In higher plants, seed size is an important agronomic trait that determines the crop yield and evolutionary fitness. Guar is an economically important legume crop because of the presence of galactomannan in its seed endosperm which is used as a stabilizer and thickener in pharmaceutical, paper, cosmetic and textile industries. The current study demonstrate the role of CtBSL, in regulation of seed size, weight and galactomannan content in two independent BSL12-25-15-31-3 and BSL70-21-25-4-16 T4 transgenic lines of guar, via. pCMKCtBSL mediated post transcriptional CtBSL silencing approach. The upregulation of CtCYCA2;4, CtCYCD3;2, CtCDKE-1, CtCYCT1;5, CtH2A, CtH2B, CtH3, CtH4, CtERF, CtWRKY43, CtGRF5 and CtGIF1 genes in transgenic lines of guar contributed to enhanced cell proliferation and final seed size which was further strongly and positively correlated to phytochemical biosynthesis and their anti-diabetic, anti-AGEs and lipase inhibitory potential against α-glucosidase, α-amylase, AGEs and lipase enzymes, respectively. Therefore, here we conclude the potential role of CtBSL silencing in improving the crop yield and therapeutic treatment of diabetes and obesity by positive regulation of seed size and phytochemical biosynthesis, respectively, in guar.


Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is associated with high Sympathetic Activity (SA) and a subsequent risk of hypertension and atherosclerosis. Objectives of this study were to assess the relationship between SA, Blood Pressure (BP) and early cardiovascular disease markers in OSA

We studied 38 OSA patients and 17 aged-matched controls. OSA patients were otherwise healthy, without evidence of clinic hypertension. SA was measured by direct peroneal microneurography: Muscle Sympathetic Nerve Activity (MSNA) and all subjects underwent a full polysomnography, 24h Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM), arterial stiffness by Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV), vascular reactivity by Peripheral Arterial Tone (PAT) and arterial carotid Intima Media Thickness (IMT).

Groups were comparable for all but not for BMI (25.92 ± 2.71 vs 24.20 ± 2.39 kg/m², p= 0.02). Office Systolic and diastolic BP were the same in patients and controls, while on ABPM 24h-diastolic BP was higher in OSAS group (79.92 ± 8.73 vs 74.59 ± 8.83, p=0.046). There was a strong correlation between SA and all BP parameters: systolic and diastolic office BP (R=0.39 and 0.42,p<0.01) and systolic and diastolic 24-ABPM (R=0.38 and 0.46, p<0.001). Burst/min were correlated with PWV and IMT (R=0.52; p=0.036). Preliminary data on 15 OSA and 9 controls were obtained after 6 month and show that CPAP treatment reduced: SA (Bursts/min 40.49 ± 10.63 vs 35.47 ± 10.06, p<0.05), Diurnal DBP (86.86±11.97 vs 82.07±11.12, P=0.03) and nocturnal dipping (-17.14±5.33 vs -11.07±3.54, P=0.002)

In "Healthy" OSAS SA is likely to play a role in the pathogenesis of hypertension and atherosclerosis. SA reduction induced by CPAP, may reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.


—A one-dimensional (1-D) anomalous-diffusive molecular communication channel is considered, wherein the devices (transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX)) can move in either direction along the axis. For modeling the anomalous diffusion of information carrying molecules (ICM) as well as that of the TX and RX, the concept of time-scaled Brownian motion is explored. In this context, a novel closed-form expression for the first hitting time density (FHTD) is derived. Further, the derived FHTD is validated through particle-based simulation. For the transmission of binary information, the timing modulation is exploited. Furthermore, the channel is assumed as a binary erasure channel (BEC) and analyzed in terms of achievable information rate (AIR).


Due to the increasing number and volume of business transactions and development financing in the Saudi Arabian economy and the increasing variation and sophistication of bank services, attention's required to be directed to the study of the major features of banking structure in Saudi Arabia. This includes resource (deposits) concentration, new bank entry barriers, bank branching and product differentiation. This research attempts at measuring the above features, particularly resource concentration in the banking sector of Saudi Arabia and then utilizes the statistical tools of correlation and multiple regression to estimate the relationship between the main features of banking structure and the major indicators of bank performance, significant among which is profitability. Statistically significant relationships are observed and their policy implications suggested. Finally, overall conclusions from the research are drawn.


The extra internal hair cell (EIHC) of the human cochlea was observed by means of a scanning electron microscope. The EIHC was found not infrequently in all turns of the human cochlea. It was located medial to the IHC row. The inner pillar cells showed an abnormal structure. The anatomical relationships between the displaced IHC and EIHC, and the inner pillar cell were classified into five types. The origin of these anomalies is discussed form an embryological viewpoint.


The purpose of this study was to determine the conformance levels of government websites in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and examine which macro factors influenced the accessibility these websites. The findings indicated that the majority of government websites in SSA still had a long way to go to become accessible based on the WCAG 2.0 standards. None of the 217 government websites examined adhered to all the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. Cross country analysis showed that there are three macro factors influencing e-government accessibility in SSA, namely Human Development Index (HDI), Corruption Perception Index (CPI), and percentage of the active population (15-64 years). Countries with high HDI levels and low CPI levels tend to have websites with fewer accessibility errors, while those for countries with high percentage of the active population have more accessibility errors.


Background: Respiratory function in patients undergoing open heart surgery is disrupted after surgery.  Patient education on managing complications can reduce occurrence or severity of them. A variety of educational tools has been introduced, but there are controversies about the most appropriate tools. Aim: Determine the effect of instructional videos on respiratory function of the patients after off-pump open heart surgery. Method: This single-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted on 60 patients undergoing open heart surgery hospitalized at open heart surgery ward of Imam Reza (AS) hospital in Mashhad, Iran, in 2015. The patients were randomly allocated to intervention and control groups of 30 subjects. The instructional video during a 15-minute session was displayed in the intervention group and the control group educated by pamphlet and face-to-face training the day before the surgery. The respiratory function in both groups was assessed before intervention through spirometric variables including forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and vital capacity (VC). After surgery, arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) and PaO2/FiO2 Ratio (PF ratio) were measured 30 minutes after extubation, as well as the variables of FEV1, VC, SaO2 and PF ratio 24 hours after extubation. Data were analyzed by independent t-test, Mann-Whitney, Chi square, paired t-test, Wilcoxon and Friedman using SPSS version 11.5 software. Results: The means age of patients were 57.5±4.8 and 56.2±4.2 years in the intervention and the control groups, respectively. The difference of the PF ratio 24 hours after extubation compared to 30 minutes after extubation in the intervention group was significantly higher than the control group (P<0.001), as well as the VC and the FEV1 values 24 hours after extubation statistically in the intervention group were significantly higher than the control group (P<0.05). Implications for Practice: The results suggested superiority of the instructional videos rather than pamphlet and face-to-face training to improve postoperative respiratory function in patients undergoing open heart surgery, indicating that instructional videos considering the patient's educational level and their conditions can be effective in educating patients.


3H-Imipramine labels with high affinity a site associated with the macromolecular complex of the serotonin transporter in brain and platelets. There is a good correlation between the potencies of drugs at inhibiting 3H-5HT uptake and at inhibiting 3H-imipramine binding. Dissociation experiments indicate that the site labelled by 3H-imipramine is not identical with the substrate recognition site of the serotonin transporter and thus, it appears that 3H-imipramine labels a modulatory site for the 5HT transport system. On this basis, the existence of an endacoid acting on the 3H-imipramine recognition site to modulate 5HT uptake is discussed. The possibility that 5-methoxytryptoline or a closely related analog may be the endogenous ligand for the 3H-imipramine recognition site is analysed on the basis of the fact that 5-methoxytryptoline is a potent inhibitor of 3H-imipramine binding that also inhibits 3H-5HT uptake.


This paper a collection of lessons that examine the many roles that women played in the Vietnam War and the consequences of their experiences for individuals, governments, and military policies. The series begins with an exercise in which students read 16 statements and then try to decide :f they apply to U.S. women, Vietnamese women, or both. The lessons use poems from a collection written by women who served in Vietnam, excepts from the book "When Heaven and Earth Change Places" by Le Ly Hayslip, a Vietnamese woman who later became a naturalized U.S. citizen, and an interview with a woman who served as a soldier in the NLF (Viet Cong) movement. Questions are supplied to accompany poems from the book "Visions of War, Dreams of Peace." Background information, a detailed lesson plan, suggested teaching procedures, handouts, and transparency masters are included. Objectives of the lessons include: (1) identifying the tone, attitudes, and feelingt expressed in the poetry of women who served in the Vietnam War; (2) served in that war; (3) identifying statements made by nu_ses from those of journalists and non-medical military personnel; (4) offering reasons to explain why women held the views they did; (5) identifying stressful factors associated with serving in the War that impacted the women working in Vietnam during the war; (6) expressing personal feelings and views about the women being studied; and (7) examining statistics about the numbers of deaths the Vietnam War brought about and its consequences for women. (DK) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************


Vasoseminal vesiculography showed medial displacement and stretching of the ampulla of the vas deferens in 3 patients with cysts of the seminal vesicle. In 2 a nonopacified mass separated the ampulla from the ipsilateral seminal vesicle. All 3 patients were managed without surgical intervention. If such a vesiculographic pattern is seen in a patient with a paraprostatic mass, the contents of the mass should be aspirated and contrast material injected to document its cystic nature.


The mVINIS ion source is a part of the TESLA Accelerator Installation, in Belgrade. It is an ECR ion source used as a stand-alone machine delivering multiply charged ion beams to a low energy experimental channel for modification of materials (the L3A channel). In the future, it will be also used as a heavy ion injector for the VINCY Cyclotron. In this article we present the recently introduced hardware and software changes resulting in an improved operation of the mVINIS: the emittance measurement system, the inlet system for precious gases, the improved control system of the microwave generator, a new power supply for the injection stage coil, and the improved program for recording and analysis of the ion beam spectra.


After beginning with a warm appreciation of Alan Stone's scholarship and character, this article argues that Stone's woeful characterization of forensic practice as a wasteland that has no genuine ethical guide to practice and little to contribute is vastly overstated. It claims that the basis for useful ethical practice is rooted in a proper understanding of the law's folk psychological model of behavior and criteria. Then it suggests the proper bounds of forensic practice, including an aspirational list of do's and don'ts. The view presented is deflationary and cautious compared to what the law permits and most practitioners do, but it still leaves forensic practitioners with a wide and important role in the legal system.


Research conducted in LTE and 5G wireless communications systems uses common off-the-shelf hardware components and commercial software defined radio (SDR) hardware. One of the more popular SDR platforms is the Ettus USRP product line which uses the UHD driver and transport protocol framework. System performance can be increased using kernel bypass frameworks along with UHD. This paper investigates UHD with DPDK in an SDR environment using srslTE as the SDR application. We present measurement results using the iperl3 network performance application that show performance improvements when employing a kernel bypass framework to facilitate data transfer over the network interface between the SDR application and the radio hardware.


Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma and melanoma, much like all other human solid tumors, result from a multi-step process in which genetic and epigenetic changes accumulate in the affected cells. Insight into the biology of human tumors is a requirement for developing effective therapies. Cell culture models are a very valuable experimental system. The degree of tumorigenic transformation can be precisely defined. Tumor cell lines display similar functional hierarchy as tumors or tissues in vivo and can, consequently, provide a crucial source of minor cell subsets, like tumor stem cells. Progression series of clonally related cell lines offer the opportunity to follow the process of sequential acquisition of transformation-related traits up to the development of properties with direct clinical equivalents, like tumorigenicity and metastatic competence. These phenotypical changes can be directly correlated with changes at the genome level, concerning both gene structure and expression. While for most studies, human transformed cell lines are the model of choice, there are questions for which animal cell lines are strongly preferred, such as interactions between the tumor and the immune system. To properly interpret the results of all experiments with classical two-dimensional cell culture, a possible danger of artifacts due to grossly unnatural environment must be constantly taken into account. It is thus obligatory to confirm any such result with other experimental models like complex three-dimensional culture models or experimental animals, and with clinical samples.


Abstract This study investigated the association between parental long working hours and the depression of children living with their parents even after becoming adults in South Korea. Data from two years of the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) in 2014 and 2016 were analyzed using a cross-sectional study. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the association between parental long working hours and their adult children's depression. Adult children of mothers who worked more than 60 hours per week were more likely to have depression than 40 hours or less per week. Comprehending aging mothers' weekly working hours is an important factor for understanding the reason of adult children's depression.


This study examined the physiological effects of touching wood with various coating with the palm of the hand on brain activity and autonomic nervous activity. Participants were 18 female university students (mean age, 21.7 ± 1.6 years). As an indicator of brain activity, oxyhemoglobin concentrations were measured in the left and right prefrontal cortices using near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy. Heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate were used as indicators of autonomic nervous activity. The high-frequency (HF) component of HRV, which reflects parasympathetic nervous activity, and the low-frequency (LF)/HF ratio, which reflects sympathetic nervous activity, were measured. Plates of uncoated, oil-finished, vitreous-finished, urethane-finished, and mirror-finished white oak wood were used as tactile stimuli. After sitting at rest with their eyes closed for 60 s, participants touched the stimuli with their palm for 90 s each. The results indicated that tactile stimulation with uncoated wood calmed prefrontal cortex activity (vs. urethane finish and mirror finish), increased parasympathetic nervous activity (vs. vitreous finish, urethane finish, and mirror finish), and decreased heart rate (vs. mirror finish), demonstrating a physiological relaxation effect. Further, tactile stimulation with oil- and vitreous-finished wood calmed left prefrontal cortex activity and decreased heart rate relative to mirror-finished wood.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the clinical value of multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) technique performed in prenatal diagnosis of chromosome 22q11.2 microdeletion.

METHODS
MLPA was performed to detect chromosome 22q11.2 mircodeletion in 62 fetuses with congenital heart defects by fetal echocardiography and a normal karyotype by standard G-banding analysis.For a 22q11.2 mircodeletion fetus, his parents were detected to know if it is inherited or de novo. The microdeletion was confirmed by array-based comparative genomic hybridization (arrayCGH).

RESULTS
MLPA revealed five 22q11.2 mircodeletions in the 62 fetuses, and the positive detection rate was 8% (5/62). Among these, 4 cases carried the 3M typically deletion which all are de novo, and 1 case carried the 1.5M non-typically deletion which was inherited from his father.arrayCGH confirmed the 22q11.2 microdeletions and delineated the precise location and size of microdeletions.

CONCLUSION
MLPA has clinical value in prenatal diagnosis of 22q11.2 mircodeletion, which could provide important genetic information for genetic consulting, pregnancy management and intervention after birth.


ABSTRACT Purpose: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are often accompanied by meniscal tears. Meniscal repair is typically performed during ACL reconstruction. However, retear of the meniscus after repair is frequent. The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors associated with meniscal healing after meniscal repair concomitant with ACL reconstruction. Materials and methods: Eighty-seven meniscal repairs in 87 patients who received meniscal repair combined with ACL reconstruction and received second-look arthroscopy at a mean of postoperatively 15.7 months were examined retrospectively. The menisci were divided into three groups (complete heal, incomplete heal, and retear), and factors thought to affect the healing status of repaired menisci were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: Meniscal healing was judged to be complete in 49 knees (56%), incomplete in 19 knees, (22%), and retear in 19 knees (22%). There were no significant differences among the three groups in age, sex, time from injury to operation, mean Tegner activity scale, tear location, or mean postoperative anteroposterior tibial translation on KT-1000. The mean length of the tear was significantly higher in the retear group. Additionally, the proportion patients with complete tear and the proportion with postoperative positive pivot shift test were significantly higher in the retear group than in the other groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that complete tear and positive pivot shift test were associated with retear. Conclusions: These findings suggest that complete tears and residual instability are associated with retears after meniscal repair concomitant with ACL reconstruction.


Density-based algorithm for discovering clusters in large spatial databases with noise(DBSCAN) is a classic kind of density-based spatial clustering algorithm and is widely applied in several aspects due to good performance in capturing arbitrary shapes and detecting outliers. However, in practice, datasets are always too massive to fit the serial DBSCAN. And a new parallel algorithm—Parallel DBSCAN(PDBSCAN) was proposed to solve the problem which DBSCAN faced. The proposed parallel algorithm bases on MapReduce mechanism. The usage of parallel mechanism in the algorithm focuses on region query and candidate queue processing which needed substantive computation resources. As a result, PDBSCAN is scalable for large-scale dataset clustering and is extremely suitable for applications in E-Commence, especially for recommendation.


This research aims to help business people in using e-commerce and increase the sales results in the marketing of a fabric industry in Bandung. So far, marketing system has been carried out in a manual system that is handled directly by the customer, which makes it time-consuming and costly. Along with the usage of E-commerce in various fields, it is also used in the sales of fabrics. Making a website is one of the multiple ways to increase sales. In the current era of globalization, internet usage and social media are mandatory for many merchants who utilize sales through E-Commerce. This study uses a descriptive method with a qualitative approach carried out in specific fabric industry. The results of this study are the increase in sales of the products and how websites can be utilized in industrial areas. This happens because in using E-Commerce, customers can ignore distance and time. whenever and wherever the customer no longer has to visit or buy the items directly to the store. The conclusion is that e-commerce systems make it easy for users to access information about fabric products online.


Kidney stone consists of various organic, inorganic and semi organic compounds. Mineral oxalate monohydrate and di-hydrate are the main inorganic constituents of kidney stones. However, mechanisms leading to the formation of mineral oxalate kidney stones are not clearly understood. In this field of study, there are several hypotheses including nucleation, crystal growth and/or aggregation of formation of AOMH (Ammonium oxalate monohydrate) and AODH (Ammonium oxalate di-hydrate) crystals. The effect of some urinary species such as ammonium oxalate, calcium citrate, proteins and trace elements were reported by the author. The kidney stone constituents are grown in silica gel medium (SMS) which provides the necessary growth simulation (in-vivo). In the artificial urinary stone growth process, identification of growth parameters within the different chemical environment was carried out and reported for the urinary crystals such as CHP, SHP, BHP and MHP. In the present study, SrCrMHP (Strontium chromium magnesium hydrogen phosphate) crystals are grown in three different growth faces to attain the total nucleation reduction. Extension of this research, many characterization studies have been carried out and the results are reported.


An emerging requirement for the evaluation of the rural development policy is the adoption of an objective method accounting for both material and immaterial achievements, and measuring the performance in order to understand the degree of accomplishment of policy objectives. In this paper we propose a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach capable of dealing with economic and social indicators, to measure the (relative) technical efficiency of a set of Local Action Groups (LAGs) operating within the LEADER programme. An evaluation exercise referred to eight LAGs located in Italy, is provided to demonstrate the effects of the inclusion of social capital indicator in the evaluation of the LAGs' performances. In particular, the DEA allows to measure the relative efficiency of the LAGs and to identify the causes of the inefficiency. The outcomes of the analysis may represent a valuable information support for periodical policy review and for the enhancement of best practices.


SUMMARY The IFLA standard for authority data, UNIMARC authorities format, is described in the light of developments of IFLA standards in the field of authority files, IFLA's activities in promoting the exchange of name authority records within the program of Universal Bibliographic Control and the design of the UNIMARC format for bibliographic records that established principles for its structure and design. The second revised and enlarged edition, UNIMARC Manual: Authorities Format, is described. Particular attention is paid to the methods for expressing relationships between different forms of headings, and relationships between different languages and scripts of headings. The maintenance of the format and sources for its revision are described.


Deinococcus radiodurans is best known for its extraordinary radiation resistance. Manganese(II) ions can protect proteins from being damaged by super radicals, which is supposed to be the main mechanism through which D. radiodurans has the strong radiation resistance. But the detailed molecular and physiological processes about how Mn(II) ions are transported in this bacterium is still not clear. In this paper, two Mn(II) ions transporter gene (DR1709 and DR2523) mutants were used to study the Mn(II) ions transporting mechanism. Results showed that M1709 was much more sensitive to low concentration of Mn(II) ions than M2523. But it was less sensitive to low concentration of Fe(II) ions than M2523. When there were enough Mn(II) ions in the medium, other genes were also activated to uptake them. But when Mn(II) ions was deficient, DR1709 became the only candidate responsible for Mn(II) assimilation. DR1709 was in charge of Mn(II) ions absorbing, no matter wheather Mn(II) ions supply was enough or not. DR1709 can also control the protease production or secretion to prevent over production. The functions of protease secreted by the strains was limited in radiation resistance. DR2523 was responsible for Mn(II) ions efflux, while DR1709 was a Mn(II) influx transporter, which cannot transport Fe(II) ions.


PURPOSE
To discuss the application of Foley pressurized bladders with rigid internal fixation in treating 32 cases of maxillary comminuted fractures and analyze the clinical advantages.

METHODS
All the 32 cases of maxillary comminuted fractures were approached with maxillary vestibular or coronary incision. The infraorbital border and maxillary forehead were replaced and fixed with titanium plate. Foley pressure bladders was placed through opening into the inferior meatus. Balloon dilatation was used to reposition the maxillary anterior, medial wall and orbital floor fracture.

RESULTS
Thirty-two cases of maxillary comminuted fractures were treated with Foley pressurized bladders. The overall curative rate was 97.2%. Patients had less pain and bleeding with slight reaction after surgery. The facial swelling time was shorter and the recovery of the contour was good.

CONCLUSIONS
Use of Foley pressurized bladders in maxillary fractures is simple, economical and practical. The result is satisfactory and the indication is wide.


The 1542 Inventory of Whitehall Palace lists over 4,000 items owned by King Henry VIII. It includes the earliest English royal catalogue of paintings, an alphabetical list of Henry's books, as well as tapestries, cloth, clothing, glassware and ceramics, maps, musical instruments and plate.
This rich assortment of objects was charged upon Sir Anthony Denny, the Palace Keeper, and was housed within the king's privy lodging at Whitehall. Denny was a member of the Privy Chamber, a follower of the reformed faith and a confidant of the king. His role as the keeper of Whitehall Palace is less well known, but there is a wealth of documentation which allows the study of this aspect of his career in some depth. The first work of the current volume examines in detail Denny's responsibilities and the development of Whitehall Palace into the first permanently furnished English royal residence.
In addition to the 1542 Inventory (PRO E315 / 160), the second volume contains three further transcriptions: PRO E101 / 472 / 2 and BL Landsdowne Rolls 14 and 15. This group of four complementary documents provides a unique glimpse into the way in which the Palace of Whitehall was furnished and managed in the 1540s and how Henry VIII's possessions were redistributed amongst his properties on his death.
These volumes act as a companion to the recent publication of the post-mortem 1547 Inventory of Henry VIII's possessions. To this end, a concordance between the 1542 and 1547 inventories is given, along with three further concordances and five appendices. A glossary and brief biographies of individuals mentioned are also included.


A theory of excitation, reflection, and scattering of a surface plasma wave (SPW) over a metallic surface is presented by modeling a localized surface ripple by an electron density perturbation. The level of a laser excited SPW is significantly lowered by the diffraction effects. When an SPW is incident on a bump or a slot, it undergoes specular reflection. It also undergoes elastic scattering when encountering a surface defect, as observed in recent experiments.


The Supreme Council for Sport in Africa announced that all independent African nations would boycott all British sport if the British Lions rugby team toured South Africa in 1974. Despite condemnation from segments of the British public, entreaties from government ministers, and African threats, the rugby tour went ahead. This article adds to a large body of scholarship on the struggle against apartheid in sport, within which the 1974 Lions tour has received little attention, and focuses on the transnational efforts to stop that tour led by Kenya and independent Africa. Calls for reprisals across the continent were not unanimous, and the disparity of African reactions challenges perceptions of the "Africa bloc" as a monolith guaranteed to maintain a united front on anti-apartheid sport activity. Reactions to the tour anticipated events two years later at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, and this event became a test case for strategies designed to isolate South Africa through punitive actions against third-party nations that broke ranks.


, The introduction deals with the historical development of Buddhism and its doctrines and the evidence of its art. It has, of course, been a most difficult task to enclose, within some thirty pages, the outlines of this vast subject; and though the author's views are mostly the orthodox ones, yet his way of setting them forth does not always carry conviction. The revised date of Menander (p. xxi), taken over from Mr. E. C. Mazumdar, is certainly no improvement on the older one. But in spite of occasional shortcomings, this introduction is a fairly able one, and does in no way detract from the merits of the work in general.


Dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis (PM) are the two main forms of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. They have in common a proximal muscle weakness, but skin manifestations, juvenile forms and increased incidence of malignancies are clinical characteristics of DM. The follow up of creatine-kinases is the best biological test in spite of their possible normality. The significance of antibodies titers is uncertain, except the association Jo-1 interstitial and lung disease indicating a poor prognosis. The association with HLA haplotypes expresses a genetic predisposition of a dysimmunity to develop DM or PM. Pathological changes are well known with a humoral immune effector mechanism in DM, and a muscle fibre aggression by CD8 + T cells in PM. Non inflammatory forms of DM and PM and rhabdomyolytic forms of PM are not very rare, they are recognized by the HLA class 1 immunoreactivity. Pathophysiological processes involve muscle fibers, inflammatory cells and endothelial cells of capillaries, with a complex intervention of cytokines, adhesion molecules, MHC classe 1, membrane attack complex, anti endothelial cells antibodies, perforin secretion and sometimes apoptotic Fas-mediated mechanisms. Despite these recent advances, causal antigens and activator processes of endothelial cell lysis and autoinvasive cytotoxicity of muscle fibers remain to be identified.


Due to multiple policy failures, the European Union is challenged with the deepest crisis since its inauguration. The European Union in Crisis edited by Kyriakos Demetriou provides an authoritative account of the EU's current predicament by investigating the roots of the problem, from the democratic legitimisation of European politics to European federalism versus regionalism, and attempts to anticipate future developments, especially those which threaten the future of the Union. The book consists of 12 chapters grouped within four inter-related themes. The first part, entitled 'National Euroscepticism', focuses on the British approach towards integration and Germany as an agenda-setter with the largest population and strongest economic performance in the EU and evaluates Euroscepticism in East Central and Southern Europe at the crossroads. While the second part evaluates the European Monetary Union and its legitimacy issues, the third part appraises the future of the EU by focusing on the conceptions of democracy and legitimacy alongside cosmopolitanism within the neoliberal agenda. This part highlights the densely integrated economy and addresses the EU's unique governance and the role of the European Parliament in the crisis. The final part concentrates on the EU's deficits and legitimacy and discusses the importance of representativeness. It establishes a link between democratic deficit frames and post-modern legitimacy conceptualisations and it analyses the legitimacy of the EU's foreign and defence policy by assessing the logic and practices of its decision-making process. Finally, the EU is evaluated as a world trade superpower. Taking as read that the crises have moved the EU into a new phase of integration (pp. 11–13), several of the book's authors agree that the 'lack of accountability' of EU institutions is the major shortcoming. The Union's initial liberalist ideology was to establish a 'more democratic and social Europe as a potential alternative to American hegemony' (pp. 107, 135). However, the 'Troika' – the triumvirate of the European Commission ('the most undemocratic institution'; p. 174), the 'undemocratic' European Central Bank (p. 79) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – take a top-down approach and dictate the policies where national parliaments have no political influence. In addition, the democratic deficit of the EU has been a long-standing contentious issue (pp. 104–116) which leads to the conclusion that the Union suffers from a legitimacy deficit as well (pp. 64, 101–102). Although The European Union in Crisis mostly focuses on the politico-economic aspects of the EU's crises, it provides a comprehensive review of the issue and is recommended to those scholars, students and policymakers who are interested in European integration and Euroscepticism – particularly in the case of the United Kingdom – especially with regard to the democratic legitimisation of politics and the correlation between monetary union and the current economic crisis.


Radiographs of 5350 patients (4103 orthopantomograms, 1247 panoramics) were examined and the edentulous parts of the alveolarridges were estimated. In 1741 patients we stated 2070 pathological findings without clinical evidences. In 329 cases multiple findings were registered. Most of the cases were impacted teeth, followed by root fragments. Therapeutic measures must be decided individually. Because of the frequency of pathological x-ray-findings, diagnosis is incomplete without radiographs of the toothless jaw-parts.


B32 Objectives The primary objective of the present study is to determine colorectal screening patterns via colonoscopy utilization in a national prospective cohort, the Black Women's Health Study. Methods In 1995, 59,000 Black women aged 21 to 69 years were initially enrolled in the Black Women's Health Study through questionnaires consisting of 54 self-report items that included demographics, medical history, health behaviors, and use of medical care. Follow-up questionnaires were sent every 2 years to update risk factors of interest and ascertain newly diagnosed diseases and screening practices. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). Results The study sample comprised 10,992 black women whose ages ranged from 50 to 72 years in 1997 when detailed questions were first asked about cancer screening. Women who utilized mammography were more likely to have a colonoscopy than women who never screened for breast cancer (odds ratio = 2.64, 95% CI 2.27, 3.08). This was the strongest predictor of colonoscopy screening. Conclusion The importance of promoting multiple concurrent cancer screenings may be the best approach to increasing colonoscopy utilization among women. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2008;1(7 Suppl):B32.


The Hofmann-Mislove theorem states that in a sober space, the nonempty Scott
open filters of its open set lattice correspond bijectively to its compacts
saturated sets. In this paper, the concept of $c$-well-filtered spaces is
introduced. We show that a retract of a $c$-well-filtered space is
$c$-well-filtered and a locally Lindel\"{o}f and $c$-well-filtered $P$-space is
countably sober. In particular, we obtain a Hofmann-Mislove theorem for
$c$-well-filtered spaces.


This article seeks to introduce an autoethnography as a method in studying Islamic law. Through an autoethnography, a scholar could share a unique and subjective experience, which would not only contribute to the understanding of social phenomenon but also reflect on possible different situations upon knowing the reality. It not only makes a sequence of events and their interpretation, but it also asks readers to emotionally 'relive' the events with the writer of autoethnography. This article uncovers processes and dynamics of my own thought in approaching and comprehending law in Islam including topics such as usul fiqh and legal pluralism. It discloses the development of my research interest and scope, both nationally and internationally in the past three decades. The article argues that knowledge is not necessarily produced by research work. In fact, personal narratives are considered scientific in that they could contribute knowledge to what we know about the world in which we live. And, last but not least, personal stories are valuable if they could: 1) provide a legitimate claim or justification, 2) offer something new to learn, and 3) help other people cope with or better understand world issues. Keywords:  autoethnography, Islamic law, legal pluralism, usul fiqh .


Authenticated key exchange (AKE) protocol allows a user and a server to authenticate each other and generate a session key for the subsequent communications. With the rapid development of low-power and highly-efficient networks, such as pervasive and mobile computing network in recent years, many efficient AKE protocols have been proposed to achieve user privacy and authentication in the communications. Besides secure session key establishment, those AKE protocols offer some other useful functionalities, such as two-factor user authentication and mutual authentication. However, most of them have one or more weaknesses, such as vulnerability against lost-smart-card attack, offline dictionary attack, de-synchronization attack, or the lack of forward secrecy, and user anonymity or untraceability. Furthermore, an AKE scheme under the public key infrastructure may not be suitable for light-weight computational devices, and the security model of AKE does not capture user anonymity and resist lost-smart-card attack. In this paper, we propose a novel dynamic ID-based anonymous two-factor AKE protocol, which addresses all the above issues. Our protocol also supports smart card revocation and password update without centralized storage. Further, we extend the security model of AKE to support user anonymity and resist lost-smart-card attack, and the proposed scheme is provably secure in extended security model. The low-computational and bandwidth cost indicates that our protocol can be deployed for pervasive computing applications and mobile communications in practice.


Stamping is employed in a wide range of applications including household appliances, automobiles, vessel, and aerospace. Due to the discrete flow energy-intensive processes and dynamic energy changes in stamping production, it has great potential for energy savings. There still lacks an effective method to monitor and analyze the energy efficiency in stamping workshop. To this end, this paper proposes an energy efficiency monitoring and analysis system based on Internet of Things (IoT). The characteristics in stamping workshop are first analyzed, the energy consumption is decomposed, and the makespan is quantified. Besides, energy efficiency indicators of energy efficiency in the press machine, specific energy consumption in the part, and energy efficiency in the workshop are analyzed and defined. Then the detailed information about the energy efficiency monitoring and analysis system as data acquisition, data transmission, data storage, data analysis, and display based on IoT is presented. Finally, a forklift stamping workshop was investigated to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The interface and the results of the data analysis showed that the proposed system can monitor the energy efficiency in the stamping workshop comprehensively. Furthermore, potential opportunities for energy consumption reduction and efficient production can be identified.


In this work, the development and application of multicomponents obtained from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (r-PET) waste and monotropic liquid crystals as anticorrosion coatings are reported. The r-PET raw material was alcoholyzed and reproduced as a thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE) with different amounts (n%, n = 0, 1, 3, and 5) of 1,6-hexanediamine (HDA). Then, a fluorine-containing liquid crystal (4-cyano-3-fluorophenyl 4-ethylbenzoate (4CFE)) was incorporated into the TPEE mixture via solvent blending to modify and enhance the water resistance. The adhesion behavior of the coating on glass and iron substrates was evaluated by cross-cut tests and immersion tests in aqueous NaCl. In the corrosion resistance measurements, all of the coating samples fabricated with 10 ± 1 mm thickness were less active toward electrochemical corrosion (PEF% > 99%) than the bare iron plate, indicating that our work provided better protection against corrosion of the iron plate.


Since Augmented Reality (AR) technology is able to help young children read storybooks and understand the content more interestingly (Tuli & Mantri, 2019), as well as can help students in learning abstract geometry (Flores-Bascuñana et al., 2019), AR technology has the potential capacity to extend the representation from paper to digital, and to bring ideas from virtual to reality. In order to use AR to import step-by-step information more effectively and to provide a friendly user experience, we use AR as an auxiliary tool for step-by-step instructions to help users receive and understand the content of information in diversified ways. However, the differences between real and virtual environments often affect the user's ability to operate the devices, to read the information, and to understand the content. In order to explore how the import of AR-assisted step-by-step instructions affects users' experience during operation, we conducted a task-based test and evaluated how the viewing angle and the viewing distance have an effect on test-takers' reading of documents. We analyzed the relationship between devices and human behaviors to understand users' experience in operation, this study explores 1) what is the best viewing angle and distance when users are reading documents and operating AR system; and 2) how the relative positional relationship of the AR developing between paper-based step-by-step instructions affect users' operation. The results show that: 1) Although all test-takers have no significant difference in terms of operation of viewing angle (p=0.535) and viewing distance (p=0.489), there are significant differences in terms of time spent by test-takers on completing this task (p=0.048); 2) During this experiment, the operating range of a test-taker's viewing angle is about 70~87 degrees, while the operating range of the viewing distance is about 16~23 cm; and 3) The differences between the relative positional relationship of AR developing block and the step-by-step instructions in text has an impact on the test-taker's operating experience. The AR developing block laid out on the right-hand side of the text box allows users to have greater adaptability in operational performance among other layout arrangements.


A 44-year-old man with relapsed acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), refractory to all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), daunorubicin, and cytosine arabinoside, was treated with arsenic trioxide (ATO). ATO was given intravenously at a dose of 0.15 mg/kg/day for 20 days, and the patient achieved complete remission. No serious adverse events related to ATO infusion were observed. He received ATO for 10 days as consolidation therapy and subsequently underwent HLA-matched unrelated donor stem cell transplantation. He remains in molecular remission 10 months after transplant. This case suggests that ATO could be a useful therapy prior to allogeneic stem cell transplantation in relapsed APL.


Genetically modified soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] cultivars containing herbicide resistance have become the predominant cultivars marketed in the USA. This technology dramatically changed weed management strategies inthe USA and created controversy and new challenges within various segments of the industry. This review seeks to summarize many of the issues that arose within the soybean industry surrounding the introduction of the world's first major transgenic crop. Hopefully, the experiences gained during this transition period will benefit future efforts to commercialize transgenic crops. Initially, the new transgenics made the already difficult, yet critically important, task of cultivar selection even more arduous and confusing. Lack of university data, high cultivar turnover rates, and the added burden of factoring in technology fees, yield lag, and weed control costs into the decision of which cultivar to plant were frustrating to most producers. Industry's early insistence on separate cultivar performance trials for Roundup Ready (RR) cultivars taxed limited testing resources and increased the size of the already massive data sets generated. Most often, the end result did not provide a direct comparison with popular conventional cultivars. As this new technology has become fully accepted and assimilated into our industry, comparisons with conventional cultivars are less important since most farmers are selecting only among RR cultivars. The current literature indicates that soybean variety test (SVT) programs with limited resources can effectively compare soybean cultivar performance using combined trials treated only with conventional herbicides with little risk of yield loss or herbicide × cultivar interactions. However, the use of a systems approach or separate RR trials to evaluate the performance of soybean cultivars is now commonplace in the USA due to the sheer dominance of RR cultivars. Many larger SVT programs will soon consider discontinuing separate trials for conventional cultivars as their numbers and importance diminish.


Platense horticultural belt in a set of institutions and organizations in the public and private sector establish links between them and the productive sector with different purposes, forming networks. The work aims to understand and analyze networks partner techniques that contribute to territorial development. We used a methodology of qualitative type, conducting semi-structured interviews to public and private sector engineers and representatives of the productive sector. The results show a diversity of networks partner techniques, in which various actors participate, and promoting a set of innovations of different types.


Introduction. Development of pediatric surgical science is an essential part of preservation and strengthening of the entire speciality and 'pediatric surgical sovereignty'. A report entitled The State and Perspectives of Research Studies in Pediatric Surgery was presented in 2015. Purpose. To analyze the status of principal outcomes of research work done by the Russian Association of Pediatric Surgeons in 2015–2018 and justify the necessity in a coordinating institution (Research Council of the Association). Material and methods. Data obtained from 32 academic teams of the country such as department staff, post-graduate and post-doctoral students, Ph. D. and doctoral papers, publication in journals (including Scopus indexed and foreign journals), patents, scientific papers in Russia and abroad, grants, multicenter and international scientific programs). Results. The potential was found to be high: 15 doctoral papers and 64 Ph. D. papers, over 1,200 scientific publications in Russian journals (14.4% in Scopus ) and 67 full-text articles published abroad, over 1,600 scientific papers in Russia and 235 papers on foreign recognized forums. The Research Council of the Russian Association of Pediatric Surgeons has been reconstructed since 2019; initiated coordination of work within the framework of task and expert groups. Conclusion. High potential should be used in the new strategy development: planning of scientific efforts in the country, its quality control, support of multi-center studies and cluster functioning, strengthening of fundamental science, full integration into the world scientific space.


In August 2006 the chief of Udo, a small town in Edo State, Nigeria, was deposed and the town taken over by the 'youth'. This event presents the classic fall of a 'big man' who had lost support, but also involved long-standing chieftaincy rivalries, electoral competition in the run up to the 2007 elections, and conflict over a nearby oil palm and rubber plantation. Through an examination of Udo's crisis, this paper engages with three key questions concerning contemporary communal politics in southern Nigeria: the manifestations of patrimonial power and resistance to it ; the meaning and role of 'youth' ; and the impact of expatriate capital.


The work of the processed air expansion in the air separation units (ASU) of medium productivity can be usefully converted into an additional refrigerating capacity in the expander-compressor unit (ECU) of a special design. Such ECU should be made on the basis of a turbo reducer using which it is possible to ensure the most appropriate number of revolutions of the compressor stages (CS) shafts. At the same time to improve ASU it is advisable to apply in them a two-stage air expansion. It stipulates to use in ASU of a three-shaft ECU in which on separate shafts the expander stages ES1 and ES2 are located, and they are connected mechanically with the shaft of CS. A modal and structural optimization of ASU was made as well as three-shaft ECU which was included in its structure. By varying the intermediate pressure P13 (the pressure of the end of the expansion process in the high-pressure expander stage ES1) it was found that when P13=1,9 or 1,7 MPa the number of revolutions of ES1 and ES2 shafts became equal nES1=nES2 and accepted the values 92580 or 86500 rpm depending on the presence or absence of pre-cooling. The equality of ES1 and ES2 shafts rotation speed allows to use two-shaft ECU instead of a three-shaft one in which the two expander stages are placed on the same shaft as their efficiencies are close. The analysis shows that ECU construction with three shafts though it is slightly more complicated it is easier to be implemented, unlike the two-shaft construction with ES1 and ES2 stages on one common shaft. The three-shaft turbo reducer becomes more simple with the equal rotation speed of ES1 and ES2 shafts.


The article deals with paradigms of the future simple (3rd and 4th conjugations only) and the future perfect active that can be treated as anomalous since they form the first person singular and other forms by adding different suffixes to the verbal stem. This entails, first, a certain heterogeneity within the paradigms and, second, a partial overlapping of these paradigms with two other verbal paradigms. Although attempts to unify the future simple and future perfect paradigms were made by archaic authors, Classical Latin has preserved this "inconvenient" distinction, presumably, to highlight the first person singular. The question arises as to why Latin sought to single out the first person singular in this particular way. I will explain this phenomenon as a manifestation of language egocentrism. I will argue that the forms under consideration may function as egocentric devices. Since Latin is a pro-drop language, it requires special means to highlight the speaker as the most significant speech act participant and to give him/ her a privileged status with respect to the other speech act participants. Thus, by using an -am form, the speaker received an additional opportunity to express some modal values better than the other participants did, while with the -ero form, the speaker, conversely, could express his/her thoughts more definitely or unambiguously. In both cases, the singling out of the first person locutor seems to be much more significant for the language as a communicative system than the unified character of the paradigms. The argument is based on an analysis of examples from the works of Latin authors as well as comparative material from other languages.


n the last two years, Algeria's Hirak movement has instigated a radical development in the political culture of Algerian youth. And while some critics may correctly argue that the movement has become frayed, or that the Algerian political system remains exclusive to young people, the impact of the movement is still significant. Hirak has instilled a sense of hope in young people that did not exist before, and if Algerians properly care for that hope, it still may produce real change. In order to understand the meaning of that change, it may be necessary to understand the story of the movement and its successive challenges since its beginning in 2019.


This article empirically examines the nexuses between corporate governance, intangible resources, CEO traits, and financial performance. In contrast to prior research, this study examines these relationships in a longitudinal manner focusing on Deutsche Bank for the 1957 – 2019 period. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind. Based on a novel hand collected dataset, our analysis suggests a significant positive relationship between intangible assets i.e., intellectual capital efficiency and financial performance measured by, return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). Our results further suggest that human capital efficiency drive the financial performance of Deutsche Bank at all times especially, during the economic malaise periods, suggesting that human capital is the main source of profitability for the Deutsche Bank. Additional results suggest that larger board size diminishes the impact of intangible resources on financial performance when the former CEO assumes board's chairmanship. Finally, our results suggest that CEO's education quality is an important determinant of financial performance during the crisis. Results observed in this study have important economic and policy implications for banks operating in the similar environments.


The Warwick Junction precinct, in Central Durban, is a major transportation hub: 560.000 people, most of them poor, pass through it daily. There, the Early Morning Market offers ingredients for a basic meal for a family of five for as little as ZAR 15 (USD 2). When late in 2008 the city of Durban announced its plan to replace the Market with a western-style privately owned shopping mall, the proposed re-development came as a shock.


There is considerable debate in both the management and property literature on how human and physical resources can become more flexible in order to be able to respond to the dynamic business environment. Often there is an implication that if staff are working in more flexible ways then the property must also be more flexible. However there are numerous sources of flexibility for both these resources. In terms of staff, flexibility can be defined in terms of contractual, time and location elements. For property, flexibility comes from the financial contracts, physical layout and functional opportunities. There is not necessarily a direct link between the flexibility requirements in these two resources. However, it is clear that the demand drivers for office space are changing. The increase in use of information and communications technology (ICT) has had a direct impact on the underlying business processes and thus the breadth and balance of activities which office space needs to support. ICT has also been key in facilitating the staff flexibility. Together these have led to the development of a new strategy for managing workplaces which differentiates between where the space is located, the way in which the space is designed and how it is used. The challenge for corporate real estate managers is to get beyond the rhetoric of flexibility and understand how space can best support ever‐changing business processes.


Since undisturbed equatorial rain forest is a climax community it should have a constant biomass per unit area. This implies a steady carbon cycle with a decomposition rate of organic matter equal to the primary production. If there is no appreciable consumption by direct grazing organic substances return to the soil mainly as litter fall, timber fall and dead roots. Their complete degradation by the soil fauna and flora results in a corresponding carbon dioxide evolution. The measurement of the rate of this soil respiration (Lundegardh 1924) should thus permit an indirect estimation of net primary productivity. Reliable productivity data are very scanty for tropical rain forest (Bray & Gorham 1964; Miller & Nielsen 1965; Rodin & Bazilevich 1967). Soil respiration measurements in tropical regions have been made in Africa by Birch & Friend (1956) and by Schulze (1967) in Costa Rica. No data are available for East Asian rain forests. Some preliminary observations are reported here which were made during a visit to Bogor and Tjibodas, Indonesia and Sarawak, North Borneo. The results are compared with available data for litter fall and productivity.


It is a common perception that as long as people have the resources to access the internet, they are in a position to make their voice heard. In reality, however, it is obvious that the vast majority of internet users are not really able to make themselves 'visible' and that their concerns receive little attention. Thus, it is more accurate to suggest that the internet offers ordinary people the potential of this power. Under what conditions can this potential be realized and what are the associated implications? Drawing upon the concept of symbolic power, and utilizing a recent example from China, this article addresses these often overlooked questions. It shows that it is not easy to materialize the potential of symbolic power on the internet. What the internet makes easy is to produce follow-up discourse once a powerful symbol has appeared. With the aid of supporters and their follow-up discourses, the symbol creates a symbolic network and takes roots in the society quickly and deeply. Finally, some thoughts on symbolic power in the context of China are also provided in the framework of discourse and social change.


Heterometrus xanthopus (Scorpion) is one of the most venomous and ancient arthropods. Its venom contains anti-microbial peptides like hadrurin, scorpine, Pandinin 1, and Pandinin 2 that are able to effectively kill multidrug-resistant pathogens. The present study was conducted to evaluate the anti-bacterial activity of H. xanthopus venom. Six Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains were tested against 1/100, 1/10, and 1/1 fractions of distilled water diluted and crude venom. 1/100 and 1/10 dilutions were not successful in any of the six bacterial strains studied while the 1/1 dilution was effective on Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 14028, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 with highest zone of inhibition were obtained on B. subtilis. Crude venom was effective against Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 14506, B. subtilis, S. typhimurium, and P. aeruginosa. The most effective results were observed on B. subtilis.


Publishing articles in Economics involves long time frames of up to several years from submission to publication. Consequently, journal contents tend to lag behind what is happening on the research frontier. The most usual sources of information on frontier research are conferences and "working papers," which are photocopied documents that circulate among certain scientists. This practice is fostering the emergence of exclusive small groups and prevents third parties from participating in pioneering research. The Internet has radically changed possibilities for access to working papers, but Internet access still needs to be organized and to allow others to read one's work. This article describes the RePEc initiative, which effectively places all economists on the same footing and has become an essential instrument in its field. Similar initiatives in other fields are also investigated.


We show how binary correspondences can be used for simple formalization of the notion of problem,
 definition of the basic components of problems, their properties, and constructions.
 In particular, formalization of the following notions is presented: condition, data, unknowns,
 and solutions of a problem, solvability and unique solvability, inverse problem, composition and restriction
 of problems, isomorphism between problems. We also consider topological problems and
 the related notions of stability and correctness. A connection is indicated between the stability and continuity of a uniquely solvable topological problem. The definition of parametrized set is given. The notions are introduced of parametrized problem,
 the problem of reconstruction of an object by the values of
 parameters, as well as the notions of locally free set of parameters and stability with respect to a set
 of parameters.

 As an illustration, we consider a singularly perturbed system of ordinary differential equations
 which describe a process in chemical kinetics and burning.
 Direct and inverse problems are stated for such a system.
 We extend the class of problems under study by considering polynomials of arbitrary degree as the right-hand sides
 of the differential equations. It is shown how the inverse problem of chemical kinetics can be corrected and made more practical
 by means of the composition with a simple auxiliary problem which represents the relation between functions and
 finite sets of numerical characteristics being measured. For the corrected inverse problem, formulas
 for the solution are presented and the conditions of unique solvability are indicated.
 Within the study of solvability, a criterion is established for linear independence of functions in terms of finite
 sets of their values. With the help of the criterion, realizability is clarified
 of the condition for unique solvability of the inverse problem of chemical kinetics.


This paper presents a technique to decide a location of soft layer ahead of a tunnel face. The functional method is a parameter identification of the Young's modulus which is important coefficient at actual site. The parameter identification is an useful reverse technique to determine an unknown parameter using the observed value. This parameter identification is utilized to minimize the difference between the computed and observed displacements. In order to solve the minimization problem, the Conjugate Gradient ( CG ) method that is one of line search algorithm is applied. As a numerical model, the 3-D linear elastic body with the finite element method is used to excavate the natural ground and to identify the Young's modulus. By using 3-D tunnel, the idea of axial direction is considered and this analysis is close to an actual behavior. The Young's modulus of each layers is identified as soon as the natural ground is excavated.


It seems conceivable that the magnetic field pattern around ferromagnetic objects of high permeability is similar to the electric field pattern around conductive objects, provided that the shapes of the magnetic and electric objects are identical. As a result, we expect the mmf behavior in the gap between two ferromagnetic limbs immersed in a magnetic field to be similar to the open‐circuit voltage of a short electric dipole antenna immersed in a related electric field. Experimental setups have been developed in order to demonstrate the affinity between the electric and magnetic cases exists both in uniform and nonuniform surrounding field (electric and magnetic). The experimental results conform closely with the results obtained by the theoretical evaluation. We have thus discovered that the true counterpart of a short electric dipole is a geometrically similar magnetic structure, where ferromagnetic limbs of high permeability replace the conductive limbs of the short dipole. This is contrary to the majority of the literature on the subject, which regards a small wire loop as consisting of the entity dual to a short electric dipole. The present results enable us to treat practical magnetic sensors for ELF and ULF in terms of electric antenna theory. It is also shown that the present developments are of value in interpreting the results of measurements performed by employing ELF and ULF cored search coils in probing nonuniform magnetic fields.


A higher educational level has consistently been associated with a lower incidence of dementia. However, in the current issue of the Journal, Glymour et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2012;175(8):750-759.) present findings that are in agreement with other research in showing a lack of association between educational level and cognitive decline in the elderly. These findings are not inconsistent with the hope, yet unproven, that persons might reduce their risk of dementia by engaging in cognitively stimulating activities.


A piston-cylinder assembly from the Ulusal Metroloji Enstitusu (TUBITAK-UME, Turkey) was calibrated at the Laboratoire National d'Essais (BNM-LNE, France) and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB, Germany) between March and December 1998 in the hydraulic gauge pressure range from 50 MPa to 500 MPa, using diethylhexyl sebacate as the pressure medium. Both institutes calibrated the assembly of the free-deformation type (manufacturer Desgranges et Huot, France; nominal effective area 2 mm2), from pressure balance comparison (cross-float) experiments with their primary standards and applied the "p method" to evaluate the calibration data. The consistency of all available calibration data was considered with respect to the realization of traceability in the 0.5 GPa range of hydraulic pressure by this method. New values of the effective area and the pressure distortion coefficient of the UME piston-cylinder assembly were derived from the results of this comparison. The present study also establishes a link to the latest EUROMET international comparison in the pressure range 50 MPa to 500 MPa.


Knowledge of the environmental features affecting habitat selection by animals is important for designing wildlife management and conservation policies. The package adehabitat for the R software is designed to provide a computing environment for the analysis and modelling of such relationships. This paper focuses on the preliminary steps of data exploration and analysis, performed prior to a more formal modelling of habitat selection. In this context, I illustrate the use of a factorial analysis, the K-select analysis. This method is a factorial decomposition of marginality, one measure of habitat selection. This method was chosen to present the package because it illustrates clearly many of its features (home range estimation, spatial analyses, graphical possibilities, etc.). I strongly stress the powerful capabilities of factorial methods for data analysis, using as an example the analysis of habitat selection by the wild boar (Sus scrofa L.) in a Mediterranean environment.


Exogenous prostaglandins (PG) applied in small gastroprotective doses fail to affect healing of gastro-duodenal ulcers but accelerate the healing when used in larger gastric inhibitory doses that appear to enhance COX-2 expression and PGE(2) generation in the ulcer area. COX-1 and COX-inhibitors delay ulcer healing, particularly when both COX isoforms are suppressed such e.g. by indomethacin. Dexamethasone, that decreases the expression of COX-2 and mucosal generation of PGE(2), delays ulcer healing that can be reversed by the addition of small dose of exogenous PGE(2). Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) such as omeprazole and PGE analogs, accelerate ulcer healing mainly due to potent inhibition of gastric acid secretion, but they also augment the COX-2 expression and enzyme activity in the ulcerated mucosa. Endogenous PG generated at ulcer margin appear to be involved in ulcer healing promoted by growth factors and gut hormones such as gastrin or CCK and melatonin acting, at least in part, through increase of induction of COX-2 and local release of PGE(2) in the ulcer area. The ulcer healing activity of growth factors (e.g. EGF, TGF alpha, HGF) and certain gut hormones (gastrin, CCK) as well as melatonin, can be attenuated by treatment with COX-1 or COX-2 inhibitors which suppress the release of PGE(2) but enhance the expression of COX-2. It is concluded that endogenous PG originating mainly from upregulated COX-2 at the ulcer margin play crucial role in ulcer healing by exogenous PG, PPI, growth factors, gut hormones and melatonin, while COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitors delay ulcer healing by suppressing PG generation, and increasing COX-2 expression in the ulcer area.


The Kantian reading of Descartes is the pretext for Kant to make clarifications on his system, rather than demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the Cartesian approach. What is the role of the proposition "I think" in Kantian philosophy? What can be derived from the existence of things in relation to the knowledge of them? How does Kant combine empirical realism with transcendental realism? Which are the limits of the transcendent "I think" in confrontation with the transcendental "I think"? In this article, the analysis of the differences between the two editions of The Critique of Pure Reason (1781 and 1787), considering Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (1783), offers precisions regarding Kant's concern provoked by authors such as Descartes and, to a minor extent, Berkeley.


Objective—To gain insight into the mechanism by which ABCA1 generates nascent high-density lipoprotein. Approach and Results—HEK293 cells were stably transfected with ABCA1 vectors, encoding wild type, and the W590S and C1477R Tangier disease mutation isoforms, along with the K939M ATP-binding domain mutant. Apolipoprotein AI (ApoAI) binding, plasma membrane remodeling, cholesterol efflux, apoAI cell surface unfolding, and apoAI cell surface lipidation were determined, the latter 2 measured using novel fluorescent apoAI indicators. The W590S isoform had decreased plasma membrane remodeling and lipid efflux activities, and the C1477R isoform had decreased apoAI binding, and lipid efflux activities, whereas the K939M isoform did not bind apoAI, remodel the membrane, or efflux cholesterol. However, all ABCA1 isoforms led to apoAI unfolding at the cell surface, which was higher for the isoforms that increased apoAI binding. ApoAI lipidation was not detected on ABCA1-expressing cells, only in the conditioned medium, consistent with rapid release of nascent high-density lipoprotein from ABCA1-expressing cells. Conclusions—We identified a third activity of ABCA1, the ability to unfold the N terminus of apoAI on the cell surface. Our results support a model in which unfolded apoAI on the cell surface is an intermediate in its lipidation and that, once apoAI is lipidated, it forms an unstable structure that is rapidly released from the cells to generate high-density lipoprotein.


Paddy soil is an important contributor for atmospheric methane. The methanogenesis is related to the production of acetate, hydrogen and carbon dioxide during the decomposition of organic matter under anaerobic conditions. As electron acceptors, iron (III) oxides can effectively compete with electrons in the transformation of organic matter into methane. Its mechanism maybe relates to the consumption of H2 and CO2. After added ferrihydrite and lepidocrocite, the H2, CO2 and CH4 were determined during the anaerobic incubation of slurries at 25 degrees C for 105 days. The results indicated that the addition of ferrihydrite and lepidocrocite could greatly decrease the concentration of H2, CO2 and CH4, and ferrihydrite had a stronger effect than lepidocrocite. In this system, the balance of organic-C was disturbed, CH4-C and CO2-C were reduced, but the CO3(2-)-C fixed by slurry was greatly increased.


Abstract Background: Stone composition has changed substantially over the past decades in developed countries. We studied urinary stone composition in Tunisian children. Methods: We studied 205 children ranging from 3 months to 16 years old age and who were diagnosed as having urinary stones (122 boys and 83 girls). Stone analysis was performed respectively using a stereomicroscope and by infrared spectroscopy to determine, respectively, the morphological type and molecular composition of each. Results: Of 205 stones analysed, 77 (37.5%) were composed of a single constituent. Calcium oxalate (CaOx) stone were predominant, being a constituent of 54.7% of stones, followed by calcium phosphate and purines; 14.6% of cases. Calcium oxalate monohydrate was more frequently seen in girls (p<0.01), while struvite was more common in boys (p<0.001). Teenagers were more affected by whewellite stones compared with infants (p<0.05). Purine stones were predominant in 20% of cases, but its prevalence decreased with age. Conclusions: The increase in calcium oxalate stones in school age children and the decrease of struvite and purines stones confirm the change in the etiology of urolithiasis with respect to age.


Ab s t r Ac t Aim and objective: The current research aimed to appraise the color stability of two different tooth-colored restorative materials employed in primary teeth. Materials and methods: Ninety primary molar teeth that were extracted for various therapeutic reasons were included in the current study. Class V cavity preparation was done on the buccal surface of these 90 primary molar teeth. Depending on the type of restorative supply used, the molar teeth were randomly allocated to one of the two equivalent groups (n = 45) that is group I received nanocomposite resin while group II had resin-modified glass ionomer cement (RMGIC) restoration. Rehydration after cavity preparation was achieved by keeping the samples in distilled water for 1 day. Following rehydration, these samples were washed and dried up with filter paper, and the baseline color quantification was performed. After the same, the above group samples were immersed for 10 minutes each day in three dissimilar but routinely used children's beverages that are an aerated beverage, ice candy, chocolate milk, and Bournvita milk. The color disparity of each sample was quantified with a reflectance spectrophotometer. Results: Nanocomposite resin (4.28 ± 0.02 to 11.04 ± 0.18) portrayed less resistance to color variation in contrast to RMGIC (4.74 ± 0.53 to 8.12 ± 0.12) following immersion in the aerated beverage. Following dipping in the ice candy, nanocomposite resin (4.46 ± 0.61 to 9.98 ± 0.42) depicted higher shade change in comparison to RMGIC (4.89 ± 0.22 to 6.30 ± 0.09). Following the immersion in chocolate milk and Bournvita milk, RMGIC (4.60 ± 0.20 to 5.96 ± 0.29) found trivial color variation as judged against nanocomposite resin (4.96 ± 0.01 to 8.68 ± 0.16). Conclusion: The present study concluded that the color stability of the RMGIC group showed higher resistance to staining as compared to nanocomposite resin with all beverages used in this study. Clinical significance: Children drink and eat foods that are bright and colorful. These substances contain food additives that can blemish not only the natural teeth but also the restorations. As esthetics and appearance are of foremost significance for both parents and their children, the prolonged color steadiness of restorative supplies is of extreme significance.


Because advances made by science and technology far outstripped improvements in human nature, utopian dreams of perfect societies in the twentieth century quickly metamorphosed into dystopian nightmares, which undermined individual identity and threatened the integrity of the family. Armed with technological and scientific tools, totalizing social systems found in literature abolish the distinction between public and private life and thus penetrate and corrupt the very core of all utopian blueprints and visions: the education of future generations. At the heart of the family, mothers as parents transmit their diverse cultural traditions while socializing their children and thus compete with ideologically driven systems that usurp their role as educators. Mothers and Masters in Contemporary Utopian and Dystopian Literature focuses, therefore, on the thematic importance of this and other maternal roles for generic metamorphosis: the shift to dystopia invariably is signaled by the inversion of traditional maternal roles. The longevity of the utopian-dystopian literary tradition and persistence of the maternal model of human relationships serve as points of reference in this post-modern age of relative cultural values. Meta-utopian exploration of this thematic tension between utopia and dystopia reminds us that no place may not be home, but we need to keep going there.


A geometrical approach of the finite-element analysis applied to electrostatic fields is presented. This approach is particularly well adapted to teaching Finite Elements in Electrical Engineering courses at undergraduate level. The procedure leads to the same system of algebraic equations as that derived by classical approaches, such as variational principle or weighted residuals for nodal elements with plane symmetry. It is shown that the extension of the original procedure to three dimensions is straightforward, provided the domain be meshed in first-order tetrahedral elements. The element matrices are derived by applying Maxwell's equations in integral form to suitably chosen surfaces in the finite-element mesh.


Materials accounting for special nuclear material in future fuel cycle facilities will draw heavily on sophisticated data-analysis techniques. Decision analysis, which combines elements of estimation theory, decision theory, and systems analysis, can be used to reduce errors caused by subjective data evaluation and to condense large collections of data to a smaller set of more descriptive statistics. The methods and requirements of decision analysis are discussed and illustrated by a conceptual design example of an advanced materials accounting system for a plutonium nitrate-to-oxide conversion facility.


Recent advances in supervised deep learning techniques have demonstrated the possibility to remotely measure human physiological vital signs (e.g., photoplethysmograph, heart rate) just from facial videos. However, the performance of these methods heavily relies on the availability and diversity of real labeled data. Yet, collecting large-scale real-world data with high-quality labels is typically challenging and resource intensive, which also raises privacy concerns when storing personal bio-metric data. Synthetic video-based datasets (e.g., SCAMPS~\cite{mcduff2022scamps}) with photo-realistic synthesized avatars are introduced to alleviate the issues while providing high-quality synthetic data. However, there exists a significant gap between synthetic and real-world data, which hinders the generalization of neural models trained on these synthetic datasets. In this paper, we proposed several measures to add real-world noise to synthetic physiological signals and corresponding facial videos. We experimented with individual and combined augmentation methods and evaluated our framework on three public real-world datasets. Our results show that we were able to reduce the average MAE from 6.9 to 2.0.


This paper studies a conformal invariance and an integration of first-order differential equations. It obtains the corresponding infinitesimal generators of conformal invariance by using the symmetry of the differential equations, and expresses the differential equations by the equations of a Birkhoff system or a generalized Birkhoff system. If the infinitesimal generators are those of a Noether symmetry, the conserved quantity can be obtained by using the Noether theory of the Birkhoff system or the generalized Birkhoff system.


Several studies have been reported on the suppressive effect of ultraviolet B (UVB), UVA sunlight and PUVA on contact dermatitis. However, studies that have tested the hypothesis that patch tests reactions have a seasonal variation due to the suppressive influence of sunlight, had found conflicting results. In order to clarify the influence of climate conditions in Athens, Greece (sunlight, temperature, latitude 38 degrees) on patch tests results, data from 5468 patch-tested patients (1978-1990) were analyzed for monthly, seasonal variation. In addition, 180 patients with a high degree of sun exposure due to occupation that were prospectively re-patch-tested in a different season (i.e. summer versus winter), with the same allergens and technique, were studied and analyzed statistically. Climate data was provided by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service. The results indicate that there is no significant influence on patch tests reactions in Athens, Greece. This may in part be due to the small differences in climate conditions that exist between summer and winter in Greece.


We investigated the quench characteristics of a flux-lock type superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) depending on the methods of the serial and parallel connections between the superconducting elements. The flux-lock type SFCL consists of two coils. The primary coil is wound in parallel to the secondary coil through an iron core, and the secondary coil is connected to the superconducting elements in series and parallel. In this paper, the analyses of voltage, current, and resistance of the superconducting elements connected in serial and parallel were performed to increase the power capacity of the flux-lock type SFCL. A part of the superconducting elements was not quenched in 2×2 serial connection between the elements and then the power burden of the quenched elements was increased. However the elements with 2×2 parallel connection was all quenched. This means that the power burden of each superconducting element can be reduced under the same conditions. We found that 2×2 parallel connection was more profitable for the current limiting effects and the increase of the power capacity.


Introduction: The complex interactions between tumors and the immune system are not yet fully elucidated. Expression of different T-cell subsets in peripheral blood may become a marker for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Aims and objectives: This study was undertaken to analyze T-cell expression in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) before surgery in comparison to age-matched healthy controls.

Methods: T-cell expression was analyzed in 16 patients with NSCLC undergoing lung resection in comparison to 28 randomly selected healthy controls in the same age range.

Statistical analysis: Statistical analysis was performed with the SPSS program package. Differences in T-cell subsets between groups were assessed using the Mann- Whitney U- Test.

Results: We found a higher proportion of T regulatory cells (CD4/CD127low/CD25high) in cases than in controls (30.75 % vs. 17.79 % p> 0.001). The absolute number of lymphocytes was higher in the control group (26.67 vs. 14.13 p>0.002).

We also detected a high proportion of fully-differentiated CD8+CD57+ cells in the T CD8 compartment, but there was no significant difference in the proportion of these cells versus the control group (p< 0.65). Results show the heterogeneity of this type of cell.

Conclusions : Our data are compatible with an immunosuppressive phenotype status in the peripheral blood lymphocytes of NSCLC patients before surgery. The accumulation of a high proportion of CD8/CD57 senescent cells is probably associated with the age of the patients rather than with the tumour itself.


A 28-year old male was admitted to our hospital because of heart failure, chronic renal failure and nephrotic syndrome. Light microscopic findings of his kidney biopsy showed proliferation of mesangial cell and marked narrowing the lumina of small arteries and arterioles. The changes of these small vessels were not those of typical vasculitis, when we considered his age and his past history. The diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy was made by the findings in echocardiography and cardiac catheterization. Since the heart failure and renal disease seemed to be simultaneous initiated, it was supposed that the diseases in two organs were caused by a common pathogenesis related to that of vasculitis. When steroid pulse therapy was adopted, both of cardiac and renal function responded to this treatment (ejection fraction from 26% to 52%, creatinine clearance from 48 to 62 ml/min). Increase of CD56 positive cells (natural killer cells) in peripheral blood was ameliorated after the treatment. These findings suggest that cellular immunity may be concerned with the pathogenesis of the combination of dilated cardiomyopathy and renal disease in this case.


We present an optical system based on two toroidal mirrors in a Wolter configuration to focus broadband XUV radiation. Optimization of the focusing optics alignment is carried out with the aid of an XUV wavefront sensor. Back-propagation of the optimized wavefront to the focus yields a focal spot of 3.6$\times$4.0 $\mu$m$^2$ full width at half maximum, which is consistent with ray-tracing simulations that predict a minimum size of 3.0$\times$3.2 $\mu$m$^2$. This work is important for optimizing the intensity of focused high-order harmonics in order to reach the nonlinear interaction regime.


Silicon nanostructures show great promise for use in photovoltaic applications, owing to their enhanced light-harvesting characteristics, which allow them to form radial p–n junctions for effectively generating/separating photoexcited carriers. They are also low-cost materials and thus suitable for producing solar cells. In this study, hierarchical Si structures consisting of microscale pyramids and nanoscale pillars were fabricated through wet anisotropic texturing and reactive ion etching. Further, these substrates, which had a core–shell structure, were used to fabricate radial heterojunction Si solar cells through interface engineering with tetramethylammonium hydroxide. The substrates were pretreated with a hydrogen plasma and subsequently subjected to amorphous Si thin-film passivation. This resulted in solar cells with a markedly higher broadband wavelength; however, the electrical properties of the cells almost remained unaffected. Further, the heterojunction solar cells, which had a hierarchical nanostructure and were fabricated using as-cut Czochralski n-type Si substrates, exhibited an efficiency of 16.3%, which is the highest ever reported for such cells.


The purpose of this qualitative study was to consider "friendsickness" as experienced by 96 entering college students. As defined here, friendsickness is a challenge new students experience when they leave their established network of friends and begin college. Journal entries written by new students in first-year seminars were examined and analyzed using a phenomenological framework. Results showed that many first-semester students enrolled in firstyear seminars delayed making new friends at college, whereas second semester students in first-year seminars embraced their new college friendships. The second finding was that journal writing appeared to help students explore and understand their issue of friendsickness.


Abstract:  An 18-yr-old, captive-born male Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) presented a 1-yr history of chronic and progressive paraparesis in both hind limbs. Lateral and hind limb radiographs were revealed normal except for severe spondylosis deformans, forming a bony bridge between the last lumbar and the first sacral vertebra and disc mineralization between the second and third lumbar vertebra. Medical therapies were instituted, including corticosteroids, hydroacupuncture and electroacupuncture. Animal training allowed veterinarians to perform acupuncture safely without having to anesthetize the animal. Animal training made intensive treatment possible. Neither corticosteroids nor hydroacupuncture alone provided much clinical improvement. The tiger reacted positively after electroacupuncture was performed. The tiger began showing clinical improvement after three electroacupuncture treatments and could eventually walk on all four limbs at the end of the treatment.


BACKGROUND
Self-handicapping involves the strategic establishment of an impediment or obstacle to success prior to a performance situation which thereby provides a convenient excuse for poor performance.

AIMS
The study sought to establish that relative to low trait self-handicappers, high trait self-handicappers exposed to failure in an intellectually evaluative situation will (a) pre-emptively claim more handicaps, and (b) behaviourally self-handicap through reduced practice effort, and (c) report greater anxiety and negative affect relative to low trait self-handicappers.

SAMPLE
Participants were 72 undergraduate students, divided equally between high and low self-handicapping groups.

METHOD
This study utilised a 2 (self-handicapping status: high, low) x 3 (performance feedback: fail, low task importance; fail, high task importance; success) between-subjects factorial design to investigate claimed and behavioural self-handicapping through reduced practice effort. This was done by manipulating performance outcome and perceived task importance.

RESULTS
Relative to low trait self-handicappers, high trait high self-handicappers claimed more handicaps and engaged in greater behavioural self-handicapping following failure when working on tasks that were described as potentially diagnostic of low ability. While low self-handicappers internalised their success more than their failure in the high task importance condition, high self-handicappers were undifferentiated in their attributions across performance conditions. Greater anxiety and greater negative affect were also characteristic of high self-handicappers.

CONCLUSIONS
The study highlights the self-protective benefit of self-handicapping in sparing the individual from conclusions of low ability, and the failure of high self-handicappers to fully internalise their success. These elements and the role of uncertain estimates of ability are discussed in considering implications for intervention.


The experiments of Project 8 have been excellent, but the expected goals still difficult to achieve. So much so that some of the results at your fingertips were also missing. In view of this, the focus of this article is to clarify several easy confused concepts. Only in this way, we can reasonably explain the experimental data. The main points are as follows: 1. The value c of the light speed in vacuum and a particle with zero static mass, both of which do not exist in the reality. That is to say, the so-called a photon's static mass is equal to zero but has energy, which is a paradox that confuses two different definitional domains. 2. In the reality, photons are high-speed particles generated by electromagnetic radiation. They must have the characteristics of (static) mass, energy and wave, in order to describe the main body to aim at photons from different angles. 3. After any main body comes into being electromagnetic radiation, its static mass will inevitably decrease accordingly. 4. The charge-mass ratio of an electron is a physical constant, which is the ratio of its charge to the amount of matter, and is not affected by relativistic effects and electromagnetic radiation. 5. The uncertainty of moving electrons is caused by random electromagnetic radiations. Finally, it is pointed out that if the cyclotron frequency of a single electron is measured, and at the same time, its de Broglie wavelength or frequency can also be measured, then its static mass can be obtained. Even so, the expected goals are still difficult to achieve, because random electromagnetic radiations are always taking away continually the matter composition of the single electron being measured. However, this was precisely a result of the research obtained by Project 8, and had universality, which should be reflect on.


THE SEARCH for the ideal surgical procedure in the treatment of otosclerosis which will restore the greatest initial and the greatest permanent improvement in hearing has inspired otologists the world over for the past seventy years. Shambaugh 1 reviewed the developments which culminated in the Lempert one stage fenestration operation. The physiologic validity of creating a persistent bony fenestra in an ear with a good reservoir of cochlear function is evidenced by the large number of patients whose remarkable improvement has been maintained from one to eight years. Investigation of patients whose improvement regressed in a few weeks or months has shown that failure is due to closure of the fenestra (bony or fibrous) or to postoperative membranous labyrinthitis. Experimental studies with monkeys (Shambaugh 1 ) have supported these interpretations and revealed the pattern of bony regeneration and membranous labyrinthitis. The different effects of labyrinthitis and fenestral closure may be illustrated by the


Among the modern theories of cultural systems and supersystems, dichotomous models occupy one of the most important places. Almost all recent theories of this kind represent variations and processing of the Marx-Engels division. The most important of these theories are those of A. Coste, Z. Weber, A. Weber, R. M. MacIver, W. Ogburn, F. S. Chopin, T. Veblen, M. Tugan-Baranovsky, and others. Even within the same culture, say sensitive, any of its main systems divides (sociologically) its own values into 'values-purposes' and 'values-means', into positive and negative, leading to a pyramid of values. In each class of sociocultural phenomena, not all its values are considered equal, but stratified in a hierarchical pyramid, starting with the negative and mediocre 'values-means' and ending with the final, supreme 'means-purposes'. These authors support the dichotomous division of the total sociocultural world into two different supersystems. The common feature of all dichotomous theories is that, without any explicit distinction between sociocultural and conglomerate systems, they divide the total culture of all societies into two different classes, and claim that all phenomena, within each class, are interdependent and change within the same pattern, given that the patterns of change in each class are fundamentally different. All these considerations and empirical evidence show the injustice of dichotomous theories of progress and lagging behind. At best, they fall into the well-known mistake of elevating a particular fact to the rank of a universal rule.


One of the crucial requirements for a Scientific Visualization system is to produce reliable and accurate results. There are many possible sources of errors that could jeopardise these efforts, such as measurement or simulation errors in the pre-analysis stage, or errors generated in the visualization process itself. Our focus here is to control errors introduced during the visualization processes. To this end we propose a conceptual model for visualization known as the Model Centred Approach (MCA). This new paradigm separates the modelling and viewing processes in visualization, and this provides the opportunity to consistently utilise a single modelling function throughout the visualization process. Results show that consistent visualizations are produced by our approach when compared to conventional methods.


Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease with increasing prevalence in the population of the whole word. Transplantation of pancreas represents pro tempore the only treatment of Type I diabetes, which can assure long-lasting normal glycaemia and the independence from the insulin administration. However, transplantation still has higher morbidity and requires permanent immunosuppression. Authors describe their clinical experience with more than 200 transplantation of pancreas and they compare them with literary data. They review the basic problems and indications to the transplantation and in details describe the technique of the operation. Attention is given to the possible complications and to the immunological side of treatment. As a standard, the surgical technique has been using combined transplantation of pancreas and kidney. The most widely used method is the transplantation of the whole gland with a duodenal segment, which enables drainage of pancreatic juices into the intestine of the recipient. Due to the introduction of new immunosuppressives, it is possible to improve the long-term results of transplantations. Early diagnostics of the rejection of the pancreatic graft remains a specific problem.