SCP001 Phasic nociceptive responses in dorsal raphe serotonin neurons JV Schweimer, DI Brierley, MA Ungless Imperial College London, London, UK; MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, London, UK Serotonin neurons play a central role in a variety of behavioural and cognitive functions, particularly in processing aversive stimuli. It has been suggested that serotonergic dorsal raphe neurons might encode a prediction-error rule for aversive stimuli (Daw et al., 2002). This hypothesis makes the prediction that serotonin neurons should be activated by noxious stimuli that are aversive or punishing. We, therefore, examined the hypothesis that noxious footshocks will phasically activate neurochemically-identified serotonin neurons in the dorsal raphe nuclei. Serotonin neurons are typically identified by their electrophysiological properties (a slow clock-like firing pattern and broad action potentials). Recent studies using juxtacellular labelling show that not all of these presumed serotonin neurons are actually 5HT-positive (Allers and Sharp, 2003). Therefore, we have combined electrophysiological recording in the dorsal raphe of anaesthetised rats (Sprague– Dawley, male, weight range from 220–480 g) and the juxtacellular labelling method to identify these neurons. During the recording nociceptive footshocks were administered, and then the individual neurons were labelled juxtacellularly, and identified using immunohistochemistry. We find that neurons can be grouped based on their combined electrophysiological and histological properties. 5HT-positive cells with characteristic clock-like firing were typically phasically activated by the footshocks. However, a second group of 5HT-positive neurons were either inhibited or showed no reaction to the footshocks – interestingly the majority of these neurons showed stereotypic bursting activity. Lastly 5HT-negative neurons (with clock-like activity and broad action potentials) showed a range of responses. These preliminary results suggest that some dorsal raphe serotonin neurons are phasically activated by nociceptive stimuli. References: Allers KA and Sharp T (2003) Neuroscience. 122: 193–204. Daw ND et al. (2002) Neural Netw. 91. 15: 603–616.


The reliable multicast MAC (Medium Access Control) protocol is needed to guarantee the recipients' nonerroneous reception of the multicast data frames, which can be transmitted by the AP (Access Point) in infrastructure mode IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs. Enhancing the BMMM (Batch Mode Multicast MAC) protocol, in the literature, the connectivity-based reliable multicast MAC protocol was proposed to reduce the RAK (Request for ACKnowledgement) frame transmissions and enhance the multicast MAC performance. However, the number of necessary RAK frame transmissions increases as the number of multicast recipients increases. To alleviate the problem of the larger number of RAK frame transmissions with the larger number of multicast recipients, we propose the clustering algorithm for partitioning the recipients into a small number of clusters, so that the recipients are connected each other within the same clusters. Numerical examples are presented to show the reliable multicast MAC performance improvement by the clustering algorithm.


s In today's scenario Global Warming is costing a lot of money, so Green Environmentalist aims to promote policy and business that works for the environment. As we all know, carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas produced by combustion of fuels, has become a cause of global panic as its concentration in the Earth's atmosphere has been rising alarmingly. This has created an opportunity for the trade of carbon credits both within and outside of the regulated area, thereby creating a global "carbon market". In this system of carbon trading, controls are imposed on GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, and the pre-decided emission limits are then allocated across countries, which have to control the greenhouse gas emissions from the various industries and commercial units operating within them. The objective of the paper is to discuss the basic concepts and importance of carbon credit. It also emphasizes on the methods used to save the environment. This paper also discusses the business opportunities in the global emissions market in Indian context.


In this study, a context-sensitive pattern matching is suggested to recognize and model various forms of RNA secondary structures, especially pseudoknots. Comparing with a conventional context-free grammar used to model secondary structures of RNA sequences, the use of context-sensitive searching of a particular p seudoknot gives us an advantage of more natural representation of RNA structures. The suggested technique directly reflects the appearance characteristic of each form of RNA secondary structure, i.e., hairpins, internal loops, double helixes, and bulge loops. Java language are used in this study to provide the user-interface, and also to implement the suggested context-sensitive searching of a specific pseudoknot


Objectives: Lead (Pb) is widely-occurring metals with known immunotoxic properties that are frequently found in the environment. The current study was conducted to evaluate the lead induced bioenergetic disruption as underling mechanism of its immunotoxic effect on the isolated human peripheral blood monocytes (hPBM). Methods: The cytotoxic effect of Pb on hPBM was evaluated by MTT assay using concentration range from o.1 to 1000 μM. The effect of lead on the phagocytic activity of the isolated cells was evaluated. Finally, the effect of lead on the bioenergetics of hPBM was evaluated by studying its effect on ATP production as well as the activities of mitochondrial complex I and III. Finally the protective effect of co-enzyme Q10 on the hPBM phagocytic activities was studied. Results: Data showed that Pb was toxic to the isolated cells in a concentration and exposure duration dependent pattern with parallel decreases in the phagocytic activities of the isolated hPBM. Lead was shown to cause significant decreases in ATP production in the exposed hPBM with significant inhibitory effect on the mitochondrial complex I and III activities. Interestingly, co-enzyme Q10 showed significant protective effect on the isolated cells phagocytic activities. Conclusion: It can be concluded that some of the immunotoxic effects that the metals Pb can impart on the functionality of isolated hPBM (i.e., phagocytic activity,) may be secondary to an induced disruption of hPBM cell bioenergetics. Keywords: Heavy metals, monocytes, lead, mitochondria, immunotoxicity


With the miniaturization of electron devices, the minuscule structures are important to state-of-the-art science and technology. Therefore, the growth methods and properties of nanomaterials have been extensively studied recently. Here, we use chemical vapor transport (CVT) methods to synthesize single-crystalline cobalt silicide nanowires (NWs) by using (CoCl2·6 H2O) as a single-source precursor. By changing reaction temperature and ambient pressure, we can obtain different morphology of cobalt silicide NWs under the appropriate concentration of silicon and cobalt. The field emission measurement of CoSi NWs shows low turn-on field (5.02 V/μm) and it is outstanding for magnetic properties that differ from the bulk CoSi. The CoSi nanowires with different diameters have diverse magnetic saturation (Ms) and coercive force (Hc).


This investigation focuses on the self-directed proficiency development strategies of EFL high school teachers in the Mekong Delta for achieving the standards-based proficiency level required by the National Foreign Language Project 2020. The results indicated that the teachers were rarely engaged in activities to develop their English proficiency and finding learning materials via the Internet was the most popular strategy.


This study examined how parental autonomy support and control are conceptualized by adolescents in Hong Kong (Grades 7-11) using the Perceived Parental Autonomy Support Scale. Competitive models were evaluated using confirmatory factor analyses. Although the 6-factor model demonstrated the best fit, further analyses indicated that a second-order structure was more appropriate. Provision of choice, acknowledgment of child's feelings, rationale for rules, and demands subsumed under autonomy support. Guilt-inducing criticisms and the use of threats subsumed under control. Performance pressure emerged as a first-order construct on its own. Measurement invariance was evident across adolescent gender and age. All subscales had adequate to strong reliability. Discriminate validity was evident. Findings offer insights into the conceptualization of autonomy support and control in Hong Kong.


The effect of atmosphere on the switching device with a Pd–Si tunnel metal insulator semiconductor (MIS) structure is studied. The MIS device with the Pd-insulator-(n)Si-(p+)Si structure reveals a negative-resistance switching property. In addition, the threshold voltage of switching is sensitive to hydrogen gas concentration. The current-voltage characteristics of the MISS device were measured for various conditions of gases in detail, with particular attention on the effect of oxygen. We can obtain information on work function by measuring the capacitance-voltage characteristics and the temperature dependence of the current in the "off-state" region. The variation of the work function with change of atmosphere was confirmed for the switching device with the Pd–Si tunnel MIS structure, for the first time.


In continuation of the article, the authors of the study devoted to the problems of scenario modeling and solving specific problems of management and development of the health care system of the Perm Territory, built the author's dynamic multivariate model, which was based on an authoritative approach and consists of a set of five structural simultaneous equations. As a result, each equation of the system is a linear form of recursive regression, where the independent variable as a factor-factor taken into account in one equation becomes a depend- ent variable as an effective factor-factor. In order to eliminate the phenomenon of autocor- relation of residual values, the method of time lagging was used. To estimate the parameters of the reduced form of structural simultaneous equations, the two-step least squares method was used as a special case of the maximum likelihood method. The obtained parameter esti- mates on the whole turned out to be effective with moderate consistency and satisfactory bias. The constructed model made it possible to carry out a short-term forecast of the most important target socio-economic indicator of the success of healthcare development in the region until 2023. The authors considered the national goal as such a priority indicator — the expected (future) life expectancy of the population of the study area. At the end of the article, conclusions were drawn and the prospects for further scientific research of the authors were outlined.


This study investigates the association between organizational culture and employees' turnover in selected private schools in Anambra State. The study employs the descriptive research design. 350 respondents were selected from a population of about 600 employees of 25 selected private schools in Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi, in Anambra state, using simple random sampling technique. The Chi-square test of independence was used to test the association between variables of interest. The significance of the association is tested at 5% level of significance. The results reveal that there is significant association between all the variables of organizational culture studied and employees' turnover. The study found a significant association between organizational commitment as cultural values and employee turnover. The study also found that supervision style and work conditions have significant association with employees' turnover in the selected schools. The study concludes that there is significant association between organizational culture and employees' turnover in the selected private schools in Anambra state, Nigeria.


Affixed auxiliary prescription labels are widely used in the practice of pharmacy because they supposedly provide the patient with pertinent information that is not contained within the prescription signature. Yet, whether the labels are effective is not known, nor is it known whether the label's elements, such as color, form, and logo, affect perception of the written text. Sound scientific analyses of these questions are limited. Therefore, a pilot study involving a series of experiments was designed to determine whether individual perception of pertinent information is affected by the use of affixed auxiliary prescription labels. The second objective of this study was to evaluate how color and logo differences affected perception of the label's written text. Participants were selected for the experiments after being screened for color blindness, corrected vision, and, in some cases, previous pharmacy employment. Subjects viewed labels affixed to prescription vials via a two-channel tachistoscope. The tachistoscopic methodology measured perception, and its accuracy was verified through a forced-choice instrument. Results from the pilot study were threefold: (1) a sound scientific analysis found affixed auxiliary labels to be effective, (2) significant variance could be attributed to both individual and subject differences, and (3) the unique effects of color and logo could not be determined.


Motivated by the recognition that geography is often correlated with and/or an important determinant of the overall quality of agricultural products, consumer groups, industry representatives, and domestic and trade representatives have increasingly considered the potential role of geographical origin labels as consumer information and marketing tools. We investigate whether consumers recognize and value the informational content of a variety of nested geographical origin labels. In particular, this study disentangles and assesses three nested types of origin labels: country of origin (COOL), geographical indications (GI), and PDO/PGI. We find that, within the context of a high quality valueadded commodity such as extra virgin olive oil, consumers' willingness to pay varies across different countries of origin, and that within a country consumers have a greater willingness to pay for GI-labeled than non-GI labeled products. We also find evidence that consumers value PDOs more than PGIs, but the result is not as strong as that found for GI versus non-GI. Overall, our findings support the recent surge in interest by both developed and developing nations in reaching an agreement for stricter and more widespread protection of GIs within ongoing WTO discussions and harnessing them as marketing tools for expanding shares in export markets.


This article contributes to the scholarship of migrants' well-being. In contemporary literature, there is a growing consensus that the subjective well-being of migrants coexists with unhappiness owing constraining spaces of social life in the host countries. This article aims to develop a model of happiness and well-being in the context of international migration. There is no model that sheds light on the happiness and well-being of immigrants in host nation-state. In this respect, the model developed in this article is anchored on the subjective experience of Zimbabwe migrant women hairdressers in Durban. This model deconstructs the use of objective parameters to measure happiness and well-being of migrants in host cities. It deploys subjective perceptions and experience of the said research participants to explain the intensities of happiness and well-being in the host country. This model holds that happiness and well-being of immigrants are derived from job satisfaction, job security, self-actualization and representation of enjoyment that determines the absolute quality of life in the host country. By and large, findings drawn from this research suggest that Zimbabwean women migrants working in Durban as hairdressers appear to be happy and satisfied than those who have remained in Zimbabwe. Thus, en route to understand the subjective well-being of Zimbabwean migrant hairdresser, the article conclude that due to social, political and economic predicament in Zimbabwe, the majority of discoursed participant migrated to Durban owing a vision that it is a more 'liveable' space perhaps due economic growth and political stability compared to their home country. Keywords: Happiness, job satisfaction, job security, representation of enjoyment, self-actualization, andwell-being


Abstract Olive oils may provide health benefits, including the prevention of coronary heart diseases, cancers, and the modification of immune and inflammatory responses. These benefits mainly originate from the phenolic compounds found in olive oil. There has been no study on the advanced characterization of Albanian olive oils from various cultivars regarding phenolic compounds. Hence, a comprehensive characterization of phenolic compounds is carried out in Albanian monocultivar virgin olive oils from five different cultivars, including Kalinjot, Bardhi Tirana, Ulliri-i-Zi Tirana, Krips Kruja, and Bardhi Kruja for the first time. Liquid chromatography coupled to diode array detection and electrospray ıonization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS) is employed for the determination of phenolic compounds. In total, 18 compounds were identified in all samples, including phenolic alcohols, phenolic acids, secoiridoids, flavonoids, and phenolic aldehydes. Significant quantitative differences were detected among the cultivars, with the highest concentrations detected in virgin olive oil (VOO) from cv. Ulli-i-Zi. Secoiridoids were found in abundance, in general, followed by phenolic alcohols, and in this group, 3,4-DHPEA-EDA and p-HPEA-EDA stood out as dominant compounds, especially in Kalinjot virgin olive oils. Regarding phenolic alcohols, 3,4-DHPEA-AC was determined as the main phenolic compound. Phenolic profiles were found to be significantly different among the olive oil samples of different cultivars. Principal component analyses (PCA) displayed the differentiation of samples in terms of phenolic compounds. Graphical Abstract


ABSTRACT Major surface protein 2 (MSP2) and MSP3 of the persistent bovine ehrlichial pathogen Anaplasma marginale are immunodominant proteins that undergo antigenic variation. The recently completed sequence of MSP3 revealed blocks of amino acids in the N and C termini that are conserved with MSP2. This study tested the hypothesis that CD4+ T cells specific for MSP2 recognize naturally processed epitopes conserved in MSP3. At least one epitope in the N terminus and two in the C terminus of MSP2 were also processed from MSP3 and presented to CD4+ T lymphocytes from MSP2-immunized cattle. This T-lymphocyte response to conserved and partially conserved epitopes may contribute to the immunodominance of MSP2 and MSP3.


Load tests were conducted on pretensioned members made with five different strands (three 7-wire strands and two 3-wire strands) to determine the effect of concrete release strength on the development length and flexural capacity of members. Strands named generically SA, SC, SD, SE and SF and they were all indented except SA (no surface indentation). All strands had diameter of 3/8″ (9.52 mm) except SC which had diameter of 5/16″ (7.94 mm). Among all types of strands used in manufacturing of test prisms, SC and SF were 3-wire strands, while SA, SD and SE were 7-wire strands. A consistent concrete mixture was used for the manufacture of all test specimens, and the different release strengths were obtained by allowing the specimens to cure for different amounts of time prior to de-tensioning. For SA, SD, SE and SF strands, each prismatic specimen (prism) had a 5.5″ (139.7 mm) × 5.5″ (139.7 mm) square cross section with four strands arranged symmetrically. However, prisms made with SC strand had 4.5″ (114.3 mm) × 4.5″ (114.3 mm) square cross section with four strands arranged symmetrically. The prisms were identical except for the strand type and the compressive strength at the time of de-tensioning. All four strands were pulled and de-tensioned gradually when the concrete compressive strength reached 3500 (24.13 MPa), 4500 (31.03 MPa) and 6000 (41.37 MPa) psi. Precise de-tensioning strengths were ensured by testing 4-in.-diameter (101.6 mm) × 8-in.-long (203.2 mm) compression strength cylinders that were temperature match-cured.The prisms were loaded in 3-point-bending to determine the ultimate bond characteristics of each reinforcement type for the different concrete release strengths. A loading rate of 900 lb/min (4003 N/min) for 5.5″ (139.7 mm) × 5.5″ (139.7 mm) prisms was applied at mid-span and the maximum sustained moment was calculated for each. Same procedure with loading rate of 500 lb/min (2224 N/min) was applied to 4.5″ (114.3 mm) × 4.5″ (114.3 mm) prisms. Three 69-in.-long (175.26 cm) prisms, each having different concrete release strength, were tested with each of the 5 strand types. Two out of three testing prisms were tested at only one end and one was tested at its both ends. Thus, for each strand type and concrete release strength evaluated, a total of 4 tests were conducted for a total of 60 tests (5 strand types × 3 release strengths × 4 tested embedment lengths). Test results indicate that the concrete compressive strength at de-tensioning can have a direct impact on the ultimate flexural capacity of the members, and this has significant design implications for pretensioned concrete railroad ties. Results are discussed and recommendations made.Copyright © 2016 by ASME


To analyze the gas discharge phenomena in parallel-plane electrodes, the fully coupled finite element method (FEM) considering secondary electron emission effects in discharge column was adopted in this paper. Two coupled equations of the hydrodynamic diffusion-drift equations for three carriers and the Poisson's equation for electric scalar potential should be solved as a system equation. The proposed method including two secondary electron processes of the photoemission and background ionization has been successfully applied to evaluating the breakdown voltage in parallel-plane electrodes and is verified by comparing its numerical results with the experimental ones. From the obtained results, it is inferred that the proposed numerical scheme will be useful for predicting and understanding streamer transient phenomena.


Livestock grazing is the primary land use of grasslands worldwide. Grazing has been asserted to alter grassland ecosystem functions, such as productivity, nutrient cycling, and biodiversity conservation. However, few studies have focused on the impact of grazing intensity on the ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) of alpine grasslands. We conducted a field experiment of manipulating sheep grazing intensity effects on alpine steppe by surveying plant community characteristics and ecosystem functions. Our results showed that plant community composition was altered with increasing grazing intensity, and the dominant species shifted from grasses and sedges to forbs. EMF was the highest under no grazing (CK) and the lowest under heavy grazing (HG), but there was insignificant difference between CK and HG. HG significantly decreased some indicators that reflected nutrient cycling functions, such as soil available nitrogen, plant leaf nitrogen (PN) and phosphorus content (PP). Furthermore, plant diversity had strong correlations with SOC, total nitrogen (TN), and PN. The results could provide scientific bases for biodiversity conservation and sustainable grazing management of alpine steppe.


Calcific constrictive pericarditis can be idiopathic or associated with radiation therapy, surgery, infection, or autoimmune disorders. Gitelman's syndrome is a distal renal tubular defect involving the thiazide-sensitive luminal sodium chloride cotransporter and has been associated with nephrolithiasis and chondrocalcinosis. There has not been any case of calcific constrictive pericarditis reported so far in association with Gitelman's syndrome. We have reported a male patient with persistent hypokalemia and refractory ascites diagnosed with calcific constrictive pericarditis and Gitelman's syndrome.


High harmonics driven by two-color counterrotating circularly polarized laser fields are a unique source of bright, circularly polarized, extreme ultraviolet, and soft x-ray beams, where the individual harmonics themselves are completely circularly polarized. Here, we demonstrate the ability to preferentially select either the right or left circularly polarized harmonics simply by adjusting the relative intensity ratio of the bichromatic circularly polarized driving laser field. In the frequency domain, this significantly enhances the harmonic orders that rotate in the same direction as the higher-intensity driving laser. In the time domain, this helicity-dependent enhancement corresponds to control over the polarization of the resulting attosecond waveforms. This helicity control enables the generation of circularly polarized high harmonics with a user-defined polarization of the underlying attosecond bursts. In the future, this technique should allow for the production of bright highly elliptical harmonic supercontinua as well as the generation of isolated elliptically polarized attosecond pulses.


Two-dimensional data such as photos, x-rays, various types of satellite images, sonar, radar, seismic plots, etc., in many cases must be analyzed using frame buffers for purposes of medical diagnoses, crop estimates, mineral exploration, and so forth. In many cases the same types of sensors used to gather such samples in two dimensions can gather 3D data for even more effective analysis. Just as 2D arrays of data can be analyzed using frame buffers, three-dimensional data can be analyzed using SOLIDS-BUFFER memories. Image processors deal with samples from two-dimensional arrays and are based on frame buffers. The SOLIDS PROCESSOR system deals with samples from a three-dimensional volume, or solid, and is based on a 3D frame buffer. This paper focuses upon the SOLIDS-BUFFER system as used in the INSIGHT SOLIDS-PROCESSOR system from Phoenix Data Systems.


One of the least explored RFID application-domains concerns the areas of entertainment and culture. This paper proposes a mobile application -conceived for and with a contemporary artist- allowing the spatial annotation of paintings and the delivery of multimedia related interpretation material to the concerned public, through the combined use of RFID tags and NFC (Near Field Communication) mobile phones, serving as delivery platforms. The paper reports on the design and implementation of the application as well as on the results of a first, proof-of-concept, evaluation.


The effect of cyclosporin was evaluated in six patients with severe ulcerative colitis not responding to at least 8 days of standard therapy with intravenous corticosteroids. Cyclosporin (5-7.5 mg/kg/day intravenously) was added while steroid therapy was continued. Five of 6 patients responded after a mean of 7 days and colectomy was not necessary. After 4 weeks three patients achieved clinical remission or had mild symptoms and were weaned from cyclosporin and corticosteroids without exacerbation within the next 7-15 months. Two patients improved and they were put on oral cyclosporin. One of them relapsed after 2 weeks and then responded to high dose corticosteroids. This patient is doing well at 8 months of followup on azathioprine and steroids. One patient stopped oral cyclosporin after 3 months abruptly and then had a relapse. He subsequently improved while refusing any medical therapy. Side effects of cyclosporin occurred in 2 patients but were mild and self limited and did not necessitate discontinuation of the drug. Cyclosporin appears to be effective in a large portion of patients with severe ulcerative colitis who failed to improve on corticosteroids and in whom colectomy would otherwise be considered.


We offer a model and evidence that private debtholders play a key role in setting the endogenous asset value threshold below which corporations declare bankruptcy. The model, in the spirit of Black and Cox (1976), implies that the recovery rate at emergence from bankruptcy on all of the firm's debt taken together is increasing in the pre-bankruptcy share of private debt in all debt. Empirical evidence supports this and other implications of the model. Indeed, debt composition has a more economically material empirical influence on recovery than all other variables we try taken together.


Ultrasound (US) imaging is currently living a revolution. On the one hand, ultrafast US imaging, a novel way of acquiring and producing US images, has paved the way to several advanced imaging modes, e.g. shear-wave elastography, ultrafast Doppler imaging and ultrafast contrast imaging. On the other hand, the mass adoption of mobile commodity devices pushes towards portable US imaging. These new paradigms require to rethink the imaging pipeline and come with a myriad of new challenges in terms of data rate, power considerations as well as software and hardware design. In this thesis, we explore several inverse problems related to these challenges, with an emphasis on data-rate reduction for imaging and localization. We follow the view of considering pulse-echo US imaging as a tomographic image reconstruction problem where sensor measurements can be seen as projections onto quadric surfaces. By appropriate parameterization of these surfaces, we devise efficient formulations of the measurement model associated with the image reconstruction problem and pave the way to large scale regularized US imaging. We introduce USSR, an UltraSound Sparse Regularization framework, which exploits the measurement model in the context of convex optimization algorithms. We describe three applications, namely sparsely regularized beamforming where high-quality images are obtained with few insonifications, compressed beamforming which aims to decrease the amount of data collected per insonification, and image restoration which exploits a model of non-stationary blur to enhance already reconstructed images. We suggest a compressive multiplexing approach for US signals. Such a technique achieves high-quality imaging with significantly fewer coaxial cables connecting the probe to the imaging system than existing methods. The compression is based on the compressive multiplexer, an analog compressed-sensing architecture, and the reconstruction relies on convex optimization algorithms. We propose two methods which exploit different low-dimensional models of US signals, namely the bandpass signal model and the pulse-stream model. We tackle the problem of localizing strong reflectors, with potential application in nondestructive evaluation and contrast-enhanced US imaging. We suggest a threefold approach composed of a time-of-flight (TOF)-sensing step, a TOF-labeling step and a localization step, which is capable of recovering the locations of strong reflectors with significantly fewer transducer elements and less sensor measurements than existing techniques. By exploring innovative methods for imaging and localization, this work contributes to a next generation of US imaging devices which will benefit from ultrafast US imaging to integrate advanced imaging modes into more and more compact systems.


The existing user-level checkpointing schemes support only a limited portion of multithreaded programs because they are derived from the schemes for single-threaded applications. This paper addresses the impact of thread suspension point on rollback recovery, and presents a checkpointing scheme for multithreaded processes. Unlike the existing schemes in which the checkpointer suspends every working thread, our scheme employs a distinctive strategy that every working thread suspends itself. This technique manages to avoid the suspension point in the API code or kernel code, ensuring correct rollback recovery. Our scheme supports inter-thread synchronization and thread lifetime. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


India is the largest producer and importer of pulses in the world. Since 1970, the Indian food economy has undergone major policy reforms, including trade liberalisation, that had the effect of opening up its domestic pulse market to international trade. This market is very lucrative and of major significance to the world pulse economy. Therefore, given the increasing evidence linking import demand and economic variables, an understanding of the impact of these variables on import demand for pulses in India is warranted. The import demand functions for total pulses, chickpea and lentils were estimated by autocorrelation regression procedure using time-series data for the period 1970 through to 2000. Empirical results indicate that real GDP, population, urbanisation, exchange rate and relative price are key determinants of import demand for pulses in India.


We propose an efficient and adaptive shrinkage method for variable selection in the Cox model. The method constructs a piecewise-linear regularization path connecting the maximum partial likelihood estimator and the origin. Then a model is selected along the path. We show that the constructed path is adaptive in the sense that, with a proper choice of regularization parameter, the fitted model works as well as if the true underlying submodel were given in advance. A modified algorithm of the least-angleregression type efficiently computes the entire regularization path of the new estimator. Furthermore, we show that, with a proper choice of shrinkage parameter, the method is consistent in variable selection and efficient in estimation. Simulation shows that the new method tends to outperform the lasso and the smoothly-clipped-absolute-deviation estimators with moderate samples. We apply the methodology to data concerning nursing homes.


In this work, we use residual values obtained from an estimated hedonic pricing model to assess the role of district-level neighbourhood effects for the spatial variation in quality-adjusted rental prices in Berlin between 2008 and 2013. By doing so, we also aim at identifying hot and cold spots of quality-adjusted rental prices for apartments across the residential locations within the city of Berlin. The resulting pattern of 'residual' rental prices with a growing concentration of hot spots in central districts of Berlin can be interpreted as the tenants' valorization of apartments in geographic proximity to the city centre compared to similar properties in Berlin's periphery once we control for the properties' physical characteristics. The observed temporal evolution of the rental price distribution between 2008 and 2013 thereby hints at an ongoing gentrification process in Germany's capital associated with the current housing market boom. This visual impression is also confirmed by the application of quantile regressions for a correlation analysis between quality-adjusted rental price values and Berlin district-level characteristics obtained from the last census in 2011. Among other factors, we find that districts' net in-migration balances are positively correlated with quality-adjusted rental price levels for higher quantiles of the distribution, thereby potentially proxying the price dynamics of underlying gentrification processes. Using statistical tests from the explanatory spatial data analysis (ESDA) toolbox, we finally pinpoint particular hot spots of the city's residential property market associated with a significant spatial clustering of similar rental price values around individual observations.


The objectives of this study were to determine the magnitude of heterosis for yield, its components, and other agronomic characters and to determine the relative importance of general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) in spaced plants soybean [ (L.) Merr.] hybrids with both adapted cultivars and exotic strains as parents.The experiment, conducted at West Lafayette, Ind. in 1971 and 1972, used a partial diallel mating design with 12 parents. There were three parents from each of the following origins; locally adapted cultivars or strains, Manchurian, Chinese, and Korean. Thirty different F combinations were produced and, along with their parents, planted in a randomized, complete block design.Heterosis for yield was greater than that for any other character with a high-parent value of 8.0% averaged over both years. Twelve of the 30 hybrids outyielded the midparent. Number of pods/plant was the most heterotic of the yield components. Number of seeds/pod and seed size of the F's was with few exceptions, intermediate to parental values, as were maturity, height, lodging, and harvest index. Heterosis for plant weight was similar to that for yield, both in magnitude and in the hybrids expressing it.Significant GCA effects were found for all characters. SCA effects were significant for seed size, maturity, and height. The years × GCA interaction was significant for yield, number of pods/plant, maturity, lodging score, plant weight, and harvest index. Years × SCA were significant for ntunber of seeds/pod, maturity, lodging, and harvest index.


The microstructure and magnetic properties of melt-spun RE/sub 2/Fe/sub 14/B//spl alpha/-Fe and RE/sub 2/Fe/sub 14/B/Fe/sub 3/B nanocomposite powders were studied using Pr and Nd versions of RE/sub 9/Fe/sub 86/B/sub 5/(RE/sub 2/Fe/sub 14/B//spl alpha/-Fe) and RE/sub 9/Fe/sub 79/B/sub 12/(RE/sub 2/Fe/sub 14/B/Fe/sub 3/B) alloys. It was found that the RE/sub 9/Fe/sub 86/B/sub 5/ exhibited a finer and more uniform microstructure with an average grain size of /spl sim/10 nm, whereas a relatively coarse microstructure (grain size up to 100 nm) was observed in the RE/sub 9/Fe/sub 79/B/sub 12/. It was also found that the RE/sub 9/Fe/sub 86/B/sub 5/ yielded higher B/sub r/ and (BH)/sub max/, and a more square demagnetization loop, although the H/sub ci/ was slightly lower. The superior magnetic properties observed in the RE/sub 9/Fe/sub 86/B/sub 5/ can be attributed to the more favorable intrinsic magnetic properties of /spl alpha/-Fe (higher M/sub s/ and lower K) and the much finer microstructure, which produces a stronger intergrain exchange coupling between the RE/sub 2/Fe/sub 14/B and /spl alpha/-Fe phases. The results indicate that RE/sub 2/Fe/sub 14/B//spl alpha/-Fe nanocomposites are more desirable than RE/sub 2/Fe/sub 14/B/Fe/sub 3/B for future development of RE-Fe-B nanocomposite magnets.


With the development of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission, the impact of DC system on AC relay protection becomes more prominent. So it becomes more important to research electrical characteristics of AC system under DC faults. In PSCAD/EMTDC environment, the inverter commutation failure resulted from short circuit faults in AC line is simulated based on the electromagnetic transient model of Shandong grid containing Ningdong-Shandong DC transmission system. Prony algorithm is applied to analyze the electrical transient characteristics of AC system during commutation failure. The coincidence of fitted waveform and simulated waveform verified the validity of prony algorithm. Prony analysis results show that DC system injects a large number of inter-harmonic components into the inverter side AC system during commutation failure, and the distortion of the parallel line current is more serious than that of the fault line current, so the impact of DC system on the AC relay protection devices equipped on the parallel line is greater.


As with all electromagnet radiation, polarization of X-rays is a general phenomenon. Such polarization has been known since the classic experiments of Barkla in 1906. The general implementation of polarization to X-ray analysis had to await the fixed geometry of energydispersive systems. The means of optimizing these systems is shown in this review paper. Improved detection limits are the result.


Anaemia in children under five years old is a public health concern worldwide. In developing countries about 12 million children under five years old die each year from preventable causes. The deaths of over 6 million are either directly or indirectly attributed to malnutrition, mainly under-nutrition that leads to anaemia and constitutes a high percentage of infant and child mortality. This descriptive survey attempted to assess the knowledge of mothers on factors associated with anaemia among children under five years old in the child welfare clinic at Orile-Agege General Hospital, Lagos. The 120 respondents were conveniently selected and data was collected through a close ended question items and analyzed with Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The findings revealed that 111(92.5%) of the respondents agreed that one of the major causes of anaemia was malnutrition. Consequently, respondents agreed that children who suffer from anaemia are prone to infections, delayed psychomotor development, poor academic performance and low scores in intelligent (IQ) tests which deprived them the opportunity to be physically fit and function at optimal level. There was no significant relationship between occurrence of anaemia and mothers' educational status (r = .29) as well as their socio economic status (r = .091). The religious belief of the respondents also had no bearing with the occurrence of anaemia (r =.152). It was therefore recommended that there is need for more public enlightenment on the causes, prevention and complications of anaemia. Capacity building for health care providers to adequately equip them with updates and facts on the management of prevailing rate of anaemia effectively.


In this paper, based on a self-similar analysis and the method of standard equations, the properties of a nonlinear cross-diffusion system coupled via nonlocal boundary conditions are studied. We are investigated the qualitative properties of solutions of a nonlinear system of parabolic equations of crossdiffusion in a medium coupled with nonlinear boundary conditions. It is proved that for certain values of the numerical parameters of the nonlinear cross-diffusion system of parabolic equations coupled via nonlinear boundary conditions, they may not have global solutions in time. Based on a self-similar analysis and the principle of comparing solutions, a critical exponent of the Fujita type and a critical value of global solvability are established. Using the comparison theorem, upper bounds for global solutions and lower bounds for blow-up solutions are obtained


In the paper the industry role in the curricula of engineering education is examined. There are shown that the information obtained on industry developments trends, product export/import ratio as well as the level of investments injected into individual industry sub-sectors helps to make projections as to the number and profile of future professional staff; more specifically, as to the type of curriculum modules and the university acceptance level. Based on the information obtained from university graduates and managers from industrial enterprises as well as other authorities and summarized in an appropriate way, adequate corrections are introduced into the curriculum module without prejudice to regulations of the Government of the Republic Lithuania and to the provisions of the Bologna Declaration.


This text is about a scientific new project, Communicology. The project is found in two elements of construction. The first one is an historic approach organized in twenty years periods, and seven conceptual spaces, Midiology, Cybernetics, Cultural Sociology, Politic economy, Phenomenologist sociology, Semiotic and Linguistics studies, and Social psychology. The second part of de text is about de apriority construction of Communicology, with a systemic approach and a complexity conception. The new science is organized in four dimensions, expression, interaction, diffusion, and estructuration.


This dissertation investigates the aesthetic, cultural, and scientific context that allowed for the flourishing exchanges among the arts at the European fin de siecle. In contrast to standard impressionistic accounts of the Inter-Arts, it foregrounds and examines the time's immensely popular synaesthetic metaphor, while culturally and formally analyzing interartistic works. This work surveys the diverse and heterogeneous discourses that engage with synaesthesia: the figurative mixing or conflation of sense-impressions, for instance, in the perception of sound as color. It shows that the synaesthetic metaphor, usually treated as a trite Modernist mannerism, not only epitomized the synthetic aspirations of the Modernist arts, but also invigorated the exchanges among the arts at the fin de siecle by bridging aesthetic, scientific, and ethical discourses. As a nexus of controversial and fascinating cultural debates, synaesthesia acquired an intricate depth and complex resonance, which this dissertation examines by identifying synaesthetically informed fin-de-siecle cultural and scientific concepts (such as electricity and the phonograph) and using them as interpretative tools to analyze three specific interartistic sites of literary, artistic, and musical modernism. Chapter One shows how Oscar Wilde's Salome overcomes its own language by turning to the senses, generates new extra-verbal life, both sensory and interartistic, and is transposed across the senses and the arts in Aubrey Beardsley's drawings and Richard Strauss's opera. In the second chapter, this work examines Aleksandr Skriabin's synaesthetic symphony Prometheus and the Russian Symbolist poetics of mystical and electric light. The final chapter discusses the phenomenological synaesthetics of Rainer Maria Rilke's middle-period thing poems (Dinggedichte) and their involvement with the visual arts, by focusing on Rilke's fascination with Rodin. It then studies the development of Rilke's synaesthetic theory in his late Sonnets to Orpheus. Figured as a synaesthetic and phono-graphic translation, Rilke's poetic act seeks both a primordial and a technologically motivated wholeness of sensory experience. Additionally, this work offers an online companion to the dissertation that makes all the musical examples playable: an important feature of the dissertation is its combining of musicological and literary analysis, as well as visual analysis. Beautiful Colored, Musical Things proposes a new way of conceptualizing early interartistic Modernism, by suggesting that the synaesthetic metaphor defines and motivates the interartistic exchanges at the fin de siecle. In its critical and methodological goals, this dissertation seeks to foster interdisciplinary exchange, and to overcome the limitations of discipline-bound criticism.


ABSTRACT This paper proposes a Markovian jump model and the corresponding H2/H∞ control strategy for the wind turbine driven by the stochastic switching wind speed, which can be used to regulate the generator speed in order to harvest the rated power while reducing the fatigue loads on the mechanical side of wind turbine. Through sampling the low-frequency wind speed data into separate intervals, the stochastic characteristic of the steady wind speed can be represented as a Markov process, while the high-frequency wind speed in the each interval is regarded as the disturbance input. Then, the traditional operating points of wind turbine can be divided into separate subregions correspondingly, where the model parameters and the control mode can be fixed in each mode. Then, the mixed H2/H∞ control problem is discussed for such a class of Markovian jump wind turbine working above the rated wind speed to guarantee both the disturbance rejection and the mechanical loads objectives, which can reduce the power volatility and the generator torque fluctuation of the whole transmission mechanism efficiently. Simulation results for a 2 MW wind turbine show the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Abstract Objective: To assess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow dynamics involvement in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), we conducted CSF flow studies on 40 individuals with motor neuron diseases (MNDs) including ALS, and 28 age-matched normal and disease [cervical spondylosis (CS)] controls. Methods: The CSF pulsatile velocity anterior to the cervical cord at level C5 during one heart beat was determined non-invasively by phase-contrast electrocardiography-triggered magnetic resonance imaging. Results: In MND, caudal CSF velocity peaked at 25% of the cardiac cycle after the R wave (UTc/RR), showing an increased delay in comparison to normal controls, while amplitude Hc was significantly larger than that in CS. Discussion: We conclude that CSF flow dynamics of MND differ from those of controls and may thus facilitate differentiation of MND from CS.


Mexico has extensive surfaces of degraded soils as a result of their non-sustainable use, and generating indicators for zoning is required to avoid this. The compatibility of land uses and agrological capacity was evaluated in the Grijalva River Basin (GRB), in order to identify soils in risk of degradation. The cartography was generated at the level of recognition of ecogeographic regions, land use, and agrological capacity. Its superposition allowed differentiating compatibility zones through map algebra. Results show that the GRB has 16 eco-geographic regions, where natural vegetation stands out (47.6 %), agricultural use (44.9 %), and urban areas, water bodies and bare ground (7.5 %). The classes of agrological capacity are differentiated by geomorphological environments; 36.9% of the Gulf Coastal Flatland is apt for agriculture (I to IV); 38% of the soil of the Northern Chiapas Sierra and Chiapas Highlands has forestry and livestock production aptitude (V to VI); and 21.9% of the whole basin is apt for wildlife (VII). Of the GRB, 5.5% (1178.6 km2) has incompatible use with its agrological capacity, indicating the risk of degradation from hydric erosion, when presenting agricultural use in soils with severe limitations. Therefore, sustainable programs for land use conversion to contribute to soil conservation should be promoted.


Many kinds of new energy resources which are renewable and dependable come from various kinds of vegetable oil, thus it can substitute petroleum oil which people usually use.Oil palm oil is quite advantageous to be used as an alternative energy resources in Indonesia, since Indonesia is the world's second largest producer of oil palm oil. Fuel made from oil palm oil has been researched and is more friendly to environment, because it has less polution potential when used, since it's free from sulphur andnitrogen. Oil palm oil has long hydrocarbon chain which makes it possible to be used as vegetable fuel. The aim of this research is : to learn the influence of temperature and flow velocity of N 2 gas on catalytic splitting of oil palm oil-based oleat acid into kerosene fraction.Spliting process of oil palm oil-based oleat acid is done in steady woodpile micro reactor at varioustemperatures and flow velocities of feed at 1 atm pressure. The result of the splitting process is analyzed with FID chromatography gas with Q poraplot column type, for liquid phase product. Research is done by heating  oleat acid in feed tank until 360°C temperature and reactor at 370-500°C temperature, and N 2 gas is flowed into tank as carrier gas with 90-180 ml/minute flow velocity. Oleat acid steam and N 2  gas flow into steady woodpilereactor which is coated with heater element and is filled with 0.6 gram catalyst. Spitting reaction is done for 75minutes. Bound time limit for kerosene fraction as shown by chromatogram is 12.6-17.5 minutes, anaylisis result for commercial kerosene for 450°C temperature and flow velocity of N 2 gas 155.28 ml/minutes from fractionarea percentage chromatogram, kerosene fraction is 27.2645%. Keywords : palm oil, kerosene fraction, fixed reactor.


Let G be a finite group and S a subset of G. Then S is product-free if S ∩ SS = ∅, and complete if G∗ ⊆ S ∪ SS. A product-free set is locally maximal if it is not contained in a strictly larger product-free set. If S is product-free and complete then S is locally maximal, but the converse does not necessarily hold. Street and Whitehead [J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 17 (1974), 219–226] defined a group G as filled if every locally maximal product-free set S in G is complete (the term comes from their use of the phrase 'S fills G' to mean S is complete). They classified all abelian filled groups, and conjectured that the finite dihedral group of order 2n is not filled when n = 6k +1 (k ≥ 1). The conjecture was disproved by two of the current authors [C.S. Anabanti and S.B. Hart, Australas. J. Combin. 63 (3) (2015), 385–398], where we also classified the filled groups of odd order. In this paper we classify filled dihedral groups, filled nilpotent groups and filled groups of order 2n p where p is an odd prime. We use these results to determine all filled groups of order up to 2000.


Using maskless lithography and electroforming techniques, we have demonstrated an enhanced performance of GaN/sapphire light-emitting diode (LED) embedded in a reflective copper heat spreader. The chip size and dominant wavelength of the blue emitter used in this research is 1×1 mm2 and 455 nm, respectively. The cup-shaped LED heat sink is electroformed on sapphire directly using the spin-coated photoresist coated with the Au/Cr/Ag mirror as a mold and dicing into the embedded LED with a Cu base dimension of 3×3 mm2, which effectively enhances the heat dissipation down to the metal frame and reaps the light flux generated from the side emission. With the aid of a reflective heat spreader, the encapsulated LED sample driven at 1 A yields the light output power of 700 mW and around 2.7-times increase in the wall-plug efficiency compared to that of the conventional GaN/sapphire LED. Infrared thermal images confirm the GaN/sapphire LED with more efficient heat extraction and better temperature uniformity. The...


Adaptive optics (AO) correction based on pyramid wavefront sensors (P-WFSs) has been successfully implemented in several instruments for astronomical observation due to the P-WFS advantages in terms of sensitivity with respect to other WFSs, such as the Shack-Hartmann. The correction of non-common path aberrations (NCPAs) between the sensing and the scientific arm, commonly performed introducing offsets to the Zernike coefficients of the measured wavefront in the AO closed loop, reduces the sensitivity of P-WFSs causing a loss in sky coverage and scientific throughput. We propose a technique to exploit the full capabilities of P-WFSs compensating the NCPAs up to the fourth order on the WFS channel by means of a multi-actuator adaptive lens (MAL). We show the preliminary results obtained in a dedicated laboratory test bench.


Xenopus oocytes accumulate maternal mRNAs which are then recruited to ribosomes during meiotic cell cycle progression in response to progesterone and coincident with poly(A) elongation. Prior to stimulation, most protein synthesis ( approximately 70%) does not require intact translation factor eIF4G (B. D. Keiper and R. E. Rhoads, 1997, Nucleic Acids Res. 25, 395-402). In the present study we have addressed the requirement of eIF4G in the recruitment of mRNAs during meiosis. Cleavage of eIF4G by coxsackievirus protease 2A inhibited progesterone-induced meiotic progression in 88% of the oocytes; prevented the recruitment of maternal mRNAs encoding cyclin B1, c-Mos, D7, and B9; and disrupted the association of eIF4G with poly(A)-binding protein. Poly(A) elongation, however, was not inhibited by eIF4G cleavage. Injection of MPF restored meiotic cell cycle progression to >60% of the oocytes but not the recruitment of cyclin B1 or B9 mRNA. Previously recruited maternal mRNAs were removed from polyribosomes following subsequent cleavage of eIF4G, indicating that eIF4G is required both to recruit and also to maintain maternal mRNAs on polyribosomes. The expression of a cleavage-resistant variant of human eIF4G-1 (G486E) significantly restored the ability to synthesize c-Mos in response to progesterone and to translate exogenous beta-globin mRNA, indicating that the inhibition by protease 2A is due to cleavage of eIF4G alone. These results indicate that intact eIF4G is required for the poly(A)-dependent recruitment of several maternal mRNAs (cyclin B1, c-Mos, D7, and B9) during meiotic cell cycle progression but not for the synthesis of most proteins.


Sickle cell trait (SCT) is usually considered a benign disorder compared with sickle cell anemia (SS hemoglobinopathy). However, several authors have reported cases of exercise-related sudden death in this population. Among the mechanisms that could be involved in these fatal complications, vaso-occlusive processes, such as those occurring in SS hemoglobinopathy, may play a role. In sickle cell anemia, these vaso-occlusive processes involve inflammatory and adhesion molecules such as the cell adhesion molecules (CAM family), which play a role in the firm adhesion of reticulocytes and leukocytes to endothelial cells, and the selectins, which play a role in leukocyte and platelet rolling on the vascular wall. Recent results suggest that adhesion phenomena could be amplified in SCT carriers during exercise compared with non-carriers. Other mechanisms like alterations in blood coagulation and/or hemorheological properties can also favor the occurrence of vaso-occlusive processes. Although few studies have reported coagulation disturbances in SCT carriers at rest, we recently observed no difference between this population and control subjects in response to exercise. In contrast, by studying the behavior of several hemorheological parameters in response to several types of exercise, we detected hemorheological abnormalities in individuals with SCT. These abnormalities included higher red blood cell rigidity and higher blood viscosity in the SCT carriers compared with the non-carriers, particularly during the late recovery period (24 and 48 h after exercise). Therefore, we can suggest that the risks for microvascular complications in SCT carriers in response to exercise could be dependent on alterations in blood rheology and vascular adhesion processes.


Lysogenic bacteria, or virus-infected bacteria, were the primary experimental models used 1960s. Historians of science have noted that the use of lysogenic bacteria as a model in microbiological research influenced the scientific achievements of the Pasteur Institute's scientists. and Monod [7] used lysogenic bacteria to develop their operon model of gene regulation [8] to investigate the cellular regulatory mechanisms of the lysogenic life cycle, and to infer the process of cellular differentiation [9] in the development of more complex eukaryotes.


Resilience to climate change is becoming another aspect of sustainable development. However, little is understood on how this is operationalized at the community level. This study looks at how the residents on two urban poor communities in Metro Manila, utilized their adaptive capacities and coping strategies in their stability and recovery processes from a recent extreme weather event, Tropical Storm Ketsana, in 2009. In order to establish the climate change history between two communities with similar climatic events but different recovery process and/or outcome results, a diachronic study was conducted between the two communities vis-à-vis their experiences with past severe weather conditions and a recent extreme weather event. The historical data contained their perceptions, practices and characteristics concerning past severe weather conditions before, during, and after an extreme weather event. While both communities displayed similar rates of recovery, one of the communities exhibited characteristics that enabled them to transition to the transformation phase of resilience at a faster rate. From a contrastive examination of the micro-historical accounts of the two communities, the characteristics or factors that made one community resilient as compared to the other was established. Using positivist qualitative induction, the characteristics and factors determined from the previous step were used to validate whether existing and proposed climate change resilience indicators are applicable in the context of the study. Indicators were observed and/or utilized differently, depending on the communities' resilience phase. Internal road network, warning system and evacuation plan, community values cohesion, participation in hazard reduction programs, age of community, and fluidity of disaster management operations among different levels of government are the variables that promoted and enabled stability during extreme events. The major factor that enabled recovery is social capital, which the communities and their residents first sought for relief assistance. The variables indicating recovery are household assets, recovery status of house as a structure, and recovery rate in months. Key to enabling transformation, in addition to social capital, are the households' income levels, education levels and access to financial services. These capacities were deemed responsible for the households' ability to re-accumulate lost or destroyed household assets and in the repair or restoration of their houses. The major findings of the study are (i) current indicators, at least those that the study ∗Speaker †Corresponding author: firstname.lastname@example.com sciencesconf.org:resilience2014:24199 was able to cover, may be used at the community level, with some modifications and use of surrogate variables; (ii) current praxis in resilience research may not be able to account for the role and quality of relationships among actors working at different phases of resilience; (iii) indicators and the role of major actors are made significant at different phases of the disaster and resilience building; (iv) synergy as another possible dimension of disaster and climate resilience; and (v) three major facets of state-society continuum of synergy exist in climate resilience: state actors, non-state intermediaries and community organizations.


Objectives: Describe the variation in practice and identify predictors of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) use in shock. Explore the association between the timing of IMV initiation ("Early" vs. "Delayed") on shock duration. Design: Multicenter, prospective, observational cohort study between September 2017 and February 2018 Setting: 34 hospitals in the United States and Jordan. Patients: Consecutive, adult, critically ill patients with shock, defined as a systolic blood pressure less than or equal to 90mm Hg, mean arterial pressure less than or equal to 65mm Hg, or need for a vasopressor medication. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: "Early" IMV was defined as starting IMV 0–6 hours of shock onset and "Delayed" IMV was defined as starting IMV between 6 and 48 hours of shock onset. The primary outcome was shock–free days, defined as the number of days without shock after the first 48 hours of shock onset. Variation and predictors of IMV use were examined within the whole cohort as well as the subgroup of those intubated within 0–48 hours of shock onset. Mixed effects modeling with hospital site as a random effect showed that there was 7% variation by site in the use and timing of IMV in this shock cohort. In a propensity–matched model for the timing of IMV, "Early" IMV after shock onset was associated with more shock–free days when compared to "Delayed" IMV in those intubated within 0–48 hours of shock onset (Beta coefficient 0.65 days, 95% CI 0.14-1.16 days). Conclusions: Timing of IMV initiation for patients in shock has potentially important implications for patient outcomes and merits further study.


The results of a parking study conducted for Lancaster, Pennsylvania, are summarized. There were two primary reasons for the study: (a) Residents were concerned about the preemption of curb spaces in residential areas by long-term, nonresidential parkers, and (b) in recent years, the city has been required to subsidize the operation of the Lancaster Parking Authority because a decline in the use of the authority's facilities has created a gap between revenues and expenses. The study included a review of existing information on parking problems in Lancaster and several surveys designed to provide data on parking characteristics. The existing parking system is described in terms of facility type and occupancy. The central area of Lancaster was divided into subareas, and an analysis of the problems of each subarea is presented. Issues of ineffective enforcement and the poor financial condition of the municipal revenue parking system are reviewed. The recommended program consists of several strong measures for controlling parking space and stabilizing finances. Stricter control of curb space is suggested, including a residential parking-permit system. Several enforcement-related actions are proposed, such as revision of the meter system, increased fines, and improved equipment for conrolling garage revenue. Finally, moderate increases in municipal parking rates, along with increased garage use, can eliminate the parking authority's revenue shortfall over the next five years. (Author)


Big data analytics could be a panacea for the IRS by enabling creation of taxpayer profiles to better capture noncompliance using artificial intelligence and machine learning, requiring fewer costly manpower hours.  Privacy, fair information practices, and embedded biases are critiques of such practices, and it is unknown how taxpayers will respond.  Deterrence theory suggests improved audit effectiveness will increase compliance but excludes elements of tax morale, including perceived fairness.  We find evidence supporting a moderated mediation model where procedural fairness mediates the relationship between audit procedures and tax compliance, moderated by participatory monitoring, which captures how effects vary when taxpayers willingly increase traceability of their income by advertising online.  When taxpayers advertise business online, use of advanced technologies in audit selection significantly increases compliance with no significant effect on perceived fairness; when they do not, use of advanced technologies has no effect on compliance, but significantly decreases perceived fairness.


Abstract A novel transducer for the measurement of water level is described. This transducer consists of a tantalum wire anodized in a weak citric acid solution. The anodization forms a uniform, thin layer of tantalum oxide on the surface of the wire. When partially submerged through an air-water interface, the capacitance of the wire is directly proportional to the water level. This transducer has been applied in oceanographic research buoys to measure gravity and capillary wave height. In this application, the transducer offers greater sensitivity, linearity, and ruggedness than conventional capacitive wave sensors.


There is a strong need for research capacity strengthening in developing countries. In this paper we present achievements and lessons learnt from a South-North collaboration. The collaboration is situated within the Kenyan-Danish Health Research Project (KEDAHR) which started in 1994 and lasted till 2004. A total of 41students (27 Kenyans and 14 Danish) undertaking studies at post-graduate and doctoral levels were involved over this period and more than 37 articles published in peer-reviewed journals and in edited books. In addition, there are other intangible benefits that have accrued over time. We conclude that the collaboration between the five institutions involved has been very productive. The focus on capacity development has led to a large pool of well trained anthropologists who are now forming a critical mass of expertise within which we expect future collaborations to be based.


Purpose of review To explain why epidemiological studies have reached such diverse views as to whether apolipoprotein B (apoB) and/or low-density lipoprotein particle number (LDL-P) are more accurate markers of the risk of cardiovascular disease than LDL-C or non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and to review the treatment options to lower LDL. Recent findings The Emerging Risk Factor Collaboration, a large prospective participant level analysis, a meta-analysis of statin clinical trials, and the Heart Protection Study have each reported that apoB does not add significantly to the cholesterol markers as indices of cardiovascular risk. By contrast, a meta-analysis of published prospective studies demonstrated that non-HDL-C was superior to LDL-C, and apoB was superior to non-HDL-C. As well, three studies using discordance analysis each demonstrated that apoB and LDL-P were superior to the cholesterol markers. Two approaches to resolve these differences are brought to bear in this article: first, which results are credible and second, how does taking the known differences in LDL composition into account, help resolve them. The best identification of individuals at risk of coronary artery disease or with coronary artery disease allows the most efficacious treatment of elevated LDL-P and will permit a more extensive use of some of the more novel LDL-lowering agents. Summary Much of the controversy vanishes once the physiologically driven differences in the composition of the apoB lipoprotein particles are taken into account, illustrating that epidemiology, not directed by physiology, is like shooting without aiming.


Carpe Mundum analyzes German Youth culture during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). Each chapter addresses a distinct topic: sex educational materials for young people, the language of the censorship debates, novels dealing with war, historical narration, magazines, popular science and science fiction, radio, and sports. Together the themes illustrate the influence of nineteenth-century holistic thinking in popular culture in early twentieth-century Germany. Public policies and institutions governing German youth culture during the Weimar Republic, including education and social welfare, evince spiritual underpinnings of Naturphilosophie - a movement which promoted the unity of all things. As cultural modernity in Germany enabled young people greater participation in shaping their culture, elements of a modernity of yough emerged as distinct from that of the adult world and its ideologically laden system of values. The essence of youthful modernity in Germany as evident most clearly in popular magazines, radio, and sports rests primarily on spontaneity, ingenuity and camaraderie.


In June 2013, a ground-based mobile lidar performed the ~10,000 km ride from Paris to Ulan-Ude, near Lake Baikal, profiling aerosol optical properties in the cities visited along the journey and allowing the first comparison of urban aerosols optical properties across Eurasia. The lidar instrument was equipped with N2-Raman and depolarization channels, enabling the retrieval of the 355-nm extinction-to-backscatter ratio (also called Lidar Ratio (LR)) and the linear Particle Depolarization Ratio (PDR) in the urban planetary boundary or residual layer over 11 cities. The optical properties of pollution particles were found to be homogeneous all along the journey: no longitude dependence was observed for the LR, with most values falling within the 67–96 sr range. There exists only a slight increase of PDR between cities in Europe and Russia, which we attribute to a higher fraction of coarse terrigenous particles lifted from bad-tarmac roads and unvegetated terrains, which resulted, for instance, in a +1.7% increase between the megalopolises of Paris and Moscow. A few lower LR values (38 to 50 sr) were encountered above two medium size Siberian cities and in an isolated plume, suggesting that the relative weight of terrigenous aerosols in the mix may increase in smaller cities. Space-borne observations from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP), retrieved during summer 2013 above the same Russian cities, confirmed the prevalence of aerosols classified as "polluted dust". Finally, we encountered one special feature in the Russian aerosol mix as we observed with good confidence an unusual aerosol layer displaying both a very high LR (96 sr) and a very high PDR (20%), even though both features make it difficult to identify the aerosol type.


We analyze fault detection algorithm of ephemeris included in navigation message, which is one of the GNSS risk factors. This algorithm uses carrier-phase measurement and baseline vector of two reference stations and is alternative method for uncertainty condition of previous ephemeris. Even though same ephemeris fault is occurred, the geometry condition, between baseline vector of reference stations and satellites, effects on performance of algorithm. Also, we introduce the suitable geometry of reference stations, threshold and performance index (MDE : Minimum Detectable Error) in jeju international airport


The events of the past few years in Moscow and in a number of regions of the Russian Federation are evidence of the growing tension in international (interethnic) relations. In this sphere, sociological studies can play an important role by promptly revealing the arising contradictions and problems. This article deals with the results of these studies and their importance for preventing international (interethnic) conflicts.


The uncertainty of external environment and the complexity of internal elements are making modern enterprises faced with more crises which makes crisis management for enterprises more difficult. So far, the attention paid to internal causes of enterprise crisis is not enough, neither is the research related to formative mechanism of enterprise crisis. This paper will put forward the origin of enterprises crisis based on dynamic unbalance of internal factors and external environment of enterprises. Then we will put forward the formative mechanism in the view of organizational inertia such as resource inertia, strategy inertia, structural inertia and cultural inertia.


In this study, novel chitosan/Fe2O3nano composite Ch/Fe-Onc was synthesized and evaluated as an adsorbent for removing thorium (IV) (Th4+) ion from aqueous solution. The Ch/Fe-Onc was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Response surface methodology (RSM) was used in the optimization of Th4+ adsorption for parameters such as pH, the initial metal ion concentration (Th4+ concentration) and contact time. The statistical measures (i.e. analysis of variance, R2, the lack of fit test and the P value) specify that the developed model is proper. Furthermore, the adsorption kinetics was well defined by the pseudo-second-order equation, while the adsorption isotherms were better fitted by the Langmuir model. The adsorption capacity of Ch/Fe-Onc was 430 mg Th4+g-1 composite which leads to 99% removal at 25 °C. Moreover, thermodynamic parameters which state the natural and endothermic nature of the reactions were determined. The loaded Th4+ can be easily regenerated with HNO3 and the Ch/Fe-Onc can be used repeatedly without any significant reduction in its adsorption capacity. The desorption level of Th4+ from the Ch/Fe-Onc by using 0.1 M HNO3, was more than 95%.


Implementations of the "Lock-Unlock" method of synchronizing processors in a multiprocessor system usually require uninterruptable, memory-pause type instructions. An interlock scheme called read-interlock, which does not require memory-pause instructions, has been developed for a dual DEC PDP-10 system with real-time requirements. The read-interlock method does require a special "read-interlock" instruction in the repertoire of the processors and a special "read-interlock" cycle in the repertoire of the memory modules.
When a processor examines a "lock" (a memory location) with a read-interlock instruction, it will be interrupted if the lock was already set; examining a lock immediately sets it if it was not already set (this event sequence is a read-interlock cycle). Writing into a lock clears it.
Having the processor interrupted upon encountering a set lock instead of branching is advantageous if the branch would have resulted in an effective interrupt.


External collective political efficacy (PE) is an individual's perception of the extent to which the government is responsive to the needs of his or her group or community or to its collective actions. Does PE play a role in the association between exposure to political violence and posttraumatic stress? The current study aimed to examine whether such PE may help explain why exposure to political violence results in posttraumatic stress for some people but not others. Based on the conservation of resource theory, research has found that residents of some types of communities are less likely to suffer from posttraumatic stress when exposed to political violence, due to the economic and psychological resources these communities provide. Political efficacy, as an individual-level factor that relates to the community, may help predict who will suffer more or less posttraumatic stress from exposure to political violence within a given community. Based on a panel study conducted immediately before and after the 2008-2009 Gaza conflict (N = 650) and hierarchical linear modeling analyses, we found that type of community indeed moderated the association between exposure to political violence and posttraumatic stress, Δ-2 log likelihood = 30.4, p < .001. In addition, we found that PE mitigated the psychological distress resulting from exposure to political conflict in disadvantaged communities, Δ-2 log likelihood = 22.8, p < .001. This study not only further untangled the association between exposure and distress during times of war but also identified the role that governments can play in preventing conflict-induced distress beyond offering physical protection.


Efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change will require deep reductions in anthropogenic CO2 emissions on the scale of gigatonnes per year. CO2 capture and utilization and/or storage technologies are a class of approaches that can substantially reduce CO2 emissions. Even though examples of this approach, such as CO2-enhanced oil recovery, are already being practiced on a scale >0.05 Gt/year, little attention has been focused on the supply of CO2 for these projects. Here, facility-scale data newly collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was processed to produce the first comprehensive map of CO2 sources from industrial sectors currently supplying CO2 in the United States. Collectively these sources produce 0.16 Gt/year, but the data reveal the presence of large areas without access to CO2 at an industrially relevant scale (>25 kt/year). Even though some facilities with the capability to capture CO2 are not doing so and in some regions pipeline networks are being built to link CO2 sources and sinks, much of the country exists in "CO2 deserts". A life cycle analysis of the sources reveals that the predominant source of CO2, dedicated wells, has the largest carbon footprint further confounding prospects for rational carbon management strategies.


B30 Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer death in the Western world. Identification of diagnostic, prognostic, predictive and monitoring biomarkers will improve outcomes for CRC patients, especially in regard to individual patients response to chemotherapy and susceptibility to develop cachexia. The aim of our study is to discover candidate CRC tissue biomarkers with prognostic value for patient outcome using quantitative mass spectrometry based analysis techniques.
 In the project's "discovery" phase we utilised iTRAQ mass spectrometry to profile 16 CRC patients at various disease stages (Australian Clinico-Pathological stages A3 to D2), comparing carcinoma tissue to normal gut mucosa of the same patient. In addition, iTRAQ was used to make inter-tumour comparisons from the individual patients. iTRAQ routinely enabled quantification of 600 proteins simultaneously in 4 samples per run with up to 1100 proteins quantified in the best experiments. We identified several proteins that were consistently upregulated in CRC tumour tissue including S100 family proteins, various annexins, alpha-defensin 3 and lactate dehydrogenase amongst others. Conversely, consistently down-regulated proteins included liver fatty acid binding protein, selenium binding protein, galectins 3 and 4 and carbonic anhydrase. Interestingly, from a prognostic perspective, many proteins showed varying expression levels that did not appear to correlate with disease stage, and we hypothesize that these may be useful biomarkers to consider with patient outcome in a larger cohort. We are currently developing multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) assays to enable more efficient screening of these tumour samples. The MRM verification assays will assist in selecting robust biomarker candidates to move forward for immunohistochemistry validation using tissue microarrays of large CRC patient cohorts. IHC results will then be correlated with patient outcome statistics to evaluate the utility of the candidate prognostic biomarkers.


The article is devoted to the discussion about what the concept of biopower, developed within the framework of the postmodern critical theory, means in the context of the modern world, both in general theoretical and empirical sense. According to the author's conclusion, although this concept remains significant for Political Science, it is largely outdated and could turn into a scientific zombie idea. Giorgio Agamben, one of the classics of Political Philosophy, who denied the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic on the basis of the methodology of biopolitics, is case in point. Another evidence comes from the fact that researchers from different countries, including Russia, increasingly look for new approaches and tools of the biopolitical analysis, and try to saturate the concept with new ideas and data. This article proposes three ways how to make biopolitical research more relevant today. One way is to rethink the normative/moral foundations of biopower, to reject an implicitly negative assessment of the concept. Another way is to expand the historical framework, to pay greater attention to historical cases that allow us to trace different stages of the evolution of biopolitical patterns, to focus on the analysis of specific manifestations of biopower in concrete situations. The third way is to move towards the synthesis of critical biopolitics and evolutionary biopolitics, which draws data from the natural sciences. According to the author, these efforts together will make it possible to move from the unidirectional asymmetric link "the political influences the bio logical" to a more complex scheme of mutual reflective influence of the political and the biological.


The current study was conducted to establish the levels of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), its degradation products, and indicatory polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in water and sediments from Lake Victoria in Tanzania. Seven indicator PCBs were identified in sediments, and five were identified in water. The PCBs loading ranged from lower than the limit of detection (LOD) to 10.28 µg kg−1 DW and 0.95 to 2.24 µg l−1 in sediments and water, respectively. PCBs, CB 138 and CB 153 dominated the load, because of their chemical stability and high degree of chlorination. In addition, ten OCPs were identified in sediments, and seven OCPs were identified in water. The levels of organochlorine compounds in sediments were higher than in water samples, implying that sediments may serve as a sink for these compounds. The presence of these compounds is probably as a result of either historical use, long-range environmental transport or environmental persistence. The levels of organochlorine compounds in the lake water and sediments are below the maximum residue limit set by EU and FAO, except for aldrin and dieldrin. Based on the Threshold Effect Concentration (TEC) for freshwater ecosystems, aldrin and dieldrin are the only OCPs that seem to be a threat to the lake environment.


ABSTRACT We previously reported on the emergence of macrolide-resistant pharyngeal isolates of group A streptococci (GAS) in our community. The purpose of the present study was to track longitudinal trends in macrolide resistance in these isolates in southwestern Pennsylvania. Testing for susceptibility to erythromycin and clindamycin was performed for all pharyngeal GAS isolates recovered at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and a local pediatric practice between September 2001 and May 2002. Macrolide resistance phenotypes and genotypes were determined by double-disk diffusion and PCR, respectively. Strain relatedness was determined by field inversion gel electrophoresis and emm gene sequence typing. A total of 708 isolates of GAS were recovered during the study period; 68 (9.6%) were macrolide resistant, while all isolates were sensitive to clindamycin. The monthly prevalence of macrolide resistance ranged from 0 to 41%. Only 21 of 573 (3.7%) strains recovered from September 2001 through March 2002 were macrolide resistant. A sudden increase in the rate of macrolide resistance (47 of 135 isolates [35%]) was seen in April and May 2002. Sixty-two isolates demonstrated the M phenotype (resistance to macrolide antibiotics), and six isolates demonstrated the MLSB phenotype (resistance to most macrolide, lincosamide, and streptogramin B antibiotics); these isolates were confirmed to be mef(A) and erm(A), respectively. Three unique mef(A) clones and four unique erm(A) clones were identified among the resistant isolates. The MIC at which 50% of isolates are inhibited (MIC50) for the mef(A) strains was 16 μg/ml, while the MIC50 for erm(A) strains was 8 μg/ml. The finding of high levels of macrolide resistance among pharyngeal isolates of GAS for a second successive year in our community raises the concern that this problem may be more common in the United States than was previously appreciated. Longitudinal surveillance of isolates from multiple centers is needed to define the prevalence of antimicrobial agent-resistant GAS in the United States.


The article analyzes the experience in the application of practice-oriented technologies in teaching students in creative areas of "Journalism", and "Advertising and Public Relations" at higher education institutions in Moscow and the Moscow Region. The purpose of the conducted research is to identify the most effective practice-oriented technologies in the preparation of bachelors in the field of journalism, advertising, and public relations to the benefit of a modern metropolis. The authors give the classification of technologies and their effect on the result of students' education and reveal how a particular technology is used in the training of university students. The article considers specific examples of technologies, their relevance, and impact on the level of professional training of university graduates, as well as on improving their competitiveness. The article also presents the analysis results of the students' and graduates' opinions (using the method of a free interview of 97 respondents without sample calculation) that confirms the main hypothesis that the structure of knowledge and skills of future specialists is being changed, as well as the level of preparedness to work in the metropolis and large cities. The present article summarizes the authors' long-term experience in applying practice-oriented technologies in teaching students at many universities where the authors worked.


We initiate the study of distributed graph algorithms under the presence of Byzantine nodes. We consider the fundamental problem of testing the connectivity of a graph in the congested clique model in a Byzantine setting. We are given a n -vertex (arbitrary) graph G embedded in a n -node congested clique where an arbitrary subset of B nodes of the clique of size up to (1 / 3 − ε ) n (for any arbitrary small constant ε > 0) can be Byzantine. We consider the full information model where Byzantine nodes can behave arbitrarily, collude with each other, and have unlimited computational power and full knowledge of the states and actions of the honest nodes, including random choices made up to the current round. Our main result is an efficient randomized distributed algorithm that is able to correctly distinguish between two contrasting cases: (1) the graph G \ B (i.e., the graph induced by the removal of the vertices assigned to the Byzantine nodes in the clique) is connected or (2) the graph G is far from connected, i.e., it has at least 2 | B | + 1 connected components. Our algorithm runs in O (polylog n ) rounds in the congested clique model and guarantees that all honest nodes will decide on the correct case with high probability. Since Byzantine nodes can lie about the vertices assigned to them, we show that this is essentially the best possible that can be done by any algorithm. Our result can be viewed also in the spirit of property testing, where our algorithm is able to distinguish between two contrasting cases while giving no guarantees if the graph falls in the grey area (i.e., neither of the cases occur). Our work is a step towards robust and secure distributed graph computation that can output meaningful results even in the presence of a large number of faulty or malicious nodes.


Solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients have an approximately 2‐fold greater risk of developing and dying from a malignancy compared to the general population. Among the gynecologic cancers, including uterine, cervical, vaginal, vulvar, and ovarian, the HPV‐related cancers are known to increase among women posttransplant compared to women in the general population, but less is known about the risk of uterine and ovarian cancers. This review provides an overview of the epidemiology of gynecologic cancers after solid organ transplantation, as well as the pathophysiology, management, and specific risk factors associated with these cancers. Closer surveillance for cervical cancers is warranted and larger studies are needed to assess whether and how uterine and ovarian cancers are associated with excess incidence and mortality. Such studies may lead to improvements in screening, prevention, and treatment before and after transplantation.


This dissertation engages with processes of social and spatial organisation of the Brao, a Mon-Khmer language-speaking ethnic group whose approximately 60,000 members reside mainly in the provinces of Attapeu and Champasak, in the southern-most part of Laos; and Ratanakiri and Stung Treng, in the northeastern-most part of Cambodia. Divided broadly into eight different sub-groups—the Jree, Kavet, Hamong, Ka-nying, Lun, Umba, Kreung and Brao Tanap—the Brao are, historically, swidden cultivators whose livelihoods were, and often remain, heavily dependent on fishing, hunting and the collection of various forest products, and who have particular ways of organising spatially, with concomitant rules and norms, including spatial taboos. Over the last number of centuries, various powers have tried to dominate the Brao and Brao spaces, including the Khmer, Lao and Siamese, followed by the French, Japanese, Vietnamese, Americans, Lao (royalist and communist), Khmer (royalist and communist), and the present-day Lao and Cambodian governments working together with international development agencies. These various groups, including those typically considered to be precolonial and postcolonial, are theorised in this thesis as representing different forms of colonialism, each with particular objectives and implications for the Brao. This dissertation examines these various forms of colonialism and their effects on the Brao over history. The role of the international border between Lao and Cambodia in constituting Brao 'places of resistance' is also examined. I demonstrate how differing forms of colonial domination have had varying impacts on the Brao; through effecting social and spatial change that in turn impact—amongst other things—Brao places. These places are constituted with meaning by the Brao, and are closely linked to their identities. All forms of colonialism have spatial repercussions, and frequently include processes of (re)territorialisation and attempts to rescale the spatial systems of dominated groups like the Brao. However, colonial powers are never omnipotent or fully successful. Their efforts are frequently resisted, even if negotiation, compliance and other nuanced responses are important. Overall, human agency is crucial for determining the outcomes of attempts to dominate.


The reaction of dimethylol urea with cotton over a wide range of pH has been studied. Data are presented to show that the structure of the DMU polymer obtained with strongly acidic catalysts such as organic acids and ammonium salts is highly crosslinked, in contrast to the simple linear structure proposed by Steele and Giddings, Such a structure offers a reasonable explanation of the better washfastness of the DMU finish with these catalysts. The contribution of covalent cross-linking of the resin with cellulose in improving crease recovery is also discussed. The use of cuprammonium insolubility as an index of such cross-linking has been examined.


Abstract Riparian areas alone are often insufficient for preservation of riparian taxa. Case studies on many vertebrate taxa have addressed the importance of establishing buffer zones around riparian habitats. The goal of this investigation was to build upon previous studies and assess the relative importance of buffer zones to riparian snakes. A case study was conducted on a Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma) population within a stream/riparian habitat. Using radio-telemetry, I examined the spatial distribution of males, gravid females, and non-gravid females. Although 83% of all snake observations were within 10 m of the stream, population subunits exhibited different patterns of spatial use. Gravid females provided most of the distant observations, inhabiting the surrounding terrestrial habitat up to 94 m from the shoreline. Thus, disturbances to terrestrial areas surrounding the riparian habitat would likely have the greatest impact on gravid females. These results further establish a need for buffer zones around riparian ecosystems, and highlight the importance of considering spatial use differences between population subunits when outlining buffer zone applications for conservation management.


Cryptococcosis is one of the most significant opportunistic fungal infections in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. Disease presentation and principles of management of cryptococcosis in other hosts are relevant in transplant recipients. This chapter summarizes the current knowledge and topical developments in the epidemiologic characteristics, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and management of cryptococcosis in transplant recipients. Cryptococcosis is the third most commonly occurring invasive fungal disease in SOT recipients. Most cryptococcal disease in SOT recipients is due to Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii (serotype A), which has no particular geographic predilection. Calcineurin inhibitors are currently the mainstay of immunosuppression in SOT recipients. Cutaneous cryptococcosis can present as papular, nodular, or ulcerative lesions; cellulitis; or necrotizing fasciitis. While cutaneous lesions largely represent hematogenous dissemination, skin has also been identified as a portal of entry of Cryptococcus and a potential source of subsequent disseminated disease in SOT recipients. Rapid reduction of immunosuppressive therapy in conjunction with initiation of antifungal therapy in SOT recipients may lead to the development of immune reconstitution syndrome (IRS), the clinical manifestations of which mimic worsening disease due to cryptococcosis. Cryptococcosis occurs rarely in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. Lipid formulations of amphotericin B are recommended in lieu of amphotericin B deoxycholate owing to the risk of nephrotoxicity when concurrently administered with a calcineurin inhibitor and owing to the significant number of transplant patients with underlying renal dysfunction at the time of diagnosis. Reduction in immunosuppressive therapy should be considered in transplant recipients diagnosed with cryptococcosis.


Concern and debate over changes to family life have increased in the last decade, as a result of evolving employment patterns, shifting gender relations and more openness about sexual orientation. Most politicians and researchers have viewed these changes as harmful, suggesting that the family as an institution should not alter.

The `New' Family? challenges these dominant views. Leading academics in the field consider current diverse practices in families, and reveal the lack of balance between policies based on how families should be and how they actually are, illustrating the need for a broader definition of family. This book shows the need to take fluidity and change in family arrangements seriously, rather than simply seeing change as dangerous and undesirable.


Abstract New methods of using on-line interactive mapping are reported with a specific focus on how citizens can participate in the delivery and management of everyday services in their neighbourhood. Particular emphasis will be placed on how ICTs can be used to facilitate the regeneration of inner city neighbourhoods through more integrated approaches to spatial data management. The paper examines how internet mapping is used by the public through an interactive Public Participation GIS and illustrates how public access to on-line maps can help deliver improved services to local communities through the integration of GIS with a range of public services. This has raised some interesting issues in relation to how people understand mapping and their methods of navigation using such a system. With governments across the globe investing heavily in e-Government which includes on-line mapping facilities it is interesting to examine how the public actually perceive and use such systems.