The effect of an isotopic inipurity atom on the energy transport along the one-dimensional harmonic lattice is investigatcd. Assuming such an initial ensemble that the half of the system is at temperature T and the other half is at temperature zero, the mean energy of each particle is calculated as the function of time. Thus it can be shown that, for the infinitely long chain, the mean energy of each particle approaches to the different stationary values in both sides of the impurity site, namely the system finally reaches a stationary state that has a gap of the energy distribution at the impurity site. The energy flow along this linear system is also calculated. (auth)


Management of Alzheimer disease is based on drug and nondrug treatments. Specific drug treatment includes acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and memantine. They show moderate efficacy superior to that of placebo for global condition, cognitive disorders, need for care, and behavioral problems, but do not prevent further decline. These treatments remain underused. The efficacy of psychotropic drugs (antidepressants, neuroleptics, and antipsychotic agents) in treating behavioral problems is not well documented. Nondrug activities and interventions have not been sufficiently evaluated scientifically. These involve interventions against the consequences of the disease (loss of autonomy, malnutrition) and helping patients' family caregivers. Among these activities, the best evaluated and most interesting are: educational programs for caregivers, occupational therapy at home, and interventions at home by nurses specially trained as case managers.


A technique is presented for accurate and time-resolved quantification of chromium volatilization from alloys at high temperature. A denuder tube which is coated with Na2CO3 is placed downstream of the samples. CrO2(OH)(2) that evaporated from the samples is collected on the denuder and converted to the thermally stable Na2CrO4. The chromate is then dissolved in water and determined quantitatively. Three commercially available ferritic 22% Cr steels intended for use as solid oxide fuel cell interconnect materials (Sanergy HT, Crofer 22 APU, and ZMG 232) have been investigated with respect to chromium volatilization and oxidation rate. The effect on chromium volatilization of a submicrometer cobalt coating on the steel surface is reported. Comparisons are made with a conventional thick ceramic coating. The experiments are carried out at 850 degrees C in N-2 - 20% O-2 - 3% H2O atmosphere. The submicrometer Co coatings proved to be very efficient, reducing Cr volatilization by 1 order of magnitude. Microscopic studies show that both uncoated steel and steel coated with a submicrometer cobalt film develop two-layered oxide scales with the bottom part consisting of a Cr-rich corundum-type oxide. The uncoated samples develop a top layer consisting of (Cr, Mn)(3)O-4 oxide, whereas the Co-coated samples exhibit a top layer consisting of Co-rich spinel oxide. (C) 2010 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/1.3462987] All rights reserved.


In calculations of the laser-induced ionization of uranium atoms it is necessary to average over all phases in the initial multicomponent wavefunction, the components corresponding to the initially occupied hyperfine states. In practice, however, the results of such a mixed state calculation differ only slightly from those obtained from a pure state calculation, which uses a single initial state with a random choice of phases. The statistical properties of multidimensional unit vectors are used to explain this observation, suggesting that the system is sufficiently complicated that the properties of the eigenvectors of the Hamiltonian are well represented by an ensemble over all possible orientations. This supports the use of pure state calculations in laser isotope separation studies, which offer a large reduction in the necessary computational effort.


OBJECTIVE
Outward-directed violence and impulsivity in humans and primates has frequently been related to abnormal brain monoaminergic turnover. Self-rated aggression is likely to be clinically relevant,and its psychobiological basis needs investigation.

SUBJECTS
Sixty-six patients (40 women and 26 men) with persistent depressive disorder (PDD) were compared with 497 control subjects from the general Swedish population.

METHODS
We administered the Aggression Questionnaire - Revised Swedish Version (AQ-RSV) to patients and control subjects. In patients, CSF 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and 3-methoxy-5-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) in CSF were analyzed. Total Aggression score and Aggression subfactors 'Physical Aggression','Verbal Aggression','Anger', and 'Hostility'were correlated with CSF concentrations of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA),and 3-methoxy-5-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG).

RESULTS
Overall, Hostility was positively related to CSF MHPG (t=2.27, p=0.015). Split by sex,Hostility was related with 5-HIAA in males (r=0.62,p=0.003),and with MHPG in females (r=0.38, p=0.03). Comparing self rated aggression with age- and sex-matched data from the general Swedish population, the most prominent deviation was increased Hostility score among PDD patients. Among patients, all aggression factors were nominally higher in women than in men, with the most pronounced sex difference in Hostility (t=-1.89, p=0.04).

CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest a clinically meaningful sex difference in a positive relationship between hostility and serotonergic/noradrenergic turnover in PDD patients.


For the past 20 years, there has been legislation enshrining certain rights for homeless people. This essay is an assessment of the judiciary's role towards homeless people as far as it applies to the most senior court, the House of Lords. It describes the nature of those issues where the House of Lords have had the opportunity to discuss the operation of the homeless persons legislation. It also seeks to explore the reasons why the approach taken has been restrictive. The House of Lords has played an important part in interpreting the homeless rights legislation. The restrictive role of their Lordships is contrasted with other areas where the court has taken rather more generous perspectives on the rights of vulnerable people. It canvasses the various reasons why this should have occurred and notes that limited assistance can be gleaned from traditional approaches to this judicial task. It suggests that the concept of differential politicization throws useful light on the process.


A new model based on the theoretical work of Boudh-Hir and Mansoori was developed for prediction of surface tension of pure fluids. The new model has the advantage of not requiring densities in the calculation, and the input parameters are critical temperature and connectivity indices. A total of 209 compounds covering a wide variety of substances were used to develop the model, and the overall correlative AAD is 4.21%. To test its predictive ability, the model is further used to predict the surface tension of 25 more compounds that were not included in the model development. The overall predictive AAD is 4.07%, which illustrates that the model is reliable. The model proposed is simple and easy to apply, with good predictive accuracy.


Scientific research on non-destructive testing is constantly looking for new solutions, about sensors and digital signal processing techniques, to improve the detection and characterization of defects in materials. The authors have engaged this particular line of research with particular reference to non-destructive testing applied to the conductive material through the use of eddy currents. After the realization of a novel instrument based on a Giant Magneto-Resistance probe, in this paper they propose the use of a suitable multi-frequency approach to improve reliability and accuracy in the defect estimation. Key features of the proposed instrument are the capability to detect, locate, and characterize thin defects as superficial and sub-superficial cracks. A number of tests carried out both in simulation and real environments show the goodness of the proposal.


This thesis responds to the constant change in the retail industry through the exploration of Pop-up structures. Although there are various ways a brand could connect to the public, Pop-up stores are found effective through its physical presence in cities. Temporary architecture has the flexibility to be assembled, interacted with, and relocated. The adaptability of temporal structure could apply to various forms of retailing, however this study will focus on specialty brands and leisure types. Traditional retail shops are not innovative, but the ability for a Popup to transform shape and change spatially according to program provides a new experience. This allows architecture as the main form of engagement. Through marketing strategies, retail branding, and the evolution of consumer culture, the thesis will apply written research into three architectural explorations. Each project will be placed in different scenarios, using the same deployable tactics to connect people, brand and the urban fabric.


When the terms 'women' and 'violence' are used, it is usually in the context of women as victims and rarely as perpetrators of violence, and yet women do behave aggressively – for instance, as female suicide bombers. An ethical analysis of this role, however, has tended to be somewhat overlooked, partly because of the gender stereotypes at play, with little (or spurious) focus on the agency and autonomy of the women. This has resulted in an incomplete understanding of the unique ways in which societies treat female political aggressions, and the consequences of this for their agency. This paper seeks to redress these issues by evaluating two different societal portrayals of female suicide bombers; that of the 'scandalous subwoman' and the 'sublime superwoman'. It argues that violent women's agency is often distorted to extremes beyond that of their male counterparts, and that it is imperative to avoid misrepresenting them either as agentless victims ('subwomen') or wholly agentic ('superwomen') since, even in times of political instability, they can rarely be dichotomised in this binary way.


Minimizing the number of dropped User Datagram Protocol (UDP) messages in a network is regarded as a challenge by researchers. This issue represents serious problems for many protocols particularly those that depend on sending messages as part of their strategy, such us service discovery protocols. This paper proposes and evaluates an algorithm to predict the minimum period of time required between two or more consecutive messages and suggests the minimum queue sizes for the routers, to manage the traffic and minimise the number of dropped messages that has been caused by either congestion or queue overflow or both together. The algorithm has been applied to the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol using ns2 simulator. It was tested when the routers were connected in two configurations; as a centralized and de centralized. The message length and bandwidth of the links among the routers were taken in the consideration. The result shows Better improvement in number of dropped messages `among the routers.


Alternative coronary angioplasty techniques have not been applied as often as initially supposed. Due to the favorable success rates, complication rates and costs, balloon angioplasty is still the gold standard and primary intervention procedure. Beyond that, in randomized studies recurrence rates were shown mostly higher with newer techniques. Thus alternative techniques are recommendable only when balloon angioplasty is unsuccessfull or when a failure is to be expected. Today, some niches for alternative techniques can be defined, although they have to be confirmed in further randomized studies, particularly since these techniques usually require a final balloon dilatation and can give rise to new complications.


Sudden death (SD) in children is rarer than in adults. In the pediatric population, SD accounts for less than one tenth of deaths from all causes. SD in infants is a separate entity commonly termed "sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)". Previous studies on SD in pediatric patients primarily focused on infants and showed that the incidence of SIDS was much lower in Asian countries than in Western ones. However, these differences diminished after educational campaigns such as the back to sleep act in the late 1980s to early 1990s. The incidence of SIDS from Western reports has decreased from 2.69 to around 0.5-0.24 per 1,000 live births. Beyond infancy, the annual incidence of SD ranges from 1.3 to 7.5 per 100,000. In 2009, two population-based studies, one from Taiwan and the other from the US, explored the epidemiological profile of SD in children. The child health care indexes of these two countries are similar, but the annual incidence of pediatric SD was 7.5 and 2.7 per 100,000 in the USA and Taiwan, respectively. The implications of ethic-related differences requires further confirmation. Around 40% of pediatric SD could be from cardiac causes, either diagnosed or undiagnosed. Risk stratification for cardiac SD and patient selection for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy are recommended. However, the adoption of ICD as primary prevention for SD in children is still a challenging issue. Early detection of undiagnosed cardiac risk may be facilitated by cardiac screening either in newborns or the school-age population to better manage the risk of SD. However, the efficacy of such screening remains still controversial.


The propagation of transverse electromagnetic waves in a layered electron gas is studied from the point of view of the electromagnetic penetration depth. It is found that transverse in-plane plasmons can be observed in systems consisting of two layers of charge carriers per unit cell for special values of wave vector and frequency, determined by the intrinsic parameters of the set-up like the Fermi velocity and the length scales of the unit cell. The internal degrees of freedom in the two layers per unit cell as compared to one layer per unit cell make possible this acoustic-like transverse plasmon. Above the cut-off frequency transverse electromagnetic waves are attenuated as they propagate in the layered electron gas. The layered gas furthermore behaves like a three-dimensional free-electron gas when the layers are close, having the same penetration depth dependence on frequency and the electron relaxation time. In the opposite limit of remote layers the penetration depth is found to be almost independent of these parameters.


Abstract The fractions of hexane and dichloromethane extraction from marupá (Simaruba amara) and (Bertholletia excelsa) leaves were analyzed by HT-HRGC (high temperature high resolution gas chromatography) and HT-HRGC coupled to mass spectrometry (HT-HRGC-MS). Several compounds can be characterized including unusual high molecular weight com pounds.


Integrated circuit flip-flop resolving time parameters, required for calculation of synchronizer performance and reliability, are measured by wafer probing, without the need for dicing or bonding, by incorporation of test structures on an IC along with the flip-flop to be measured. The circuit has five digital inputs, five digital outputs, including one for frequency measurements, and two analog inputs plus power and ground connections. Several delays that are fabricated as part of the test circuit, including a voltage controlled delay with a few picosecond resolution, are calibrated as part of the test procedure by grating them into and out of the delay path of a ring oscillator. Each of the delay values is calculated by subtracting the period of the ring oscillator with the delay omitted, from the period of the ring oscillator with the delay included. A frequency divider is fabricated as part of the test structure to reduce the output of the ring oscillator to less than 200 kHz so no high-frequency inputs of outputs from the IC are required.


A new ECR ion source geometry has been conceived which uses a minimum-B magnetic mirror geometry consisting of a multi-cusp, magnetic field, to assist in confining the plasma radially, a flat central field for tuning to the ECR resonant condition, and specially tailored mirror fields in the end zones for confining the plasma in the axial direction. The magnetic field, designed to achieve an axially symmetric plasma "volume" with constant mod-B, extends over the length of the central field region. This design, which strongly contrasts with "surface" ECR zones characteristic of conventional ECR ion sources, results in dramatic increases in the adsorption of RF power, thereby increasing the electron temperature and "hot" electron population within the ionization volume of the source. The ECR zone is concentrated symmetrically around the axis of symmetry and along the length of the plasma volume rather than in thin surface layers located off-axis as is the case in conventional ECR ion sources. The creation of a "volume" rather than a "surface" ECR zone and its distribution relative to the optical axis where the ions of interest are extracted is commensurate with the generation of higher beam intensities, higher charge states and a higher degree of ionization. The new ECR ion source concept has been computationally designed through the use of magnet design codes, plasma-dispersion sources, and particle-in-cell (PIC) codes. A summary of the design attributes of the source is given in this report.


Abstract Marbofloxacin, a fluoroquinolone developed specifically for veterinary use, has demonstrated considerable pharmokinetic variation among avian species. The goal of this study was to determine the disposition kinetics of marbofloxacin in mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) after a single intravenous injection. Six wild mallard ducks were used in the study. Marbofloxacin was injected at a dose of 2 mg/kg into the basilic vein, and blood was subsequently collected at regular intervals from each bird. Plasma marbofloxacin concentrations were determined by using high-performance liquid chromatography. The volume of distribution at steady state was 1.78 ± 0.37 L/kg, and the total plasma clearance was 0.59 ± 0.08 L/kg per hour. Marbofloxacin had a relatively short permanence, with a elimination half-life of 2.81 ± 1.20 hours, a terminal half-life of 2.43 ± 0.61 hours, and a mean residence time of 2.99 ± 0.52 hour. The maximum observed concentration (Cmax) and area under the curve (AUC) were 1.34 ± 0.27 µg/mL and 3.75 ± 0.56 µg · h/mL, respectively. Values of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), Cmax, and AUC have been used to predict the clinical efficacy of a drug in treating bacterial infections, with a Cmax ∶ MIC value of 10 and an AUC ∶ MIC ratio of 125–250 associated with optimal bactericidal effects. By using the study data and MIC breakpoints of 0.125 µg/mL or 0.2 µg/mL, values derived for Cmax ∶ MIC were 9.37 ± 0.99 and 5.85 ± 0.62, respectively, and for AUC ∶ MIC were 29.99 ± 4.51 and 18.74 ± 2.82, respectively. By using MIC values of 0.125 and 0.2 µg/mL and a target AUC ∶ MIC  =  125, the calculated optimal daily marbofloxacin dosages for mallard ducks were 9.24 and 14.78 mg/kg, respectively. These results suggest that, primarily because of the high total plasma clearance observed, the marbofloxacin dose for treatment of bacterial diseases in mallard ducks should be increased after intravenous administration. Intravenous doses of 10–15 mg/kg should be assessed by studying their potential toxicity and efficacy in sick birds.


HPV16 L1 gene was amplified from HPV16 positive vaginal secretion sample by PCR, and inserted into pTO-T7 to obtain the recombinant expression vector pTO-T7-HPV16-L1. Then, the pTO-T7-HPV16-L1 was transformed into E. coil strain ER2566 and the recombinant protein HPV16 L1 was expressed in soluble form. After purification by ammonium sulfate precipitation, ion-exchange chromatography, and hydrophobic interaction chromatography, the recombinant protein HPV16 L1 had a purity of more than 98%. By removing DTT, purified HPV16 L1 proteins self-assembled in vitro into VLPs with the diameter of 50 nm. The vaccination experiments on experimental animals showed the VLPs could elicit high titer of neutralizing antibodies against HPV 16. HPV16 VLPs with high immunogenicity and high purity can be produced easily and effectively from an E. coli expression system in the study, and thus can be used in structure investigation and HPV16 vaccine development.


Abstract Surface mass-balance studies and climatic records from firn cores show remarkable differences between the east and west sides of the Lambert Glacier basin (LGB). The spatial distribution of the surface accumulation is influenced by the atmospheric moisture flux, and by the surface wind field, which is largely determined by topography. Atmospheric water-vapor budget data for the ice-sheet sector covering the basin (45–90˚ E) show that on the east side of the LGB the moisture flux is poleward, averaging 18 kgm–1 s–1 in 1988, while for the west side it is Equatorward, averaging 5 kgm–1 s–1. A similar pattern, but with much lower transport of vapor flux, is seen across 70˚ S. Two firn cores from the east side of the basin and two from the west side were analyzed to determine accumulation-rate and temperature-proxy variations for the past 50 years. The trends were opposite on the different sides of the basin. Similar opposing trends are seen in meteorological records from Davis and Mawson coastal stations, situated on the east and west sides of the LGB respectively. There is a good correlation between the accumulation/18O record in ice cores from the eastern LGB and the sea-level pressure (obtained from the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction/US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) re-analyses) of a Southern Indian Ocean low (SIOL), but not between the SIOL and the records from the western LGB. This study reveals that variations in local circulation could alter at least the annual to decadal time-scale climate records, and may result in completely different climate histories between adjacent areas.


Abstract Transistor slicing refers to the use of multiple smaller transistors in implementing a large MOS transistor. What is special about transistor slicing is that it can reduce the effects of device non‐uniformity introduced during the fabrication process. The paper presents the idea of transistor slicing and analyzes the benefits of using transistor slicing in the context of Poly‐Si TFT‐LCD driving.


Video games and music have influenced each other since the beginning of the consumer video game era. In particular the "chiptune" genre of music uses sounds from 8-bit video games; these sounds have even found their way into contemporary popular music. However, in this genre, game sounds are arranged using conventional musical interfaces, meaning the games themselves (their algorithms, design and interactivity) play no role in the creation of the music. This paper describes a new way of creating music with 8-bit games, by reverse engineering and augmenting them with run-time scripts. A new API, Emstrument, is presented which allows these scripts to send MIDI to music production software. The end result is game-derived musical interfaces any computer musician can use with their existing workflow. This enhances prior work in repurposing games as musical interfaces by allowing musicians to use the original games instead of having to build new versions with added musical capabilities. Several examples of both new musical instruments and dynamic interactive musical compositions using Emstrument are presented, using iconic games from the 8-bit era.


The TraT protein is a surface‐exposed lipoprotein, specified by plasmids of the IncF group, that mediates serum resistance and surface exclusion. The structure and function of the TraT protein determined by plasmid R6‐5 was probed by genetic insertion of a foreign antigenic determinant, the C3 epitope of polio virus, at residues 61, 125, 180, 200 or 216 of the protein. The chimaeric proteins were transported to the outer membrane and, in three cases, immunoassays with an anti‐C3 monoclonal antibody indicated that the C3 epitope was exposed on the cell surface. Three of the hybrids, with insertions at residues 125, 180 and 200, assembled into the trypsin‐resistant oligomeric form characteristic of the wild‐type protein, which suggested that these regions are not involved in TraT subunit:subunit interactions. Additionally, the hybrid protein carrying the C3 epitope at position 180 functioned in a genetic suppression assay and retained partial surface‐exclusion activity. Thus, its localization, folding and organization does not appear to be grossly altered from that of the wild‐type protein. Applications of the protein for the transport of foreign antigenic determinants to the cell surface are discussed.


A numerical and experimental studies are carried out to investigate the transient heat transfer characteristics of 5kWth dish type solar air receiver. Measured solar radiation and temperatures at several different locations are used as boundary conditions for numerical a. Many parameters' effects (reflectivity of the reflector, the thermal conductivity of the receiver body, transmissivity of the quartz window, etc.) on the thermal performance are investigated. Discrete Transfer Method is used to calculate the radiation heat exchange in the receiver. A transient heat transfer model is developed and the rate of radiation, convection and conduction heat transfer are calculated. Comparing of the experimental and the numerical results, results of both are in good agreement. Using the numerical model, the transient heat transfer characteristics of volumetric air receiver for dish type solar thermal systems are known and the transient thermal performance of the receiver can be estimated.


The Weather and Climate Toolkit (WCT) is free, platform independent software distributed from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). The WCT allows the visualization and data export of weather and climate data, including Radar, Satellite and Model data [Appendix A]. The WCT provides tools for custom data overlays, Web Map Service (WMS) background maps, animations and basic filtering. The export of images and movies is provided in multiple formats. The WCT Data Export Wizard allows for data export in both vector polygon/point (Shapefile, Well-Known Text) and raster (GeoTIFF, ESRI Grid, Gridded NetCDF) formats. These data export features promote the interoperability of weather and climate information with various scientific communities and common software packages such as ArcGIS, Google Earth, MatLAB, etc... Advanced data export support for Google Earth enables the 2-D and 3-D export of rendered data, isosurfaces and cross-sections. An embedded, integrated Google Earth plugin instance allows the seamless visualization of data on a native 3-D Google Earth instance linked to the standard 2-D map [Appendix B].


In debates over the conditions for a just world order, one hears frequent appeals to Kant's call for states to unite in a federation. Given the force of Kant's arguments and their influence on the shape of such institutions as the League of Nations and the United Nations, this is certainly justified. But an essential part of what Kant saw as necessary for a global legal order is usually neglected. What is overlooked is Kant's emphasis on the status of individuals under what he calls 'cosmopolitan law'. Cosmopolitan law is concerned not with the interaction between states, but with the status of individuals in their dealings with states of which they are not citizens. Moreover, it is concerned with the status of individuals as human beings, rather than as citizens of states. In Kant's political theory, cosmopolitan law (Weltbürgerrecht) is the third category of public law, in addition to constitutional law and international law. Its core is what Kant calls a right to hospitality. He argues that states and individuals have the right to attempt to establish relations with other states and their citizens, but not a right to enter foreign territory. States have the right to refuse visitors, but not violently, and not if it leads to their destruction. This implies an obligation to refrain from imperialist intrusions and to provide safe haven for refugees.


Thymus mastichina has the appearance of a semishrub and can be found in jungles and rocky lands of the Iberian Peninsula. This work aimed to review and gather available scientific information on the composition and biological properties of T. mastichina. The main constituents of T. mastichina essential oil are 1,8-cineole (or eucalyptol) and linalool, while the extracts are characterized by the presence of flavonoids, phenolic acids, and terpenes. The essential oil and extracts of T. mastichina have demonstrated a wide diversity of biological activities. They showed antibacterial activity against several bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Salmonella subsp., methicillin-resistant and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes EGD, Bacillus cereus, and Pseudomonas, among others, and antifungal activity against Candida spp. and Fusarium spp. Additionally, it has antioxidant activity, which has been evaluated through different methods. Furthermore, other activities have also been studied, such as anticancer, antiviral, insecticidal, repellent, anti-Alzheimer, and anti-inflammatory activity. In conclusion, considering the biological activities reported for the essential oil and extracts of T. mastichina, its potential as a preservative agent could be explored to be used in the food, cosmetic, or pharmaceutical industries.


Optical metasurfaces rely on subwavelength scale nanostructures, which puts significant constraints on nanofabrication accuracies. These constraints are becoming increasingly important, as metasurfaces are maturing toward real applications that require the fabrication of very large area samples. Here, we focus on beam steering gradient metasurfaces and show that perfect nanofabrication does not necessarily equate with best performances: metasurfaces with missing elements can actually be more efficient than intact metasurfaces. Both plasmonic metasurfaces in reflection and dielectric metasurfaces in transmission are investigated. These findings are substantiated by experiments on purposely misfabricated metasurfaces and full-wave calculations. A very efficient quasi-analytical model is also introduced for the design and simulations of metasurfaces; it agrees very well with full-wave calculations. Our findings indicate that the substrate properties play a key role in the robustness of a metasurface and the smoothness of the approximated phase gradient controls the device efficiency.


EPrints, the first software for building institutional repositories, has recently been focussing on user-centred developments (ref. Carr, PASIG, Paris, 2007), for example, improving metadata quality and enabling easier and faster repository customisation. Future releases will incorporate data-oriented developments. Working with the UK-based Preserv 2 project, the next version will introduce a storage controller that supports a pluggable storage layer for repositories, providing the ability to store objects in different locations based on metadata or type. The storage controller enables direct interaction between the repository software and open storage platforms. Building on this we envisage platforms that not only store digital objects and associated metadata, but also facilitate services to act on these objects for long-term preservation. We refer to this concept as smart storage. This talk will explain how interoperability has been recognised by the Preserv 2 project as a key component of repository software to enable interaction with preservation services. The methods EPrints is employing to support both open storage and smart storage platforms will be outlined, showing how these contribute to long-term digital preservation.


The objective of this product development study was to investigate the market potential for a low entry particle image velocimetry system, eduPIV, in India, to identify the camera and illumination components to be used in the eduPIV system, and to determine its respective financial feasibility. A market potential for sale of eduPIV systems to the education sector in India has been established. With a potential market of 4080 institutions of higher technical education identified, the target customers are the 16 Indian Institutes of Technology, the 30 National Institutes of Technology, and other top engineering schools. End users would be professors and undergraduate students in mechanics labs, enabling Dantec Dynamics to tie in potential customers at an early stage. Estimated sales for the year 2013 are five eduPIV systems worldwide, two of these systems possibly sold to India. Worldwide accumulated sales are expected to be 100 units over six years. Dantec Dynamics is estimated to have a 35-40% share of the market for imaging measurement systems and competes against two other main players on the competitive arena, LaVision GmbH and TSI Inc. Other competitors known to offer a low entry PIV system includes Measure Science Enterprises Inc., Interactive Flow Studies Corp., Oxford lasers Ltd., MicroVec Corp., and Tesscorn Ltd. The strength of the competition lies in their mutual partnerships and offering of customer support. In regards to the technical aspect, the choice of components should be synonymous with an affordable and simple system. The illumination source to be used should be the Raypower 450 CW laser from Dantec Dynamics' existing supplier CNI Ltd. The camera to be used should be the time resolved Bobcat 8 Bit GigE Vision Camera from supplier Imperx Inc. Laser safety is an important factor to be considered in choice of illumination. As competitors are offering LED-based solutions and other system options, it is suggested that Dantec Dynamics consider developing an LED-based eduPIV system. This could potentially be done through the appropriate partnership. Financially, system cost is calculated to be 36,000 DKK and sales price to distributor is set at 60,000 DKK. This gives a 40% contribution margin. Return on investment is calculated at after sale of five units, given a contribution pr. unit of 24,000 DKK. This would occur after one year looking at worldwide estimated sales, looking solely at estimated sales to India, return on investment would be after two-three years. The eduPIV project is thus deemed to be financially feasible. Furthermore, pricing strategy sets the recommended sales price for the distributor to the customer at 75,000 DKK. Overall, it is recommended that Dantec Dynamics enter the Indian market with the specified eduPIV system using the given relationship marking strategy and pricing strategy.


Objective, computerized analysis of the maxillary arch was used for morphologic studies of cleft palate characteristics. A method for maxillary arch analysis was developed and used in 10 randomly selected, cleft palate patients. The computerized analysis procedure is described in detail.


Facing a huge fiscal burden due to imports of entire petroleum despite the availability of a surplus of agricultural land to produce biofuels, Zambia, a country in Sub-Saharan Africa, has recently introduced a biofuel mandate. But, a number of questions, particularly those related to the economics of biofuels, have not been fully investigated yet. Using an empirical model this study analyzes the economics of meeting the biodiesel mandate through soybean feedstock. The study finds that meeting the biodiesel mandate with biodiesel from soybeans would reduce social welfare because the country's soybean imports would cost more than the expected reduction in petroleum imports. However, if Zambia increases its domestic soybean supply along with its capacity to convert soybean to biodiesel, as well as oil yield, soybean based biodiesel is likely to be welfare-beneficial, even if biodiesel prices are above diesel prices. The study also finds that under current market prices and transportation costs and constraints, the same amount of biodiesel can be produced most cost-effectively with a tax exemption. A blend mandate would be less cost effective, while a biodiesel production subsidy represents the least efficient policy option.


Purpose: To analyse the accuracy of corneal flap thickness created in laserassisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) using the Moria Model 2 (M2) singleuse head 90 microkeratome. Methods: The corneal thickness of 300 (266 myopic and 34 hyperopic) eyes of 150 patients was measured by ultrasonic pachymetry preoperationally and intraoperationally after flap cut. The Moria M2 single-use head 90, intended to create a flap with a thickness of 120 lm, was used in all eyes. The right eye was always operated first and the left eye second, using the same blade. Results: Mean corneal flap thickness was 115.4 lm (standard deviation [SD] 12.5) in the two eyes, 115.7 lm (SD 12.4, range 73–147 lm) in right eyes and 115.1 lm (SD 12.6, range 74–144 lm) in left eyes. Mean horizontal flap diameter was 9.1 mm (SD 0.2) and mean hinge length 4.1 mm (SD 0.1). There were no free flaps, incomplete flaps or flaps with buttonholes in the study. Occasional iron particles were observed in three (1.0%) eyes. Conclusions: As with most microkeratomes, the single-use head 90 microkeratome cut thinner flaps than were intended. The range of the cuts was relatively wide. However, thin flaps did not increase the rate of flap-related complications. The difference between the first and second eyes was not significant.


Introduction: Methods such as generalized least squares regression and linear mixed models have traditionally been used for analyzing repeated measurement data. However, the computational burden for these procedures can be prohibitively high for large data sets. We propose an efficient, non-parametric method for the analysis of a continuous outcome variable with intrapatient correlation and a dichotomous predictor variable.
Methods: The patient-level values of the dichotomous variable of interest are randomized to generate sets of equally likely permutations of the data under the null hypothesis. For each replication, the test statistic for the dichotomous variable is calculated and the collection of all such test statistics forms an empirical reference distribution used to assign a p-value to the actual test statistic from the original data. Efficient calculation of the reference distribution is possible by operating on the level of sufficient statistics for the outcome variable, as the dichotomous nature of the predictor variable then allows for rapid recalculation of the tests statistic at each replicate. An example based on 629,452 measurements of systolic blood pressure in 39,313 dialysis patients is used for illustration.
Results: The Monte Carlo p-value for a decrease in systolic blood pressure following a decrease in dialysate sodium was 0.04. Other computationally feasible, but inefficient, approaches such as data aggregation and year-overyear comparisons were unable to find a significant association.
Discussion: Monte Carlo simulation offers a valid approach to analyze a continuous outcome variable with intrapatient correlation and a dichotomous predictor of interest. This method can accommodate other predictors through a two-step procedure involving an initial regression analysis. Future work is needed to characterize the power of this approach relative to other methods and to study whether weighting strategies may be helpful in the situation where not all patients contribute the same number of data points to the analysis.


Micronutrient malnutrition is a serious public health problem in many developing countries. Different interventions are currently used, but their overall coverage is relatively limited. Biofortification-that is, breeding staple food crops for higher micronutrient contents-is a new agriculture-based approach, but relatively little is known about its ramifications. Here, the main factors influencing success are discussed and a methodology for economic impact assessment is presented. "Ex ante" studies from India and other countries suggest that biofortified crops can reduce the problem of micronutrient malnutrition in a cost-effective way, when targeted to specific situations. Further research is needed to corroborate these findings and address certain issues still unresolved. Copyright 2007 International Association of Agricultural Economists.


BACKGROUND
There has been a concern in the quality of clinical trials conducted in terms of data integrity, accuracy or ethical conduct. This study aimed to assess the tangible gap existing in knowledge and application of rules and guidelines among Researcher, Research staff (RS) and Eth-ics Committee (EC) members - the three research stakeholders at the study sites.

METHOD
A validated e-questionnaire with details for demography, role, years of experience, affilia-tion and questions on knowledge and understanding about their clinical research functions based on the New Drugs and Clinical Trials (NDCT) Rules 2019, including: 'Role and responsibility, Regula-tions, Reporting timelines, Documentation, Conflict of interest and Miscellaneous' was circulated among the seven research sites of one organization with their fourteen Institutional ECs as part of the planned annual survey. Responses with >60% correct answers were arbitrarily considered to rep-resent adequate knowledge Results Of 201participants, there were 27.4% Researchers, 50.2% were from the EC and 22.4% RS. A greater proportion of Researchers had >5 years (43.6%) of experience. The mean ±SD of correct an-swers obtained was 66.9±14.77 and was statistically significant (p<0.05) among the groups, highest for EC members (71.4±11.51), those with 2-5 years of experience (68.4±14.40), and least for the RS (56.8±11.93). Researchers (> 90%) were aware of their role in the clinical trial agreement and importance of the trial registration in Clinical Trials Registry-India. There were gaps in the Informed Consent (IC) process and post-trial access. Awareness regarding the IC process was adequate among the RS (84%). Awareness that the re-sponsibility of all delegation at site finally lies with the Researchers was adequate (60%) but 20% wrongly believed that the sponsor can have access to subject identification details. Deficiencies were noted regarding documentation, NDCT rules -2019 and serious adverse event (SAE) reporting process. Five percent answered that Data Clarification Forms were generated after reviewing the case report forms. The awareness that NDCT rules-2019 was not for medical devices, student pro-jects or Investigator Initiated Studies was inadequate (56%). The EC members' awareness in roles and responsibilities was adequate (≥ 90%). Knowledge gaps were noted in EC monitoring of the ongoing trials (32%), and SAE reporting on SUGAM portal (8.8%), where stakeholders can access the regulator's web services using a single window interface for clinical trial related activities. Conclusion There are gaps in the knowledge of the 3 stakeholders at site. Identifying and rectifying the gray areas will have the site better placed in performance. There is a need for regular training and assess-ments.


Survey data collected from 2,000 Senior Secondary Two Students (SS II) in Cross River State, Nigeria were analysed to determine the influence of child abuse on the students' locus of control. Four dimensions of child abuse such as: Physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and child neglect were considered in the study. Contingency chi-square (X) was used to determine the influence of child abuse on students' locus of control at 0.05 Alpha levels. The result obtained showed a significant influence of child abuse on students' locus of control. In other words, more students with high level of abuse were externally controlled than expected. Based on the finding, recommendations were made. Keyword: Locus of control, Child abuse, Cross River, Secondary schools


Increased complexity of organizations and emerging technologies poses new and difficult challenges for the evaluation of software systems. Several years of research have proven that usability evaluations are invaluable tools for ensuring the quality of software technologies, but the increased complexity of technology requires new ways of understanding and evaluating the quality of software systems. This article explores limitations, challenges, and opportunities for studying mobile technologies "in use, in situ;" in laboratories (in vitro); and in controlled high-fidelity simulations of the real world. The latter condition is called in sitro . This report comes from 2 different case studies of evaluating the usability of mobile systems within these 3 different conditions. Results show that it is possible to recreate and simulate significant elements of intended future use situations in laboratory settings and thereby increase the level of realism and maintain a high level of control. In fact, the in sitro condition was able to identify most of the same usability problems as found in the other conditions. However, the in situ evaluation proved to provide a level of realism that is difficult to achieve in laboratory environments.


(+)-2-N-Methyltelobine [1], a new alkaloid, together with twelve known bisbenzylisoquinolines, was isolated from the tubers of Stephania erecta. The structure determination and the complete 1H- and unambiguous 13C-nmr assignments of 1 were obtained through extensive use of several 1D and 2D nmr techniques. All alkaloids inhibited the growth of cultured Plasmodium falciparum strains D-6 and W-2 and displayed nonselective cytotoxicity with a battery of cultured mammalian cells. These data were used for the calculation of selectivity indices. Relative to known antimalarial agents, these bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids do not appear to be promising clinical candidates at the present time.


A study of the postoperative amylasemia levels on 375 different intervents is presented. Three different behaviours have been observed: 1) in 44 cases there has been a rapid increase of the amylasemia gone on for less than 4 days without any clinical sign of pancreatitis; 2) in 6 cases the increase, sometimes less marked than the previous cases, developed and continued for longer time, showing oscillations with a slow return to the normality. At the same time there was a slow recovery in the general conditions; the cause of that has been interpreted as a pancreatic affection; 3) in 8 cases the amylasemia increase developed for many days with large and long oscillation and clinical signs of APP. The opinion of Authors is that the APP is characterised by amylasemia increases presenting large oscillations life times exceeding 4 days, and that they are joined with clinical signs of pancreatitis (pain, sickness, hypotension, ec.). The study of the amylasemia plotting is considered to be a rather good method to emphasize a pancreatic disease.


The design and analysis of routing protocols is an important issue in dynamic networks such as packet radio and ad-hoc wireless networks. Ad hoc wireless network is a dynamic multi-hop network, which is established by a group of mobile nodes on a shared wireless channel. The shared medium and the multi-hop nature of the wireless ad hoc networks pose fundamental challenges to the design of an effective resource allocation algorithm to maximize the aggregated utility of flows, maintaining basic fairness among the multiple flows. While the previously proposed scheduling algorithms have been shown to perform well in providing fair sharing of bandwidths among the single-hop wireless flows, they have not considered the multi-hop flow with an end-to-end perspective. Hierarchical, cluster-based routing greatly reduces the routing table sizes (compared to host-based routing) and the amount of routing related signaling traffic, at the expense of reducing path efficiency and generating some management traffic. This paper proposes a fully distributed cluster based routing algorithm for mobile ad hoc networks. The feasible path to a destination is calculated using the QoS information available with each cluster members. Non-overlapping clusters are created using the dynamic cluster creation algorithm. Packets are routed according to the QoS information available with each gateway node. The mobility issues are also handled in this routing architecture. Because of the hierarchical nature of architecture, the performance is unaffected by the increase in the number of mobile nodes. The cluster maintenance algorithm dynamically manages the handover and hence the efficiency is not degraded by node mobility.


The COVID-19 epidemic has definitely affected nearly all economic and social activities across the world, in addition to its destructive and fatal impacts. As a result, estimates for global economic growth have been lowered downward. Furthermore, the pandemic scenario has pushed scientific study in new areas in order to discover answers to the new problems that have arisen as a result of the epidemic. We have questioned the idea of calculating the human development index (HDI) in this context, while providing new assessment criteria judged useful and compatible with pandemic conditions to evaluate sub-dimensional development indicators pertaining to health, education, and income. As a result, we have shown that the environmental dimension is necessary for measuring the progression of the HDI, allowing us to offer a novel HDI calculation formula.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is an important public health issue, in terms of incidence and mortality, with approximately 1.8 million new cases reported worldwide in 2018. Advancements in understanding pathophysiological key steps in CRC tumorigenesis have led to the development of new targeted therapies such as those based on epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors (EGFR inhibitors). The cutaneous adverse reactions induced by EGFR inhibitors, particularly papulopustular rash, often require long-term antibiotic treatment with tetracycline agents (mostly minocycline and doxycycline). However, this raises several issues of concern: possible occurrence of gut dysbiosis in already vulnerable CRC patients, selection of highly antibiotic resistant and/or virulent clones, development of adverse reactions related to tetracyclines, interference of antibiotics with the response to oncologic therapy, with a negative impact on disease prognosis etc. In the context of scarce information regarding these issues and controversial opinions regarding the role of tetracyclines in patients under EGFR inhibitors, our aim was to perform a thorough literature review and discuss the main challenges raised by long-term use of tetracyclines in advanced CRC patients receiving this targeted therapy.


Various techniques for generation of peptide and peptidomimetic libraries are summarized in this article. Multipin, tea bag, and split-couple-mix techniques represent the major methods used to make peptides and peptidomimetics libraries. The synthesis of these libraries were made in either discrete or mixture format. Peptides and peptidomimetics combinatorial libraries were screened to discover leads against a variety of targets. These targets, including bacteria, fungus, virus, receptors, and enzymes were used in the screening of the libraries. Discovered leads can be further optimized by combinatorial approaches.


1 The TSH response to TRH is suppressed 24 h after the commencement of i.v. heparin infusion in euthyroid subjects, as compared to repeat testing, both after 7 days of continuous i.v. heparin and after 7 days without heparin but while on warfarin. 2 This suggests that the rise in serum free thyroid hormones, which heparin produces, has a 'metabolic effect'. Possible clinical effects of this action must be considered. 3 Heparin has no effect on the radio-immunoassay of TSH.


Automated oestrus detection systems are becoming a mainstream technology on dairy farms. A previous study demonstrated that these systems generate heat alerts too early or too late in comparison to progesterone-defined oestrus events. That study, however, included only 30 cases. The current study used successful inseminations as reference to evaluate sensitivity of heat detection systems. Data were collected on two farms from January through July 2014 and included insemination records and heat alerts from three different automated heat detection system. One system was implemented on both farms, and each farm had a second, different, heat detection system running simultaneously. Insemination records were used to identify successful inseminations (n = 282; 153 on Farm 1 and 129 on Farm 2). The day each system generated heat alerts was compared with the day of successful insemination to calculate the sensitivity for successful inseminations. Sensitivity was also assessed per parity (1, 2 or ≥3) and per lactation stage (≤56 and >56 days in milk) within each system. Using a two-day time window (day of successful insemination and previous day) for a system to generate an alert, sensitivities were 35%, 87%, and 94% for system A, B, and C, respectively. Systems had lower sensitivity levels for heifers (parity 1) and system B appeared to have higher sensitivity levels for successful inseminations during the first 56 days of lactation. Despite small differences in sensitivity levels for the different parity groups and lactation stages, there appeared to be no differences of practical relevance. Results suggested no necessity for parity specific or lactation stage specific algorithms to improve detection performance of heat detection systems.


Jones and Thompson have reported that a 12% p -toluene sulfonic acid solution in glacial acetic acid gave a flocculant precipitate in the sera of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. 1 Positive tests were also found in a few patients with hepatitis, multiple myeloma, vertebral coccidioidomycosis, and rheumatoid arthritis but not in any with scleroderma, periarteritis nodosa, and dermatomyositis. The authors believed that some unknown factor in lupus erythematosus serum was responsible for the precipitate and that sera with increased γ-globulin did not always show a positive reaction in the test. During the past 20 or more years many precipitation tests of a nonimmunologic character have been described for sera in various diseases. The majority have depended on nonspecific changes in the blood proteins, especially an increase in the globulins. In general these can be divided into two types: (1) complex poorly understood colloidal systems, mainly


Despite the importance of the non-task interactions in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments as emphasized in the literature, few studies have investigated online behavior of people in the CSCL environments. This paper studies the pattern of non-task interactions among postgraduate students in an Australian university. The CSCL environment in this study includes separate online spaces called the Seminar Room and the Coffee Shop for pedagogical and non-pedagogical activities, respectively. The Transcript Analysis Tool (TAT) was used to code discussions in the above two rooms for three online courses. The findings indicate the presence of substantial number of non-task interactions among students in both the Seminar Rooms and the Coffee Shops. The results also indicate that a great portion of the non-task discussions fall into the categories of Reflections, Referential Statements, Horizontal Questions, and Salutations. Furthermore, the majority of students' non-task interactions occurred during the first few weeks of the semester and then decreased in the middle of the semester and slightly increased during the exam period. This indicates that facilitating students' non-task activities during the first few weeks of the semester is of prime importance. Based on the findings, this paper provides recommendations for enhancing future CSCL developments.


Background

Nuthatches (genus Sitta) comprise a group of Passeriformes. With the publication of more mitochondrial genome data, there has been considerable focus on the taxonomic status of the nuthatches. To understand the phylogenetic position of Sitta and phylogenetic relations within this genus, we sequenced and analyzed the complete mitochondrial genomes of three species, S. himalayensis, S. nagaensis and S. yunnanensis, making this the first account of complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) for this genus.
Results

The mitochondrial genomes of three Sitta species are 16,822-16,830 bp in length and consisted of 37 genes and a control region. This study recovered the same gene arrangement found in the mitogenomes of Gallus gallus, which is considered the typical ancestral avian gene order. All tRNAs were predicted to form the typical cloverleaf secondary structures. Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses of sequences of 18 species obtained a well-supported topology. The family Sittidae is the sister-group of Troglodytidae, and the genus Sitta can be divided into 3 major clades. We demonstrated the phylogenetic relationships within genus Sitta (S. carolinensis + (S. villosa + S. yunnanensis + (S. himalayensis + (S. europaea + S. nagaensis)))).


A superconducting permanent magnet system capable of generating strong magnetic fields has been constructed by using melt-processed bulk superconductors as trapped field magnets. The trapped field in the open space between two magnetic poles that are set face to face has reached 3.15 T when magnetized by a pulsed-field magnetization (PFM) technique. That was operated at 30 K attained by GM-cycle refrigerators. The performance exceeds that of conventional rare earth magnets or large scale electromagnets by far. It was found that the iteratively magnetizing pulsed field operation with reducing amplitude (IMRA) method is very effective in magnetizing the bulk superconductors. The magnet system can be used as a high field generator in various applications.


Today there is increasing support for the idea that governments should aim at greater happiness for a greater number of citizens. Is this a mission impossible? The following questions arise in this context: (1) Is greater happiness in a nation feasible? (2) If so, can governments do much about it? (3) If so, what can governments do to raise happiness in their country? (4) How does the pursuit of happiness fit with other political aims?
In this chapter, I take stock of the available research findings on happiness that bear answers to these questions. To do this, I use a large collection of research findings gathered in the World Database of Happiness. These data show that greater happiness is possible, and indicate some ways to achieve this goal. The pursuit of public happiness fits well with several other policy aims.

Keywords: happiness, life-satisfaction, research synthesis, utilitarianism, nations


Radiocarpal fracture-dislocation was associated with fracture of the distal articular surface of the radius in five patients (six extremities). Closed manipulation resulted in satisfactory reduction of both the dorsal dislocation of the carpus on the distal radius and displaced articular fracture fragment(s) in two of four extremities. In four extremities, open reduction was necessary as the only means of satisfactorily managing this severe wrist injury. Direct visualization through a dorsolateral incision alone allows for maximal restoration of the often extensive bony injury of the dorsal articular surface of the radius. A volar incision is required for anatomic reduction of the carpus, and median reconstitution of the radiocarpal ligament nerve decompression. Functional results were generally satisfactory; however, radiographic degenerative changes appearing early portend traumatic arthritis as a sequela of this complex injury.


RANDOLPH B. CAMPBELL Baum is the foremost practitioner of the quantitative approach to the history of nineteenth-century Texas. In this study, he utilizes statistical methods, especially ecological regression, to analyze the voting behavior of Texans in key elections from 1859 to 1869. He thus explains the inability of Lone Star State Unionists to prevent secession, mount signiacant opposition to the Confederacy, or build a successful Republican Party during Reconstruction. Baum's use of ecological regression as a method for estimating relationships between the demographic and social characteristics of individuals and their voting behavior when only aggregate data are available owes much to articles that appeared in this journal during the early 1970s, especially those by Jones and Kousser.1 Regression analysis reveals that Texas Unionists (a catch-all term for the shifting and never-uniaed groups who opposed pro-southern stances on secession, the war, and Reconstruction) never succeeded in convincing a majority of voters to forsake the dominant Democratic Party—not even in their two greatest victories—the elections of Sam Houston and Edmund J. Davis to the governorship in 1859 and 1869, respectively. Houston, the most vocal opponent of secession in Texas, took the governor's oface from Hardin R. Runnels, the ultra-southerner who had defeated him two years earlier, due primarily to a poor turnout by voters who had supported Runnels in 1857 rather than to any signiacant change of sentiment on the part of the electorate. Edmund J. Davis, the Radical Republican who had served as a brigadier general in the Union Army, received the votes of newly enfranchised AfricanAmericans in 1869, but he won the governorship because many whites refused to vote. They hated Davis, but they could not support his opponent, Andrew J. Hamilton, the former provisional governor. Baum's statistical evidence clariaes the results of several key elections during the years from 1859 to 1869 (Houston's comeback victory in 1859, for example), and it will have to be taken into account in future studies of the Civil War and Reconstruction in Texas. In a larger way, his work demonstrates that Texas, in spite of the many ways that it differed from the other ten states of the Confederacy, "failed to forge a history signiacantly dissimilar from the other slave states that had cast their lot with the movement for southern independence" (228). This is hardly an original conclusion, but it is one that will generate disagreement from those who insist that Texas was always more western than southern, that the presence of Mexicans and Germans made it different, that slavery was not the same on the frontier, etc. It appears, however,


Recent release and promotion of hybrid maize production in Ghana necessitated a study to estimate the genetic improvement of maize (Zea mays L.) in Ghana under three levels of nitrogen fertilizer application. The experiment was conducted in 2002 major and minor seasons at Fumesua and Kwadaso representing four planting environments. Three local accessions, seven improved open pollinated varieties and two quality protein maize hybrids released from 1972 to 1997 were evaluated in a two factor, randomized complete block design in a split-plot, with four replications in each environment. Nitrogen levels (0, 45, 90 kg N ha -1 ) were randomized in the main plots and the 12 varieties were randomized in the sub-plots. Analyses of variance showed highly significant (P<0.01) Genotype x nitrogen interactions for grain yield, shelling percentage and blight disease but significant (P<0.05) for cob diameter and rotten ears. Significant (P<0.01) linear regression analysis indicated that yield gains attributed to genetic improvement were 12.5, 35.1 and 33.1 kg/ha/yr at 0, 45 and 90 kg N ha -1 respectively implying an annual contribution to farm income of US$2.4M, US$4M and US$4.4M respectively. The study showed that progress has been made in genetic improvement of maize in Ghana since the mid-1950s.


The purpose of this study was to look at the two concepts Sports and Religion as an essential tool for development, unity and peaceful co-existence. Both of them have laid down rules and encourage team work and discipline among others. The paper will also focus on the relationship between sport and religion regarding the use of prayer in athletics and church related sporting activities. The paper further show the co-operative tendencies which exist between sports and religion and how sports could be used by religion and other related organizations.


4432 Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common form of adult leukemia in the Western hemisphere. In spite of its prevalence, many of the biochemical and molecular features of this disease remain unclear. Previous studies by our group established that CLL cells from patients with prior chemotherapy generated significantly higher basal levels of cellular superoxide radicals (O2-, p = 0.0029) and had significantly higher heteroplasmic mtDNA mutation frequencies than cells from untreated patients (p = 0.0079). Considering that oxidative stress has been known to activate mitochondrial biogenesis and that cells from CLL patients with prior chemotherapy generate higher basal levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), we hypothesized that increased superoxide content in CLL cells may lead to enhanced mitochondrial biogenesis and thus, increased mitochondrial mass. To test this hypothesis, we obtained blood specimens from CLL patients with and without prior chemotherapy with fludarabine/cyclophosphamide-based regimen, and assessed the relationship between the basal levels of O2- generation and mitochondrial mass. The cellular superoxide was measured by flow cytometry analysis using hydroethidine as an O2- sensitive dye. Cells isolated from previously treated patients generated higher basal levels of O2- than the CLL cells from untreated patients (p= 0.0156). Cellular mitochondrial mass of the primary cells derived from each patient was determined by flow cytometry using Mitotracker Green. These analyses revealed that the mitochondrial mass of CLL cells from patients with prior chemotherapy was significantly higher than that of cells from obtained from untreated patients (p=0.0078). There appears to be a positive correlation between cellular O2- and mitochondrial mass. Transmission electron microscopy showed that CLL cells in general contained higher numbers of mitochondria per cell than normal lymphocytes, suggesting that increased mitochondrial biogenesis may be associated with mtDNA mutations and the subsequent alterations of energy metabolism in CLL cells. Taken together, the data suggest that oxidative stress, caused either by endogenous or exogenous factors, may contribute to the increased mitochondrial mass in CLL cells.


Purpose: This study analyzed and compared the physico-chemical and affective properties between mackerels cooked by an electric pan and under superheated steam. Methods: Mackerel were cooked by an electric pan (95°C) for 10 min and mackerel cooked under superheated steam (250°C) for 5 min to be internal temperatures of 75±5°C and tests to measure proximate composition, color values, texture profiles, microorganism counts and sensory acceptance were performed. Results: The moisture contents were 60.30% and 73.81% in mackerels cooked by electric pan and under superheated steam, respectively. The rate of weight loss in mackerel cooked by electric pan was 39%, whereas it was 29% in mackerel cooked under superheated steam. Mackerel cooked under superheated steam exhibited more yellowness, higher springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness, and resilience with more acceptable preferences (appearance, odor, taste, and texture) compared to the mackerel cooked by electric pan. Conclusion: The application of superheated steam technology to fish products could reduce the cooking time and nutritional loss. Also, it could produce highly preferred fish products compared to that prepared by conventional electric pan.


Objective: West Nile virus has recently become a public health concern in the United States, after an outbreak in New York City in 1999. It is a mosquito‐borne virus that causes a spectrum of disease from flu‐like symptoms to encephalopathy, muscle weakness, and, in some cases, death.


Improvements in physical properties of polyvinyl alcohol fibers were attempted by means of both crosslinking and graft copolymerization. By using the ceric iron redox system on synthetic fibers spun from polymer blends containing polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and its partially (about 15 mole-%) N-methylolcarbamoylethylated products (PVM) in which the blend ratios were 0/100, 10/90, 15/85, and 20/80 by weight, methyl methacrylate (MMA) was grafted at 30°C. in the aldehyde-free acetone-water system after crosslinking by heat treatment or successive acid treatment. Grafting increases with increasing PVM component. This may be ascribed to the coarsening of the fiber texture caused by polymer blending and the increasing of methylol groups as a reducing agent. Moisture regains decrease with increasing graft fraction, but these appear to be greater than the additive values of backbone and graft polymer. Less shrinkage in boiling water is obtained with the increase of PVM component and grafting; the decreased shrinkage is significant in the acid-treated PVM-PVA fibers, and it reaches a nearly sufficient value at about 50% graft-on. The PVA fibers do not give sufficient shrink-proofing. The inherent tenacity and elongation of the grafted fibers increase slightly with increasing graft-on or denier except at the high grafting above about 100, 150, and 300 in the PVA, acid-treated, and acid-untreated PVM/PVA fibers, respectively; whereas the tensile strength in grams/denier decreases with grafting. Although at high grafting, a destruction in the fiber texture will perhaps occur, the coarser the texture of backbone fiber, the harder the change by grafting. The knot/normal ratios in tensile strength or elongation of the grafted fibers have been retained at above 90%. The elastic recovery of the grafted fibers is considerably improved as compared to the conventional Vinylon fibers. The improvements in the acid-treated and grafted PVM/PVA (20/80) fibers are significantly greater above and below 50% graft-on, especially in the range of lower extension. As expected, the thermosetting property is also appreciably imparted with grafting. In the conventional Vinylon fibers, the formalization for shrink-proofing is usually at a sacrifice of elastic recovery. But MMA grafting in the PVM/PVA fibers gives a fairly good elastic recovery and less shrinkage in addition to thermosetting property, making the most of the characteristics in the longer intermolecular crosslinkages formed between methylol groups or PVA-OH groups and methylol groups.


The first volume of this projected series on the history of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia launches a truly monumental project, even if the first installment is only slender in size and restricted in scope. The author, a native of Yugoslavia, who left his country and was subsequently educated in Scotland and at Canadian universities, is currently a professor of political science at the University of British Columbia. He is uniquely qualified to write the definitive history of Tito's Communist movement since he is completely conversant with, and seems to have excellent access to, the original documentary materials dealing with the Party and its rapidly changing leadership. Volume One focuses on the 1914-1941 period, beginning with the years of World War I and stretching to the spring of 1941 when the German invasion of Yugoslavia heralded not only the advent of an inevitable World War II, but also the emergence of a Communist nucleus in the forefront of the country's resistance struggle. Despite the voluminous documentation of the earlier period, this reviewer found the story more interesting (and more relevant to the current Eastern European scene) as the late nineteen thirties are being discussed in terms of the rise of Tito and the factional inner-strife of the Comintern hierarchy. This impression also suggests that subsequent volumes will be increasingly important contributions to scholarly work on Balkan politics, and possibly of more appeal to the general public and college students alike. The first volume is clearly a specialist's book written for fellow-specialists.


It is shown that seismic P-wave vector signals as recorded by selected NORSAR subarrays can be described by multivariate parametric models of autoregressive type. These are models having the form
 X ¯ ( t ) − A 1 X ¯ ( t − 1 ) − ... − A p X ¯ ( t − p ) = W ¯ ( t )
 Where X¯(t) (t) is the digitized short-period vector time series defined by the P-wave signal and W¯(t) (t) is a white noise vector time series. The multivariate autoregressive analysis is undertaken for 83 nuclear explosions and 72 earthquakes from Eurasia. For each event a separate analysis of the main signal and of the coda has been carried through. It is found that in most cases a reasonable statistical fit is obtained using a low-order autoregressive model. The autoregressive parameters characterize the spectral density matrix of the P-wave signal and therefore form a convenient basis for constructing short-period discriminants between earthquakes and explosions. Based on the classification results for our data base of Eurasian events, we find that the multivariate autoregressive parameters have a substantially larger discrimination potential than the short-period parameters suggested earlier in the literature. In fact our results indicate that, based on autoregressive parameters, it may now be possible to construct purely short-period discriminants which are comparable, if not superior, to the mb:Ms criterion.


The monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) gene polymorphism(-2518A>G)  in the regulatory region of the MCP-1 protein has been reported to be associated with cancer risk. In this study we aimed to investigate the relationship of MCP-1 (-2518A>G) gene polymorphism and ovarian cancer. MCP-1 genotyping was performed using polymerase chain reaction from blood samples ofovarian cancer patient (n=56) and a control groups (n=52).There was a significant difference in MCP1 (-2518A>G) genotypes between the patient and control groups (p=0.049; x2=6.042). AA carriers were significantly higher in the control group (p=0.014) whereas AG genotype and G allele carriers were significantly higher in the ovarian cancer group (p=0.029, p=0.014, respectively). This study suggests that MCP-1 (-2518A>G) AG genotype and G allele could be considered as risk factor for susceptibility to ovarian cancer.


A system level model of a force balance accelerometer in which the proof mass is levitated with electrostatic forces is presented. The position of the proof mass is detected capacitively and controlled electrostatically. The mathematical modelling of the system is described. In particular, equations for the capacitances and electrostatic forces are derived and verified by comparison with a finite element model. They are then implemented in a Simulink system level model of the accelerometer.


The purpose of this paper is to record the results of several studies conducted at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, at Murray Hill, New Jersey, to provide data on detailed parts of the soil-block procedure for testing wood preservatives. Since the original publication of the soil-block method of Bell Laboratories by Leutritz (1946), virtually all of the articles which have appeared in the literature concerning it have been reports of preservative evaluation or comparative results on natural resistance of heartwood of several timber species. There have been a few noteworthy instances where the test method itself has been the object of investigation. In one such study, a comparison of the soil-block and agar-block technics, Duncan (1953a) mentions various specific studies on the soil-block method. These studies included the reaction of different test fungi to preservatives, addition of nutrients to the soil, loss of the diluent toluene from blocks, moisture contents of the test blocks, and other factors. In a later publication, Duncan (1953b) reports exploratory tests which indicated that different seasons of outdoor weathering influenced the rate of loss of creosote from blocks, that the specific gravity of longleaf pine sapwood used for 34" blocks did not affect threshold retentions in blocks treated to refusal (full-cell treatment), and that a minimum culture period of two months was needed in exposing blocks to attack by test fungi. Recently, Eades and Roff (1953), using a modified soil-block procedure, have suggested that aeration is required in culture bottles. In the course of some eight years of use here and abroad, questions have arisen regarding certain steps in the soil-block method. The experiments covered in this paper were designed to provide further knowledge relative to some of these questions. The subject matter in this report relates to the soilblock procedure used at Bell Laboratories, the statistical determination of thresholds, the treatment of oven-dry blocks rather than blocks of approximately 11 per cent moisture content, aeration in test bottles, and distribution of creosote in test blocks.


The leaves of the plant khat (Catha edulis) are commonly chewed in certain countries of East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Chewing of khat leaves has a deep-rooted religious and sociocultural tradition and has a peculiarity of certain influences on the physical, physiological and psychosocial well-being of those involved in the habit of chewing the leaves. The objective of this study was to investigate psychosocial, academic and health implications and reasons for students' involvement in khat chewing habit. A cross-sectional survey of students aged 22 years and above was studied; Five hundred and twenty eight subjects participated. They were summer school students of Jimma University, Ethiopia. A self structured questionnaire was used in data collection on the socio-demographic, academic, economic and health effects of khat. Results clearly indicated that males dominated in chewing khat (63.52%); 54.9% of khat chewers were Muslims; 46.3% of the students reported focus and concentration on their studies as the reason for chewing khat. Insomnia was the major health problem indicated by 50% of the students; while 71% of the study participants reported being more sociable following khat chewing. Self acclaimed positive academic achievements were reported by 89% of the participants but there were no reported
significant effects on objective academic results. It was concluded that to gain concentration and focus was the main reason for students' khat chewing habit. However, there was no evidence of subjective academic achievement.

Key Words: Khat; Catha edulis; academic achievement; health effects; mature students; socioeconomic factors; religion.


Cancer-initiating/sustaining stem cell subsets (CSCs) have the potential to regenerate cancer cell populations and are resistant to routine therapeutic strategies, thus attracting much attention in anticancer research. In this study, an innovative framework of endogenous microenvironment-renewal for addressing such a dilemma has been just developed. CSCs in three-dimensional multipotent spheroid-engineered biologics were prepared with 150 Gy radiation and inoculated into 15-mo-old BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice bearing diverse advanced tumors covering Mammary 4T1, liver Hepa, lung LL/2, and colon C26 tumors and distant metastases. Subsequently, the systematic microenvironment of tumor-bearing hosts was rapidly remodeled to resettle thymic cortex and medulla rudiment as an endogenous foxn1-thymosin reprogramming TCR-repertoire for resetting MHC-unrestricted multifunction renewal. Postrenewal Vγ4γδT-subsets would bind and lead migrating CSCs into apoptosis. Moreover, TCR repertoire multifunction renewal could reverse tumor metastases from tumoricidal resistance into eventual regression as a blockade of cancer-sustaining Bmi-1/Nanog-Oct4-Sox2 renewal loop with sequent multivalent depletion of both migrating/in situ CSCs and non–stem terminal cancer cell subsets. This study represents a promising start to set up a generalizable strategy of three-dimensional biologics evoking an endogenous integral microenvironment into pluripotent renewal versus advanced cancer.


The authors analyze the feasibility of laser action in erbium-doped silicon devices. The recent experimental results on spontaneous light emission at 1.54 /spl mu/m from erbium doped silicon diodes and theoretical calculation on Bragg grating technology are used to evaluate the best scenario performances. The effects of processes-induced errors on the threshold conditions are taken into account. They show that laser action in the Er:Si system is feasible.


An extremely rare case of acute inflammatory myopathy during combination chemotherapy with docetaxel and carboplatin for metastatic breast carcinoma in a 62-year-old diabetic female patient is reported. Despite the early clinical partial response of the underlying malignancy to the chemotherapeutic regimen, the patient developed symmetrical, painful, proximal muscle weakness in the lower limbs with peripheral edema after the administration of the third cycle of treatment. The syndrome regressed after the discontinuation of chemotherapy and the administration of corticosteroids.


Abstract Research on neural and neurofuzzy architectures indicates the need for the introduction of a more general concept than that of the neural unit, or node, introduced in the pioneering work by MacCuUoch and W.H. Pitts, Bull. Math. Biophys. 5, 115-133, 1943. The neural unit that is widely used today in artificial neural networks can be considered as a nonlinear filter. From this basic unit so-called "integrated" neural architectures may be built, in which many different neural networks cooperate. In order to do research on such neural architectures a description language is needed in which an artificial neural network can be considered as a single, dedicated entity. On the basis of these considerations we propose in the present paper a generalization of the concept of neural unit, which will be denoted as morphogenetic neuron. The name "neuron" was adopted because the activation function of such a device is characterized, in the same way as in classical neural units, by a bias potential and by a weighted sum of suitable, in general nonlinear, functions of morphogenetic fields. The attribute "morphogenetic" was chosen because the data determine the weights of the elementary source fields which generate the morphogenetic field by the linear operation of superposition. With the morphogenetic neuron it becomes possible to automatically reproduce a network of conventional neural units implementing a given input-output transfer function, without the need for resorting to laborious methods of synthesis, such as supervised training. The concept of the morphogenetic neuron appears to be in line with recent research in neurobiology. For example the auditory place cells are believed to "compute" the azimuth position (left-right) and elevation position (up-down) of a sound source. The position is obtained by measuring the internal time difference between signals which are delayed with respect to each other because of the difference in path-lengths between the sound source and each ear. In this case two inputs control the same auditory place cells S. Nobuo, in: Dynamic Aspects of Neocortical Function, 1984. The two signals are fused to obtain values of the morphogenetic field functions for the azimuth and elevation positions. Possible deteriorations or distortions of the primary signals are not important, because the significance of the data is solely connected with the delay of the signals and the morphogenetic fields associated with the ITD. Classically, data fusion is motivated by the presumption that


Background: Many drugs have been studied as adjuvants to local anesthetic agents with the aim of improving the quality of anesthesia and to provide profound analgesia. Clonidine has also been used as an adjunct to local anesthetic agents in various regional techniques. The studies regarding clonidine in brachial plexus block have given mixed results. Aim was to determine whether addition of clonidine to the local anesthetic solution for brachial plexus block by supraclavicular approach, prolongs sensory and motor blockade and improves postoperative analgesia. Also to observe side effects if any. Methods: 60 patients aged 18-60 years, were randomly allocated into two groups. Group A received 2 µg / kg of Clonidine diluted to 1 ml with saline and group B received 1 ml of saline added to bupivacaine (10 ml 0.5%) and lignocaine (20 ml 2 %) solution, in the supraclavicular block. The onset and duration of sensory and motor block was compared along with the duration of analgesia, sedation in both the groups. Patients' pulse rate, blood pressure, saturation was also recorded. Results: Addition of clonidine had no effect on the onset of the block, but was found to increase the duration of sensory and motor block along with the increase in the duration of analgesia. Visual analogue score for pain was significantly lower in the group receiving clonidine. Conclusions: Clonidine 2 µg / kg added to 10 ml of 0.5 % Bupivacaine + 20 ml of 2% lignocaine with adrenaline (1:200000) is a good option for improving the quality and duration of supraclavicular brachial plexus block.


Acting and performance programs are shifting to respond to the variety of professional areas they serve. In this article, the authors discuss their integrative practice actor training based in 'groundwork'. While attempting to address a global demand for greater intercultural exchange and new technologies, how do Australian acting institutions move forward and provide students with relevant, contemporary training methods that respond to these demands? While original methods like Frederick Alexander's technique have found their place internationally during the 20th Century, it is foreign methodologies that dominate Australian actor training institutions. Robert Lewis, Dominique Sweeney and Samantha Dowdeswell embrace Australian voices, bodies, imaginations and creativity in the Charles Sturt University Acting and Performance course. Wiradjuri elders, as advisors in appreciating country, provide the foundation to develop an integrative pedagogy we are developing fusing non-Western practices like the Suzuki Method of Actor Training (SMAT) with original training aesthetics. Traditional Aboriginal theatre practitioners of the northwest of Australia refer to the gut as the connection to country. In actor training gut-like intelligence, centre or core, is regularly used when training performers to be present and responsive to the text, action and acting partners. The pathway to connect to country, through stomping or shuffling feet, is part of Aboriginal and Tadashi Suzuki's training, where the significance placed on the 'centre', and where the core plays an integral part of connecting self to place. The integrative actor training program at Charles Sturt University gives actors power and ownership of their work located in place. In this article, we discuss how our diverse backgrounds use 'groundwork' to anchor actors in an ever-changing world. Integrative practices looks to a conversation developing a synergy between the complementary and contradictory ideas in fluctuating and constant traditions; ancient and contemporary systems as we are grounded in country.


Religion plays a central role at the global political level despite being often portrayed as dead, marginal, or irrelevant. The way in which it plays that role, however, is not always immediately apparent or transparent. Professor Berman's essay attempts to illustrate the various ways – direct and indirect – in which religion is still central in today's debates about international law and politics. He does that by bringing us back to the interwar period, which saw an abundant flurry of arguments about international law, nationalism, and religion. He focuses in particular on the avant-garde movement led by Georges Bataille, who called for the shaking of civil society by appealing to the destabilizing forces of the (left) sacred in opposition to the conservative forces of the (right) sacred. Bataille's key insight is that religion has a contagious energy that is far more sweeping and powerful than the mere force of Western rationality. From this viewpoint, (international) law is incapable of taming the crisis of the West and of keeping at bay the perils of religion and nationalism.


This paper introduces a new technology of using ceramic coating on piston rings of an internal combustion engine, and the comparison of mechanical efficiency and performances of an actual engine before and after the application of ceramic coating on the piston rings. The experimental results show that the mechanical efficiency and power output are enhanced by 4% and 2.6%, respectively, with fuel consumption reduced by 2.9%. Further studies on coating processing and coating materials as well as the reliability and durability will be of great significance in the application and popularization of the new technology.


Most programming problems have multiple viable solutions that organize the underlying problem's tasks in fundamentally different ways. Which organizations (a.k.a. plans) students implement and prefer depends on solutions they have seen before as well as features of their programming language. How much exposure to planning do students need before they can appreciate and produce different plans? We report on a study in which students in introductory courses at two universities were given a single lecture on planning between assessments. In the post-assessment, many students produced multiple high-level plans (including ones first introduced in the lecture) and richly discussed tradeoffs between plans. This suggests that planning can be taught with fairly low overhead once students have a decent foundation in programming.


In archaeological considerations of Iron Age and Romano-British landscapes, trackways are usually interpreted in purely normative terms, merely as means of getting from one settlement to another, or as functional features to assist with the herding of animals. In these somewhat static expositions, the role of trackways as places in themselves, and their long-term importance in constructions of social identity and memory, are often overlooked, as are the complex relationships between people and animals within the landscape. Recent theoretical ideas concerning relational agency and identity, materiality and movement have much to offer in terms of our archaeological understandings of these features. This paper explores the interpretative potential of such approaches using case studies of Iron Age and Romano-British trackways from Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. Integrating theories of identity, embodiment, materiality, relationality and practice highlights the sedentarism of previous explanations, and allows for much more nuanced accounts of highly dynamic, mobile meshworks, where agency resided in complex constraints and affordances between people, animals and the materiality of the lived-in landscape.


The power of the president is a concept which is largely cultural and historically constructed. Although the prominent scholar Richard Neustadt claims that "presidential power is no more than the power to persuade," in South Korea, it has become far greater through the country's peculiar blend of history and culture. The Korean War and the influence of the Cold War, the prevalent authoritarianism, security threats from North Korea and the Confucian tradition, have all contributed strongly to the emergence of a strong presidency. From its first days in 1948 and the successive authoritarian regimes to the democratic days of 1987, South Korea's political system has fostered the power of its president. But if power relies on each president's individual will and capacity, their personal ability is still firmly embedded in the state's historical and cultural context. Thus, every president since 1948 has exercized substantial power in most state affairs, much greater than Neustadt would concede. In the past, the South Koreans' long-term experience of authoritarianism persuaded them to leave their destiny in the president's controlling hands. Hence, even though the country modelled its presidential system on that of the United States, the actual power of its president is much greater than that of the American president and from the outset South Korea developed a presidential system all of its own.


Characterized by the incomplete development of the germinal epithelium of the seminiferous tubules, Testicular hypoplasia (TH) leads to decreased sperm concentration, increased morphological changes in sperm and azoospermia. Economic losses resulting from the disposal of affected bulls reduce the efficiency of meat production systems. A genome-wide association study and functional analysis were performed to identify genomic windows and the underlying positional candidate genes associated with TH in Nellore cattle. Phenotypic and pedigree data from 207,195 animals and genotypes (461,057 single nucleotide polymorphism, SNP) from 17,326 sires were used in this study. TH was evaluated as a binary trait measured at 18 months of age. A possible correlated response on TH resulting from the selection for scrotal circumference was evaluated by using a two-trait analysis. Thus, estimated breeding values were calculated by fitting a linear-threshold animal model in a Bayesian approach. The SNP effects were estimated using the weighted single-step genomic BLUP method. Twelve non-overlapping windows of 20 adjacent SNP that explained more than 1% of the additive genetic variance were selected for candidate gene annotation. Functional and gene prioritization analysis of the candidate genes identified genes (KHDRBS3, GPX5, STAR, ERLIN2), which might play an important role in the expression of TH due to their known roles in the spermatogenesis process, synthesis of steroids and lipid metabolism.


THE TERM "subclavian steal syndrome" was first suggested in 19611to describe the hemodynamic changes and symptoms which occur when there is an occlusion of the intrathoracic portion of the subclavian artery. In this situation blood may reach the affected extremity from a variety of collateral vessels2depending on the exact site of the occlusion or stenosis in the subclavian artery. The most common condition is occlusion of the left subclavian artery just proximal to the vertebral branch, and the term "subclavian steal syndrome" has been applied to the condition in which there is retrograde flow in the ipsilateral vertebral artery which "steals" blood from the basilar system and sometimes from the circle of Willis, resulting in symptoms of cerebral ischemia. All degrees of shunting of blood have been described from "petty theft" to "grand larceny." Most of the cases have occurred in adults with atherosclerotic occlusion of


Intensive research, stemming from experimental and clinical findings, has been carried out in the last few years into a possible role for endothelin (ET) in the mediation of acute and chronic renal dysfunction. So far, a number of pre-clinical studies have been performed with ET antagonists. These were aimed at exploring the possibility that modulation of ET synthesis or activity at the receptor level could ameliorate the renal haemodynamic and/or structural damage associated with various nephropathies. This review will cover patenting activity concerning endothelin-converting enzyme (ECE) inhibitors, either presently in pre-clinical development or that have appeared recently in patent literature. Special emphasis will be placed on the more significant developments and patent applications concerning selective and unselective ET receptor antagonists, and the few compounds for which in vivo pre-clinical data are already available will be identified and separated from those that have only been tested in vitro.


Summary The treatment of mice bearing L5178Y lymphoma ascites cells with combinations of actinomycin D and cortisone resulted in a pronounced decrease in the number of viable neoplastic cells; this, in turn, resulted in a marked depression of the number of lymphomatous cells in the peritoneal cavity. The degree of inhibition achieved by the mixture of the 2 agents was greater than that produced by either drug alone. Biochemical changes associated with the cell death produced by these agents in combination was studied by measuring the effects of actinomycin D and cortisone alone and in combination on the average cellular content of deoxyribonucleic acid, ribonucleic acid, and residual protein. A depletion of the cellular content of nucleic acids and proteins was induced by combinations of these agents; RNA was the most sensitive, and both the degree and duration of the depression of the cellular content of RNA induced by simultaneous exposure of cells to actinomycin D and cortisone was greater than that of DNA or protein. It is suggested that the carcinolysis produced by combinations of cortisone and actinomycin D reflects, in part, a complementary inhibitory process involving RNA and that the resultant metabolic imbalance leads to cell death.


In this study, N-doped TiO2 films were prepared by facing targets sputtering technique without substrate heating. Nitrogen partial pressure (PN) was varied from 0 Pa to 0.08 Pa to vary the amount of nitrogen doping in TiO2 thin film. The X-ray diffraction study indicates that increase of nitrogen partial pressure increases replacement of oxygen by nitrogen in TiO2 crystal. An abrupt change of crystal structure, crystallinity, porosity and surface morphological property of N-doped TiO2 thin films is observed for the samples, prepared over nitrogen partial pressure 0.05 Pa.