Abstract In Romans 4:13, Paul characterizes God's promise to Abraham as the inheritance of the world. This promise, Paul argues, extends to Abraham's descendants, not according to the flesh, but to all who believe in the one who raised Jesus from the dead (Rom 4:25). What does it mean for believers to be heirs of God's promise to 'inherit the world'? This article considers God's promise in light of the apostle's confidence in the reconciliation of the whole world and the renewal of creation, and also in the context of the hymns and sermons of Charles and John Wesley. The promise to inherit the world indicates that God has not abandoned God's creation, but is actively engaged in redeeming it. This article was originally presented as a paper at the 2018 Oxford Institute of Methodist Theological Studies.


Purpose: To detect changes in local blood supply to central, middle, and peripheral retina following acute high intraocular pressure and to investigate the effects of changes in local retinal blood supply on the selective loss of retinal ganglion cells. Methods: The acute high intraocular pressure model of Sprague-Dawley rats was established by increasing the anterior chamber pressure to 110 mmHg via a normal saline perfusion system. Blood supply to the central, middle, and peripheral retina at 3, 6, and 12 h, and 1, 3, 7, and 14 d following induction of acute high intraocular pressure was detected by using gelatin-ink perfusion and fluorescent microsphere injection. Retinal ganglion cell loss following acute high intraocular pressure was detected by fluorogold retrograde labeling. Finally, the relationship between changes in local retinal blood supply and loss of retinal ganglion cells was investigated. Results: The increased ratio of blood supply of peripheral retina was less than that of the central and middle retina at 3 h to 14 d following acute high intraocular pressure. The percent of retinal ganglion cell loss in the peripheral retina was clearly greater than that in the central and middle retina during the first 3 d following induction of acute high intraocular pressure (p < 0.05). Using either the gelatin-ink infusion method or the microsphere injection method (p < 0.05), a significantly negative correlation between the percent of retinal ganglion cell loss and the corresponding increased local blood supply after induction of acute high intraocular pressure (r = -0.57 or -0.72) was found. Moreover, a significant negative correlation in the peripheral retina (r = -0.80 or -0.91; p < 0.05) was observed. Conclusion: A disparity exists between changes in local blood supply to the central and middle retina, and the peripheral retina following induction of acute high intraocular pressure in rats. This inequality of changes in local blood supply in rat retina is related to the selective loss of retinal ganglion cells.


Extra-nodal Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (ENHL) of the head and neck is not uncommon and has variable clinical and imaging presentations. It represents about 25% of extra-nodal lymphomas. In addition, lymphoma is the third most common malignancy of the head and neck just after squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and salivary gland neoplasms. Unlike SCC, ENHL usually presents as a well-defined mass in the oral cavity, along the pharyngeal mucosa, sinonasal cavity, orbit, and other different neck spaces. One of the common presentations of ENHL is the glandular type which can arise within the salivary or thyroid glands as marginal zone non-Hodgkin lymphoma. ENHL can infiltrate the bone resembling high grade osseous malignancies. Rarely, ENHL can present as perineural spread without definitive mass and manifest clinically with several neuropathies. In this case series, we presented different imaging features and presentation of ENHL of the head and neck. The knowledge of various presentations of ENHL of the head and neck can help early diagnosis and prompt management of these patients' population.


Background and Aims Immature control of the cardiovascular system may be a contributing factor to poor cardiovascular function and associated increases in mortality and morbidity in preterm infants. This study aimed to assess cardiovascular and hormonal responses to a mild hypoxic stress in newborn piglets. Methods Piglets were delivered by C-section at 97 and 113 days of gestation (term≈115d). An additional preterm group was exposed to maternal glucocorticoid treatment. Changes in mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), skin blood flow and plasma concentrations of adrenalin, noradrenalin, angiotensin II and cortisol were measured in response to acute hypoxia (4% O2 for 20min). Results Preterm piglets were less likely to exhibit a mature cardiovascular compensatory response to hypoxia (increased MAP and reduced skin blood flow) than term piglets. Plasma adrenalin and noradrenalin concentrations at the end of hypoxia were increased in all groups and were 2–3 fold higher in preterm pigs than in term pigs (P<0.05). Plasma cortisol levels were increased at the end of hypoxia in term piglets (P<0.05) but not in preterm or glucocorticoid exposed preterm piglets. Angiotensin II levels were reduced in glucocorticoid exposed preterm piglets compared to untreated preterm piglets (P<0.05). Conclusions The reduced cardiovascular compensatory response to hypoxia in preterm pigs is not the result of reduced plasma levels of catecholamines during hypoxia. Low levels of angiotensin II in glucocorticoid exposed preterm piglets may contribute to poor control of skin blood flow during hypoxia.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the performance of serum cancer antigen 125 (CA125), human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Algorithm (ROMA) and Copenhagen index (CPH-I) for differential diagnosis of benign and malignant diseases in patients with ovarian mass.

METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed the data of 719 women with pelvic mass, and the performance of preoperative serum levels of CA125 and HE4, ROMA and CPH-I for differential diagnosis of the masses was compared.

RESULTS
Of the 710 women analyzed, 531 were diagnosed with benign ovarian lesions, 44 with borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs), 119 with epithelial ovarian cancers (EOCs), and 25 with non-EOCs. In differentiating ovarian cancer (OC) and BOT from benign lesions, the area under the receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was 0.854 for HE4, 0.856 for ROMA, 0.854 for CPH-I, and 0.792 for CA125, demonstrating better diagnostic performance of HE4, ROMA, and CPH-I than CA125 alone; the diagnostic sensitivity was 56.9% for HE4, 70.2% for CA125, 69.1% for ROMA, and 63.8% for CPH-I; the specificity was the best with HE4 (94.4%) and CPH-I (94.7%). In sub-analysis of EOC vs benign lesions, the AUCs of HE4, ROMA, and CPH-I increased to 0.946, 0.947, and 0.943, respectively, all greater than that of CA125 (0.888). In other sub-analyses, HE4, ROMA, and CPH-I all showed greater AUCs than CA125 alone.

CONCLUSIONS
This study confirms the accuracy of HE4, ROMA, and CPH-I for differentiating malignant from benign ovarian mass, and all these 3 tests show better performance than CA125. Furthermore, HE4 and CPH-I is superior to ROMA and CA125 in terms of specificity, while CA125 and ROMA have better diagnostic sensitivities.


In the present study, the effects of several triterpenes isolated from the leaves of Acanthopanax chiisanensis (Araliaceae), namely, chiisanoside, isochiisanoside, 22-hydroxychiisanoside and chiisanogenin (the aglycone of chiisanoside) were evaluated on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production by the RAW 264.7 macrophage cell line. Of the triterpenes tested, chiisanoside was found to most potently inhibit NO and PGE2 production. In addition, chiisanoside significantly reduced the release of inflammatory cytokines like TNF-alpha and IL-1beta. Consistent with these observations, the protein and mRNA expression levels of iNOS and COX-2 enzyme were found to be inhibited by chiisanoside in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, chiisanoside inhibited the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) activation induced by LPS and this was associated with a reduction in p65 protein in the nucleus and with the phosphorylations of ERK1/2 and JNK MAP kinases. Taken together, our data indicate that the anti-inflammatory properties of chiisanoside might be the result from the inhibition of iNOS, COX-2, TNF-alpha and IL-1beta expression through the down-regulation of NF-kappaB binding activity.


Background: Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (pPNET) is a relatively rare malignant neoplasm that usually occurs in children and young adults,associated with poor prognosis. However, standard treatment for refractory pPNET has not been determined.Case presentation: A case of a 38-year-old woman with pPNET on the right shoulder and back,she had gained up to seven-and-a-half years suvival undergoing these comprehensive treatment including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, antiangiogenic treatment. However, the tumor eventually progressed after receiving multiline treatment.With the patient's strong desire to receive immunotherapy, we finally adjusted the treatment plan to " anti-angiogenic tyrosine kinase inhibitor Lenvatinib combined with PD-1 inhibitor Toripalimab" for 2 cycles.Unfortunately,she developed grade 2-3 immune pneumonia after treatment.Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first report of immunotherapy combined with antiangiogenic therapy in pPNET,which provides new ideas for the treatment of refractory pPNET.


Revealing the ecological consequences of bark multifunctionality and its underlying traits has become a relatively new but essential focus in plant ecology. Although the enormous differences between the most crucial bark layers, that is, inner and outer bark, in structure and functions have been widely recognized, the overall bark has been regarded as a homogenous tissue in most bark‐related studies. This has led to poor knowledge on the functional independence, specialized contributions and possible linkages of inner and outer bark traits across tree species when further evaluating the crucial ecosystem functions that bark provides, especially in driving variation in bark decomposition. To fill this research gap, we used a 'common garden experiment' on deadwood of six gymnosperms in a temperate forest in the Netherlands over 4 years of decomposition. We evaluated the differences and associations between the inner and outer bark in initial functional traits, decomposition rates and afterlife effects of traits in driving in situ bark decomposition across tree species at the earlier decomposition stage. We report four main findings: (1) inner and outer bark traits varied significantly and were not coordinated across tree species; (2) correspondingly, the decomposition of the inner and outer bark were asynchronous and not coordinated across species and inner bark generally decomposed faster than outer bark; (3) the strong predictive traits driving bark decomposability were bark layer‐specific, with several inner bark traits controlling inner bark decomposition rates but outer bark decomposability being poorly predicted by outer bark traits and (4) besides being controlled by inner bark traits, inner bark decomposition was also indirectly regulated by several functional traits and the structure‐related trait spectrum of outer bark. Synthesis. This is the first study that has linked functional traits, decomposability and afterlife effects of the inner and outer bark within the bark quantitatively. We highlight the significance of separating functional traits and ecological consequences of the inner and outer bark in research in bark ecology and deadwood dynamics, rather than erroneously considering bark as a homogeneous tissue. Such research will help to better evaluate the function‐oriented contribution of bark to the turnover of forest carbon and biogeochemical cycles from local to global scale.


This study quantified the relationships between local dynamic stabiliht and variabilitr during continuous overground and treadmill walking. Stride-to-stride standard deviations were computed from temporal and kinematic data. Marimum finite-time Lyapunov exponents were estimated to quantify local dynamic stability. Local stability of gait kinematics was shown to be achieved over multiple consecutive strides. Traditional measures of variability poorly predicted local stability. Treadmill walking was associated with significant changes in both variability and local stability. Thus, motorized treadmills may produce misleading or erroneous results in situations where changes in neuromuscular control are likely to affect the variability and/or stability of locomotion.


The presence of circulating immune complexes was investigated using the C1q-binding assay before and after kidney transplantation in 48 patients with renal failure. Circulating immune complexes were found in 54% of the patients. The presence of circulating immune complexes prior to grafting was associated with a better renal graft survival. Median survival time of grafts in patients with circulating immune complexes was more than 18 months as compared with 21/2 months in patients without such complexes. The incidence of circulating immune complexes in patients before transplant could not be related to the renal disease, viral infections, blood transfusions, or serum levels of lymphocytotoxic antibodies, IgG, or IgM.


Personal experience of 165 cases of attempted suicide observed at the resuscitation centre of the Biella Hospital in the period 1983-1987 is reported. The patients are examined from the point of view of their personal status, job, previous pathologies with particular regard to depressive anxiety syndromes. Particularly noteworthy is the high incidence of mortality among patients who had tried suicide previously.


We consider the non-stochastic version of the (cooperative) multi-player multi-armed bandit problem. The model assumes no communication at all between the players, and furthermore when two (or more) players select the same action this results in a maximal loss. We prove the first $\sqrt{T}$-type regret guarantee for this problem, under the feedback model where collisions are announced to the colliding players. Such a bound was not known even for the simpler stochastic version. We also prove the first sublinear guarantee for the feedback model where collision information is not available, namely $T^{1-\frac{1}{2m}}$ where $m$ is the number of players.


Most current audio-visual emotion recognition models lack the flexibility needed for deployment in practical applications. We envision a multimodal system that works even when only one modality is available and can be implemented interchangeably for either predicting emotional attributes or recognizing categorical emotions. Achieving such flexibility in a multimodal emotion recognition system is difficult due to the inherent challenges in accurately interpreting and integrating varied data sources. It is also a challenge to robustly handle missing or partial information while allowing direct switch between regression and classification tasks. This study proposes a \emph{versatile audio-visual learning} (VAVL) framework for handling unimodal and multimodal systems for emotion regression and emotion classification tasks. We implement an audio-visual framework that can be trained even when audio and visual paired data is not available for part of the training set (i.e., audio only or only video is present). We achieve this effective representation learning with audio-visual shared layers, residual connections over shared layers, and a unimodal reconstruction task. Our experimental results reveal that our architecture significantly outperforms strong baselines on both the CREMA-D and MSP-IMPROV corpora. Notably, VAVL attains a new state-of-the-art performance in the emotional attribute prediction task on the MSP-IMPROV corpus. Code available at: https://github.com/ilucasgoncalves/VAVL


Introduction Allergic respiratory diseases, especially rhinitis and asthma, is of relevant importance within emerging occupational diseases in the last decades. It is therefore fundamental monitoring airborne pollen concentrations for allergic disease prevention. Many factors are able to influence airborne pollen concentrations: meteorological parameters (air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed), seasonal variations, geographical location, human habits and activity. In this context, for research purposes, we have carried out samplings at two different heights to investigate variations of concentrations of several types of airborne pollen in indoor and outdoor environments according to standard methods of the UNI 11108/2004 and following. Methods Airborne pollen grains have been collected using a volumetric sampler, Lanzoni VPPS 2000 type Hirst based on impact collection of atmospheric biological particles. Sampling have been performed in one room office using two samplers located to different heights of the suction nozzle (at 1,10 m and 0,6 m) during 2016–2017 and in outdoor environment (urban area) using two same samplers situated to two different level (at ground level in Trajan Forum and at 45 m on ground level on Calandrelli Tower) during 2002–2003. Monitoring stripes were cut and stained with glycerine jelly with fuchsine and then observed with optical microscope to 40X. Results We observed that pollen concentration are higher at low altitude in both indoor and outdoor samplers. Normally, the outdoor pollen concentration at low level is six or seven times higher than at high altitude, while the indoor pollen is about two time higher. Conclusion The versatility of sampling at different heights is a very valuable tool to explain how many factors both environmental and personal influence space-time distribution and turbulence related to aerodynamics of these biological particles. The results suggest that pollen gradients at lower level is about five time greater than in indoor respect to outdoor sites.


Rydberg spectra are shown to provide a spectral fingerprint that is sensitive to molecular structure in unique ways. The concepts are demonstrated using a set of isomeric fluorophenols and a sequence of aliphatic diamines. In the fluorophenols, the sensitivity extends to the placement of a single hydrogen atom and can be traced to the molecular charge distributions associated with the locations of atoms and functional groups with respect to the charge center. Experiments on tetramethyl diamines demonstrate that the structural sensitivity encompasses the extended molecular structure, including parts of the molecule that are remote from the ionization center. This global structure sensitivity makes Rydberg fingerprint spectroscopy uniquely suited to characterize structures of large-scale molecular systems.


This article provides an overview of the gradual establishment since 1982 of territorial administrative autonomy on the French island of Corsica. The impetus for the reforms was provided by a growing self-determination movement concerned with protecting the specific Corsican identity and dealing with the social and economic challenges arising from insularity. It argues that neither institutional experimentation coupled with substantial aid nor periodic crackdowns on nationalists have succeeded in resolving the conflict. The difficult functioning of autonomy can be attributed in part to the late initiation of reform following the onset of violence as well as to weak and confusing arrangements, as well as an unfavourable political, economic and social context. The persistent use of violence by nationalists, partially justified by the fact that a number of their key demands remain unaddressed, and fuelled by inconsistent state policies, have constituted further obstacles. Last but not least, the extension of measures initially designed for Corsica to the rest of the French territory in successive waves of decentralisation have undermined the symbolic impact of the reforms.


Purpose of review It is an understatement to say that drug approvals in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), lupus nephritis, and Sjogren's syndrome have lagged far behind those in other autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. Reasons for this are multiple and include the molecular and clinical heterogeneity of these conditions; confounding by background medications, especially corticosteroids; and clinical trial endpoints. However, the tides are changing, and there have been several bright spots in our attempts to bring more efficacious drugs to our patients. Recent findings Several positive phase II and phase III trials in SLE and lupus nephritis with drugs such as anifrolumab, voclosporin, belimumab, and obinutuzumab will no doubt eventually generate regulatory approvals for most, if not all, of these drugs. Although early in development, the promising results in Sjogren's syndrome with iscalimab and ianalumab should make the Sjogren's syndrome community quite hopeful of future drug approvals. Summary In this review, we highlight recent study results in Sjogren's syndrome, SLE, and lupus nephritis, emphasizing investigational therapies in late stage development, but we also provide a glimpse into drugs of the future.


Electron heat diffusivity inferred from the electron power balance was studied in the ohmically heated plasma on an HT-7 tokamak. The results obtained before and after siliconization were compared and it is found that the diffusivity is reduced obviously in the half of the outer region (r/a>0.5) after siliconization, which was the reason why energy confinement was improved after siliconization.


This research aims to detect whether there are variables determining the contribution of the phenomenon Electoral Budget Cycles (EBC) for re-election of the Mayor is justified in the fact there is evidence that the results of the public financial statements sheets suffer affectations by political decisions that may involve negative effects on society. Research of Nordhaus (1975), Tufte (1978), Klein (2009) and Batisda et al (2009) reveal ideological convergence that in election years, managers can manipulate the budgets in favor of his re-election. This phenomenon seeks to explain the adhesion of political variables in the management of the public financial statements sheet items, such as debt, deficits financial and intergovernmental revenues. Data collection was performed for all 399 municipalities of the State of Parana, the total public debt, transfers, agreements, population, as well as a screening party of the linkages of managers with the Governor of State and/or the President of the Republic. The analysis considered voting in the elections following enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Law, the elections of 2004 and 2008, and was used probit regression of the econometric model. The results show that the mayors linked to the party of the President or the Governor increase by 25% and 14%, respectively, their probability of re-election.


In legume–rhizobia symbiosis, partner recognition and the initiation of symbiosis processes require the mutual exchange of chemical signals. Chemicals, generally (iso)flavonoids, in the root exudates of the host plant induce the expression of nod genes in rhizobia, and, thus, are called nod gene inducers. The expression of nod genes leads to the production of lipochitooligosaccharides (LCOs) called Nod factors. Natural nod gene inducer(s) in Lotus japonicus–Mesorhizobium symbiosis remain unknown. Therefore, we developed an LCO detection method based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem-quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-TQMS) to identify these inducers and used it herein to screen 40 phenolic compounds and aldonic acids for their ability to induce LCOs in Mesorhizobium japonicum MAFF303099. We identified five phenolic acids with LCO-inducing activities, including p-coumaric, caffeic, and ferulic acids. The induced LCOs caused root hair deformation, and nodule numbers in L. japonicus inoculated with M. japonicum were increased by these phenolic acids. The three phenolic acids listed above induced the expression of the nodA, nodB, and ttsI genes in a strain harboring a multicopy plasmid encoding NodD1, but not that encoding NodD2. The presence of p-coumaric and ferulic acids in the root exudates of L. japonicus was confirmed by UPLC-TQMS, and the induction of ttsI::lacZ in the strain harboring the nodD1 plasmid was detected in the rhizosphere of L. japonicus. Based on these results, we propose that phenolic acids are a novel type of nod gene inducer in L. japonicus–Mesorhizobium symbiosis.


ABSTRACT Research on consumer reading (i.e., visual patterns) of Asian restaurant menus is new territory for academic research. This study is the first attempt to scrutinize consumers' visual patterns toward restaurant menus varied by the combination of page orientation (landscape vs. portrait) and menu script (horizontal vs. vertical). Based on existing menus, four distinct versions were created and tested on 54 participants, while collecting eye-tracking measures. After applying the two-way ANOVA, we found that page orientation, menu scripts, and their interaction do not cause a significant impact on the average total fixation time of the participants. Contingency table tests and the one-way ANOVA reveal that a sweet spot and sour spot exist on three of the four menus studied.


This study focuses on the job satisfaction of Flemish professional journalists. On the basis of a comparative survey research conducted in 2003 (N=1026), 2008 (N=682) and 2013 (N=751), we identified shifts in job satisfaction and differences between subgroups in terms of gender, age, type of contract and job function. The concept of job satisfaction is operationalized using 14 job intrinsic and extrinsic factors that are rated on a five point Likert scale. The results show that Flemish journalists adopt a fairly satisfied attitude towards their job. Journalists are concerned about job security, workload and promotion particularly after 2008, when the financial and economic crisis has also affected the Flemish media market (layoffs, concentration, etc.). The level of job satisfaction is related to the type of contract and the job function of journalists. There is also a clear gender component in the discussion: female journalists are not less satisfied with their job, but find it more difficult to combine it with a social and family life.


Abstract The effect of moisture content and feasibility of its estimation in granular material was investigated via machine vision. The test scheme consisted of saw dust samples derived from Norway spruce with moisture content adjusted to three distinct levels. The effect of moisture when present as ice or liquid water was compared. The experimental procedure consisted of pouring the saw dust under video camera recording. The equipment setup consisted of a vibrator feeder and custom-built pouring frame. Still images were extracted with fixed sample time from the recording done during the pouring procedure. From the extracted frames the dynamic behavior of cone profile was investigated via statistical means. It was observed that 2nd standardized moment correlated with moisture content, phase of water and their interaction. Furthermore, 4th standardized moment correlated with moisture content and phase. The 3rd moment was inspected qualitatively from which it was observed that wet samples exhibited tendency to build mass accumulation sites with increasing moisture content. Samples where water was present as ice this was observed in a very small scale with all moisture content values. Corroborated by optical microscopy, these correlations were deduced to be due to liquid bridging in the bulk. Moisture content when present as ice was, however, observed to have a drastic effect on the overall cone shape. Based on these findings, a machine vision application could be feasible way to estimate moisture content on-line in thawed saw dust by using statistical parameters in classification decision making. This would enable cost-effective on-line monitoring of moisture content and a control circuit to be designed.


We study the underlying structure of data (approximately) generated from a union of independent subspaces. Traditional methods learn only one subspace, failing to discover the multi-subspace structure, while state-of-the-art methods analyze the multi-subspace structure using data themselves as the dictionary, which cannot offer the explicit basis to span each subspace and are sensitive to errors via an indirect representation. Additionally, they also suffer from a high computational complexity, being quadratic or cubic to the sample size. To tackle all these problems, we propose a method, called Matrix Factorization with Column L0-norm constraint (MFC0), that can simultaneously learn the basis for each subspace, generate a direct sparse representation for each data sample, as well as removing errors in the data in an efficient way. Furthermore, we develop a first-order alternating direction algorithm, whose computational complexity is linear to the sample size, to stably and effectively solve the nonconvex objective function and non- smooth l0-norm constraint of MFC0. Experimental results on both synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate that besides the superiority over traditional and state-of-the-art methods for subspace clustering, data reconstruction, error correction, MFC0 also shows its uniqueness for multi-subspace basis learning and direct sparse representation.


Fiscal decentralization (FD), as an institutional arrangement for the fiscal division between central and local governments, gives local governments the enthusiasm and autonomy to provide public products and services. With the dominance of environmental governance, how local governments can avoid intergovernmental "race to the bottom" issues through green technology innovation (GTI) is a matter of regional green development and continuous improvement of atmospheric environmental quality. Based on a sample of 30 provinces in China from 2003 to 2018, this paper uses the spatial Durbin model (SDM) to examine the relationship between FD, GTI, and regional air pollution and explores their spatial spillover effect and regional heterogeneity from the perspective of intergovernmental competition. The results indicate that the FD and GTI in various provinces had significant and regionally differentiated inhibitory effects on local air pollution. In Western China, due to the regional competition among local governments in terms of economic development, economic development-oriented fiscal expenditures crowd out environmental governance-oriented fiscal expenditures, which has led to the consequence that FD can intensify local air pollution and has a positive spillover effect, but the demonstration effect of green technological innovation can well moderate the effect of FD on air pollution. FD in the eastern region has played a positive role in promoting regional air quality improvement. However, its green technological innovation has not played a positive role in reducing emissions, and it plays a significant negative regulatory role in the emission reduction effect led by FD. Finally, the article puts forward policy recommendations in terms of a fiscal decentralization system, green technological innovation, and performance evaluation mechanism.


Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects young people of reproductive age. Therefore, a broad discussion is needed about the possible disease effects in pregnancy, as well as the risks of fetal exposure to the medications used, especially biological therapy. This study aimed to describe the management of 4 Crohn's disease patients who received anti-TNF therapy during pregnancy and present a literature review. We reported 4 cases composed of young women who became pregnant while receiving anti-TNF agents. The patients presented a satisfactory response to the clinical treatment and the pregnancies progressed without complications. We did not observe maternal or embryonic toxicity, or unfavorable outcomes. The available data point to inflammatory activity as the main risk factor for unfavorable gestational evolution to date, and showed anti-TNF therapy to be safe during pregnancy and breastfeeding. However, the benefits and risks must be discussed with the patient and management decisions should be taken on an individual basis.


CYCLODEVIATION OF THE RETINAL VASCULAR ARCADES The widely used disc-macula relationship for quantification of ocular torsion possesses inherent limitations, which restricts its use in some clinical scenarios. Parsa and Kumar propose an accessory technique of fundus examination for assessing torsion using vascular cues. As retinal blood vessels share common guidance signals with ganglion cell axons, identification of the axis of the retinal vascular arcades can serve as a direct and accessory means to provide additional information regarding ocular cyclorotations.


INTRODUCTION
Quantitative electromyography (QEMG) allows fast analysis of motor unit action potential (MUAP) parameters such as amplitude, duration, size index (SI), phases, turns and firing rate. When automated duration cursor placement is incorrect, the electrodiagnostician will manually edit this function potentially introducing bias to the final results.

OBJECTIVE
To identify that (1) size index is the MUAP parameter least affected by manually editing duration cursors and (2) MUAP amplitude will influence the manual cursor correction rate.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Included were twenty-one consecutive patients who had QEMG with monopolar needle electrode for diagnostic evaluation of their myofascial pain symptoms. Evaluated for neck pain included 6 bilateral upper limb and cervical paraspinal muscles and for lower back pain were 5 bilateral lower limb and lower back muscles. Twenty MUAPs were recorded from each muscle and hardcopies of data obtained before and after manual edit.

RESULTS
Of a total of 5360 MUAPs analyzed 1764 (33%) required manual editing of duration cursors. Cursor correction rate 120 MUAP s/individual muscle analyzed was also similar at 33+/-17%. Percentage change in duration more so than turns, before and after correction, was significantly larger than that of other parameters. No significant differences in percentage changes noted between SI and phases.

CONCLUSIONS
SI and phases are least influenced by the manual correction of duration cursors since there is insubstantial amplitude and area at the tail-end of the MUAP.


A method has been evolved for measuring the heats of combustion of spontaneously inflammable substances in the bomb calorimeter and applied to the following compounds: zinc dimethyl, zinc diethyl, zinc di-n-propyl, zinc di-n-butyl, cadmium dimethyl, boron trimethyl and aluminium trimethyl. The samples used were subjected to very thorough purification, revised melting points being given for cadmium dimethyl and aluminium trimethyl. The heats of formation, deduced by the application of additional thermal data, have been listed with all those so far determined for the metal alkyls, and the energies of dissociation and bond energies of the metal-carbon links estimated. This has entailed a recalculation of the heats of sublimation of aluminium and tin. From a comparison of the values obtained for the dissociation energies with evidence from spectroscopic and kinetic studies, a definite necessity for taking into account the energies required to promote the various elements to the states of maximum valency is apparent.


Atmospheric blocking is a prolific producer of extreme weather with significant socioeconomic impacts. Different physical mechanisms for blocking onset have been proposed and are generally focused on two sectors, the Eurasian and the North Pacific. Here, we objectively separate blocking into four regions and investigate how the blocking onset mechanisms vary from one region to another, focusing on three factors: scale interactions between three frequency bands, Rossby wave breaking (RWB), and diabatic heating. Atlantic blocks are dominated by the low-frequency flow evolution that resembles the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation and are influenced by cyclonic RWB towards the western edge of the anticyclone. Europe blocks are influenced by high-frequency, traveling waves across the Atlantic Ocean and develop rapidly, mainly attributed to strong anticyclonic RWB and interaction between high- and intermediate-frequency flow components. Asian blocks are fixated within a stationary wave train that spans upstream to the western Atlantic Ocean and do not have strong potential vorticity or RWB features. The Pacific blocks are mainly influenced by an intermediate-frequency retrograding wave train, while a low-frequency component resembling the Pacific-North American pattern is evident. The Pacific blocks also contain precursor signals in the stratosphere. Backward trajectory analysis revealed that 35-45% of parcels initialized within the Atlantic, Europe, and Pacific blocking anticyclones experience heating and ascent, while adiabatic processes dominate Asian blocking. Overall, our analysis demonstrates the importance of decomposing the flow into three frequency bands and illustrates different blocking onset mechanisms over four sectors.


All-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) are a promising response to the need for safety and high energy density of large-scale energy storage systems in challenging applications such as electric vehicles and grid integration. ASSBs based on sulfide solid electrolytes (SEs) have attracted much attention because of their high ionic conductivity and wide electrochemical windows of the sulfide SEs. Here, we study the electrochemical performance of ASSBs using composite electrodes prepared via two processes (simple mixture and solution processes) and varying the ionic conductor additive (80Li2S∙20P2S5 and argyrodite-type Li6PS5Cl). The composite electrodes consist of lithium-silicate-coated LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 (NMC), a sulfide SE, and carbon additives. The charge-transfer resistance at the interface of the solid electrolyte and NMC is the main parameter related to the ASSB's status. This value decreases when the composite electrodes are prepared via a solution process. The lithium silicate coating and the use of a high-Li-ion additive conductor are also important to reduce the interfacial resistance and achieve high initial capacities (140 mAh g−1).


For the field of education, being able to generate semantically correct and educationally relevant multiple choice questions (MCQs) could have a large impact. While question generation itself is an active research topic, generating distractors (the incorrect multiple choice options) receives much less attention. A missed opportunity, since there is still a lot of room for improvement in this area. In this work, we train a GPT-2 language model to generate three distractors for a given question and text context, using the RACE dataset. Next, we train a BERT language model to answer MCQs, and use this model as a filter, to select only questions that can be answered and therefore presumably make sense. To evaluate our work, we start by using text generation metrics, which show that our model outperforms earlier work on distractor generation (DG) and achieves state-of-the-art performance. Also, by calculating the question answering ability, we show that larger base models lead to better performance. Moreover, we conducted a human evaluation study, which confirmed the quality of the generated questions, but showed no statistically significant effect of the QA filter.


This document establishes the goals and requirements for protocols and
data structures for use with services that provide additional means
for users to ensure and prove the validity of data, especially
digitally signed data, in a common and reproducible way. The data
being validated may correspond to assertions about real-world facts or
events. This document establishes the need for components to be used
in addition to or in conjunction with long-term archive services. It
provides some use cases and scenarios, and establishes technical
requirements for protocols and data structures to support them.


The phakomatoses have been traditionally defined as a group of hereditary diseases with variable expressivity characterized by multisystem tumors with possible malignant transformation. The Sturge-Weber syndrome, Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome, and the phakomatosis pigmentovascularis have the facial port-wine stain in common. Numerous pathophysiogenetic mechanisms have been suggested such as venous dysplasia of the emissary veins in the intracranial circulation, neural crest alterations leading to alterations of autonomic perivascular nerves, mutation of the GNAO gene in the Sturge-Weber syndrome, PIK3CA mutation in malformative/overgrowth syndromes such as the Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome, and the twin-spotting phenomenon in phakomatosis pigmentovascularis. Other features linked to the port-wine stain and typical to all of the three conditions are glaucoma and choroidal alterations. Glaucoma can be due to malformations of the anterior chamber or high episcleral venous pressure and in phakomatosis pigmentovascularis it can also be associated with angle hyperpigmentation. The choroid can be thickened in all diseases. Furthermore, choroidal melanocytosis in the phakomatosis pigmentovascularis can lead to malignant transformation. Although the multiple pathophysiological mechanisms still require clarification, similarities in ophthalmic manifestations make it reasonable to classify these diseases in an independent group.


Ischemia was simulated in rat liver perfused by physiological solution. The concentration of free iron and lipid peroxidation (LPO) products was measured 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 hours after ischemia onset. The ESR method was used to measure free iron concentration. The LPO intensity was evaluated by the TBA test and by optical density at 232 nm. The content of free iron in cytoplasm increased in the course of ischemia with an increase in the concentration of LPO products. The content of free iron in the membranes remained unchanged. It is supposed that activation of LPO in ischemia may be caused by the appearance in the cytoplasm of a large amount of free iron. This iron can be liberated from ferritin in conditions of low oxygen concentration.


Some of the first young Australians able to inherit Greens party identity are examined, as the Australian Greens only formed as a national party in 1992. Analysis of youth cohort data from the state of Queensland spanning 5 years (n=2,160; aged 17 to 22), shows that parental political affiliation (especially maternal affiliation) strongly influences Greens party identification as it does for the major parties. However, Greens are less likely than major party identifiers to exhibit stable party allegiances over time. Defections between Greens and Labor identifiers are also far more likely than between these parties and conservative parties (Liberals or Nationals). The comparatively recent formation of the Australian Greens accounts for the relative instability of Greens identity over time. Nevertheless, inter-generational transmission of Greens identity should translate into a relatively stable electoral base for the Greens, helping ensure they remain an influential presence in Australian federal politics.


We develop new methods to efficiently propagate the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) by using the Tucker and hierarchical Tucker (HT) tensors to represent the reduced density operator and auxiliary density operators. We first show that by employing the split operator method, the specific structure of the HEOM allows a simple propagation scheme using the Tucker tensor. When the number of effective modes in the HEOM increases and the Tucker representation becomes intractable, the split operator method is extended to the binary tree structure of the HT representation. It is found that to update the binary tree nodes related to a specific effective mode, we only need to propagate a short matrix product state constructed from these nodes. Numerical results show that by further employing the mode combination technique commonly used in the multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree approaches, the binary tree representation can be applied to study excitation energy transfer dynamics in a fairly large system including over 104 effective modes. The new methods may thus provide a promising tool in simulating quantum dynamics in condensed phases.


Nanoscale characterization has enabled the discovery of many novel functional materials which started from understanding important relationships between material properties and morphologies. Therefore, nanoscale characterization has become an important research topic in nanoscience. Here we demonstrate the research of the growth and structure evolution of transition metal nanocrystals at atomic scale. Revealing the catalyst structure and chemistry in the reactive environment at the atomic scale is imperative for the rational design of catalysts. Here, tracking intermetallic Co7W6 nanoparticles with a defined structure and a high melting point by environmental aberration-corrected transmission electron microscope, we directly present the structural and chemical stability of the Co7W6 nanocrystals in methane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen at the temperature of 700–1100 oC. The morphology and structural stability of metal/2D semiconductor interfaces strongly affect the performance of 2D electronic devices and synergistic catalysis. Here we study the structural evolution of Au nanoparticles on few-layer MoS2 by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and quantitative high-angle annular dark field scanning TEM. It is found that in the transition of Au from nanoparticles to dendrites, a dynamically epitaxial alignment between Au and MoS2 lattices is formed, and Moire patterns can be directly observed in HRTEM images due to the mismatch between Au and MoS2 lattices.


For various reasons, a considerable majority of the global population must rely on plant proteins obtained from cereals, legumes (including oilseeds), fruits, vegetables, and nuts to satisfy dietary protein needs and requirements. Edible seeds are a significant source of proteins in livestock production and in the manufacture of pet foods. In addition, edible seeds are important sources of carbohydrates (including dietary fiber), minerals, and certain vitamins in human and animal food supply. For various reasons, edible seeds are underutilized as human food. To fully exploit this renewable natural resource to its full potential, focused research efforts are warranted. With increased number of seed proteins being identified as food allergens, renewed interest in seed proteins is evident. In this article, a brief overview of seed proteins with special reference to their allergenicity is provided. An attempt is made to identify areas needing further research.


The High-Energy Telescope (HET) for the EPI-Hi instrument on Parker Solar Probe (PSP) is designed to measure solar energetic-particle (SEP), interplanetary, and galactic cosmic-ray (CGR) ions with 1≤Z≤30 from ~10 MeV/nuc to several hundred MeV/nuc, and electrons from ~0.5 to ~8 MeV. HET also includes a 'neutral-particle' coincidence mode designed to assess the fraction of electron-like events due to g -rays that Compton scatter or pair- produce in the telescope. Based on g -ray observations by SMM, RHESSI and Fermi, along with laboratory calibrations with radioactive g -ray sources, we believe HET is capable of detecting solar g -ray flares, especially when PSP is close to the Sun. This paper illustrates how HET detects solar g -rays and presents "quiet-time background" g -ray spectra (due mainly to g -rays produced by cosmic-ray interactions in surrounding spacecraft material). The estimated g -ray yield from the October 28, 2003 events is used as an example of the HET sensitivity.


Understanding and prediction of engineering properties of fine-grained soils is of vital importance in Geotechnical Engineering practice. Fine-grained soil contamination occurs on a daily basis as a result of industrial development and pipeline or reservoir leaks.Due to the influence of the surrounding condition, substantial damage occurs in the foundations of buildings. The presence of industrial wastewater in the soil contributes to a change in its physical, chemical and mechanical properties, and then negatively affects the foundations of various facilities. . In addition to environmental issues such as groundwater contamination, the changing of the geotechnical qualities of polluted soil is a concern. As a result of the concentrations of pollutants resulting from the businesses such as Dairy products industry and spinning and weaving factories, are extremely high in developing countries. Disposal of untreated industrial waste water is a common problem in these countries. This paper describes an experimental investigation that was conducted to explore the effect of two types of industrial waste water the first type was dairy industrial waste water (DW) and the second was textile industrial waste water (TW) on the deformational behavior of fine-grained soil. Fine-grained soil used in this research was obtained in a natural phase from a soil excavation site for the construction of a residential building in the village of El-Kom Al-Ahmar, Shibin El-Qanater, Qualiobiyah governorate Fig.1, which was exposed to DW and TW at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 16 months, Two remolded soil samples are generated for this investigation and combined with different types of industrial wastewater of constant moisture content (70%). The Atterberg limits, plasticity index, specific gravity, free swelling, optimal moisture content (OMC), and maximum dry density (γdmax) of each mixture were calculated after 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 16 months of mixing soil with industrial waste water, the results revealed that as soil matures, the optimum moisture content (O.M.C) and free swelling values of the soil containing DW, TW rise after the addition of pollutants, whereas the maximum dry density, specific gravity (GS), and cohesiveness decrease.


We extend the finance-constrained economy proposed by Woodford (1986) to incorporate imperfectly insured unemployment, by introducing unions and unemployment benefits financed by labour taxation. We show that this simple extension of the Woodford model changes drastically its stability conditions and local dynamics around the steady state. In fact, in contrast to related models in the literature, we find that under constant returns to scale in production: (i) indeterminacy always prevails in the case of a unitary elasticity of substitution between capital and labour; (ii) flip and Hopf bifurcations occur for empirically credible elasticities of substitution between capital and labour, so that a rich set of dynamics may emerge at 'realistic' parameters' values.


Finite mixture model (FMM) has been widely used for unsupervised segmentation of magnetic resonance (MR) images in recent years. However, in real applications, the distribution of the observed data usually contains an unknown fraction of outliers, which would interfere with the estimation of the parameters of the mixture model. The statistical model-based technique which provides a theoretically well segmentation criterion in presence of outliers is the mixture modeling and the trimming approach. Therefore, in this paper, a robust estimation of asymmetric Student's-t mixture model (ASMM) using the trimmed likelihood estimator for MR image segmentation has been proposed. The proposed method is supposed to discard the outliers, and then to estimate the parameters of the ASMM with the remaining samples. The advantages of the proposed algorithm are that its robustness to dispose the disturbance of outliers and its flexibility to describe various shapes of data. Finally, expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm is adopted to maximize the log-likelihood and to obtain the estimation of the parameters. The experimental results show that the proposed method has a better performance on the segmentation of synthetic data and real MR images.


Biological membranes show lateral and transverse asymmetric lipid distribution. Cholesterol (Chol) localizes in both hemilayers, but in the external one it is mostly condensed in lipid-ordered microdomains (raft domains), together with saturated phosphatidyl lipids and sphingolipids (including sphingomyelin and glycosphingolipids). Membrane asymmetries induce special membrane biophysical properties and behave as signals for several physiological and/or pathological processes. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with a perturbation in different membrane properties. Amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein together with neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration are the most characteristic cellular changes observed in this disease. The extracellular presence of Aβ peptides forming senile plaques, together with soluble oligomeric species of Aβ, are considered the major cause of the synaptic dysfunction of AD. The association between Aβ peptide and membrane lipids has been extensively studied. It has been postulated that Chol content and Chol distribution condition Aβ production and posterior accumulation in membranes and, hence, cell dysfunction. Several lines of evidence suggest that Aβ partitions in the cell membrane accumulate mostly in raft domains, the site where the cleavage of the precursor AβPP by β- and γ- secretase is also thought to occur. The main consequence of the pathogenesis of AD is the disruption of the cholinergic pathways in the cerebral cortex and in the basal forebrain. In parallel, the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor has been extensively linked to membrane properties. Since its transmembrane domain exhibits extensive contacts with the surrounding lipids, the acetylcholine receptor function is conditioned by its lipid microenvironment. The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is present in high-density clusters in the cell membrane where it localizes mainly in lipid-ordered domains. Perturbations of sphingomyelin or cholesterol composition alter acetylcholine receptor location. Therefore, Aβ processing, Aβ partitioning, and acetylcholine receptor location and function can be manipulated by changes in membrane lipid biophysics. Understanding these mechanisms should provide insights into new therapeutic strategies for prevention and/or treatment of AD. Here, we discuss the implications of lipid-protein interactions at the cell membrane level in AD.


In the hope to resolve the two sets of opposing results concerning the effects of psychological distance and construal levels on moral judgment, Žeželj and Jokic (2014) conducted a series of four direct replications, which yielded divergent patterns of results. In our commentary, we first revisit the consistent findings that lower-level construals induced by How/Why manipulation lead to harsher moral condemnation than higher-level construals. We then speculate on the puzzling patterns of results regarding the role of temporal distance in shaping moral judgment. And we conclude by discussing the complexity of morality and propose that it may be important to incorporate cultural systems into the study of moral cognition.


We augment a standard monetary DSGE model to include a banking sector and financial markets. We fit the model to Euro Area and US data. We find that agency problems in financial contracts, liquidity constraints facing banks and shocks that alter the perception of market risk and hit financial intermediation — 'financial factors' in short — are prime determinants of economic fluctuations. They have been critical triggers and propagators in the recent financial crisis. Financial intermediation turns an otherwise diversifiable source of idiosyncratic economic uncertainty, the 'risk shock', into a systemic force. JEL Classification: E3, E22, E44, E51, E52, E58, C11, G1, G21, G3


A multistage advanced statistical method has been proposed for the real-time wind-electric power generation forecast of wind power plants (WPPs) based on a combination of artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM) models. In the first stage, output data of wind speed and wind direction from different numerical weather prediction (NWP) models are chosen among a set of grid points in the neighborhood of each WPP to train the ANN and SVM models. The best grids are then selected from those NWP grid data giving the minimum training error, and used for training and testing the developed wind-electric power forecast models. In the second stage, for each NWP data, ANN and SVM models are applied separately. The forecast errors are corrected by applying model output statistics (MOS) at the third stage. Different 48-h ahead forecasts of wind-electric power are then combined at the fourth stage by appropriate weighting factors to obtain an intermediate 48-h ahead forecast of the electrical power generated from wind. In the final stage, these forecast data are recombined to give an ultimate forecast. The proposed model is tested on 25 WPPs satisfactorily. The performance of the proposed multistage cascaded statistical model is compared with the available benchmark models and actual wind-electric power generation data. It has been shown that the proposed model performs better than the reference models in terms of short-term forecast accuracy, especially for WPPs in complex terrains with a scattered wind regime.


Mycosis fungoides (MF) is a low-grade cutaneous T cell lymphoma of unknown etiology. In this report, the Jak/Stat (Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription) signaling pathway was investigated in tumor cell lines established from skin biopsy specimens from a patient with MF. Jaks link cytokine receptors to Stats, and abnormal Jak/Stat signaling has been observed in some hemopoietic cancers. In MF tumor cells, a slowly migrating isoform of Stat3, Stat3(sm), was found to be constitutively activated, i.e., (i) Stat3(sm) was constitutively phosphorylated on tyrosine residues, and tyrosine phosphorylation was not enhanced by growth factor stimulation; (ii) band shift assays and immunoprecipitations of DNA/Stat complexes showed constitutive DNA-binding properties of Stat3(sm); and (iii) Stat3(sm) was constitutively associated with Jak3. The abnormal activation of Stat3(sm) was highly specific. Thus, neither the fast migrating isoform of Stat3 (Stat3(fm)) nor other Stats (Stat1, Stat2, and Stat4 through Stat6) were constitutively activated. The Jak kinase inhibitor, tyrphostin AG490, blocked the constitutive activation of Stat3(sm) and inhibited spontaneous as well as interleukin 2-induced growth of MF tumor cells. In conclusion, we have provided evidence for an abnormal Jak/Stat signaling and growth regulation in tumor cells obtained from affected skin of an MF patient.


PROFESSOR SCHMITT follows Hammarstrom and Karl Meister in opposing the usual view that H was first used as a vowel sign by the Ionians in consequence of their loss of the aspirate; its occurrence to denote both vowel and consonant in a number of early texts, especially the archaic inscriptions of Thera, cannot in his view result from Ionian influence. To account for the facts he reviews the characteristics of the Greek alphabet in its early stages and argues convincingly that the adaptation of the Phoenician letters to Greek was more practical than systematic; the Greeks took over, with the letters and their names (which they suited to their own pronunciation), the acrophonic method of using them. He then argues that the vocalic value of H, as of A E O, is a natural outcome of this manner of adaptation. His solution, reached as it is with much subtlety and learning, still leaves room for question. The grammarians' view of the aspirate as a •npoawSla, not a ypan/ia, is an artificial construction based on the final form of the alphabet, and should not have been cited as evidence or even as an analogy for the surely naive and untheoretical attitude to pronunciation of an earlier period. The predominance of the aspirate value of H is good evidence that the Greeks did not fail to hear the Semitic fricative as a consonant, and took it as an equivalent to their own aspirate. Indeed, on Schmitt's own view of the early development of the alphabet, it may be reasonably supposed that H could have been adapted as a vowel sign only in a region (Miletus?) where the initial consonant of hith, heta was disregarded at an early date— i.e. in a psilotic dialect. Is it, after all, out of the question that its double role {h and I) in some localities may have been the result of a simple confusion of two practices?


Lymphoscintigraphy was performed pre- or postoperatively in 42 patients with malignant melanoma of the skin. The test consisted of the injection of 1.5-2.0 mCi 99mTc-labelled antimony sulphide colloid, both intracutaneously and subcutaneously, either around the primary tumour or along its edges or into the centre of the excision scar or contralaterally. The draining lymph-node groups were scanned with a gamma-camera 4-6 hours after the injection. Except for one patient, the radioactive tracer had always disappeared from the injection site and had accumulated in th regional lymph-nodes. In 11 of 28 patients with melanoma on the trunk, lymphatic drainage was to more than one regional lymph-node group. In most cases with cutaneous melanoma on the trunk, lymphatic drainage could not be anatomically predicted, but easily and unequivocally identified by lymphoscintigraphy. On the other hand, lymphatic drainage of a melanoma of the head or neck, as well as of distal segments of the limbs, almost always followed anatomical expectations. Using lymphoscintigraphic findings, prophylactic lymphadenectomy could be performed selectively in "high risk" melanomas.


: How do peoples' educational backgrounds affect peoples' visual estimations of the physical stability and center of mass of objects? To address this, we tested peoples' aesthetic and stability evaluations of inclined triangular shapes among those with different educational backgrounds, specifically in engineering and art & design. The results showed that people prefer objects that appear stable; however, art & design students tend to emphasize the beauty of unstable objects. Additionally, participants linearly estimated objects' stability based on the visual information for its center of mass, with this being affected by one's educational background as well as any present geometric-optical illusions. Engineering students tended to more severely evaluate the instability of objects, while those with an art & design background demonstrated a more flexible mindset — they evaluated similar trends as the engineering participants for unstable stimuli, but, for apparently stable stimuli, they had similar evaluation trends to those of general students.


Software is ubiquitous in nearly all aspects of human life, including safety-critical activities. It is therefore crucial to analyze programs and provide strong guarantees that they perform as expected. Automated theorem provers are increasingly popular tools to assist in this task, as they can be used to automatically discover and prove some semantic properties of programs. This thesis explores new ways to use automated theorem provers for first-order logic in the context of program analysis and verification. Firstly, we present a first-order logic encoding of the semantics of imperative programs containing loops. This encoding can be used to express both functional and temporal properties of loops, and is particularly suited to program analysis with an automated theorem prover. We employ it to automate functional verification, termination analysis and invariant generation for iterative programs operating over arrays. Secondly, we describe how to extend theorems provers based on the superposition calculus to reason about datatypes and codatatypes, which are central to many programs. As the first-order theory of datatypes and codatatypes does not have a finite axiomatization, traditional means to perform theory reasoning in superposition-based provers cannot be used. We overcome this by introducing theory extensions as well as augmenting the superposition calculus with new rules.


To examine the reactivity of noble-metal-free Ni3C towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), we report a comprehensive first-principles density functional theory (DFT) study on the stability, geometric structure, electronic characteristics, and catalytic activity for HER on the Ni3C crystal (113) surfaces with different surface terminations, namely the C-rich and Ni-rich terminated surface of Ni3C (113). The results indicate that C-rich and some stoichiometric surfaces are thermodynamically stable. The bridge-site of C-rich Ni3C (113) is indispensable for HER because it not only displays improved electrocatalytic activity, but also possesses appropriate hydrogen adsorption energy, overpotential and robust stability. The ΔGH (0.02 eV) and overpotential obtained by C-rich Ni3C outperformed that obtained by Pt determined by computation (ΔGH = −0.07 eV). Thus, the bridge-sites of C-rich Ni3C (113) function as both excellent and stable active sites and adsorption/desorption sites. Increasing the density of active sites through doping or enlarging the surface area renders a prospective strategy to ameliorate the HER activity further. Overall, this study elucidates new insights into the surface properties of Ni3C for HER from water splitting and opens up a fascinating avenue to optimize the performance of solar energy conversion devices by synthesizing preferentially exposed catalyst facets.


The paper focuses on the development trends of the transport infrastructure of Eurasia in the context of the economic and political integration of the countries at this continent. Leading states of the Asia-Pacific region (APR) made proposals on large-scale infrastructure projects in the Eurasian space after financial crisis 2008-2009. Russia is extremely interested in integrating into these initiatives, but faces a number of difficulties. Some of them are connected with the peculiarities of regulation of transport issues within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union.The article analyzes Russia's current infrastructure development dialogue with the APR states, including the initiative of coordination of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Silk Road Economic Belt. The authors examine main Eurasian infrastructure projects interesting for complex EEU infrastructure development as well as the main challenges and opportunities for Russia arising in the framework of the interaction of the EEU and the APR countries in the field of infrastructure.The authors conclude that integration of Russia into Eurasian transport and logistics initiatives requires the coordination of the transport agenda with trade and investment regulation. This coordination suggests close cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Commission, and in the long term -even the transfer of competencies related to the development of the EAEU infrastructure agenda to the supranational level.The article was prepared using a grant (No. 17-18-01577) from the Russian Science Foundation, "The Formation of a Community of Greater Eurasia and the Strategy of Bilateral Cooperation Between Russia and Countries of the Region."


Author(s): McQuire, Marguerite | Abstract: In a series of 6 experiments, we investigated the impact of individual differences on mental model updating during reading of narrative texts. We presented short narratives that describe a protagonist as being spatially close (associated) or far away (dissociated) from a critical object, "George jogged home from work. He 'put on/took off' his faded "sweatshirt'." Every narrative concluded with a sentence that anaphorically referred to the critical object, "He was sorry 'it' was torn." Experiments 1 and 2 (n=44 in each) presented word (Experiment 1) and picture probe (Experiment 2) recognition tasks at the end of each narrative. Whereas word probes were equally likely to be accurately recognized across association conditions, picture probes were more accurately recognized when the critical object was in the foreground of the situation model. Results suggest that the representational format of the picture probes was more compatible with an analogue representation of the reader's situation model of the text. In Experiments 1 and 2, we found participants were faster to read the final sentence when the object was described as being spatially close to the protagonist. This difference in reaction times was positively correlated with verbal working memory capacity and mental rotation ability. Experiments 3 and 4 (n=44 in each) used a dual task paradigm to tax verbal (Experiment 3) and visuo-spatial (Experiment 4) working memory during comprehension of the texts. Experiment 3 revealed additive effects of association and verbal memory load on reading times for the final sentences, suggesting independent mechanisms. Experiment 4 revealed interactive effects of association and visuo-spatial load. Experiments 5 and 6 compared the difficulty of the concurrent load tasks on a letter search task and narrative text processing, respectively. Verbal and visuo-spatial tasks were equally disruptive in Experiment 5. In Experiment 6, visuo-spatial load led to more interference, especially in participants with fewer visuo-spatial resources. The demands of maintaining a heavy spatial load reduced the amount of visuo-spatial resources available for situation model updating, thus reducing the size of the association effect. Overall, results suggest readers recruit visuo- spatial working memory in the course of situation model updating


343 Copyright c 2013 The Korean Fracture Society. All rights reserved. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Address reprint requests to: Ki-Chul Park, M.D. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hanyang University Guri Hospital, 153 Gyeongchun-ro, Guri 471-701, Korea Tel: 82-31-560-2318ᆞFax: 82-31-557-8781 E-mail: email@example.com 골반환 손상의 정복 및 고정술


Objectives Enterococcus faecalis is a gram positive diplococci, highly versatile and a normal commensal of the gut microbiome. Resistance to vancomycin is a serious issue in various health-care setting exhibited by vancomycin resistant Enterococci (VRE) due to the alteration in the peptidoglycan synthesis pathway. This study is thus aimed to detect the VRE from the patients with root caries from the clinical isolates of E. faecalis and to evaluate the in-silico interactions between vanA and the Aegles marmelos bio-compounds. Methods E. faecalis was phenotypically characterized from 20 root caries samples and the frequency of vanA and vanB genes was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Further crude methanolic extracts from the dried leaves of A. marmelos was assessed for its antimicrobial activity. This is followed by the selection of five A. marmelos bio-compounds for the computational approach towards the drug ligand interactions. Results 12 strains (60%) of E. faecalis was identified from the root caries samples and vanA was detected from two strains (16%). Both the stains showed the presence of vanA and none of the strains possessed vanB. Crude extract of A. marmelos showed promising antibacterial activity against the VRE strains. In-silico analysis of the A. marmelos bio-compounds revealed Imperatonin as the best compound with high docking energy (–8.11) and hydrogen bonds with < 140 TPSA (Topological polar surface area) and zero violations. Conclusion The present study records the VRE strains among the root caries with imperatorin from A. marmelos as a promising drug candidate. However the study requires further experimentation and validation.


About 6 months ago, I sat at work, watching a robot vacuum cleaner glide confidently across the floor—until it dove off a ledge. "Well," my co-worker remarked, "that's not good," as he entered the result into a spreadsheet. Observing such product failures is just one part of my job as the senior scientist for a consumer product testing website, where anything even tangentially related to science ends up on my plate. On any given day, I could be tweaking a data model of smartphone battery life, thinking about how to test the temperature consistency of charcoal grills, or writing a consumer safety article about defrosting a turkey. I love rising to these delightfully unpredictable daily challenges, which I never could have anticipated when I was working on my Ph.D.

![Figure][1]

ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER

> "Anything even tangentially related to science ends up on my plate."

As a student, I was drawn to physics and geology, because to me these two disciplines epitomize the many important and varied real-world applications of science. Eve ry experiment I did in my classes, from lighting up a pickle by running an electrical current through it to using Play-Doh to illustrate the major tectonic plate faulting styles, brought new revelations about how integral science is to everyday life.

So, with only vague notions about what I would do afterward, I continued to pursue my love of science by going to graduate school to study geophysics, with a focus on seismology. Once I was there, fulfilling my teaching assistant requirements confirmed my preference to avoid teaching, ruling out a future in academia. Ultimately, my fieldwork provided the biggest clue about a potential career path. The hands-on approach to science that I employed while deploying seismometers deep in the wilds of Georgia and Florida set my thoughts toward a possible career in industry, where research, getting your hands dirty, and real-world applications coexist comfortably.

Yet, I struggled to figure out whether I could do work that wasn't directly related to my degree—and, perhaps more to the point, whether I should. I worried that I would be throwing away years of training—that going into any field that wasn't directly related to earthquakes would make me a highly educated ingrate. But after some soul-searching, I concluded that I would rather try something outside my comfort zone than potentially languish in postdoc purgatory for the next few years.

I cast a wide net and applied for jobs in nuclear seismic monitoring, signal processing, and technical writing, to name a few. But at my interview for my current position, I fell in love with product testing. Since starting my job, I have worn expensive smart watches for a weekend, tasted chocolate melted in a slow cooker, and used smartphones to play with party-themed smart lightbulbs, all in the name of science. My job combines rigorous research with seeing scientific principles play out in real time, and even after a year, I still find this work as fun and engaging as when I started.

When I was in graduate school, I never thought that this is what I would be doing with my Ph.D., but my training hasn't been wasted. My job calls for the mental flexibility, tenacity, and curiosity that I developed as a graduate student, and I am still honing those skills, even though I'm no longer in academia. At times, I even get to draw on some of the specific knowledge I gained as a geophysicist—understanding heat flow, for example, is crucial for oven and cooktop testing—and when this happens, I get a little extra skip in my step. I am still chasing my dream of investigating and sharing science with the world; I'm just approaching it from a different angle than I expected.

Applying my geophysics knowledge to decidedly nongeophysical problems has also broadened my outlook about—and, I hope, my suitability for—the types of jobs that I might pursue in the future. For now, though, I'm happy to be learning and telling the world about the science behind the products we use every day, one robot vacuum testing run at a time.

 [1]: pending:yes


This paper describes the development of a unique pipeline fault crossing design upgrade for a 22-inch (559 mm) diameter Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) gas transmission line where it crosses the Calaveras fault near Sunol, California. The new design is capable of withstanding significant levels of horizontal fault offset while minimizing the deformation demands experienced by the pipeline. This unique design concept is applicable to fault crossings with well defined fault locations and highly localized fault offset profiles (e.g., for this fault, 85% of the offset is expected to occur within ±5 feet (±1.5 m) from the center of the fault trace, which was precisely located by field trenching studies). Relative to the original fault crossing design, the new design provides a more favorable "local" fault crossing angle "β" (β = 73° for the original design vs. β = 95° for the new design). The angle change is accomplished by installing an offset section of the pipeline adjacent to the fault such that the fault crosses the pipeline in the middle of a tangent section in the nearest offsetting leg. The four bends used to fabricate the offset section are cold bends with an average radius of 76.4 feet (23.3 m). The entire mitigated section of the pipeline is buried in a select sand trench. For this design configuration, right lateral fault motion results in (a) a "closing" action within the two adjacent cold bends located on either side of the fault and (b) a net tension force in the pipe (due to the obtuse β value) centered on the tangent section of the offsetting leg containing the fault crossing. The net tension force in the offsetting leg results in an "opening" action within the two adjacent cold bends on either side of the fault. By adjusting the local fault crossing angle β, the "bend opening" action that results from pipe extension across the fault can be made to nearly offset the "bend closing" action induced by the transverse component of the fault offset. The use of a select sand backfill in the retrofit section allows the bends to engage the soil with relatively low transverse and longitudinal resistance thereby enhancing the overall flexibility/compliance of the fault crossing design. Implementation of this unique design concept at the Calaveras fault crossing increased the amount of fault offset required to damage the pipeline from about 7 inches (18 cm) for the "as-built" design to well over 90 inches (2.3 m) for the retrofit.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


A method is proposed to localize preferential fluid flow pathways in porous media on the basis of time‐lapse self‐potential measurements associated with salt tracer injection upstream. This method is first tested using laboratory data. A network of nonpolarizing electrodes located is connected to a highly sensitive voltmeter used to record the resulting electrical field fluctuations occurring over time at the surface of the tank. The transport of the conductive salt plume through the permeable porous materials changes the localized streaming potential coupling coefficient associated with the advective drag of the excess charge of the pore water and is also responsible for a diffusion current associated with the salinity gradient. Monitoring of the electrical potential distribution at the ground surface can be used to localize the pulse of saline water over time and to determine its velocity. This method applies in real time and can be used to track highly localized flow pathways characterized by high permeability. Our sandbox experiment demonstrates the applicability of this new method under well‐controlled conditions with a coarse‐sand channel embedded between fine‐sand banks. A finite element model allows us to reproduce the time‐lapse electrical potential distribution over the channel, but some discrepancies were observed on the banks. Finally, we performed a numerical simulation for a synthetic case study inspired by a recently published field case study. A Markov chain Monte Carlo sampler is used to determine the permeability and the porosity of the preferential fluid flow pathway of this synthetic case study.


Uncorrected refractive astigmatism degrades visual acuity. Spherical intraocular lenses (IOLs) leave astigmatic errors resident in the cornea manifest in refractive astigmatism. Toric IOLs, correcting for this corneal astigmatism, contribute to spectacle‐free vision in the pseudophakic eye. This review provides information to assist surgeons in a rational choice of eyes suitable for toric IOL implantation, methods of IOL cylinder power calculation, surgical techniques for toric IOLs and management of complications. With appropriate application of this information, correction of visually detrimental astigmatism can be achieved routinely.


Provided are a powder feeder that operates at high speed and in which erroneous operation is suppressed, a powder filling and packaging machine, and a method of manufacturing a powder package. ¢MEANSFOR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS! The powder feeder includes a member (1) having a plate-like part in which through holes (2) are formed, a motion mechanism (18) for moving the member (1) so that the upper openings of the holes (2) move on a specified movement path, opening/closing members (5) for opening and closing the lower openings of the holes (2) as the member (1) moves, a powder filling part (14) for placing, in a predetermined segment of the movement path, a specified amount of powder (3) into the holes (2), and a sensor (4) installed over the movement path in its portion other than the predetermined segment and continuously monitoring the movement path on the plate-like part.


Variable flux permanent magnet synchronous machines (VF-PMSMs) have recently been proposed to reduce driving cycle losses in electric vehicle traction motors via magnetization state (MS) manipulation. This paper presents a closed-loop MS control method to enable reliable loss minimization control of VF-PMSMs. The MS is estimated at every sample instant and is used as a feedback for closed-loop control. Under most circumstances, the proposed method maintains precise torque control even during the MS manipulation transient by using a deadbeat-direct torque and flux control (DB-DTFC) framework. The state-of-the-art high-speed flux trajectory generation method for MS manipulation is integrated in the new closed-loop method to allow MS manipulation up to the maximum speed within the inverter voltage limit. The effectiveness of the proposed methods, in terms of driving cycle loss reduction capability and its thermal impact, is evaluated experimentally by emulating the road load using the dynamometer load motor.


In this paper we focus on the microwave bistatic scattering process, with the aim of deriving an expression for the interferometric complex field auto-correlation function from a static platform. We start from the Fresnel integral and derive the auto-correlation function in the Fraunhofer and Modified Fraunhofer regime. The autocorrelation function at short times can be expressed as a Gaussian with a direction dependent time scale. The directional modulation is a function of the angle between the scattering direction and the wave direction. The obtained relation can be used for directional sea state estimation using one or more GNSS-R coastal receivers.


Scientologist! William S. Burroughs and the "Weird Cult" David S. Wills (Beatdom Books, 2013).In 1984, I asked William Burroughs, "What is the connection between Dianetics and the cut-ups?" and I have been waiting a long time for someone to explain his answer. I had arrived in Lawrence straight from the archives at Columbia University where, among many unpublished letters, I discovered the startling sequence from October 1959 in which Burroughs announced his simultaneous discoveries of cut-up methods and Dianetics. I had transcripts of these revelatory letters with me when Burroughs replied briskly and precisely with just two words to my question about the connection: "None whatever." Thirty years ago, it was well known that Burroughs had become involved with the Church of Scientology in the late 1960s and early 1970s and that he had engaged in a series of public battles with L. Ron Hubbard in the pages of such magazines as Mayfair and Rolling Stone, culminating in Burroughs' Ali's Smile/ Naked Scientology (1978). At least I thought I knew that history well. David Wills reveals there is a good deal more to it, and although his book has too many flaws and limitations to be the one I have waited three decades for, it does go some way to explaining the baffling answer Burroughs gave in 1984.For Burroughs, the rewriting of history was both a creative strategy and a biographical temptation-"Few things in my own past I'd just as soon forget," as his narrator puts it in The Ticket That Exploded-and his attempt to erase Scientology from the origins of his cut-up project is a reminder that for many years he infamously dismissed as "absurd" the true circumstances in which he shot and killed his wife, Joan Vollmer, in 1951. In fact, you might say that these denials are themselves connected and that Burroughs embraced Scientology and tried to turn Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health into a creative method precisely in order to cut up the past. Certainly, his denial of Dianetics is significant since it has a material bearing on understanding his most important experimental work. Scientologist! William S. Burroughs and the "Weird CulC focuses more on the psychology of the man than the creativity of the artist, which is one of its major flaws, but it has the great merits of being the first book to take the subject seriously and the first to dig into the archives-this time the vast and rich resources in the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library-to build on the truth that cut-ups did indeed go together with Scientology from the very start.Burroughs' letters in October 1959-which climax with his insisting to Allen Ginsberg that "I tell you: 'Find a Scientology Auditor and have yourself run'"-were published twenty years ago, and the fact that they have attracted little attention since is one of David Wills' starting points. He sees it as a failure of imagination to realize that, back then, it was possible to take Scientology entirely seriously as a therapeutic science and an even greater failure of nerve to recognise that Burroughs' interest could have been both deeply serious and long lasting. More than that, he challenges the biographers and critics for effectively airbrushing out the unwelcome truth that the great iconoclast and skeptic could possibly have been such a credulous dupe. In effect, and quite rightly, Wills insists that it's time to give up the defensiveness inherited from an earlier period in Beat studies history, when sympathetic critics who championed Burroughs were battling academic marginalisation and mockery. Although Wills indulges in his own mocking of Burroughs-"he never did learn to stop believing incredible claims and bizarre promises"-it is this refusal of hagiography that allows him to rewrite the central narrative line of Burroughs' life and make visible the place of Scientology in it.Scientologist! presents Hubbard's ideas about language, trauma, and control as logical and seductive for a man both acutely aware of how psychologically damaged he was and desperate to do something about it. …


The expansion of endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery has resulted in an increased demand for reconstructive options. Reconstruction with vascularized tissue has proven indispensable for reliably separating the cranial contents from the paranasal sinuses following extended endoscopic endonasal approaches (EEA). The introduction of the Hadad‐Bassagasteguy flap (vascular pedicle nasoseptal flap, HBF) at our institution decreased our postoperative cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) leak rates from more than 20% to less than 5%. The HBF is not always available, as the nasoseptal area or its vascular supply can be compromised by tumor or prior surgery. In an attempt to keep pace with rapidly expanding reconstructive requirements, we present the anatomic and cadaveric foundations for novel modifications of the facial artery musculo (‐mucosal) (FAM[M]) and buccinator flaps to allow vascularized reconstruction of the skull base.


This paper contributes to current debates on the psycho-social determinants of health by offering a qualitative analysis of the health consequences of the experience of mortgage possession. Previous research has shown that it is possible to decipher a statistical relationship between the onset of mortgage indebtedness and health. This paper extends this work by examining how this statistical patterning is generated at the level of the 'lived experiences' of families experiencing the loss of their mortgaged home. The narratives of 44 adults and 10 children from a sample of 30 households who have experienced mortgage possession are analysed. The results of this qualitative analysis are related to current debates in both the sociology of health inequalities and the sociology of the emotions concerned with the specification of what Elstad has called "the psychological stress, relative deprivation and psycho-social injuries of inequality structures".


The present study was conducted to find out achievement of students in chemistry subjects with respect to the I.Q. level, gender, mother's educational qualification level and mother's educational qualification level of student's. The investigator used random sampling methods for selecting sample. The data was collected from 2oo students with the help of Desai I.Q. test, Achievement Test in Chemistry. The statistical technique like mean, median, standard deviation and t-test was used to analyse the data. The study found that girls achieved more than the boys, students with high I.Q. achieve more than low I.Q. students, students with higher educational qualification of mother achieve more than low educational qualification of mother and students with higher educational qualification of father achieve more than low educational qualification of father.


Nordic collaboration in issues of gender equality has a history spanning four decades. In recent years, the issue of gender equality in schools and preschools has received extensive attention. The reasons for this attention are one, that the development of Nordic societies has caused pressure to update gender equality laws to bring about equality and equity in schools; and two, that boys have begun to fall behind girls' achievements academically in many western countries, drawing attention again to gender issues. Changes in legislation create pressure for educational professionals to develop their practices. However, gender-equality promotion practices vary considerably between Nordic countries and between regions of single countries. In this project, funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, participants gathered and compared data on current 'promising practices' relating to gender equality promotion at schools and kindergartens in each Nordic country. This project identified the following as the most promising practices for furthering gender equality in education: one; gender mainstreaming in education, both in teaching and learning; two, gender equality planning at schools (GEP); three, recruiting gender equality educators to municipalities; four, creating a national or a Nordic gender-equality certificate for educational institutions to acquire; five, promoting gender balance and diversity among educational staff; and six, gender equality work with the parents of students. Each practice is itself an influential activity; together, these six practices present a systematic approach to the development of the organisation of education, and a comprehensive strategy for promoting gender equality in education. This project report aims to contribute discussion on the issues, 'Can one speak of a 'Nordic equality model' in education?' and, 'How can Nordic countries benefit from a joint gender equality promotion?' and 'Can Nordic gender equality promotion be beneficial for non-European countries?'


Microorganisms are exceptional at producing several volatile substances called microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs). The mVOCs allow the microorganism to communicate with other organisms via both inter and intracellular signaling pathways. Recent investigation has revealed that mVOCs are chemically very diverse and play vital roles in plant interactions and microbial communication. The mVOCs can also modify the plant's physiological and hormonal pathways to augment plant growth and production. Moreover, mVOCs have been affirmed for effective alleviation of stresses, and also act as an elicitor of plant immunity. Thus, mVOCs act as an effective alternative to various chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The present review summarizes the recent findings about mVOCs and their roles in inter and intra-kingdoms interactions. Prospects for improving soil fertility, food safety, and security are affirmed for mVOCs application for sustainable agriculture.


The bond between England and the UAE date back to over 220 years ago. This article explored the interference of Arabic prepositions in the English used in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and their occurrences in light of gender and level of education, two important social variables related to linguistic behavior. To do so, participants translated 20 sentences in Arabic into English as well as filled in 30 gaps in sentences in English with the missing prepositions. We also experimented how musical intelligence improved the Emiratis' performance regarding prepositions. An experiment was carried out to verify if participants from the experimental group, who received training on prepositions through music, obtained better results compared to the control group, who received training through a more traditional way (by listening to the instructor and repeating).


The Franklin ground squirrel is prevalent in low lying areas of silty soil overgrown with Bromus inermis which provides concealment and nest material for the squirrels. The burrows range from simple to complex but seldom vary in depth (17 inches) and diameter (3 ¼ inches). Emergence from hibernation in 1969 and 1970 was in early May and thereafter the daily activity occurred predominantly about 4 and 7 hours after sunrise and 5 hours prior to sunset. Weather conditions did not affect the daily life patterns of Spermophilus franklinii. Oxygen consumption for Spermophilus franklinii can be expressed as Y=1.73-0.014 X (Y=cc O2/g per hour, X=temp.) for metabolic responses to ambient temperature changes below 26.5 C. The thermoneutral zone (26.5 C) gave a value of 0.64 cc O2/g per hour. This value was quite close to that predicted by relating metabolism to body weight. Actual metabolized energy calculated from food consumption experiments was about double the estimated metabolized energy ascertained from oxygen consumption. The energy flow value for an estimated two animals per hectare per one day was 247.8 Kcal. This value would be nearly equivalent to the energy of maintenance as a negligible amount would be used for growth in such a brief period.


The radiographic manifestations of 127 skeletal metastases in 50 patients with melanoma were reviewed and correlated with the scintigraphic findings. Although the features of most of the metastases were nonspecific and appeared similar to those of other osteolytic metastases, several of them had unusual features, including expansion, subarticular location, osteosclerosis, and a thin, sclerotic rim. These features could result in some of the metastases being mistaken for other lesions. The radionuclide bone scans were more sensitive in that they detected the lesions earlier and in greater numbers than the radiographs. Prognosis was poor once skeletal metastasis was diagnosed, the mean survival time being 4.7 months.