Experiments were conducted to develop methodology for in vitro propagation and rapid multiplication of Viola serpens Wall. using petiole explant. The MS medium supplemented with 2, 4-D (6.78 μm) was found most suitable for callus induction in petiole explant. The best growth response and higher rate of shoot regeneration from petiole callus was observed on MS medium containing BAP (11.10 μm) as the average number of shoots could be increased to 36.4 on fourth successive subculturing. Higher rooting response with larger number of roots were observed in shoots inoculated on the half-strength MS medium supplemented with IBA (19.68 μm).


ABSTRACT Independent component analysis is a standard tool in modern data analysis and numerous different techniques for applying it exist. The standard methods however quickly lose their effectiveness when the data are made up of structures of higher order than vectors, namely, matrices or tensors (e.g., images or videos), being unable to handle the high amounts of noise. Recently, an extension of the classic fourth-order blind identification (FOBI) specially suited for tensor-valued observations was proposed and showed to outperform its vector version for tensor data. In this article, we extend another popular independent component analysis method, the joint approximate diagonalization of eigen-matrices (JADE), for tensor observations. In addition to the theoretical background, we also provide the asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator and use both simulations and real data to show its usefulness and superiority over its competitors. Supplementary material including the proofs of the theorems and the codes for running the simulations and the real data example are available online.


Measuring activity of small mammals in the field is challenging because they are often out of view. We used a novel method, based on temperatures of collar radio transmitters, to quantify the proportion of time eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus (L., 1758)) spent active, curled up resting, and torpid during the summer and fall of 2 years in southern Quebec. Time active over the 24 h day was lower in a nonmast (8%) than a mast (26%) year. In the mast year, activity varied strongly from a low of 7% during the summer lull to a high of 35% in the fall. Chipmunks that exploited a feeder had higher activity (33%) than chipmunks that did not (19%). Activity was higher during the day, but some activity occurred at night. Daily activity patterns varied strongly among seasonal periods. There was no evidence of torpor during the summer lull. Torpor started much earlier in the nonmast than in the mast year and occurred more at night than during the day. Overall, our study suggests that activity in this food-storing h...


We discuss the basis of a set of quantum hydrodynamic equations and the use of this set of equations in the two-dimensional simulation of quantum effects in deep submicron semiconductor devices. The equations are obtained from the Wigner function equation-of-motion. Explicit quantum correction is built into these equations by using the quantum mechanical expression of the moments of the Wigner function, and its physical implication is clearly explained. These equations are then applied to numerical simulation of various small semiconductor devices, which demonstrate expected quantum effects, such as barrier penetration and repulsion. These effects modify the electron density distribution and current density distribution, and consequently cause a change of the total current flow by 10-15 per cent for the simulated HEMT devices. Our work suggests that the inclusion of quantum effects into the simulation of deep submicron and ultra-submicron semiconductor devices is necessary.


The purpose of the study is to establish the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the evaluation of various causes of compressive myelopathy, characterization of compressive lesions and to classify the lesions based on location into extradural / intradural compartments. Seventy patients who were clinically suspected to have compressive myelopathy were subjected for MRI. In this study, extradural compression due to degenerative changes (54.3%) was found to be the most common cause of compressive myelopathy, followed by infectious spondylitis (14.3%), post traumatic compressive myelopathy (12.8%), primary neoplasms & metastases (12.8%) and other causes (5.8%). There were 6 cases of intradural extramedullary pathology, remainder (64 cases) of the cases showed extradural location of pathology. MRI detected cord changes in 97% of cases with cord compression and also assessed the integrity of spinal cord, intervertebral discs and ligament after acute spinal trauma. MRI is very definitive, sensitive, accurate, though costly but very specific, noninvasive, radiation free modality for evaluation of compressive myelopathy.


In this study, the variation of blood pressure in young normotensive medical students has been recorded in winter and summer. Daytime blood pressure of young normotensive medical students has been measured in supine position. It has been found that both the systolic and diastolic pressure increases in low ambient temperature. It may be due to sympathetic stimulation and increase secretion of catecholamines in response to cold. Both sympathetic stimulation and catecholamines causes vasoconstriction leading to increased peripheral resistance and thereby increases diastolic pressure. At the same time the above mention stimuli increases heart rate and force of contraction of cardiac muscle causing increased cardiac output and thereby increases the systolic pressure.


Horn's parallel analysis (PA) is the method of consensus in the literature on empirical methods for deciding how many components/factors to retain. Different authors have proposed various implementations of PA. Horn's seminal 1965 article, a 1996 article by Thompson and Daniel, and a 2004 article by Hayton, Allen, and Scarpello all make assertions about the requisite distributional forms of the random data generated for use in PA. Readily available software is used to test whether the results of PA are sensitive to several distributional prescriptions in the literature regarding the rank, normality, mean, variance, and range of simulated data on a portion of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (Pennell et al., 2004) by varying the distributions in each PA. The results of PA were found not to vary by distributional assumption. The conclusion is that PA may be reliably performed with the computationally simplest distributional assumptions about the simulated data.


The use of BIM for FM by owners is growing, yet there are challenges that exist because of the need for customized data standards to fit each owner's need. This research examines the development of a model-based approach for capturing and handing over facility data. Previously completed research consists of a spread-sheet based documentation method for capturing identified facility-related information to support an owner's operation and maintenance of educational facilities. An approach was developed and piloted to validate a process that utilized milestone information submissions for documenting appropriate information throughout the design and construction of a facility using a spreadsheet based approach with direct input into the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). Using a pilot project approach, this paper builds on the spreadsheet based approach by identifying how the facility information could be captured throughout the project using a model based approach. A six-step systematic process is defined for BIM-FM integration to capture facility data and integrate the information into a CMMS. Various challenges and considerations to capture and deliver facility data are discussed. The paper also discusses the need for further validation of the proposed process and summarises ongoing study to test the proposed approaches using a second pilot project.


X-linked cleft palate and ankyloglossia (CPX) are caused by mutations in the TBX22 transcription factor. To investigate whether patients with ankyloglossia alone or in the presence of other craniofacial features including hypodontia or CLP might be caused by TBX22 mutations, we analyzed 45 Thai patients with isolated ankyloglossia, 2 unusual CPA families, and 282 non-syndromic Thai and UK patients with CLP. Five putative missense mutations were identified, including 3 located in the T-box binding domain (R120Q, R126W, and R151L) that affects DNA binding and/or transcriptional repression. The 2 novel C-terminal mutations, P389Q and S400Y, did not affect TBX22 activity. Mutations R120Q and P389Q were identified in patients with ankyloglossia only, while R126W and R151L were present in families that included CLP. Several individuals in these families were also found to have micro/hypodontia. This study has expanded the phenotypic spectrum of TBX22-related mutations to include dental anomalies and cleft lip.


ABSTRACT
 From 2003 to 2008, 176,643 Gratiana boliviana, Spaeth (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) were released in Florida as part of a biological control program targeting tropical soda apple (TSA) Solarium viarum Dunal (Solanaceae). The spatial distribution of releases was clustered with more beetles released in south/central Florida than further north. A survey conducted in the fall of 2008 found G. bolviana present at >70% of randomly selected locations between 26° and 29° latitude, but no beetles were found at sites further north. The presence of beetles and beetle damage were associated with smaller TSA plants and fewer fruits per plant. The absence of beetles in northern Florida may be due to the fewer number released in that area, but also could be influenced by land cover and climate.


-In this paper, we present a multiprecision (MP) reconfigurable multiplier that incorporates variable precision, parallel processing (PP), razor-based dynamic voltage scaling (DVS), and dedicated MP operands scheduling to provide optimum performance for a variety of operating conditions. Previous paper in used the PLL for the frequency division. If use the PLL for frequency division its hardware complexity increases .If frequency division is done by software using some frequency division method means hardware complexity is decrease and also speed is increases. All of the building blocks of the proposed reconfigurable multiplier can either work as independent smaller-precision multipliers or work in parallel to perform higher-precision multiplications. Given the user's requirements (e.g. throughput) a dynamic voltage/frequency scaling management unit configures the multiplier to operate at the proper precision and frequency.


Purpose: People with albinism in Tanzania are severely stigmatised. A measurement tool to assess this stigmatisation among adults is lacking. This research aimed at the cultural validation of two Scales to measure stigma related to albinism: The Albinism Social Distance Scale (A-SDS) and the Albinism Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue Community Stigma Scale (A-EMIC-CSS). Method: Conceptual, item, semantic and operational equivalences were evaluated through focus groups and interviews. A pilot study among adults attending religious institutes, as a representation of Tanzanian society, was conducted to assess the measurement equivalence. There were 101 respondents for the test and 79 respondents for the re-test. Results: Conceptual, item, semantic and operational equivalences of the Scales are sufficient. In terms of measurement equivalence, the internal consistency of the A-SDS and A-EMIC-CSS are adequate. However, social desirability should be taken into account when interpreting the findings. Conclusion and Implications: The insights provided by this article can aid in the development of tools to measure stigma cross-culturally and across stigmatising conditions. The combination of the two Scales for short and long-term effect measurement is recommended.


Hyaluronan (HA) was discovered over 50 years ago but its metabolism and cellular interactions have only recently received detailed attention. HA is synthesized in the plasma membrane by addition of monosaccharides to the reducing terminal. In tissues, it occurs bound to plasma membranes, aggregated with other macromolecules, or as free polysaccharide. Tissue HA enters the bloodstream in significant amounts through the lymph and is rapidly absorbed via a receptor into liver endothelial cells, where degradation follows. HA levels in serum are normally 10-100 micrograms/l, but can be elevated in cirrhosis, rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma, due either to impaired hepatic uptake or to increased production. Studies on aqueous humour, middle ear secretion, amniotic fluid, lung lavage fluid, urine, skin diseases and cancer have identified other causes of deranged HA metabolism. HA can be visualized on some cell surfaces as a coating impermeable to particulate material. Specific HA binding occurs on lymphoma cell lines, lung macrophages and SV-3T3 cells but, except in synthesis or uptake, the significance of membrane-associated HA is incompletely understood. It has been reported to activate macrophages and granulocytes, protect cells, control cell migration, and cooperate with intercellular matrix in cell detachment; it also plays a central role in growth control, cellular differentiation and tissue morphogenesis.


Atomic force microscopy (AFM) routinely achieves structural information in the sub-nm length scale. Measuring time resolved properties on this length scale to understand kinetics at the nm scale remains an elusive goal. We present a general analysis of the lower limit for time resolution in AFM. Our finding suggests the time resolution in AFM is ultimately limited by the well-known thermal limit of AFM and not as often proposed by the mechanical response time of the force sensing cantilever. We demonstrate a general pump-probe approach using the cantilever as a detector responding to the averaged signal. This method can be applied to any excitation signal such as electrical, thermal, magnetic or optical. Experimental implementation of this method allows us to measure a photocarrier decay time of ∼1 ps in low temperature grown GaAs using a cantilever with a resonance frequency of 280 kHz.


Nonlinear realizations of spacetime groups are presented as a versatile mathematical tool providing a common foundation for quite different formulations of gauge theories of gravity. We apply nonlinear realizations in particular to both the Poincar\'e and the affine group in order to develop Poincar\'e gauge theory (PGT) and metric-affine gravity (MAG) respectively. Regarding PGT, two alternative nonlinear treatments of the Poincar\'e group are developed, one of them being suitable to deal with the Lagrangian and the other one with the Hamiltonian version of the same gauge theory. We argue that our Hamiltonian approach to PGT is closely related to Ashtekar's approach to gravity. On the other hand, a brief survey on MAG clarifies the role played by the metric--affine metric tensor as a Goldsone field. All gravitational quantities in fact --the metric as much as the coframes and connections-- are shown to acquire a simple gauge--theoretical interpretation in the nonlinear framework.


The goal of many observational studies is to estimate the causal effect of an exposure on an outcome after adjustment for confounders, but there are still some serious errors in adjusting confounders in clinical journals. Standard regression modeling (e.g., ordinary logistic regression) fails to estimate the average effect of exposure in total population in the presence of interaction between exposure and covariates, and also cannot adjust for time-varying confounding appropriately. Moreover, stepwise algorithms of the selection of confounders based on P values may miss important confounders and lead to bias in effect estimates. Causal methods overcome these limitations. We illustrate three causal methods including inverse-probability-of-treatment-weighting (IPTW) and parametric g-formula, with an emphasis on a clever combination of these 2 methods: targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) which enjoys a double-robust property against bias.


A discovery of the buried Egyptian remains has been made by using satellite SAR data. L-band (HH) signal of SIR-C (Shuttle imaging Radar Mission-C), which was very similar to the characteristics of the existing Egyptian pyramids, was detected on a hilltop of Saqqara where nothing has been reported so far. As the result of the ground truth, some artificial lime stone blocks and significant fragments were found. The area is situated approximately 200m west of the pyramid of Merenre. This is a preliminary report of the study for satellite SAR application in Egypt.


Are cognitive and physical training interventions effective against age-related cognitive and brain decline, and disease? In the present talk I will present results from a large-scale study that investigated the effect of a combined cognitive and physical training computerized program on overall cognition and brain function. In this multicenter study, 322 cognitively healthy and impaired older adults were allocated to an intervention group or a passive/active control group. In a pre/post-test design, participants were assessed in working memory, executive functions and episodic memory, and a subsample of participants also underwent electroencephalographic (EEG) data acquisition during a resting-state condition. I will present both results from cognitive measures and brain connectivity work to support gains in cognition and brain function after cognitive and physical training in older adults.


Since 1987, ice cores have been drilled from the Dunde and Guliya ice caps on the Tibetan Plateau, western China. Here, the oxygen isotopic (δ18O) records for the last 1000 years from both these cores are compiled and compared. Using surface temperature observations since the mid-1960s from meteorological stations on the plateau and δ18O measured on precipitation collected contemporaneously, the empirical relationship: δ18O = 0.6 T s – 12 is established. δ18O appears to serve as a reasonable proxy for regional surface temperatures and a reasonable basis for reconstructing 1000a proxy temperature records from Dunde and Guliya. The reconstructed temperature histories for Dunde (on the eastern Tibetan Plateau) and Guliya (on the western Tibetan Plateau) show some centennial-scale similarities, but reveal quite different histories for higher-frequency variability over the last millennium. The ice-core δ18O histories from Dunde and Guliya are compared with a tree-ring index from western China and the dust-fall record from eastern China, but show no consistent relationship. The most prominent similarity between the reconstructed temperature histories for Dunde and Guliya is the marked warming of the last few decades. From the 1000a perspective provided be these ice-core records, the recent warming on Dunde is unique in its strength and persistence; however, the warming on Guliya (inferred from 18O enrichment) is more recent (since 1985) and not unprecedented. This recent warming over the Tibetan Plateau is evident in the limited meteorological records.


Intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) was used as part of the initial therapy for malignant glioma in 32 of 73 patients with histologically verified anaplastic astrocytoma (grade III astrocytoma) and glioblastoma multiforme. The initial treatment for all cases was subtotal or total tumor resection combined with external irradiation and chemotherapy. IORT was performed 1 week after tumor resection, with doses of 10-50 Gy (mean 26.7 Gy) in one session. Fourteen of 32 cases had IORT two times because of tumor recurrence. The IORT patients had survival rates at 24 and 36 months after initial treatment of 57.1 and 33.5% (median survival 26.2 months). The other 41 patients had 23.6 and 13.1% survivals (median survival 20.7 months), which were significantly lower (p less than 0.01). Tumor recurrence within the original lesion site was suspected because of clinical condition, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging studies in 65.6% of the IORT group (21 cases) 12 months after initial treatment. Twenty cases of death in the IORT group, including five autopsy cases, demonstrated regional tumor recurrence with a high incidence of intraventricular tumor invasion. The authors consider IORT is beneficial for selected malignant glioma patients, including tumor recurrence, because of prolonged survival.


To protect the rights of breeders of the major citrus cultivars developed under breeding programs by the national institute of Japan, we developed a method of cultivar identification based on cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) markers, and used it to evaluate their identity and parentage. We selected 19 CAPS markers that had a single-locus origin and moderate polymorphism, and used them to construct genotyping data for 59 citrus cultivars (including American accessions), local varieties, and selections. Of the 19 CAPS markers, 8 were sufficient to discriminate among all accessions except 'Mato' buntan (Citrus grandis Osbeck) and 'Hirado' buntan (Citrus grandis Osbeck). Among the 33 Japanese cultivars, the parentage of 30 agreed with that reported, but 'Setoka', 'Southern Red', and 'Reikou' had discrepancies at one or more loci. Using 15 to 18 CAPS markers to validate the putative parentage revealed that the seed parent of 'Setoka' was 'KyEn No. 4', not 'Tsunonozomi', and the pollen parent of 'Southern Red' was 'Osceola', not ponkan (C. reticulate Blanco). The seed parent of 'Reikou' remains unknown.


Background: In anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, minimizing the graft-tunnel motion (GTM) will promote graft-to-bone healing and avoid graft loosening or tearing as well as potential bone tunnel enlargement. A nearly isometric state of the graft can be achieved by placing the tunnel properly to theoretically gain better graft-to-bone healing. However, little clinical evidence is available to quantify the relation between GTM and tunnel position. Purpose: To find the proper zones for the femoral and tibial tunnel apertures that minimize the GTM, referred to as the "nearly isometric zone," through use of intraoperative GTM measurement and 3-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT). Study Design: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: A total of 100 patients were enrolled in this study. Nearly isometric ACL reconstruction was performed, and an intra-articular GTM measuring device was designed to measure and record the amplitude of GTM while the knee was flexed from 0° to 120°. Postoperatively, the patients underwent multislice CT, and the images were used to create 3D-CT models. After tibial aperture examination, 5 patients were excluded due to the divergence of tibial aperture, and therefore 95 patients remained in the study. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to whether the lateral intercondylar ridge was absent or present. The Bernard-Hertel grid coordinates (h, t) of the femoral tunnel were then quantified. Results: The maximal GTM (mGTM) was a mean ± SD of 1.06 ± 0.66 mm (range, 0.0-3.0 mm). The mGTM in patients with a lateral intercondylar ridge was significantly lower than that in patients without a lateral intercondylar ridge (0.81 ± 0.39 vs 1.59 ± 0.73 mm, respectively; P < .0001). The average h and t were 0.227 ± 0.079 and 0.429 ± 0.770, respectively. Notably, in 1 patient, the mGTM was 0 mm whereas the coordinates (h, t) of the femoral tunnel were 0.250 and 0.255. The overall GTM slowly increased before 90° but increased significantly after the knee was bent 105° (P = .010). Correlation analysis showed that the t coordiinate had significant correlation with mGTM (R = 0.581; P < .001). A gradient pattern was created to show the nearly isometric blue zone (mGTM <0.5 mm), which was found to overlap with the IDEAL (isometric, direct insertion, eccentric, anatomic, low tension-flexion pattern) position. Conclusion: A method of measuring intraoperative GTM and quantifying femoral tunnel position on postoperative 3D-CT was successfully developed. The presence of a lateral condylar ridge can significantly reduce mGTM. A nearly isometric zone was described that was consistent with the IDEAL concept.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The 22q11 deletion syndrome is associated with a wide spectrum of phenotypic features, hence clinical diagnosis is difficult. Individuals with this syndrome are found to have a risk of developing transfusion associated graft-versus-host reaction, if they are given nonirradiated blood. Our aim was to elucidate whether chromosome 22q11 deletion in children with syndromic conotruncal heart defects is associated with platelet abnormality.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The genetic analysis was performed by standard cytogenetic and Fluorescence in situ hybridization technique. The platelet parameters in 39 patients with chromosome 22q11 deletion were compared with 154 cases without deletion.

RESULTS
In deletion versus no deletion group, the mean of mean platelet volume (MPV) was 10.5 ± 2.5 vs 7.6 ± 1.5 fL, platelet count was 225 ± 80.7 and 339 ± 127.3 × 10 9 /L and frequency of high MPV was 49% vs 7% (P < .0001). The MPV was associated with a sensitivity of 90.9% and a specificity of 79.6% at a cutoff value of 8.32 fL, (area under the ROC curve 91%). A nonsignificant negative correlation was found between MPV and platelet count (r = -0.152; P = .361) in children with deletion.

CONCLUSION
A cutoff value of 8.32 fL for MPV can be an indicator of high risk of chromosome 22q11 deletion in individuals with syndromic conotruncal defects. Individuals with chromosome 22q11 deletion should be given irradiated blood especially during cardiac surgery. Further investigation should clarify the etiology behind variation in frequency of high MPV in different conotruncal lesions.


Teaching is one of the oldest professions in modern Nigeria. The advent of the Christian missionaries who introduced western education culminated into the evolution of teaching profession. For ease of communication, educating the Africans had to go along with evangelistic activities. This put teachers in elite position in the society and possessed good positive image. With the rise of other professions, the honor accorded teachers drastically wane down, and so their commitments to teachings were negatively affected. The paper focuses on the roles of teacher with specific illustration from Nigerian experience. Teacher training programmes in Nigeria were reviewed and arguments for and against the relevance of teacher in emerging world were critically analyzed


With the approach of the new millennium last year, many market participants resolved to limit their exposure to Y2K-related risks by cutting back normal trading activities. The Federal Reserve foresaw that the widespread adoption of such a strategy could lead to serious liquidity problems in key financing markets. Consequently, the Fed undertook to create a Standby Financing Facility that would provide securities dealers with a form of backup funding and ease market anxieties about year-end credit conditions.


Effects of overloading on the life of oil-immersed self-cooled power transformers are discussed in this paper. Experience has shown that under average loads and ambient temperatures, a transformer rated for a temperature rise of 55 degrees C, has a very long life, and can be overloaded considerably for short periods with little loss in life.


Vitamin D has anti-proliferative and proapoptotic effects on several cell types, including breast cancer cells. There have been no studies quantifying the expression of the enzyme 25-hydroxyvitamin D-1-alpha-hydroxylase (1alphaOHase), which converts 25-hydroxyvitamin D to its active metabolite, in breast tissue. We performed real-time RT-PCR to quantity 1alphaOHase and vitamin D receptor (VDR) mRNA in samples of breast cancer, adjacent non-cancerous tissue and normal breast tissue. 1alphaOHase and VDR mRNA were universally expressed, however, 1alphaOHase expression was significantly down-regulated in adjacent non-cancerous tissue from women with breast cancer in comparison to individuals without cancer. VDR was also up-regulated in breast tumours. The vitamin D axis expression in the breast suggests a role for its actions in normal tissue homeostasis and breast cancer pathogenesis. The decreased expression of 1alphaOHase in normal tissue from women with breast cancer may be important in their predisposition to the development of cancer.


Objects in an image exhibit diverse scales. Adaptive receptive fields are expected to catch suitable range of context for accurate pixel level semantic prediction for handling objects of diverse sizes. Recently, atrous convolution with different dilation rates has been used to generate features of multi-scales through several branches and these features are fused for prediction. However, there is a lack of explicit interaction among the branches to adaptively make full use of the contexts. In this paper, we propose a Content-Adaptive Scale Interaction Network (CaseNet) to exploit the multi-scale features for scene parsing. We build the CaseNet based on the classic Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP) module, followed by the proposed contextual scale interaction (CSI) module, and the scale adaptation (SA) module. Specifically, first, for each spatial position, we enable context interaction among different scales through scale-aware non-local operations across the scales, \ie, CSI module, which facilitates the generation of flexible mixed receptive fields, instead of a traditional flat one. Second, the scale adaptation module (SA) explicitly and softly selects the suitable scale for each spatial position and each channel. Ablation studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed modules. We achieve state-of-the-art performance on three scene parsing benchmarks Cityscapes, ADE20K and LIP.


Abstract We have studied the oxidation of CO by NO aver a Rh(111) catalyst at pressures between 2 and 120 Torr, paying particular attention to the nitrogen containing products. Reacting 8 Torr of CO with 8 Torr of NO at between 525 and 675 K, we detect three products, CO 2 , N 2 O, and N 2 . All three products are formed with an apparent activation energy ( E a ) near 33.5 kcal/mol. Within the range of temperatures and pressures we examined. N 2 O is the primary N-containing product-Rh(111) is about 70% selective for N 2 O. The selectivity for N 2 O is insensitive to reaction temperature, reactant pressure, and NO conversion. By varying the reactant pressure at three different temperatures, we determined that the CO 2 , N 2 O, and N 2 production rates are all near zero order in both CO and NO pressure. The activation energies, reaction orders, and CO 2 production rates we observe are in good agreement with previously reported measurements over Rh(111). The major new result of our work is our finding that N 2 O, not N 2 , is the dominant nitrogen-containing product of the CO + NO reaction over a Rh(111) catalyst at temperatures below 650 K.


forthcoming eighth edition to reflect current European practice. These have been meetings with a large international membership reflecting the recognition that 50% of courses are now taught outside North America., The revision of a number of the chapters for the eighth edition is being led by authors from outside the USA (Dr Winter is lead for the airway chapter). ATLS Europe has been formed and recognised by the American College of Surgeons as a partner in the development of ATLS. Dr Chris Kauffman, former chair of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma ATLS subcommittee and current international chair spoke at the international meeting in 2006 and described the UK ATLS Instructor Course as the 'gold standard'. Dr Kauffman and the current chair of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma ATLS subcommittee, Dr John Kortbeck will be joining the Harrogate ATLS course in January 2008 as faculty and will be speaking at the UK national day and twentieth anniversary ATLS celebrations on February 1st 2008. Last, and by no means least, Dr Jim Styner, after a 20-year lapse, decided to renew his instructor status involving completing the course he designed as a student and then doing an instructor course for the first time. He decided to complete his instructor course in the UK and recently joined the Nottingham ATLS course as an instructor candidate. He was highly complimentary of UK courses and particularly of the attendance of faculty throughout the course.


Te Hau ki Tūranga is the oldest meeting house in existence. It was built in the early 1840s at Orakaiapu Pā, just south of Gisborne, by Ngāti Kaipoho (a hapū/subtribe of Rongowhakaata) chief Raharuhi Rukupō. In the nineteenth century whare whakairo (carved houses) were significant symbols of chiefly and tribal mana (prestige, control, power). They were ‗carved histories', physical embodiments of tribal history and whakapapa (genealogy) representing a link between the living and the dead. In 1867 Native Minister J C Richmond acquired the whare on behalf of the government to augment the collections of the Colonial Museum in Wellington. Over the almost 150 years since the whare arrived in Wellington, the acquisition of Te Hau ki Tūranga has been the subject of three government inquiries and numerous Rongowhakaata requests for its return. It has also been dismantled and re–erected three times and housed in three different museum buildings. At the close of the twentieth century Rongowhakaata submitted a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal for the ‗theft' of Te Hau ki Tūranga. Their claim also expressed concerns about the care and management of the whare in the hands of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and its predecessors. This thesis tells the story of Te Hau ki Tūranga from 1867 until the present. It asks: was the whare ‗stolen from its people and wrenched from its roots'? as Rongowhakaata claim and places the story of Te Hau ki Tūranga in its historical context. It aims to understand the motives and agendas of the characters involved and reach a conclusion as to what most likely happened in 1867. This thesis also breaks new ground by examining the politics surrounding the whare as a museum exhibit and a Treaty of Waitangi claim. Overall this study provides a valuable insight into the history of Crown–Māori relations. It reveals why deep–seated grievances still exist among Māori today and demonstrates the value of the Treaty settlement process as an opportunity for Māori to tell their stories and gain redress for injustices that occurred in the past, but are still being felt in the present.


A 61-year-old postmenopausal female with a past medical history of type 2 diabetes, nephrolithiasis, and recurrent urinary tract infections presented to an outpatient urology clinic with a chief complaint of urinary frequency, urgency, and burning after micturition. Associated symptoms included nausea, a low-grade fever with chills, and right flank pain. After treatment with antibiotics did not relieve all of her symptoms, imaging was obtained, showing a cystic mass with calcifications in the right kidney. Following laparoscopic partial right nephrectomy and total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, pathological examination of the right kidney mass highlighted endometrial stromal cells consistent with endometriosis of the right kidney. The left ovary also contained endometrial stromal cells, confirming another diagnosis of endometriosis of the left ovary. This case highlights the importance of considering renal endometriosis in the differential diagnosis of renal masses in women, even if they are postmenopausal.


In this paper, the effect of the spiral antenna and the loop antenna for wireless charging on the transmission of an antenna pair comprising an external antenna and an implanted antenna through human body is studied. The transmission characteristic of the antenna pair with a wireless charging antenna positioned between the antenna pair is investigated over the frequency band of 3 - 5 GHz. It is found that the loop antenna features a limited effect on the transmission response while the spiral antenna causes the transmission response to change drastically across the frequency band. It is suggested that a loop antenna, compared to a spiral antenna, is a more efficient wireless charging antenna for an implanted radio system and causes less effect on the transmission between the external and the implanted antenna pair.


While at the IBM San Jose Research Laboratory, in the 1970's, Dr. Jim Gray defined and developed the fundamental concepts and techniques that underlie on-line transaction processing systems. Jim Gray's pivotal contributions enabled cost efficient, on-line processing to replace paper and batch processing systems. Today, online transaction processing powers the record keeping systems that drive today's commerce, services, and government.


Hyper-IgD and periodic fever syndrome (HIDS) is an autosomal recessive disorder featured by recurrent febrile attacks. Previous unpublished experience (J. van der Meer and R. Powell) suggested that thalidomide may prevent febrile attacks. Six HIDS patients (5 male and 1 female) who had at least one febrile attack every 6 weeks, entered a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial to explore the efficacy of a daily 200-mg thalidomide dose in the treatment of recurrent febrile attacks of HIDS. The patients received either thalidomide, 200-mg daily, or placebo for 16 weeks, followed by a 4-week washout period and another 16-week treatment (crossover) with either thalidomide or placebo. Patients completed a weekly diary card noting attacks and side effects. During the study, C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, IL-1 receptor antagonist, soluble TNF receptor p55 and p75, and lipopolysaccharide-stimulated IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha production were measured at six different points, whereas urine neopterin levels were measured weekly. During the active treatment with thalidomide, there were 10 attacks compared with 13 attacks with placebo. Thalidomide resulted in a nonsignificant decrease of CRP and SAA, but the concentrations of other inflammatory mediators, including urine neopterin, remained unchanged. One patient developed sensory polyneuropathy, but this resolved when thalidomide administration was stopped. The effect of thalidomide in HIDS is limited to a decrease in acute phase protein synthesis without an effect on the attack rate.


TWENTY years ago, I changed course in my internal medicine practice and decided, rather deliberately, to work on the problem of obesity. My friends, my colleagues, and my family thought I was crazy. The warnings were clear. "Don't risk your credibility and your career." "Don't venture into a part of medicine that no one takes seriously." "Don't move into the world of quacks and charlatans." My brother, a thoughtful, professorial cardiologist, assessed the situation in most negative terms. "The guys who deal with obesity are the sleaziest guys in medicine. Pills and shots!" he shouted. Another friend, also comfortably cloistered in academia, could not imagine how I could possibly want to spend my time working with fat, middle-aged ladies: "What on earth is there to talk about?" Taking the Plunge Even in my naive youth I was not oblivious to the risks involved in dealing with obesity. Although my credentials


Deep neural networks have exhibited promising performance in image super-resolution (SR). Most SR models follow a hierarchical architecture that contains both the cell-level design of computational blocks and the network-level design of the positions of upsampling blocks. However, designing SR models heavily relies on human expertise and is very labor-intensive. More critically, these SR models often contain a huge number of parameters and may not meet the requirements of computation resources in real-world applications. To address the above issues, we propose a Hierarchical Neural Architecture Search (HNAS) method to automatically design promising architectures with different requirements of computation cost. To this end, we design a hierarchical SR search space and propose a hierarchical controller for architecture search. Such a hierarchical controller is able to simultaneously find promising cell-level blocks and network-level positions of upsampling layers. Moreover, to design compact architectures with promising performance, we build a joint reward by considering both the performance and computation cost to guide the search process. Extensive experiments on five benchmark datasets demonstrate the superiority of our method over existing methods.


The author begins by discussing the suitability of an ordinary teacher's qualifications for teaching astronomy. Suitable topics for a pre-O-level course are given. Some sixth form experiments are suggested including the making of a telescope. Finally the author mentions some teaching aids.


Acute stress disorder is a syndrome characterized by the development of severe anxiety, dissociative and other symptoms that occur between three days to one month after exposure to an extremely traumatic or stressful life event. This case report presents a 10-year old girl child that presented with an acute stress disorder after being rescued from a state of burial for three and half hours inside a demolished house following a major earthquake. She was admitted to Psychiatry ward for eight days and was discharged successfully in a pre-morbid state after psychological interventions. With this particular child's presentation in the emergency following a major traumatic event, we can learn to address and timely manage the secondary psychological trauma the child, her family and other relatives may undergo.Journal of Kathmandu Medical CollegeVol. 5, No. 3, Issue 17, Jul.-Sep., 2016, page: 98-100


The goal of the study was to find out optimum parameters on conversion of cornstover biomass to renewable fuel. The pretreatment of cornstover was carried out utilizing potassium hydroxide. The result indicated that the important elements of this biomass were cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, 34.03, 22.6 and 15.1% respectively. The experiment and statistical evaluation was carried out using response surface methodology. The optimized variables were derived from the quadratic model and selected primarily based on the highest desirability. The result shows that, the optimum parameters were, acid concentration; 2.334 (w/w %), particle size; 0.153 mm, temperature; 144.976 0C and time; 77.233 minutes. At these parameters, the yield of glucose and xylose were, 48.69 and 33.091% respectively. 27.1 g of ethanol concentration was investigated after 48 h of fermentation time at optimized conditions.


A descriptive analysis of the population growth that occurred in the metropolitan area of San Jose Costa Rica between 1950 and 1980 is presented. The first part describes changes in the pace of growth and urban spatial distribution over time. The second part examines the components of growth including fertility mortality and migration. (ANNOTATION)


During inflammation, both CD4+ and CD4- T lymphocytes extravasate into perivascular tissues by adhering to and migrating through the vascular endothelium. These studies were undertaken to characterize the phenotype of CD4- T cells that have a capacity to migrate through endothelium. Results show that CD4- T cells exhibit a greater capacity to migrate through endothelial cells (EC) than CD4+ T cells; and that TCR-gamma delta+ T cells exhibited the greatest migratory capacity. The migrating CD8+ T cell population was enriched in CD45RO+/L-selectin-/LFA-1bright/CD29bright/CD 44bright cells. TNF-alpha-activated EC did not support increased CD4- T cell transendothelial migration and changes in the phenotype of the migrating CD8+ T cells. The migrating CD4- T cell population was enriched in VLA-2+ T cells and expressed increased densities of VLA-4, VLA-5, and VLA-6. The migrating TCR-gamma delta+ T cell population contained both CD8dim and CD8- T cells. Moreover, the migrating gamma delta T cell population was not different from the initial or nonadherent population in that it contained CD45RO+, CD45RA+, and L-selectin+ cells. Finally, migrating TCR-gamma delta+ T cells contained cells expressing V delta 2 and V gamma 9 TCR chains, but these were not enriched compared with the initial population. These studies have characterized the CD4- T cells that are capable of transendothelial migration in vitro. The results are consistent with the conclusion that unique subpopulations of CD8+ alpha beta and CD8+ and CD8- gamma delta T cells gain access to inflammatory sites by virtue of their intrinsic ability to migrate across the endothelium.


The physical and chemical integrity of a biopharmaceutical must be maintained not only during long-term storage but also during administration. Specifically for the intravenous (i.v.) delivery of a protein drug, loss of stability can occur when the protein formulation is compounded with i.v. bag diluents, thus modifying the original composition of the drug product. Here we present the challenges associated with the delivery of a low-dose, highly potent monoclonal antibody (mAb) via the i.v. route. Through parallel in-use stability studies and conventional formulation development, a drug product was developed in which adsorptive losses and critical oxidative degradation pathways were effectively controlled. This development approach enabled the i.v. administration of clinical doses in the range of 0.1 to 0.5 mg total protein, while ensuring liquid drug product storage stability under refrigerated conditions.


This paper presents a comprehensive model on the spread between the euro overnight rate and the key policy rate of the ECB. It is shown that the most important variables driving the level and the volatility of this spread are expectations about changes of the key policy rate and the projected liquidity conditions at the end of the reserve maintenance period. The model allows for an assessment of how these variables impact differently on the spread according to the different open market operating procedures and the liquidity management policy of the ECB. It is found that a fixed rate tender procedure effectively limits the downward potential of the spread, while, however, no evidence is identified that it should be more effective than a variable rate tender procedure in keeping overall the overnight rate close to the key policy rate. JEL Classification: C32, E43, E52


Shade is widespread in agricultural production and affects lignin biosynthesis and lodging resistance of crops. We explored the effects of shade intensity on lignin biosynthesis and lodging resistance at the physiological and molecular levels in two soybean cultivars (Nandou12 and E93) with different shade tolerance under four progressively severe shade treatments, S0–S3 (S0: no shade, S1: slight shade, S2: moderate shade, S3: heavy shade). Our results showed no significant difference in breaking strength of the two cultivars under S1 and S0 treatments, with no prominent decrease in the lodging resistance index. The activity of lignin biosynthesis rate-limiting enzymes phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), peroxidase and cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD), which were considerably related to the two lodging resistance indexes above, was not significantly decreased by slight shade, while 4-coumaric acid ligase (4CL) activity was increased. Most genes involved in lignin biosynthesis were not significantly down-regulated by slight shade (S1) compared to S0, while p-coumarate 3-hydroxylase (C3H), 4-coumaric acid ligase (4CL) and laccase (LAC) genes were upregulated. Under heavy shade (S3), enzyme activity and gene expression associated with lignin synthesis in both soybean cultivars were strongly inhibited; moreover, stem mechanical strength and lodging resistance were remarkably decreased compared with those under S0. These physiological and molecular changes suggested that applicable shade levels do not significantly affect the mechanical strength and lodging resistance of soybean stem. Exploiting the lodging resistance potential of existing soybean cultivars was an effective and efficient way to address yield reduction caused by lodging in intercropped soybeans.


Peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) is an aggressive disease with poor outcome. First line therapies are usually unsatisfactory with frequent need for second-line therapies. Median progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for relapse PTCL patients are very short with few available therapeutic options. Bendamustine has been shown to be effective in this setting. In order to assess the efficacy of bendamustine outside clinical trials, we conducted a national retrospective study of patients with the diagnosis of PTCL and who were treated with bendamustine. Between 2011 and 2013, about 200 patients with the diagnosis of PTCL have been treated in 27 centers with bendamustine. We present the results of 142 patients with complete clinical and biological data. The population median age was 64y (range 28-89) with male/female sex ratio of 1,4 (83/59). Histologies were: angio-immunoblastic (AILT=63), PTCL-NOS (n=44), anaplasic-large (ALCL=13), NK/TCL (n=3), mycosis fungoides (MF=7), subcutaneous panniculitis-like-TCL (n=2), hepato-splenic-TCL (n=1) and others (n=9). The majority of patients (96%, n=130) had stage-disseminated disease and 72% (n=102) of them had extranodal localisations. The median number of chemotherapy lines prior to bendamustine was 2 (range 0-8). Seven patients (5%) had received allogeneic stem cells transplantation (SCT) and 16 autologous SCT (11%) prior to bendamustine. The median duration of response (DoR) after the last prior to bendamustine chemotherapy was 4.3 months (range 1-70) and 50% of patients had refractory disease at bendamustine treatment. Seventy-four patients (52%) received less than 3 cycles, mostly because of disease progression. Overall, they received a median of 2 cycles (range 1-8) with a median dose of 90mg/m2 (range 50-150). The best overall response rate (ORR) was 32% (45/141) with complete response of 24% (CR=34). The median DoR was 3.3 months (1-39). For AITL patients, ORR was 52% (33/63) with CR of 41%, whereas it was 18% (8/44) with 11% of CR, in patients with PTCL-nos, respectively (p=0.01). Nine patients (6%) received allogeneic SCT in CR. Median PFS was 3 months (range 0.2-46.3) and median OS was 4.4 months (range 0.2-55.4). On multivariate analysis, chemotherapy refractory (p=0.001) patients9 and extranodal disease localization (p=0.028) before bendamustine influenced adversely the ORR. With a median follow up 4.4 months, 72% of patients (102/142) died. The most frequent cause of death were: disease progression (92%) or toxicities (6%). Grade 3-4 thrombocytopenia, neutropenia and infections were reported in 22%, 17% and 23% of cases, respectively. Bendamustine as single agent must be considered as a therapeutic option for relapsed or refractory PTCL, particularly in patients with AITL. The safety profile was good. Combination of bendamustine with other drugs should be evaluated prospectively. Disclosures Off Label Use: Bendamustine, single molecule, alkylant agent with antimetabolite properties. Morschhauser:Genentech Inc./Roche: Other: Advisory boards. Cartron:Sanofi: Honoraria; GSK: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Gilead: Honoraria; Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria.


Summary The aim of the study was to investigate the improving effect of Garcinia cambogia extract on performance metrics, and serum non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in rats fed with atherogenic diet. Thirty, one-year-old, female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to three experimental groups of ten animals each. Control group was fed with basal diet (2% liquid vegetable oil, 0% cholesterol), while the diets of groups 2 and 3 contained vegetable oil (2% liquid- and 5% hydrogenatedvegetable oil) and cholesterol (3%). 4.5% Garcinia cambogia was added to the diet of group 3 from day 45. Performance metrics were significantly lower in group 3 than the other groups. Serum NEFA levels were significantly higher in group 3 than the control group on day 45, and in group 3 compared with the other groups on day 75. Serum CRP levels were not significantly different among all groups in all days. In conclusion, the reduced performance metrics indicate that supplementation with Garcinia cambogia extract is a novel therapeutic tool for weight management. Also, this study indicates that large doses of Garcinia cambogia can lead to a substantial increase in serum NEFA concentrations which may be due to the increased fat degradation.


Ekaterinburg consultation and diagnostic center, Ekaterinburg, Russia Aim. To study the features of cerebral blood flow at different structural and functional levels of the brain vascular system in patients with chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis of viral etiology. Methods. A comprehensive ultrasound examination of the brain vascular system using an algorithm of cerebral arterial and venous blood flow examination based on the concept of the brain vascular system construction considering five structural and functional levels was performed in 65 chronic viral hepatitis patients and 61 patients with liver cirrhosis of viral etiology. The examination of the main brain arteries was performed using duplex scanning ultrasound SSD-5500 scanner («Aloka», Japan) with 5–12 MHz linear transducers. Examination of intracranial vessels was performed by transcranial color duplex scanning using ultrasonic SSD-5500 and «Sonoline G60» scanners («Siemens», Germany) with linear and phased 2.1–2.5 MHz transducers. Control group consisted of 50 healthy persons. Results. Remodeling of the cerebral arteries: the expansion of the lumen of the main cerebral vessels, reduction of blood flow in the carotid and middle cerebral arteries, decreased elasticity and increased vascular wall rigidity and, as a consequence, a change in vascular resistance and cerebral blood flow disturbance occurs in patients with chronic viral liver diseases. Identified changes of blood flow parameters at all levels of structural and functional brain perfusion indicate the presence of cerebral microangiopathy and arteriopathy based on the development of arteriosclerosis of main arteries and all penetrating arteries and arterioles in patients with chronic diffuse liver diseases. Conclusion. Adaptive remodeling of the vascular wall of the main cerebral arteries which provides an adequate regulatory response is found in patients with hepatitis B and C-associated liver cirrhosis. The reduction of blood supply to the brain, depletion of functional vascular reserve and development of intracranial venous circulatory distress are seen in patients with liver cirrhosis associated with viral hepatitis.


After presenting the theory of calendar function of Iran's cross-vaults especially "Niasar" cross-vault in recent years, there has been lots of doubts and uncertainty about this theory by astrologists and archaeologists. According to this theory "Niasar cross-vault and other cross-vaults of Iran has calendar function and are constructed in a way that sunrise and sunset can be seen from one of its openings in the beginning and middle of each season of year". But, mentioning historical documentaries we conclude here that the theory of calendar function of Iran's cross-vaults does not have any strong basis and individual cross-vaults had only religious function in Iran. Keywords—cross-vault, fire temple, Calendar function, Sassanid period


ABSTRACT
Forests are the natural ecosystems that the world needs to reduce
greenhouse gases. The forest is a variety of crops grown with the trees are able to
absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) and producing oxygen (O2). so that forests can
reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in atmosfer. Without the forest existence of
life on earth can not possibly happen, not only provide oxygen but also many
other benefits associated with human existence on earth.
United Nations through the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) perform
an effort to help countries in overcoming the destruction of forests. United
Nations Forum on Forests in collaboration with government and environmental
organizations to develop capacity and strong institutions through programs to
reduce deforestation. United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) have universal
membership, which all UN member states are members of the UNFF and one of
them is Brazil.
The efforts of the United Nations Forum on Forests / UNFF in addressing
forest degradation in the Brazilian Amazon with the way become a facilitator and
consultant, for local activities and national and give suggestions to overcome the
destruction of forests and provide financial assistance facility for Brazil to
implement its program. Besides, UNFF also do advocacy and monitoring in
cooperation with governments, regulatory bodies and stakeholders who
determine the policy by providing inputs so that people understand more about
the natural enviromental resources properly without damaging the environment.
Keyword : UNFF, UN, Brazilian Amazone, Brazil, Natural Enviromental,
Forest Degradation,


Scores from a behavioral assessment of 160 stable preterm newborn twins were compared with those obtained from 120 full-term newborn twins. The twins were examined during various activities to obtain representative samples of behavior in the following behavioral categories: irritability, resistance to soothing, reactivity, reinforcement value, and activity level. Within-pair correlations were found in all of the behavioral categories, suggesting a constitutional influence on behavioral patterns during the neonatal period. The preterm infants demonstrated internal consistency of behavior similar to that of the full-term group in the first three categories. However, group differences were found when comparing the preterm with the full-term infants on actual ratings of the items. Behavioral differences between these full-term and preterm twins were comparable to those published for samples of singleton infants.


Western democracies have become neoliberal with all the disproportions of economic and political power that have emerged in capitalist society. The power acquired in the free market not only deforms the integrity of society and economic and political balance, but also it has become virtually impossible for democracy as a form of government to exist. As the scale of the free market became global, the economic entity has also gone global creating disproportions that have led Western democracies to be ruled by economic entities rather than political ones. However, proper education, the use of new economic decentralisation trends, changing the role of politicians and the activity of citizens, and emerging new possibilities of digital democracy give us a glimpse of how to use the opportunities of the free market for strengthening democracies. At the same time, the reforms that have taken place in China in recent years have paradoxically shown that neoliberalism can also have positive aspects for society, which, as a new balance of economic and political capital, can be applied in the West as well.


The responses to chilling temperature of 12 Korean cucumber varieties was compared to those of two U.S.A. (previously determined cold tolerant NC76 and 'Chipper'), and Chinese and Japanese germplasms. Seedlings of each entry were exposed to 4°C (Experiment 1) and 1°C (Experiments 2 and 3) at the first-true leaf stage for eight and nine hours, respectively, under 80% relative humidity (RH) and 149 μmoles?m -2 ?s -1 photosynthetic photon flux (PPF). The chilling response [damage rating (DR)] of each accession was based on visual ratings (1 to 5) after treatment, where 1 = no damage, 2 = slight, 3 = moderate, 4 = advanced, and 5 = severe damage. Predictably the cumulative average DR of chilling tolerant line NC76 and 'Chipper' after chilling w as 1 a nd 1 .1, respectively . Korean 'Nacdongchungjang' w as m ost sensitive to c hilling temperatures [DR = 2 .3] when compared to the other entries examined. The sensitivity to chilling of 'Nacdongchungjang' was followed by Chinese 'Dongguan' [DR = 1.7]. In contrast, 'Saeronchungjang' (DR = 1) and 'Janghyungnachap' (DR = 1) were the most chilling tolerant of the Korean accessions examined and equivalent to the response of line NC76 and 'Chipper'. Nevertheless, chloroplast type genotyping of these accessions with known chilling-linked sdCAPS genomic markers revealed genotypic differences between chilling tolerant lines (NC76 and 'Chipper') and all Korean lines examined.


MiSeq sequencing technology was used to analyze the microbial community diversity of soil in alpine wetlands to understand the degradation processes and environmental factors in these areas. The results showed that the severity of soil degradation changed the species diversity of soil microorganisms at the level of OTUs, and grass patches contained more species than frozen-thawing patches. The soil fungi species of OTUs changed significantly. The diversity indexes of bacteria (between the frozen-thawing patches and the grass patches) were higher than that of fungi. The dominant microbial species were consistent among different degradation stages. The dominant species of bacteria and fungi were Proteobacteria and RB41, and Ascomycota and Mortierella, respectively. The abundance of dominant microorganisms was significantly between un-degraded and heavily degraded areas, except for RB41 (P<0.05). The dominant microorganisms in the grass patches were more sensitive than those in the frozen-thawing patches. It was found that the main factors affecting the microbial community structure of soil were water content, organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen, and sedge coverage. Microbial diversity may decrease in heavily degraded alpine wetlands. Thus, the frozen-thawing patches and sedge species should be first protected, and the supplements of soil water content, soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, and nitrogen should be strengthened for alpine wetland restoration.


New results are reported on the angular and energy spectrum of resonantly accelerated electrons from a shock front as measured by a miniature ..beta..-ray spectrometer. A multichannel electron collector based on printed circuit board technology has been developed. It has been multiplexed into a fast oscilloscope to provide a complete absolute spectrum on a single laser shot.


More than 300,000 water-using industrial plants in the United States discharge 3-4 times as much oxygen-demanding wastes as all of the sewered population of the United States. Many wastes discharged by industries are toxic to aquatic life and sometimes indirectly to man. An infamous example of the latter is mercury. The volume of industrial wastewater discharge before treatment in 1964 exceeded 13 billion gal. Indications are that over half of this wastewater volume comes from 4 major industrial groups including paper, organic chemicals, petroleum refining, and steel. Industrial pollution problems are created by oxygen-demanding wastewater constituents, organic and inorganic settleable solids, suspended solids, flotable materials, End_Page 2087------------------------------ toxic metals or substances, nuisance-stimulating nutrients, and waste heat. Treatment and control processes are now available for most industrial wastes. Some pollutants including complex chemicals, however, present difficult abatement problems. The magnitude of the national industrial waste problem has remained relatively unknown. There has not been until the past few weeks a detailed inventory of industrial wastes. The Environmental Protection Agency within the past year embarked upon a three-pronged program to inventory, study, and regulate this vast waste complex. Following a test mailing to refine the questionnaire and the instructions, a voluntary national industrial wastes inventory was begun in early August 1971. A comprehensive questionnaire has been mailed to 10,000 of the major water-using industries in the United States. The inventory questionnaire was designed to collect information on quantity and quality of wastewater constituents and discharge methods. Data from the inventory will be computerized to facilitate their use. These data will be extremely valuable in all governmental activities connected with the control of industrial wastes. The Environmental Protection Agency is in partnership with the Corps of Engineers in the administration of the River and Harbor Act of 1899. Under the provision of this Act, each industrial waste discharge to the nation's waters will be regulated by a permit issued by the Corps of Engineers. The EPA will review, evaluate compliance with water quality standards, and recommend actions on the permit requests. Comprehensive studies on 20 major industrial categories have recently been completed. These studies defined a feasible effluent level based upon production units for an industrial category. They present the best and most comprehensive compilation of data now available on wastewater management from these industrial categories. End_of_Article - Last_Page 2088------------


Objectives: To identify pre-operative factors that predisposes to conversion of laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
Methodology: Patients with symptomatic cholelithiasis from a tertiary hospital were selected for this cross-sectional study. The patient data was obtained from the hospital online database. Patients aged ≥ 18 years with clinical diagnosis of symptomatic cholelithiasis who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy from January 2013 to December 2014 were included in the study. Those who underwent planned open cholecystectomy, patients with gallbladder polyps, acalculous cholecystitis and history of previous laparotomy were excluded from the study. Data were analyzed using chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and logistic regression.
Results: Two hundred patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Conversion to open cholecystectomy was seen in 28 patients (14%). Patients with acute cholecystitis were 3.4 times more likely and males were 2.5 times more likely to undergo conversion. The likelihood of conversion increased by 0.9 times for each year of increase in age. Patients with diabetes mellitus were 3.8 times more likely to undergo conversion. Hypertension was also a significant factor contributing to a conversion. After a logistic regression analysis, only three factors remained statistically independently significant: diabetes mellitus (95% CI: 0.1 to 0.6), acute cholecystitis (95% CI: 0.1 to 0.7) and male gender (95%CI: 0.7 to 0.9).
Conclusions: Decision to convert laparoscopic cholecystectomy to open should be taken earlier in a male patient with diabetes mellitus, acute cholecystitis and advancing age.


Previous studies evaluating sexual dimorphism in subadult pelvic features present variable, and at times conflicting, conclusions. As a result, there is yet to be a consensus on whether the subadult pelvis can be used in sex estimation methods. This study aims to assess the forensic utility of ilium shape and greater sciatic notch morphology in sexing subadult pelves prior to acetabular fusion. A sample of 397 modern U.S. individuals with unfused acetabula (i.e., tri‐radiate cartilages) aged birth to 14 years was queried from a larger sample of postmortem computed tomography scans. Elliptical Fourier analyses were performed on ilium and greater sciatic notch outlines and resultant PCs were evaluated for significant effects of sex and age. Greater sciatic notch metrics were also collected. Stepwise linear discriminant function analyses with leave‐one‐out cross‐validation were performed on the PCs and metric variables. Analyses were performed on pooled samples, on age‐specific cohort samples, and on samples that iteratively removed the youngest one‐year cohort. Cross‐validated correct classification rates ranged from 57% to 65% and no patterns were observed to support an appearance and/or consistent expression of sexually diagnostic traits. Based on the results, sex estimation using these features is not recommended in pelvic remains prior to acetabular fusion, although the sample sizes of individuals over 5 years of age were limited in this study. Future studies should focus on the sexually diagnostic ability of pelvic traits in subadult samples post‐fusion of the acetabulum.


It can be easily said that one of the important criteria affecting the albinism of textile products is the color. For this purpose, it is known that synthetic dyes are widely used today when natural dye sources were used in the coloring of textile materials. In this study, it was tested whether the common mallow plant could be used as a natural dye source in the coloring of woolen fabrics without any previous extraction. For this purpose, experiments were carried out with 3 different concentrations of different mordant materials by using common mallow at the same weight with the fabric. The obtained colors and fastnesses were examined and compared with the samples dyed without use of any mordanting agent. Antibacterial analysis against Escherichia colibacteria was also performed on the sample dyed without use of any mordanting agent. As a result, it was found that the common mallow plant could be used for coloring woolen fabrics, but it was not able to give antibacterial properties to the woolen fabric under the tested experimental conditions.


Ten strains of Aedes polynesiensis were infected with subperiodic Brugia malayi and Brugia pahangi. Susceptibility to B. malayi ranged from 92.1--100%, and susceptibility to B. pahangi from 97.5--100%. Further analysis showed significant differences in the numbers of third-stage larvae both between parasites and between strains within parasites. Because of the high levels of susceptibility, it appears that Ae. polynesiensis provides an even better laboratory model for vector-parasite studies than the strains of Ae. aegypti currently used.


Purpose: The study aims at investigating the determinants of successful project management practices on performance of roads projects at Kenya National Highways Authority. This study was limited to four variables, which include project monitoring, management support, Project team, and Project funding.Methodology: The study employed a descriptive research design. The target population included the top project management team of KeNHA, Monitoring Officers of KeNHA, Project Engineers (PEs), financial officers and auditors, Consultants and Contractors in the entire structure of KeNHA totaling to 174. The study employed stratified random sampling technique to acquire a sample size of 87. The study collected both quantitative and qualitative data through the use of a organized survey of questionnaire. Data was presented in the form of frequency distribution tables, graphs and pie charts that facilitates description and explanation of the study findings. Results: The study findings revealed that project monitoring, management support, Project team competency and Project funding influence performance of roads projects at KeNHA. The results of findings indicates that a unit increase in project monitoring, management support  Project team competency and Project funding leads to 0.873, 0.581, 0.713 and 0.289 increase in performance of roads projects at KeNHA respectively. The study concluded that Project Funds greatly influence road Project Completion. Recommendations: The study recommends that management should provide the necessary provision to the practical and operating workers in the development of road project operations for real and practical success of objectives. Highly qualified and experienced management support with a relevant experience and technical skills should be hired to implement road projects. This will enable the Kenya government get value for their money, achieve on-time projects completion and save huge costs.


In this paper, we report on a free-space microwave system developed for the measurement of the relative complex permittivity of granular materials (wheat, soybeans and corn) and of pulverized materials (coal). The system consists of a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna separated by a space filled by the sample to be characterized and a network analyzer for transmission measurement. The receiving antenna is mounted on a movable plate, which gives the flexibility of having different sample thicknesses. The system is considered a two-port device. The testing procedure developed is nondestructive and easy for implementation. At a fixed moisture level, the dielectric constant and loss factor of the test materials are determined and compared with other published data.


The ways in which international non-governmental development organizations (INGDOs) engage with northern constituencies have important implications for their promotion of principles of global justice and equity, their legitimacy as global actors and their capacity to shape a democratic global civil society. This paper focuses on the diverse forms of engagement currently being sought by international development NGOs. Using development education as a case study the paper explores some of the processes of mediation and negotiation that shape NGOs' articulation of global ethics. The paper argues that the diversity of approaches to engagement in the sector presents an opportunity for INGDOs to strengthen and deepen their relationships with Northern constituencies and to support the articulation and embedding of principles of global justice and equity. It argues that development education can play a central role in achieving this.


While the prognosis of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension has improved significantly due to newer medications, lung transplantation remains a critical therapeutic option for severe pulmonary arterial hypertension. Hence, it is essential for patients awaiting lung transplantation to avoid complications, including thrombocytopenia, which may affect their surgical outcomes. Herein we present the case of a 21-year-old woman diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension at the age of 15. She developed thrombocytopenia while awaiting lung transplantation. Her medication was switched from epoprostenol to treprostinil, suspecting possible drug-induced thrombocytopenia. Furthermore, she was administered thrombopoietin receptor agonists in view of the possibility of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, along with maximum support for right heart failure. Subsequently, her platelet count increased to >70,000/µL, enabling her to successfully undergo bilateral lung transplantation. Post-bilateral lung transplantation, pulmonary arterial hypertension as well as thrombocytopenia appeared to have resolved. In this case, we suspected that thrombocytopenia could have resulted owing to a combination of pulmonary arterial hypertension, right heart failure, drug interactions, and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Thrombocytopenia is a very critical condition in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, especially those awaiting lung transplantation. Several approaches are known to improve intractable thrombocytopenia in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.


Dear Sir We read with interest the article by Lin et al. (1). We have major concerns regarding the conclusion drawn that surgical management can be beneficial in the treatment of sinus headaches. There are a number of issues we would like to highlight. The paper identified 1500 patients who had nasal surgery with the chief complaint of headache. We were not told which surgery patients had and no details were given about these patients. This is a huge number of patients to receive surgery who had headache. What were the indications in these patients? What proportion had sinus surgery? Did they all have sinus pathology? We infer that in all but the 36 patients who formed the study group, their headache was not improved by sinus surgery. It has been shown that in a significant proportion, the pain may persist (2) or be made worse after surgery (3). Furthermore, McAuliffe's original work implicating contact points as a cause of facial pain (4) has not been replicated in a controlled study (5). The report focused on 36 patients with sinus pathology who primarily presented with headache and it appears that the only difference between these and the aforementioned 1500 patients was that their headache was better after surgery. None of the 36 patients had rhinological symptoms, yet 42% were diagnosed with sinusitis. Our experience shows that patients with genuine sinusitis almost invariably have coexisting nasal symptoms (6) with endoscopic signs of disease (7). The role of imaging continues to cause controversy. The benefits and limitations of computed tomography (CT) scanning in the assessment of rhinosinusitis have been well described (8). We would like to point out that approximately 30% of asymptomatic patients demonstrate mucosal thickening in one or more sinuses on CT scanning (9). The presence of this finding is not an indication that pain is sinogenic in origin. Patients with facial pain and no objective evidence of sinus disease, as detected by endoscopy and CT, respond well to neurological treatment and surgical treatment is unnecessary (10). In the experience of the senior author, chronic sinusitis, fungal sinusitis and mucolcoeles are usually painless except during an acute excubation (11). For these reasons we would exercise caution against recommending sinus surgery for patients with headache or facial pain, particularly as a primary symptom.


Positron emission tomography (PET) is increasingly considered as an effective imaging method to support several stages of radiation therapy. The combined usage of functional and morphological imaging in state-of-the-art PET/CT scanners is rapidly emerging to support the treatment planning process in terms of improved tumor delineation, and to assess the tumor response in follow-up investigations after or even during the course of fractionated therapy. Moreover, active research is being pursued on new tracers capable of providing different insights into tumor function, in order to identify areas of the planning volume which may require additional dosage for improved probability of tumor control. In this respect, major progresses in the next years will likely concern the development and clinical investigation of novel tracers and image processing techniques for reliable thresholding and segmentation, of treatment planning and beam delivery approaches integrating the PET imaging information, as well as improved multimodal clinical instrumentation such as PET/MR. But especially in the rapidly emerging case of ion beam therapy, the usage of PET is not only limited to the imaging of external tracers injected to the patient. In fact, a minor amount of positron emitters is formed in nuclear fragmentation reactions between the impinging ions and the tissue, bearing useful information for confirmation of the delivered treatment during or after therapeutic irradiation. Different implementations of unconventional PET imaging for therapy monitoring are currently being investigated clinically, and major ongoing research aims at new dedicated detector technologies and at challenging applications such as real-time imaging and time-resolved in vivo verification of motion compensated beam delivery. This paper provides an overview of the different areas of application of PET in radiation oncology and discusses the most promising perspectives in the years to come for radiation therapy planning, delivery, and monitoring.


Background: Spinal cord ischemic injury during thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic surgeries remains a potentially devastating outcome despite using various methods of protection. Neuronal voltage-dependent sodium channel antagonists are known to provide neuroprotection in cerebral ischemic models. This study was designed to compare the neuroprotective effects of phenytoin with those of hypothermia in a rabbit model of spinal cord ischemia. Material and Method: Spinal cord ischemia was induced in New Zealand white rabbits by means of infrarenal aortic cross clamping for 25 minutes. Four groups of 8 animals each were studied. The control group and the hypothermia group received retrograde infusion of saline only (22 o C, 2 mL/min); the normothermic phenytoin group and the hypothermicphenytoin group received retrograde infusion of 100 mg of phenytoin at different rectal temperatures (39 o C and 37 o C, respectively) during the ischemic period. The neurologic function was assessed at 24 and 72 hours after the operation with using the modified Tarlov criteria. The spinal cords were harvested after the final neurologic examination for histopathological examination to objectively quantify the amount of neuronal damage. Result: No major adverse effects were observed with the retrograde phenytoin infusion during the aortic ischemic period. All the control rabbits became severely paraplegic. Both the phenytoin group and the hypothermia group had a better neurological status than did the control group (p<0.05). The typical morphological changes that are characteristic of neuronal necrosis in the gray matter of the control animals were demonstrated by means of the histopathological examination, whereas phenytoin or hypothermia prevented or attenuated these necrotic phenomena (p<0.05). The number of motor neuron cells positive for TUNEL staining was significantly reduced, to a similar extent, in the rabbits treated with phenytoin or hypothermia. Phenytoin and hypothermia had some additive neuroprotective effect, but there was no statistical significance between the two on the neurological and histopathological analysis. Conclusion: The neurological and histopathological analysis consistently demonstrated that both phenytoin and hypothermia may afford significant spinal cord protection to a similar extent during spinal cord ischemia in rabbits, although no significant additive effects were noticed. (Korean J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2008;41:405-416)


Recent studies on high-Tc superconductors have aroused new interest in tunnelling effects in unconventional superconductors. Unlike in conventional s-wave superconductors, the d-wave pairing state in these materials has an internal phase of the pair potential. The internal phase as a function of the wavevector of the Cooper pairs has a large influence on the electric properties of tunnelling junctions. Important effects of the internal phase on the Josephson current were first predicted theoretically. The idea has been established through several experiments using high-Tc Josephson junctions, which detect π-phase shift between the a- and b-axis directions and fractional flux quanta. These results give convincing evidence for d-wave symmetry in high-Tc superconductors. In addition, the existence of new interference effects in the quasiparticle states near surfaces and boundaries has been suggested through theoretical predictions. Experimentally, a large number of tunnelling spectroscopy data showed zero-bias conductance peaks (ZBCPs), the origin of which cannot be explained in terms of the classical concept that a tunnelling conductance spectrum is a phase-insensitive probe of the electronic states. It is clarified theoretically that the observed ZBCPs reflect the formation of zero-energy states on the surface due to the π-phase shift of internal phase in the d-wave pairing symmetry. The formulation developed for tunnelling spectroscopy suggests that tunnelling spectroscopy is essentially phase sensitive. In addition, the formation of the bound states has been shown to have a serious influence on the electrical properties of Josephson junctions. Several anomalous properties including strong enhancement of the Josephson current in the low-temperature region have been predicted theoretically. In this report, recent developments in tunnelling effects on surface bound states in unconventional superconductors are reviewed.


During the latter half of the 20th century, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) represented the labor organization most readily recognized by the American public. Rooted in the vital sectors of transportation, warehousing, and distribution, the Teamsters became one of the largest unions in the United States, wielded considerable economic leverage, and used this leverage to improve the lives of low-wage workers across a broad swath of occupations and industries. The union's reputation for militancy and toughness reached its apotheosis in the controversial career of Jimmy Hoffa, the Teamsters' most prominent post-World War II leader. Under the leadership of Hoffa and his immediate predecessor Dave Beck, the union (with some notable exceptions) embraced a business ethos, often engaged in collusive and corrupt practices, and came to symbolize the labor movement's squandered potential as a transformational social force. Fear of Hoffa and his associations with underworld figures provoked an intense backlash, resulting in the IBT's 1957 expulsion from the AFL-CIO, concerted legal and legislative action aimed at curbing Teamster influence, and a lingering public perception that the union was a hopelessly corrupt and malign force.
 Hoffa's unsolved disappearance in 1975 cemented the Teamsters' image as a suspect institution, and analysts of the IBT have often offered either superficial or sensational accounts of the organization's history and operations. With the deregulation of the trucking industry in the 1980s, the IBT suffered serious losses in market share and membership that eclipsed many of the union's crowning collective bargaining achievements. A series of lackluster, corrupt leaders who followed Hoffa as union president proved unable to counter these developments, triggering the rise of an aggressive internal reform movement (Teamsters for a Democratic Union), federal intervention and monitoring, and the election of a reform slate in 1991 that assumed leadership of the union. However, since the union's victory in an epic strike against United Parcel Service in 1997, the Teamsters have struggled to regain their ability to assert working-class power, especially within the private sector transportation industry, where they once exercised nearly unchallenged hegemony.


In the present work, the steady-state behavior of a Chemical Looping Combustion process of interconnected fluidized bed reactors is simulated. The simulations have been carried out in two different scales, 50 kWth and 100 MWth . Attrition model derived from small scale laboratory experiments has been employed for the prediction of the process behavior in terms of attrition and Oxygen Carrier loss. Information on Oxygen Carrier characteristics and reaction kinetics were taken from literature. Realistic circulation mass flows of Oxygen Carrier particles are obtained and Oxygen Carrier losses are quantified. The large scale process looses significantly more Oxygen Carrier than the small scale process based on the same amount of thermal energy produced. Incomplete conversion in the air reactor could be identified as a critical point. Another issue is the fuel gas bypassing the Oxygen Carrier particles through bubbles in the large scale process which leads to lowered fuel conversions. The simulations indicate that a similar performance of a pilot scale and a large scale process is not guaranteed due to the scale-up effect on fluid dynamics. Furthermore, the simulations allow an assessment of the influence of the quality of the solids recovery system on the Oxygen Carrier loss. The distribution of the losses between possible origins is investigated and different changes in the solids recovery system are discussed regarding their potential to decrease the Oxygen Carrier loss. For example, the addition of a second-stage cyclone after the air reactor of the large scale process reduces the Oxygen Carrier loss significantly.


Ophidiomycosis, historically known as snake fungal disease, is caused by Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola and has been reported in over 30 species of snakes. In July 2015, an adult female eastern black rat snake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) was found at Prairie Ridge EcoStation, a North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS) field site in Raleigh, NC, with traumatic lesions consistent with injuries caused by landscaping equipment. The snake was brought to NCMNS Veterinary Services and tested positive via dermal swabs for O ophiodiicola on quantitative PCR (qPCR). The snake was treated with terbinafine (Terbinafine, 250 mg; InvaGen Pharmaceuticals, Hauppauge, NY, USA) nebulised at 2 mg/ml for 30 min every 24 hours for 30 days, and tested negative on further swabs for O ophiodiicola on qPCR before release. From April 2016 to November 2018, the snake was tracked via radio telemetry with physical examinations, bloodwork and qPCR swabs conducted multiple times a year.


Many assume that lawmakers should design contract law with the goal of facilitating commercial promises, but neglect the question of which promises qualify as a commercial in nature. This Article argues that this question matters more than one might initially expect. Once we understand commerciality in terms of commodification — roughly, treating something as subject to market norms — surprising recommendations for reform follow. First, if contract law should enforce commodified promises, we should demote the consideration doctrine to a presumption of enforceability rather than a formal requirement. Second, we should adopt a rule, contrary to current doctrine in most jurisdictions, that intending to make a promise legally binding renders it presumptively enforceable. Beyond these reforms, understanding contracts as commodified promises also provides a new lens through which to view recurring debates about the limits we place on the power to contract, including limits on enforcing donative promises, remedies, and efficient breaches. We can even understand the 2008 financial crisis as caused in part by over-commodifying promises. In short, this Article shows how debates about the moral limits of markets, which might have seemed peripheral to contract theory, belong at its very core.


MicroRaman spectroscopy was used for the characterization of heterostructured SiGe/Si nanowires. The NWs were grown with alloyed AuGa catalysts droplets with different Ga compositions aiming to make more abrupt heterojunctions. The heterojunctions were first characterized by TEM; then the NWs were scanned by the laser beam in order to probe the heterojunction. The capability of the MicroRaman spectroscopy for studying the heterojunction is discussed. The results show that the use of catalysts with lower Ge and Si solubility (AuGa alloys) permits to achieve more abrupt junctions.


Our purpose in this article is to find new ways to explain the delays with which Romania comes today to meet the civilized world, via the European Union. We focus on two aspects, less explored until now: 1. Romania did not have, as other countries from Central and Eastern Europe, theoretician and practicing economists, professionally well trained, to explain and support a rapid and vigorous transition. 2. The decision-makers today (as those from yesterday) are more interested in the field of ideology. Following this direction, we have tried to reveal here some new aspects which provide answers to the question addressed in the title.


The Zuloaga Formation at Sierra de Enfrente may be divided into 7 interbedded carbonate facies. In order of abundance, they are: pell-ooid grainstone-packstone, lime mudstone, pelletal packstone-grainstone, ooid grainstone, pelletal wackestone, skeletal wackestone, and algal boundstone. Three measured sections located on an east-west trending, overturned anticline (Sierra de Enfrente) were described and sampled. The sections are oriented along depositional strike and are roughly 395 m (1,300 ft) thick. Approximately 20 shoaling-upward "cycles" that display an upsection trend from mudstone-wackestone lithofacies to packstone-grainstone-boundstone lithofacies are readily distinguished in each section. The cycles vary in thickness with thick cycles correlating well from section to section along depositional strike. Within any cycle, interpreted subenvironments may include, from base to top: subtidal, outer shoal, inner shoal, and inter-tidal-supratidal. The Zuloaga Formation sediments were deposited on a broad carbonate ramp dipping southward off the emergent Coahuila peninsula. The study area is located between Zuloaga-equivalent, near-shore, siliciclastic deposits to the north and outer-ramp Zuloaga lime mudstone facies to the south. This intermediate position was ideally situated for the development of high-energy shoals. Time-equivalent shoal facies that rim the Gulf of Mexico are prolific hydrocarbon producers (Smackover Formation, USA; San Andres Formation, Mexico). End_of_Article - Last_Page 476------------


Contrary to the optimistic view that the Internet would promote democracy in authoritarian countries like China, the pervasive political apathy among younger generations calls for a closer examination of micro-level individual political participation. This study contributes to the nascent body of empirical literature probing Chinese Internet users' political participation online by examining related behavioral and attitudinal factors. We argue that Chinese netizens' online participatory behaviors are determined by their political attitudes, trust in the media, and, chiefly, trust in the social system. Importantly, the current political and social environment in China seems to truncate any liberalizing potential of the Internet, as evidenced by the limited online political discussion and strong presence of government regulation. This dynamic implies that any utopian predictions concerning political participation online need to be reformulated in light of these external contextual factors.


In this article the author considers the category of property which in Russian philosophy was recognized as a moral value


In the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the fast and equitable distribution of effective vaccines worldwide is one of the challenges faced by international institutions in charge, as global equity in vaccine supply has not yet been achieved. Our paper explains the current state of ethical research on equity in global COVID-19 vaccine allocation, focusing on the COVAX Facility established by the WHO, acting as the global vaccine distributor. The article presents a detailed analysis of the first year of COVAX allocation in 2021 identifying problematic aspects of its allocation framework regarding the implementation of COVAX's fundamental allocation principles. We argue that the COVAX Facility has developed a proper concept to deal with global vaccine allocation—but to address uncovered defaults, we introduce the 'Prioritized Distribution of Equal Shares' model—a both ethical and practically feasible alternative allocation framework to protect the value of human lives in both high- and low-income countries through fair and fast global vaccine distribution in health emergencies. Nonetheless, we argue that the COVAX Facility remains the main organization to provide equitable access to vaccines. Yet, the global community has to consider further aspects such as patent protection, vaccine production and the lack of power of global structures to address the inequities that have arisen. Since new wars and further crises have arisen, a shift in public global attention endangers the processing of COVID-19-related issues. That is why now more than ever extensive efforts to achieve vaccine equity are needed.


[Several earlier essays in this journal have explored questions such as whether it is possible to speak of intercultural dialogue about the common good in an era of globalization, or whether one can even seek a "global ethics." These questions are more poignant and critical since the tragic events of September 11, 2001. The author here argues that a revised concept of the common good can still be useful. She brings to bear on global ethics some aspects of Aquinas's view of practical reason, especially its historical contextuality and its interdependence with moral virtue.]


The bulk of the rock material in the neighbourhood of an excavation, beneath a foundation or inside mine pillars is in fact triaxially loaded over long periods. Strata exposed in mines and excavations is subjected to bending over long periods also. In many mines and underground workings the rock is nearly saturated, also information on the three dimensional creep behaviour of any rock is very limited. It was felt that studying the three dimensional creep behaviour under confinement in both dry and saturated conditions could add valuable information to the knowledge available on rock behaviour in such conditions. Gypsum was chosen as a suitable evaporite rock for carrying out this work. To assess the significance and the nature of the time-dependent behaviour of gypsum in engineering applications, triaxial compression creep tests were carried out at 10,20 and 30 N/mm2 confining pressure. Bending and uniaxial compression creep tests were also performed on the rock. Axial and lateral creep strains were measured from which volumetric creep strain was calculated. All the creep tests were carried out in dry and water saturated conditions at room temperature. Instantaneous strengths of gypsum under bending, uniaxial tensile, uniaxial and triaxial compression were found. The effects of specimen size and water saturation on these strengths were determined at room temperature. Empirical equations describing the individual creep curves in bending, uniaxial compression and triaxial compression were determined for both dry and saturated conditions, in the latter two cases equations for both axial and lateral strains were-obtained.