The paper is of both historical and theoretical nature. Its goal is, by taking into account the set of specific social conditions underlying D. Katsarov's views and beliefs, to elucidate the significance, value, and relevance of Prof. Dimitar Katsarov's pedagogical legacy. The new educational objectives of the Bulgarian school system have their historical grounds and thus their contemporary understanding is made possible through the historical and logical analysis of our pedagogical heritage. The democratization of society creates conditions for an objective assessment of this heritage, an assessment free from the influence of the ideological status quo. In this regard, Dimitar T. Katsarov's pedagogical heritage is undisputed of interest. The scholar's ideas are a historical fact. Some are debatable; others still inspire the pedagogical community with their pertinence to contemporary issues. Dimitar Katsarov's work in the field of pedagogy is diverse and kaleidoscopic. His name is synonymous with the reformist pedagogy in Bulgaria. Despite the abundant records on the development of psychological and pedagogical sciences in Europe and Bulgaria, D. Katsarov's pedagogical heritage is still a valuable source of information on the upbringing, education and training of adolescents in Bulgaria in the first half of the 20th century. This information is not only necessary for contemporary pedagogy, but is also a stimulus for the adequate development of the pedagogical theory and practice in Bulgaria. In this respect, his theoretical legacy is of utmost importance in the dialogue on the present and the future of Bulgarian education. Some of Prof. D. Katsarov's theoretical statements which still relate to the problems of contemporary pedagogy called for the current review of his work within the historical development of pedagogical ideas in our country. Professor D. Katsarov's views and achievements are evaluated not only in terms of the contemporary pedagogical concepts. This paper also looks into the extent to which they rose to the level of scientific research of the pedagogical science of the time; the extent to which they reflected the humanistic aspirations of the age, into the objective role they played and into the results they achieved. The paper is of both historical and theoretical nature. Its goal is, by taking into account the set of specific social conditions underlying D. Katsarov's views and beliefs, to elucidate the significance, value, and relevance of Prof. Dimitar Katsarov's pedagogical legacy resulting from the deep knowledge of the essence and laws of the pedagogical phenomena, processes and activities. Some of Prof. D. Katsarov's theoretical statements which still relate to the problems of contemporary pedagogy called for the current review of his work within the historical development of pedagogical ideas in our country. The achievement of the goal is conditioned by the solving of the following main tasks: (1) differentiation and analysis of key pedagogical ideas in D. Katsarov's work; and (2) outlining the contemporary dimensions of D. Katsarov's pedagogical ideas in a socio-pedagogical context.


California college students (1,864 students from 15 colleges) were compared with students who participated in the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, which surveyed 17,592 students in 140 colleges nationwide. California college students, in comparison with the remainder of the nation, were less frequent drinkers; less frequent binge drinkers; exhibited fewer personal problems and risks associated with heavy episodic drinking, including drinking and driving; and reported fewer "secondhand" effects of binge drinking, such as being physically assaulted or experiencing an unwanted sexual advance. Many of these differences appear to be related to the California college students' being older, more likely to be married, and less likely to live on campus than those in the Harvard study. The findings suggest that, in developing programs tailored to local needs, there is significant value in augmenting national surveillance of college student health risk behaviors with the development of regional, state, and local surveillance systems.


This article represents the research results of the television space surveillance system, or, in other words, the optical surveillance system. The purpose of the work is the design of a specialized optical surveillance system, stabilization and surveillance equipment, and a television unit. The system's simplified structural and functional scheme is described, as well as its justification and operation principle. The application prospects are estimated.


We present chemodynamical simulations of a Milky-Way-type galaxy using a self-consistent hydrodynamical code that includes supernova feedback and chemical enrichment, and predict the spatial distribution of elements from oxygen to zinc. In the simulated galaxy, the kinematical and chemical properties of the bulge, disk, and halo are consistent with the observations. The bulge formed from the assembly of subgalaxies at z ≳ 3, and has higher [α/Fe] ratios because of the small contribution from Type Ia supernovae. The disk formed with a constant star formation over 13 Gyr, and shows a decreasing trend of [α/Fe] and increasing trends of [(Na,Al,Cu,Mn)/Fe] against [Fe/H]. However, the thick disk stars tend to have higher [α/Fe] and lower [Mn/Fe] than thin disk stars. We also predict the frequency distribution of elemental abundance ratios as functions of time and location, which can be directly compared with galactic archeology projects such as HERMES.


In this text I present the results of research conducted as part of the project "Health in the opinions of children – childhood studies perspective" conducted by the Interdisciplinary Team for Childhood Studies at the University of Warsaw. The main goal of the project is to uncover the meanings young children (between 8 and 11 years of age) attribute to health, or the lack of it. I show how children, as social actors, cope with the modern demands regarding the body and their own new position as being responsible for passing knowledge about good eating habits and healthy lifestyles. I also present children's definitions of health and their understanding of unhealthy behaviour. One of the main subject of children's stories, next to the rather obvious associating health with sports, and eating fruits and vegetables, turned out to be the TV set, computer and other electronic devices. There-fore I ask about the meaning children give to media in the context of health. I focus on how they connect them to health, and on what linking the practice of TV watching with the subject of health tells us about the concepts of health and body. I also show how including television, computers and tablets in the health discourse is a result of a non-dualistic understanding of the body by children. For children health is inextricably linked to morality, education, and aesthetics. Even though the interviewed children adopt many of the narrations on health distributed by the educational institutions, and they seem to know how to eat and live healthy, they create health narrations of their own and on their own grounds. On one hand they are submissive receivers of the health promoting programmes (they know what is healthy), but on the other hand they stay members of their children's tribe, who realize their childhood by practicing what is considered unhealthy and "non-adult". The research gives us a picture of a divided child. A child that knows what to do to be healthy, but at the same time doing "unhealthy" things, which is allowed by the status of being a child.


Having recently had occasion to make a journey to Egypt, via Marseilles, Tunis, Palermo, Syracuse, and Malta, returning homewards by Brindisi and the Mont Cenis tunnel, I bring before you a few notes and specimens, geological and otherwise, picked up on the way, in the hope that they may prove of interest. The entire basin of the Mediterranean, greatly more than a million square miles in area, appears to be largely composed of white, grey, and yellow limestones, of Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Eocene ages; not, as a rule, much disturbed from their original horizontal position, though occasionally flexed and tilted to high angles, and even inverted, as in some parts of the Alps. As these limestones are composed largely of the shell-cases of minute organisms, foraminifera, &c, while their combined thickness must amount to some thousands of feet, what a picture they present to the mind of the vast lapse of time during which "the stillness of the central sea" must have prevailed over this immense area, while the milky ooze accumulated on the sea-floor as slowly as the dust falls in a disused room. The shores of the South of France are composed of lofty hills of hard, white limestone, in which, as used in the dock-walls of Marseilles, may be seen the graceful whorls of the ammonite and nautilus. Through these hills the Rhone has cut a deep valley, now utilised for the passage of the railway to Marseilles, which affords fleeting glimpses of many fine sections, but This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract


Tourism Management- Tourism management introduces the many interdisciplinary aspects of the growing tourism industry, with emphasis on managerial challenges and responsibilities for both domestic and international tourism.


Software reflexion modelling is a useful technique to assist the understanding of large software systems. However, the technique relies heavily upon available documentation and domain knowledge to begin the process. We propose a technique called software reconnexion that uses a reuse perspective of software, containing core elements of the subject system, to prompt the user during the early iterations of the reflexion modelling process, thus reducing the technique's dependency upon documentation and domain knowledge. We provide a large, ecologically valid, case study to demonstrate our technique and show, in the absence of documentation and with only limited domain knowledge, how an automatically generated reuse perspective of software can be effectively used in conjunction with reflexion modelling to aid the design recovery and comprehension of an unfamiliar system.


In adulthood, the main function of the testes is the production of male gametes. In this process, Sertoli cells are essential for sustained spermatogenesis, providing the developing germ cells with the physical and nutritional support required. The total number of Sertoli cells in adulthood determines the daily gamete production, since Sertoli cells can support only a limited number of developing germ cells. Considering that Sertoli cell proliferation only occurs during the immature period, proper development and proliferation of the Sertoli cells during the proliferative phase are crucial to male reproductive health in adulthood. The proliferation process of the Sertoli cells is finely regulated by an assortment of hormonal and paracrine/autocrine factors, which regulate the rate and extent of proliferation. In the present review, we discuss the most important hormonal and paracrine factors involved in the regulation of Sertoli cell proliferation, as well as the signaling mechanisms by which they exert their effects.


Information Technology (IT) governance has been emerging as a central issue in many organizations. This is because IT governance is key to realizing IT business value. Past studies have focused on the three aspects of IT governance, namely, structural capability, process capability and relational capability.  At the same time, some studies have suggested that IT governance process should be viewed as a learning process rather than a problem solving process. Based on this scenario, the role of knowledge and knowledge based processes should be the central focus of IT governance.  As a learning process, IT governance effectiveness can be determined by how much impact IT governance practices has influenced on decision-makers' thinking and actions. In this case, knowledge capacity absorbed from IT governance experience reflects a certain level of organizational learning (OL) achieved which later influences the level of IT governance performance. Since studies that adopt this perspective is lacking, this paper proposes a conceptual framework based on absorptive capacity approach for an IT governance performance model in the higher education. The paper contributes theoretically by extending the knowledge of IT governance by exploring a new perspective on OL.


Fourier‐Bessel theory is used to derive filters representing the influence of both empty and fluid‐filled cylindrical boreholes on particle motion induced in rock by a plane P-wave incident perpendicular to the borehole axis. For wavelengths greater than 10 times the borehole circumference, the effect of the borehole on particle motions is shown to be negligible; thus the results have little relevance for the long wavelengths commonly encountered in earthquake seismology. The results are, however, relevant to the study of stress wave propagation at ultrasonic frequencies in rock masses. For small wavelengths (αa > 3.0) the filter representing particle motion on the wave incident site of an empty borehole reduces to a linear phase filter which increases all amplitudes by a factor of 2 while the filter representing fluid stress at the center of a fluid‐filled borehole may be reduced to simple mathematical expressions. Experimental results were obtained for the interaction of a stress wave with either accele...


Integrated energy system (IES) is an effective solution for energy and environment prob-lems. In view of the difficulty of traditional reliability assessment methods to reasonably and effectively assess the reliability of the IES, an energy supply reliability assessment method based on sequential Monte Carlo simulation is proposed in this study. The optimal operation of the system is realised by mobilising the multi-energy complementary characteristics during device failure. The reliability of the system under three different operation objectives is compared and analysed. Three new reliability indices are proposed, which take into account the supply of multiple energy loads and the differences among different energy. Finally, through the analysis of energy supply reliability under different objectives, the reasonability of the proposed indices and the flexible scheduling of energy flow under different objectives are verified; therefore, the IES can realise adaptive and targeted operation strategy during device failure. Also, the influence of different device faults on the system's energy supply reliability is ranked, which is of great significance to find the weak parts of the system and provide a reference for the system to improve energy supply reliability.


This chapter deals extensively with the role of Fibulin-3 (Fb-3) as early marker of malignant development, triggered by direct and long exposure to asbestos or asbestiform fibers. Asbestos has widely been used in many civic and industrial environments. Despite numerous countries, e.g., the European Union and the United States, have forbidden its production as well as utilization, still nowadays millions of tons of asbestos are manufactured worldwide. When inhaled, it causes the onset of malignant mesothelioma (MM) and several other types of cancer, including lung cancer. Health surveillance of subjects formerly exposed to asbestos is based on an early detection of major asbestos-related pathologies. However, the protocols adopted so far do not meet the sensitivity and specificity requirements needed to ensure an early diagnosis. Among the various eligible MM biomarkers, scientists have recently proposed Fb-3, which is a glycoprotein belonging to extracellular matrix proteins, coded through EFEMP-1 gene 2p 16 chromosome). Fb-3 is expressed by mesenchymal cells and plays a role in angiogenic processes as well-regulating cell-to-cell and cell-to-extra cellular matrix communication. However, it is weakly expressed also in healthy tissues. Previous studies conducted on MM historically asbestos-exposed patients have shown, on several biological matrixes such as serum and plasma, high Fb-3 concentrations. In the same way, high levels of circulating Fb-3 were observed in subjects exposed to a natural asbestiform fiber called fluoro-edenite (FE). Direct association between an increased Fb-3 expression and exposure to FE fibers has also been found in in-vitro and ex-vivo studies.


This dissertation is focused on factors that increase risk for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NALFD) and the more advanced form nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). These factors include postprandial lipid handling (chapter II); ceramide (CER) turnover (chapter III), hepatic and mitochondrial CER content (chapter III); glucose turnover (chapter IV), de novo lipogenesis (chapter IV), and hepatic fatty acid oxidation (chapter V). With regard to postprandial lipemia, healthy men consumed an oral isotope (2H11-oleate) in liquid meals of varying fat content and labeled triglycerides (TG) tracked into chylomicrons and triglyceride rich lipoproteins (TRL). This method may be applied to future studies of postprandial lipemia. Similar analytical methods (liquid chromatography mass spectrometry) were used to track the synthesis of CERs within hepatic tissues of mice consuming 13C3 15N L-serine dissolved in their water and a high fat (60 percent energy, HFD) or a control (low fat, 20 percentE, CD) diet for two weeks. The mice fed a HFD exhibited greater absolute CER turnover in both whole liver tissue and isolated mitochondria. Furthermore, while total liver concentrations did not differ between diet groups, the HFD elicited greater mitochondrial CER content which was related to total liver CER only in these animals. Plasma CER concentrations were measured in subjects with advanced NASH before and after a nine-month lifestyle program (and a standard care group) and the change in 16:0 CER was negatively related to improvements in liver fat. Similarly, an increase in glucose production and disposal were related negatively to histologic improvements. Together, these data support a hepatic benefit of routing substrates - glucose and lipotoxic lipids -- away from the liver. In addition to testing changes in glucose metabolism, these subjects had significant reductions in lipogenesis but no changes in a non-invasive breath test (13C4 Octanoate) to quantify total hepatic fatty acid oxidation using expelled breath. Correlations between baseline and the change in octanoate oxidation, glucose turnover, and steatosis support the utility of this method to investigate physiological processes that improve hepatic lipid burden. Currently, no drug therapies exist for the treatment of NAFLD or NASH and the results from the current studies support future investigations in identifying key factors for the regression of advanced liver disease through methodological innovation and novel findings with combined intensive lifestyle treatment.


The invention relates to a method for making a semiconducting structure, including: a) forming, on the surface of a semiconductor substrate (2), called the final substrate, a semiconducting layer (4), doped with elements from columns III and V of the Periodic Table so as to form a ground plane, b) forming a dielectric layer (3), c) then assembling, by direct adhesion of the source substrate, on the final substrate (2), the layer (4) forming the ground plane between the final substrate and the source substrate, the dielectric layer being between the source substrate and the ground plane, d) then thinning the source substrate, leaving, on the surface of the semiconductor structure, a film (20) made from a semiconducting material.


Contamination of soils by heavy metals has severely increased over the last few decades due to industrial wastes and human activities. Contaminated soils can constitute sources of health hazard to humans globally. However, there is paucity of information on the level of heavy metal concentration in the study area. This study therefore made a pioneering effort in investigating the concentration of selected heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn and Fe) in soils around a scrap metal recycling company in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. Thirty soil samples and solid wastes were collected from four sides of the scrap metal recycling company. The samples were air-dried, digested using standard method and analyzed for the selected heavy metals using a flame atomic absorption spectrometer. Results of the Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric (AAS) analysis revealed that for heavy metals, the concentrations in the soils were below the background levels and permissible limits recommended for soils in some countries. The value of the mean concentration of the analyzed heavy metals in the soils around the scrap metal recycling company ranged from 0.0040 – 0.0140 mg/kg for Cd, 0.061 – 0.108 mg/kg for Fe, 0.037 – 0.047 mg/kg for Cu, 0.003 – 0.0064 mg/kg for Pb and 0.019 – 0.121 mg/kg for Zn. The results from the study indicated that the concentrations of heavy metals around the scrap metal recycling company did not appear to be of serious concern. The concentrations of all the heavy metals were below the background level proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) residential soil standards.


The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between modified sportscape elements (i.e., scoreboard quality, layout aesthetic, space allocation, venue accessibility, seating comfort, venue cleanliness, employee quality, and wait time) and positive emotion and their impact on behavioral intention. Furthermore, the conceptual model was examined for four different groups based on team identification level and gender: (a) high team-identifying women, (b) high team-identifying men, (c) low team-identifying women, and (d) low team-identifying men. Data were collected from a crowd-sourcing web service (Amazon Mechanical Turk) (N = 481) using an on-line questionnaire. Data were collected only from participants who were at least 18 years old and who had attended a major professional sporting event within the previous year. First, we conducted confirmatory factory analysis (CFA) via Mplus 6. Next, SEM was conducted to assess the overall relationship among sportscape elements, positive emotion, and behavioral intention. Lastly, path analyses were conducted to examine the relationship among factors in the four sport customer groups in our study. The result revealed that the four sport fan segment groups (high team-identifying women, high team-identifying men, low team-identifying women, and low team-identifying men) perceive the sportscape elements differently.


To the Editor:

Chronic heart failure (CHF) with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction is a common and disabling comorbidity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [1]. Understanding the mechanisms underlying exercise intolerance is paramount to providing a rationale to effectively rehabilitate the fast-growing population of patients with COPD plus CHF.

The inspiratory muscles, in particular, are characteristically overloaded in COPD plus CHF, with greater elastic and resistive work of breathing. Moreover, these muscles might be functionally weakened as ventilation increases during exercise in patients with COPD [2]. It has been postulated that fatiguing contractions would stimulate diaphragmatic thinly myelinated group III and unmyelinated group IV fibres, thereby increasing limb sympathetic outflow and vascular resistance. The so-called respiratory muscle metaboreflex would then redirect blood flow from locomotor to respiratory muscles to avoid, or at least postpone, the impending failure of the "vital pump" [3, 4]. In this context, we previously found marked blood flow reduction to nonactive and active limbs during inspiratory resistive loading in CHF [5]. Work from our laboratory also showed improved peripheral muscle oxygen delivery after respiratory muscle unloading (under stable cardiac output and arterial oxygen content) in CHF-free COPD [6] and COPD-free CHF [7]. It is therefore conceivable that the coexistence of CHF would potentiate the respiratory muscle metaboreflex in patients with a primary diagnosis of COPD.

After giving informed consent, 22 optimally treated patients with moderate-to-severe (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease stage II–III) COPD (10 with coexistent CHF, i.e. left ventricular ejection fraction <45% by echocardiography) and 10 age- and sex-matched controls underwent a ramp-incremental exercise test for …


In interviews and essays, Julio Cortázar, the famous Argentine author, often expressed a lifelong fascination with Edgar Allan Poe (Berg 227–32). Moreover, as a young man Cortázar spent two years translating the American author's prose into Spanish, making irresistible the search for traces of Poe in his own work. His description of Poe as a youthful and guilty pleasure reflects a common reaction to the American author that has led some critics to rue Poe's influence. Jonathan Elmer points out that "Poe's connection with juvenile tastes, and hence with a time when reading and acquiring 'culture' were actually enjoyable [. . .] has been insistently and disapprovingly stressed by the AngloAmerican literaryhistorical tradition" (3). Although Poe himself often liked to "advertise [his work] as ethereal and otherworldly, or avowedly timeless," critics who found elements of the vulgarly popular in his writing regarded the author as a true "stumbling block" in the American literary landscape (Rosenheim and Rachman xii; Eliot 205). In a similar vein, Elmer observes,


Continuous-wave (CW), stable fundamental-mode operation, up to 20 mW, was achieved with transverse-mode stabilised MOVPE-grown AlGaInP visible-light (λL = 683 nm) lasers. The CW threshold current was 67 mA and the external quantum efficiency was 41%. Up to 27 mW CW power was obtained from this laser diode.


Backgound : Assessing specific personality traits has shown better predictive power of enterprising personality than have broad personality traits. Hitherto, there have been no instruments that evaluate the combination of specific personality traits of enterprising personality in an adaptive format. So, the aim was to develop a Computerized Adaptive Test (CAT) to assess enterprising personality in young people.

METHODS
A pool of 161 items was developed and applied to two sets of participants (n 1 = 357 students, M age = 17.89; SD age = 3.26; n 2 = 2,693 students; M age = 16.52, SD age = 1.38) using a stratified sampling method.

RESULTS
107 items that assess achievement motivation, risk-taking, innovativeness, autonomy, self-efficacy, stress tolerance, internal locus of control, and optimism were selected. The assumption of unidimensionality was tested. The CAT demonstrated high precision for a wide range of q, using a mean of 10 items and demonstrating a relatively low Standard Error (0.378).

CONCLUSIONS
A brief, valid, and precise instrument was obtained with relevant implications for educational and entrepreneurial contexts.


Objective: This study aimed to explore the expression and associations between levels of serum protein Z (PZ), protein Z-dependent protease inhibitor (ZPI), and coagulation-related indicators and foetal growth restriction (FGR).Methods: A total of 50 pregnant women with FGR, 50 healthy pregnant women (Healthy control, HC), and 30 childbearing-age women without pregnancy group (Blank control, BC) were collected in this study. The serum PZ, ZPI, protein C (PC), protein C (PS), and antithrombin III (ATIII) levels of women in each group were determined and compared. Moreover, correlations between these indices and FGR were assessed using Spearman analysis and diagnostic values of these indices for FGR were evaluated using the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves.Results: Serum levels of PZ, ZPI, PC, PS, and ATIII were significantly downregulated in the HC and FGR groups compared with the BC group (P <0.001), while PZ, ZPI, PS, and ATIII levels in the FGR groups were significantly lower than that in the HC group (P <0.01). PZ serum concentration was positively correlated with ZPI concentration in the HC and FGR groups, and PZ and ZPI levels were negatively correlated with FGR (r = -0.198, r = -0.247, P <0.05). Combined of PZ, ZPI, PS, and ATIII performed a better value than each of them with AUC of 0.935 (95% CI=0.890-0.981), a sensitivity of 0.920, and a specificity of 0.800.Conclusion: Serum PZ, ZPI, PS, and ATIII were significantly decreased in pregnant women with FGR and could be used for FGR screening in pregnant women.


Bacterial lipases with activity spanning over a broad temperature and substrate range have several industrial applications. An efficient enzyme-producing bacterium Chryseobacterium polytrichastri ERMR1:04, previously reported from Sikkim Himalaya, was explored for purification and characterization of cold-adapted lipase. Optimum lipase production was observed in 1% (v/v) rice bran oil, pH 7 at 20°C. Size exclusion and hydrophobic interaction chromatography purified the enzyme up to 21.3-fold predicting it to be a hexameric protein of 250 kDa, with 39.8 kDa monomeric unit. MALDI-TOF-MS analysis of the purified lipase showed maximum similarity with alpha/beta hydrolase (lipase superfamily). Biochemical characterization of the purified enzyme revealed optimum pH (8.0), temperature (37°C) and activity over a temperature range of 5–65°C. The tested metals (except Cu2+ and Fe2+) enhanced the enzyme activity and it was tolerant to 5% (v/v) methanol and isopropanol. The Km and Vmax values were determined as 0.104 mM and 3.58 U/mg, respectively for p-nitrophenyl palmitate. Bioinformatics analysis also supported in vitro findings by predicting enzyme's broad temperature and substrate specificity. The compatibility of the purified lipase with regular commercial detergents, coupled with its versatile temperature and substrate range, renders the given enzyme a promising biocatalyst for potential detergent formulations.


High-mass stars influence their environment in different ways including feedback via their FUV radiation. The penetration of FUV photons into molecular clouds creates Photon Dominated Regions (PDRs) with different chemical layers where the mainly ionized medium changes into mainly molecular. Different chemical layers in PDRs are traced by different species observable at sub-mm and Far Infrared wavelengths. In this poster we present results from two molecular line surveys. One of them is the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) Spectral Legacy Survey (SLS) toward the luminous (>10^7 L_Sun), massive (~10^6 M_Sun), and distant (11.4 kpc) star-forming region W49A. The SLS images a 2x2 arcminute field toward W49A in the 330-373 GHz frequency range. The detected molecular lines reveal a complex chemistry and the importance of FUV-irradiation in the heating and chemistry of the region. The other line survey presented in the poster is part of the HEXOS (Herschel observations of EXtra-Ordinary Sources, PI: E. Bergin) key program using the Herschel Space Observatory and is toward the nearby (~420 pc) prototypical edge-on Orion Bar PDR and the dense molecular condensation Orion S. Reactive ions, such as CH+, SH+, and CO+, detected as a part of this line survey trace the warm (~500-1000 K) surface region of PDRs. Spectrally resolved HIFI and spectrally unresolved PACS spectra give constraints on the chemistry and excitation of reactive ions in these regions.


The study of diversity in work groups and organizations has become a significant domain of inquiry. However, the overall consensus in this literature seems to be that a direct relationship between diversity and performance-based outcomes is tenuous at best. To break this impasse, we propose a structural-emergence model that emphasizes how the embedding structural context has substantial implications for the very meaning, salience, and content of diversity in teams. We then discuss how emergent processes that are a function of the structural context can take symmetric and asymmetric forms at the level of dyads within the team. In this way we provide a framework that takes into account both top-down and bottom-up effects of diversity in teams. The structural-emergence model also has important implications for how teams may be led and team tasks designed, and it provides avenues to build an actionable agenda for theory and research.


Exponential tail bounds are derived for solutions of max-recursive equations and for max-recursive random sequences, which typically arise as functionals of recursive structures, of random trees or in recursive algorithms. In particular they arise in the worst case analysis of divide and conquer algorithms, in parallel search algorithms or in the height of random tree models. For the proof we determine asymptotic bounds for the moments or for the Laplace transforms and apply a characterization of exponential tail bounds due to Kasahara (1978).


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore and rank the benefits and barriers (technological and non-technological) of using Building Information Modelling (BIM) in sustainable building design. It also employs the use of a design tool analysis of a case study using BIM compatible tools (Ecotect and Green Building Studio) to determine the environmental performance of a proposed multi-use building at Derby North.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper explores the benefits and barriers of using BIM through a literature review. Regression and factor analysis were used to rank these benefits and barriers. A questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 120 practitioners with 69 completing the survey. Finally, the paper employs the use of a design tool analysis of a case study using BIM-compatible tools (Ecotect and Green Building Studio) to determine the environmental performance of a proposed multi-use building at Derby North riverside.

Findings

The key findings of the statistical analysis indicated that professionals ranked the integrated project delivery as the most established benefit, while the lack of interoperability was ranked the greatest technological challenge. Only three of the attributes of non-technological challenges made statistically unique contributions, namely, training costs and software costs, client demand and potential legal issues. It was also discovered that BIM delivers information needed for environmental performance. In a forward-looking approach, the paper attempts to provide some recommendations that would encourage the continuous application of BIM in sustainable building design.

Research limitations/implications

This paper does not cover all features of BIM functionality, as the scope of BIM is very enormous and the resources of this research were limited.

Practical implications

The implication of the study is that it will assist in exploring and ranking the benefits and barriers (technological and non-technological) of using BIM while proffering recommendations for future use. This research will be of interest to industry practitioners and academic researchers with an interest in building information modelling.

Originality/value

This paper contributes with new outlooks aimed at syndicating sustainability with environmental performance and adds to the limited empirical studies on the benefits and barriers of the application of BIM.


In the present article, we expose the reflections developed by Kant and Hume on the (metaphysical) philosophy of the causality without insisting in the problematical aspects of that comparison. Rather it is indicated that both philosophies develop different extremes of one a priori. We will not take into account, to begin with, the terminology commonly accepted: The contraposition between rationalism and empiricism. On the contrary, no taking for established general characterizations, we expose idea after idea in its immediate significance. Nevertheless, it will be seen that Hume's perspective approaches to the transcendental perspective; and we will not try to evaluate Kant's philosophy from the psychological point of view of the causality, that supposedly is decisive in Hume.


A high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet for 10 kJ superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) system is designed by an improved optimal algorithm and cooled through GM cryocooler. In order to demonstrate the technology, a model HTS magnet made of Bi-2223/Ag tape to fabricate double-pancakes with the inner and outer diameters of 120 mm, 207.1 mm and height of 119 mm was fabricated and tested. The magnet is operating with GM cryocooler at 10 K. We have tested the Bi2223 HTS magnet at various ramping rates with 0.1-5.06 A/s. The experimental results show that the model HTS magnet is operating very stable. In the paper, we report the design of the HTS-SMES and fabrication technique for the model HTS magnet


Protein kinase ASK1 (Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1) plays a key role in cell differentiation, aging and apoptosis. High activity of the kinase is associated with several pathologies. The ASK1 inhibitors might be therapeutic for patients with neurodegenerative, cardiovascular diseases and fibrous histiocytoma. In this work the identification of ASK1 inhibitors was performed by the methods of computer modeling and biochemical testing in vitro. The virtual screening experiments were carried out targeting the ATP binding site of ASK1 by browsing the database which contained 164 840 compounds of diverse chemical classes. The best-scored 300 ligands have been taken for the kinase assay analysis. In vitro tests revealed that derivatives of 2-thioxo-thiazolidin-4-one exhibited inhibitory activity against ASK1. The most active compound was 5-bromo-3-(4-oxo-2-thioxo-thiazolidin-5-ylidene)-1,3-dihydro-indol-2-one (IC50 = 2 microM). Binding mode for inhibitors of this class with ASK1 ATP-binding site was proposed. Our results can be used for further optimization and developing more potent and selective inhibitors of ASK1.


Abstract : At the July 1997 summit of NATO leaders in Madrid, with a leading role exercised by the United States, NATO decided to extend invitations for membership to three Central European countries: Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Their official acceptance into the alliance is scheduled currently for 1999. Russia has diplomatically contested the enlargement of NATO since discussions concerning the issue began in 1992. There are many reasons for Russia's concern and at times visceral opposition to NATO enlargement, and this paper will explore these reasons. After discussing the reasons for enlargement, the paper uses published papers, documents and speeches by leading Russian politicians, diplomats, academics and media representatives to explain why Russia thinks NATO is enlarging, and why they are opposed to it. The final section of the paper explores several remaining policy challenges for NATO and the West regarding enlargement. Among these are the accommodations NATO has made to Russia to ameliorate the latter's concerns over the issue, specifically the Founding Act; the issue of the Baltic states regarding eventual membership in NATO and Russia's views on such an action; and, geostrategic concerns with Ukraine and Belarus over the issue of enlargement. The paper concludes that the issue of NATO enlargement is replete with second and third order effects that will challenge NATO and United States policy-makers for several years to come.


The problem of minimizing the trellis complexity of a code by coordinate permutation is studied. Three measures of trellis complexity are considered: the total number of states, the total number of edges, and the maximum state complexity of the trellis. The problem is proven NP-hard for all three measures, provided the field over which the code is specified is not fixed. We leave open the problem of dealing with the case of a fixed field, in particular GF(2).


Contemporary Dutch planning practice is increasingly characterized by more 'area-oriented' approaches, in which planners seek to integrate the (re)development of transport infrastructure with that of the surrounding space. This paper looks into the role of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in integrating transport infrastructure planning and spatial planning, in order to realize more added public value compared to what would be possible with the traditional approach of isolated transport infrastructure planning. In this paper, we discuss literature on public values, institutional design, and PPPs. Based on this discussion, our first conclusion is that a careful institutional design of PPPs may contribute to realizing added value when it stimulates a diverse governance network composition, intensive and diverse governance network interactions, and provides rules that prevent this intensity and diversity from becoming conflictual. Second, we conclude that a careful institutional design of PPPs may contribute when it stimulates that public and private actors address a wide scope of spatial policy objectives, already early in the planning process. Finally, we conclude that the Joint Venture model is most likely to stimulate the diversity in composition, interactions, and scope, and therefore is considered the most promising PPP model for realizing added value in integrated approaches to transport infrastructure planning and spatial planning.


Obesity induced by Western diets is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases, although underlying mechanisms are unclear. We investigated a murine model of diet-induced obesity to determine the effect of transient potential receptor vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) deletion on hypertension and metabolic syndrome. Wild-type and TRPV1 knockout mice were fed normal or high-fat diet from 3 to 15 weeks. High-fat diet-fed mice from both genotypes became obese, with similar increases in body and adipose tissue weights. High-fat diet-fed TRPV1 knockout mice showed significantly improved handling of glucose compared with high-fat diet-fed wild-type mice. Hypertension, vascular hypertrophy, and altered nociception were observed in high-fat diet-fed wild-type but not high-fat diet-fed TRPV1 knockout mice. Wild-type, but not high-fat diet-fed TRPV1 knockout, mice demonstrated remodeling in terms of aortic vascular hypertrophy and increased heart and kidney weight, although resistance vessel responses were similar in each. Moreover, the wild-type mice had significantly increased plasma levels of leptin, interleukin 10 and interleukin 1&bgr;, whereas samples from TRPV1 knockout mice did not show significant increases. Our results do not support the concept that TRPV1 plays a major role in influencing weight gain. However, we identified a role of TRPV1 in the deleterious effects observed with high-fat feeding in terms of inducing hypertension, impairing thermal nociception sensitivity, and reducing glucose tolerance. The observation of raised levels of adipokines in wild-type but not TRPV1 knockout mice is in keeping with TRPV1 involvement in stimulating the proinflammatory network that is central to obesity-induced hypertension and sensory neuronal dysfunction.


Solid state sensors utilizing diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are a promising sensing platform that can provide high sensitivity and spatial resolution at high precision. Such sensors have been realized in bulky laboratory-based forms; however, practical applications demand a miniaturized, portable sensor that can function in a wide range of environmental conditions. Here, we demonstrate such a diamond NV magnetic field sensor. The sensor head fits inside a 11 × 7 × 7 cm 3 3D-printed box and exhibits sub-10 nT/ Hz sensitivity over a 125 Hz bandwidth. We achieve efficient fluorescence collection using an optical filter and diode in contact with the diamond, which is cut at the Brewster angle to maximize the coupling of 532 nm pump light. We discuss the potential of this flexible approach to achieve sub-nT/ Hz shot noise limited sensitivity suitable for detection of a wide range of low-level magnetic fields, particularly those from electrical power systems and from biological sources.Solid state sensors utilizing diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are a promising sensing platform that can provide high sensitivity and spatial resolution at high precision. Such sensors have been realized in bulky laboratory-based forms; however, practical applications demand a miniaturized, portable sensor that can function in a wide range of environmental conditions. Here, we demonstrate such a diamond NV magnetic field sensor. The sensor head fits inside a 11 × 7 × 7 cm 3 3D-printed box and exhibits sub-10 nT/ Hz sensitivity over a 125 Hz bandwidth. We achieve efficient fluorescence collection using an optical filter and diode in contact with the diamond, which is cut at the Brewster angle to maximize the coupling of 532 nm pump light. We discuss the potential of this flexible approach to achieve sub-nT/ Hz shot noise limited sensitivity suitable for detection of a wide range of low-level magnetic fields, particularly those from electrical power systems and from biologica...


Abstract The research focuses on the features of 250 natural stone portals of the civil buildings of the town of Udine (NE Italy), dating between the 15th and 20th centuries. In order to clearly define the number, characteristics and uniqueness of these architectural elements, three strategies were implemented: (i) a concise database of all the portals; (ii) a concise reference database of more than 100 portals of five significant nearby towns; and (iii) a detailed inventory, consisting of data and photographs of about 200 portals selected for relevance or because they represent a recurrent type. The analysis of the data collected, supported by reference studies of quarry location, stone-cutter activity, the work of architects, cultural relationships with immediate and distant influences permitted the definition of an interdisciplinary framework describing the main features of portal production, as related to formal evidence, stone materials, historical building and carving techniques. The rational organization of the huge set of data collected represents an effective working tool, interconnecting different aspects of the portals' realization, which was indispensable for the research, but will also be useful for further research on the role of stone material in the historic buildings of Udine.


If database texts are so good, why do our graduates emerge so poorly prepared for positions in industry? Perhaps the texts are preparing our students to solve the wrong problems. But how could this be? It could happen for a variety of reasons. First, the database field has grown over the years rendering a one-course introduction rather cursory. Second, the technology has gotten increasingly easy to use, which means our students should be using it more. Third, many technologies that are fading in industry importance (such as hierarchical and network databases) are still covered for historical reasons. Fourth, design is often taught and tested as a series of rules and techniques (such as normalization and E-R diagrams) rather than as an art. Fifth, relatively little problem solving teamwork is typically assigned in the course. The solution is to revise the database course to teach design in order to solve business problems.


Recipients of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy in Western countries often experience distressful physical and psychological adjustments. Sociocultural influences on post-implant recovery are likely; however, evidence from other ethnic/cultural backgrounds is lacking. This study aimed to examine the changes in physical function and psychological distress (anxiety and depressive symptoms) from pre-implant to one, six, and 12 months post-implant in Korean patients undergoing ICD therapy. A total of 34 patients underwent pre- to post-implant longitudinal assessments of physical and psychological function using mixed modeling procedures. Physical function significantly declined from pre-implant to one month post-implant (B = −10.05, p = 0.004) and then nearly returned to the pre-implant level at six months post-implant (B = 8.34, p = 0.028). This level of improvement continued through 12 months post-implant. In psychological distress, significant improvements were observed from pre-implant to one month (anxiety (B = −1.20, p = 0.020) and in depressive symptoms (B = −1.15, p = 0.037)), which then plateaued without significant changes from one to 12 months. We concluded that physical function recovery occurred six months post-implant, but function remained poor until 12 months post-implant. Psychological distress improved one month post-implant and it was maintained. Clinicians must provide more intensive interventions to improve long-term physical function after ICD therapy.


Psychology is the study of behavioural patterns, thoughts, ideas and also human emotional
and physiological reactions. It includes the study of processes of human interaction and nonverbal communication (gestures, posture, movement, facial expressions, tone of voice). Nonverbal communication (body language) is an important part of interpersonal communication. It supports and supplements communication by opening up other channels and frameworks of communicating information. Non-verbal signals can emphasise, modify or even fully negate verbal statements. Extensive study of non-verbal behavioural patterns has confirmed that these are just as defined by rules and codes as verbal communication. Body language, like speech, is subject to a system that varies from society to society and must be learned by the members of that society in order to be able to communicate with others within that group (Secord & Backman, 1964). Non-verbal signals have an important role in the structuring and control of human interactive processes (Forgas, 1985). They inform the participants of a conversation as to how their messages are received and thus allow for correction. In certain communicative situations, verbal communication is ritualised to the extent that it can no longer be used to gain an impression of the other person and their reactions. There are also situations where the communication partner wishes to verify the verbal messages with supplementary indirect (nonverbal) information. Non-verbal communication also plays a central role in the projection of a person's image because it transmits an impression of the person's personality (for example, clothing, choice of words).
Human body language can be divided into two categories: structural information (for example, facial features, body build, general appearance) and kinetic information (for example, facial expressions, gestures, bodily movements, posture). Facial expressions, for example, can indicate the type of the emotion (primary emotions). Bodily movements and posture, on the other hand, indicate the intensity of emotion and can physically illustrate what is said. A further form of non- or paraverbal communication is the tone of voice and also the manner of speaking.


【Purpose : PBL is a teaching method to learn problem-solving process. Present study was to investigate the predictors of academic achievement when PBL is applied to students of physical therapy. Method : We Performed in-depth interviews and analyzed using the qualitative analysis by randomly assigning 5 of twenty four students who attended the class. Result : The results are classified into two categories and six sub-subjects. Based on two system of classification, PBL showed the learning effect through problem-solving methods because students directly participated in these processes. Also, students need to clearly comprehend communication method and decision-making process in order to progress the class smoothly. Conclusion : Therefore, futher studies will be continuously needed on how we apply PBL to various curriculums of physical therapy.】


It is suggested that laser-generated soft x rays can be used to induce Stokes or anti-Stokes nuclear transitions. Isomeric transitions in 99Tc and 179Hf are considered as Stokes and anti-Stokes transitions, respectively. It is shown that success of the proposed scheme may open the way for a gamma-ray laser.


ONE OF THE SIGNIFICANT FACTORS in decreasing mortality among children during the past century has been the recognition of the role that contaminated milk played in the production of various gastrointestinal disorders. For several decades it has been generally accepted that all milk-mixtures should be sterilized before being fed to infants. Recently, however, the question has been raised regarding the feasibility of preparing individual bottles of milk mixtures using clean but not sterilized ingredients and placing them in unsterilized equipment. Although there is no practical method of processing and preparing milk mixtures so that sterility is assured in every bottle, the increased susceptibility of infants to diarrheal diseases and the severity of diarrheas and dysenteries in early infancy make, it obligatory to take every effort to guarantee that all food fed to infants during the first months of life should be prepared by the safest possible method.
 It has been shown that the terminal method of heating will destroy most pathogenic bacteria and viruses and is probably the best means now available for preparing milk mixtures for infant feeding, but even this method permits certain organisms (particularly spore-forming bacteria and a few viruses) to survive, especially when unclean equipment containing milk scum is used to prepare and store the mixture.
 It has also been shown that most mothers can prepare milk mixtures satisfactorily at home by any of several different methods; the bacterial count in resultant mixtures varied inversely with the care and cleanliness exercised by mothers, so that the counts occasionally reached potentially unsafe levels.
 The use of a technique of formula preparation that does not necessitate sterilization of equipment or ingredients might be a great boon to busy mothers.


This book is the second of two volumes devoted to the work of Theo Kuipers, a leading Dutch philosopher of science. Philosophers and scientists from all over the world, thirty seven in all, comment on Kuipers' philosophy, and each of their commentaries is followed by a reply from Kuipers. The present volume is devoted to Kuipers' neo-classical philosophy of science, as laid down in his Structures in Science (Kluwer, 2001). Kuipers defends a dialectical interaction between science and philosophy in that he views philosophy of science as a meta-science which formulates cognitive structures that provide heuristic patterns for actual scientific research, including design research. In addition, Kuipers pays considerable attention to the computational approaches to philosophy of science as well as to the ethics of doing research. Thomas Nickles, David Atkinson, Jean-Paul van Bendegem, Maarten Franssen, Anne Ruth Mackor, Arno Wouters, Erik Weber & Helena de Preester, Eric Scerri, Adam Grobler & Andrzej Wisniewski, Alexander van den Bosch, Gerard Vreeswijk, Jaap Kamps, Paul Thagard, Emma Ruttkamp, Robert Causey, Henk Zandvoort comment on these ideas of Kuipers, and many present their own account. The present book also contains a synopsis of Structures in Science. It can be read independently of the first volume of Essays in Debate with Theo Kuipers, which is devoted to Kuipers' From Instrumentalism to Constructive Realism (2000).


Radiocarbon is widely used to determine the age of samples that are less than 50000 years old, but the conversion of radiocarbon ages to calendar ages is not always straightforward. In their Perspective, [ Guilderson et al ][1]. analyze the calibrated age ranges that can be obtained from the current calibration standard, the IntCall98 curve. They take into account not only the inherent limitations of the radiocarbon-calendar calibration curve, but also analytical uncertainties. The results bear directly on our ability to understand the dynamic climate system and the relations between climate and past societies.

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/307/5708/362


Evaluations of analytical performance through interlaboratory comparisons and proficiency tests are underway globally for biomolecular-based methods [e.g., reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR)] used in the surveillance of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in wastewater. These evaluations often rely on sharing a common reference wastewater sample that is split among participating laboratories. A known quantity of recovery surrogates can be introduced to the wastewater matrix by the coordinating laboratory as an exogenous control in a spike-and-recovery approach;however, split-sample comparisons are increasingly performed to evaluate in situ quantities of SARS-CoV-2 genetic signal native to the sample due to the lack of a universally accepted recovery surrogate of SARS-CoV-2. A reproducible procedure that minimizes the variability of SARS-CoV-2 genetic signal among split wastewater aliquots is therefore necessary to facilitate the method comparisons, especially when a large number of aliquots are required. Emerging literature has suggested that SARS-CoV-2 genetic signal in wastewater is linked to the solids fraction. Accordingly, a protocol that allows for equal distribution of solids content evenly among wastewater aliquots was also likely to facilitate even distribution of the SARS-CoV-2 genetic signal. Based on this premise, we reviewed existing sample splitting apparatus and approaches used for solids-based parameters in environmental samples. A portable batch reactor was designed, comprised of readily accessible materials and equipment. This design was validated through splitting of real wastewater samples collected from a municipal wastewater treatment facility serving a population with reported cases of COVID-19. This work applies well-established solid-liquid mixing theory and concepts that are likely unfamiliar to molecular microbiologists and laboratory analysts, providing (1) a prototype adaptable for a range of sample quantities, aliquot sizes, microbial targets, and water matrices;and (2) a pragmatic demonstration of critical considerations for design and validation of a reproducible and effective sample splitting protocol.


India has embarked on a National Mission project to build over 150 Virtual Labs (VL) targeting over 1450 experiments mapped to the under graduate and postgraduate curriculum. Due to the lack of user centric tools and mechanisms for VL authors, it became crucial to architect a Virtual Labs Collaborative and Accessibility Platform (VLCAP) for use by the large scientific community building multi-disciplinary VL.With multi-tier, scalable architecture at its core, the technology platform allows VL builders to focus on particular logic of their experiments. The axiomatic design of the user interfaces built into the various modules including VL workbench, collaborative content management, repositories and so on assists in functional use of the elements while reducing the overall development time of VL by individual users. Integration of common tasks in user management, such as single sign-on, role based access control etc. enhances flexibility without compromising on security.


Background Triple-negative (TN) breast cancer (BC), which comprises approximately 15% of all BC cases, has a particularly poor prognosis. In a phase II study in patients with heavily pretreated metastatic BC, 15% of patients (3/20) with TN disease achieved PRs following treatment with the multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib. A randomized, open-label phase II study was conducted to compare the PFS obtained with sunitinib monotherapy and single-agent standard-of-care (SOC) chemotherapy in patients with previously treated advanced TNBC, results of which are reported here. MethodsEligible patients (≥18 years, ECOG PS 0-2) with advanced ER/PR/HER2- negative BC had been treated with an anthracycline and a taxane in the adjuvant or advanced setting; if disease-free >6 months post-adjuvant therapy, patients should have received 1-2 prior chemotherapy regimens for advanced BC. Patients were randomized (1:1) to receive either sunitinib 37.5 mg po daily or the investigator9s choice of SOC therapy (capecitabine: 2,000-2,500 mg/m2 po days 1-14 q3w; vinorelbine: 25-30 mg/m2 IV or 60-80 mg/m2 po qw; docetaxel: 75-100 mg/m2 IV q3w; paclitaxel: 175-200 mg/m2 IV q3w or 80-90 mg/m2 IV qw or qw3/4; or gemcitabine: 800-1,250 mg/m2 IV qw2/3). Patients with documented disease progression per RECIST in the SOC arm were offered sunitinib therapy. The primary endpoint was PFS as assessed by independent central review; secondary endpoints included RECIST-defined ORR, OS, and safety. Log-rank tests were used to compare treatment arms for time-to-event endpoints. Results At data cut-off (April 1, 2010), the ITT population comprised 217 female patients (sunitinib: 113; SOC: 104). Based on independent central review, median PFS was 2.0 months in the sunitinib arm and 2.7 months in the SOC arm (HR: 1.20; 95% CI: 0.89-1.63; 1-sided P=0.889). Likewise, sunitinib did not prolong median OS, which was 9.4 months in the sunitinib arm and 10.5 months in the SOC arm (HR: 1.22; 95% CI: 0.89-1.68; 1-sided P=0.892). The ORR was 3% with sunitinib and 7% with SOC (odds ratio: 0.37; 95% CI: 0.06-1.70; 1-sided P=0.963). The most frequent grade 3/4 AEs of any cause were neutropenia (21%), thrombocytopenia (11%), asthenia (10%), and leucopenia (10%) in the sunitinib arm and neutropenia (11%), fatigue (5%), and hand-foot syndrome (5%) in the SOC arm. Treatment was discontinued due to AEs in 35% and 6% of patients in the sunitinib and SOC arms, respectively. Conclusions The study did not meet its primary or secondary endpoints, as sunitinib did not improve PFS, OS, or ORR compared with SOC therapy. Based on these results, sunitinib monotherapy is not recommended for treatment of patients with previously treated advanced TNBC. There remains an urgent need for effective treatments for patients with TNBC. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-12-02.


This book continues to introduce the reader to Russian-German literary relations in the 20th century. The results of the first stage of the research were presented in the collective work Russia — Germany: Literary Encounters (1918–1945) published by A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2017 with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research grant no. № 17-04-16003. The present study analyzes mutual influences, intersections, typological similarities, receptive projections and imagological concepts occurring at the borders of the cultural spaces of Germany and Russia in the second half of the 20th and the first third of the 21st century. The aim of this work is to complement or amend the existing knowledge of the literary and cultural interactions of the two countries after 1945. Like in the first book, special attention is paid to identifying the mechanisms of the perception of a foreign literature in the context of national regulatory language usage paradigm. The book studies direct and indirect contacts between the two literatures and helps isolate single elements of critical reflection in the field of meaning-making and on the level of the formation of motific, aesthetic and stylistic models of the text. This work, which includes the articles written by thirty Russian researches, is of theoretical and practical value and appeals to specialists in comparative studies, intercultural communication, history of German and Russian literature, as well as to a wide audience interested in these problems.


Neutrinos are very special particles. Studies of these particles have played a crucial role in the understanding of the laws of elementary particles and their interactions. Until recently, there was no evidence that neutrinos have masses, and therefore the standard model in elementary particle physics assumed that neutrinos are massless. Small but non-zero masses of neutrinos have been discovered by studying neutrinos produced by cosmic ray interactions in the atmosphere. The small neutrino masses have profound implications for our understanding of particle physics and the universe. This paper discusses the discovery of neutrino masses.


ABSTRAK

The research entitled An Analysis of Flouting Maxims in "Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement" Film Based on Grice's Cooperative Principle is a descriptive research using Pragmatics approach, particularly, the cooperative principle. The Cooperative Principles is four basic maxims of conversation that specify what the participants have to do in order to converse in maximally efficient, rational, cooperative way where they should speak sincerely, relevantly, orderly, informatively, and clearly, while providing sufficient information. The four conversational maxims which are proposed by Grice namely: maxim of Quality, Quantity, Relation, and Manner.
The technique of collecting data was based on Purposive Sampling or criterion based on the purpose of the research. The samples of this research are the character's dialogues that employ the flouting of four conversational maxims in the conversations of "Princess Diaries Movie 2: Royal Engagement" film. The research took seventeen conversations employing the flouting of four conversational maxims as the data. This research was aimed to (1) describe how the Cooperative Principle is employed by the characters in "Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement" film, (2) find out what kind of the flouting maxims are employed by the characters in the film.
The results of the analysis can be seen as follows: First, since there are flouting maxims in "Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement" film, Grice's Cooperative Principle is not perfectly fulfilled by the characters in its dialog. The analysis of the maxim of Quality indicates that almost all statements uttered by the characters in the dialogs are dominated by the true fact. It can be seen from the utterances they use to prove or support that what they're saying are true. There are 9 dialogs which fulfill the maxim. In the analysis of the maxim of Quantity, there are merely 8 dialogs which fulfill the maxim. It can be said that there are only few characters involved in the dialogs who have shared the sufficient information required by others. From the analysis of the maxim of Relation, all the characters in the dialogs tend to follow the principle. This evidence shows either that the characters have uttered the statements which are relevant to the situation required or that they have given the relevant information inquired by their partners in the dialogs. The maxim of Manner analyzed in the dialogs mostly has been fulfilled by the characters. There are 10 dialogs which fulfill the maxim. This proves that the characters have orderly and clearly constructed their utterances which, of course, will minimize the misunderstanding in the dialogs they involved in.
Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that the Cooperative Principle have been generally fulfilled by the characters in the dialogs. In order to make the conversation runs smoothly, almost the characters involved in a conversation has taken part in cooperative interaction with others by providing an appropriate amount of information, telling the truth, being relevant, and trying to be as clear as they can.
Second, based on the analysis of the flouting maxims in "Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement" film, it could be discovered that there are three kinds of the flouting maxims employed by the characters in the dialogs, namely the flouting maxim of Quality, Quantity, and Manner. Those flouting maxims have their own implicatures related to the context of each dialog which shows the reason why the character flouts a maxim.
The employment of the flouting maxim of Quality by the characters in 8 dialogs can be seen from their utterances which are blatantly untrue or for which they lack adequate evidence. The flouting maxim of Quantity is mostly employed by the characters in 9 dialogs. Most of their utterances tend to give more information than the situation requires which are used to support their first utterance or give new information to others. Meanwhile, there is no dialog which employs the flouting maxim of Relation. It means that all of the characters have observed the maxim of Relation in 17 dialogs where the second person has directly addressed the first person's goal in asking a question. The employment of the flouting maxim of Manner by the characters in 7 dialogs can be seen from their lengthy and unclear utterances.
Besides finding the three kinds of the flouting maxims, the researcher also found that there are two phenomena in the data analyzed. The first, the researcher found that the most flouted maxims in the data have low information content and high affective content. It shows that the characters tend to express the affective (the implicatures of their utterances) rather than the information of their utterances (their utterances / what is actually said by the characters). The second, the researcher also found two overlapping incidence. The first overlap is between the flouting maxim of Quality and Quantity at the data 3. It happens since the characters blatantly give more information than required which is untrue. Hence, besides flouting the maxim of Quantity, the characters also flout the maxim of Quality. The second overlap is between the flouting maxim of Quantity and Manner. They are found at the data 8, 9, 12 and 13. It happens since the characters flout the maxim of Quantity by giving more information than required. Furthermore, the information which is given through their utterances is lengthy and unclear. Hence, besides flouting the maxim of Quantity, the characters also flout the maxim of Manner.
In conclusion, it is expected that this research will be useful for future researchers who are interested in studying more about non-observance of the Grice's maxims, but they may look at it from a different angle e.g. the analysis of Violating, Infringing, Opting Out, or Suspending maxims.


Nanocrystalline Sm2Fe14.5Cu0.5Ga2Cx (x = 1 and 2) and Sm2Fe15Ga(Si)2C ribbons prepared by melt spinning and subsequent annealing have been investigated by x-ray diffraction, thermomagnetic analysis, a superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer and an extracting sample magnetometer. The results show that the annealed ribbons consist of the Th2Zn17-type phase and a very small amount of α-Fe. The result, calculated from the high external field part of the demagnetization curve, shows that Heff (the effective field)-H (the external field) is linear with y (the ratio of the magnetization in the external magnetic field H and the saturation magnetization). This result is in agreement with the conclusion gained from a mean field Stoner-Wohlfarth model.


COPD is a common disease with considerable health and economic consequences. The aim of our study was to analyze clinical and economical impact of COPD exacerbations (E-COPD). A secondary data analysis of healthcare administrative databases of Lombardy, Italy was performed, including patients hospitalized for a severe E-COPD (index event) from Jan to Dec 2003. Two study groups were identified based on the number and type of E-COPD experienced after the index event during a two-year follow-up: those who had at least one severe E-COPD (Group A) and those who had only moderate E-COPD (Group B). A total of 12,436 patients (7,933 males; mean±SD age: 74±10 yrs) were enrolled. Among those, 45% belonged to Group A and 55% to Group B. Clinical outcomes, costs and consumptions of pulmonary function test (PFT) per person during the follow-up are given in Table. Mortality risk increased in the study population in relation to the number and type of E-COPD experienced during the follow-up. The number and type of E-COPD significantly impact outcomes and costs. Less than one fourth of patients discharged after an E-COPD will undergo a PFT during two years, although its cost is extremely lower than the hospital stay.


In mouse and humans, the X-chromosomal Porcupine homolog (Porcn) gene is required for the acylation and secretion of all 19 Wnt ligands, thus representing a bottleneck in the secretion of Wnt ligands. In humans, mutations in PORCN cause the X-linked dominant syndrome Focal Dermal Hypoplasia (FDH, OMIM#305600). This disorder is characterized by ecto-mesodermal dysplasias and shows a highly variable phenotype, potentially due to individual X chromosome inactivation patterns. To improve the understanding of human FDH, we have established a mouse model by generation of Porcn heterozygous animals carrying a zygotic deletion of the paternal allele. We show that heterozygous female fetuses display variable defects that do not significantly affect survival in the uterus, but lead to perinatal lethality in more than 95% of females. Rare survivors develop to adulthood and display variable skeletal and skin defects, representing an adult zygotic mouse model for human FDH. Although not frequently reported in humans, we also observed bronchopneumonia, rhinitis, and otitis media in these animals, suggesting a potential link between Porcn function and the normal development of ciliated cells in these tissues.


The present study should yield some information on the reaction of different species and strains of mycorrhizal fungi to acidification or alkalization of substrate. The effect of acidity of medium on development of mycorrhizal fungi was tested at the following ranges of pH: 2.5, 3.0, 3.9 ,4.9 ,5.4, 6.6 and 7.3. At pH 2.5 and 3.0 almost half of the fungal cultures tested did not resume their growth during an entire period of the experiment For some fungi pH 7.3 turned out to be such as much unfavourable as a high acidification of medium. The results of the study indicate that excessive acidity of substrate may be more unfavourable for the development of mycorrhizal fungi than its alkalization. The pH range tolerated by mycorrhizal fungi in Ihe second case seems to be wider.


This article intends to illustrate gender roles as related to modernity in colonial Korea by focusing on the birth of the "New Woman" and its historical location. The New Woman appeared as a new female icon all over the world in the early twentieth century and implanted a new female identity produced by the introduction of modern, Western ideas in Korea. However, the embodiment of the New Woman in Korea shows historical variation from the prototype of a more global New Woman. Furthermore, in colonial Korea New Women did not present a singular, fixed collective identity but included diverse layers of female subjectivities. Specifically, with the flow of time, the representation of New Women shows the process of refraction and implosion of "New Woman" images, each having different connotations. This article traces the discursive transformation of the "New Woman" in mass media (mainly newspapers and magazines) from the 1900s to the 1940s, and its significant associations with the relationship of gender and modernity in colonial Korea. It also elucidates what it meant to be a New Woman historically in Korea.


In the paper the results of a theoretical investigation of the growth process of laserplasma deposited thin films are discussed. A kinetic approach has been used to establish direct relation between experimental conditions (laser flux density substrate temperature) and film properties (thickness structure) . The results of some ex perimental investigations of the deposition process are presented confirming the general conclusions of the developed theoretical mo del. 1 .


Detection of regions of interest (e.g. mitosis or histologic primitives) in Whole Slide Images in a clinical setting is a highly subjective and labor-intensive task. In this thesis we explore recent developments in Machine Learning and Computer Vision algorithms to assess their possible usage and performance in tasks such as the above, in order to enhance and accelerate healthcare procedures. A state-of-the-art Deep Learning framework (Detectron2) is trained on the TUPAC16 dataset for object detection, and on the JPATHOL dataset for instance segmentation. We evaluate its predictions against competing models and discuss further possible improvements.


The experiment was conducted with 644 Ross fertilized egg by 7 treatments 4 replicates and 23 eggs in each. Seven treatments included two control with and without injection, iron sulfate, iron sulfate nanoparticles, Alimet, Alimet + iron sulfate, Alimet + iron sulfate nanoparticles. After hatching 2 mg iron nanoparticles were applied as new treatment. The highest increased in the intestinal relative weight (p < 0.05) was observed by iron+Alimet in late feeding at day old of age. Also similar trend was found in cecum and duodenum length by iron control 2 and late feeding (18 hours' after hatching). The highest cecum length was found among all treatments by in ovo injection of iron nanoparticles in early feeding at 21 days of age (p < 0.05). Significantly increased the duodenum length was found by iron sulfate in early feeding at 42 days of age (p < 0.05). In ovo injection of Alimet in late feeding was resulted in decrease jejunum crypt depth at 21 days of age (p < 0.05). The results of this study have shown that the highest jejunum villi width and surface area were recorded in dietary iron sulfate nanoparticles in late feeding at 21 and 42 days of age (p < 0.05).


The article outlines the cultural and national features of the development of Ukrainian and Russian literatures in the first third of the 20th century.

The study clearly demonstrates that the development of Ukrainian and Russian literatures have followed typologically similar patterns. Common and distinguishing features in the literatures were the result of the specific historical conditions of their origin and existence, as well as cultural orientation. The national differences between Ukrainian and Russian literatures of the first third of the 20th century were due primarily to the search for the ways to assert the identity. Ukrainian literature was expressly focused on Western European, trying to perceive it without mediation of the Russian one. Western European artistic innovations coexisted with the local cultural specificity. Russian literature was less concerned with issues of national identity because it had a counter-effect on Western European literature. The interaction with the national cultural tradition was also different.

Common features of the literary process of the first third of the 20th century include the development of literatures in the metropolitan environment and in the context of emigration. The literature developed in the context of emigration was created in a foreign-language environment, but positioned itself as a national literature, the existence of which was a priori impossible in the metropolitan environment. The leading feature of the literature of the metropolis followed the October revolution was the ideological and political oppression caused by the new relations between the authorities and the artistic culture.

Identification of general characteristics and features of the evolution of Russian and Ukrainian literatures in the first third of the 20th century in terms of typological comparisons makes it possible to suggest that the literary and artistic realities of the era caused the affinity of issues in the formation of new ideological and artistic quality of both literatures and, consequently, their national forms, features.


Previous studies have shown that a monoclonal antibody, H-145, inhibits myotube formation of quail myoblasts transformed with a temperature-sensitive mutant of Rous sarcoma virus (QM-RSV cells) [Hyodo and Kim, 1994: Exp. Cell Res. 212:120-131]. The antigen recognized by H-145 (H-145 antigen), which is a glycoprotein with a molecular mass of about 116 kDa, is related to a step immediately before myoblast fusion. To determine the functional significance of H-145 antigen, we examined its dynamic state during myogenic differentiation of QM-RSV cells. H-145 antigen showed a unique and discrete distribution. In immature myotubes immediately after myoblast fusion, many ring-like structures of H-145 antigen appeared on the ventral surface of the cells, encircling the actin dots detected simultaneously by immunofluorescence and interference reflection microscopy. The core of the ring-like structures was filled with the termini of actin bundles, mainly formed by alpha-actin. Other cytoskeletal-associated proteins, such as vinculin and alpha-actinin, were also associated with these structures. The ring-like structures of H-145 antigen were observed only during a restricted period when myoblasts fused actively, suggesting their relationships to myotube formation and an early stage of myofibril formation. With maturation of the myotubes, most of the H-145 antigen became redistributed in linear arrays on the apical cell surface and was probably associated with the termini of actin bundles to organize myofibrils, suggesting that the antigen was also related to maturation of myotubes. Experiments using monoclonal antibodies against chick beta1 integrin showed that H-145 antigen is beta1 integrin or a very closely related derivation. Thus H-145 antigen (beta1 integrin) is possibly involved in both myoblast fusion and the myofibril organization in myotubes.


Perineural invasion (PNI) is an important but under-reported route of metastasis of many cancers, in which neoplasm invades and spreads along the nerves. In recent years, PNI has been identified to contribute to the pathology of malignant tumors in the breast, stomach, head and neck, pancreas, prostate and large intestine. PNI of neoplasm may be attributable to poor prognosis of the patients, and sometimes appears to be the only cause of long-distance metastasis. Recent studies have furnished latest insights into the pathology and clinical features of PNI, characterized by continuous and interlinked multiple steps, starting from the formation of a perineural niche, comprising of neural cells, inflammatory cells, stromal cells, extracellular matrix, and blood vessels, in addition to the cancer cells. The critical step of PNI involves the establishment of connections between tumor and nerve through a number of signaling pathways consisting of soluble factors such as nerve growth factor, interleukins, and matrix metalloproteinases. Upon invasion into the nervous system, the cancer cells bring changes to neural cells and their microenvironment, leading to neoplastic spread along the nerves and alteration of normal nerve functions. In this review, we attempt to comprehensively cover the cellular and molecular mechanisms of perineural spread of tumors.


All 14 children who were conceived at the time their 12 haemophilic fathers were anti-HIV positive were shown to be HIV negative and to be healthy physically and mentally. Eleven of the 12 female partners have remained anti-HIV negative and one has seroconverted. Despite counselling it is likely that children will continue to be conceived by anti-HIV positive haemophiliacs.


Gastric cancer is one of the major causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Its prognosis is poor, and surgery offers the only realistic chance of cure. Nevertheless, most of the patients present with inoperable tumors, while the recurrence rate after potentially curable resections is high. In these patients, systemic chemotherapy has been used for palliation of symptoms and possibly for prolongation of survival. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is the most widely used agent in chemotherapy of gastric cancer alone or combined with other cytotoxic drugs. Until recently, combination chemotherapy produced modest results, with no significant impact on survival. Progress in research studying the mechanisms of action of various chemotherapeutic agents led to the design of more active chemotherapy regimens. Combinations of 5-FU and cisplatin and the use of modulators of 5-FU activity have produced high response rates, including complete responses in more than 10% of patients with advanced gastric cancer, and, in certain studies, a small but significant survival benefit over older regimens. Adjuvant chemotherapy has not generally produced a significant survival benefit in patients undergoing curative resection. The use of newer, more effective regimens is currently being investigated and might prove useful in certain high-risk groups. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, chemoradiotherapy, and chronomodulated administration of 5-FU, along with the use of novel chemotherapeutic agents, represent exciting areas for clinical research which might further improve the role of systemic chemotherapy in gastric carcinoma.


Epitope-imprinted membranes targeting the C-terminal fragment of the immunoglobuline G (IgG) heavy chain was developed and used for the purification of a commercial monoclonal antibody. The membranes exhibited strongly enhanced IgG affinity when compared with non-imprinted or IgG imprinted membranes reflected in binding selectivities in a protein mixture (IgG/HSA 1 : 10 w/w) of up to 40, and the elution of 95 to 100% pure IgG after washing. The dynamic binding capacity amounted to 3.9 mg mL 1 membrane volume with minor loss in performance upon repeated cleaning with alkali. The depletion of host cell proteins from a cell culture broth after production of anti-IL8 antibody using the best performing imprinted membrane under low-salt conditions reached 88% (0.7–1.2 log units) implying an effective removal of impurities from the cell culture supernatant.


Many drugs in current clinical use rely on mechanisms of action that involve damage to nucleic acids. While this has been a successful therapeutic approach for many years, the major limitation of these agents is systemic cytotoxicity, resulting from damage caused to healthy cells. Photoactive metal complexes offer the possibility of combining two successful treatment modalities for cancer and other diseases by providing DNA damage similar to that obtained with cisplatin, but in a spatially and temporally controlled manner, as with phototherapy. Recent progress in the field has provided metal complexes that can be triggered to create covalent adducts with nucleic acids both in vitro and in cells. Furthermore, several of these agents have been shown to induce cytotoxicity in cancer cell lines, in vitro tumor models, and in vivo animal models. In the last year, new compounds have been reported that can be activated with low energy light within the "therapeutic window," where light penetration through tissue is sufficient to access larger volume tumors. This review highlights the advances that demonstrate the potential of light-activated metal complexes as therapeutics and research tools for biomedical applications.


Recent research has shown that entrepreneurs who start incorporated firms are fundamentally different from entrepreneurs who start sole proprietorships. This difference suggests that incorporation status may distinguish the self-employed with no ambition to hire from entrepreneurs who plan to hire others.In this paper, we show that this intuition is correct. Using a dataset with over 24 million observations and more than 230,000 entries into entrepreneurship, we show that newly incorporated entrepreneurs create 50% more jobs than sole proprietors. The result derives from the fact that high-ability individuals are more likely to form incorporated ventures. While there is selection from both tails of the ability distribution into starting incorporated ventures – that is, both stars and misfits start corporations – it is primarily individuals with low ability, the misfits, who start sole proprietorships. This does not, however, mean that the aggregate number of jobs created by the incorporated is higher. Since more entrepreneurs in total become sole propri etors, the sole proprietors initially contribute more to aggregate job creation than the incorporated.


Dryland salinity in southern Australia is largely due to inadequate water use by annual agricultural crops and pastures. Perennial pastures, such as lucerne, have been proposed as a possible means of increasing water use whilst maintaining flexibility in agricultural rotations. In a trial located on a duplex soil near Katanning, Western Australia, lucerne and subterranean clover pastures both used water at rates indistinguishable from potential evapotranspiration during the winter and early spring of 3 consecutive years (1995–97), and completely exhausted water stored in the A horizon. Lucerne, through a deeper rooting pattern and by maintaining activity in the summer and autumn, used approximately 50 mm more water than the annual pasture during each 12-month period. This resulted in reduced deep drainage below 1.2 m in the 1996 season (30 mm compared with 80 mm under annual pasture). With average regional groundwater recharge in the range 10–50 mm, the reductions in drainage observed under lucerne show promise in reducing the regional impact of dryland salinity.


The paper presents the results of a study of leaching of copper, nickel, cobalt and iron from metallurgical slag. It is shown that ferric sulfate solutions produced during the oxidation of bivalent iron by associations of acidophilic chemolithotrophic bacteria, adequately allowed to transfer non-ferrous metals into the liquid phase in 1 hour at a temperature of 70 º C. Thus the extraction of copper reached 90%, nickel - 88%, cobalt - 67% and extraction of iron into a solution was about 30%.


Aim: The central sensitization inventory (CSI) is a validated, patient-reported questionnaire that quantifies symptoms of hypersensitivity disorders such as chronic pain, for which central sensitization (CS) may be the etiology. Objective: To investigate the analgesic effectiveness of ActiPatch and analyze the relationship between baseline CSI scores and demographics of chronic pain sufferers. Methods: Upon completing a 7-day ActiPatch trial, baseline CSI scores along with other assessment measures were obtained via e-mail from 174 chronic pain sufferers. Conclusion: CSI scores were positively correlated with gender (higher for women), baseline visual analog scale scores and pain duration. ActiPatch was found to be effective in reducing baseline pain for all subjects by an average of 4.3 visual analog scale points.


Variable division and optimization (D\&O) is a frequently utilized algorithm design paradigm in Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs). A D\&O EA divides a variable into partial variables and then optimize them respectively. A complicated problem is thus divided into simple subtasks. For example, a variable of portfolio problem can be divided into two partial variables, i.e. the selection of assets and the allocation of capital. Thereby, we optimize these two partial variables respectively. There is no formal discussion about how are the partial variables iteratively optimized and why can it work for both single- and multi-objective problems in D\&O. In this paper, this gap is filled. According to the discussion, an elitist selection method for partial variables in multiobjective problems is developed. Then this method is incorporated into the Decomposition-Based Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm (D\&O-MOEA/D). With the help of a mathematical programming optimizer, it is achieved on the constrained multiobjective portfolio problems. In the empirical study, D\&O-MOEA/D is implemented for 20 instances and recent Chinese stock markets. The results show the superiority and versatility of D\&O-MOEA/D on large-scale instances while the performance of it on small-scale problems is also not bad. The former targets convergence towards the Pareto front and the latter helps promote diversity among the non-dominated solutions during the search process.


Albumin plays an important role in maintaining an adequate plasma colloid osmotic pressure (COP). On the basis of the Starling's law, we postulated that elevation of plasma COP produced by infusion of serum albumin would result in the withdrawal of cerebral interstitial fluid. To test the hypothesis that an oncotic gradient would produce cerebral dehydration and result in reduction of intracranial pressure (ICP), we infused intravenously 25% solution of salt-poor human serum albumin, 2g/kg over 60 minutes for 10 patients with increased ICP. In these 10 patients, the degree of brain edema was not severe but mild to moderate by judging from CT scan findings. In addition to ICP, various parameters such as mean arterial blood pressure (MABP), central venous pressure (CVP), pulse rate, PaCO2 and urine volume were measured before, during and after albumin infusion. Hematological studies including COP, total protein, albumin-globulin ratio, protein fractions, hematocrit (Ht), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine and electrolytes were also performed before, during and after administration of albumin. The raised ICP (27.4 +/- S.E. 1.6 mmHg) decreased significantly down to 19.1 (+/- 1.9) mmHg and remained stable for at least 240 minutes without any changes of MABP, pulse rate and PaCO2. CVP elevated significantly and remained at higher levels in comparison with control despite increase of urine output after administration of albumin. This results suggested that an adequate circulatory volume was maintained. A significant increase of total protein, serum albumin concentrations and albumin-globulin ratio was noted.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Abstract : Overhead costs generally are estimated by using estimated overhead rates which are then applied to estimated labor hours or costs in each of several functional categories, such as engineering or manufacturing. Total overhead is then obtained by summing across all the functions. This approach is not entirely satisfactory since changes in operating rates cause changes in overhead rates which are reflected only after a significant lag. For firms in which output fluctuates significantly, this approach can result in poor estimates of overhead costs with corresponding difficulties for product pricing. In instances where the Federal government is the sole purchaser of the product, actual production costs (both direct and indirect) are important inputs into the price and quantity negotiation process. With aerospace contractor overhead comprising 30 to 50 percent of total costs to the Federal government, it is imperative that overhead costs be estimated with greater accuracy. An alternative approach to estimating overhead costs is to estimate these costs directly and, hence forego direct reliance upon overhead rates. Two examples of this are provided. Martinson reclassified overhead costs from the usual functional categories into an input-oriented categorization and then regressed these new categories of overhead costs on various operating variables. Gross and Dienemann estimated various categories of overhead costs using direct labor and material costs on a pooled time-series, cross-section sample of aerospace firms.


One of the more important issues in the development of larger scale complex systems (product development period of two or more years) is accommodating changes to requirements. Requirements gathered for larger scale systems evolve during lengthy development periods due to changes in software and business environments, new user needs and technological advancements. Agile methods, which focus on accommodating change even late in the development lifecycle, can be adopted for the development of larger scale systems. However, as currently applied, these practices are not always suitable for the development of such systems. We propose a soft-structured framework combining the principles of agile and conventional software development that addresses the issue of rapidly changing requirements for larger scale systems. The framework consists of two parts: (1) a soft-structured requirements gathering approach that reflects the agile philosophy i.e., the Agile Requirements Generation Model and (2) a tailored development process that can be applied to either small or larger scale systems.


Cold spray is a reduced temperature, supersonic thermal spray process that is increasingly being used to perform repairs on high value components. In this case, a valve actuator internal bore sealing surface was repaired on an aluminum 6061 hydraulic valve body using high pressure cold spray. Corrosion damage to non-critical surfaces was also repaired, allowing the part to be returned to service. The VRC Gen III high-pressure cold spray system was used to deposit gas atomized 6061 aluminum powder. The internal bore surfaces were approximately 100 mm in diameter with a depth of nearly 200 mm, and were sprayed using a 45-degree nozzle 65 mm in length. The minimum required adhesion strength on critical surfaces was 69 MPa. The average adhesion strength was 71.4 MPa, with glue failures on ASTM C633 bond test specimens.


Pipelines in service always experience complicated loadings induced by operational and environmental conditions. Flood is one of the common natural hazard threats for buried steel pipelines. One exposed river crossing X70 gas pipeline induced by flood erosion was used as a prototype for this study. A mechanical model was established considering the field loading conditions. Morison equations were adopted to calculate distributional hydrodynamic loads on spanning pipe caused by flood flow. Nonlinear soil constraint on pipe was considered using discrete nonlinear soil springs. An explicit solution of bending stiffness for pipe segment with casing was derived and applied to the numerical model. The von Mises yield criterion was used as failure criteria of the X70 pipe. Stress behavior of the pipe were analyzed by a rigorous finite element model established by the general-purpose Finite-Element package ABAQUS, with 3D pipe elements and pipe-soil interaction elements simulating pipe and soil constraints on pipe, respectively. Results show that, the pipe is safe at present, as the maximum von Mises stress in pipe with the field parameters is 185.57 MPa. The critical flow velocity of the pipe is 5.8 m/s with the present spanning length. The critical spanning length of the pipe is 467 m with the present flow velocity. The failure pipe sections locate at the connection point of the bare pipe and the pipe with casing or the supporting point of the bare pipe on riverbed.