Febrile temperatures commonly are seen after total knee arthroplasty, but their source and importance are unclear. The goal of the current study was to determine whether such fevers are part of the normal physiologic response to surgery mediated by inflammatory cytokines. In 20 patients who had total knee arthroplasty, serum and wound drain fluid samples were collected preoperatively and at 1, 6, 24, and 48 hours postoperatively; oral temperatures were measured postoperatively every 4 hours for 3 days. Concentrations of interleukin 1β, interleukin 6, and tumor necrosis factor α in the samples were measured via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and compared in patients who did and did not have fevers develop (≥38.5° C). Gender, age, operative time, amount of blood loss or drain output, anesthesia type, drop in hematocrit, and transfusion administration were not associated with fever. Significant increases were seen postoperatively in drain fluid concentrations of interleukin 1β and interleukin 6 and in serum concentrations of interleukin 6. Patients who were febrile had significantly higher drain and serum interleukin 6 concentrations than patients who were afebrile. These findings suggest that fevers seen after total knee arthroplasty are at least partly the result of surgical site inflammation and subsequent local and systemic release of the endogenous pyrogen interleukin 6.


Large-scale fabrication of ZnO nanowire (NW) based devices with a low cost process is a key issue in practical application. In this paper, we report a simple and sufficient self-assembly process to prepare highly dense, uniform ZnO NW films. In this process, the NWs are modified with the aminopropyltriethoxy silane (APTES) to form the positively charged amine-terminated layer, so they are adsorbed on negatively charged SiO2/Si substrates to form ZnO NW films by the electrostatic interaction in aqueous solution. Nanowire thin-film transistors (NW-TFTs) based on the prepared ZnO NW films are fabricated. A typical NW-TFT exhibited a current on/off ratio of 2.7×105, a transconductance of 546 nS and a field-effect mobility of 8.9 cm2/V•s. This study may pave the way toward large-scale fabrication of ZnO NW based devices with simple, sufficient and low cost process.


When behaviors are reinforced with a variable interval reinforcement schedule, reinforcement is available only after an unknown period of time. These types of reinforcement schedules are most useful for reinforcing slow and steady responding and for differentially reinforcing behaviors that are incompatible with some problematic behaviors. This review helps define variable interval reinforcement schedules, uses the example of a strategy to manage thumb-sucking behavior to illustrate the implementation of these schedules, and describes potential applications in school and clinical settings.


ABSTRACT Simplexa Clostridium difficile universal direct PCR, a real-time PCR assay for the detection of the C. difficile toxin B (tcdB) gene using the 3M integrated cycler, was compared with a two-step algorithm which includes the C. Diff Chek-60 glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) antigen assay followed by cytotoxin neutralization. Three hundred forty-two liquid or semisolid stools submitted for diagnostic C. difficile testing, 171 GDH antigen positive and 171 GDH antigen negative, were selected for the study. All samples were tested by the C. Diff Chek-60 GDH antigen assay, cytotoxin neutralization, and Simplexa direct PCR. Of 171 GDH-positive samples, 4 were excluded (from patients on therapy or from whom duplicate samples were obtained) and 88 were determined to be true positives for toxigenic C. difficile. Of the 88, 67 (76.1%) were positive by the two-step method and 86 (97.7%) were positive by PCR. Seventy-nine were positive by the GDH antigen assay only. Of 171 GDH antigen-negative samples, none were positive by PCR. One antigen-negative sample positive by the cytotoxin assay only was deemed a false positive based on chart review. Simplexa C. difficile universal direct PCR was significantly more sensitive for detecting toxigenic C. difficile bacteria than cytotoxin neutralization (P = 0.0002). However, most PCR-positive/cytotoxin-negative patients did not have clear C. difficile disease. The estimated cost avoidance provided by a more rapid molecular diagnosis was outweighed by the cost of isolating and treating PCR-positive/cytotoxin-negative patients. The costs, clinical consequences, and impact on nosocomial transmission of treating and/or isolating patients positive for toxigenic C. difficile by PCR but negative for in vivo toxin production merit further study.


A human bispecific antibody targeting both epidermal growth factor receptor EGFR and hepatocyte growth factor receptor (HGFR; cMet), with potential antineoplastic activity. Upon administration, anti-EGFR/c-Met bispecific antibody JNJ-61186372 simultaneously targets and binds to wild-type or certain mutant forms of both EGFR and cMet expressed on cancer cells, thereby preventing receptor phosphorylation. This prevents the activation of both EGFR- and cMet-mediated signaling pathways. In addition, binding results in receptor degradation, which further inhibits EGFR- and cMet-mediated signaling. JNJ-61186372 also causes antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). Altogether, this results in the inhibition of tumor cell proliferation. EGFR and cMet, both upregulated or mutated in a variety of tumor cell types, play key roles in tumor cell proliferation.


There is a need for new and effective topical treatment options for psoriasis. Recent phase I and II clinical trials have demonstrated efficacy of the novel nonsteroidal drug tapinarof to treat mild to moderate plaque psoriasis. Tapinarof is an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) agonist that induces antioxidant, immunomodulatory and epidermal differentiation regulation pathways. In this review, we examine the current preclinical and clinical studies with a focus on the mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy of tapinarof to treat psoriasis.


Abstract In the first part of this paper we study approximations of trajectories of piecewise deterministic processes (PDPs) when the flow is not given explicitly by the thinning method. We also establish a strong error estimate for PDPs as well as a weak error expansion for piecewise deterministic Markov processes (PDMPs). These estimates are the building blocks of the multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method, which we study in the second part. The coupling required by the MLMC is based on the thinning procedure. In the third part we apply these results to a two-dimensional Morris–Lecar model with stochastic ion channels. In the range of our simulations the MLMC estimator outperforms classical Monte Carlo.


This paper presents a novel low-complexity method for extracting periodicity of signals based on their sine-wave representation. In this representation, the signal is modeled as a finite sum of sine-waves, with time-varying amplitudes, phases and frequencies. We describe how one can modify the familiar spectral-comb analysis method to obtain a guaranteed and effective procedure to find the fundamental-frequency which gives the best harmonic approximation of the signal spectrum. The search is efficiently carried out in the frequency domain. The procedure obtains a successive refinement of possible pitch values which are consistent with an increasing number of sine wave components. Other pitch intervals are pruned at an early stage of the search. The advantage of this algorithm is its high accuracy achieved at a relatively low complexity. We also briefly describe one possible application in the area of pitch determination of speech signals.


Glioma metastasis outside the central nervous system is a quite rare phenomenon. The disease in a young woman manifested itself as back pain and loss of vision in the left eye. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a tumor of the optic nerve; positron emission tomography showed multiple secondary bone changes. At the same time, MRI detected no signs of neoplasm in the midline brain structures (the brain stem and subcortical nuclei) and spinal cord. Two biopsies (superior iliac spine trephine biopsy and optic nerve tumor biopsy) were performed. There were similar histological tumors; the optic nerve tumor was found to have K27M mutation in the H3F3A gene, whereas the metastatic tumor lacked this mutation (possibly due to the quality and quantity of DNA isolated from the tumor cells). The interesting features of this case are the simultaneous detection of primary and metastatic tumors before receiving any treatment and the absence of the K27M mutation in the H3F3A gene in the metastasis.


Five strains of Actinomyces were isolated from freshwater sponges, Baikalospongia and Lubomirskia, in Lake Baikal. By 16S rRNA sequencing, isolates were identified as Streptomyces griseoplanus, S. halstedii, S. violascens, S. flavovirens, and S. microflavus. Isolates had different characteristics of growth temperature, carbon utilization, enzyme activity, and cellular fatty acid composition. Optimum growth conditions of isolates were 30-37℃, pH 8-9, and 0-1.5% salt concentrations. Major fatty acid compositions were anteiso-C 15:0 , iso-C 15:0 , and iso-C 16:0 . Strain ATS-BA-19 had DNase and chitinase activities and strain ATS-BA-16 had cellulase and protease activities. Colonies of strain ATS-BA-15 and ATS-BA-19 made inhibition zone of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.


The effects of orange sweet potato flour addition to tapioca starch on the expansion, oil absorption, bulk density, water absorption index (WAI), water solubility index (WSI), hardness and colour of fried extruded fish crackers were investigated. The microstructure properties were assessed by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and the sensory properties of fried extruded fish crackers were determined by quantitative descriptive analysis method. The shape and texture of the product were similar to that of normal breakfast cereal. Light brownish and slightly harder texture was obtained with addition of orange sweet potato flour to tapioca starch in the fried extruded fish crackers. The bulk density and water solubility index (WSI) increased with the increase in orange sweet potato flour addition. However, water absorption index (WAI), linear expansion, expansion ratio, volume expansion and oil absorption decreased as the amount of orange sweet potato increased. The microstructure studies revealed that fried extruded fish crackers with high percentage of orange sweet potato flour had small air cells and thick cell wall. The fried extruded fish crackers with 30% fish, 14% orange sweet potato flour and 56% tapioca starch had high crispiness score and accepted by the trained panellists.


This study aimed to analyze if the sensory neuropeptide SP (SP) and the neurokinin receptor 1 (NK1R) are involved in macrophage mechano-transduction, similar to chondrocytes, and if alpha-calcitonin gene-related peptide (αCGRP) and the CGRP receptor (CRLR/Ramp1) show comparable activity. Murine RAW264.7 macrophages were subjected to a cyclic stretch for 1–3 days and 4 h/day. Loading and neuropeptide effects were analyzed for gene and protein expression of neuropeptides and their receptors, adhesion, apoptosis, proliferation and ROS activity. Murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMM) were isolated after surgical osteoarthritis (OA) induction and proliferation, apoptosis and osteoclastogenesis were analyzed in response to loading. Loading induced NK1R and CRLR/Ramp1 gene expression and altered protein expression in RAW264.7 macrophages. SP protein and mRNA level decreased after loading whereas αCGRP mRNA expression was stabilized. SP reduced adhesion in loaded RAW264.7 macrophages and both neuropeptides initially increased the ROS activity followed by a time-dependent suppression. OA induction sensitized BMM to caspase 3/7 mediated apoptosis after loading. Both sensory neuropeptides, SP and αCGRP, and their receptors are involved in murine macrophage mechano-transduction affecting neuropeptide impact on adhesion and ROS activity. OA induction altered BMM apoptosis in response to loading indicate that OA-associated biomechanical alterations might affect the macrophage population.


The identification of effective cancer preventive compounds from hops has become an important issue in public health-related research. We compared the antiproliferative and apoptosis-inducing effects of side chain variants of prenylflavanones, e. g., 8-prenylnaringenin (7) and 8-geranylnaringenin (10), which have been identified in hops (Humulus lupulus), and their synthetic variations 8-furanmethylnaringenin (8) and 8-cinnamylnaringenin (9). These were accessible by a Mitsunobu reaction and Claisen rearrangement. Flavanones 9 and 10 showed cytotoxic and apoptotic activities. Apoptosis was induced in a mitochondrial dependent manner. 8-Cinnamylnaringenin (9) displayed noticeably improved apoptotic effects when compared to 8-prenylnaringenin. The potential of 8-prenylnaringenin (7) is shown in an ex vivo experiment on a multi-drug resistant leukaemia blast.


This study assessed total food production availability and security among farm households in four agroecological zones of the Kakamega region of Kenya to determine for the 1995-96 crop year 1) the resource base 2) how livestock numbers influenced food security 3) the level of food security and 4) how off-farm employment and income influenced food security. The number of persons in a household was based on adult equivalents and was used to estimate the household food requirements and labor availability. Household food supply was from farm-produced crops livestock and market purchases. Farm income was generated from sales of crops and livestock and from leasing land while off-farm income included wages trade and donations. The farmers in the low middlelands and upper middlelands had limited production resources and were food-insecure. Possession of livestock increased food security. Households in the other zones had sufficient food from farm production supplemented with purchases. Over 60% of total household income was from off-farm wages. Households in all the zones supplemented food production with purchases using income generated from on- and off-farm activities. Agroecological zones total land size number of cattle permanent off-farm employment and total labor used for farming were statistically significant in influencing household food consumption and security. The general conclusion from the research is that policies that would intensify food production and improve off-farm employment would enhance food security in the region. (full text modified)


Among the pressing issues facing Australian and other First Nations peoples is the repatriation of the bodily remains of their ancestors, which are currently held in Western scientific institutions. The success of securing the return of these remains to their communities for reburial depends largely on locating information within scientific and other literature published between 1790 and 1970 documenting their theft, donation, sale, or exchange between institutions. This article reports on collaborative research by data scientists and social science researchers in the Research, Reconcile, Renew Network (RRR) to develop and apply text mining techniques to identify this vital information. We describe our work to date on developing a machine learning-based solution to automate the process of finding and semantically analysing relevant texts. Classification models, particularly deep learning-based models, are known to have low accuracy when trained with small amounts of labelled (i.e. relevant/non-relevant) documents. To improve the accuracy of our detection model, we explore the use of an Informed Neural Network (INN) model that describes documentary content using expert-informed contextual knowledge. Only a few labelled documents are used to provide specificity to the model, using conceptually related keywords identified by RRR experts in provenance research. The results confirm the value of using an INN network model for identifying relevant documents related to the investigation of the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. Empirical analysis suggests that this INN model can be generalized for use by other researchers in the social sciences and humanities who want to extract relevant information from large textual corpora.


Platelets are active key players in haemostasis. Qualitative platelet dysfunctions result in thrombocytopathies variously characterized by defects of their adhesive and procoagulant activation endpoints. In this review, we summarize the traditional platelet defects in adhesion, secretion, and aggregation. In addition, we review the current knowledge about procoagulant platelets, focusing on their role in bleeding or thrombotic pathologies and their pharmaceutical modulation. Procoagulant activity is an important feature of platelet activation, which should be specifically evaluated during the investigation of a suspected thrombocytopathy.


Controversy arises when attempting to relate unconformities on a tectonically active margin to global changes in sea level. Seismic stratigraphy studies on active margins generally concentrate on defining large seismic packets and do not directly relate unconformities and their correlative conformities to global sea level changes. In the Central Valley of Luzon, we determined sequence boundaries in the basin and developed an age model that strongly suggests that sea level change is the major factor affecting shorter term (less than 5 m.y.) changes in sedimentation on this active margin. The Central Valley is a Cenozoic fore-arc basin bounded by an arc complex and the left-lateral strike-slip Philippine fault on the east and by an east-dipping subduction zone adjacent to the Manila Trench on the west. Multichannel seismic reflection, well, and outcrop data were used to determine the depositional history of the basin. Because much of the 13 km (8 mi) thick basin fill consists of deep-water marine sediments, conventional criteria such as coastal onlap and erosional truncation could not always be used. Instead, evidence for pulses of submarine fan deposition during lowstands of sea level (suggested by Vail and Hardenbol in 1979, and by Shanmugan and Moiola in 1982) was used to identify some of the sequence boundaries. The ages of the major boundaries, predicted from comp risons with Cenozoic Sea level curves, agreed very well with established ages from well and outcrop data. The supposed difficulty in determining sea level changes in active margins is that tectonic effects override and cloud the effects of global sea level changes. We agree that major regional tectonic events such as the initiation of subduction or strike-slip movement that creates or destroys basin morphologies clearly are the dominant factors in the overall stratigraphy of the basin. However, episodic tectonic events during continued basin evolution result in discrete changes in local basin morphology and sediment source areas which may lead to local unconformities or local increase or decrease in sediment influx. These effects are probably small compared to the basin-wide effects of global sea level changes. Such is the case in the Luzon Central Valley where the effects of global sea l vel changes can be seen throughout the basin. End_of_Article - Last_Page 502------------


The center of the Milky Way hosts the closest supermassive black hole, Sgr A*. Decades of near-infrared observations of our Galactic Center have shown the presence of a small population of stars (the so-called S-star cluster) orbiting Sgr A*, which were recently reported to be arranged into two orthogonal disks. In this case, the timescale for the Lense–Thirring precession of S stars should be longer than their age, implying a low spin for Sgr A*. In contrast, the recent results by the Event Horizon Telescope favor a highly spinning Sgr A*, which seems to suggest that the S stars could not be arranged in disks. Alternatively, the spin of Sgr A* must be small, suggesting that the models for its observed image are incomplete.


An infant with diarrhea attended a community playgroup. In the subsequent 48 hours, 6 of the 7 mothers and children reported gastroenteritis; fecal specimens from 5 persons tested positive for norovirus, with identical sequences. No breach of hygiene or contact with fecal matter was identified. Excluding the child with gastroenteritis from the playgroup could have prevented this outbreak.


Abstract The δ-endotoxin Cry4Aa from Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) has insecticidal characteristics specific to insects of the order Diptera. Although Cry4Aa has shown potential as an effective proteinaceous pesticide against mosquitoes, it has an ultraviolet (UV)-intolerant property that limits its outdoor use. Our previous research showed that protein microcrystal polyhedra from Bombyx mori cypovirus can encapsulate diverse foreign proteins and maintain long-term protein activity under hostile environmental conditions, including UV irradiation. In this study, we report the development of polyhedra encapsulating the Cry4Aa insecticidal activity domain by using a modified baculovirus expression system. We confirmed the oral intake of recombinant polyhedra introduced into the experimental environment by the larvae of a mosquito, Aedes albopictus, and delivery of encapsulated proteins into the digestive tract. The polyhedra encapsulating partial Cry4Aa showed mosquito larvicidal activity during incubation of larvae with 50% lethal-dose value of 23.717×104 cubes for 10 Aedes albopictus larvae in 1 ml water. In addition, polyhedra showed a specific property to reduce the impact of UV-C irradiation on the activity of encapsulated partial Cry4Aa, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of encapsulating Bti δ-endotoxins inside polyhedra to increase the availability of proteinaceous pesticides for outdoor use for mosquito control.


Reducing uncertainty in 3D carbonate rock type distribution is a critical factor that profoundly impacts field development for hydrocarbon or carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. Miocene carbonate reservoirs in the Central Luconia offshore region are economically important global gas reservoirs. The nature of these carbonate rocks can be visually distinct in the core and the multiscale reservoir heterogeneity might vary in scale from the 100-m scale to the sub-millimeter scale. This work presents a series of steps workflow to obtain spatial information about the organization scheme of carbonate rock types, and capture the most important petrophysical and sedimentary controls on rock property distribution in the E11 field, a carbonate buildup, located in Central Luconia Province, offshore Malaysia. The spatial data were generated from a supervised neural Kohonen algorithm. The rock types predicted with this workflow were propagated using IPSOM probabilized self-organizing maps SOM. This tool is used for classifying multivariate data samples according to "patterns" or multivariate responses. The workflow includes several steps: A Step 1—Core data description, B Step 2—Thin section description, C Step 3—Well log interpretation, and D Step 4—IPSOM probabilized self-organizing maps for facies prediction SOM. The depth plots of the predicted rock type showed close correspondence to the core-based rock types in terms of the stratigraphic organization of tight and reservoir layers, proportions, and juxtaposition. This result is sufficient to merit the application of the rock type logs into a future porosity model of the E11 field, and to understand the lateral and vertical distribution of tight and reservoir rock types of distribution. The results can be used to build a future realistic digital twin of the subsurface, and in digital geological modeling.


Abstract The present article discusses the creation of an elderly care model entitled Caring Senior. Population aging caused by demographic and epidemiological changes in Brazil, a relatively recent phenomenon, requires an efficient response. Based on a critical analysis of healthcare models for the elderly, the text presents a proposal for the healthcare of this age group, with emphasis on low intensity levels of care, focusing on health promotion and prevention, in order to avoid overload in the system. Integrated care models aim to solve the problem of fragmented and poorly coordinated care in current health systems. The more health professionals know about the history of their patients, the better the results. This is how the contemporary and resolutive models of care recommended by most major national and international health agencies should function. A higher quality, more resolutive and cost-effective care model is the focus of the present study.


The spread of English is one of the notable aspects of the visual marketplace in modern Jordan. This paper investigates how English is negotiated and constructed inside Jordanian shopping malls in the linguistic landscape. It also examines the sociolinguistic roles played by English and other linguistic resources in those shopping malls. The study uses both quantitative and qualitative data. The research sites are two shopping malls in Amman and two in southern Jordan. A large corpus of 488 linguistic signs has been collected and coded according to three criteria: mall departments, exits and entrances, and language. The data was carefully and systematically ethnographically examined through repeatedly visiting the sites, and Jordanian mall shoppers were interviewed. The results indicate that it has become normal to use English as a valuable source of community translanguaging inside western Amman shopping malls. The less affluent malls in other areas display either impressionistic translanguaging or predominantly monolingual practices. It should be emphasised that there are also non-linguistic factors (e.g. demographics) that have a significant bearing on multilingual and monolingual landscaping.


This paper presents a low-cost technique for the fabrication of complex electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) digital microfluidic devices. Using this original technology, we have developed devices in which 560 electrodes are used to mix and split nl-size liquid droplets and transport them to 100 analysis spots patterned on a disposable plastic top plate. We demonstrate the multiplexing capability of the developed devices by creating on-chip arrays of droplets with various concentration gradients. Finally, automated biomolecular immobilization and hybridization assays are performed in nl-size droplets under numerous conditions simultaneously with only a limited number of stock solutions.


We have cloned the cDNA for Xenopus eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E). Here we show that translation of a luciferase mRNA that contains the 5' untranslated region derived from Xenopus eIF4E is active in fertilized eggs, but is repressed in oocytes. The results suggest that the expression of Xenopus eIF4E is regulated at the translation level.


A geochronological study was performed on zircon grains from a middle‐lower crustal shear zone exposed in the northern sector of the Ivrea‐Verbano Zone (Southern Alps, Italy) for the first time. The shear zone developed at the boundary between mafic rocks of the External Gabbro unit and ultramafic rocks of the Amphibole Peridotite unit. It is ~10–20 m wide, can be followed along a NE strike for several kilometers, and consists of an anastomosing network of mylonites and ultramylonites. Zircon grains were studied in thin sections and as separates from three representative outcrops along the shear zone. Zircon grains are more abundant in the shear zone compared to wall rocks and are generally equant, rounded to subrounded with dimensions up to 500 μm. U‐Pb data are mainly discordant, and the apparent 206Pb/238U dates show a large variation from Permian to Jurassic. Isotopic data, combined with microstructural, morphological, and internal features of zircon, reveal an inherited age component and suggest partial zircon recrystallization under high‐temperature conditions during Late Triassic to Early Jurassic. High‐temperature deformation in the shear zone, at lower crustal levels, was coeval with amphibolite to greenschist facies mylonitic deformation at upper crustal levels and is inferred to be related to Mesozoic rifting processes at the Adriatic margin.


Parameter identification is an important method to establish the governing system of a pumped storage unit. Appropriate parameters will make the governing system obtain better control performance. Therefore, in this study, an improved artificial hummingbird algorithm (IAHA) is proposed for the parameter identification of the governing system in a pumped storage unit. The algorithm integrates two key strategies to improve the optimization ability of the algorithm. First, the Chebyshev chaotic map is employed to initialize the artificial hummingbirds, which in turn increases and enhances the global search capability of the initial population. Second, the Levy flight is introduced in the guided foraging phase to expand the search space and avoid premature convergence. The performance of the proposed IAHA algorithm is compared with that of four other algorithms on 23 standard test functions, and the results show that IAHA has higher accuracy and faster convergence than the other four algorithms. Finally, IAHA was applied to the parameter identification of the governing system of a pumped storage unit to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm in tracking real-world problems.


Health care workers are adopting a new approach to family planning counseling. Working from the assumption that they knew best which contraceptive methods their clients should use family planning providers used to dominate family planning counseling sessions mainly providing information and advice. Women deferred to their providers. However clients are more likely to be satisfied with and continue using contraception if they are informed and active participants in the decision-making process. Providers are therefore learning to give up the authority they used to command and instead encourage their clients to take a more active role in making family planning and reproductive health-related decisions. Such providers are learning to respect client choice. Counseling training programs sponsored by AVSC and other organizations are helping to bring about this change. The role of training and client satisfaction are discussed.


The required functional characteristics expected from copper alloys have a major impact on the technological production process, therefore there is a strong need to acquire knowledge on changes of properties with technological process including heat treatment and plastic working. The studied in this work copper CuTi4. CuFe2. CuCr0.7 and CuNi2Si1 alloys was selected to present differences in hardening phases .The samples were quenched, cold deformed (rolling), and aged. Detailed microstructure analysis and its influence on electrical and mechanical properties was presented in the work. Quenched CuTi4, CuFe2, CuCr0.7 and CuNi2Si1alloys have different mechanism and kinetics of precipitation during aging. These processes are complex and depend on the heterogeneity of distribution of alloying elements in copper matrix, the process parameters and cold strain value.


A basis of the center of the 0-Hecke algebra of an arbitrary finite Coxeter group was described by He in 2015. This basis corresponds to certain equivalence classes of the Coxeter group. We consider case of the symmetric group $S_n$. Building on work of Geck, Kim and Pfeiffer, we obtain a complete set of representatives of the equivalence classes. This set is naturally parametrized by certain compositions of $n$ called maximal. We develop an explicit combinatorial description for the equivalence classes that are parametrized by the maximal compositions whose odd parts form a hook.


To aid priority setting in prevention, the Assessing Cost-Effectiveness in Prevention Project (ACE-Prevention) applies standardised evaluation methods to assess the cost-effectiveness of 100 to 150 preventive interventions, taking predominantly a health sector perspective. This information is intended to help decision makers move resources from less efficient current practices to more efficient preventive action resulting in greater health gain for the same outlay.


Background & Aims : Pseudocyst of auricle otherwise called as auricular seroma is a cystic swelling filled with serous fluid. It occurs spontaneously or following surgery or trauma. Successful treatment of seromas remain a challenge because this disease has a high propensity for recurrence. The aim was to study the role of triamcinolone in reducing recurrence of pseudocyst of the auricle. Materials and methods : A total of 50 patients with pseudocyst of auricle were randomized into two groups. They were followed up to a year for recurrence. The technique of intra-lesional injection of triamcinolone acetonide after aspirating the fluid was followed in one group as against aspiration and tight bandaging in another group. Results : Out of seroma patients who underwent aspiration and bandaging, 90.91% had recurrence as against only 25.64% recurrence in patients who underwent aspiration and Inj.Triamcinolone infiltration. Out of seroma patients who underwent aspiration and bandaging 54.55% had recurrence within 1 month of initial treatment and 27.27% of them had a second recurrence within 3 months. Conclusion : Intra¬lesional injection of triamcinolone is a promising treatment option for management of auricular seroma. It prevents the recurrence also.


The establishment of potential age markers of Madeira wine is of paramount significance as it may contribute to detect frauds and to ensure the authenticity of wine. Considering the chemical groups of furans, lactones, volatile phenols, and acetals, 103 volatile compounds were tentatively identified; among these, 71 have been reported for the first time in Madeira wines. The chemical groups that could be used as potential age markers were predominantly acetals, namely, diethoxymethane, 1,1-diethoxyethane, 1,1-diethoxy-2-methyl-propane, 1-(1-ethoxyethoxy)-pentane, trans-dioxane and 2-propyl-1,3-dioxolane, and from the other chemical groups, 5-methylfurfural and cis-oak-lactone, independently of the variety and the type of wine. GC × GC-ToFMS system offers a more useful approach to identify these compounds compared to previous studies using GC-qMS, due to the orthogonal systems, that reduce coelution, increase peak capacity and mass selectivity, contributing to the establishment of new potential Madeira wine age markers. Remarkable results were also obtained in terms of compound identification based on the organized structure of the peaks of structurally related compounds in the GC × GC peak apex plots. This information represents a valuable approach for future studies, as the ordered-structure principle can considerably help the establishment of the composition of samples. This new approach provides data that can be extended to determine age markers of other types of wines.


The food sample extract is cleaned up on a Florisil column and the 6% ethyl ether in petroleum ether cluate is subjected to repeated concentrations, using a micro-Snyder column, to expel volatile materials that absorb ultraviolet (UV) light. The sample and standard solutions of heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide are placed in quartz cells and exposed to UV radiation in the dark. Characteristic photoderivatives of the respective pesticides which form in the sample extract are identified and measured by comparison with those formed in the irradiated standard solutions, using electron capture gas-liquid chromatography. Recoveries of the 2 pesticides from 13 products, fortified at levels from 0.01 to 0.3 ppm and determined after derivatization, ranged from 67 to 110%.


Unitary operations are expressed in the quantum circuit model as a finite sequence of elementary gates, such as controlled-not gates and single qubit gates. We prove that the simplified Toffoli gate by Margolus, which coincides with the Toffoli gate up to a single change of sign, cannot be realized with less than three controlled-not gates. If the circuit is implemented with three controlled-not gates, then at least four additional single qubit gates are necessary. This proves that the implementation suggested by Margolus is optimal.


The photodissociation of the (CS(2))(2)(-) dimer anion, known to exist in the form of several electronic and structural isomers, has been investigated at 532, 355, and 266 nm. The observed anionic fragments are CS(2)(-) and C(2)S(2)(-) at 532 nm, and C(2)S(2)(-), CS(2)(-), CS(3)(-), S(2)(-), and S(-) at 355 and 266 nm. In addition to the photon energy, the fractional yields of the photofragments depend on the ion source conditions and solvation of the dimer anion. Specifically, the (C(2)S(2)(-) + S(2)(-))/CS(2)(-) product ratio is significantly higher when (CS(2))(2)(-) is formed in the presence of water in the precursor gas mixture, even though the parent anion itself does not include H(2)O. On the other hand, an abrupt decrease in the above product ratio is observed upon the addition of solvent molecules (CS(2) or H(2)O) to the (CS(2))(2)(-) anion. Since the variation of this product ratio exhibits positive correlation with the relative intensity of the photoelectron band assigned to the C(2v) ((2)B(1)) covalent structure of C(2)S(4)(-) by Habteyes et al. [J. Phys. Chem. A 112, 10134 (2008)], this structure is suggested as the primary origin of the C(2)S(2)(-) and S(2)(-) photoproducts. The switching of the fragmentation yield from C(2)S(2)(-) and S(2)(-) to other products upon solvation is ascribed to the diminished presence of the C(2v) ((2)B(1)) dimer-anion structure relative to the CS(2)(-) based clusters. This population shift is attributed to the more effective solvation of the latter. The CS(2)(-) based clusters are suggested as the origin of the S(-) photoproduct, while CS(3)(-) is formed through the secondary S(-) + CS(2) intracluster association reaction.


The lifetimes of the first excited 2^{+} and 4^{+} states in ^{72}Ni were measured at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory with the recoil-distance Doppler-shift method, a model-independent probe to obtain the reduced transition probability. Excited states in ^{72}Ni were populated by the one-proton knockout reaction of an intermediate energy ^{73}Cu beam. γ-ray-recoil coincidences were detected with the γ-ray tracking array GRETINA and the S800 spectrograph. Our results provide evidence of enhanced transition probability B(E2;2^{+}→0^{+}) as compared to ^{68}Ni, but do not confirm the trend of large B(E2) values reported in the neighboring isotope ^{70}Ni obtained from Coulomb excitation measurement. The results are compared to shell model calculations. The lifetime obtained for the excited 4_{1}^{+} state is consistent with models showing decay of a seniority ν=4, 4^{+} state, which is consistent with the disappearance of the 8^{+} isomer in ^{72}Ni.


Within days of each other, Pfizer, Merck, and GlaxoSmithKline announced that they will focus on a few therapeutic areas only and abandon others entirely. Pfizer alone will close well over a hundred drug development projects that have reached two-thirds of the way to launch. The programs are deemed to be too risky and not lucrative enough for Big Pharma in the current climate. Society has a real need for the drugs that are no longer going to be developed for, among others, drug-resistant epilepsy, neuropathic and cancer pain, type-2 diabetes, obesity, and schizophrenia. The authors propose a radical response by the U.S. government and the National Institutes of Health to rescue these abandoned projects, and to continue selected programs for drug approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency. The investment required is small compared to the Troubled Asset Relief Program bank bail out, but the return on investment in financial terms and in satisfying societal needs makes this proposal attractive.


INTRODUCTION Revision total hip replacements are likely to have higher complication rates than primary procedures due to the poor quality of the original bone. This may be constrained to achieve adequate fixation strength to prevent future "aseptic loosening" [1]. A thin, slightly flexible, acetabular component with a three dimensional, titanium foam in-growth surface has been developed to compensate for inferior bone quality and decreased contact area between the host bone and implant by better distributing loads across the remaining acetabulum in a revision situation. This is assumed to result in more uniform bone apposition to the implant by minimizing stress concentrations at the implant/bone contact points that may be associated with a thicker, stiffer acetabular component, resulting in improved implant performance.[2] To assemble the liner to the shell, the use of PMMA bone cement is recommended at the interface between the polyethylene insert and the acetabular shell as a locking mechanism configuration may not be ideal due to the flexibility in the shell [3]. The purpose of this study was to quantify the mechanical integrity of a thin acetabular shell with a cemented liner in a laboratory bench-top total hip revision condition. Two-point loading in an unsupported cavity was created in a polyurethane foam block to mimic the contact of the anterior and posterior columns in an acetabulum with superior and inferior defects. This simulates the deformation in an acetabular shell when loaded anatomically [4]. The application has been extended to evaluate the fatigue performance of the Titanium metal foam Revision Non-Modular Shell Sequentially Cross Linked PE All-Poly Inserts and its influence on liner fixation.


Nanoelectrode arrays have introduced a complete new battery of devices with fascinating electrocatalytic, sensitivity, and selectivity properties. To understand and predict the electrochemical response of these arrays, a theoretical framework is needed. Cyclic voltammetry is a well-fitted experimental technique to understand the undergoing diffusion and kinetics processes. Previous works describing microelectrode arrays have exploited the interelectrode distance to simulate its behavior as the summation of individual electrodes. This approach becomes limited when the size of the electrodes decreases to the nanometer scale due to their strong radial effect with the consequent overlapping of the diffusional fields. In this work, we present a computational model able to simulate the electrochemical behavior of arrays working either as the summation of individual electrodes or being affected by the overlapping of the diffusional fields without previous considerations. Our computational model relays in dividing a regular electrode array in cells. In each of them, there is a central electrode surrounded by neighbor electrodes; these neighbor electrodes are transformed in a ring maintaining the same active electrode area than the summation of the closest neighbor electrodes. Using this axial neighbor symmetry approximation, the problem acquires a cylindrical symmetry, being applicable to any diffusion pattern. The model is validated against micro- and nanoelectrode arrays showing its ability to predict their behavior and therefore to be used as a designing tool.


A Wiener system is composed of a linear dynamic subsystem followed by a static nonlinearity. It is well known in the literature that the identification of the linear subsystem of a Wiener system can be separated from that of the output nonlinearity, if the input signal is Gaussian distributed. In order to deal with the non Gaussian input case, two new algorithms are proposed in this paper for direct identification of the linear subsystem, regardless of any parametrization of the output nonlinearity. The essential assumption required in this paper is the strict monotonousness of the output nonlinearity.


The minority party in the House of Representatives possesses few procedural advantages. As a result, it is typically dominated by the majority party. I argue that the minority controls the use of one procedure in the House, the motion to recommit, and that it uses this control to strategically cross-pressure members of the majority party. Ultimately, this cross-pressuring places the minority in a win-win situation where they either receive a policy victory or better election results. The results of this project overwhelming support the theory of cross-pressuring and indicate that the minority is able to design, implement, and reap the benefits of its own strategy in the House. INDEX WORDS: Congress, House of Representatives, Minority party, Motion to recommit, Legislative process, Legislative strategy MINORITY PARTY STRATEGY IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: CROSSPRESSURING AND THE MOTION TO RECOMMIT


Adequate vascularization is pivotal for tumor progression and metastasis. Tumor angiogenesis is based on a sequence of interactions between the tumor and surrounding cells and the extracellular matrix. It is widely known that a tumor can influence and control its surroundings to create favorable conditions for further growth. To investigate the influence of various tumor types on endothelial cells (ECs), an in vitro rat cell model was used and rat liver EC52 cells were co‑cultured with conditioned medium derived from breast cancer MCR86, osteosarcoma ROS‑1, colon cancer CC531 and rhabdomyosarcoma R1H cell lines. In a distinct tumor‑type‑dependent manner, the EC52 cells exhibited changes in their function and gene expression. In all functional cell culture assays (proliferation, migration, transmigration, invasion and tube formation) the breast cancer cells exerted a significant effect on the angiogenic abilities of the ECs. When comparing the various tumor cell types, only the breast and colon cancer cells led to a significant stimulation of the EC migration and invasion. Proliferation, migration, invasion and tube formation were not or only hardly influenced by the osteosarcoma or rhabdomyosarcoma cells. Similarly, the breast and colon cancer cells exhibited the strongest influence on the upregulation of EC angiogenic genes, including the ones encoding vascular endothelial growth factor A, platelet and endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1, fibroblast growth factor 2, Von Willebrand factor, C‑X‑C motif chemokine ligand 12 and tyrosine kinase with immunoglobulin‑like and EGF‑like domains 1. Therefore, it is hypothesized that tumor cells enhance the angiogenic properties of ECs, including proliferation, migration, invasion and tube formation in a tumor‑type‑dependent manner. This is likely based on the upregulation of pro‑angiogenic genes in ECs induced by varying cytokine secretion signatures of tumor cells.


A new iodinated lipid emulsion, Intraiodol, for which animal studies have indicated better tolerance than for other iodinated lipid emulsions, was tested in 15 patients with malignant lesions, and in one patient with focal nodular hyperplasia. Repeated CT scans of the liver and spleen and blood tests were performed for 24 hours after intravenous injection of Intraiodol. The uptake of Intraiodol in the liver (peak mean 28.6 HU) was higher than in the spleen (peak mean 21.8 HU). The uptake of Intraiodol in malignant lesions was minimal (peak mean 2.8 HU). The detection rate of hepatic lesions was equal to or better than that achieved by US, CT, and/or CT angiography. However, liver uptake of Intraiodol was low in 2 patients with severe fatty infiltration. Intraiodol produced vascular enhancement up to one hour after injection since it was eliminated slowly from the circulation. The observed adverse reactions consisted of temporary metallic taste in 5 of the patients, fever and exacerbation of back pain in one patient, and transient thrombocytopenia in one patient. Alkaline phosphatase increased (17%, p<0.01) only at two hours, and erythrocyte count (6%, p<0.05) at 24 hours after injection. Our initial results indicate diagnostic advantages of Intraiodol without serious adverse reactions. Further clinical studies are required to confirm these findings.


The purpose of this research was to investigate the learning effects on pupils' decimal concept in IIRS (Integrated Interactive Response System) educational environment. IIRS was gradually adopted in classroom and few researches discussed its effects in mathematics instruction. Besides, S-P chart (Student Problem Chart) was one approach of cognitive diagnosis and it aimed to reveal the learning effects of examinee. Therefore, S-P chart will be adopted to analyze the learning types in this research. One way quasi-experiment design of mathematics instruction was conducted to investigate the learning effects of IIRS. In order to detect students' decimal concept structures, the researchers developed S-P chart software to analyze assessment data. According to S-P chart, this study explained the caution index and classified students into proper styles of mathematics learning. By this way, we could realize the erroneous decimal concepts and misconception. Based on the findings, one was concluded that students who used the IIRS in classroom had higher performance on decimal learning. Besides, results of S-P chart also showed that students taking the IIRS had less misconception in decimal. In conclusion, the study found the positive effects of IIRS used in the mathematics instruction. Based on the conclusions, some recommendations and suggestions for mathematics instruction and future investigation were provided.


European airlines are entering a gradual period of economic liberalisation. This study aims to analyse the performance of 17 European airlines during the early stages (1991-1995) of the liberalisation process. We utilise nonparametric methodologies: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the DEA based Malmquist productivity index. DEA Windows analysis is used to capture efficiency changes over time whilst the DEA based Malmquist productivity index is used to measure the productivity change and decompose any change into efficiency and frontier shift effects. We find that results from windows analysis reveal an increasing trend in the efficiency scores for most airlines in the sample whereas Malmquist analysis show a decline in the first two periods, but some evidence of turnaround in 1993-1994, probably with the introduction of the third liberalisation package.


SUMMARY Malignant external otitis (MEO) is a rare infection of the temporal bone primarily affecting elderly patients and diabetics or immunocompromised individuals, which may have dismal prognosis if treatment is not prompt and adequate. Almost 95% of MEO cases reported in the literature are attributed to Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and this pathogen is isolated from aural drainage in > 90% of cases. However, in recent years fungal and polymicrobial temporal bone infections have been reported with increasing frequency. The aim of this paper is to discuss a possible pitfall in MEO treatment using an unusual clinical case. In this patient, bacteriological data positive for Pseudomonas delayed correct diagnosis of Aspergillus infection, which was obtained after surgical debridement and biopsy of the infra-temporal space.


The high frequency wireless communication and high-speed electronics industries are demanding increasingly more sophisticated microwave integrated circuits. Today, conventional microwave integrated circuits have used single substrate planar microstrip line or suspended and inverted microstrip lines. Present day microwave integrated circuits, however, cannot rely solely on conventional microstrip line or its derivatives. During the past five years new quasi-planar microstrip lines, known as microshields, have been proposed. Electrical properties of such lines have not been adequately studied either experimentally or theoretically. There is a strong need for such studies. This thesis aims to fill this gap for some newly emerged quasi-planar lines, using the finite element method. By implementing the incremental inductance rule, the finite element method is used for transmission line loss calculation. It is then used in estimating the effects of metal penetration in microshield transmission lines used in modern day microwave circuits. This research will help advance the art of microwav6 integrated circuit technology.


Nodulation-defective rhizobia and their nodule-forming derivatives containing cloned DNA from the wild type were used to study nodulation suppression in Phaseolus vulgaris L. Non-nitrogen-fixing derivatives which formed rhizobia-containing white nodules induced partial suppression. Comparison of this with the complete suppression by Fix+ derivatives and a Fix- mutant which formed rhizobia-containing pink nodules suggests that the extent of suppression may be related to successive stages of nodule development.


Routing in information-centric networking remains an open problem. The main issue is scalability. Traditional IP routing can be used with name prefixes, but it is believed that the number of prefixes will grow too large. A related problem is the use of per-packet in-network state (to cut loops and return data to consumers). We develop a routing scheme that solves these problems. The service model of our information-centric network supports information pull and push using tag sets as information descriptors. Within this service model, we propose a routing scheme that supports forwarding along multiple loop-free paths, aggregates addresses for scalability, does not require per-packet network state, and leads to near-optimal paths on average. We evaluate the scalability of our routing scheme, both in terms of memory and computational complexity, on the full Internet AS-level topology and on the internal networks of representative ASes using realistic distributions of content and users extrapolated from traces of popular applications. For example, a population of 500 million users requires a routing information base of 3.8GB with an almost flat growth and, in this case, a routing update (one content descriptor) can be processed in 2ms on commodity hardware. We conclude that information-centric networking is feasible, even with (or perhaps thanks to) addresses consisting of expressive content descriptors.


The authors describe an intervention for 3 preschoolers with disabilities who had low peer-related social competence. The intervention taught academic skills tailored to the need of each target student in small groups (triads) with two typically developing peers, using a progressive time delay procedure. Prior to instruction and separate from the students with disabilities, typical peers learned to provide reinforcers for correct responses, and to say "thank you" when a group mate shared. The authors assessed the acquisition of sharing and thanking behaviors during instructional sessions by the preschoolers with disabilities and generalization of these social behaviors to contexts similar to classroom activities for all participants. Results were (a) all participants learned targeted academic behaviors; (b) all participants learned some academic behaviors taught to their peers; (c) participants without disabilities modeled sharing with high fidelity but modeled thanking with lower fidelity; (d) all participants with disabilities shared and less frequently said "thank you" during instructional sessions (although they were never prompted to do so); and (e) participants with and without disabilities shared in art and picnic activities and said "thank you" to a lesser extent, although they were not prompted to share or thank in these contexts.


Recent re-analyses of lunar samples have undoubtedly measured indigenous water, challenging the paradigm of a "dry" Moon, and arguing that some portions of the lunar interior are as wet as some regions of the Earth's mantle and that water in both planetary bodies likely share a common origin. Mare basalts indirectly sample the lunar mantle and are affected by petrogenetic processes such as crystallization and degassing that can modify characteristics of indigenous water in primary mantle melts. Analyses of apatite in phosphorus-rich KREEP (K + REE [rare earth elements] + P) basalts may provide more reliable estimates for the water content of lunar magmas, as some apatites likely crystallized before substantial degassing occurred. In lunar KREEP basalt sample 15386, apatite H 2 O content and H isotopic composition suggest that degassing occurred during apatite crystallization, the lowest δD value of 90‰ ± 100‰ representing an upper limit for the isotopic composition of water in the parental magma. Interpretation of the data for KREEP basalt 15386 suggests that this basalt is characterized by relatively elevated H 2 O contents and CI chondrite–type δD values, similar to those proposed for other mare basalts and pyroclastic glasses. On the other hand, most of the apatites in lunar KREEP basalt 72275 and lunar meteorite NWA 773 crystallized before degassing and H isotope fractionation, and their D/H ratios thus directly refl ect those of their source regions. These apatites have an average δD value of –130‰ ± 50‰, suggesting the presence of a water reservoir in the Moon characterized by moderate H 2 O contents and H isotopic composition similar to that of Earth's interior. These fi ndings imply that signifi cant amounts of water in the Moon were inherited from the proto-Earth, surviving the purported Moon-forming impact event.


NK 631, a new antibiotic of bleomycin analogue, was applied to the treatment of 15 patients with head-and-neck cancers. The results obtained were slightly better than bleomycin-treated cases. For the side effect of NK 631, there were no lung disorders in all patients.


The ability to discriminate between host and donor cells is required to interpret the organization of neural grafts at the electron microscopic (EM) level. Using light microscopy, Ardizzoni et al. (Ardizzoni, S.C., Michaels A., and Arendash, G.W. [1988] Science 239:635-637) described a method, using gold-filled Sendai viral envelopes, for labeling cell suspensions prior to grafting. As the colloidal gold used in this procedure is especially attractive for use with EM, we have examined the ultrastructural distribution and character of this label with transplanted cells. Cell suspensions taken from the nucleus basalis of fetal rats were labeled using gold-filled Sendai viral envelopes and grafted into the dorsal neocortex of adult host rats with nucleus basalis lesions. After varying survival times ranging from 1 to 14 months, grafts and surrounding host tissue were examined using standard EM techniques. Within the graft site, gold particles ranging from 10-200 nm were found associated with various membranes throughout the cytoplasm of both neurons and glia. Gold particles of similar size were also found within the nuclei of neuronal and non-neuronal cells. Host cells near the graft site contained some small gold particles (10-40 nm). Control injections of non-viable, gold-labeled cells or colloidal gold alone resulted in similar patterns of small gold particles which were readily discriminable from the larger virally inserted gold particles found in viable labeled donor cells. We conclude that this method allows discrimination between closely associated host and donor cells.


With the rapid rise of the world's reliance on technology, organisations are facing an increased demand for a security savvy workforce. It is, therefore, important that computing graduates possess the necessary information security skills, knowledge and understanding that can enable them to perform their organisational roles and responsibilities in a secure manner. The information security skills, knowledge and understanding can be acquired through a computing qualification that is offered at a higher education institution. The ACM/IEEE, as a key role player that provides educational guidelines for the development of computing curricula, recommends that information security should be pervasively integrated into the curriculum. However, its guidelines and recommendations do not provide sufficient guidance on "how" this can be done. This study therefore, proposes a framework to address the pervasive integration of information security into computing curricula. Various research methods were used in this study. Firstly, a literature review was undertaken to inform the various phases and elements of the proposed framework. The literature reviewed included relevant information security education standards and best practices, including key computing curricular guidelines. Secondly, a survey in the form of semi-structured interviews supported by a questionnaire were used to elicit computing educators' perspectives on information security education in a South African context, including the perceived challenges and ideas on how to integrate information security into the curricula. Finally, elite interviews were conducted to validate the proposed framework. It is envisaged that the proposed framework can assist computing departments and undergraduate computing educators in the integration of information security into the curricula thereby helping to ensure that computing graduates exit higher education institutions possessing the necessary information security skills, knowledge and understanding to enable them to perform their roles and responsibilities securely.


Substantial defects are produced in Al2O3 by 4 MeV Au ion irradiation with a fluence of 4.4 × 1015 cm−2. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry/channeling and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy methods are used to investigate the irradiation damage. The 190 keV H ions with a fluence of 1 × 1017 cm−2 are used for implanting pristine and Au ion irradiated Al2O3 to explore the irradiation damage effects on the hydrogen retention in Al2O3. The time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry method is used to obtain the single hydrogen depth profile and ions mass spectra (IMS), in which we find that implanted hydrogens interacted with defects produced by Au ion irradiation. In IMS, we also obtain the hydrogen retention at a certain depth. Comparing the hydrogen retention in different Al2O3 samples, it is concluded that the irradiation damage improves the tritium permeation resistance property of Al2O3 under given conditions. This result means that Al2O3 may strengthen its property of reducing tritium permeation under the harsh irradiation environment in fusion reactors.


Species' range shifts in response to ongoing climate change have been widely documented, but although complex spatial patterns in species' responses are expected to be common, comprehensive comparisons of species' ranges over time have undergone little investigation. Here, we outline a modeling framework based on historical and current species distribution records for disentangling different drivers (i.e. climatic vs. nonclimatic) and assessing distinct facets (i.e. colonization, extirpation, persistence, and lags) of species' range shifts. We used extensive monitoring data for stream fish assemblages throughout France to assess range shifts for 32 fish species between an initial period (1980–1992) and a contemporary one (2003–2009). Our results provide strong evidence that the responses of individual species varied considerably and exhibited complex mosaics of spatial rearrangements. By dissociating range shifts in climatically suitable and unsuitable habitats, we demonstrated that patterns in climate‐driven colonization and extirpation were less marked than those attributed to nonclimatic drivers, although this situation could rapidly shift in the near future. We also found evidence that range shifts could be related to some species' traits and that the traits involved varied depending on the facet of range shift considered. The persistence of populations in climatically unsuitable areas was greater for short‐lived species, whereas the extent of the lag behind climate change was greater for long‐lived, restricted‐range, and low‐elevation species. We further demonstrated that nonclimatic extirpations were primarily related to the size of the species' range, whereas climate‐driven extirpations were better explained by thermal tolerance. Thus, the proposed framework demonstrated its potential for markedly improving our understanding of the key processes involved in range shifting and also offers a template for informing management decisions. Conservation strategies would greatly benefit from identifying both the geographical patterns and the species' traits associated with complex modifications of species' distributions in response to global changes.


Purpose of review The pathogenicity of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] as a risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is well evidenced and recognized by international consensus-based guidelines. However, the measurement of Lp(a) is not routine clinical practice. Therapeutic agents targeting Lp(a) are now progressing through randomised clinical trials, and it is timely for clinicians to familiarize themselves with this complex and enigmatic lipoprotein particle. Recent findings Recent developments in the understanding of genetic influences on the structure, plasma concentration and atherogenicity of Lp(a) have contextualized its clinical relevance. Mendelian randomization studies have enabled estimation of the contribution of Lp(a) to ASCVD risk. Genotyping individual patients with respect to Lp(a)-raising single nucleotide polymorphisms predicts ASCVD, but has not yet been shown to add value beyond the measurement of Lp(a) plasma concentrations, which should be done by Lp(a) isoform-independent assays capable of reporting in molar concentrations. Contemporary gene-silencing technology underpins small interfering RNA and antisense oligonucleotides, which are emerging as the leading Lp(a)-lowering therapeutic agents. The degree of Lp(a)-lowering required to achieve meaningful reductions in ASCVD risk has been estimated by Mendelian randomization, providing conceptual support. Summary Measurement of Lp(a) in the clinical setting contributes to the assessment of ASCVD risk, and will become more important with the advent of specific Lp(a)-lowering therapies. Knowledge of an individual patient's genetic predisposition to increased Lp(a) appears to impart little or not additional clinical value beyond Lp(a) particle concentration.


Abstract Cells of the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) of human adipose tissue have the capacity to generate osteogenic grafts with intrinsic vasculogenic properties. However, cultured adipose-derived stromal cells (ASCs), even after minimal monolayer expansion, lose osteogenic capacity in vivo. Communication between endothelial and stromal/mesenchymal cell lineages has been suggested to improve bone formation and vascularization by engineered tissues. Here, we investigated the specific role of a subpopulation of SVF cells positive for T-cadherin (T-cad), a putative endothelial marker. We found that maintenance during monolayer expansion of a T-cad-positive cell population, composed of endothelial lineage cells (ECs), is mandatory to preserve the osteogenic capacity of SVF cells in vivo and strongly supports their vasculogenic properties. Depletion of T-cad-positive cells from the SVF totally impaired bone formation in vivo and strongly reduced vascularization by SVF cells in association with decreased VEGF and Adiponectin expression. The osteogenic potential of T-cad-depleted SVF cells was fully rescued by co-culture with ECs from a human umbilical vein (HUVECs), constitutively expressing T-cad. Ectopic expression of T-cad in ASCs stimulated mineralization in vitro but failed to rescue osteogenic potential in vivo, indicating that the endothelial nature of the T-cad-positive cells is the key factor for induction of osteogenesis in engineered grafts based on SVF cells. This study demonstrates that crosstalk between stromal and T-cad expressing endothelial cells within adipose tissue critically regulates osteogenesis, with VEGF and adiponectin as associated molecular mediators.


In Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, the use of mobile phones increased sharply in the mid-1990s; thus, time trends in brain tumor incidence after 1998 may provide information about possible tumor risks associated with mobile phone use. We investigated time trends in the incidence of glioma and meningioma in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden from 1974 to 2003, using data from national cancer registries. We used joinpoint regression models to analyze the annual incidence rates of glioma and meningioma. During this period, 59,984 men and women aged 20-79 years were diagnosed with brain tumors in a population of 16 million adults. All statistical tests were two-sided. From 1974 to 2003, the incidence rate of glioma increased by 0.5% per year (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.2% to 0.8%) among men and by 0.2% per year (95% CI = -0.1% to 0.5%) among women and that of meningioma increased by 0.8% per year (95% CI = 0.4% to 1.3%) among men, and after the early 1990s, by 3.8% per year (95% CI = 3.2% to 4.4%) among women. No change in incidence trends were observed from 1998 to 2003, the time when possible associations between mobile phone use and cancer risk would be informative about an induction period of 5-10 years.


Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) tend to cluster together. However the relation between RA autoantibodies and thyroid autoantibodies is debatable. Objectives To investigate the relation between RA autoantibodies namely anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti –CCP) and rheumatoid factor (RF) and autoimmune thyroid markers [thyroid peroxidase antibodies (anti-TPO), thyroglobulin antibodies (anti-TG) and TSH receptor antibodies (TRAbs)] in RA patients. Methods The study included 70 RA patients, subclassified according to the presence of RF and anti-CCP into 35 seropositive RA patients (positive to one or both seromarkers), and 35 seronegative RA (negative to both seromarkers). 20 healthy age and sex matched were also included as controls. Detailed history and physical examination focusing on clinical features suggestive of thyroid dysfunction and disease activity score (DAS 28) were assessed. Investigations included measurement of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), total triiodothyronine (TT3), total thyroxin (TT4), anti-TPO, anti-TG, and TRAbs in addition to ESR and CRP. Ultrasound neck for assessing thyroid was done in all patients and controls. Results Hypothyroidism was found in 20/70 (28.57%) RA compared to 15% of controls. Whereas hyperthyroidism was found in 4/70 RA patients (5.71%) compared to 0% of controls. There was no significant difference in thyroid dysfunction between seropositive and negative patients. Mean levels of anti-TPO, anti-TG and TRAbs were significantly higher in RA patients versus controls (p<0. 001). Furthermore, mean anti-TPO was significantly higher in seropositive than seronegative RA (1301. 9±1716. 0 and 799. 4±1597. 7 respectively) (P<0.001). Anti-TG was higher in seropositive than seronegative RA (1750. 0±1866.2 and 898. 1±988. 11 respectively) (P<0.001). Similarly, TRAbs were significantly higher in seropositive than negative RA (p=0. 006). Ultrasonographic thyroiditis was significantly evident in RA patients versus control (p=0.001) with no difference between seropositive and negative RA. Significant positive correlation was found between RA autoantibodies (RF and anti-CCP) and thyroid autoantibodies in seropositive patients. Conclusions Thyroid dysfunction and AITD are common in RA patients, with hypothyroidism being the commonest regardless of RA serostatus and disease activity assessed by DAS 28. Seropositivity to RF and/ or anti-CCP infers a state of increased immune reactivity in RA as evidenced by the significantly higher levels of all thyroid autoantibodies in seropositive patients than seronegatives and controls and by the positive correlation between the RA autoantibodies and thyroid autoantibodies. Accordingly, screening for thyroid autoantibodies in RA patients especially seropositives is recommended. Disclosure of Interest None declared


The electro-optic Kerr effect in simple dipolar fluids such as nitrobenzene has been widely applied in electro-optical phase modulators and light shutters. In 2005, the discovery of the large Kerr effect in liquid-crystalline blue phases (Y. Hisakado et al., Adv. Mater. 2005, 17, 96-98.) gave new directions to the search for advanced Kerr effect materials. Even though the Kerr effect is present in all transparent and optically isotropic media, it is well known that the effect can be anomalously large in complex fluids, namely in the isotropic phase of liquid crystals or in polyelectrolyte solutions. Herein, it is shown that the Kerr effect in the isotropic phase of ionic liquid crystals combines the effective counterion polarization mechanism found in polyelectrolytes and the unique pretransitional growth of the Kerr constant found in the isotropic phase of nematic liquid crystals. Maximum Kerr constants in the order of several 10-11  m V-2 (ten times higher than the Kerr constant of the toxic nitrobenzene and less temperature sensitive than Kerr constants of nematic liquid crystals) make ionic liquid crystals attractive as new class of functional materials in low-speed Kerr effect applications.


PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to analyze prognostic variables associated with long-term survival in patients with stage III non-small-cell lung cancer enrolled in a Spanish Lung Cancer Group (SLCG) phase II trial.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Between May 2001 and June 2006, 139 patients were enrolled. The initial design included 3 arms: sequential chemotherapy (CT) followed by standard thoracic radiation therapy (TRT; RT), concomitant CT/TRT followed by consolidation CT, or induction CT followed by CT/TRT. Based on the results of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 9410 trial, the sequential arm was closed. Induction or consolidation therapy comprised docetaxel plus gemcitabine. Concomitant treatment comprised docetaxel plus carboplatin plus 60 Gy TRT. A univariate and a Cox proportional hazard regression analysis of the following 11 variables were performed: age, sex, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (PS), histology, forced expiratory volume in 1 second, disease stage, nodal status, hemoglobin level, completion of RT treatment, completion of induction or consolidation plus concomitant treatment, and RT delay.

RESULTS
With a median follow-up of 23 months for living patients, median survival was 13.07 months for the consolidation arm and 14.65 months for the induction arm. The 4-year survival rates were 25.37% and 32.35%, respectively. Only RT treatment completion (P < .0001) and induction or consolidation plus concomitant treatment completion (P < .0001) were associated with longer survival.

CONCLUSION
Based on this retrospective analysis of patients enrolled in the SLCG 0008 randomized phase II study, age, sex, PS, and clinical parameters are not good predictors of overall survival; however, completion of treatment is needed to achieve long-term results.


In this paper, we introduce the zero-delay multiple-description problem, where an encoder constructs two descriptions and the decoders receive a subset of these descriptions. The encoder and decoders are causal and operate under the restriction of zero delay, which implies that at each time instance, the encoder must generate codewords that can be decoded by the decoders using only the current and past codewords. For the case of discrete-time stationary scalar Gauss—Markov sources and quadratic distortion constraints, we present information-theoretic lower bounds on the average sum-rate in terms of the directed and mutual information rate between the source and the decoder reproductions. Furthermore, we show that the optimum test channel is in this case Gaussian, and it can be realized by a feedback coding scheme that utilizes prediction and correlated Gaussian noises. Operational achievable results are considered in the high-rate scenario using a simple differential pulse code modulation scheme with staggered quantizers. Using this scheme, we achieve operational rates within 0.415 bits/sample/description of the theoretical lower bounds for varying description rates.


- This article discusses developments in the world economy since the February 2000 Quarterly Bulletin, as well as the outlook for output and inflation over the next two years. - Forecasts of world economic activity in 1999 have been revised up repeatedly over the past twelve months, and GDP growth for the year as a whole is now estimated to have been around 3.5%. Underlying this, activity was stronger than was earlier forecast in a broad range of countries. - Growth in the United States in the first quarter of 2000 has, again, been above estimates of the trend rate of most forecasters. The euro area saw a period of weaker growth in the first half of 1999 followed by a marked strengthening in the last six months of the year. The recovery has strengthened in many emerging market economies, including a broad range of countries in South East Asia and Latin America. In contrast, while Japan shows some distinctive signs of recovery, the most recent data, for the fourth quarter, indicated a fall in measured output. - Oil and related energy prices continued to rise up to the middle of March, when OPEC member countries agreed to increase production. Evidence of stronger inflationary pressures has been seen in producer input and output prices, and to some extent in export prices. But further along the price chain consumer prices have generally risen by considerably less, although there has been some pick-up in inflation measures in the United States and euro area. - This more muted response to date of consumer prices may have a number of causes, including the reduction in the intensity of oil usage in many of the industrialized economies over the last 20 years or so. But it has also come at the same time as continuing discussion of possible changes in potential output, especially in the United States, reflecting, at least in part, the influence of new technologies. - Since the February 2000 Quarterly Bulletin, official interest rates in the United States and the euro area have been raised by 0.25 and 0.5 percentage points respectively, and are now at 6% and 3.75%. The Bank of Japan has maintained the zero interest rate policy implemented in February 1999. - According to almost all forecasters, the medium-term outlook is for continued strength in the world economy, and most projections for GDP growth have been revised up since the previous Quarterly Bulletin. It is now not untypical to see projections for world GDP growth to rise by somewhat less than 4.5% in 2000 and around 4% in 2001. - Nevertheless, it is also not untypical for forecasts to indicate that the balance of risks around the projection is on the downside, primarily for reasons linked to the possibility of asset markets falling.


The concept of man's creative power is central in Adler's Individual Psychology, and thus a discussion of the utilization of the therapist's creativity appears to be particularly germane to the Adlerian framework. We shall in the following present briefly (a) Adler's concept of creativity, (b) his view of mental disorder as a "creation," (c) his therapy as guidance toward a creative reconstruction, and then (d) present some of the areas of the therapist's creativity.


Authentic learning is a branch of constructivism, a pedagogical approach that places the student at the center of the learning experience. This instructional model has undergone gradual adoption in first-world countries, with underdeveloped countries still struggling to implement a systematic approach for incorporating authentic learning in the classrooms. In the meantime, the global economy has evolved from an industrial, factory-based economy to one involving the manipulation of knowledge. Consequently, the implementation of authentic learning has assumed an increased importance within education systems around the world, especially at the post-secondary level, where instructors need to prepare new graduates for a modern, service-oriented workforce.  Authentic learning teaches the required soft skills that students can transfer from one situation to another: collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, innovation, problem solving, and decision-making. In African countries, most teachers still use an instructivist, or teacher-centered approach to lesson planning and delivery, forcing students to learn through the memorization of isolated facts. This type of learning, which continues through all levels of education, leaves students unprepared for the twenty-first century workforce. Consequently, the following paper argues that African countries require a centralized and systematic approach for revising their education systems to promote authentic learning opportunities. The literature has enumerated the benefits to authentic learning, including enhanced motivation and learning outcomes for students as well as advantages for other stakeholders such as teachers. In addition to academic benefits, authentic learning also contains economic advantages by enhancing students' readiness for the working world and citizenship duties as well as benefitting employers, individual sectors, and overall economies. Although Africa faces many hardships, including a paucity of resources, a wholesale revision of their education systems will ultimately prove advantageous in the long term. This modification requires the coordinated efforts of all stakeholders, starting with governments.


Cerebral venous thrombosis is a life-threatening disorder for which the management has been controversial. A 23-year-old critically-ill man with superior sagittal sinus thrombosis (SSST) and cavernous sinus thrombosis secondary to sinusitis following inhalational drug abuse was managed with full heparinization from the fourth day of presentation. He went on to make a full recovery. The association between this form of drug abuse, sinusitis and SSST is an important one, and warrants antibiotics and early aggressive anticoagulation therapy.


Diarrhea is a common complaint and a book discussing the mechanisms and clinical management of infectious diarrhea would be a useful addition to the clinician's library; Drs DuPont and Pickering have written such a monograph. The title is more inclusive than the contents: they have not discussed antibiotic associated pseudomembranous colitis, infestation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract by metazoan parasites, or infections of the GI tract by sexually transmitted organisms or tuberculosis. The book has a succinct discussion of host-factors influencing susceptibility to, and expression of, infectious diarrhea. The reviews of diarrhea caused by enterotoxin-producing organisms and viruses are comprehensive and accompanied by excellent reference lists. Food-borne diarrheal syndromes and recently recognized agents such as Campylobacter and Yersinia are only briefly discussed in the chapter on epidemiology. In many parts of the world, the physician responsible for the investigation of epidemic diarrhea has no special training in infectious diseases and


Five persons with severe amnesia were trained to use a device containing items of information relevant to daily activities. The training consisted of a procedure in which requests for information were paired with a tone, and the subject was required to access the device and respond with the answer to the request. The tone was gradually faded, with the goal of having the subject respond to a question alone. All of the subjects learned to consistently access the device and provide correct responses following a request for information. Generalization across requesters and settings in which the requests were made was also achieved. The findings are discussed in regard to the utility of exploiting the relatively well-preserved procedural memory system for rehabilitation of persons with severe amnesia.


School education is a human right and a fundamental dimension of citizenship, since it allows the enjoyment of other rights, such as: social, civil and political. It is, therefore, a basic component of human rights. Therefore, investigating the normative protection of educational law is a crucial task to understand, also, the citizenship status of a given country. In this sense, the study aims to analyze the constitutional order of the member countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela) of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) considering the guarantee of the right to education. For this, a bibliographic and documentary research was carried out with a qualitative approach. The documentary source was made up of the current constitutions of the countries. We note that the lack of existing legal and regulatory instruments in the constitutions may undermine progress in the effectiveness of educational law and, mainly, in achieving citizenship as an instrument of regional integration.


Recommender systems are being used to help users find relevant items from a large set of alternatives in many online applications. Most existing recommendation techniques have focused on improving recommendation accuracy; however, diversity of recommendations has also been increasingly recognized in research literature as an important aspect of recommendation quality. This paper proposes several optimization-based approaches for improving aggregate diversity of top- N recommendations, including a greedy maximization heuristic, a graph-theoretic approach based on maximum flow or maximum bipartite matching computations, and an integer programming approach. The proposed approaches are evaluated using real-world movie rating data sets and demonstrate substantial improvements in both diversity and accuracy as compared to the recommendation reranking approaches, which have been introduced in prior literature for the purposes of diversity improvement and were used for baseline comparisons in our study. The paper also discusses the computational complexity and the scalability of the proposed approaches, as well as the potential directions for future work.


This paper presented a three-dimensional continuous autonomous chaotic system, modified from the Arnold system which has a single product term in each equation of the system; therefore it's different from Arnold system and other existing system. This system has nine parameter (i.e. A,B,C,D,E, and F) which gives a more flexibility in generation chaotic behavior throughout these parameters. Basic properties of the presented system were analyzed by means of Lyapunov exponent spectrum, Poincar'e mapping, fractal dimension, power spectrum and chaotic behaviors. Theoretical and numerical analysis prove that the system shows chaotic behavior. Furthermore the cited chaotic system was implemented in robotics field for coverage area purposes, where it's used to generate chaotic motion for mobile robot that's guarantee of scanning the whole connected workspace as an example of advantage of this system


The paper presents the results of the empirical study, which has been conducted with the aim to analyze the differences in life and family values and their interactions between the spouses from cross-cultural and monocultural couples. The sample of the study consists of 330 persons, including 85 cross-cultural Arab - Russian couples (170 persons), living in Russia, and 80 monocultural couples (160 persons).The main methods were S. Schwartz' "Value Survey", "Test of Attitudes to Family Life" by Yu. Alyoshina, L. Gozman, & E. Dubovskaya, «Marital Role Expectations and Aspirations" by A.N. Volkova, "Marital Satisfaction Test" by V. Stolin, T. Romanova, & G. Butenko.It was revealed that the persons from cross-cultural and monocultural marriages have different life and family values hierarchies, besides, they realize their life values in family life differently. In cross-cultural marriages the spouses see the opportunities for their normative life goals realizing in the family, especially in its psychotherapeutic and parental spheres, as well as in social activity outside the family. But in their real day-to-day activities, they do not always manage to realize their life goals in the family sphere, probably because of the difficulties in interacting with their social environment, which can come from the fact that their families are more enclosed, which in turn leads to a decrease of marital satisfaction. In the cross-cultural spouses' representations, the collectivist values are more related to family functioning, but individualistic values such as hedonism and power are perceived as incompatible with the successful functioning of the family.


The word boundary detection has an application in speech processing systems. The problem this paper tries to solve is to separate words of a sequence of phonemes where there is no delimiter between phonemes. This paper tries to compare two conceptual models for word boundary detection, named preorder and postorder models. In this paper, at first, a recurrent fuzzy neural network (RFNN) together with its relevant structure is proposed and learning algorithm is presented. Next, this RFNN is used to post-detecting word boundaries. Some experiments have already been implemented to determine complete structure of RFNN in both models. Here in this paper, three methods are proposed to encode input phoneme and their performance have been evaluated. Some experiments have been conducted to determine required number of fuzzy rules and then performance of RFNN in postdetecting word boundaries is tested in both models. Preorder model shows better performance than postorder model in experiments.


Moringa (Moriga oleifera Lam) is not only a vegetable but also has benefits and ingredients that are good for the health of the body, Moringa also contains vitamins, minerals, protein and fat. One of the most prominent contents of Moringa is antioxidants, especially the leaves which contain high antioxidants. Based on phytochemical tests, Moringa leaves (Moriga oleifera Lam.) contain tannins, steroids and triterpenoids, flavonoids, saponins, inter-quinones, and alkaloids, all of which are antioxidants. This service is carried out in several stages, the first stage is the preparatory stage with activities to coordinate with the head of SMA Negeri 1 Kuta Baro Aceh Besar Regency regarding the cooperation agreement and place of implementation, preparation of workshop materials and preparing time and activities for implementing the workshop on the theme Processing Technology of Moringa Leaf Flour as a Substitution of Natural Coloring Materials for Food Processing. Community service participation in this case involved 23 teacher participants along with 12 student participants from SMA Negeri 1 Kuta Baro, Aceh Besar Regency as training participants with a total of 35 participants. With this activity, cooperation can be established between SMA Negeri 1 Kuta Baro, Aceh Regency. Based on the results of the dedication that has been done, it is known that the teachers and students of SMA Negeri 1 Kuta Baro Aceh Besar Regency are enthusiastic in participating in community service activities related to the themes presented by the presenters regarding knowledge of technology development and the latest innovations in producing a product. The training provided is training needed by partners such as in the analysis of problems which reveals that current problems are related to processed food snacks using dangerous synthetic chemical dyes.


The Johnson and Ettinger [1] model and its extensions are at this time the most widely used algorithms for estimating subsurface vapor intrusion into buildings (API [2]). The functions which describe capillary pressure curves are utilized in quantitative analyses, although these are applicable for porous media with a unimodal or lognormal pore-size distribution. However, unaltered soils may have a heterogeneous pore distribution and consequently a multimodal pore-size distribution [3], which may be the result of specific granulometry or the formation of secondary porosity related to genetic processes. The present paper was designed to present the application of the Vapor Intrusion Model (SVI_Model) to unsaturated soils with multimodal pore-size distribution. Simulations with data from the literature show that the use of a multimodal model in soils with such pore distribution characteristics could provide more reliable results for indoor air concentration, rather than conventional models.


BACKGROUND The hereditary disorder α1-antitrypsin deficiency is characterised by development of severe emphysema at an early age with smoking being the most significant additional risk factor. The purpose of the present paper was to analyse potential risk factors other than smoking for emphysema and to estimate the prognosis of life time non-smokers. METHODS Patients were identified through the files of the Danish α1-antitrypsin deficiency register which contains information on more than 700 persons with the condition. Many of the patients, the non-index cases, were identified from family studies. RESULTS There were 75 life time non-smokers with PiZ (27 index cases and 48 non-index cases) aged 20 years or more at entry. Twenty one subjects died during the follow up period. The Standardised Mortality Ratio (SMR) was 3.0 (95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.9 to 4.6). There was no significant difference in SMR between males and females. The SMR was 8.8 (95% CI 5.0 to 14) for the index cases and 0.96 (95% CI 0.3 to 2.3) for the non-index cases based on five deaths. The overall mean % predicted forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) at entry was 83% with a significant difference between index cases (54%) and non-index cases (100%) (p<0.001). The difference in the ratio of FEV1 to forced vital capacity (FVC) was also highly significant with values of 0.57 and 0.79 for index and non-index cases, respectively (p<0.001). In the non-index group only three had an FEV1% predicted of less than 70%. CONCLUSIONS Occupational exposure to airway irritants did not have any significant influence on the development of emphysema. Only a few life time non-smokers develop severe emphysema; most never develop pulmonary symptoms and thus remain undetected unless family members of index cases are screened.


In a low energy Mather-type plasma focus energized by a single 32 μF capacitor, the x-ray and neutron emission is investigated using time-integrated and time-resolved detectors. The x-ray emission profile has a width (FWHM) of 40–50 ns. The neutron emission profile is broader compared to the x-ray emission profile and also delayed by 30–40 ns. To identify different regimes of x-ray emission, an x-ray pin-hole camera along with different absorption filters is employed. While the x-ray emission is high within a narrow pressure range of 2.0–2.5 mbar, the neutron emission is intense for a wider range of 1.0–4.5 mbar. The intense x-ray emission seems to originate from the axially moving shock wave. These results also indicate rather different production mechanisms for x-ray and neutron emission. Also on comparing the x-ray images with Al(2 μm), Al(5 μm), Al(9 μm) filters, we find that the bulk of x-rays from the focus filament have energies less than 2 keV.


The main feature of the imaginative constructionism in Randall Collins' works is the emphasis on the emotional component of the interactive ritual chains that form the social structure and are represented by repetitive microsituations. Thus, the model of the sociological imagination of the sociologist includes such social constructs as symbolic interaction and emotional drama of everyday life. These constructs are expressed, in particular, in all sorts of imagined communities, which are visual symbols of belonging to society and the denial of social inattention by the demonstration of the permanent inclusion.


The purpose of this paper is to analyse the loss given default (LGD) determinants in case of a typical loan portfolio consisting of SME loans in a commercial bank operating in one of the quickly developing banking markets, i.e. in Slovenia. Accurate LGD estimates of defaulted bank claims are important for provisioning reserves for credit losses, calculating adequate risk capital and determining fair pricing risky bank loans. While most of the empirical literature in the field concentrates on corporate bond markets to estimate losses in the event of default, we use a unique individual bank data set on SME loan losses. Due to the proprietary nature of data only few studies of this kind have been published so far and to our knowledge none of them covers the Eastern European banking markets. In the first stage of the analysis we estimate the LGD variable by applying the discounted cash flow approach, while in the second stage we analyse its determinants by using the ordinal regression analysis. Our findings suggest that reliable LGD estimates can be produced by discounting expected loan related future cash flows and that explanatory factors, such as type of collateral, type of industrial sector, last available loan rating, size of the debt and loan maturity satisfactorily explicate variability of the LGD variable in the specific banking market. All the results are not only relevant to the impairment policy determination and capital adequacy calculation in the specific bank, but also to the evaluation of SME loans characteristics in developing markets.


A new irrigation/aspiration system consisting of an electromechanical switch and a special handle is described. The switch mechanisms acts on a tube system connected to the handle, enabling the anterior chamber to be refilled immediately via the aspiration opening, so that collapse is impossible. A further advantage is that fluid exchange is minimized, because aspiration only occurs when the pedal switch is operated. When the pedal is released the fluid is spontaneously flushed back via the aspiration opening. This results in a significant reduction in capsular and iris complications. Thanks to the special handle the fluid flushed back is practically free of lens particles.