the generation of new knowledge throughout the organization. Definitions of data warehousing are considered and include methods of its use, namely query and data simulation. The steps required prior to transforming the raw data into a data warehouse and project goals for data warehouses and metadata are also discussed. The objective of this document is to provide a clear and simple description of data warehousing terms and concepts, especially for busy managers and laymen. They may only need basic and direct information about data warehouses to gain a complete understanding of the principles of the data warehouse.


This article examines what prompted electricity supply organizations to include changing climatic conditions as key elements of the strategic environment. Utilizing themes emerging from inductive analysis, the authors explain how and why surprising climatic events drove the organizations to begin including climate trends in their strategy development and planning processes. Results indicate that organizations were surprised climate was becoming more unpredictable, was directly affecting their operations, and was challenging long-held assumptions about climatic patterns. Our findings suggest that adaptation to climate change occurs predominantly as a reaction to climatic surprise, rather than a preemptive response to increasing awareness, and perceived uncertainty and risks as suggested by previous studies. Results also show that organizations are beginning to conceptually link changes in local climatic conditions to the global issue of climate change; though such linkages are not necessarily important to the inclusion of climate in the strategic environment.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

SRp20 is a member of the highly conserved SR protein family of splicing regulators. Our previous study found that SRp20 was overexpressed in ovarian and breast tumors compared to corresponding normal tissues and knockdown of SRp20 expression inhibited tumor cell growth. Suppression of SRp20 by 90% triggered apoptosis of tumor cells through intrinsic pathway, which was accompanied by a downregulation of anti-apoptotic protein, Bcl-2. However, it is unclear what mechanism mediates the induction of apoptosis and downregulation of Bcl-2 by SRp20 knockdown. To address this question, we conducted microarray analysis to identify the genes whose expression or splicing are altered in SRp20-knockdown A2780 cells. Among hundreds of identified genes, the expression of c-Myc and p53 was downregulated. The downregulation was further validated by quantitative PCR. Because of the fundamental importance of p53 and c-Myc in cancer biology and apoptosis, we further examined the expression of these two genes at protein levels. Western blotting showed that p53 is upregulated at protein level in SRp20 knockdown cells, contradictory to its expression at the mRNA level, while the expression of c-Myc is consistent at the protein level and at the mRNA level. These results suggest that SRp20 knockdown-induced apoptosis could be mediated by upregulated p53 protein or reduced c-Myc or both, given already established connection between these two proteins and apoptosis. How SRp20 is involved in the regulation of p53 and c-Myc remains to be determined and is currently under investigation.

Citation Format: Xiaolong He, Jilai Yang, Shijie Wang. Regulation of c-Myc and p53 by splicing factor SRp20. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3407. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3407


Abstract The lattice preferred orientation (LPO) of both muscovite and biotite were measured by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and these data, together with the LPOs of the other main constituent minerals, were used to produce models of the seismic velocity anisotropy of the Alpine Fault Zone. Numerical experiments examine the effects of varying modal percentages of mica within the fault rocks. These models suggest that when the mica modal proportions approach 20% in quartzofeldspathic mylonites the intrinsic seismic anisotropy of the studied fault zone is dominated by mica, with the direction of the fastest P and S wave velocities strongly dependent on the mica LPOs. The LPOs show that micas produce three distinct patterns within mylonitic fault zones: C-fabric, S-fabric and a composite S–C fabric. The asymmetry of the LPOs can be used as kinematic indicators for the deformation within mylonites. Kinematic data from the micas matches the kinematic interpretation of quartz LPOs and field data. The modelling of velocities and velocity anisotropies from sample LPOs is consistent with geophysical data from the crust under the Southern Alps. The Alpine Fault mylonites and parallel Alpine schists have intrinsic P-wave velocity anisotropies of 12% and S-wave anisotropies of 10%.


As people become increasingly health-conscious and their living standards improve, fitness has become an important part of daily life. However, due to limitations such as time, location, and cost, many people are unable to go to the gym for regular fitness training. Therefore, designing a virtual fitness coach mobile application that caters to the fitness community is of practical significance. The purpose of this study is to improve fitness effectiveness by determining and quantifying the demands and weights of fitness enthusiasts in the interaction of a virtual fitness coach mobile application, transforming them into design elements, and enhancing user experience and satisfaction through their appearance in the app. To this end, this study proposes a virtual fitness coach mobile application design method based on the Kano-AHP-QFD model. First, a questionnaire survey was used to obtain 20 requirements for virtual fitness coach mobile application design from the fitness community, and the Kano model was used to classify them according to attributes. Secondly, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used for weight analysis, revealing that user fitness instruction and user life guidance needs are the most critical design requirements for the mobile interaction design of virtual fitness coaches. Finally, Quality Function Deployment (QFD) was used to transform customer needs and expectations into product or service design characteristics, ensuring that these characteristics are met. This paper combines three classic quality management tools to design and study the mobile virtual fitness coach application, verifying the feasibility of this method in solving similar design problems. This method not only provides practical design for the fitness community but also provides reference for the design of other mobile applications.


The authors present an initial version of a soil classification system based on selected soil properties believed to be useful in describing water and chemical transport through soils. The system is based primarily on surface texture, clay mineralogy, and nature of soil structure. We now have developed this system for the more extensive soil series in South Carolina, and these soils have been grouped into eight different classes. While variability of some soil properties within a given class certainly exists, a class is distinct from each of the other seven classes in water and chemical transport characteristics. A classification system such as this can help to identify those soil properties that most affect transport processes and will help to provide the framework for development of mathematical transport models that incorporate these same soil properties.


In this article, the translation process of literary works is examined from the point of view of functionalism and Skopos theory. The aim is to analyse to what extent the elements intervening in the act of communication (author, reader and situational context) condition that result. On the one hand, the author seeks to prove the hypothesis that states that the translation of a literary work can only be considered "functionally valid" if the message is adequately transmitted and, therefore, if the communicative purpose is met. On the other hand, he considers the possibility that the translation of a literary work may lose validity and that there exists an infinite number of functionally valid translation results, since the elements of communication are different in each particular act.


In the design of software defined radio (SDR) and cognitive radio (CR), new and flexible digital baseband algorithms are required for generating and decoding a variety of waveforms. Especially, blind identification of the waveform parameters, modulation types, and synchronization parameters are extremely important. In this article, we propose a modulation identification algorithm in which no a priori information is assumed about the constellation map. The proposed algorithm can identify the modulation, even if short data record is available. Moreover, numerical results are provided to show the performance of the proposed approach under certain assumptions.


Purpose: To investigate the effect of total hydroalcohol root extract of Plumeria alba (Apocynaceae) and its active fraction on diabetes in rats. Methods: The effect of total hydroalcohol extract at 250 mg/kg and different fractions was evaluated on oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in mice. The effect of the active fractions on OGTT was measured on a model of diabetic rats (fructose-enriched fat diet and streptozotocin-induced). Results: The results show that the total extract (250 mg/kg), ethyl acetate fraction and supernatant fraction (obtained after centrifugation of total extract) at a dose of 100 mg/kg significantly (p < 0.01) reduced hyperglycemia induced by glucose overload in mice. Fructose-enriched fat diet increased blood cholesterol, triglycerides and high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels in hyperlipidemic untreated rats compared to normal control rats. Administration of total extract (250 mg/kg/day) and supernatant fraction of P. alba (100 mg/kg/day) during 14 days significantly reduced lipid parameters (total cholesterol, p < 0.001; triglycerides, p < 0.01; HDL, p < 0.05). Analysis of oxidative stress markers shows that the supernatant fraction and total extract significantly increased serum glutathione level (p < 0.01) but significantly lowered malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in liver (p < 0.05). Conclusion: These results suggest that the total extract and fractions of P. alba exhibit significant antidiabetic and hypolipidemic properties in streptozotocin induced diabetic animals. The supernatant fraction (which is free of organic solvent) was the most biologically active Keywords: Diabetes, Hyperlipidermia, Plumeria alba , Fructose-enriched fat diet, Oxidative stress markers, Streptozotocin


Research was conducted into cold briquetting of copper concentrates and non-sulphide copper feed materials as a more efficient and environmentally acceptable means of agglomerating fine materials for smelting in a blast furnace. Several binders were examined and the best results were achieved with a quicklime/molasses system. A mechanism was postulated to explain the strong bond formation within the briquettes. Pilot plant briquetting and blast furnace smelting trials are included in the paper. Metallurgical benefits from smelting briquetted copper feed were twofold, significant increases in charge smelting rate compared with that of sinter and fines, and substantial cost reductions from a reduction in requirement for lump coke.


Service-oriented architecture (SOA) middleware has emerged as a powerful and popular distributed computing paradigm due to its high-level abstractions for composing systems and hiding platform-level details. Control of some details hidden by SOA middleware is necessary, however, to provide managed quality of service (QoS) for SOA systems that need predictable performance and behavior. This paper presents a policy-driven approach for managing QoS in SOA systems. We discuss the design of several key QoS services and empirically evaluate their ability to provide QoS under CPU overload and bandwidth-constrained situations.


Hydrogen sensors, especially those operating at high temperatures, are essential tools for the emerging hydrogen economy. Monitoring hydrogen under process conditions to control the reactions for detecting confined species is crucial to the safe, widespread use and public acceptance of hydrogen as fuel. Hydrogen sensors must have a sensitivity ranging from traces of hydrogen (parts per million (ppm)) up to levels near the lower explosive limit (LEL = 4% H2 in the air) for safety reasons. Furthermore, they need to operate in cryogenic, ambient, and high-temperature environments. Herein, emphasis is given to hydrogen sensors based on solid oxide electrolytes (operating at high temperatures), in particular oxygen ion and proton conductors. The review is devoted to potentiometric, amperometric, and combined amperometric-potentiometric hydrogen sensors. Experimental results already reported in the international literature are presented and analyzed to reveal the configuration, principle of operation, and the applied solid electrolytes and electrodes of the high-temperature hydrogen sensors. Additionally, an amperometric sensor able to detect hydrogen and steam in atmospheric air through a two-stage procedure is presented and thoroughly discussed. The discussion reveals that high-temperature hydrogen sensors face different challenges in terms of the electrodes and solid electrolytes to be used, depending on the operating principle of each sensor type.


Diaphania hyalinata (L.) is a major pest of agriculture for cucurbits that causes different percentages of defoliation. In this context and to determine precisely the consumed area during the larval stage, we developed a method that uses computer vision techniques. Programs use digitized images of the leaves before and after inserting the larvae to determine the consumed area. The programs work with binarized and thresholded images, first processing the leaf without damage, then the one that presents decrease in the surface, and the damaged area is found by relating the constituent elements of each image. Resulting values were similar to those mentioned and measured for this specie using other techniques. It is considered an important contribution for its accuracy and short time spent in processing.


In 2013, the media and museums throughout Germany began to mark the bicentenary of the last, ultimately victorious wars against Napoleon in 1813–15, which are usually referred to as the "Wars of Liberation." Several academic conferences have debated the history of the period and a plethora of public events – including a vast reenactment of the central battle at Leipzig in October 1813, lectures, readings and "history festivals" – have recalled the wars. Documentaries and other programs on television, newspapers and magazines, popular history books and bestselling historical novels have re-narrated them. The hype around the anniversaries of the Napoleonic Wars began in 2005 in Britain, occasioned by the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar with a major exhibition on Nelson & Napoleon. Exhibitions in Austria, Germany, Italy, Russia and Sweden followed. The most recent include Napoleon and Europe: Dream and Trauma , a Franco-German project that was shown in Bonn in 2011 and in Paris in 2013. It explores "the close connection between the level of expectation that Napoleon created and the deep distress he caused." This book also emphasizes the ambivalence, frictions, ruptures and contradictions that marked the period of the wars of the Napoleonic Empire and the preceding French Revolution – which raged across and beyond the Continent between 1792 and 1815 – and its legacy. The sometimes sudden and dramatic transformations in the economy, politics, the military and society that characterized this time occurred unevenly across Europe and were accompanied by stagnation and the persistence of tradition in other areas of work and life, particularly in the culture of everyday life and mentalities. Contemporaries had to cope with the coexistence of accelerated change and cultural continuities, and the contradiction between universalist rhetoric and exclusionary practices. These ambivalences also formed the memories of the Napoleonic Wars from 1803 to 1815, which were at once national and European. The nation – defined, following Benedict Anderson, as an "imagined community" – was the main framework in which most memories of these wars were initially constructed and in which they then evolved and circulated. Many European countries recall the era even today as a "formative period" in the history of their nation. This "nationalization" of memory, which is also reflected in the research, is, however, accompanied by the emergence and formation of a "shared and entangled," specifically European memory of the same wars.


The influence of thiazolobenzimidazole Wy 18251 on reactivity of cancer patients' lymphocytes was investigated. Doses of 0.2 to 20 micrograms/ml added to lymphocytes for 72 hrs did not influence spontaneous 3H-thymidine uptake nor PHA-induced blastogenic response. 50 micrograms/ml of Wy 18251 significantly enhanced blastogenic response of lymphocytes in 5 out of 8 patients. Augmentation of response to mitogens was mainly observed when PHA was added in a concentration leading to suboptimal stimulation. These results suggest that Wy 18251 is active on suboptimal stimulated lymphocytes but ineffective on unstimulated or optimal stimulated human lymphocytes. Further studies are required to give insight in this mechanism of stimulation.


Change-point estimation has received much attention in the literature as it plays a significant role in several signal processing applications. However, the study of the optimal estimation performance in such context is a difficult task since the unknown parameter vector of interest may contain both continuous and discrete parameters, namely the parameters associated with the noise distribution and the change-point locations. In this paper, we handle this by deriving a lower bound on the mean square error of these continuous and discrete parameters. Specifically, we propose a hybrid Cramér–Rao–Weiss-Weinstein bound and derive its associated closed-form expressions. Numerical simulations assess the tightness of the proposed bound in the case of Gaussian and Poisson observations.


Nitric oxide, the product of nitric oxide synthase in inflammatory cells, may have a role in tissue injury through its oxidative metabolism. Nitric oxide may have a role in the pathogenesis of duodenal ulcer and may be one of the mechanisms responsible for the association between gastric infection with Helicobacter pylori and peptic disease. In this study, calcium independent nitric oxide synthase activity was detected in human gastric mucosa suggesting expression of the inducible isoform. In 17 duodenal ulcer patients gastric antral and fundic nitric oxide synthase activity was found to be two and 1.5-fold respectively higher than its activity in the antrum and fundus of 14 normal subjects (p < 0.05). H pylori was detected in the antrum of 15 of 17 duodenal ulcer patients and only in 7 of 14 of the control subjects. Antral nitric oxide synthase activity in H pylori positive duodenal ulcer patients was twofold higher than in H pylori positive normal subjects (p < 0.05). In duodenal ulcer patients antral and fundic nitric oxide synthase activity resumed normal values after induction of ulcer healing with ranitidine. Eradication of H pylori did not further affect gastric nitric oxide synthase activity. These findings suggest that in duodenal ulcer patients stimulated gastric mucosal nitric oxide synthase activity, though independent of the H pylori state, may contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease.


In Costa Rica, Hyeronima alchorneoides (Pilon) is considered a fast-growing tree species with high ecological and economic value. However, it presents problems have recalcitrant seed storage and is attacked by a wasp ( Erytoma sp.) That feeds the embryo, which significantly decreases the production of viable seed. Somatic embryogenesis can be an alternative to solve these problems. The objective of the research was to form pylon somatic embryos from zygotic embryos. It was used pylon zygotic embryos isolated from seeds as plant material. For callus formation, embryos were placed in flasks with culture medium MS containing 6-BAP, NAA and 2,4-D in different concentrations and combinations, and a control free of growth regulators. The best response was achieved in the formation of somatic embryos after 60 days of culture in the culture medium MS with 2.68 iM ANA and the combination of 9.05 iM 2,4-D and 1.34 iM NAA, which after 120 days of culture. Maturation, germination and conversion of somatic embryos were obtained on a MS medium free of growth regulators in light condition. Key words: callus, histology, pilon


A subsistence hunt for eiders by Innuvialuit of Holman, Northwest Territories, was observed over three spring harvest seasons from 1966 to 1998 to determine rates of crippling loss and to assess the sustainability of the harvest. King eiders ( Somateria spectabilis ) are the dominant waterfowl species harvested. The number of king eiders estimated to migrate past Holman in spring varied from 40 696 ± 4461 (95% confidence interval) in 1996 to 70 018 ± 14 356 in 1998, averaging 53 000 per year. Common eiders ( Somateria mollissima v-nigra ) were much less abundant, varying from 2728 ± 631 to 6017 ± 770 birds, averaging 4400 annually. Peak numbers of king eiders moved through the study area in 1-8 days during the second to third week of June in all years, and common eiders peaked in 1-8 days during the first to second week of June. Strong winds may have hindered migration for a few days. Crippling loss rates during the hunt were low (3-9%) in the first two years of the study, but increased to 13-20% in the early open-water spring of 1998, when hunters were forced to shoot over open water rather than shorefast ice. On the basis of these estimates and harvest data from the Inuvialuit Harvest Study, we determined that Holman hunters removed 3.7-6.9% of the king eider subpopulation and less than 1% of the common eiders over the three-year study period. The present level of harvest of eiders available to Holman hunters is likely sustainable. However, more information on natural mortality and recruitment rates, particularly for king eiders, is needed to confirm this.


High-yield H-form trititanate nanotubes have been synthesized, and their structures have been characterized by using X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. According to combined TGA/XRD studies, the nanotubes are not stable at high temperature. Thermal analysis suggests that the stoichiometry of the material is H(2)Ti(3)O(7).0.8H(2)O(abs). Conductivity measurements indicate that mainly protonic transport occurs at temperatures below 150 degrees C and that with increasing temperature and progressive breakdown of nanotubes and formation of crystalline TiO(2) phases protonic conductivity is lost, leaving only residual defect electronic conduction. The proton conductivity is ca. 5.5 x 10(-6) S cm(-1) at 300 K. The structural protons and trapped water were confirmed by solid-state NMR.


Abstract This article presents new families of Rao-type test statistics based on the minimum density power divergence estimators which provide robust generalizations for testing simple and composite null hypotheses. The asymptotic null distributions of the proposed tests are obtained and their robustness properties are also theoretically studied. Numerical illustrations are provided to substantiate the theory developed. On the whole, the proposed tests are seen to be excellent alternatives to the classical Rao test as well as other well-known tests.


Neither House of the US Congress passed health care reform legislation before September 1994 but they may yet pass a small-scale incremental package. It is doubtful that such a package will bring about a major overhaul of the health care system. The collapse of comprehensive reform occurred despite major progress in the last 12 months in coverage of family planning services and treatment of family planning providers. The debates over health care reform have put family planning services and agencies into the mainstream which was not done during earlier political debates. Just 1 of 5 health care reform bills proposed before Clinton became president included family planning services. All the proposed bills since Clinton took office included family planning services in the mandated benefits package. They even recognized the importance of family planning clinics at the community level. Traditional health insurance does not cover family planning adequately (e.g. 50% of typical policies do not cover reversible contraceptives) probably because it is considered preventive care.


Best known for evocative box-constructions in which he assembled small objects and ephemera, the American surrealist Joseph Cornell (1903-72) was also a devoted fan of the cinema. He thrived on almost daily visits to movie theaters, amassed archives of films and film stills, created short motion pictures, and produced works honoring his favorite females movie stars. This book examines for the first time Cornell's "portrait-homages" to these actresses, Hedy Lamarr, Lauren Bacall, Greta Garbo, and Jennifer Jones, among others.Focusing on Cornell's "cinematic imagination" and the ways he adapted techniques of accumulation, collection, and juxtaposition to the art of portrayal, Jodi Hauptman argues that Cornell's movie star portraits are his most emblematic works. She shows how each portrait is inflicted by the star's personality, roles, and the moment of a particular film's release and how Cornell ultimately transforms each of his subjects. Hauptman also explores the links between collection and desire, contending that Cornell is both a surrealist and a historian: his accumulation of cast-offs echoes surrealism's infatuation with the found object while his attempts to rescue swiftly disappearing pasts reenact the historian's labor in the archive.


Pulmonary embolism (PE) is the third most common acute cardiovascular disease after myocardial infarction and stroke, and results in thousands of deaths each year. Improvements in MRI accuracy are ongoing with the use of parallel imaging for angiography techniques and pulmonary perfusion. This, associated with other potential advantages of MRI (e.g. a radiation free method and better safety profile of MR contrast media), reinforces its use. The aim of this paper is to perform a pictorial review of the principal findings of MRI in acute PE. Acute PE can manifest itself as complete arterial occlusion and the affected artery may be enlarged. We report the main vascular and parenchymal signs, and an overview of current literature regarding accuracy, limitations and technical aspects is provided.


Conidial germination of the grey mould fungus Botrytis cinerea was found to be induced by different chemical and physical signals, namely the amount and quality of nutrients as well as the hydrophobicity and rigidity of the surface. A B. cinereaΔbcg3 mutant disrupted in the Gα3 subunit of the heterotrimeric G protein was specifically defective in germination induced by carbon sources. A similar germination defect of an adenylate cyclase mutant, and the complementing effect of cAMP addition to conidia of these mutants confirmed the involvement of cAMP. In contrast, a Δbmp1 MAP kinase mutant was delayed in carbon source‐induced germination, but completely unable to germinate on hydrophobic surfaces. Based on these data, it is proposed that the germination response of B. cinerea conidia is controlled by three signalling pathways: Germination induction by rich media is weakly dependent on BMP1; induction by carbon sources requires BCG3, cAMP and BMP1; and induction by contact to hydrophobic surfaces is absolutely dependent on BMP1. Other defects of the Δbcg3 mutant, such as low conidiation, excessive formation of sclerotia and delayed host infection, were also restored by cAMP. Microscopical studies of germling growth and differentiation on host cuticles revealed that the delayed infection of the Δbcg3 mutant was due to a surface sensing defect leading to a reduced penetration. Thus, in addition to their role in germination, Gα3, cAMP as well as BMP1 are required also for proper host surface recognition and penetration ability of germinated conidia.


Synchrotron based x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and grazing incidence small angle scattering (GISAXS) are demonstrated to be excellent in situ methods for monitoring atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes. XRF allows to identify and to quantify the amount of material deposited, whereas GISAXS is a powerful technique for monitoring nanoscale morphology. Three case studies are discussed where these in situ techniques are used to investigate specific aspects of ALD processes that are of relevance for applications in micro-electronic s: the initial growth of gate oxides, the initial nucleation during metal ALD processes, and the penetration of ALD