Introduction Up to 70% of patients with Crohn's disease and some 30% of patients with ulcerative colitis require abdominal surgery during their lifetime. Perioperative adverse events such as anastomotic leaks, intra-abdominal abscess and unplanned stoma formation are associated with potentially modifiable risk factors. Impaired recovery and complications cause considerable loss of quality of life in this population, who are often in a formative stage of life with considerable educational, professional and family commitments. In order to improve outcomes in elective or expedited IBD surgery, identification of these modifiable risk factors and their pre-operative optimisation in each individual patient is important, but preoperative management remains heterogeneous. We therefore aimed to implement a care bundle to systematically identify and optimise preoperative modifiable risk factors in IBD surgery. Method A literature review identified five important modifiable pre-operative factors in IBD surgery: smoking, anaemia, malnutrition, steroid and immunosuppressant therapy, and intra-abdominal sepsis. From May 2017, a pre-operative patient optimisation bundle was developed to improve these risk factors. It was implemented using a continuous quality improvement (QI) methodology utilising the model for improvement, sequential plan–do–study–act cycles, tests of change and trust wide upscaling. The main outcome measure was days between failure, where failure was defined as non-compliance with one or more of the five components of the pathway. The care pathway was fully implemented from 1 September 2017, with a continuous QI approach. Results 18 consecutive patients operated prior to the implementation date, were retrospectively assessed and 14 patients operated with the care bundle were prospectively studied. Mean days between compliance failure increased approximately 2-fold, from 11.7 to 26.1 days. From the first month of implementation, 100% compliance with the anaemia and smoking interventions were achieved, while full compliance with nutritional assessment and steroid weaning elements took longer time to achieve. Length of stay and incidence of Clavien-Dindo grade ≥II morbidity remain unchanged in this prelimnary data. Conclusion Quality improvement methodologies including PDSA cycles, tests of change and trust-wide up-scaling are effective in implement a complex multidisciplinary pre-operative optimisation care pathway for patients undergoing major IBD surgery.


For many system level questions jurisprudential data has grown to a size and scale that no longer lends itself to traditional analytic techniques driven by human examination and direct analysis. While there will always be vast numbers of specific questions well within the capabilities of humans, an understanding of the system as a whole is no longer among them. Over the past several decades jurisprudence has begun to use mathematical and other analytic techniques many of which were developed in the physical sciences. It is now time for jurisprudence to embrace more fully the analytic tools of these other disciplines, specifically those coming out of physics, in order to continue to produce new insights to aid in the structure, function, design of judicial systems and the analysis of judicial dynamics.


This study explores some empirical validity of the fear of the Covid-19 scale. The study intends to examine potential validity when the scale is used for young people attending higher education institutions in Indonesia. Researchers invited undergraduate students from five universities in Indonesia. Four hundred fourty five participants fully completed the survey within six weeks of data collection. The study was conducted online through an online survey platform where most participants completed the survey within 20 minutes. Two measures were employed, the fear of Covid-19 and the perceived stress scale. The results supported the theoretical measurement model in which fear of Covid-19 and perceived stress scale each represented a unidimensional construct. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) also found that the fear of the Covid-19 scale generated positive loading factors for its items with an average variance extracted (AVE) higher than 50%. The Pearson's correlation's predictive validity study observed a positive and significant association between fear of Covid-19 and perceived stress. This study has provided initial empirical support for the use of fear of Covid-19 for young people who attend higher education institutions. The fear of the Covid-19 measure was also in line with several studies and the Conservation of Resource theory. People who perceive crisis will experience threats to their resources, and they will be more likely to experience stress if they do not have enough resources to cope with the threats.


In Malaysian universities, writing in English is taught in several settings: writing for general purposes, writing for academic purposes and writing for specific purposes. Writing in these settings allows learners to learn to write in different genres, such as research, reports, and persuasive writing genres. One of the standard genres is persuasive because it is used to convince readers of what is researched or reported. To be competent in persuading or arguing, using the appropriate rhetorical and linguistic structure is crucial. The appropriate rhetorical and linguistic elements will help to achieve the writers' objective and intention. This paper will examine rhetorical and linguistic structures used by the ESL writers in producing a persuasive essay. Fifteen persuasive essays written by tertiary learners were analysed in this study. The researchers employed Stephen Toulmin's Model of argument (1969) as the tool of analysis in identifying the rhetorical and linguistic structures realised in the students' essays. The analysis outcome indicates that the 15 ESL writers under investigation comply with Toulmin's model except for the rebuttal stage, which was not visible in the essays. The findings will explain the common and uncommon rhetorical and linguistic elements used based on the model that Toulmin has developed. The implications from the findings are twofold; first, academic writing teachers can focus on the necessary elements to produce competent persuasive ESL writers, and secondly, textbook developers may produce their books based on the findings drawn from this study.


We model the determinants of donations made to UK overseas development charities using panel data on charities' donation income covering a 25 year period. The paper starts by reviewing relevant theory and previous empirical work on donations to UK charities before outlining a framework in which donations are a function of fundraising, government grants, total household income, inequality in household income, disasters, Official Development Assistance, and unobserved fixed characteristics of charities. Models are estimated by the within groups estimator and also by Generalised Method of Moments (GMM). When using the GMM approach, fundraising and government grants are allowed to be endogenous. Fundraising has a powerful effect. Government grants appear to crowd in rather than crowd out donations. No impact is found from ODA. The hypothesis of a unitary income elasticity for donations cannot be rejected. Results are compared with those for non-development charities.


A new microporous TiO2-pillared layered titanate has been successfully prepared by hybridizing the exfoliated titanate with the anatase TiO 2 nano-sol. According to the X-ray diffraction analysis and N 2 adsorptiondesorption isotherms, the TiO 2-pillared layered titanate showed a pillar height of ~2 nm with a high surface area of ~460 m/g and a pore size of ~0.95 nm, indicating that a microporous pillar structure is formed. Its photocatalytic activity was evaluated by measuring the photodegradation rate of 4-chlorophenol during irradiation of catalyst suspensions in an aqueous solution. An enhancement in activity of ca. 170% was obtained for TiO2-pillared layered titanate compared to that of the pristine compound such as layered cesium titanate.


Biocomposites of Hildegardia/polypropylene (PP) were prepared. The effect of fiber loading and the compatibilizer on the tensile properties of these composites was studied. The interfacial bonding between the fibers and the matrix was examined using the fractographs. Using diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectra, the established bonding between the fibers and PP was investigated.


[1] A novel automatic classification method is proposed for identifying the habits of large ice-cloud particles and deriving the shape distribution of particle ensembles. This IC-PCA (Ice-crystal Classification with Principal Component Analysis) tool is based on a principal component analysis of selected physical and statistical features of ice-crystal perimeters. The method is developed and tested using image data obtained with a Cloud Particle Imager, but can be applied to other silhouette data as well. For three randomly selected test cases of 222, 200, and 201 crystals from tropical, midlatitude, and arctic ice clouds, the combined classification accuracy of the IC-PCA is 81.1%. Since previous, semiautomatic classification methods are more time-consuming and include a subjective phase, the automatic and objective IC-PCA offers a notable improvement in retrieving the shapes of the individual crystals. As the habit distributions of ice-cloud particles can be applied to computations of radiative impact of cirrus, it is also demonstrated how classification uncertainties propagate into the radiative transfer computations by using the arctic test case as an example. Computations of shortwave radiative fluxes show that the flux differences between clouds of manually and automatically classified crystals can be as large as 10 Wm−2 but also that two manual classifications of the same image data result in even larger differences, implying the need for a systematic and repeatable classification method.


Spectral analysis of the environment, often called sniffing, is used to find a clear operating band in radar and communication systems. The authors show that the sniffing technique can be used to null multiple broad-band sidelobe jammers by exploiting the transfer function of the antenna. Analysis and computer simulation are used to demonstrate the performance.


s | 27 Results: Social defeat stress as juveniles, even with 1-day exposure, induced robust and persistent deficits of social behaviors in relation to the unfamiliar ICR mouse, compared with the responses of mice exposed to the stress as adults. The stress did not affect anxiety-like behaviors during spontaneous locomotor activity in a novel environment and performance on the elevated plus-maze or marble-burying test. Additionally, the mice exposed to the stress as juveniles showed the increased serum corticosterone levels and suppressed neurogenesis in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus. The persistent deficits of social behaviors and suppression of neurogenesis were prevented by administration of mifepristone prior to the stress. Conclusion: Deficits of social behaviors induced by social defeat stress as juveniles are more persistent than when exposure occurs as adults. The deficits are associated with suppression of neurogenesis in the hippocampus via activation of glucocorticoid receptors. PM347 Postnatal exposure to valproic acid in postnatal day 2–4 rats shows deficit of social interaction Hee Jae Lee1, Tamanna Jahan Mony1, Wanjoo Chun1, Sung Soo Kim1, Emanuel DiCicco-Bloom2,3 1Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Gangwon, Republic of Korea 2Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 3Department of Pediatrics, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers, the State of New Jersey, New Brunswick,


Establishment of clean closure concentrations for low levels of hazardous constituents in soils, ground water, and other environmental media by assessing risks to human health and the environment is a tool that is being used with increasing frequency. The four-step process sanctioned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) includes: 1) hazard identification, 2) exposure assessment, 3) toxicity assessment, and 4) risk characterization. This paper describes the methodology and applies it to the closure of a hazardous waste surface impoundment in Florida. To date, the closure process has taken nearly five years and, pending the EPA's and Florida Department of Environmental Regulation's (FDER's) final approval, will result in clean closure of a small facility that has spent in excess of $450,000 U.S. during this period for removal of 516 cubic metres of sludge and other solids. If clean closure is approved, as is concluded to be protective of human health herein, the facility owner stands to save $275,000 U.S. that is estimated would be required to monitor ground water and to maintain an impermeable cap for the 30-year post closure period currently required under U.S. and Florida regulations.

The risk assessment discussed in this paper began when soil samples collected after excavation of 516 cubic metres of sludges, soils, and other solids showed that the preliminary soil closure levels sanctioned by the FDER for chromium and nickel had not been achieved. Continued excavation would have cost a minimum of $50,000 to $100,000 U.S. (in 1988 dollars) and still may not have reached closure levels for these two metals. It is concluded in this paper that the maximum levels of chromium and nickel remaining onsite after remedial excavation (2.1 and 3.7 mg/kg, respectively) do not pose a risk to human health, and that the agency could raise the allowable closure level for these two metals from the current values of 1.1 and 0.70 mg/kg to these maximum values.


T H E SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL is an elongated basin -100 km by 40 km lying between the California coast, where it trends westward from greater Los Angeles to Pt. Conception, and the east-west trending Channel Island chain of four offshore islands (San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Anacapa) -50 km offshore (Fig. 1). A 500-m deep basin occupies the western center of the channel, and narrow continental shelves with depths the order of 100 m border its northern and southern boundaries. The channel is separated from the Southern California Bight to the east by a sill ~200 m deep between Anacapa and Port Hueneme. A sill ~400 m deep between Pt. Conception and San Miguel Island separates the channel from the open ocean to the west. The Santa Maria Basin is around the corner, north of Pt. Arguello. The surface waters of the channel are primarily mixtures of warm and saline waters from the Southern California Bight with colder and fresher waters upwelled near and poleward of Pts. Conception and Arguello. The California current flows equatorward past the western mouth of the channel, but its greatest speeds and most pronounced water properties (higher temperatures and lower salinities than those of the upwelled water) are usually found several hundred kilometers to the west of the channel. Prevailing winds around Pt. Arguello are equatorward, strong and steady in the summer, weaker but far more variable in the winter. The channel itself is a relatively sheltered region. The transition from sheltered to exposed wind conditions occurs over a few kilometers in the western channel. These conditions all make the circulation in the channel and adjoining regions more comp l e x a n d less well understood--than anywhere else along the west coast of the United States. At the same time, the Santa Barbara Channel and the Santa Maria Basin comprise a region of intense exploitation of known local oil and gas re-


Abstract Fairness has been identified as a psychological adaptation to share the benefits of cooperation: unfair agents disproportionately favoring their own interests indeed decrease their chance of being recruited in future collaborations. Given the potential benefits of cooperation, it has been argued that fairness should become functional early in ontogeny as the child acquires more independence and expands her social network and collaborations. More importantly, fairness should appear universally, independently of the specific cultural settings. We study the distribution of the benefits of a collective action in five-year-old children in a non-western tribal society, the Turkana of Kenya. Our results reveal that Turkana children demonstrate a clear understanding of merit and that they take individuals' contribution into account when distributing a resource collectively produced.


This doctoral work specifically discusses how to use information and communication technology (ICT) in the academic activities of the pre-schoolers with regards to the competence of language and communication. Particularly, focusing on the use of Tablets incorporated as a techno-educative and collaborative model. The research adopted mixed methods involving 520 participants, children, parents, and teachers. Based on an analysis of the context the ICT was introduced. The results are promising as there was an improvement in children's evaluation1.


The composition of the aqueous humor of patients with type 2 diabetes is relevant to understanding the underlying causes of eye-related comorbidities. Information on the composition of aqueous humor in healthy subjects is limited due to the lack of adequate controls. To carry out a metabolomics study, 31 samples of aqueous humor from healthy subjects without ocular pathology, submitted to refractive surgery and seven samples from patients with type 2 diabetes without signs of ocular pathology related to diabetes were used. The level of 25 molecules was significantly (p < 0.001) altered in the aqueous humor of the patient group. The concentration of a single molecule, N-acetylornithine, makes it possible to discriminate between control and diabetes (sensitivity and specificity equal to 1). In addition, receptor operating characteristic curve and principal component analysis for the above-mentioned six molecules yielded significantly (p < 0.001) altered in the aqueous humor of the patient group. In addition, receptor operating characteristic curve and principal component analysis for six compounds yielded cut-off values and remarkable sensitivity, specificity, and segregation ability. The altered level of N-acetylornithine may be due to an increased amount of acetate in diabetes. It is of interest to further investigate whether this alteration is related to the pathogenesis of the disease. The increase in the amino form of pyruvate, alanine, in diabetes is also relevant because it could be a means of reducing the formation of lactate from pyruvate.


This paper analyzed the role of Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade in promoting agricultural growth in East Asian countries over the period 1987-2003. The study employed the panel data econometrics to investigate this relationship empirically. The results indicated that imports, exports and trade liberalization were the important factors that contributed to growth in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Thus, trade promoting policy in these countries would also stimulate the agricultural growth. By contrast, only imports and trade liberalization were important factors contributing to growth in Korea and Taiwan. The study also found that Japanese FDI significantly helped to stimulate the agricultural growth, but the evidence was weak in the cases of Korea and Taiwan.JEL classification: O47, Q17, R11


The behavior of emerging wireless sensor networks is often characterized by short bursts of computation and communication followed by long periods of inactivity. As the unit devices are typically powered by batteries, conservation of energy - particularly during idle time - is paramount. Subthreshold logic has been proposed for providing lower energy per operation than traditional CMOS, but does so with a significant degradation of performance. This paper describes a novel approach of dynamically switching between sub- and super-threshold operation through the use of floating gate techniques in order to provide high performance during active periods and low leakage during idle periods.


The polyphenol profile of two Tunisian varieties of dates including flavanols, flavonols, flavones, and hydroxycinnamates was characterized. Three tissue zones (flesh, peel, and stone) and three maturity stages were considered. Phenolic compounds were analyzed using reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to UV-visible and electrospray mass spectrometry. Procyanidin oligomers and polymers were characterized and quantified using phloroglucinolysis prior to HPLC analysis. Procyanidin polymers based on (-)-epicatechin structure were by far the most concentrated polyphenols in ripe dates, accounting for 95% of total polyphenols with an average concentration of 14 g/kg in the fresh edible parts of the fruit. Interestingly, procyanidins were also highly concentrated in the stones. The concentration and average degree of polymerization (DPn) of the procyanidins decreased according to maturity. Other phenolics, including caffeoylshikimic acid hexoside, caffeoyl-sinapoyl monohexoside and dihexoside, and acetylated flavonols, were tentatively identified for the first time in the fruit.


Abstract: A unit truss finite element analysis method allowing non-linear deformation is employed to analyze a unit cell comprised of n octet-truss structures for their stiffness and displacement compared to their relative density under loading. Axial, bending, shearing, and torsion effects are included in the analysis for each strut in the octet-truss structure which is then related to the mesostructure level (unit cell). The versatility of additive manufacturing allows for the fabrication of these complex unit cell truss structures which can be used as building blocks for macro-scale geometries. The finite element calculations are compared to experimental results for samples manufactured on a Stereolithography Apparatus (SLA) out of a standard resin.


PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide an overview of emerging prediction assessment tools for composite-based PLS-SEM, particularly proposed out-of-sample prediction methodologies.Design/methodology/approachA review of recently developed out-of-sample prediction assessment tools for composite-based PLS-SEM that will expand the skills of researchers and inform them on new methodologies for improving evaluation of theoretical models. Recently developed and proposed cross-validation approaches for model comparisons and benchmarking are reviewed and evaluated.FindingsThe results summarize next-generation prediction metrics that will substantially improve researchers' ability to assess and report the extent to which their theoretical models provide meaningful predictions. Improved prediction assessment metrics are essential to justify (practical) implications and recommendations developed on the basis of theoretical model estimation results.Originality/valueThe paper provides an overview of recently developed and proposed out-of-sample prediction metrics for composite-based PLS-SEM that will enhance the ability of researchers to demonstrate generalization of their findings from sample data to the population.


The study was carried out in 45 samples of amniotic fluid taken by amniocentesis from 21 hypertensive mothers (study group) and 24 healthy mothers (control group). In these samples the concentrations were determined of total oestrogens and human placental lactogen. In the evaluation of the state of the newborns the following was considered: 1) length and body weight, 2) status in the 1st minute of life (Apgar score). The results were subjected to statistical analysis. In hypertensive mothers during pregnancy HPL and total oestrogen concentrations were decreased. In the study group reduction of body weight and length was found. The general condition of the newborns in the 1st minute was similar in both groups.


Conditional computation algorithms, such as the early exiting (EE) algorithm, can be applied to accelerate the inference of pretrained language models (PLMs) while maintaining competitive performance on resource-constrained devices. However, this approach is only applied to the vertical architecture to decide which layers should be used for inference. Conversely, the operation of the horizontal perspective is ignored, and the determination of which tokens in each layer should participate in the computation fails, leading to a high redundancy for adaptive inference. To address this limitation, a unified horizontal and vertical multi-perspective early exiting (MPEE) framework is proposed in this study to accelerate the inference of transformer-based models. Specifically, the vertical architecture uses recycling EE classifier memory and weighted self-distillation to enhance the performance of the EE classifiers. Then, the horizontal perspective uses recycling class attention memory to emphasize the informative tokens. Conversely, the tokens with less information are truncated by weighted fusion and isolated from the following computation. Based on this, both horizontal and vertical EE are unified to obtain a better tradeoff between performance and efficiency. Extensive experimental results show that MPEE can achieve higher acceleration inference with competent performance than existing competitive methods.


Abstract A powerful aspect of single-particle cryogenic electron microscopy is its ability to determine high-resolution structures from samples containing heterogeneous mixtures of the same macromolecule in different conformational or compositional states. Beyond determining structures at higher resolutions, one outstanding question is if macromolecules with only subtle conformation differences, such as the same protein bound with different ligands in the same binding pocket, can be separated reliably, and if information concerning binding kinetics can be derived from the particle distributions of different conformations obtained in classification. In this study, we address these questions by assessing the classification of synthetic heterogeneous datasets of Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 generated by combining different homogeneous experimental datasets. Our results indicate that classification can isolate highly homogeneous subsets of particle for calculating high-resolution structures containing individual ligands, but with limitations.


Prostitution's phenomenon is one of criminality forms that is very difficult to overcome and this criminality type is widely supported by economic factors in the environment, until now, prostitution cannot be stopped, as well as a treatment to sexual morality, domestic life, health, women's welfare. One of the problems is because the number of tourists from the Middle East came and went to Kampung Arab, the area of Puncak, Bogor regency particularly. The practical sexual transaction not only experiencing by the prostitutes from Bogor and Cianjur (PSK Domestic) but also between Arabic tourists and Moroccos, what we called Maghribi. Therefore, the government should be more active in seeking solutions to this problem, such as eradicating prostitution bravely in brothels. As the time goes by, Indonesian culture will be eroded from that area and the most worrying is the case of prostitution will multiply as social issues related to moral ethics nationally.Keywords: Prostitution, Moral Ethics and Prevention of Prostitution.


Comprehensive studies of evolution have historically been hampered by the division among disciplines. Now, as biology moves towards an '‐omics' era, it is more important than ever to tackle the evolution of function and form by considering all those research areas involved in the regulation of phenotypes. Here, we review recent attempts to establish the nematode Pristionchus pacificus as a model organism that allows integrative studies of development and evo‐devo, with ecology and population genetics. Originally developed for comparative study with the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, P. pacificus provided insight into developmental pathways including dauer formation, vulva and gonad development, chemosensation, innate immunity and neurobiology. Its subsequent discovery across a wide geographic distribution in association with scarab beetles enabled its evaluation in a biogeographic context. Development of an evolutionary field station on La Réunion Island, where P. pacificus is present in high abundance across a number of widespread habitat types, allows examination of the microfacets of evolution – processes of natural selection, adaptation and drift among populations can now be examined in this island setting. The combination of laboratory‐based functional studies with fieldwork in P. pacificus has the long‐term prospective to provide both proximate (mechanistic) and ultimate (evolutionary and ecological) causation and might therefore help to overcome the long‐term divide between major areas in biology.


Getting rid of fool's gold Pyrite, also called fool's gold, is an iron sulfide mineral that is very commonly found in rock but is almost nonexistent in sediments today. Pyrite oxidizes quickly and is a major source of sulfur to the ocean, but it is also a proxy for the oxygen content historically in Earth's atmosphere. Gu et al. conducted a set of detailed observations of the pyrite oxidation process in a shale unit. The authors found that erosion tied to fracturing is just as important as the oxygen content for the dissolution process. They developed a model that helps determine the conditions in Earth's past for which pyrite might have been stable and the role of microorganisms in the oxidation process. Science, this issue p. eabb8092 Subsurface fractures play an unexpected role in oxidizing pyrite. INTRODUCTION Oxidative weathering of pyrite, the most abundant sulfide mineral in Earth's crust, is coupled to the biogeochemical cycles of sulfur, oxygen, carbon, and iron. Pyrite oxidation is key to these cycles because of its high reactivity with oxygen. Before the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), atmospheric oxygen concentrations were low on early Earth and pyrite was exposed at Earth's surface, allowing erosion into sediments that were preserved in river deposits. Today, it oxidizes at depth in most rocks and is often not exposed at the land surface. To understand pyrite weathering through geologic time, researchers extrapolate the reaction kinetics based on studies from the laboratory or in acid mine drainage. Such work has emphasized the important role of microorganisms in catalyzing pyrite oxidation. But to interpret the oxidation rates of pyrite on early Earth requires knowledge of the rate-limiting step of the oxidation as it occurs naturally in rocks. RATIONALE We investigated the oxidation of pyrite in micrometer-sized grains, in centimeter-sized rock fragments, and in meter-scale boreholes at a small, well-studied catchment in a critical-zone observatory. Our goal was to determine the reaction mechanism of pyrite weathering in rocks as it occurs today. The slow-eroding catchment is underlain by shale, the most common rock type exposed on Earth. We determined weathering profiles of pyrite through chemical and microscopic analysis. RESULTS At the ridgelines of the shale watershed, most pyrite oxidation occurs within a 1-m-thick reaction zone ∼16 m below land surface, just above the depth of water table fluctuation. This is the reaction front at the borehole scale. Only limited oxidation occurs in halos around a few fractures at deeper depths. Above the depth where pyrite is 100% oxidized in all boreholes, rock fracture density and porosity are generally higher than below. However, the narrow parts of pore openings called pore throats remain small enough in oxidizing shale to limit access of microorganisms to the pyrite surface. During oxidation, iron oxides pseudomorphically replace the pyrite grains. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals that the oxidation front at grain scale is defined by a sharp interface between pyrite and an iron (oxyhydr)oxide (Fh) that is either ferrihydrite or feroxyhyte. This Fh then transforms into a banded structure of iron oxides that ultimately alter to goethite in outer layers. This complex oxidative transformation progresses inward from fractures when observed at clast scale. CONCLUSION Under today's atmosphere, pyrite oxidation, rate-limited by diffusion of oxygen at the grain scale, is regulated by fracturing at clast scale. As pyrite is oxidized at borehole scale before reaching the land surface in most landscapes today, the oxidation rate is controlled by the movement of pyrite upward, which is in turn limited by the rate of erosion. Comparisons of shale landscapes with different erosion rates reveal that fracture spacing varies with erosion rate, so this suggests that fracture spacing may couple the landscape-scale to grain-scale rates. Microbial acceleration of oxidation globally today is unlikely in low-porosity rocks because pyrite oxidation usually occurs at depth, where pore throats limit access, as observed here for shales. Before the GOE, the rate of pyrite oxidation was instead controlled by the slower reaction kinetics in the presence of lower atmospheric oxygen concentrations. At that time, therefore, pyrite was exposed at the land surface, where microbial interaction could have accelerated the oxidation and acidified the landscape, as suggested by others. Our work highlights the importance of fracturing and erosion in addition to atmospheric oxygen as a control on the reactivity of this ubiquitous iron sulfide. Schematic depiction of oxidative weathering of pyrite in rocks buried at meters depth. Pyrite oxidation was studied from the molecular (TEM) scale of the pyrite―Fe oxide interface through clast and borehole scales to extrapolate to landscapes. The rate of oxidation of pyrite, limited at grain scale by oxygen diffusion through the shale matrix, is regulated at larger scales by fracturing and erosion. Pyrite is a ubiquitous iron sulfide mineral that is oxidized by trace oxygen. The mineral has been largely absent from global sediments since the rise in oxygen concentration in Earth's early atmosphere. We analyzed weathering in shale, the most common rock exposed at Earth's surface, with chemical and microscopic analysis. By looking across scales from 10−9 to 102 meters, we determined the factors that control pyrite oxidation. Under the atmosphere today, pyrite oxidation is rate-limited by diffusion of oxygen to the grain surface and regulated by large-scale erosion and clast-scale fracturing. We determined that neither iron- nor sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms control global pyrite weathering fluxes despite their ability to catalyze the reaction. This multiscale picture emphasizes that fracturing and erosion are as important as atmospheric oxygen in limiting pyrite reactivity over Earth's history.


Whether it is to better their sports performance or to look sleeker in their uniforms, many athletes face particular pressures to lose weight. Despite the public's growing awareness of eating disorders, athletes continue to struggle with them- often at risk to their health. The challenge for primary care physicians is not only to learn the warning signs of these disorders, but also to convince athletes to get medical treatment to overcome them.


Background The Internet has become an important venue for seeking sexual partners and may facilitate transmission of sexually transmitted infections. Methods We examined a 64-day data log of flirt messages expressing sexual interest among MSM within the Qruiser.com community. We used logistic regression to analyze characteristics of MSM sending and receiving flirt messages and negative binomial regression to examine individual activity and popularity. The structural properties, including the core structure of the flirt network, were analyzed. Results The MSM population consisted of approximately 40% homosexuals and 37% bisexuals, while the remaining 23% included men who identified as heterosexual but searched for sex with men and "experimental". MSM were more likely to send flirt messages if they were homosexual and aged 40+ years; young people aged < 30 years were more likely to receive a flirt. Possession of a webcam was strongly associated with both sending flirt messages and being a flirt target. The distributions of flirts sent (max kout = 2162) and received (max kin = 84) were highly heterogeneous. Members in central cores were more likely homosexuals, singles, and aged 31–40 years. The probability of a matched flirt (flirt returned from target) increased from 1% in the outer core to 18% in the central core (core size = 4). Discussion The flirt network showed high degree heterogeneity similar to the structural properties of real sexual contact networks with a single central core. Further studies are needed to explore use of webcam for Internet dating.


The purpose of this study was to study the relationship between the prevalence of constipation and beverage intake. Research data were collected from first and second grade female students at Hyehwa High School in Seoul by means of questionnaires. A total of 190 questionnaires were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN program. The results are summarized
as follows: The average body mass index (BMI) was 20.7. Of the students, 38.4% had a BMI of less than 20 (underweight), and 15.8% had a BMI of over 23 (overweight). However, 84.7% of the students wanted to lose weight. To estimate the prevalence of constipation, five factors were used: frequency and regularity of defecation, time spent
defecating, defecation difficulty, and feeling of residue after defecation. The percentage of the students who emptied their bowels every day was 22.1%. About 2/5 of the students (42.1%) had irregular defecation, and 15.2% spent more than 10 minutes in the rest room when defecating. The students who did not have difficulty defecating and those who did not have feelings of residue after defecating were only 24.7% and 28.9%, respectively. The amount of beverage intake per day was 1,062 ml: 674 ml of water, 128 ml of milk, 88 ml of soft drinks, and 53 ml of fruit juice. The amount of beverage intake before breakfast, during breakfast, before lunch and during lunch was about 100 ml, each; before dinner, during dinner, and after dinner it was about 200 ml, each. The amount of beverage intake during the weekend
was 120 ml greater than on weekdays. Students who drank more beverages, especially water, before breakfast, showed a higher defecation frequency, more regular defecation, spent less time defecating, had less difficulty defecating, and had less feeling of residue after defecation, so that they have a better defecation pattern. Based on these results, increasing the amount of beverage consumption, especially of water, and drinking greater quantities of beverage before breakfast are ways to reduce constipation. (Korean J Community Nutrition 8(6) : 856 ~ 866, 2003)
KEY WORDS : constipation·beverage consumption·defecation frequency·defecation regularity·defecation difficulty ·feeling of residue after defecation


A 9-year-old male attended our clinic with the blurred vision in his right eye, for one day duration. No past history of systemic or ocular illnesses except for recurrent tonsillitis. On ocular examination; his left eye (OS) visual acuity (VA) was 6/6, and the right eye (OD) VA was 6/9.5 which corrected to 6/9 with +0.75 diopter sphere. Fundus examination revealed normal optic nerve and a serous detachment in the posterior pole, nearly about the disc size. The optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) showed neurosensory retinal detachment with subretinal fluid. The family was not able to perform the fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) due to the financial crisis in the region. Given this background, the diagnosis of idiopathic central chorioretinopathy had given. The clinical course was monitored without any treatments and spontaneous remission achieved within two months and the last OCTA taken after six months.


Introduction. The choice of a rational method of treatment in vulvar cancer is one of the most actual and difficult problems of modern clinical oncology. In the majority of cases vulvar cancer occurs in elderly and senile patients, as well as in some patients with locally advanced form. The aim of the investigation was to assess the possibility of reconstruction after surgical treatment of vulvar cancer. Materials and Methods. A study was conducted involving 151 patients with squamous cell vulvar cancer in whom the gynecological oncology department of Chelyabinsk regional clinical center of oncology and nuclear medicine performed surgical treatment by various methods in the following volume: dilated vulvectomy with the resection of adjacent anatomical structures with reconstructive and plastic component. Results. The original ways of plasty of the postoperative wound after vulvectomy were evaluated, the minimum risk of  complications was revealed. The presented technologies permit to use additional variants of the wound defect reconstruction and have a number of advantages in comparison with two dermalfascial flaps from the medial surfaces of the femur used earlier. Discussion. Studies have shown that vulvar reconstruction using skin flaps can avoid complications and improve patients' quality of life. Reconstruction with flaps is not currently an accepted standard of treatment for vulvar cancer. Conclusion. The methods of the wound defect closure are possible after radical vulvectomy in patients with squamous cell vulvar cancer and resection of adjacent anatomical structures without reduction of surgical treatment volume. These methods of wound defect closure contribute to the reduction of postoperative complications and significantly reduce postoperative stay in a medical institution.


This study assesses the determinants of forest land allocation to households in the forest tenure reforms in China in the period 1980-2005 using data from three provinces in Southern China; Fujian, Jiang Xi and Yunnan. Furthermore, it assesses the current level of tenure security on forest land and how this tenure security is affected by past and more recent policy changes. A key finding is that issuing of written documentation of forest land rights in form of forest land certificates for a specific time period (30-70 years) enhances tenure security beyond what the otherwise perceived rights to land do


This paper deals with aspects on the dynamic modulation of the robots mechanical structure, using Lagrangian formalism, choosing the adequate DC servomotors, translation modules constituting the TTRT robot, the constructive solution and modelling the three translation subassemblies of the studied robot, with the intention that, in the end, based on a dynamic‐organologic algorithm, a functional optimization of the robot be brought out within a workcell destined for special applications, so that the energetic consumption be as low as possible. This paper also presents the organological calculi and solutions for the efficient design of modules specific to mechanical structures of industrial serial‐modular robots. (© 2012 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


abstract:This article focuses on Adam's perspiration at the scene of his awakening in Paradise Lost, where immediately after his creation he finds himself "In balmy sweat." Milton pointedly rejects the precedent of medieval scholastic writers, who excluded sweat from prelapsarian life and understood the substance as oriented toward death. Instead, Milton presents sweat as necessary to generation and linked to polymorphic birth processes in the garden. In Adam's sweaty body, Milton depicts the first man on the borders of dissolution in order to make sensible the profusion of divine love that Adam experiences in Eden. Ultimately, sweat is a marker of continuity—rather than rupture—between prelapsarian life and the fallen present.


Philosophy, from its origins in ancient Greece was concerned about social order and statutory rules of social coexistence. Although autonomous in contemporary sciences, legal and social policy are still deeply linked to the major philosophical ideas, which continued certain impact. Change of paradigms in the sphere of knowledge, is usually followed by a new model of social action. Not all philosophical views have proved efficient on social practice, on the contrary some of them have gone when they are applied in the political conflict or social movement particularly those with serious implications for humanity. The case made by Nietzsche doctrine which was adopted as the ideological basis for Nazi propaganda, and in whose name millions were murdered by ethnic criteria just for beeing Hebrews or Romma population from considerations of belonging to an inferior race. Socialist and communist ideals of Karl Marx can be considerate as origin of the totalitarian communist ideology. We present below some of the thinkers who have influenced the evolution of society in the social-political and legal, philosophers who were concerned about the evolution of society, the state and the ideas about democracy, rule of law, equality before the law, human dignity and human rights, with no pretense of completeness.


Utilizing an indirect Coombs' technique, humoral antibodies to marihuana and its major components were found in 34 subjects with known marihuana exposure. Similar antibodies were absent in the sera of a control population of 34 subjects with no known marihuana exposure. The specificity of the antibodies was confirmed by differential absorption studies in six seropositive subjects. Routine laboratory tests were abnormal in 22 of 34 seropositive subjects and in 9 of 34 control subjects. The relationship of seropositivity to abnormal laboratory tests is not certain.


Newly obtained pollen and diatom data from the Kamyshovoe Lake (previous Dobauen, Germ.), Vishtynets Highland, Baltic Uplands, analyzed by radiocarbon dating allowed to reconstruct the history of local vegetation during late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Pollen records show the formation of birchpredominating forest at ca. 13.4 ka cal. BP and the flourishing of pine towards the second half of the Allerød since about 13.2 ka cal. BP. The transition to the Younger Dryas around 12.7 ka cal. BP led to the development of sparse shrub tundra with Juniperus and communities of steppe herbs. Amelioration of the environmental regime enabled birch and pine woods to spread during the second part of the GS-1 event and the Preboreal. The late Preboreal time is marked by the appearance of Populus and an increase in the role of grasses in the vegetation cover, which can be correlated with similar open vegetation phases deduced from other pollen records in Europe (11.3–11.1 ka cal. BP). During the Boreal (since ca. 10.0 ka cal. BP) Corylus had its maximum value, Alnus, Tilia and Quercus appeared and spread while the birch-pine forests retreated.


The physical properties, viscosity, conductivity, surface tension and density were measured for a series of alcohol based Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) as a function of choline chloride (ChCl) concentration. The point at which the system becomes a saturated salt solution in the diol systems is at 20 mol% ChCl, because at higher concentrations the conductivity decreases despite the increase in number of charge carrying species. The addition of ChCl to glycerol results in a decrease in the viscosity of the system by interrupting the intermolecular hydrogen bonding of the glycerol molecules, whereas the addition of ChCl to the diols results in an increase in viscosity. The mono-alcohol phenol has been shown to form a DES in a ratio of 4:1 phenol: ChCl. Stable DES's have also been formed using sugars, D-(-) fructose, Dglucose, xylitol and meso-erythritol. Determination of solvent-solute interactions is key to the understanding of solvent properties in liquids therefore the Kamlet-Taft parameters α, β, π* and ET (30) parameter were determined for a series of alcohol based DES using three solvatochromic dyes, 4-nitroaniline, N,N-dimethyl-4-nitroaniline and Reichardt's dye ET (30). It is shown that they are similar to RNH3 + X , R2NH2 + X and imidazolium ionic liquids. The effect of ChCl on the Kamlet-Taft parameters is not uniform across the systems and is dependant upon the hydrogen bond donor. The solventless esterification of glycerol and lauric was carried out using ChCl with the intention of using its hydrogen bonding interaction with glycerol to behave a potential site inhibitor as to selectively form monoor di-ester products. The work has shown that the addition of ChCl to the system, initially slows the rate of the mono-ester formation, but actually encourages the reaction to progress further towards the di-ester product, when compared to the pure glycerol system encouraging only mono-ester formation.


A collection of software tools developed for the Mayak worker study is described. IMPDOS is software for modelling, data analysis, and activity and dose calculations using the bioassay and postmortem data from Mayak workers provided by Southern Urals Biophysics Institute. The capabilities include: parameter fitting of data for individual cases, Bayesian dose calculations using the fit results for collections of cases with extensive data as a biokinetic prior, and database storage of results for retrieval, analysis and interpretation.


This paper uses 14 years of data from the PSID to explore dynamic labor supply choices among adult women between full-time, part-time, or no labor market work. A variety of models indicate that past choices should be important in predicting current labor supply choices. This paper compares the effectiveness of several estimation strategies which require more or less historical information. The results indicate that past history in labor supply choices among adult women is very important in predicting current labor supply; given the lack of such data in many cases, the paper explores how much is lost when limited or no longitudinal information is available. In addition, the paper explores the substantive question of the role of part-time work in the labor market. Part-time workers are a very heterogeneous group; different part-time workers are in the midst of very different labor supply patterns. Most women use part-time work as a temporary alternative to full-time work or to being out of the labor market; few women use it as a transitional step into full-time employment. Simulations suggest the potential impact on future labor supply of mandating that low-skilled women who are out of the labor market enter part-time work.


Abstract Cognitive radio (CR) is a promising technology to improve the wireless spectrum utilization. The recent research of CR technology is extending from single radio domain environment to network domain environment, user domain environment and policy domain environment, which together form the multi-domain environment. To begin with, we introduce several key concepts as the preliminary knowledge of this paper. Next, we demonstrate a comprehensive theoretical framework of multi-domain cognition (MDC), in terms of connotation, three-layer framework and spatial model of MDC. Furthermore, the research challenges ahead are presented as well.


Antibiotic resistance patterns and the presence of antibiotic and virulence determinants in 74 sorbitol-negative Escherichia coli and 62 Salmonella isolates from nine different broiler chicken farms were investigated. Each farm was supplied by one of three companies that used different antimicrobial agents in feed for growth promotion. The isolates were identified by API 20E for E. coli and by serological tests for Salmonella. The susceptibility of the isolates to antibiotics was determined by Sensititre using the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute's breakpoints. Fifty-two E. coli isolates (70.3%) and nine Salmonella isolates (14.52%) were multiresistant to at least nine antibiotics. The multiresistant isolates were evaluated for the presence of tetracycline resistance, integron class 1, and blacMY 2 genes by PCR. Of the 74 E. coli isolates, 55 were resistant to amoxicillin and ceftiofur. Among these 55 resistant E. coli isolates, 45 (81.8%) and 22 (40.0%) were positive for blacMY-2 and qacEdeltal-Sull genes, respectively. Tetracycline resistance was found in 56 isolates (75.8%) among which 12 (21.4%) and 24 (42.9%) gave positive results for tetA and tetB, respectively. Virulence genes (iss, tsh, and traT), aerobactin operon (iucC), and the eaeA gene were detected in some E. coli strains. Among the 27 amoxicillin- and ceftiofur-resistant Salmonella isolates, the blacMY-2 gene was detected in 22 isolates. The class 1 integron gene (qacEdeltal-Sull) was not detected in any Salmonella isolates, whereas the invasin (inv) and virulence (spy) genes were found in 61 (98.4%) and 26 (42%) of the Salmonella isolates, respectively. This study indicated that multiple antibiotic-resistant commensal E. coli and Salmonella strains carrying virulence genes can be found on commercial broiler chicken farms and may provide a reservoir for these genes in chicken production facilities. Except for the presence of tetB, there was no significant effect of feed formulations on the phenotypic or genotypic characteristics of the isolates.


The study conducted following explanatory study with the intent to discover the facilitative and restrictive factors of undergraduate social work student involvement in social work student organizations. Social work student organizations can provide supplemental experiences for students for further shapeunderstanding and implementation of the social work profession's core values. The total samples are 157 social work students from University Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA). Factor Analysis (FA) has been applied in this study by using XLSTAT for further analysis. In FA, there are 4 most suitable variablesthat is >0.8 for factor analysis. The analyzing data of Correlation Matrix (r) was applied to know the relationship between membership status of PMKS and factor involvement in PMKS. After correlation matrix, Descriptive Statistic was performedto summarize the data such as mean by using simple statistics or charts. The method in this study can help the current social work student involvement in PMKS.


Results of the two-dimensionally reconstructed distribution of soft X-ray emission in HL-2A and electromagnetic radiation in large helical device (LHD) are presented. Hardware improvements of in-vessel soft X-ray cameras and the development of tomographic software have made detailed and visual studies of soft X-ray emission possible in HL-2A. Several algorithms are employed in order to get as detail as possible in the images while keeping the guiding assumptions to a minimum. Recently success has been achieved in applying a 2D peeling away algorithm for tomographic reconstruction of LHD bolometric data jointly under the China-Japan collaboration. The data analysed so far have been used to study magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities on HL-2A tokamak and radiation losses on LHD.


Deuterium NMR spectroscopy has been used to study the director dynamics of the nematic liquid-crystal system cetyl trimethylammonium bromide/D2O under the action of applied viscous torques. Shear forces were applied using a custom-built Couette cell that was introduced into an NMR superconducting magnet, so that its rotational axis was parallel to the magnetic field direction, along which the liquid-crystal director originally aligned. Subsequently, the inner cylinder of the cell was rotated continuously at different rates using a stepper motor. The resulting time evolution and ultimate steady-state orientation of the director, governed by the competition between the applied viscous torque with elastic and magnetic terms, was measured via observed changes in the deuterium spectrum. Using a simple gearbox allowed unprecedented access to a low-shear-rate regime in which, above a threshold shear rate, the director of part of the sample was observed to reorient, while the remaining part still aligned with the magnetic field. Subsequent increases in the applied rotational rate were found to increase the relative proportion of the orienting fraction. Spatially resolved NMR spectra showed that the orienting and field-aligned fractions formed separated bands across the gap of the Couette cell, with director reorientation being initiated at the moving inner wall. The behavior was found to be consistent with the often ignored variation in velocity gradient manifest across the gap of a cylindrical cell, so that as the angular frequency of the inner cylinder was increased the radial location of the critical shear rate required for reorientation traversed the gap. Once the applied rotational rate was sufficient to reorient the director of the entire sample, the dependence of the exhibited steady-state orientation on the average applied shear rate was measured. These results could be fitted to an analytical solution of the force-balance equation, made tractable by the assumption that the elasticity term was of minor significance and could be ignored. Additionally, the use of a numerical solution of the full force-balance equation, which explicitly includes elasticity and secondary flow and additionally allows the time evolution of the director orientation to be calculated, was investigated.


The tissue‐restricted GATA‐4 transcription factor and Nkx2‐5 homeodomain protein are two early markers of precardiac cells. Both are essential for heart formation, but neither can initiate cardiogenesis. Overexpression of GATA‐4 or Nkx2‐5 enhances cardiac development in committed precursors, suggesting each interacts with a cardiac cofactor. We tested whether GATA‐4 and Nkx2‐5 are cofactors for each other by using transcription and binding assays with the cardiac atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) promoter—the only known target for Nkx2‐5. Co‐expression of GATA‐4 and Nkx2‐5 resulted in synergistic activation of the ANF promoter in heterologous cells. The synergy involves physical Nkx2‐5–GATA‐4 interaction, seen in vitro and in vivo, which maps to the C‐terminal zinc finger of GATA‐4 and a C‐terminus extension; similarly, a C‐terminally extended homeodomain of Nkx2‐5 is required for GATA‐4 binding. Structure/function studies suggest that binding of GATA‐4 to the C‐terminus autorepressive domain of Nkx2‐5 may induce a conformational change that unmasks Nkx2‐5 activation domains. GATA‐6 cannot substitute for GATA‐4 for interaction with Nkx2‐5. This interaction may impart functional specificity to GATA factors and provide cooperative crosstalk between two pathways critical for early cardiogenesis. Given the co‐expression of GATA proteins and NK2 class members in other tissues, the GATA/Nkx partnership may represent a paradigm for transcription factor interaction during organogenesis.


Gedankenlautwerden will be experienced as painful and dangerous by the patient. Selbstgesprach,again in agreement with Dr Szasz, does describe a person who is talking to himself aloud. The author does not directly attribute the same meaning to Gedankenlautwerden as to Selbstgesprach, but in the way he introduces the two terms, one might (mis)understand the terms to be equivalent, which of course is not the case in German at all. As a matter of fact, we often may observe schizophrenic persons talking aloud to themselves, sometimes for hours. Describing this behaviour, we would use the word Selbstgesprach, even if we got the impression that the patient actually is answering arguments he experiences as coming from others. In his Lehrbuch der Psychiatrie Eugen Bleuler does not use the word Sprachfthler. He writes about speech in the context of accessory (not cardinal) characteristics of schizophrenia as follows:


In this article, the most essential aims on information protection of data processing centers in more flexible way to provide the necessary level of security of the existing environment of development and dissemination of cyber-attacks, which should be easily scaled to support any of its changes in the future, also in this paper Formation of competitive information security of data processing center are analyzed Special attention is paid to avoidance of unauthorized access to information, its blocking, giving, destruction, dissemination, modification, copying, as well as ensuring functioning of data processing centers in a normal mode, in compliance with limit values of design parameters, execution of the target functions of data processing centers.


Purpose: To investigate the comparative anti-thrombotic effects of saffron and Honghua, and also to explore possible mechanisms in thrombosis based on network pharmacology. Methods: A network pharmacology model was used for bioactive components, targets and pathways for saffron and HongHua via Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP), PharmMapper, Genecard, Uniprot and KEGG databases. In animal experiments, 72 rats were randomly divided into 9 groups: normal control group (NC), model control group (MC), crocetin groups (80, 40, 20 mg/kg), hydroxysafflor yellow A(HSYA) groups (80, 40, 20 mg/kg), and aspirin group (40 mg/kg). Using in vitro thrombosis models and an acute blood stasis model in vivo, the anti-thrombotic effects of these treatments on clotting time, hemorheology parameters, Thromboxane B2 (TXB2), plasmin activator inhibitor (PAI), protein C (PC), protein S (PS), and thrombinantithrombin complex (TAT) were determined and comparisons made for saffron and HongHua. Results: Five potential compounds, 16 anti-thrombotic targets and 27 pathways were predicted for saffron, while 22 compounds, 37 disease targets and 35 pathways were found for HongHua (p < 0.05). Pharmacological experiments revealed that crocetin and HSYA had significant effects on thrombus length, thrombus wet/dry mass, whole blood viscosity (WBV), erythrocyte aggregation index (EAI), clotting time and D-dimer for the high and middle groups. Unlike HSYA, crocetin also had significant and dose-dependent effects on PAI, prothrombin fragment 1+2 (F1+2) and PS and had highly significant effects on TXB2 and TAT. Conclusion: This research provides a systematic, comprehensive and comparative analysis of component, target and anti-thrombotic pathways of saffron and HongHua based on network pharmacology, and also shows that saffron has more significant anti-thrombotic effect than HongHua.


The notion of center of mass, which is very useful in kinematics, proves to be very handy in geometry (see [1]-[2]). Countless applications of center of mass to geometry go back to Archimedes. Unfortunately, the center of mass cannot be defined for sets whose total mass equals zero. In the paper we improve this disadvantage and assign to an n-dimensional affine space L over any field k the (n+1)-dimensional vector space over the field k of weighty points and mass dipoles in L. In this space, the sum of weighted points with nonzero total mass is equal to the center of mass of these points equipped with their total mass. We present several interpretations of the space of weighty points and mass dipoles in L, and a couple of its applications to geometry. The paper is self-contained and is accessible for undergraduate students.


Aiming at operating effectively future traffic systems, we propose here a novel methodology for integrated lane-changing and ramp metering control that exploits the presence of connected vehicles. In particular, we assume that a percentage of vehicles can receive and implement specific control tasks (e.g., lane-changing commands), while ramp metering is available via an infrastructure-based system or enabled by connected vehicles. The proposed approach is designed to robustly maximise the throughput at motorway bottlenecks employing a feedback controller, formulated as a Linear Quadratic Integral regulator, which is based on a simplified linear time invariant traffic flow model. We also present an extremum seeking algorithm to compute the optimal set-points used in the feedback controller, employing only the measurement of a cost that is representative of the achieved traffic conditions. The method is evaluated via simulation experiments, performed on a first-order, multi-lane, macroscopic traffic flow model, also featuring the capacity drop phenomenon, which allows to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed methodology and to highlight the improvement in terms of the generated congestion.


This paper presents the first millimeter-wave wafer-scale power-amplifier array implemented in a 0.13-μ m BiCMOS technology. The power combining is done in the free-space using high efficiency on-chip antennas. A 3 × 3 power-amplifier array is demonstrated with an equivalent isotropic radiated power of 33-35 dBm at 90-98 GHz. This results in a total on-chip power of 21-23 dBm and a total radiated power of 17.5-19.5 dBm. The measured patterns of the array show single-mode operation and ~100% free-space power-combining efficiency with a 3-dB beamwidth of 28° and a directivity of 15.5 dB (gain of 12 dB). The total power-combining efficiency including the antenna losses is 45±10%. The application areas are in millimeter-wave transmitters and wafer-scale phased arrays.


Over the last decade catalogue services for environmental and geographic information were set up almost independently by administrations of the Länder. In both areas organizational structures were also implemented on a federal level to improve interoperability and to coordinate the activities. Driven by the INSPIRE process, such catalogue services are becoming more and more important. This paper is to present the activities in Bavaria in the context of other national approaches. The Umweltobjektkatalog (UOK) is the central database for metadata describing INSPIRE relevant objects. The UOK was designed and implemented by the environmental administration more then a decade ago and is now a well established system in this field. It was built to catalogue the many different information sources in a systematic and uniform way. The Bavarian Geodateninfrastruktur (GDI-BY) decided to use this system as the central technology concerning metadata for retrieval of data and services. It was adapted to the demands of the INSPIRE regulations. In Bavaria the environmental administration and the geodetic administration have jointly set up both organizational structures and information systems for catalogue services. A working group on metadata was set up as part of the GDI-BY to coordinate organizational issues on a operational level. Relevant data sets are transferred to information systems on the German federal level. The agreement of the Länder and the federal administration concerning the German Environmental Information Portal (Umweltportal Deutschland – PortalU) offers both comprehensive knowledge on metadata and on information portals. The German Geoinformation Infrastructure (GDI-DE) is the counterpart on the side the geoinformation offices. Based on this infrastructure the Free State of Bavaria has set up the required organizational and technical means connected to the federal level to fulfil the INSPIRE-Demands concerning metadata and catalogue services.


The function of a fifth harmonic (14.28 GHz) bunch monitor is to provide a signal which is proportional to the electron beam bunch size. The monitoring of the rf power signal at 14.28 GHz enables the operator to optimize the rf bunching of the beam at the end of the first accelerating section where the full bunching has been formed and remains mainly constant in size throughout the rest of the electron linac. A modified version of the SLAC original bunch monitor has been fabricated and its rf properties measured. This paper describes the design and the initial measurement results.<<ETX>>


Objective: It is commonly believed that in intrathecal (IT) drug delivery, agent distribution is confined to a narrow region close to the injection site, thereby undermining the efficacy of the method. Methods: To test the claim, multimodal in vivo imaging was used to experimentally observe the effects of IT infusion in cynomolgus monkey, looking at cerebrospinal fluid flow, anatomy, and dispersion of a radiolabeled tracer. Results: At high infusion rates, the tracer reached the cervical region after only 2 h, demonstrating rapid and wide distribution. The same in vivo nonhuman primate imaging data also provided evidence in support of a computational fluid dynamic model for the prediction of drug distribution following IT injection. Tracer dispersion was predicted in two specimens matching the distribution acquired with positron emission tomography (PET). For the third specimen, tracer dispersion simulations were conducted as a blind study: predictions were made before in vivo biodistribution data was known. In all cases, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions of drug dispersion after IT administration showed close spatio-temporal agreement with tracer biodistribution in vivo. Conclusion: Validation by in vivo nonhuman primate data confirms our ability to predict the biodistribution of intrathecally administered agents in subject-specific models of the central nervous system from first principles. Significance: The experiments reinstate IT delivery as a viable administration method when targeting molecules to the whole spine or the brain. The proposed computational methodology enables rational design of novel therapies for neurological diseases that require reliable, efficient, and safe delivery of therapeutic agents to specific target sites in the central nervous system.


Objective:To investigate the effect of valproic acid(VPA) and of VPA combining with diamminedichloroplatinum(DDP) on the growth of human ovarian cancer in nude mice.Methods: A human ovarian cancer model subcutaneously transplanted into nude mice was established.They were divided into 4 groups: the VPA group,the DDP group,the VPA+DDP group and the control group,6 in each.Tumor volume and weight were determined.Flowcytometry(FCM) was used to assess the characters of apoptosis in the tissues of tumor,liver and brain.The protein level of the vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) was also determined by FCM.Results: The inhibitory rate in the VPA,DDP,and VPA+DDP groups was as follows:40.7%,45.3%,and 58.0%,which was significantly higher than that in the control group(P0.01).The apoptotic rate in the VPA,DDP,and VPA+DDP groups was as follows:(27.05±1.63)%,(35.93±3.89)%,and(42.59±2.55)%,which was significantly higher than that in the control group(16.73±2.82)%(P0.01).The cell cycle distribution changed in VPA,DDP,and VPA+DDP groups,and cells in the S-phase significantly decreased.There were no significant apoptosis in liver tissues and brain tissues in any of the groups.The VEGF protein level in the VPA,DDP,and VPA+DDP groups was lower than that in the control group.Conclusions: VPA can inhibit the growth of ovarian cancer by inducing the apoptosis of tumor cells and inhibiting the angiogenesis of human ovarian cancer subcutaneously transplanted into nude mice,furthermore its combination with DDP can enhance the anticancer effects with a minimal side effect profile.


Mechanical behavior of meniscus can be modeled using constitutive material models of varying complexity, such as isotropic elastic or fibril reinforced poroelastic (FRPE). However, the FRPE material is complex to implement, computationally demanding in 3D geometries, and simulation is time-consuming. Hence, we aimed to quantify the most suitable and efficient constitutive model of meniscus for simulation of cartilage responses in the knee joint during walking. We showed that simpler constitutive material models can reproduce similar cartilage responses to a knee model with the FRPE meniscus, but only knee models that consider orthotropic elastic meniscus can also reproduce meniscus responses adequately.


This article offers a model that clarifies the degree of interdependence between social ecology and genomic processes. Drawing on principles from nonlinear dynamics, the model delineates major lines of bifurcation involving people's habitat, their family health history, and collective catastrophes experienced by their community. It shows how mechanisms of resource acquisition, depletion, and preservation can lead to disruptions in basic metabolism and in the activity of cytokines, neurotransmitters, and protein kinases, thus giving impetus to epigenetic changes. The hypotheses generated from the model are discussed throughout the article for their relevance to health problems among African Americans. Where appropriate, they are examined in light of data from the National Vital Statistics System. Multiple health outcomes are considered. For any one of them, the model makes clear the unique and converging contributions of multiple antecedent factors.


Objective: To investigate the contribution of angiotensin II towards the process of hepatic fibrosis that is largely due to hepatic stellate cell growth. Methods: Adult rat hepatic stellate cells were cultured and checked for the expression of angiotensin II receptor 1a (AT1a) mRNA by RT-PCR and sequence analysis. The effects of angiotensin II were observed on stimulation of hepatic stellate cell growth detected by MTT assays, 3H-thymidine incorporation and cell count, and collagen synthesis by 3H-proline incorporation. Results: We demonstrated that cultured adult rat hepatic stellate cells expressed AT1a mRNA, and angiotensin II in a concentration-dependent manner stimulated hepatic stellate cell growth at a concentration of 10–7–10–9 mol/l and collagen synthesis at a concentration of 10–6–10–10 mol/l. Also, AT1a receptor antagonist, in a concentration-dependent manner, blocked the cell growth from 10–6 to 10–8 mol/l and collagen synthesis from 10–6 to 10–9 mol/l. Conclusions: The results provided direct evidence that AT1a mRNA was expressed in rat hepatic stellate cells and angiotensin II could contribute towards the development of hepatic fibrosis via AT1a receptor.


In this paper I describe a preliminary experimental system, MITEXTEXPLORER, for textual linked brushing, which allows an analyst to interactively explore statistical relationships between (1) terms, and (2) document metadata (covariates). An analyst can graphically select documents embedded in a temporal, spatial, or other continuous space, and the tool reports terms with strong statistical associations for the region. The user can then drill down to specific term and term groupings, viewing further associations, and see how terms are used in context. The goal is to rapidly compare language usage across interesting document covariates. I illustrate examples of using the tool on several datasets: geo-located Twitter messages, presidential State of the Union addresses, the ACL Anthology, and the King James Bible.


BackgroundIt is important to know the biomechanical properties of an allograft. This is because when looking to do a transplant of a tendon, the tendon must have very similar biomechanical properties to the original tendon. To use tendon allografts, it is critical to properly sterilize the tendon before implantation. In past decades, several sterilization procedures have been used. This study aimed to systematically evaluate the existing literature to compare the values of failure load/ultimate strength and Young's modulus of elasticity of different sterilization methods on commonly used tendon allografts. Five major scientific literature databases (Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, PLOS ONE, Hindawi) and additional sources were used.ResultsStudies used had to show a particular sterilization method. Studies were identified to meet the following inclusion criteria: is a controlled laboratory study, gamma irradiation (dose reported), and other sterilization methods. Search for publications dated between 1991 and March 31st, 2020. A total of 54 articles have been included. Data collected from the full-text assessment included: a) author and date, b) type of tendon, c) type of sterilization, d) sterilization dose, and g) measured and calculated parameters. Different types of sterilization methods used before tendon durability testing have been identified and categorized.ConclusionsIdentified sterilization methods (gamma irradiation, dry ice, supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2), BioCleanse, Electron Beam) are offered as a catalog of potential methods.As a result of the broadness of the present research, it provides an overview of sterilization methods. It does not stand for the state-of-the-art of any single process.


Aim. To generalize up-to-date information on the possibilities of cytoprotection in the treatment and prevention of gastric and intestinal diseases, as well as to present the materials of an Expert Council meeting held on February 8, 2020 in Moscow under the support of the Alium company.General provisions. The conducted Expert Council meeting was aimed at discussing the importance of improving the cytoprotective properties of the gastric and intestinal mucous membrane in the treatment of its lesions. It was shown that Rebamipide exhibits positive effects on various parts of the protective barrier of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), primarily due to its stimulating action on the production of prostaglandins playing a key role in maintaining the cytoprotective properties of the gastrointestinal mucosa. The possibilities of applying Rebamipide for the treatment and prevention of erosive and ulcerative gastrointestinal lesions caused by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) and antithrombotic drugs were demonstrated. In the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease, Rebamipide is recommended for patients refractory to therapy with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and for those with non-acid reflux. The efficacy of Rebamipide in the treatment of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, as well as functional dyspepsia and chronic gastritis, was confirmed.Conclusions. Rebamipid is a highly effective drug positively affecting various cytoprotection links, thus being suitable for the treatment and prevention of erosive and ulcerative lesions of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as gastroenterological diseases of various etiologies.Conflict of interest: The Expert Council meeting was supported by the Alium company.


Health systems are placing increasing emphasis on improving the design and operation of clinical trials with the aim of making the health technology adoption process more value-based. We present a model of a value-based, two-armed clinical trial in which both the recruitment rate and trial length are optimized. The model is value-based because it balances the cost of the trial with the expected benefit it generates for patients, valued by the relative health benefits and costs of the technologies. We consider a wide range of regulatory and practical contexts that address how patient health is valued (discount rate, time horizon, pragmatic trials). We present comparative statics and asymptotic analysis together with a retrospective application to a recent health technology assessment and an extension for adaptive trials. Results challenge traditional perceptions concerning the efficiency, length, and knowledge that may be gained from clinical research for trial managers or funders charged with delivering value efficiently: we highlight trade-offs between trial costs and population health benefits influenced by trial outcomes and the importance of optimizing both recruitment rate and trial duration rather than sample size alone. This paper was accepted by Stefan Scholtes, health.


Gain-of-function mutations of the fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) play a pivotal role in hematopoietic malignancies (Gilliland et al., 2002). Therefore, FLT3 kinase inhibitors are important component in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, relapse or resistance to these inhibitors are frequent because of secondary acquired mutations in FLT3. Recently, we reported on a novel small molecular multi-kinase inhibitor, CG9806, which showed promising effects in AML harboring FLT3-internal-tandem-deletion (ITD) mutations, tyrosine kinase domain (TKD) mutations, or both by inhibiting FLT3/Bruton9s tyrosine kinase (BTK)/aurora kinase (AuroK) activation. We observed an impressive inhibition of leukemic cell proliferation (i.e., IC50s at sub-nanomolar or low nanomolar levels, Zhang, et al., AACR Hematological Malignancies, 2017). To further characterize the mechanisms underlying this anti-leukemia effect, we investigated the impact of CG9806 on cell cycle progression. Measuring BrdU incorporation by flow cytometry, CG9806 triggered profound G1 cell cycle arrest in FLT3-ITD-mutated cells. Interestingly, CG9806 triggered G2/M phase arrest in FLT3 wild type (WT) cells. Immunoblotting demonstrated that the G1 arrest was mediated by downregulation of signaling associated with p-FLT3-ITD, the p-AKT/p-mTOR/cyclin D1/p-Rb axis, and that of cyclin B1/A2, cdk1/cdc2, and cdk4/6 in FLT3-ITD-mutated cells. This was not observed in FLT3 WT cells. In addition, c-Myc, a primary regulator of the G1/S transition, was downregulated in FLT3-mutated but not in WT cells treated with CG9806. In support of this finding, knockdown of c-Myc with siRNA increased the G1-arrested population in FLT3-mutated cells, suggesting a critical role of c-Myc in the CG9806-induced G1 arrest. However, only suppression of p-BTK and p-AuroK but not p-FLT3, and no modulation of G1 arrest-related proteins was observed in FLT3 WT cells. Interestingly, we observed autophagy induction in FLT3 WT cells but induction of apoptosis in FLT3 mutated cells after exposure to low nanomolar CG9806 for 24 hours as evidenced by modulated LC3-II and cleaved-caspase 3 levels. Inhibiting autophagy with 3-methyladenine (3-MA) partially reversed CG9806-induced G2/M arrest in FLT3 WT cells, suggesting that autophagy induction may also be involved in G2/M arrest besides suppression of AuroK and BTK in FLT3 WT cells. Next, we investigated if nucleoside analogues and intercalating agents enhance activity of CG9806, and observed that combination of CG9806 with cytarabine or idarubicin profoundly enhanced pro-apoptotic effects. Conclusions: CG9806 exerts profound suppression of cell proliferation by arresting cell cycle progression at G1 phase in FLT3-mutant AML cells which is associated with inhibition of mutant FLT3 and downstream p-AKT/p-mTOR/cyclin D1/p-Rb axis. CG9806 exerts a G2/M arrest in FLT3 WT cells associated with inhibition of aurora and BTK kinases and induction of autophagy. CG9806 sensitized AML to standard chemotherapeutic agents-mediated cytotoxicity. Taken together, these data support the development of CG9806 for AML patients with FLT3-ITD, FLT3-ITD with additional TKD mutations, as well as FLT3-WT. Disclosures Zhang: Aptose Biosciences, Inc.: Employment. Rice: Aptose Biosciences, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties.


Effects of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) on spontaneous and evoked activity were tested in the medial septum--diagonal band neurons (MS--DB complex) in the slices taken from the brain of hibernating (HS) and waking (WS) ground squirrels. Administration of TRH (0.1 microM) into the flow of incubating medium increased the frequency of spontaneous activity of all the MS--DB neurons in HS and of the majority of neurons in the WS. However, in the septal slices of HS this increase was significantly more pronounced. The excitatory influence of TRH on the units was preserved in conditions of synaptic blockade. In the neurons from other structures in the brain slices of both HS and WS groups TRH did not affect usually the level of spontaneous discharges. When studying the responses of the MS--DB neurons to electrical stimulation of medial forebrain bundle, it was found that application of TRH led to disappearance of responses in a half of units in both groups of animals. The existence of the forebrain modulatory TRH-system which participates post- and, probably, presynaptically in regulation of the MS--DB neuronal activity is suggested. The role of TRH and of MS--DB in neural control of hibernation is discussed.


The rapid development of hovercraft during the past decade has
involved a concentrated effort on research and development to
overcome the problems associated with a new form of transport.
Some of the problems have not yet been solved and, in particular,
the question of ride and stability characteristics is most important.
An experimental and theoretical study has been made to achieve
a method of prediction of stiffness and damping parameters through
the change of cushion pressure during forcing of the cushion. [Continues.]


Ice cream is a very famous food product. People will still buy ice cream at any time and any season of the year. Malaysia is an equator country. Malaysia is hot and humid all year round and because of that opening an ice cream business is good. Four brilliant youngsters decided to planning start an ice cream enterprise namely Epistylia Ice Cream'. After doing some research in the districts of Langkawi, we found out that there is high demand for ice cream shop in Langkawi generally. Then we discovered Pantai Chenang as a good location to start our ice cream business. Epistylia is a company that has its own specialty. The word 'Epistylia' means topping this explains that Epistylia is an ice cream company that focuses on toppings of ice cream. Epistylia Ice Cream is located at Pantai Chenang, Langkawi. This location was chosen because it as one of the greatest tourist attraction of Langkawi. Pantai Chenang is usually crowded with tourists from morning till late night; everyday of the week, this geographical condition makes it a good location to start our business. Furthermore, there is no other established ice cream business opened in Pantai Chenang until now. Epistylia Ice Cream offers 100 types of toppings which consist of crunchies, gummies, and fruit. There are 10 categories of toppings. For example, one of the categories is fruits toppings and under fruit toppings we have pineapples, bananas, honeydews strawberries, cranberries and more. In addition, other unique feature of Epistylia Ice Cream is that our product is sold using a modified lorry. The lorry is designed and modified to become our moving shop according to particular layout and arrangements. The lorry or our moving shop will move very slowly across Pantai Chenang to attract customers. Within the lorry, all our ice creams and toppings are well viewable to customers for them to choose wisely.


T helper 2 cells regulate inflammatory responses to helminth infections while also mediating pathological processes of asthma and allergy. IL-4 promotes Th2 development by inducing the expression of the GATA3 transcription factor, and the Th2 phenotype is stabilized by a GATA3-dependent autoregulatory loop. In this study, we found that type I IFN (IFN-α/β) blocked human Th2 development and inhibited cytokine secretion from committed Th2 cells. This negative regulatory pathway was operative in human but not mouse CD4+ T cells and was selective to type I IFN, as neither IFN-γ nor IL-12 mediated such inhibition. IFN-α/β blocked Th2 cytokine secretion through the inhibition of GATA3 during Th2 development and in fully committed Th2 cells. Ectopic expression of GATA3 via retrovirus did not overcome IFN-α/β–mediated inhibition of Th2 commitment. Thus, we demonstrate a novel role for IFN-α/β in blocking Th2 cells, suggesting its potential as a promising therapy for atopy and asthma.


This article focuses on the contemporary home rule discourse in California and how it relates to state-level efforts to promote regional governance and regional planning initiatives. The purpose here is to unpack the contemporary home rule discourse, as represented by a series of articles on home rule that appeared between 1997 and 2001 in the League of California Cities' journal Western City. By unpacking the discourse, the major strains of the argument for home rule are identified. Once identified, the article argues that the foundations of the home rule discourse provide opportunities to evaluate and strengthen the discourse on regionalism and regional governance, perhaps to the benefit of both regional and home rule advocates. Via discourse analysis and the lessons which it uncovers, the article provides a useful lens through which other State-home rule and regional planning debates can be considered critically.


Man"s demands on Turkey"s coastline are increasing and this is common to coastal areas worldwide. This is because of population growth and economic development. Transport, industrial, housing, energy production and infrastructure development and tourism are transforming Turkey"s coastal areas. Yet still these coastal areas are treated as if they are an unlimited resource. The answer is to plan development in relation to the coastal landscape"s capacity, based on careful understanding of its character and the area"s natural resources. Planning based on sustaining ecological integrity is a priority. This study proposes planning policies which identify different categories of zones and interaction between sub-zones. These will help define densities and location of sustainable land use development and management. In this way there can be a balance of conservation and development. The study focuses on the city of Bursa in the Sea of Marmara region because it can contribute to implementation of the 1/100000 Bursa Environmental Plan and because Bursa is the fourth largest metropolitan area of Turkey. As a result of this study the basic principles of planning and management are determined for ensuring the sustainability, and use types and densities of the region.


Sphincter of Oddi disorder (SOD) is a part of functional gastrointestinal disorder which is a non-calculous obstructive disorder. This disease is more common in middle-aged women with a prevalence of around 1.5% but in patients with post-cholecystectomy syndrome (PCS) the prevalence rate is markedly higher (9-55%). This high variability maybe attributed to lack of uniformity in patient selection criteria, definition of SOD, and the diagnostic method used. Abdominal pain is the most common symptom occurring due to obstruction at the SO leading to ductal hypertension, ischemia from spastic contraction and hypersensitivity of papilla. Clinical diagnosis of SOD can be achieved by Rome III criteria. Various classifications are used (Milwaukee billiary and modified Milwaukee group classification) for billiary and pancreatic SOD. Not a single non-invasive method is diagnostic. Sphincter of Oddimanometry (SOM) is the gold standard method for evaluating and deciding the management of an SOD patient. The symptomatic relief rate varies from 55% to 95%, so risk-benefit ratio should be evaluated with each patient.


In this report, we present a novel visualization-based method for debugging software programs and analysing their runtime behavior. One method aims at enabling developers to get an overview of variable stories by visualizing the values which these variables have taken over the course of the program. This helps in spotting errorous or unexpected variable assignments. The other method enables visualization of large arrays as a series or bar charts, which helps in gaining insight about the values in this array, such as value distribution, minimum values or maximum values. We implemented the methods as a plugin for the Eclipse Java IDE.


Gender differences are often observed in real life-situations. We implement an experiment on the investment game which explores the influence of knowledge of partner's gender in trust and reciprocity by means of two treatments of information: the first one, without knowledge of partner's gender and the second treatment where gender's partner is common knowledge. A great heterogeneity of individuals' behaviors is observed: from selfish behavior to complete trust and trustworthiness. Knowledge of responder's gender does not imply different sending, even if men trust more their partners than women. However, a phenomenon of gender bias dominates in trustworthiness behavior.


Launched in 1938 as the BBC's first foreign language radio service, 80 years later, in 2008, the BBC Arabic Service also became the first tri-media platform at the World Service offering news and current affairs not only on radio and on online, but also via a fully fledged TV Channel in Arabic. This article traces the intervening transformations by exploring two critical moments in detail and examines why broadcasting to the Middle East has assumed such a pivotal position in the BBC's history. The first step examines selected internal communications between the British government and the BBC during World War Two, and the second outlines the BBC's current choices and strategy of combining the provision of 'impartial' news with new kinds of interactive programming and establishing opportunities for participation in mediated debates among audiences and users across the Middle East and the Arabic-speaking diasporas. Drawing on archival research, observational, and interview data, this article indicates enduring issues and themes that run through the history of the BBC Arabic services. The most important of these concern the dilemma of providing impartial news at the same time as promoting British diplomatic goals and strategic interests in the Greater Middle East.


The inadequacy of the current U.S. public and private pension systems may warrant the establishment of a universal pension system (UPS), which would cover all workers?full-time and part-time?and require them to contribute at a level that can help provide them with adequate incomes when they retire. This paper develops options for a system of individual accounts to which, starting in 2007, each employee or self-employed worker would be required to contribute 3 percent of covered payroll (i.e., 3 percent of up to $97,500 in 2007). The UPS we describe would raise the total replacement rate for average wage men to 49.0 percent of final wages?provided Social Security is fixed?or 39.8 percent if not


Objective: To examine serum levels of type 1 and type 2 chemokines and lymphocytic expression of chemokine receptors, and to compare the results with lymphocytic cytokine production in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Methods: Twelve patients with AS (mean (SD) age 44.9 (14.7) years) and 27 healthy controls (46.4 (12.8) years) were enrolled into the study. The expression of chemokine receptors (CCR-5, CXCR-3, CCR-4) and cytokines (interferon γ (IFNγ), interleukin (IL)2, IL4, IL10, tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα)) on CD28+ and CD28− T cell subtypes was analysed by a three colour FACS technique of peripheral blood samples. Serum ELISAs were performed to detect the CCR-5 ligands CCL-5, CCL-3; the CXCR-3 ligands CXCL-10, CXCL-9; and the CCR-4 ligand, CCL-17 before and after administration of the TNFα blocking agent infliximab. Results: CD4+CD28− T cells had higher ratios of CXCR-3 to CCR-4 than CD4+CD28+ T cells. Both, CD4+ and CD8+CD28− T cells of patients with AS produced more IFNγ, TNFα, and IL10 than their CD28+ counterparts (p<0.05), and lacked the production of IL2 and IL4. Serum levels of CXCL-9 were increased in patients with AS to 59.2 pg/ml (34.1–730.5) compared with 32.5 pg/ml (20.0–79.5) in healthy controls (p = 0.016). The levels of both type 1 (CCL-5, CXCL-9) and type 2 chemokines (CCL-17) decreased under blockade of TNFα (p<0.05). Conclusions: The profile of chemokine receptor expression and cytokine production by CD28− T cells suggests a type 1 immune reaction in AS, although IL10 is frequently produced by CD28− T cells. Treatment with TNFα blocking antibodies decreased both types of chemokines in patients' sera.


In the 1940s, curbing undocumented Mexican immigrant entry into the United States became a US government priority because of an alleged immigration surge, which was blamed for the unemployment of an estimated 252,000 US domestic agricultural laborers. Publicly committed to asserting its control of undocumented Mexican immigrant entry, the US government used Operation Wetback, a binational INS border-enforcement operation, to strike a delicate balance between satisfying US growers' unending demands for surplus Mexican immigrant labor and responding to the jobs lost by US domestic agricultural laborers. Yet Operation Wetback would also unintentionally and unexpectedly fuel a distinctly transnational pathway to legalization, marriage, and extended family formation for some Mexican immigrants.On July 12, 1951, US president Harry S. Truman's signing of Public Law 78 initiated such a pathway for an estimated 125,000 undocumented Mexican immigrant laborers throughout the United States. This law was an extension the Bracero Program, a labor agreement between the Mexican and US governments that authorized the temporary contracting of braceros (male Mexican contract laborers) for labor in agricultural production and railroad maintenance. It was formative to undocumented Mexican immigrant laborers' transnational pursuit of decisively personal goals in both Mexico and the United States.Section 501 of this law, which allowed employers to sponsor certain undocumented laborers, became a transnational pathway toward formalizing extended family relationships between braceros and Mexican American women. This article seeks to begin a discussion on how Operation Wetback unwittingly inspired a distinctly transnational approach to personal extended family relationships in Mexico and the United States among individuals of Mexican descent and varying legal statuses, a social matrix that remains relatively unexplored.


Abstract Alkylation via phase transfer catalysis of several ambident anions of the |N–C–S|− type leads exclusively to S-substitution. Yields obtained are better or equal to those given by conventional methods and experimental work-up is very much simplified compared to the latter.