Ceftriaxone is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used to treat or prevent bacterial infections. It has a wide range of gram-negative activity and some gram-positive activity, making it one of the most widely used antibiotics. This study is a prospective study evaluating the use of ceftriaxone in the medical wards. It was the first drug evaluation conducted on ceftriaxone in medical wards of UKMMC. Inpatient records were screened for patients receiving ceftriaxone between August 2018 to December 2018. The appropriateness of ceftriaxone was assessed on the basis of 5 parameters: according to type of therapy (empirical, prophylactic, targeted), indication based on source of infection, total daily dose, dosing frequency, and culture & sensitivity tests. Therapy was deemed appropriate if all 5 criteria were met by the study participants according to local and international antibiotic protocols. Deviation in any of the criteria was considered inappropriate. Patients were followed-up until discharge. Clinical success was considered when there is resolution of signs and symptoms. Clinical failure was considered when there is escalation of antibiotics due to clinical worsening. 325 patients were included. Ceftriaxone use was empirical in 92.9% of patients and one third was indicated for pneumonia (35.4%). The majority of patients were prescribed a total daily dose of 2 g (94.5%) and once daily (96%). Median duration of treatment was 5.0 (IQR 4.0 - 7.0) days. Blood culture and sensitivity test was done in 97.8% of patients. Overall, inappropriate use of ceftriaxone was 55.7%, mostly attributed by inappropriate type of therapy and indication. Factors associated with appropriateness are: concomitant antibiotics, (AOR 2.73, 95% CI (1.55-4.80), P<0.001), length of stay (P<0.023) and duration of therapy (P<0.026).59.7 % of patients had a good clinical outcome, but 13.2% had clinical failure and 1.2% had bacteraemia-related mortality. Inappropriate use of ceftriaxone was high and almost half had no indication to initiate antibiotic. Measures such as diagnostic stewardship must be taken to improve the practice of antibiotics.


Introduction: Secondary hyperparathyroidism is a frequent complication of chronic kidney disease. This review will discuss the various therapeutic options available for the management of hyperparathyroidism. Areas covered: The main therapeutic strategies available to prevent or slow down the progression of hyperparathyroidism will be detailed here. Reductions in phosphatemia may be achieved by controlling dietary phosphorus, administering phosphorus binders, or increasing the frequency of dialysis sessions. Vitamin D sterols reduce parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion while normalizing calcium (Ca) and vitamin D levels. Calcimimetics decrease PTH levels, probably with an additional effect on hyperplasia. Percutaneous injections in parathyroids represent an option useful in cases of hyperparathyroidism resistant to pharmacological therapy. Pubmed was searched by combining the terms 'secondary hyperparathyroidism' and the name of each one of the drugs reported in this review. Expert opinion: PTH increases from early stages of renal disease. One of the goals in pre-dialysis is the prevention of hyperphosphatemia and the maintenance of Ca levels in the normal range. The management of hyperparathyroidism in dialysis requires control of phosphorus level. In this stage, the decision to use calcimimetics and vitamin D derivatives should be made according to serum levels of Ca and phosphorus.


Standing surface acoustic wave (SSAW) technology combined with microtechnology opens up new areas for the development of advanced microparticle and cell separating microfluidic system. A novel SSAW sensor made of the orthotropic piezoelectric composite material (OPCM) is proposed and described. A SSAW field with target wavelength can be generated by this technology and with this new sensor. The wavelength of SSAW generated by this sensor can vary the range from several to a few hundred micrometers. The acoustic radiation force (ARF) generated by the SSAW field can be used to manipulate different dimensional particles.


This study has focused on 3D modelling of ancient monuments with multi-image photogrammetric documentation techniques. The aim of the study is to search the limits of multi-image photogrammetric documentation techniques that have automatic or manual workflows for deciphering of visual characteristic of ancient monuments with different geometries, positions, and site conditions. Three parameters affecting the strategy and quality of the photogrammetric documentation are considered. The first parameter is the type of the photogrammetric software. The software which has manual workflows, Tgi3D SU, and two fully automated photogrammetric software, Photosynth and Autodesk 123D, are used in the study. Variation in the form, disposition and site of the monuments has been defined as the second parameter. In turn, four ancient monuments, which have all preserved their authenticity and presenting structural damages, but with various characteristic features, are studied; Hypokremnos Viaduct, Urla, İzmir; Pagos Cistern, Kadifekale, İzmir; Paradiso Aqueduct; Şirinyer, İzmir, and Nysa Library, Sultanhisar, Aydın; all in Western Anatolia. The third parameter affecting the strategy of the survey is the type of the 3D model aimed for; in other words, the documentation reason. 1/50 and 1/100 scale are selected for automatic documentation techniques, while 1/20 scale is selected for manual documentation technique. 3D model based on manual photogrammetric techniques is much more satisfactory compared to those based on automatic photogrammetric techniques in terms of accuracy control, level of geometric detail and documentation of surfaces. However, producing detailed models with manual techniques takes a relatively long time. The 3D models based on automatic workflows may support a preliminary condition survey. Autodesk 123D produces more successful results compared to works carried out with Photosynth-MeshLab combination.


Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) are drugs that increase synaptic acetylcholine (ACh) concentrations and are under investigation as treatments for symptoms accompanying Alzheimer's disease. The goal of this work was to use PET imaging to evaluate alterations of in vivo α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) binding induced by the AChEIs physostigmine (PHY) and galanthamine (GAL). The α4β2 nAChR‐specific radioligand [18F]nifene was used to examine the effects of 0.1–0.2 mg/kg PHY, 5 mg/kg GAL, and saline in three separate experiments all performed on each of two rat subjects. A 60‐min bolus‐infusion protocol was used with drug administered after 30 min. Data from the thalamus and cortex were analyzed with a graphical model accounting for neurotransmitter activation using the cerebellum as a reference region to test for transient competition with bound [18F]nifene. Significant [18F]nifene displacement was detected in both regions during one PHY and both GAL studies, while no significant competition was observed in both saline studies. This preliminary work indicates the viability of [18F]nifene in detecting increases in synaptic ACh induced by AChEIs. Synapse 67:882–886, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


ABSTRACT
 Some economists argue that ignorance, real-world complexities and market failures undermine the ability of self-regulating markets to operate in a way that approximates an efficient process. In more recent discussions, cognitive processes, in the form of various biases, have become the primary focus of analytical attention. This paper counters these claims. Instead of responding with a doubling down on the commitment to rational choice models, we argue that the individuals that populate our model are highly imperfect, as is the world in which they live. Economic agents are human actors, not computers. They possess beliefs and expectations, hopes and fears and formulate their purposes and plans accordingly. They strive to achieve their desired ends and do the best they can give the constraints they face. In the process of striving, people rely on institutions to cope with their ignorance, to manage uncertainty and risk and to figure out response strategies to achieve their goals. Our analysis emphasizes the filtering processes of alternative institutional arrangements that allow imperfect people to navigate the world.


Being established from the initiative of six visionary countries in the second half of the 20th century, the European Economic Community has shifted the history of the European continent by promoting economic collaboration and political stability. Given its initial success, the regional group has quickly evolved from customs union to Economic and Monetary Union, comprising nowadays twenty-seven European countries. Although the European Union has successfully managed political, economic, social and even sanitary turmoil, the stability of the European architecture continues to be threatened by the heterogeneity of its members. In this respect, one of the main challenges for the European Union in its current composition aims the convergence of the economic performance between countries and regions. The purpose of this paper is to study the economic growth patterns in the European Union during 2000 and 2019, also conducting a comparative analysis between New and Old Member States. In order to capture the European economic landscape, the methodology was based on conditional β-convergence and the estimates were conducted by using ordinary least squares and generalized least squares with fixed effects. We have tried to find the relationship between the lagged value of GDP per capita and the subsequent growth rates, but also to study the influence of macroeconomic and social-related variables. By estimating regressions based on panel data, we have found evidence in favor of income convergence in the European Union, based on the inverse relationship between the lagged value of GDP per capita and the annual growth rates. Moreover, the comparative analysis between the New and Old Members illustrated that convergence was stronger in the latter group, given the sound macroeconomic and social environment. The empirical analysis suggested that the economic growth process both at aggregate and subgroup level was enhanced by investment, exports of goods and services, sound public finances and the increase of percentage of population with tertiary education. Consequently, in order to increase the cohesion between Members and to avoid separatist movements, the European decision-makers should strengthen the macroeconomic and social frameworks, maintaining a sustainable economic growth trajectory for both the New Members from Central and Eastern Europe and the Old Member States.


In this paper, the toroidal and poloidal rotation velocities measured in the reversed field pinch device RFX from the Doppler shift of impurity ion lines are presented and their relation with the plasma velocity is discussed. It is found that the toroidal velocity at the edge has the opposite direction with respect to the core toroidal velocity, indicating a shear of the plasma rotation velocity of about . Starting from the rotation measurements and the momentum equation, a one-dimensional impurity diffusion model for the core plasma and a Monte Carlo code for the edge region are used to estimate the radial electric field, that is found to be around outward directed in the plasma core, and about inward directed at the edge, consistent with that measured at the edge by Langmuir probes.


Norms and values of any society serve as behavioral principles set to mold humans in such communities. The secret to a successful human /individual molding lies in the effectiveness of speech used in transmitting information. Speech patterns in use as norms and values during the Iru mgbede cultural grooming of some Igbo communities are reviewed in this paper as one sustainable approach to eliminating marital lapses caused by a lack of basic acquisitions of cultural values among women and a means of reviving Igbo speech patterns for posterity.   In view of this, this paper examines the consistent indigenous speech patterns used in the transmission of these cultural norms. Data for the work were mostly collated from an oral interview randomly conducted among females between 50-108 years of age from different Abia, Anambara, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states in the Eastern part of Nigeria. Written texts were also consulted. The Social Norm Theory (SNT) approach being a multidisciplinary framework was adopted for analysis of the generated data. Findings reveal that the high rate of socio-cultural aberrations like marriage failure results from a lack of cultural norms and values instilled through constant related speech patterns. The paper recommends a one on one self-actualization dialogue of innate potentials attainable only  through the peaceful co-existence of spouse and children achieved through early interactions as best practices for stabilizing marriages and revitalizing Igbo  language.


Background: Spasmodic dysphonia is a neurological voice disorder characterized by involuntary adductor (towards midline) or abductor (away from midline) vocal fold spasms during phonation which result in phonatory breaks. Botulinum toxin is currently the gold standard of treatment. Objective: To determine the efficacy of botulinum toxin therapy for the treatment of spasmodic dysphonia. Design: Systematic Cochrane review. Search strategy: The search strategy for this review complied with Cochrane standards. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE (1966 to February 2005), EMBASE (1974 to February 2005), CINAHL (through February 2005), Dissertation Abstracts International (1975 to February 2005) and PsycINFO (1975 to February 2005). The search engine FirstSearch was also used (February 2005). Reference lists for all the obtained studies and other review articles were examined for additional studies. Selection criteria: All randomized control trials where the participants were randomly allocated prior to intervention and in which botulinum toxin was compared to an alternative treatment, placebo or non-treated control group were included. Data collection and analysis: Two reviewers independently evaluated all potential studies meeting the selection criteria noted above for inclusion. Main results: Only one study in the literature met the inclusion criteria. This was the only study identified which reported a treatment/no treatment comparison. It reported significant beneficial effects for fundamental frequency (Fo), Fo range, spectrographic analysis, independent ratings of voice severity and patient ratings of voice improvement. Reviewer's conclusions: The evidence from randomized controlled trials supporting the effectiveness of botulinum toxin for management of spasmodic dysphonia is deficient. The lack of supporting evidence from randomized controlled trials results in an inability to draw unbiased generalized conclusions regarding the effectiveness of botulinum toxin for all types of spasmodic dysphonia.


The work illustrates how building parameters of the Additive Manufacturing process Fused Filament Fabrication can affect not only the mechanical properties but also the surface wettability and morphology. Wettability and morphology are relevant factors in bonded joints performance. Advantages of polymeric additive manufacturing are to allow a re-design of components with locally controlled properties and integrated functions. Major limitations are related to the lack of material testing standardization and constraints due to the build volume and to the object orientation for printability: the latter problem scan be addressed with the use of bonded joints that allow to create bigger assemblies from smaller parts optimally designed to take advantage of material orthotropy and without the structural drawbacks. In this study, two materials are considered, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and polylactideacid. Wettability, surface morphology and mechanical strength have been determined at different combinations of nozzle temperature, print speed and layer thickness.


Strong story interactive narratives (IN) are stories that branch based on participant actions where all branches conform to a set of predefined constraints. However, participants in these systems may create branches where the constraints no longer hold. Strong story experience management, the process of generating IN trees, can be viewed as a game where the experience management agent wins if the story constraints hold during gameplay and loses if they are broken. In domains where the player has incomplete information of the story world, the experience manager can take action by shifting the player between alternate states that are consistent with the player's observations in order to maximize the probability that constraints will hold. This process is called superposition manipulation. In this paper we present a method of estimating the number of goal states reachable from different states in order to make informed decisions during superposition manipulation.


In this article I review Samapatti and the issues the experiences have brought for me personally [1-4]. First and foremost was the question of why I am able to enter this state without any preparation. The second was the obvious question of how does this work. Over some years people had asked to sit and talk with me about their problems, despite the fact that I have no training whatsoever in counselling or any other therapies. This was the early eighties and seminars on just about everything under the sun were on offer. I joined a ten day residential for Vipassana meditation and after sitting meditating for ten days I was no different and life continued as usual. It was obvious that most of those I listened to thought I was some kind of healer, others said I was a good listener, while some asked me to teach them to do what I did. My position was that I could not possibly, or ethically, teach something that I didn't know anything about. Not about how it worked, if it worked, why it worked and what was it that I did. At one point I was asked what I would do next, and to my surprise I said I would not do any more of this because I needed to find out how it worked. So began this long undirected journey into thinking and consciousness. In the Yoga tradition, buddhi is consciousness in its own right and has been defined by some writers as acognitive knowing. My view is that acognitive knowing means knowing without the mind, and of course that is what Samapatti provides to the seer. And what this means in our seeking to understand consciousness is precisely what I referred to. There are possibly a number of models we could posit to accommodate this position, all of which would be counterintuitive for science. I will simply offer one which arises from the acognitive model.


Firms relocating production to countries with lower social standards are regarded as driving force behind the regulatory 'race to the bottom'. However, there are numerous instances in which the behavior of firms reveals just the opposite: They adhere to self-regulatory standards (CSR) and even pressure governments to issue stricter public regulations. We intend to identify the conditions under which firms contribute to higher regulatory standards in states with weak regulatory capacities, thereby following a 'race to the top' rather than a 'race to the bottom'-logic. Theoretically, we set out to test in how far the existing literature can be utilized to answer this question. Empirically, the assessment concentrates on the textile and automotive industries in South Africa and HIV/AIDS abatement. Only limited state capacities have been involved in fighting HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Under which conditions do firms try to foster state capacities for the fight against the disease?


Background In response to rising healthcare demand and shortages of general practitioners (GPs), policy across the UK supports paramedics joining the clinical team in primary care. Numbers of paramedics in primary care (PPC) are increasing in England and Wales through a range of local initiatives. As the first stage in the ARRIVE feasibility study evaluating PPC, we conducted preliminary qualitative research to: Understand the key components of the PPC intervention and its potential impacts Identify sites with PPC and describe the range of existing interventions Develop a logic model to describe PPC. Methods We interviewed a total of 19 stakeholders from across Wales, including Health Board managers, GPs, practice managers and paramedics. Interviews were recorded and transcribed in full, then analysed thematically. We held a stakeholder event, bringing together 21 people involved in commissioning, planning and delivering PPC to discuss the key components of a logic model, including outcome measures for evaluation. Results We developed a logic model describing how paramedics provide direct clinical contact with patients in a primary care setting. Potential positive impacts include better patient experience, reductions in emergency admissions through better proactive care, increased sustainability of primary care, and increased levels of clinical skills and satisfaction for paramedics. Components of the intervention which varied across sites included type of patient contact (home visit or surgery); approaches to patient selection and triage; employment model; training and induction; and clinical supervision and support from GPs. Implications PPC is a rapidly developing area of provision in primary care, but there is great variation in the nature of models which have been implemented, and there is still uncertainty about the risks and benefits of PPC, and about how best to deliver it. Our logic model underpins the ARRIVE feasibility study, which will help to build the evidence base urgently needed on the PPC innovation.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background: Physicians, especially plastic surgeons, are underrepresented in hospital leadership. As such, the steps an aspiring plastic surgeon should take toward assuming a high-level administrative role remain unclear. The authors aim to profile the chief executive officers and surgeons-in-chief at top-ranked U.S. hospitals with the goal of better characterizing the attributes of institutional leaders. Methods: Chief executive officers and surgeons-in-chief at top-ranking hospitals in the 2019 to 2020 U.S. News and World Report "Best Hospitals Honor Roll" were included in this study. For each leader, sex, title, degrees, years of experience, total number of publications, practice specialty (for physician leaders), and previous leadership roles in national societies were reviewed. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed. Results: A total of 99 leadership positions at 66 institutions were included. Of these, 67 were chief executive officers and 32 were surgeons-in-chief. Overall, 28 of 67 chief executive officers (42 percent) were physicians—23 nonsurgeons and five surgeons. Of all surgeon executives, only two were plastic surgeons, and both were surgeons-in-chief. The "average" physician–chief executive officer had 24 years of experience, no M.B.A., over 100 publications, zero to one fellowship, and was involved in national leadership. There was no difference in professional qualifications (defined as years of experience, business training, number of publications and fellowships, and leadership positions) between nonsurgeon- and surgeon–chief executive officers, or between plastic surgeons and other surgeons in leadership positions. Conclusions: Despite possessing adequate qualifications, plastic surgeons are underrepresented in American health care institutional leadership roles. Aspiring plastic surgeon leaders should lean on their peer credibility and experience delivering patient-centered care to succeed in leadership roles.


Summary The interest in social adjustment of psychiatric patients has increased since potent therapeutic strategies have become available, allowing patient treatment within their natural social habitat. DSM III has formally recognized the need to evaluate social variables for each patient, introducing Axis V into its multiaxial system. This is of particular relevance for personality disorders where the main pathology is manifested within the social context. In this study, 94 patients with a DSM III-R diagnosis of Panic Disorder, Major Depression, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder have been evaluated with PDE (Personality Disorders Examination) to detect the presence of DSM III personality disorders, and with SAS (Social Adjustment Scale) to assess social adjustment. Results have shown that both Axis I and Axis II diagnoses affect social adjustment, though in a slightly different manner.


PS16dtm was classified as a candidate tidal disruption event in a dwarf Seyfert 1 galaxy with a low-mass black hole ( ) and has presented various intriguing photometric and spectra characteristics. Using the archival Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and the newly released NEOWISE data, we found that PS16dtm is experiencing a mid-infrared (MIR) flare that started ∼11 days before the first optical detection. Interpreting the MIR flare as a dust echo requires close pre-existing dust with a high covering factor and suggests that the optical flare may have brightened slowly for some time before it became bright detectable from the ground. More evidence is given at the later epochs. At the peak of the optical light curve, the new inner radius of the dust torus has grown to a much larger size (i.e., a factor of seven of the initial radius) due to the strong radiation field. At ∼150 days after the first optical detection, the dust temperature has dropped well below the sublimation temperature. Other peculiar spectral features shown by PS16dtm are the transient, prominent Fe ii emission lines and outflows indicated by broad absorption lines detected during the optical flare. Our model explains the enhanced Fe ii emission from iron that is newly released from the evaporated dust. The observed broad absorption line outflow could be explained by accelerated gas in the dust torus due to the radiation pressure.


The influence of the shape of the plastic potential in the deviatoric plane on plane strain collapse is investigated. The most commonly employed elastic‐perfect plastic models are considered, which adopt well‐known failure criteria for defining the yield and plastic potential surfaces, namely the von Mises, the Drucker–Prager, the Tresca, the Mohr–Coulomb and the Matsuoka–Nakai criteria. Finally, the conclusions are also extended to strain hardening/softening models. For simple constitutive models based on perfect plasticity, it is shown that the value of the Lode's angle at plastic collapse in plane strain conditions strongly depends on the specific failure surface adopted for reproducing the plastic potential surface. If the value of the Lode's angle at yield coincides with the failure value prescribed by the plastic potential, the stress–strain curves exhibit the typical perfect plastic behaviour with yield coinciding with failure, otherwise the stress changes after yield and the stress‐strain curves resemble those of strain hardening/softening models. The infinite strength which is in some situations exhibited by the Drucker–Prager model in plane strain condition is investigated and explained, and it is shown that this can also affect strain hardening/softening models. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The Primeval Forests are of a great importance because they act as natural laboratories and play an important role for science, education and biodiversity conservation. The paper deals with uniqueness, authenticity and integrity of the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians, which in 2007 was inscribed on the World Heritage List. Virgin forersts differ within each phytogeographic zone, forming specific forest types with their characteristic species composition, spatial structure, dynamics and overall diversity (including genetic diversity) due to site conditions related to the position above sea level and topography, macroclimate and nutrient and water availability. A minimum area wherein all succession stages of a forest community can take place depend strongly on particular forest types and their potential disturbance regim.


: In two patients ascites was suspected, but large intra-abdominal cysts were found on laparotomy. They were of echinococcal and ovarian origin, respectively. When there is doubt about the nature of such abdominal distention, abdominal paracentesis should be avoided and ultrasonography used instead.


In recent years, it has become apparent that the physiological activities of steroid hormones are mediated by their entrance into the cell cytoplasm by diffusion or active transport and by their being bound to specific high affinity-low capacity, proteinaceous receptors (Figure). The receptor is probably altered in its conformation on joining with the steroid, and the receptor-steroid complexes are then activated before being transported into the nucleus. Depending on the steroid and receptor involved, either the steroid, the receptor, both, or neither may be altered on translocation to the nucleus. Based on very complete data from the progesterone receptor (progestophilin) of the chick oviduct, the receptor is composed of an A portion (molecular weight [mol wt], 110,000) and a B portion (mol wt, 115,000). One molecule of each portion joins with one molecule of the steroid, in this case, progesterone. The A fragment with its attached progesterone binds to the


This report provides brief summaries of the issues in the 2005 reauthorization legislation, including (1) the market in security futures, or futures contracts based on single stocks, which were authorized by the CFMA, but trade in much lower volumes than their proponents had hoped, (2) regulation of energy derivatives markets, where some see excessive price volatility and a lack of effective regulation, and (3) the legality of futures-like contracts based on foreign currency prices offered to retail investors.


A representative sample of 151 cases notified to the National Board of Industrial Injuries on a suspicion of an occupational disease were studied with respect to time from notification to final settlement of the case. 50% were settled within 5.5 months, and 75% within 10 months. Settling times were longer for cases accepted for compensation than for dismissed cases. The time used to investigate a case constituted an increasing proportion of the total settling time with increasing settling times. For cases with a settling time of more than nine months, approximately half of the time consisted of waiting time to obtain required information from external sources. It is concluded that a substantial reduction of cases with long settling times depends on a reduction of external expedition times for obtaining required information. The medical profession can contribute to the reduction of settling times by elucidating the case meticulously at the time of notification and by reducing expedition times for requisitions for information.


Summary Lactation milk and fat records of 6,949 daughters, 6,201 different dams, and the contemporary D.H.I.A. herd averages of 2,420 herds were studied, to compare five measures of a dairy sire's transmitting ability. They were the daughter average, daughter-dam difference, equal-parent index, daughter-contemporary herd difference, and daughter-contemporary-herd index. The daughters and dams were included in the D.H.I.A. proofs for 350 Guernsey and 486 Holstein sires used in artificial-breeding associations, and whose proofs were published for 1949–1951. A variance component analysis did not reveal any marked superiority for any of the measures, as determined by the percentage of the total variance comprised by the sire component for each of the measures. Sufficient data for the Holsteins were available for an empirical check of the reliability of these five measures. The simple daughter average appeared to be about as reliable as the equal-parent index or the daughter-herd index to predict future daughters' production for milk or fat. The D.H.I.A. herd average included the daughter in question and reduced the magnitude of the sire component for the herd measures. Use of a contemporary-herd average, which excludes the daughter in question in the two daughter-herd measures, should improve their merit as measures of a dairy sire's breeding value compared to the other measures in this study.


The present paper focuses on Self Psychology Approach and a case study following this approach. First, Self Psychology Theory will be introduced following the main ideas of theory's founder Heinz Kohut. In this part, the structure and development of self, selfobject needs and self disorders will be explained. Mainly, two selfobject needs (mirroring and idealizing need) will be the focus. Following this introduction to the theory, self-psychologically oriented psychotherapy process will be discussed along with its major intervention principles. Then, a case with avoidant personality characteristics will be introduced and formulated according to Self Psychology. The case will be conceptualized as a self disorder; and the narcissistic needs possibly not enough met during childhood will be emphasized. At the final part, the psychotherapy process, and experiences of the therapist will be shared. Through this study, it is aimed to highlight that psychotherapists should focus on clients' needs, stay in the here-in-now, listen, make an effort to understand, and show this effort to the clients. It is also emphasized that ruptures during therapy should not be the moments that therapists should be afraid of, but instead they should be perceived as opportunities for the growth of clients as well as the therapeutic relationship. Keywords: Self psychology, avoidant personality, case study, self disorders, narcissistic needs


With the rapid development of remote sensing techniques, the quantity of remotely sensed data generated by remote sensors increases fast. A large amount of remotely sensed data provide valuable information for researches on earth resources, but it is hard to be stored and transmitted. Therefore, there is a critical need of data compression for remote sensing applications. In the case of MSI data, there are two types of redundancy: spatial redundancy and spectral redundancy. Usually, the prediction technique is used in spatial and spectral decorrelation in lossless compression. In this paper we construct integer wavelet transform by using lift scheme, which is used for spatial decorrelation, and construct a spectral predictor by using classification that is used for spectral decorrelation. This combined technique could improve the compression ratio.


The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of interrelated common clinical disorders, including obesity, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, hypertension, and dyslipidemia (hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL-cholesterol levels). According to recently defined criteria. MetS is prevalent and is associated with a greater risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease than any of its individual components.
Many questions relating to its special pathophysiology still need to be clarified. With the purpose of compiling the state of the art on MetS, in 2006 we published the book entitled "The metabolic syndrome at the beginning of the XXIst century: a genetic and molecular approach" (ed. Elsevier).
"Type 2 diabetes mellitus" (T2D) is the first book of a collection of four (Obesity; Arterial hypertension; Atherogenic dyslipidemia) intented to update knowledge on the main medical disorders combining in MetS.
One of the aims of this book is to illustrate the intellectual process and offer an ample and updated overview of the different viewpoints through which T2D is being considered. A second aim is to provide the reader with first-hand cutting-edge information on several (from molecular pathophysiology to genetic epidemiology) aspects of T2D and its relations with the so called "classic" components of the MetS, such as obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and of course, their relationship with cardiovascular disease, but also on the newer components of MetS, such as inflammation molecules, prothrombotic state, or endothelial dysfunction, to mention just a few of them. Moreover, specific molecular and cellular issues have been focused in the context of glucose homeostasis, insulin action and insulin resistance mechanisms.
From a clinical view point, prediabetes and T2D diagnostic aspects, macro- and microvascular complications or diabetic neuropathy are thoroughly considered. A special effort has been done to present a complete and updated overview, enriched with several original contributions, in the field of therapeutics, nutrition, and prevention measures.
Finally, T2D outcomes are presented to help understanding of the results of healthcare intervention and to monitor and improve the quality of care, not only in clinical research but also in daily clinical practice.


Gorham-Stout disease - also called vanishing bone syndrome - is a rare bone disease characterized by a progressive intra-osseous proliferation of non-neoplastic vascular tissue resulting in massive osteolysis. Here, we report two clinical cases of Gorham-Stout disease. Case 1: a 56-year-old woman with 20 years of history of pain and swell in elbows, ankles and wrist. Then she was diagnosed as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with glomerulonephritis type III. After other pathologies were ruled out Gorham-Stout disease was diagnosed. Intravenous zoledronic acid (5 mg) was indicated and after third infusion a progressive improvement of pain, mobility and daily activities were observed. Case 2: a 70-years-old man with a history of pain and limited motion in the left shoulder without X-ray abnormality. Six months later pathological fracture in the left humerus occurred and after ruled out other pathologies Gorham-Stout disease was diagnosed. Intravenous zoledronic acid (5 mg) was indicated and a good response was observed after the first infusion. Nowadays just over 200 cases were reported. Gorham-Stout disease was reported in different bones, at different age presentation and severe physical deformities, disabilities, and life-threatening complications can occur. Two cases of Gorham-Stout disease with good response to zoledronic acid was reported in this article.


The influence of oxygen during short post deposition annealing on Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films for heterojunction solar cells grown by sputter deposition is investigated in terms of their electrical, optical and structural properties. AZO films were annealed for 4 min at 300°C and 450°C in ambient air and N2 atmosphere. It has been shown, that at 450°C the elimination of oxygen during annealing allows an increase in carrier concentration and reduction of the sheet resistance of AZO films four times higher than annealing in ambient air. This effect has not been observed for annealing temperatures below 300°C, where annealing in ambient air proved to have superior influence on the electrical properties. The optical bandgap of all annealed samples was enlarged and for an annealing temperature of 450°C the optical transmission weighted by ASTM G173-03 solar spectrum from 300 to 1100 nm was increased to over 80%. The changes observed in all samples were primarily explained by means of oxygen chemisorption and desorption processes. It is concluded, that oxygen plays an important role in the improvement of electrical and optical properties of AZO thin films during thermal annealing.


The ITER Magnet system [1] consists of four main coils sub-systems: 18 Toroidal Field Coils (TF-coil), a Central Solenoid (CS), 6 Poloidal Field Coils (PF-coil) and 18 Correction Coils (EFCC). The main contract of the EFCCs supply is awarded to the Institute of Plasma Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) by the Chinese Domestic Agency (CNDA). According to the pre-qualification program, ASIPP is implementing the procurement phase to qualify and validate key technologies and manufacturing methods. The Correction coils qualification activities are conducted within the framework of the procurement arrangement set up between the ITER Organization and CNDA. The paper describes the CC development including first results of the coils winding qualification trials and, qualification of a S-Glass fiber-polyimide based insulation system The CC casing assembly process and the first results of the welding trials are reported. The weld qualification, according to ASTM for 316LN austenitic steel is reported in terms of fracture toughness, fatigue crack growth, and tensile property at 4 K. The Vacuum Pressure Impregnation of CC short mock-up, with low viscosity bisphenol-F (DGEBF) epoxy resin, aims to optimization of the curing and insulation mechanical properties.


Tomatoes represent one of the most popular vegetables grown in protected culture such as greenhouses, high tunnels, or shade houses. Selecting the correct cultivar of tomato is critical and varies depending on the intended season, type of protected structure, training system, expected insect and disease pressure, post-harvest handling techniques, and intended market. This 7-page fact sheet will focus on the key factors affecting the cultivar selection decisions for growing and selling tomatoes in north Florida. Written by Blake R. Thaxton and Robert C. Hochmuth, and published by the Horticultural Sciences Department, December 2015.
HS1273/HS1273: Tomato Cultivar Selection Considerations for Open-Field and Protected Culture in North Florida (ufl.edu)


Aluminum (Al) toxicity is the principal abiotic constraint in acid soils of the tropics. Common bean, meanwhile, is for the most part very sensitive to this stress although certain genotypes within the species show some level of resistance, justifying screening of germplasm from both the Andean and Mesoamerican genepools to identify better performing sources. The objective of this study was to evaluate 36 genotypes of common bean under hydroponic conditions to identify root morphological traits that could be associated with Al resistance. A total of five root traits (elongation rate of the primary root, total root length, root biomass, average root diameter and specific root length) were measured using a simple nutrient solution with or without Al (20 µM) over a 48 hour growth period with the experiments conducted in five replicates. We found that genotypes from the Andean gene pool were more resistant to Al than Mesoamerican genotypes under these conditions, based on a smaller decrease in the elongation rate of the primary root, total root length, specific root length and a lesser increase in root diameter in the presence of Al in nutrient solution. These root traits but not root biomass can serve as selection criteria to distinguish between Al-resistant and Al-sensitive genotypes.


Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, are heterogeneous disorders with a multifactorial nature involving impaired bioenergetics. Stem-regenerative medicine and bioenergetics have been proposed as promising therapeutic targets in the neurologic field. The rationale of the present study was to assess the potential of human-derived adipose stem cells (hASCs) to transdifferentiate into neuronal-like cells (NhASCs and neurospheres) and explore the hASC bioenergetic profile. hASC neuronal transdifferentiation was performed through neurobasal media and differentiation factor exposure. High resolution respirometry was assessed. Increased MAP-2 neuronal marker protein expression upon neuronal induction (p<0.05 undifferentiated hASCs vs. 28–36 days of differentiation) and increased bIII-tubulin neuronal marker protein expression upon neuronal induction (p<0.05 undifferentiated hASCs vs. 6-28-36 days of differentiation) were found. The bioenergetic profile was detectable through high-resolution respirometry approaches in hASCs but did not lead to differential oxidative capacity rates in healthy or clinically diagnosed PD-hASCs. We confirmed the capability of transdifferentiation to the neuronal-like profile of hASCs derived from the forearms of human subjects and characterized the bioenergetic profile. Suboptimal maximal respiratory capacity trends in PD were found. Neuronal induction leading to positive neuronal protein expression markers is a relevant issue that encourages the suitability of NhASC models in neurodegeneration.


The incidence of ventricular arrhythmias after myocardial infarction was compared in a double blind study of disopyramide (33 patients), aprindine (34 patients) and placebo (31 patients). Total ventricular arrhythmias were less frequent in the aprindine group than in the disopyramide group (P less than 0.05) or than in the combined disopyramide and placebo groups (P less than 0.05). The incidence of life-threatening arrhythmias and of ventricular arrhythmias in high risk patients was also reduced by aprindine compared to disopyramide (P less than 0.001) or placebo (P less than 0.001). It is concluded that aprindine is effective in reducing ventricular arrhythmias and that further investigations on its preventive use after the onset of myocardial infarction are justified.


The paper presents new developments in modeling AC losses in high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes as a highly nonlinear diffusion process. Following a successful 1D formulation for a bulk superconductor and subsequent inclusion of the presence of silver in a tape using a 'sandwich' model, a 2D scheme has now been developed using time-stepping finite difference formulation and is briefly described. Edge effects and importance of nonlinearity are emphasised.


A very low-noise, variable temperature insert for a standard liquid-helium cryostat has been developed. The design provides a 10–100 K operating range, with temperature stability better than 20 mK in the range 25–100 K, improving to 2 mK below 25 K. This temperature stability figure is obtained by balancing the cooling power due to the thermal coupling of the sample to liquid helium, with the heating power of a stream of room-temperature He gas flowing through a heat exchanger. The heating power is continuously regulated within a feedback loop by throttling the gas flow with a proportional valve, using the error signal from the temperature controller. The system provides good temperature stability without the need for low-resistance leads in the vicinity of the sample holder as those needed to feed an electrical heater. This is relevant to experiments where electromagnetic interference must be minimized.


For purposes of completing the initial calibration and validation work for the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) serial number 2 instrument, we have implemented a comprehensive radiative transfer model (RTM) in order to verify on‐orbit upper air brightness temperature measurements for SSMIS channels 19–24. Rigorous computational treatment of the effects of the Earth's magnetic field on absorption by oxygen in the stratosphere and mesosphere provides us a solid baseline for comparison of theoretically based forward RTM calculations with the satellite observations. With the inclusion of flexibility in our model to account for departures from perfect instrument behavior, initial results provide us a reasonable measure of confidence that the agreement of our model with the observations should make the SSMIS‐derived data products sufficiently reliable.


Most recently reported multi-channel wireless neural telemetry systems are not suitable for studying insects in flight because of mass and battery limitations. We present preliminary results toward the development of a digital neural/EMG telemetry system with a measured flight package mass of only 38 mg. This system includes a single-chip telemetry system employing RF power harvesting for battery-free operation, with communication via modulated backscatter in the UHF (902–928 MHz) band. An on-chip 11-bit ADC digitizes 10 neural channels with a sampling rate of 26.1 kSps and 4 EMG channels at 1.63 kSps. We also present a companion base station transceiver including an RF transmitter of +36 dBm (4 W) output power to wirelessly power the IC, and a digital receiver with a threshold sensitivity of −70 dBm for 10−5 BER at 5.0 Mbps to receive the data stream. The chip was fabricated in a commercial 0.35 µm 4M1P (4 metal, 1 poly) CMOS process. The die measures 2.36 × 1.88 mm, and is 250 µm thick. Measurements to date indicate that the chip is fully functional as designed.


As the most important threapeutic factor in the modern management of tuberculosis, we must consider fresh and pure air, and we can make the home treatment most successful when we imitate, so far as practicable, all the salient features of the sanatorium treatment. In these institutions the patients live outdoors virtually for twenty-four hours of the day. Let us now see how we can imitate this aerotherapy of the sanatorium treatment in the home of the patient. In summer, of course, all the windows are open, and during the day we place our patients in the yard, on the veranda or on the roof, whenever and wherever conditions permit us to have the patient take what is known as the rest cure in the open air. Here he rests on a reclining chair with a proper knee bend and comfortable back. If the patient can afford it we get him


[1] The structure and variability of the wintertime midshelf front in the New York Bight is examined using moored observations of currents and hydrography during 2007. The front is located near the 50 m isobath, inshore of the shelf break front and offshore of estuarine outflow plume fronts. It spans the water column and is the boundary between cooler, fresher, and less dense inner shelf water and warmer, saltier, and denser outer shelf water. The mean hydrographic front slopes upward offshore, and there is an associated equatorward along-shelf 5–10 cm/s surface-intensified current jet. The mean across-shelf circulation is offshore near the surface and onshore at depth. The across-shelf velocity is convergent and strengthens across-shelf property gradients with a time scale for gradient doubling of approximately 8 days. Tidal analysis of currents and temperatures suggests that tidal shear dispersion is not an important mechanism for midshelf front formation. The frontal structure and location are roughly consistent with the theory of bottom boundary layer advected fronts, suggesting that multiple estuarine outflows are collectively responsible. Pulses of strong offshore wind cause the breakdown of the across-shelf thermal wind balance, which has been commonly assumed to hold in shelf environments. Observed shear significantly exceeds thermal wind shear at middepths, where observation of low-gradient Richardson number indicates the importance of vertical mixing. The response of currents to wind fluctuations is asymmetric, whereby the combination of upwelling favorable and offshore winds or downwelling favorable and onshore winds produces a stronger response than winds from the remaining quadrants.


Conventional chest radiographs correspond to 50% of the normal workload of a diagnostic radiology department and account for the lengthening of reporting times, thus affecting the profit of a general hospital deeply. The authors describe a software specifically applied to the reporting of chest X-rays which allows "macro" reports for typical or negative findings and which makes reports by sequential questions for more complex conditions. Its value was investigated based on nearly two years' uninterrupted working experience. During four month 7175 examinations were performed: 6480 (90.3%) in the diagnostic room, plus 685 (9.5%) bedside and emergency exams. Computer-assisted reports amounted to 95% of the total figure in the first group and to 46% in the second one. The results follow: 1) waiting times were substantially reduced; 2) administrative workload was markedly decreased; 3) less expert medical staff greatly benefitted from an efficient didactic and learning activity. Thus, good results were obtained, especially relative to the possibility to obtained actual real-time reports of chest radiographs with no loss in diagnostic accuracy.


neither of Kyra's parents, for example, seems concerned with figuring out where she has been for five years. The pace picks up when the NSA men in black show up and the mystery behind Kyra's abilities deepens, but the slog to an ending that only promises another installment makes this ultimately unsatisfying to readers who would be better served by Castellucci's First Day on Earth (BCCB 11/11). KQG


Soil is a vital natural resource that regulates our environment sustainability and provide essential resources to humans and nature. Nowadays, with an increasingly populated and urbanized world, pollution is widely recognized as a significant challenge to soil and groundwater resources management. The most common chemicals found in soils and water plumb in a dissolved state and considered as potential pollutants are heavy metals, dyes, phenols, detergents, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and others organic substances, such as organic matter. Unlike organic contaminants, heavy metals are not biodegradable and tend to accumulate in living organisms and many heavy metal ions are known to be toxic or carcinogenic. Toxic heavy metals of particular concern zinc, copper, nickel, mercury, cadmium, lead and chromium. Electrokinetic remediation deserves particular attention in soil treatment due to its peculiar advantages, including the capability of treating fine and low permeability materials, and achieving consolidation, dewatering and removal of salts and inorganic contaminants like heavy metals in a single stage.
 In this study, the remediation of artificially chromium contaminated soil by electrokinetic process, coupled with Eggshell Inorganic Fraction Powder (EGGIF) permeable reactive barrier (PRB), was investigated. An electric field of 2 V cm−1 was applied and was used an EGGIF/soil ratio of 30 g kg−1 of contaminated soil for the preparation of the permeable reactive barrier (PRB) in each test.
 Results proved that the study of chromium mobility revealed the predominance in its transportation through the soil towards the anode, due essentially to the existence of chromium in the form of oxyanions (chromate and dichromate), which confers a negative charge to the molecule. Chromium removal by electrokinetic remediation was faster in low levels of concentration and the utilization of citric acid as buffer and complexing agent allowed to maintain pH of soil below the precipitation limit for this element. It was obtained high removal rates of chromium in both experiments, especially near the anode. In the normalized distance to cathode of 0.8 it was achieved a maximum removal rate of chromium of 55, 59 and 60% in initial chromium concentration of 500 mg kg−1, 250 mg kg−1 and 100 mg kg−1, respectively.
 The viability of the new coupling technology developed (electrokinetic with EGGIF permeable reactive barrier) to treat low-permeability polluted soils was demonstrated. Based on the proved efficiency, this remediation technique has to be optimized and applied to real soils in order to validate it as a large-scale solution.


This study explored whether affect could be an antecedent of synchrony (i.e., the convergence of rhythm and timing) in face-to-face conversations. Although previous studies have failed to illustrate that affective valence causes synchrony, they did not employ experimental manipulation of affective state and did not consider the affective contrast between interacting participants. In this study, two experiments were conducted on dyadic interactions with a same-sex stranger. Experiment 1 focused on affective valence, and Experiment 2 investigated the influence of affective contrast on synchrony. Participants engaged in a 6-min chat. Positive or negative affect was separately induced using a video (Experiment 1) or an affective picture set (Experiment 2) before conversation to stimulate each two conditions: positive versus negative affective state (Experiment 1) or low versus high contrast in affective state (Experiment 2). Synchrony was evaluated using wavelet transform, via calculation of the cross-wavelet coherence (WTC) and relative phasing pattern (i.e., in-phase and anti-phase), as well as cross-correlation. Results showed that cross-WTC and proportion of in-phase patterning were not influenced by affective valence (Experiments 1 and 2); however, they were higher in the low-contrast condition compared with the high-contrast condition (Experiment 2). Cross-correlation, on the contrary, could not find a significant difference in Experiments 1 and 2. These results were discussed from the perspective of cognitive and motivational processes.


SUMMARY Electric-powered wheelchairs improve the mobility of people with physical disabilities, but the problem to deal with certain architectural barriers has not been resolved satisfactorily. In order to solve this problem, a stair-climbing mobility system (SCMS) was developed. This paper presents a practical dynamic control system that allows the SCMS to exhibit a successful climbing process when faced with typical architectural barriers such as curbs, ramps, or staircases. The implemented control system depicts high simplicity, computational efficiency, and the possibility of an easy implementation in a microprocessor-/microcontroller-based system. Finally, experiments are included to support theoretical results.


In the past, the Open University has taught primarily through printed texts supported by television/video cassettes, audiocassettes and with limited face to face teaching at tutorials and summer schools. Developments in computer and communications technologies have provided new tools in the form of computer aided learning (CAL), email, computer conferencing and online resources. Here, the author describes the Open University's third-level Digital Communications course (T305) which aims to exploit the technology appropriately, and selects different media for different types of material. (6 pages)


3,4-Ethylene dioxythiophene (EDOT), as a monomer of commercial conductive poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT), has been facilely incorporated into a series of new π-conjugated polymer-based photocatalysts, i.e., BSO2–EDOT, DBT–EDOT, Py–EDOT and DFB–EDOT, through atom-economic C–H direct arylation polymerization (DArP). The photocatalytic hydrogen production (PHP) test shows that donor–acceptor (D–A)-type BSO2–EDOT renders the highest hydrogen evolution rate (HER) among the linear conjugated polymers (CPs) ever reported. A HER up to 0.95 mmol h−1/6 mg under visible light irradiation and an unprecedented apparent quantum yield of 13.6% at 550 nm are successfully achieved. Note that the photocatalytic activities of the C–H/C–Br coupling-derived EDOT-based CPs are superior to those of their counterparts derived from the classical C–Sn/C–Br Stille coupling, demonstrating that EDOT is a promising electron-rich building block which can be facilely integrated into CP-based photocatalysts. Systematic studies reveal that the enhanced water wettability by the integration of polar BSO2 with hydrophilic EDOT, the increased electron-donating ability by O–C p–π conjugation, the improved electron transfer by D–A architecture, broad light harvesting, and the nano-sized colloidal character in a H2O/NMP mixed solvent rendered BSO2–EDOT as one of the best CP photocatalysts toward PHP.


Abstract Performance evaluation of financial instruments has become a concern for more and more economists, while security trading activities have developed over time. "Modern portfolio theory" comprises statistical and mathematical models which describe various ways in order to evaluate and especially analyse profitability and risk of these portfolios. This article offers an application of this type of model on Romanian stock market, the Markowitz model, by focusing on portfolios comprising three securities, and determining the efficient frontier and the minimum variance portfolio.


Background Axial involvement is the predominant feature of axSpA but both extra-articular (EAM)and peripheral manifestations (including synovitis and dactylitis) can be concomitantly observed. Objectives To evaluate whether the EAM are associated with peripheral rheumatological features in axSpA and whether these EAM influence the choice of the anti-TNF. Methods Study design: Prospective, multicenter, cross-sectional study in France (baseline visit of the Predict-SpA trial). Patients: definite axSpA according to the rheumatologist, requiring an anti-TNF. Data collected: Past or present signs/symptoms of EAM (psoriasis, uveitis and Inflammatory Bowel disease (IBD)), peripheral (arthritis, enthesitis and dactylitis) SpA features, and the anti-TNF prescribed by the treating rheumatologist (according to usual practice). Statistical analysis: the frequency of peripheral involvement and the type of anti-TNF (e.g. monoclonal antibodies vs soluble receptor) were compared in patients with versus (vs) without EAM. Results Of the 519 patients (females: 46%, age: 42±12 years, HLA B27 positive: 65%, X-Ray sacroiliitis: 56%, inflammation on MRI of the sacro Iliac Joint: 56%), 386 were biologic naïve. A past history or current symptoms of psoriasis, uveitis and IBD was observed in 19%, 17% and 5% respectively and a past history or current symptoms of arthritis, enthesitis and dactylitis in 27%, 54%, 11%, respectively In patients with vs without psoriasis, the % of arthritis, enthesitis and dactylitis were 40% vs 25% (p=0.004), 67% vs 50% (p=0.002) and 18% vs 10% (p=0.026), respectively In patients with vs without uveitis, the % of arthritis, enthesitis and dactylitis were 31% vs 27% (p=0.445), 57% vs 53% (p=0.200) and 13% vs 11% (p=0.772),respectively In patients with vs without IBD, the % of arthritis, enthesitis and dactylitis were 36% vs 27% (p=0.440), 68% vs 53% (p=0.180) and 21% vs 11% (p=0. 152), respectively Monoclonal antibodies were prescribed as the first biologic in 206 out of the 386 patients (53%).This percentage was 56% vs 58% and vs 52% in patients with a current presence of psoriasis vs any history of psoriasis but currently absent and vs without any history of psoriasis, respectively; p=0.785. This percentage was 100% vs nd% (n=0) and vs 53% in patients with a current attack of uveitis vs any history of uveitis but currently inactive and vs without any history of uveitis, respectively; p=0.032. This percentage was 100% vs 50% (n=2) and vs 53% in patients with a current active IBD vs any history of IBD but currently inactive and vs without any history of IBD, respectively; p=0.064. Conclusions In this study focused on ax SpA patients, both peripheral rheumatological clinical features and EAM were frequently observed. The peripheral rheumatological manifestations were more frequently observed in case of concomitant psoriasis. Monoclonal antibodies were the preferred anti-TNF in case of a past history (even currently quiescent) of uveitis or IBD in daily practice. Acknowledgements This study was conducted thanks to an unrestricted grant from MSD Disclosure of Interest None declared


In this paper, the frame-error-rate (FER) performance of full-diversity high-rate space-time block-coded (STBC) system is presented for quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) digital modulation technique, which is using the numeric-variable-forgetting-factor (NVFF) least-squares (LS) algorithm based channel estimator. The STBC transmission data-rates  with two-transmitter antennas and  with four-transmitter antennas are achieved by maximizing the coding gain and by minimizing the peak-to-minimum-power-ratio while using the selective power scaling of the information symbols, which also guarantees full-diversity in case of the two-transmitter antennas. The imperfect channel estimation leads to degradation in the FER performance of the low complexity maximum likelihood decoding algorithms, though the optimum power scaling factor is incorporated along with the constellation rotation scheme. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate that the FER performance of high-rate STBC system under idealistic conditions is quite different from its performance under realistic wireless environment due to the channel estimation errors. Therefore, the tracking performance of the pilot channel estimator is found to play significant role in the overall performance evaluation of the proposed wireless systems under slowly time-varying channels also in case of the general M-ary phase-shift keying (M-PSK) constellations.

 Key words: Space-time block-code, coding gain, peak-to-minimum-power-ratio, numeric-variable-forgetting-factor, variable-forgetting-factor, least-squares algorithm.


This study aims to analyze the use of the counseling laboratory as a learning resource for counseling guidance study program students. This study uses a qualitative research method based on library research (library research). Collecting data using documentation techniques derived from library sources. Data analysis uses content analysis techniques where each source or literature used is adjusted and the context is seen for its suitability with other literature from books, journals or other research. In relation to learning resources, the counseling laboratory functions as (1) to provide completeness for the theoretical lessons that have been received so that theory and practice are not two separate things. The two of them are mutually examining and looking for the basis of each other; (2) providing scientific work skills for students/students; (3) provide and cultivate the courage to seek the essence of scientific truth from an object in the natural and social environment; (4) increase skills in using available tools and media to seek and find the truth; (4) fostering student curiosity as a capital for the scientific attitude of a prospective scientist.


Ethene epoxidation with hydrogen peroxide was studied on hydroxylated binuclear metal sites, using DFT calculations at the B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) level of theory. A decrease of the activation enthalpy of approximately 100 kJ mol(-1) was observed compared to the gas phase reaction between hydrogen peroxide and ethene. It was previously shown that micro-solvation with water reduces the activation enthalpy by approximately 77 kJ mol(-1) and only the additional 24 kJ mol(-1) can be attributed to the binuclear site. Three different metal centres were tested, Ti(iv), Si(iv) and Ge(iv), in order to investigate any specific role of the metal centre on the activation enthalpy. The results clearly show that the activation enthalpy is independent on the nature of the metal centre. This emphasises the role of the hydrogen bonded network provided by the hydroxylated metal sites, on the stabilisation of the transitions state. In ref. 1 (A. Lundin, I. Panas and E. Ahlberg, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2007, 111, 9080) it was demonstrated that, at the transition state and upon micro-solvation, the hydrogen peroxide entity becomes polarized within the hydrogen bonding network, forming a negatively-charged fragment distant from the ethene molecule and a positively-charged fragment directly involved in the oxygen insertion step. The same mechanism was found to hold also for the reaction at the binuclear catalytic site, since the required hydrogen bonding is effectively provided by the hydroxylated metal centres. This mechanism is compared to the two-step pathway which employs a metal peroxide intermediate. Both reaction channels were found to be plausible in confined environments.


The effect of heat loss on the instability of premixed flames is studied by two-dimensional unsteady calculations of reactive flows, based on the compressible Navier-Stokes equation. We take account of hydrodynamic and diffusive-thermal effects as to the intrinsic instability of premixed flames. A sufficiently small disturbance is superimposed on a planar flame to obtain the relation between the growth rate and the wave number. As the heat loss becomes larger, the growth rate decreases and the unstable range narrows. This is because that the hydrodynamic instability generated by thermal expansion becomes weaker. To study the unstable behavior of cellular flames, the disturbance with the linearly most unstable wave number, i.e., the critical wave number, is superimposed. The superimposed disturbance evolves, and the cellular-flame front is formed, owing to intrinsic instability. The lateral movement of cellular flames is observed at low Lewis numbers, and the behavior of cellular-flame fronts becomes more unstable for non-adiabatic flames. With an increase in the heat loss, the burning velocity of a cellular flame normalized by that of a planar flame increases at Lewis numbers lower than unity. When the Lewis number is not less than unity, on the other hand, the flame-velocity increment decreases by increasing the heat loss.


Ordinarily, the stress tensor that one derives for a Madelung fluid is not regarded as being coupled to a strain tensor, which is consistent with the fluid hypothesis. However, based upon earlier work regarding the geometric nature of the quantum potential, one can, in fact, define a strain tensor, which is not, however, due to a deformation of a spatial region, but to a deformation of a frame field on that region. When one expresses the Madelung stress tensor as a function of the strain tensor and its derivatives, one then defines a constitutive law for the Madelung medium that might lead to a more detailed picture of its elementary structure. It is pointed out that the resulting constitutive law is strongly analogous to laws that were presented by Kelvin and Tait for the bending and torsion of elastic wires and plates, as well as the Einstein equations for gravitation if one takes the viewpoint of metric elasticity.


Summary: The anterolateral thigh (ALT) free flap has proven to be a reliable option for the coverage of soft tissue defects in adults and more recently in the pediatric population. When considering the use of the ALT flap in the pediatric patient, there are few studies that detail techniques specific to pediatric free flap management. We present a unique case of a 14- × 8-cm ALT flap used for traumatic wound coverage in a distal tibial injury in a 6-year-old girl. This case highlights innovative techniques in pediatric perioperative free flap monitoring and the use of continuous external tissue expansion to achieve delayed primary closure of the donor site.


Abstract 1 [][1]

Background The effectiveness of prophylactic platelets (plts) to prevent bleeding in patients with hematological malignancies remains unclear. The aim of this trial was to test the hypothesis that a policy of no-prophylactic plt transfusions (PltTx) is as effective and safe as a policy of prophylactic PltTx.

Methods TOPPS was a randomized, parallel group, open-label, non-inferiority trial that recruited from 14 UK and Australian hospitals ([ISRCTN08758735][2]). The primary outcome was proportion of patients with a clinically significant bleed, defined as ≥WHO Grade 2, up to 30 days (d) from randomization. Non-inferiority margin was defined as a 15% difference in proportion of patients experiencing the primary outcome. Adult patients were eligible if they had a hematological malignancy, were receiving chemotherapy or stem cell transplant (SCT) and expected to be thrombocytopenic for at least 5 days. Patients were randomized by centralized computer system to receive either prophylactic PltTx if plt count was <10×109/L, or no prophylaxis. Allocated treatment policy applied for 30d from randomization, irrespective of in- or out-patient status. In both arms PltTx were given therapeutically (documented signs or symptoms of bleeding) or prior to invasive procedures or at physician discretion. Analysis was by intention to treat.

Results Recruitment began August 2006 and closed in August 2011. Of 1093 patients screened, 600 patients were randomized (301 no-prophylaxis, 299 prophylaxis). Baseline characteristics were well matched. 70% patients in both arms received autologous SCT (autoSCT). The majority of patients in both arms had complete bleeding data recorded [median 30d (IQR 29 to 30) no-prophylaxis arm, median 30d (IQR 30 to 30) prophylaxis arm]. Two patients (1 in each arm) withdrew prior to any data collection. Most PltTx in both arms were given according to protocol (no-prophylaxis 450/504 (89%) vs prophylaxis 810/894 (91%). Fewer patients in the no-prophylaxis group received PltTx (176/300, 59%) vs. prophylaxis group (266/298, 89%) [OR 0.14 (95% CI 0.09 to 0.23]; and they also received fewer PltTx overall [no-prophylaxis mean 1.7 PltTx (SD 2.6) vs. prophylaxis mean 3.0 PltTxs (SD 3.2); rate ratio 0.62, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.74]. Average number of days with plt count <10 and <20×109/L was significantly longer in no-prophylaxis arm.

A WHO grade 2–4 bleed occurred in 151/300 patients (50%) in the no-prophylaxis group compared to 128/298 (43%) in the prophylaxis group (adjusted difference in proportions 8.4%, 90% CI 1.7 to 15.2%: p-value for non-inferiority 0.06). This study therefore did not prove its main aim, that a no-prophylaxis policy is non-inferior to prophylaxis. The time to the first grade 2–4 bleed was significantly shorter in the no-prophylaxis group ([Fig. 1][3]). Patients in the no-prophylaxis group averaged 1.7d (SD 2.9) with a WHO grade 2–4 bleed during follow-up, vs. 1.2d (SD 2.0) in the prophylactic group [rate ratio 1.52, 95% CI 1.14 to 2.03]. Whilst there were more grade 3–4 bleeds in the no-prophylaxis group (6/300) compared to the prophylaxis group (1/298) this did not reach statistical significance (OR 6.05, 95% CI 0.73 to 279.72, p = 0.13). Only 2 of these 7 patients had a plt count <10×109/L at onset of grade 3–4 bleeding (median plt count 16, range 3–42 x109/L); both patients were receiving induction chemotherapy for AML. Pre-defined subgroup analysis between autoSCT vs other treatments for the primary outcome found a significant interaction (p-value 0.04). In the autoSCT group, WHO grade 2–4 bleed grade occurred in 99/210 patients (47%) in the no-prophylaxis group vs 95/210 (45%) in the prophylaxis group (difference in proportions 2.3%, 90% CI −5.7 to 10.3%).

For all patients, there was no significant difference between treatment groups in period of thrombocytopenia, number of days in hospital, or number of SAEsexperienced.

Discussion This multicenter study has not shown that a no-prophylaxis PltTx policy is non-inferior to prophylaxis. Patients in the no-prophylaxis group had more days with a WHO grade 2 or above bleed, and a shorter time to first bleed. Further analysis is needed to determine whether these findings apply to all subgroups of patients. Despite a role for prophylactic platelet transfusions, rates of bleeding in patients remain high.

Funding NHS Blood and Transplant & Australian Red Cross Blood Service

![Figure 1.][4]

Figure 1.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

 [1]: #fn-2
 [2]: /external-ref?link_type=ISRCTN&access_num=ISRCTN08758735
 [3]: #F1
 [4]: pending:yes


Previous to initiation of this study, it had not been shown that cryopreserved endothelial cells survive in vivo following penetrating keratoplasty in primates, though such a survival is suggested by in vitro studies and favorable clinical results. In this study, eight eyes of five monkeys received full-thickness corneal grafts using cryopreserved monkey donor tissue of sex opposite to that of the recipient. The eyes were removed at varying intervals from 5 to 22 weeks postoperatively, and sex chromatin patterns of the corneal endothelial cells were studied. Definite survival of cryopreserved donor endothelial cells or their progeny was observed in all of the eight eyes.


What might EU migrants in the UK do in order to cope with the UK's departure from the EU?
Might they stay or leave? Using data from a pre-EU Referendum online survey we examine how
Portuguese, Polish and Romanian nationals in the UK intended to respond to the EU Referendum.
Excluding the Irish, these groups are the three largest EU nationality groups in the UK.


Background Increased semantic priming is an influential theory of thought disorder in schizophrenia. However, studies to date have had conflicting findings. Aims To investigate semantic memory in patients with schizophrenia with and without thought disorder. Method Data were pooled from 36 studies comparing patients with schizophrenia and normal controls in semantic priming tasks. Data from 18 studies comparing patients with thought disorder with normal controls, and 13 studies comparing patients with and without thought disorder were also pooled. Results There was no support for altered semantic priming in schizophrenia as a whole. Increased semantic priming in patients with thought disorder was supported, but this was significant only in comparison with normal controls and not in comparison with patients without thought disorder. Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) and general slowing of reaction time moderated the effect size for priming in patients with thought disorder. Conclusions Meta-analysis provides qualified support for increased semantic priming as a psychological abnormality underlying thought disorder. However, the possibility that the effect is an artefact of general slowing of reaction time in schizophrenia has not been excluded.


Owing to the close correlation of development of oil and gas reservoir and spatial geological place, the technique of GIS can be introduced into the process of development and management of oil and gas reservoir. But development of oil and gas reservoir has its particularity, development and management GIS of oil and gas reservoir should use the other techniques to extend the forms of representation to make up the shortages of GIS in representation. The development and management GIS of oil and gas reservoir will be perfect besides the basic functions of GIS. This paper expatiates how to use other techniques to extend GIS in development and management of oil and gas reservoir mainly from productive dynamic curve of well, layers of map piling up, 3 D geological model and replaying maps, etc. Through extended GIS in development and management of oil and gas reservoir, the forms of representation of geological information are enriched, representations of information are more direct and visual, spatial descriptive ability and forms of representation of GIS are built up and the single information system will be developed into a management and decision making system.


The interest of the medical community has recently focused on the relationship between gender and cardiocerebrovascular risk. In this paper, we will first review gender differences in cardiocerebrovascular disorders, then we will discuss the existing evidence on the links between migraine and stroke and cardiovascular disease in women, and speculate on the possible physiopathological interpretations of this emerging epidemiological link. In the third part of this work, we will address the issue of the effect of sex hormones on vascular risk, and consider the evidence concerning the safety of oral contraceptives and hormone-replacement therapy. Finally, we will outline the main trends of future research and its possible clinical and therapeutic implications


Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) may be useful to improve the beam quality of excimer laser radiation by phase conjugation. The SBS reflectivity of 26 organic liquids using a broad band XeCl laser has been investigated, while narrow bandwidth radiation has been applied up to now. Beam diameter and focusing conditions are important to achieve sufficient coherence in the scattering region. Maximum reflectivities of about 30% were observed. The influence of molecular size and purity was studied.


A n epidemic of neurobehavioral problems is sweeping through children today. According to In Harm s Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development, a May 2000 report published by the Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, 12 million American children suffer from learning, developmental, or behavioral disabilities. Specifically, these disabilities may include attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, learning disabilities, mental retardation, and other neurobehavioral problems. And the prevalence of some of these disabilities may be increasing. In the past few years, much research has examined the factors that make children markedly vulnerable to neurotoxic substances. Although science cannot always pinpoint the cause of neurological disabilities, many investigators believe that exposure to environmental contaminants in utero or soon after birth could be responsible for at least some of these problems. The list of potentially harmful agents covers a wide range-alcohol, lead, manganese, mercury, organophosphate pesticides, environmental tobacco smoke, and more. Per pound of body weight, children eat more food, drink more fluids, and breathe more air than adults, thereby increasing their potential exposure to harmful toxicants. Moreover, some toxic materials may pose a particularly significant threat to the fetus when crucial systems such as the brain and associated nervous systems are under development. Although a host of scientists are now exploring neurodevelopmental problems, the causes of many such problems still remain unknown. Philip J. Landrigan, director of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Center for Children's Health and the Environment, says, "We know the cause of only a relatively small minority of these conditions. It depends on whom you talk to, but we know the cause of no more than 10-30%, and 30% ... is being generous."


In 2011, the NCETA conducted a national survey of training providers involved in the delivery of alcohol and other drug (AOD) qualifications through Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) across Australia. The aim of the study was to examine the content and delivery of AOD qualifications, the demand for and availability of these courses, and to develop a national database of RTOs that delivered these qualifications. A total of 49 RTO providers participated in a telephone survey.

Training providers identified a need to improve the standard of all qualifications delivered to the AOD field. Strategies:
• increased collaboration among training providers
• forums and other forms of professional development to facilitate training improvement
• better linkages between training providers and service providers
• improved training pathways and credit transfer between VET and higher education providers

Respondents raised concerns about AOD qualifications in the Community Training Package and supported revision, including:
• the need to address comorbidity/mental health issues in AOD qualifications. Inclusion of at least one mental health unit of competency as a core unit in all AOD qualifications was suggested (while mental health qualifications generally included AOD units, AOD qualifications did not necessarily include mental health units or content)
• specific guidance on the amount of coverage to be given to specific drugs, including cannabis
• a reduction in generic units and an increase in AOD units included in AOD qualifications


A hardware implementation of compressed sensing is performed in acoustics. Unlike most of the optically compressed imaging implementations, such as the single-pixel camera, the scattering of scatters is substituted for a carefully engineered Digital Micro-mirror Device. An experimental design is carried out to prove the feasibility of passive direction-finding with only a single acoustic receiver. It is demonstrated that the idea of compressed sensing may also bring revolutionary influence on acoustic detection systems.


Introduction An evaluation of a Danish 900-dwelling residential development, Egebjerggård, built in the 1980s in the Copenhagen suburb of Ballerup was published in November 2002 (Attwell et al., 2002; Petersen). It is one out of many evaluations of residential developments carried out by the Danish Building and Urban Research (former Danish Building Research Institute) since the 1970s. Egebjerggård comprises mainly terrace housing and low residential blocks. The overall intention was to build an optimal modern suburban living environment. The evaluation covered studies of the physical outcome as well as a comprehensive survey of the resident satisfaction with the area. The survey comprised the respondents ranking the qualities of the area that relate to satisfaction with their living situation. The main finding of the survey was that the green-scape, i.e. the areas inside and around the residential development received the highest score of all qualities listed, including e.g. architecture, quality and size of dwelling, transport and shopping, art and safety.


The aim of the present paper is to present thoroughly the greek tax regulation system in maritime tourism, after the vote of the recent L. 4256/2014, as well as the role of the taxation in the development of this particular sector and the contribution in general of the maritime tourism sector in the development of the national and european economy. In addition, basic competitors of Greece in maritime tourism are presented, mainly in the Mediterranean basin, claiming a significant market share. In the end, after having analyzed the present position/ dynamic of Greece in maritime tourism, the paper reaches to conclusive comments and propositions.


Thirteen patients with gallbladder disease but otherwise healthy were studied in connection with cholecystectomy. Specimens of the lateral vastus muscle were taken by the percutaneous needle biopsy technique during anesthesia before surgery, on two occasions during surgery and 30 min after discontinuation of anaesthesia. The muscle samples were analysed for glycogen, lactate, citrate, ATP, phosphoryl creatine, creatine and water content. Citrate and lactate concentrations in muscle increased continuously throughout the study. There were no significant changes in the concentration of glycogen, phosphoryl creatine, and ATP in muscle tissue. The increase in citrate concentration is probably related to an augmented uptake and combustion of free fatty acids and 3-hydroxybutyrate in this situation. The data suggest that during anaesthesia and abdominal surgery an increase in the muscle citrate concentration may contribute to the modulation of carbohydrate utilization in skeletal muscle.


The aim of Elementary Japanese 112 is to continue to provide basic training in all elementary language skills (speaking, listening, writing, reading and cross-cultural understanding) so that you will be able to handle your needs adequately in highly predictable everyday situations. Although all language skills will be taught, the primary focus will be placed on the development of oral communication skills. Read "COMMUNICATIVE OBJECTIVES" in the first page of each lesson for details.


The effect of electron‐correlation on the ground‐state properties of CeN and LaN is studied by ab initio quantum‐chemical methods. The approach which is used combines two separate steps: (1) the ground‐state Hartree‐Fock calculations for the crystal; (2) application of the method of increments to the studied system, which allows an expansion of bulk properties using the information from quantum‐chemical calculations performed for finite clusters. As can be expected, for CeN correlation plays a significant role: with Hartree‐Fock method only 49% of the experimental cohesive energy has been recovered, whereas after correlation corrections (coupled‐cluster approach) the ground‐state properties were found to be in good agreement with the experimental data found in literature. Thus, we obtained about 90% of the expected cohesive energy; the computed lattice constants and bulk moduli also agree well with the experimental values. For comparison, the equivalent treatment has been performed for LaN, where no f orbital is occupied. There the HF contribution to the ground‐state properties is larger and hence the correlation effects weaker. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2008


Transparency is considered a key value for trustworthy governments. However, the effect of transparency on citizens' trust across different national cultures is overlooked in current research. This article compares the effect of transparency on trust in government between the Netherlands and South Korea. The effect is investigated by two similar series of three experiments. We hypothesize that the effect of transparency differs, because both countries have different cultural values regarding power distance and short and long-term orientation. Results reveal similar patterns in both countries: transparency has a subdued and sometimes negative effect on trust in government. However, the negative effect in South Korea is much stronger. This implies a subdued and negative effect of transparency on trust in the short term in both countries. Nevertheless, the difference in the magnitude of transparency's effect suggests that national cultural values play a significant role in how people perceive and appreciate government transparency.


Traditionally, infectivity of a trivalent live attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIVs) is titrated by determining the 50% egg infectious dose assay (EID50) or plaque forming units (PFU), which requires specific monoclonal antibodies to neutralize 2 strains while estimating the titer of the non-neutralized strain. Compared to this time-consuming, laborious, subjective and variable process, reverse transcription-quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) technology has advantages of rapidity, sensitivity, reproducibility and reduced contamination, thus has been applied widely for detecting pathogens and measuring viral titers. In this study, the critical harvest time was determined to be 18 h post-infection (hpi) for type A influenza and 12 hpi for type B influenza, but no significant difference between titers at 12 hpi and 18 hpi for the type B strain was observed. In conclusion, trivalent LAIVs can be titrated simultaneously within 24 h by this one-step RT-qPCR assay, which yielded titers comparable to those obtained by the traditional EID50 assay. Therefore, the RT-qPCR assay may be used as a highly specific, sensitive, precise and rapid alternative to the EID50 assay for titering LAIVs.


The purpose of this study is to assess the current strategy of mechanical circulatory support for profound heart failure. In the last 10 years, 37 patients with profound heart failure underwent mechanical circulatory support after open heart surgery and 9 patients with non-cardiotomy cardiogenic shock received emergency circulatory support. All patients showed severe cardiac failure and/or fatal ventricular arrhythmia and required circulatory support as a life-saving measure. After cardiovascular surgery, 12 of those patients underwent venoarterial bypass (VAB), 13 had biventricular bypass (BVB), 8 had left ventricular bypass (LVB) and the remaining 4 patients received left ventricular assist device (LVAD). And 9 patients with non-cardiotomy cardiogenic shock received percutaneous cardiopulmonary support (or PCPS) as an emergency assist system. Weaning and discharge rates of the patients by the type of circulatory supports were 41.7% and 25.0% with VAB, 69.3% and 46.2% with BVB, 87.5% and 37.5% with LVB, 75.0% and 50.0% with LVAD, and 44.4% and 11.1% with PCPS, respectively. Clinical results of post-cardiotomy circulatory support (64.9% of weaning and 37.8% of discharge) were acceptable, but the patients with non-cardiotomy cardiac failure needed early application of more advanced circulatory support.


Background: While FLOSS projects espouse openness and acceptance for all, in practice, female contributors often face discriminatory barriers to contribution. Aims: In this paper, we examine the extent to which these problems still exist. We also study male and female contributors' perceptions of other contributors. Method: We surveyed participants from 15 FLOSS projects, asking a series of open-ended, closed-ended, and behavioral scale questions to gather information about the issue of gender in FLOSS projects. Results: Though many of those we surveyed expressed a positive sentiment towards females who participate in FLOSS projects, some were still strongly against their inclusion. Often, the respondents who were against inclusiveness also believed their own sentiments were the prevailing belief in the community, contrary to our findings. Others did not see the purpose of attempting to be inclusive, expressing the sentiment that a discussion of gender has no place in FLOSS. Conclusions: FLOSS projects have started to move forwards in terms of gender acceptance. However, there is still a need for more progress in the inclusion of gender-diverse contributors.


The profound economic and social changes that took place during the period of transition from a central-based economy to the market system have deeply marked the evolution of industrial towns, particularly those targeted for heavy industry development between 1950 and 1989. The present paper analyses this model of urban evolution affected by the interference of the political-ideological factor. Three towns, Galaţi, Târgoviste and Oţelu Rosu, in which a strong iron-and-steel industry was planted, have been taken into the study. Galaţi – a large town with complex functions, a regional and crossborder polarization center, was singled out for this type of industry by political decision within the context of the industrialization drive of the 1950s; Târgoviste – an old middle urban center, was pushed into the iron-and-steel route in the 1970-1980 decade. Oţelu Rosu – a small town, has a traditional iron-and-steel industry based on local raw material resources. Relying on historical documents, bibliographical sources and field work, the author correlates urban development evolutions with the industrialization policies, highlighting the causes that have led to the present decline of these towns and the challenges facing the local authorities in revitalizing them in a sustainable manner.


The wavelet transform (WT) is widely used in ultrasonic flaw detection (UFD) systems because of its property of multiresolution time-frequency analysis. Those traditional WT-based methods for UFD use a wavelet basis with limited types to match various echo signals (called wavelet matching signals), so it is difficult for those methods to achieve the optimal match between echo signal and wavelet basis. This results in limited detection ability in high background noise for those WT-based methods. In this paper, we propose a signal matching wavelet (SMW) method for UFD to solve this problem. Unlike traditional UFD systems, in the proposed SMW, the transmitted signal is designed to be a wavelet function for matching a wavelet basis. This makes it possible to obtain the optimal match between the echo signal and the wavelet basis. To achieve the optimal match from the aspect of energy, we derive three rules for designing the transmitted signal and selecting the wavelet basis. Further, the parameter selection in applying the proposed SMW method to a practical UFD system is analyzed. In addition, a low-rate discrete WT structure is designed to decrease the hardware cost, which facilitates the practical application of the proposed SMW. The simulation results show that the proposed SMW can efficiently detect flaws in high background noise even with SNR lower than -20 dB, outperforming the existing methods by 5 dB.


In a highly competitive environment saturated in information traversing the earth in nanosecond, the major challenge for companies is to have the right information at the right time, to exploit it and transform it into useful organizational knowledge for strategy formulation and decision-making. Nowadays, several management practices have been developed and designed to cope with the complexity that exists in the business environment and to maintain a sustained competitive advantage. Competitive intelligence is one of these innovative strategic management practices that play an increasingly important role in decision-making. This article attempts to present an overview of its fundamental concepts, functions and process and to explain how information is utilized in supporting decision-making process. The findings of this research suggest that decision makers should focus on developing competitive intelligence process in their organizations. This paper falls under a research task that was not confronted yet with the test of the terrain survey.


Abstract Borrowing from the vote aggregation literature, this paper addresses two current era problems of information technology—spam and virus recognition. The underlying idea behind the solutions proposed is to combine the opinions of several "experts" in one of these areas (i.e., antispam filters, anti-virus programs, respectively) to a final group decision. Despite the fact that the problems, and thus the applications designed to tackle them, are different, our approach in these solutions is unified, and is based on the same mathematical model, the so-called dichotomous choice model.


A rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by abnormalities in the metabolism of phenylalanine and tyrosine. It results in the accumulation in the blood of homogentisic acid which is excreted in the urine. The presence of homogentisic acid in the urine causes its color to turn black. The excessive amount of homogentisic acid in the blood may cause damage to cartilage and heart valves, and may result in the formation of kidney stones.


This paper describes our initial steps towards self-configuring mechanisms for automating high-level security and service policies in dynamic networks. We build on the NESTOR system developed at Columbia University for instrumenting and monitoring constraints on network elements and services such as DHCP, DNS zones, host-based access controls, firewalls, and VLAN switches.Current paradigms for configuration management require that changes be propagated either manually or via low-level scripts suited to static networks. Our longer-term goal is to provide fully automated techniques which work for dynamic networks in which changes are frequent and often unanticipated. Automated approaches, such as ours, are the only viable solution for global and dynamic networks and services. In this paper, we focus on one specific scenario to illustrate our ideas: providing transparent and secure access to selected services from a mobile laptop. The challenge is that reconfiguration must satisfy the security policies of two independent corporate networks.