Targeted ultrasound contrast agents can be prepared by some specific bioconjugation techniques. The biotin-avidin complex is an extremely useful noncovalent binding system, but the system might induce immunogenic side effects in human bodies. Previous proposed covalently conjugated systems suffered from low conjugation efficiency and complex procedures. In this study, we propose a covalently conjugated nanobubble coupling with nucleic acid ligands, aptamers, for providing a higher specific affinity for ultrasound targeting studies. The sgc8c aptamer was linked with nanobubbles through thiol-maleimide coupling chemistry for specific targeting to CCRF-CEM cells. Further improvements to reduce the required time and avoid the degradation of nanobubbles during conjugation procedures were also made. Several investigations were used to discuss the performance and consistency of the prepared nanobubbles, such as size distribution, conjugation efficiency analysis, and flow cytometry assay. Further, we applied our conjugated nanobubbles to ex vivo ultrasound targeted imaging and compared the resulting images with optical images. The results indicated the availability of aptamer-conjugated nanobubbles in targeted ultrasound imaging and the practicability of using a highly sensitive ultrasound system in noninvasive biological research.


OBJECTIVES
To describe the danger of upper airway obstruction associated with semirigid hollow objects in infants and toddlers and to define a minimum frequency with which episodes involving these products have occurred and propose a model defining the potentially hazardous characteristics of these objects.

METHODS
A retrospective study of incidents reported to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission from January 1983 to March 2000, involving children younger than 5 years, was conducted. The medical literature (Medline) was searched for similar cases. The resulting case series was analyzed.

RESULTS
A total of 17 incidents were identified in which a semirigid, hollow hemispherical/ellipsoidal object was described as having "cupped" the face, simultaneously covering the nose and the mouth. Of the 17 incidents, 13 involved toys; the remaining 4 incidents involved 2 different consumer products. All of these incidents involved children aged 4 to 36 months. Eight incidents resulted in death; 9 were nonfatal because of parental intervention. In all cases investigated, the infant was found with the semirigid object strongly adhering to his or her face. In 16 incidents, significant physical effort reportedly was required to remove the objects from the child's face. The fatal incidents involved children aged 4 to 24 months, whereas the age range of the children in nonfatal incidents was 7 to 36 months. In all but 1 of the fatal cases, the victim was found dead in a crib or playpen. The cross-sectional diameter of the products involved in suffocation incidents was in the range of 6.4 to 9.7 cm. The depths of the products ranged from 4.2 to 5.1 cm. The approximate volume of containers ranged between 100 and 170 mL. These dimensions are compatible with the range of anthropometric measurements that allow the product to fit snugly over the mouth and the nose of a young child, resulting in complete airway obstruction.

CONCLUSIONS
Children between the ages of 4 and 36 months are at risk from suffocation by hollow, semirigid hemispherical/ellipsoidal objects through suction formation and complete airway obstruction. Shallow containers with dimensions ranging from approximately 6.0 to 11.0 cm seem to be especially hazardous. Several recommendations may be proposed to lessen the hazard to young children. These include product design changes that limit the amount of contact with the perimeter and reduce the chance of forming a seal between the container and the face and ventilation holes to prevent a seal from forming. Although design change alone may be very helpful in products that are intended for use by children who are younger than 3 years, products that have similar dimensions and are not intended for infants present additional challenges. Thus, a very important additional prevention strategy is education. Pediatricians and other health care providers should alert parents and caregivers to the dangers of leaving such products in an infant's crib or playpen or allowing infants to play with these objects while unattended.


OBJECTIVE To determine whether changes in plasma concentrations of β endorphins alter angina threshold and peripheral pain threshold in patients with stable angina. DESIGN Latin square design comparison of angina thresholds by exercise treadmill test and peripheral pain thresholds using a radiant heat source in eight patients with stable angina under control conditions, after stimulation of pituitary β endorphin release by ketoconazole, after suppression of pituitary β endorphin release by dexamethasone, and after blockade of opioid receptors by intravenous naloxone. RESULTS An approximately fivefold increase in circulating concentrations of β endorphins was found after administration of ketoconazole (mean (SEM): 13.9 (1.2) v 73.8 (6.2) pg/ml; p < 0.05), which was associated with an increase in peripheral pain threshold to a radiant heat source (time to onset of pain perception 72 (19)v 123 (40) seconds; p < 0.05), but no significant difference in angina threshold. A reduction in circulating concentrations of β endorphins after pretreatment with dexamethasone was statistically non-significant (13.9 (1.2)v 9.0 (1.5) pg/ml; NS) and was not associated with any change in either peripheral pain or angina thresholds. No effects were seen after blockade of opioid receptors by previous administration of intravenous naloxone. CONCLUSIONS Increased plasma concentrations of β endorphins alter peripheral pain threshold but not angina threshold in patients with stable angina pectoris.


: Miners working in the North are exposed to more pronounced effects of unfavourable occupational factors (hand drillers, bulldozer operators, etc.) and are found to have higher morbidity rates. With their longer stay in the North, the incidence of gastrointestinal disorders increases. Among the migrants from the regions with contrasting climatic conditions. (Caucasus, Central Asia), the morbidity is higher than among those from other regions of this country.


How to provide better services for cluster users along with the cluster technology gains ground? An integrated cluster OS with friendly user environment is a trend. On the basis of Fire-Phoenix, a fully integrated, highly reliable and scalable cluster OS, the PWP (fire-Phoenix Web Portal) aims to provide one-station services for all kinds of cluster users. The PWP is a friendly, secure and flexible Web portal based on the MVC (Model-View-Controller) pattern, easy for maintenance and upgrade. It has been applied successfully on several supercomputers, together with the Fire-Phoenix cluster OS. This paper mainly discusses the design of the PWP


The Kenya Police Service as an organization has been undergoing through a process of transforming itself with a view to becoming a more reliable and accountable organization. This study aimed at understanding the role of change leadership towards the transformation of the Kenya Police service. Data was collected by administering questionnaires to the employees across all the ranks in the Kenya Police service based in the Police headquarters. A sample size of 308 was arrived at using proportional allocation through a stratified sampling method. A response rate of 89% was realized. Descriptive statistics were used to obtain a general understanding of the Kenya Police Service demographic information. Further, inferential statistics such as correlation and regression were used to analyze the data and testing of hypothesis. R2 value of 0.119 implied that 11.9% of the organizational transformation was influenced by change in leadership. These results revealed a significant positive relationship between change leadership and the transformation of the Kenya Police Service. The results presented in this study provide a compelling evidence for the importance of change in leadership towards the efforts of ensuring optimal organizational transformation for better service delivery in the Kenya Police Service.


This note studies the geometric structure of monotone moment polytopes (the duals of smooth Fano polytopes) using probes. The latter are line segments that enter the polytope at an interior point of a facet and whose direction is integrally transverse to this facet. A point inside the polytope is displaceable by a probe if it lies less than half way along it. Using a construction due to Fukaya-Oh-Ohta-Ono, we show that every rational polytope has a central point that is not displaceable by probes. In the monotone (or more generally, the reflexive) case, this central point is its unique interior integral point. In the monotone case, every other point is displaceable by probes if and only if the polytope satisfies the star Ewald condition. (This is a strong version of the Ewald conjecture concerning the integral symmetric points in the polytope.) Further, in dimensions up to and including three every monotone polytope is star Ewald. These results are closely related to the Fukaya-Oh-Ohta-Ono calculations of the Floer homology of the Lagrangian fibers of a toric symplectic manifold, and have applications to questions introduced by Entov-Polterovich about the displaceability of these fibers.


ABSTRACT This paper illustrates how liaison librarians can pursue influential relationships with faculty candidates in their liaison departments during the interview process. Although these interactions tend to be meet and greets, the impression that they leave may assist a potentially new faculty member when evaluating the campus environment and climate. This essay explores the relationship that academic librarians can develop during the hiring process for faculty candidates in their liaison departments, and the continued collaboration post-hire for the successful candidate. Literature for librarian outreach has been synthesized to present suggestions for strategies to engage with faculty candidates during the interview process and to further develop these relationships post-hire.


Flow Cytometry is widely used for enumeration of hematopoietic stem cell (SC) levels in bone marrow, cord blood, peripheral blood, and apheresis products. The ISHAGE single‐platform gating method is considered by many to be the standard for CD34+ SC enumeration. However, attempts at uniform application of this ISHAGE method have met with only partial success. We propose an automated, multivariate classification approach for SC analysis based on Probability State Modeling™ (PSM). In this study, we compare the results from automated PSM analysis with manual ISHAGE gating analysis as performed by a trained analyst.


By using the correlated operators generated within the framework of the first-order perturbation theory, we obtain simultaneously an enhancement of the C6 form factor for 50Ti around the first peak, compared to the single-particle-model predition, and a reduction of the C6 form factor for 52Cr in the same momentum-transfer range, both cases being consistent with the experiments. It is the two-body form of the transition operators that plays a crucial role in elucidating this long-standing puzzle.


In the early nineteenth century, the southern poor white had a reputation for comic vulgarity and absurd violence; postbellum writers saw him as a quaint peasant; the 1920s transformed him into a revolutionary proletarian. Of the literary treatments discussed, Steinbeck's ""Grapes of Wrath"" emerges as a skillful compromise of documentary accuracy and political daring by reviving the tradition of degeneracy.Originally published in 1976.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.


Economists have often argued that "pay for performance" is the optimal compensation scheme. However, use of the simplest form of pay for performance, the piece rate, has been in decline in manufacturing in recent decades. We show both theoretically and empirically that these changes are due to adoption of "modern manufacturing" in which firms produce a greater variety of products to a more demanding quality and delivery standard. We further develop a theory of the type of compensation system appropriate for this kind of production, in which there is a high return to "multi-tasking", where the same workers perform both easy-to-observe and hard-to-observe tasks and to "just-in-time" production, which entails a high cost of holding inventory. We test these predictions using detailed monthly information on firm outcomes and employee surveys from four plants in two companies that adopted modern manufacturing methods and changed their method of compensation from piece rates to either time rates or value-added gain-sharing. We find that time rates and gain-sharing are associated with reduced employee performance on easy-to-observe tasks, enhanced performance on hard-to-observe tasks, and improved firm profitability. Our analysis shows the importance of distinguishing types of incentive pay: we find that modern manufacturing is consistent with either group incentive pay (such as gain-sharing), or no incentives (such as hourly pay), but inconsistent with individual incentive pay (piece rates).


We report microsecond timescale molecular dynamics simulation of the complex formed between Pt(II)-phenanthroline and the 16 N-terminal residues of the Aβ peptide that is implicated in the onset of Alzheimer's disease, along with equivalent simulations of the metal-free peptide. Simulations from a variety of starting points reach equilibrium within 100 ns, as judged by root mean square deviation and radius of gyration. Platinum-bound peptides deviate rather more from starting points, and adopt structures with larger radius of gyration, than their metal-free counterparts. Residues bound directly to Pt show smaller fluctuation, but others actually move more in the Pt-bound peptide. Hydrogen bonding within the peptide is disrupted by binding of Pt, whereas the presence of salt-bridges are enhanced.


Vehicular fog computing has emerged as a cost-efficient solution for task processing in vehicular networks. However, how to realize effective server recruitment and reliable task offloading under information asymmetry and uncertainty remains a critical challenge. In this paper, we adopt a two-stage task offloading framework to address this challenge. First, we propose a convex–concave-procedure-based contract optimization algorithm for server recruitment, which aims to maximize the expected utility of the operator with asymmetric information. Then, a low-complexity and stable task offloading mechanism is proposed to minimize the total network delay based on the pricing-based matching. Furthermore, we extend the work to the scenario of information uncertainty and develop a matching-learning-based task offloading mechanism, which takes both occurrence awareness and conflict awareness into consideration. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can effectively motivate resource sharing and guarantee bounded deviation from the optimal performance without the global information.


Abstract This article examines the current coalition campaign against Boko Haram in Nigeria in the context of French military cooperation with the Francophone countries involved. The French government is actively supporting and facilitating the offensive against Boko Haram through both structural and operational military cooperation with Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. The current effectiveness and operational state of the armies in those three countries is largely due to long-term French strategic thinking about its influence on the continent. Finally, France is also militarily active on the continent with 3000 soldiers deployed for Operation Barkhane. Barkhane, while primarily aimed at containing the threat of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, is also designed, in cooperation with partner countries, to prevent a link-up between Boko Haram and the other terrorist groups in the Sahel.


Abstract An atmospheric solar radiation model has been coupled with surface reflectance measurements for two vegetation types, pasture land and savannah, in order to address several issues associated with understanding the directional planetary albedo; i.e., the dependence of planetary albedo upon solar zenith angle. These include an elucidation of processes that influence the variation of planetary albodo with solar zenith angle, as well as emphasizing potential problems associated with converting narrowband planetary albodo measurements to broadband quantities. It is suggested that, for vegetated surfaces, this latter task could be somewhat formidable, since the model simulations indicate that narrowband to broadband conversions strongly depend upon vegetation type. A further aspect of this paper is to illustrate a procedure by which reciprocity inconsistencies within a bidirectional reflectance dataset, if they are not too severe, can be circumvented.


Abstract Gowns and drapes are used widely in healthcare facilities. Gowns have been used to minimize the risk of disease acquisition by healthcare providers, to reduce the risk of patient-to-patient transmission, and during invasive procedures to aid in maintaining a sterile field. Drapes have been used during invasive procedures to maintain the sterility of environmental surfaces, equipment, and patients. This article reviews the use of gowns and drapes in healthcare facilities, including the characteristics, costs, benefits, and barrier effectiveness of single-use and reusable products. Currently, gowns protect healthcare personnel performing invasive procedures from contact with bloodborne pathogens. Although gowns have been recommended to prevent patient-to-patient transmission in certain settings (eg, neonatal intensive care unit) and for certain patients (eg, those infected with vancomycin-resistant enterococci), scientific studies have produced mixed results of their efficacy. While appropriate use of drapes during invasive procedures is recommended widely as an aid in minimizing contamination of the operative field, the efficacy of this practice in reducing surgical-site infections has not been assessed by scientific studies. Based on an evaluation of the functional requirements, environmental impact, and economics of gowns and drapes, clear superiority of either reusable or single-use gowns and drapes cannot be demonstrated. The selection of particular gowns and drapes by individual healthcare facilities requires an assessment of the facility's requirements, available products, and costs and should be based on the desired characteristics of an ideal gown or drape as defined in this paper.


Dislocations in crystalline materials constitute unique, atomic-scale, one-dimensional structure and have a potential to induce peculiar physical properties that are not found in the bulk. In this study, we fabricated LiNbO3 bicrystals with low angle tilt grain boundaries and investigated the relationship between the atomic structure of the boundary dislocations and their electrical conduction properties. Observations by using transmission electron microscopy revealed that dislocation structures at the (0001) low angle tilt grain boundaries depend on the tilt angle of the boundaries. Specifically, the characteristic dislocation structures with a large Burgers vector were formed in the boundary with the tilt angle of 2°. It is noteworthy that only the grain boundary of 2° exhibits distinct electrical conductivity after reduction treatment, although LiNbO3 is originally insulating. This unique electrical conductivity is suggested to be due to the characteristic dislocation structures with a large Burgers ve...


Oxygen and carbon isotope ratio measurements are presented for Globigerinoides ruber and for benthic species (mainly Uvigerina spp.) in the Pleistocene and uppermost Pliocene section of ODP Hole 677A in the Panama Basin. This provides the best available continuous Pleistocene stable isotope records from any location, fully justifying the recoring of DSDP Site 504. Oxygen isotope stage 22 (age about 0.85 Ma) was of similar magnitude to the most extensive glacials of the Brunhes and constitutes a logical base for the middle Pleistocene. Oxygen isotope stages as defined by Ruddiman et al. (1986) and by Raymo et al. (in press) back to stage 104 are recognized. Although the internationally agreed base of the Quaternary at or near stage 62 (about 1.6 Ma) is not marked by a major isotopic event, it does approximate the base of a regime characterized by highly regular 41,000-yr climate cycles. The records at Site 677 are ideal for time-series analyses and will permit a new attempt to develop a chronology for the early Pleistocene based on tuning to the orbital frequencies. The carbon isotope records also appear to contain considerable variance at orbital frequencies throughout the sequence analyzed.


The chloroplast-localized small heat shock protein (sHsp) Hsp21 belongs to the family of alpha-crystallin like sHsps which form large oligomeric structures and protect partly unfolded aggregation-prone proteins against aggregation. The main focus for this thesis has been on the highly conserved methionines in Hsp21. These methionine residues are situated on one side of an amphipathic alpha-helix. Methionines are easily oxidized which leads to dramatical changes in the biophysical properties of the methionine side chain. The dependence of the conserved methionines for Hsp21 chaperone-like activity has been studied and the impact of methionine sulfoxidation on Hsp21 structure and function.

Direct analysis of the methionione sulfoxide content of Hsp21 was performed by MALDI/TOF mass spectrometry. The methionine sulfoxidation was found to occur concomitantly with a change in the oligomeric conformation and loss of chaperone-like activity, both probably due to loss of alpha-helical structure in the methionine-rich region. By construction of Hsp21 mutants it was concluded that leucines can replace methionines in terms of chaperone-like activity. Furthermore, it was discovered that methionine sulfoxides in Hsp21 were reducible by a chloroplast-localized form of peptide methionine sulfoxide (pPMSR) and Hsp21, with its many oxidizable methionines is thus a likely endogenous substrate for pPMSR. Hence, pPMSR provides a means for keeping the methionines in Hsp21 in their reduced state and therby protection of Hsp21 chaperone-like activity in vivo. By using peptide library arrays map the sites of interaction between the methionine-rich region in Hsp21 and at least two different regions in the model substrate protein citrate synthase (CS), probably reflecting a differential chaperone-like activity of Hsp21. One of these regions belongs to a surface exposed alpha-helix in porcine CS. This alpha-helix is absent in CS from the thermophilic archaea Thermoplasma acidophilum and Pyrococcus furiosus.

The data presented in this thesis point to a role of the methionines in substrate binding, that pPMSR co-evolved with Hsp21, that methionines may be preferred over leucines due to structural flexibility and efficient subunit exchange and that methionine sulfoxidation may play a role in regulation.


This paper argues that the progress of post-Milošević Serbia has been seriously affected by the presence of and continuous debates about the politics of alternatives. Such a trend has been closely associated with the divisions that characterize the representatives of the political elite expected to deal with and resolve crucial questions that will determine Serbia's future, and, more relevantly, will be capable of slowing down the country's progress towards membership in the European Union (EU). Aware of the negative aspects of such an approach, the Serbian leadership, elected in mid-2012, has tried to minimize the problematic presence of the politics of alternatives and pay greater attention to new rounds of political dialogue, economic agreements and societal contacts, hoping that they will be able to bring the opposing members of the country's elite closer and more ready to work towards some common goals. Accordingly, the paper examines the positions concerning cooperation with the Hague tribunal, Kosovo's status, Serbia's EU integration and the intensification of ties with Russia.


In this paper, a conserved domain decomposition method for solving
convection-diffusion equations with variable coefficients is analyzed.
The interface fluxes over the sub-domains are firstly obtained by the
explicit fluxes scheme. Secondly, the interior solutions and fluxes over
each sub-domains are computed by the modified upwind implicit scheme.
Then, the interface fluxes are corrected by the obtained solutions. We
prove rigorously that our scheme is mass conservative, unconditionally
stable and of second-order convergence in spatial step. Numerical
examples test the theoretical analysis and efficiencies. Lastly, we
extend our scheme to the nonlinear convection-diffusion equations and
give the error estimate.


In these lectures I review the standard hot big-bang cosmology, emphasizing its successes, its shortcomings, and its major challenges-developing a detailed understanding of the formation of structure in the Universe and identifying the constituents of the ubiquitous dark matter. I then discuss the motivations for-and the fundamentals of-inflationary cosmology, particularly emphasizing the quantum origin of metric (density and gravity-wave) perturbations. Inflation addresses the shortcomings of the standard cosmology, specifies the nature of the dark matter, and provides the "initial data" for structure formation. I conclude by addressing the implications of inflation for structure formation and discussing the different versions of cold dark matter. The flood of data-from the Heavens and from Earth-should in the next decade test inflation and discriminate between the different cold dark matter models.


Summary

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different extenders on sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) spermatozoa motility and morphology. Six sperm extenders based on inactivator media, DI1 (here named SAN) and Non-Activating Medium (NAM) were tested with European sea bass spermatozoa. The best results were obtained with NAM medium (59.83 mm NaCl, 12.91 mm MgCl2, 1.47 mm KCl, 3.51 mm CaCl2, 20 mm NaHCO3, 0.44 mm glucose) plus 1 and 2% of BSA (NAM1 and NAM2, respectively). The motility of the spermatozoa incubated in those media was similar to the fresh sperm until 48 h (NAM1: 74.3 ± 5.4; NAM2: 78.8 ± 5.8%, and higher than undiluted sperm, 19.1 ± 7.8). We also checked the spermatozoa motility and morphology reactions with some of the best extenders, NAM2 and SAN, and combined them with different concentrations (2, 5, 10%) of three cryoprotectants: methanol, glycerol and dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO). Glycerol + SAN or NAM2 caused activation of spermatozoa motility, which was lost 5 min later. Methanol and DMSO plus NAM2 extenders resulted in a low activation level and high motility 5 min after incubation, identifying these combinations as good candidates to be used in the cryopreservation of the European sea bass spermatozoa.


IllumiRoom is a proof-of-concept system that surrounds a television with projected light, bringing video games, and film experiences out of the TV screen and into the real world. IllumiRoom uses 3D scanning and projected light to change the appearance of the room, induce apparent motion, extend the field of view, and enable entirely new gaming experiences. Our system is entirely self-calibrating and is designed to work in any room. We present a detailed exploration of the design space of possible projected visualizations and we demonstrate ways to trigger and drive these visualizations from gaming content. We also contribute specific feedback from two groups of target users (10 gamers and 15 game designers); providing insights for enhancing game and film experiences beyond the TV.


Development of breast nodules after birth was examined in 17 preterm infants; nodules developed regularly in girls but not boys. It is concluded that the pituitary-gonadal axis of preterm infants is active in the months after birth and that in preterm infants there is a definite phase of breast growth in early postnatal life.


The US is expanding public investment in the technology-based industries, including the life sciences, in a move driven by anger, fear, and hope. Anger at high drug prices is leading to downward pressures and eroding traditional private-sector funding for research and development, fear of China's technological and political ambitions is creating bipartisan support for intervention, and the successful development of COVID-19 vaccines has spurred hope for analogous publicly funded breakthroughs in other therapeutic domains. The instruments of industrial policy used by other nations include grants for scientific research, equity investments in start-ups, tax incentives for corporate research and development, credit guarantees for asset-intensive sectors, governmental procurement, and product pricing. In the face of ever-stronger competition, if the US is to retain its leading position in the life sciences, public policy must consider competition among nations as well as among firms. This article analyzes emerging innovation and industrial policy in the three principal sectors in the life sciences: research universities and laboratories; entrepreneurial startups and "scale-ups," and large pharmaceutical and medical device corporations.


Measles immunization is an attempt to provide immunity to infants and children by introducing vaccines into the body so that the body makes anti-substances to prevent measles. Measles immunization is important to give because the rate of transmission of measles infection is very high, which often causes outbreaks. Measles CFR in Indonesia is 3%. The measles immunization program indicator used is Universal Child Immunization (UCI), which is 100% measles immunization coverage.
This research is analytic with cross sectional design. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that influence the visit of children under five in giving measles immunization in Posyandu Pertibi Tembe Village, Karo District, 2019. The population is all mothers who have children under five in Posyandu Tembe Village, Tembe Village, Karo District. The sample is a portion of mothers who have 45 children under five. Data analysis is done by univariate, bivariate.
A proportion of those who did not have measles immunization found 28.9%. The highest proportion of mothers by age at umur 30 years is 75.6%, high school education 38.9%, housewives 38.9%, parity ≤ 2 68.9%, good knowledge 68.9%, good attitude 94, 4%, there is an effect (fever) 64.4% and a distance of 3-5 km 40%.
The results of the bivariate analysis found 4 variables that had a significant relationship with measles immunization, namely maternal age (p = 0.005; RP = 2.649), maternal education (p = 0.000; RP = 3.595), parity (p = 0.007; RP = 2.583) , mother's knowledge (p = 0,000; RP = 4,183).
It is expected that Posyandu Desa Pertibi Desa Kecamatan District will improve health services in its working area, especially in terms of promotion and prevention through counseling about the importance of immunization in order to increase community knowledge about immunization.


This paper is involved in reactive power optimization. The combining strategy of genetic algorithm and particle swarm algorithm is proposed for the optimization problem of reactive power in this paper. It is necessary that the initial individuals are feasible ones, and good individuals are chosen as the initial particles in the combining strategy. The numerical examples of IEEE-6 and IEEE-30 power systems for the combining strategy are performed for the reactive power optimization. The effectiveness of the combining strategy proposed in this paper has been demonstrated preliminarily from the examples.


Abstract Differently from what one could formerly imagine, that buffalo breeding activity would be solely directed to fill the so called cattle breeding gaps determined by inadequate environmental conditions for ordinary cattle breeding, it has been actually seen that in those areas where breeders could successfully organize industrial-agricultural chains, either on meat or milk and its related products production, there has been an expressive expansion .Buffalo breeding has shown to be an important alternative not only in farms of higher technological level as also , and mainly, on small farms where it has become a key factor for increasing the average income, besides keeping labor force in country areas. This article intends to point out and examine some aspects of buffalo breeding and its potentialities in Brazil.


This paper gives an overview of computer assisted molecule design using quantitative structure activity relationships (QSAR). In deriving a QSAR for a set of compounds, one should be aware of possible properties one can use to correlate with the activity of this set of compounds. The paper describes some of the traditional and also more recently used properties that can be calculated. The traditionally used properties have been those calculated for the substituent groups that were varied on a particular scaffold, whereas the more recently used properties are those calculated on the molecule as a whole. One of the most recently used properties for comparative purposes are fields around the molecules. The technique is termed comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA). The statistical techniques used to correlate the properties with the activity are also described and, finally, a case study is described. The case study shows the application of traditional and 3D QSAR (CoMFA) techniques on some photosystem II inhibitors.


The implementation of the two high-frequency build- ing blocks for a low-phase-noise 1.8-GHz frequency-synthesizing fLEH-} Loop Filter V.C.O. PLL in a standard 0.7-pm CMOS process is discussed. The VCO uses on-chip bondwires, instead of spiral inductors, for low noise and low power. The design of these bondwire inductors is discussed in great detail. A general formula for the theoretical limit of the phase noise of LC-tuned oscillators is presented. The design of a special LC-tank allows a trade-off between noise and power. The realized VCO has a phase noise of -115 dB& at 200 kHz from the 1.8-GHz carrier and consumes 8 mA from a 3-V supply. The prescaler has a fixed division ratio of 128 and uses an enhanced ECL-alike high-frequency D-flipflop. Its power consumption is 28 mW. Detector


Modelling future change to land use and land cover is done as part of many local and global scenario environmental assessments. Nevertheless, there are still considerable challenges related to simulating land‐use responses to climate change. Mostly, climate change is considered by changing the temperature and precipitation, affecting the spatial distribution and productivity of future land use and land cover as result of differential changes in growing conditions. Other climate change effects, such as changes in the water resources needed to support future cropland expansion and intensification, are often neglected. In this study, we demonstrate how including different types of responses to climate change influences the simulation of future changes to land use and land cover, and land management. We study the influence of including different climate change effects in land system modeling step by step. The results show that land system models need to include numerous simultaneous climate change effects, particularly when looking at adaptation options such as implementing irrigation. Otherwise, there is a risk of biased impact estimates leading either to under‐ or overestimation of the consequences of land use change, including land degradation. Spatial land system models therefore need to be developed accounting for a multitude of climate change impacts, uncertainties related to climate data, and an assessment of the sensitivity of the outcomes toward the decisions of modellers on representing climate change impacts.


BACKGROUND :
Preoperative chemoradiotherapy, as compared with postoperative
chemoradiotherapy, improved local control & was associated with
reduced toxicity although it didn't improve survival1. Thus preoperative
chemoradiotherapy can be considered standard of care for locally
advanced rectal cancer. Laparoscopic assisted surgery for colon cancer is
as effective as open surgery in the short term & is likely to produce
similar long-term outcomes2. However, impaired short-terms outcomes
after laparoscopic assisted anterior resection for cancer of rectum do not
yet justify its routine use. Furthermore, there is very limited data
available on role of laparoscopy surgery for rectal cancer following
neoadjuvant chemoradiation.
AIMS :
1. To compare laparoscopic & open surgery for rectal cancer after
neoadjuvant chemoradiation in terms of acute morbidity.
2. To assess oncological efficacy in terms of nodal yield and
circumferential resection margin.
MATERIAL AND METHODS :
This study is a retrospective study, over a period of 6 years from
January 2003 to april 2009 which included 251 patients. 192 patient
underwent open surgery (Group I )as compared to 59 in laparoscopic
surgery group( Group II). Neoadjuvant treatment was given to 131
patients in group I Vs 52 in group II which represents the study
population. Neoadjuvant concurrent treatment was given in the form of 2
cycles of chemotherapy consisted of 5 Fu (325 mg/m2) & Mitomycin (6
mg /m2) & 50 Gy of radiation therapy (1.8 to 2 Gy /day x 5 days).
Surgery was performed about 6-8 weeks after neoadjuvant treatment.
Preclinical staging was performed by a combination of history, physical
examination, imaging by contrast enhanced CT scan of abdomen/pelvis.
TNM classification (UICC) was used to classify tumors. Data were
collected retrospectively for age, gender, pretreatment staging, duration
of surgery, intraoperative blood loss, conversion to open surgery &
postoperative data including morbidity, mortality & histopathology
report. Exclusion criteria for laparoscopic surgery were significant
comorbid illnesses (i.e. diabetes, hypertension & ischemic heart disease),
history of previous pelvic surgery, & adherence to other structures on
imaging.
CONCLUSION :
Present study suggests that laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer
can be performed after neoadjuvant chemoradiation with equal morbidity
and oncological safety with significantly less blood loss. This needs
confirmation by prospective randomized trials.


The response of allanite-(Ce) in the Eocene Casto granite of Idaho to hydrothermal activity has been investigated. Unaltered, igneous allanite from the Casto pluton is characterized by a narrow range of compositional variation, with little or no zoning. A representative empirical formula, based on the composition of the least-altered grain, is: ( REE 0.83Ca1.07Th0.04Mn2+0.06) (Ti4+0.11Mg2+0.04Fe2+0.99Fe3+0.48Al1.38) (Si3.00O12) (OH0.95F0.05), where REE represents (La0.14Ce0.41Pr0.05Nd0.17Sm0.03Y0.03). The small amount of observed compositional variation is consistent with the coupled substitutions Ca2+ + Th4+ ↔ 2 REE 3+ and REE 3+ + Fe2+ + Mg2+ ↔ Ca2+ + Al3+ + Fe3+. Slightly altered crystals exhibit a rim in which Th is enriched, and La and Ce are depleted. Increasing alteration lead to extensive corrosion and replacement of allanite by fluorite, a REE -, Th- and P-rich phase (probably monazite), and a Th-rich phase (probably thorianite). In spite of attack by fluoride-rich hydrothermal solutions, the REE and Th originally in allanite were not transported significant distances, but were redeposited locally as secondary phases. The lack of significant REE and Th transport is due to the availability of phosphorus, which allowed the REE to be fixed in a secondary phosphate phase, and the removal of fluoride as fluorite. This work has implications for the behavior of radioactive waste in deeply buried geological repositories upon interaction with heated groundwaters.


The ability to predict how different individuals will respond to vaccination and to understand what best protects individuals from infection greatly facilitates developing next-generation vaccines. It facilitates both the rapid design and evaluation of new and emerging vaccines and identifies individuals unlikely to be protected by vaccine. We describe a general-purpose machine-learning framework, DAMIP, for discovering gene signatures that can predict vaccine immunity and efficacy. DAMIP is a multiple-group, concurrent classifier that offers unique features not present in other models: a nonlinear data transformation to manage the curse of dimensionality and noise; a reserved-judgment region that handles fuzzy entities; and constraints on the allowed percentage of misclassifications.Using DAMIP, implemented results for yellow fever demonstrated that, for the first time, a vaccine's ability to immunize a patient could be successfully predicted (with accuracy of greater than 90 percent) within one week after vaccination. A gene identified by DAMIP, EIF2AK4, decrypted a seven-decade-old mystery of vaccination. Results for flu vaccine demonstrated DAMIP's applicability to both live-attenuated and inactivated vaccines. Results in a malaria study enabled targeted delivery to individual patients.Our project's methods and findings permit highlighting and probabilistically prioritizing hypothesis design to enhance biological discovery. Moreover, they guide the rapid development of better vaccines to fight emerging infections, and improve monitoring for poor responses in the elderly, infants, or others with weakened immune systems. In addition, the project's work should help with universal flu-vaccine design.


Background Clinical follow-up studies comparing left ventricular (LV) function and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) by high-field 3T cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) are of general interest due to the increased use of 3T scanners. In this study, the occurrence of LGE and LV regional wall remodeling (RWR) was assessed by 3T CMR in patients undergoing coronary angiography for suspected stable coronary artery disease (CAD). Materials and Methods Analysis of myocardial viability by LGE was performed at the segmental level. LVRWR was identified by a significant reduction (≥50%) of the wall thickness. Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) were registered during a median follow-up time of 58 (45-62) months. Results Of the 87 patients (59 ± 9 years; 13 women) enrolled, nonviable myocardium was detected in 35 (40%) and significant CAD in 69 (79%). Nonviable myocardium was correlated to angiographic significant stenosis or occlusion. LVRWR was significantly related to a higher number of nonviable segments compared to those without LVRWR: ie, 6.0 ± 3.2 segments versus 2.6 ± 1.3; P < 0.001. In the nonviable group, LVEF was significantly reduced (P < 0.001) compared to the viable group: ie, 50 ± 16% versus 61 ± 8%, and LVEF was significantly correlated to the number of nonviable segments (r = −0.66, P < 0.001). The number of nonviable segments by LGE was significantly associated with MACE by an odds ratio of 1.25 (95% CI, 1.05-1.49; P = 0.013). Conclusion The presence of nonviable myocardium as detected by LGE at 3T CMR is associated with angiographically significant CAD, and is associated with the development of LVRWR and reduced LVEF. Assessing the extent of nonviable myocardium by both LGE and LVRWR at the segmental level may therefore contribute to individualized risk stratification and treatment strategies.


Total and unbound testosterone and Delta(4)-androstenedione have been determined in 104 cord blood samples. The same sexual steroids and pituitary gonadotropins have been measured in 46 normal male infants aged 27-348 days and 34 normal female infants aged 19-332 days. In cord blood of female neonates mean total and unbound testosterone was 29.6+/-7.5 and 0.89+/-0.4 ng/100 ml, respectively (mean+/-1 SD); Delta(4)-androstenedione was 93+/-38 ng/100 ml. In male neonates mean plasma total and unbound testosterone was 38.9+/-10.8 and 1.12+/-0.4 ng/100 ml; Delta(4)-androstenedione was 85+/-27 ng/100 ml. In female infants testosterone concentrations remained constant during the 1st yr of life with a mean concentration of 7+/-3 ng/100 ml. Mean unbound testosterone and Delta(4)-androstenedione concentrations were 0.05+/-0.03 and 16.7+/-8.3 ng/100 ml, respectively. Mean plasma levels of follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone were 8.7+/-3.3 and 12.9+/-7.7 mU/ml. In male infants mean plasma total testosterone concentration increased to 208+/-68 ng/100 ml from birth to 1-3 mo of age, decreasing thereafter to 95+/-53 ng/100 ml at 3-5 mo, 23.2+/-18 ng/100 ml at 5-7 mo, and reached prepubertal levels (6.6+/-4.6 ng/100 ml) at 7-12 mo. Mean unbound testosterone concentration plateaued from birth to 1-3 mo of age (1.3+/-0.2 ng/100 ml) decreasing to prepubertal values very rapidly. Mean Delta(4)-androstenedione concentration, although progressively decreasing during the 1st yr of life to 11.7+/-4.5 ng/100 ml, was higher than in the female at 1-3 mo of life (34+/-11 ng/100 ml). Mean plasma level of follicle-stimulating hormone was 6.7+/-2.9 mU/ml, and that of luteinizing hormone was 19.7+/-13.5 mU/ml, significantly higher than in the female. There was no correlation between gonadotropin and age or testosterone. The present data demonstrate that the testes are active during the first natal period. It is tempting to correlate this phenomenon to a progressive maturation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis. It is possible that the surge in testosterone occurring the first 3 mo could play a role in the future life pattern of the male human being.


This essay considers how the traditional concept of career retains its power in an age of contingency, short-termism and gig work. To answer this question, it introduces and explicates the concept of the 'career imagination'. This concept has three key dimensions: perceptions of enablement and constraint, time and identity. Situated in the nexus of structure and agency, it is through our career imagination that we envisage and evaluate the progress of our working lives. Encapsulating continuity and change, our career imagination helps us to understand the enduring legitimacy of the traditional career as a yardstick by which to measure success, and the emergence of new possibilities.


As the result of quickly increased requirement in many industrial products resulting from microtechnology, laser thermal micro-forming and micro surface treatment (microscale laser shock peening (μLSP)) have been well studied. By combining the beneficial effects of these two processes with a controlled bending deformation, microscale laser peen forming (μLPF) attracts more attention recently since it not only improves the fatigue life of the material but also shapes micro scale metallic parts at the same time. In the present study, μLSP of single crystal aluminum was presented to study anisotropic material response. Local plastic deformation was characterized by lattice rotation measured through electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Residual stress distributions of both sides of a peened sample, characterized by x-ray micro-diffraction, were compared with the results obtained from FEM simulation. μLPF anisotropic behavior was investigated in three effective slip systems via both the anisotropic slip line theory and numerical method. Also, the work hardening effect resulted from self-hardening and latent hardening was analyzed through comparing the results with and without considering hardening.As the result of quickly increased requirement in many industrial products resulting from microtechnology, laser thermal micro-forming and micro surface treatment (microscale laser shock peening (μLSP)) have been well studied. By combining the beneficial effects of these two processes with a controlled bending deformation, microscale laser peen forming (μLPF) attracts more attention recently since it not only improves the fatigue life of the material but also shapes micro scale metallic parts at the same time. In the present study, μLSP of single crystal aluminum was presented to study anisotropic material response. Local plastic deformation was characterized by lattice rotation measured through electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Residual stress distributions of both sides of a peened sample, characterized by x-ray micro-diffraction, were compared with the results obtained from FEM simulation. μLPF anisotropic behavior was investigated in three effective slip systems via both the anisotropic slip li...


The intracellular glutathione levels of two human tumor lines and seven murine tumor lines were determined in order to investigate the role of oxidant injury in tumor cell sensitivity to human rTNF (rhTNF). Correlations were found between high intracellular glutathione levels and in vivo tumor resistance to rhTNF, and on the other hand, low glutathione levels and rhTNF sensitivity. The transplantable murine fibrosarcoma, Meth A, a TNF-sensitive line in vivo, was less sensitive to rhTNF and host toxicity was reduced when the hosts were pretreated with uric acid, a major reactive oxygen scavenger in humans and certain other primates. Conversely, pretreatment of the tumor-bearing hosts with DL-buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoximine, an inhibitor of GSH biosynthesis, resulted in an increased sensitivity of Meth A to rhTNF. This effect was not limited to tumor-bearing mice, as rats pretreated with diethyl maleate, a compound which irreversibly binds glutathione, were more sensitive to rhTNF toxicity than control rats. On the other hand, pretreatment with N-acetyl cysteine, an oxidant scavenger, reduced the toxicity of rhTNF treatment in rats. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that tumor cell sensitivity to rhTNF in vivo is dependent on its capacity to buffer oxidative attack. In addition, host toxicity is also related to the production of reactive oxygen species. Activated effector cells such as granulocytes and macrophages are hypothesized to produce most of this damage by their respiratory burst and oxidant release, although the direct action of rhTNF may also contribute to oxidative injury in vivo.


At Boston College, we teach a two-semester, first-year sequence in geology and geophysics for our majors. The course is divided into two parts, with the first semester focusing on geology and the second semester focusing on geophysics. Recently, we have also added some environmental topics in these courses, particularly in the first semester. In this paper, we describe laboratory exercises given in the second semester that are based on seismograms recorded on an AS-1 seismograph operating at Boston College. These lab exercises use topics in seismology to bring research experiences into a first-year undergraduate course and invite the students to think critically about what they learn in the course.

In our experiences with bringing seismographs into classrooms (at the high school, middle school, and undergraduate levels), we have found that what is often missing are exercises based on experiments that address real research questions. We have attempted to fill that gap with the lab exercises described in this paper. After a seismograph is successfully installed in a classroom, there is initial excitement over the fact that earthquakes from around the world are being recorded right in the classroom. At this point in the process, just the presence of an operating seismograph is, in itself, an enhancement to science education. At some point, however, this excitement fades, and the inevitable question arises, "OK, now that I have a seismograph in my classroom, what can I do with it (other than just watch it record earthquakes)?"

One major challenge is that of fitting a real research investigation into the curriculum. In high schools and middle schools, teachers usually have a set amount of time allocated to cover seismology, and then they are required to move on to other topics. In an undergraduate lab that meets for, say, two hours per week and …


Aligning large populations of colloidal nanorods (NRs) into ordered assemblies provides a strategy for engineering macroscopic functional materials with strong optical anisotropy. The bulk optical properties of such systems depend not only on the individual NR building blocks but also on their meso- and macroscale ordering, in addition to more complex interparticle coupling effects. Here, we investigate the dynamic alignment of colloidal CdSe/CdS NRs in the presence of AC electric fields by measuring concurrent changes in optical transmission. Our work identifies two distinct scales of interaction that give rise to the field-driven optical response: (1) the spontaneous mesoscale self-assembly of colloidal NRs into structures with increased optical anisotropy and (2) the macroscopic ordering of NR assemblies along the direction of the applied AC field. By modeling the alignment of NR ensembles using directional statistics, we experimentally quantify the maximum degree of order in terms of the average deviation angle relative to the field axis. Results show a consistent improvement in alignment as a function of NR concentration─with a minimum average deviation of 36.2°─indicating that mesoscale assembly helps facilitate field-driven alignment of colloidal NRs.


Eshed, et al., 1996. Less-than-additive epistatic interactions of quan titative trait loci in tomato. Genetics 143: 1807-1817. Kraft, et al., 2000. Linkage disequilibrium and fingerprinting in Sugar beet. Theor. App. Genet. 101:323-326. Willmot, et al., 1989. Genetic analysis of brown stem rot resistance in soybean. CropSci. 29:672-674. Poehlman, J.M. and Sleper, D.A., Methods in Plant Breeding. In Breeding Field Crops, 4" ed. (1995), Iowa State University Press, pp. 172-174. Narvel, et al., 2001. A Retrospective DNA Marker Assessment of the Development of Insect Resistant Soybean. CropSci. 41: 1931-1939. Goldman, et al., 1994. Molecular Markers Associated with Maize Kernel Oil Concentration in an Illinois High Protein x Illinois Low Protein Cross. CropSci. 34:908-915.


This article examines the popular logistic model of growth from three perspectives: its sensitivity to initial conditions; its relationship to analogous difference equation models; and the formulation of stochastic models with mean logistic growth. The results indicate that although the logistic model is appealing in terms of its simplicity, its appeal is questionable in terms of its realism.


Antisense RNA is an important field of antisense technique. In order to explore a novel approach for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and prove the availability of transgenic cellular model HepG2. 9706, an antisense RNA was designed targeting at the highly conserved 5'NCR and translation initiation site of HCV RNA at nt positions 13-397. It was inserted into the downstream of SV40 promotor sequence of pGL3 control vector in which luciferase gene is deleted. The antisense RNA expression vector (pHCV-asR) was constructed and identified by PCR, endonucleases reaction and DNA sequencing. Its expression in transfected HepG2 cells was tested by RT-PCR. To evaluate the inhibitory activities of pHCV-asR, HepG2. 9706 cells were transfected using this construct via Lipofectin method. Luciferase activity in cell lysates was measured for quantitative determining antiviral effects within the cells. The results showed that the inserted sequence of the pHCV-asR is the same as the designed sequence and can express in HepG2 cells. It was also found that pHCV-asR in HepG2. 9706 has a dose-dependent inhibitory effects on luciferase expression controlled by HCV 5'NCR with a inhibitory rate of 57%.


ABSTRACT In the current scenario of human transformation of natural landscapes, fragmentation and habitat loss is considered one of the major threats to biodiversity. The characteristics of altered landscapes and remaining habitat patches influence the persistence of species and, as a direct consequence, the functioning of ecological processes. The main focus of studies at landscape scale is to understand how human modifications in natural areas lead to changes in abundance and richness of species. However, such approaches do not directly describe the functional composition of communities, nor do they describe the functional responses to fragmentation and habitat loss. Birds are an interesting taxonomic group to explore this theme, since they present important, broadly-described ecological functions for human modified habitats (e.g., seed dispersal, pollination, and insect pest control). Thus, we aimed to explore the functional responses of birds to landscape characteristics. We selected 14 human modified landscapes of Atlantic forest, found within a radius of 30 km of Alfenas, Brazil. Each landscape was characterized by metrics describing landscape configuration and composition, such as forest percentage and mean connectivity. Birds were sampled in the central patches of the landscapes and classified into 15 functional groups, based on species' traits. We constructed Generalized Linear Models (GLM) and used Akaike's information criterion (AIC) to identify the best models that explained the abundance and richness of species in each functional group. Few groups had high functional redundancy, showing the fragility of the majority of functional groups in the current modified landscapes. Forest dependent functional groups were favored by connected landscapes, higher percentage of forest cover, and high percentages of coffee matrix. On the other hand, forest independent groups were favored by irregular habitat areas and negatively impacted by forest cover and sugar cane matrices. Consistent management of altered landscapes, based on functional responses, can assist the recovery and maintenance of natural areas. We highlight the complexity involved in landscape management, considering it requires simultaneous work on composition and configuration.


Individuals of the same population differ consistently from each other in the average expression of behavioral and physiological traits. Often, such traits are integrated and thus correlated with each other. However, the underlying proximate mechanisms generating and maintaining this among-individual covariation are still poorly understood. The melanocortin hypothesis suggests that the melanocortin pathways can have pleiotropic effects linking the expression of melanin-based coloration with physiological and behavioral traits. In the present study, we test this hypothesis in adult male guppies (Poecilia reticulata), by estimating among individual correlations between behaviors (activity, feeding, boldness, display, and chase during courtship), stress response (peak metabolic rate), and coloration (black spot, fuzzy black, and orange). The lack of correlation of any behavior or metabolism with black coloration indicates that the melanocortin hypothesis is not supported in this species. However, we observed covariation among coloration traits, as well as among behavioral traits. Our findings suggest that, although there appear to be constraints within sets of related traits, coloration, physiology, and behaviors can potentially evolve as independent modules in response to selection in this species.


The review is devoted to the main practical applications of metallocenes (dicyclopentadienylmetal complexes); the main practical applications of ferrocene and its derivatives are dealt with most widely. The practical utilisation of other cyclopentadienylmetal complexes is only beginning and the number of studies in this field is small. Investigations published in 1977 are considered. The bibliography includes 162 references.


In the last decade, media coverage of "dominionism" and "dominion theology" and their supposed influence on conservative politicians has become increasingly visible in the US news press. Popular exposés using "dominionism" to frame the religio-political convictions of everyone from President George W. Bush to Congresswoman Michele Bachmann have proliferated even as journalists, pundits, and preachers have struggled to define the concept of dominion. This essay offers a critical history of dominion discourse as it has evolved over the last three decades in the evangelical and secular presses in the United States. It situates the emergence of dominion discourse within evangelical efforts to define the proper limits of their political activism during the 1980s and the progressive backlash against the Christian Right in the 1990s. Through close readings of material produced in the evangelical and secular presses this essay argues that dominion discourse reflects certain normative but unexplored assumptions about the nature and meaning of the place of religion in the American public sphere.


The Lower Mississippian Big Injun sandstone, a major oil producer in the western half of West Virginia, consists of several sandstones that overstep each west. Examination of cores and thin sections has led to preliminary interpretations of depositional environments for the Big Injun. These include distributary-mouth bars with associated distal, bar crest and back bar environments in a marine-deltaic system; and channel, point bar and chute environments in a fluvial system. Overall, the Big Injun is a medium-grained sublitharenite in which initially high porosity has been modified by compaction and diagenesis. Chlorite grain coatings helped to preserve original porosity, whereas illite promoted pressure solution during compaction, resulting in a loss of porosity. Diagenetic effects within specific environments are being evaluated to determine if environmental interpretations can be used to predict porosity preservation. Core plugs taken from cores in Granny Creek field were analyzed for porosity and horizontal and vertical permeability. Directional permeability was negligible, but permeability does correlate with depth. Changes in permeability with depth can be related to subdivisions of the Big Injun determined from density logs. Permeability also correlated with porosity, but porosity values derived from both cores and logs show no significant correlation trend at present. Amore » layered reservoir model is being developed to evaluate the effect of these vertical heterogeneities. Initial attempts to characterize the heterogeneity of the Big Injun reservoir in Granny Creek field used a number of direct and indirect methods.« less


Although the literature on industry-university alliances has begun to identify the factors that influence the performance of alliances, it gives relatively little concern on the behavioral characteristics of firms. This paper seeks to explore the behavioral characteristics that affect the performance of industry-university alliances. By taking a sample of 136 Chinese firms, the results indicated that several behavioral characteristics have significant impact on the performance of industry-university alliances. Resource investment and information sharing are found to have positive relationship with alliance performance, but no relationship was found between communication and alliance performance. It not only provided a theoretical model to analyze the behavioral characteristics that affect the performance of industry-university alliances, but was helpful both to improve management of alliances and to promote the success of alliances.

 Key words: Industry-university alliances, performance, behavior, communication.


Batrachuperus yenyuanensis, commonly known as Yenyuan Stream Salamander, is a hynobiid species inhabiting high-altitude (2440–4025 m above sea level) mountain stream and pond environments along the eastern fringe of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in western Sichuan Province, China. Although the species has been known for almost 70 years since its initial discovery in 1950, a thorough osteological description has never been provided. Our study provides a detailed account of the bony anatomy of this species, based on micro computed tomography scanning of multiple specimens collected from the type locality Shuangertang at Bailinshan, Yanyuan County, and several other localities in Sichuan Province. Our revised species diagnosis utilizes both bony and soft anatomical features. Comparative study of the specimens from the type locality in Yanyuan area with those from the nearby Xichang and Mianning areas confirms that they all pertain to Batrachuperus yenyuanensis, thereby removing doubt on the occurrence of the species in the latter areas. With this confirmation, the distribution of the species is extended from the type locality northwards some 180 km to the Mianning area, on both the west and east sides of the Yalong River, which is a major tributary of the upper Yangtze River. This distribution pattern indicates that the biogeographic origin and historical evolution of the species are closely associated with the orogeny of the Hengduan Mountains and formation of the Yalong River. Given the basalmost position of Batrachuperus yenyuanensis in relation to other congeneric species based on molecular studies, however, early expansion of the species distribution by dispersal is expected following the origin of the genus in early–middle Miocene in western Sichuan Province. Thus, the species may well have achieved its current distribution in western Sichuan before the drastic uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in Pliocene.


It was shown recently that the space isomorphic with an Gelfand Shilov space is well adapted for the use in quantum field theory with a fundamental length. It is our believe that all Gelfand Shilov spaces, especially those with quasianalytic test function spaces, are good domains for the quantum field theory. The theory requires technical results from the theory of generalized functions and not merely differential calculus and well defined Fourier transform, but also the kernel theorem and the structural theorem. In the paper we give the structural (regularity) theorem and kernel theorem for Gelfand-Shilov spaces, of Roumieu and Beurling type.


The review presents data on the frequency of detection of drug resistant (DR) tuberculosis mycobacteria (MTB) as well as on the change in DR patterns in Russia and abroad from the mid-50s of the 20th century till the present. Along with the well-known mechanisms for DR MTB development, it tells about new research describing mutations associated with drug resistance.


An interesting line of research in natural language processing (NLP) aims to incorporate linguistic typology to bridge linguistic diversity and assist the research of low-resource languages. While most works construct linguistic similarity measures based on lexical or typological features, such as word order and verbal inflection, recent work has introduced a novel approach to defining language similarity based on how they represent basic concepts, which is complementary to existing similarity measures. In this work, we study the conceptual similarity in detail and evaluate it extensively on a binary classification task.


In order to solve the problems of low automation and production efficiency in the process of replacing lining plate of large-scale mining mill, a self-propelled heavy-duty manipulator was developed by using virtual prototyping technology. Firstly, the overall scheme and key parts of the heavy manipulator are designed. Then, the kinematics mathematical model of the whole manipulator is established and the operation path and scope are planned. The results show that the heavy manipulator studied in this paper can efficiently complete the task of replacing the lining plate, and the workspace is a cuboid with a spherical surface around it.


Adsorption of O2, using either normal oxygen or 17O-enriched mixtures, on CeO2 outgassed at different temperatures has been studied by EPR and FTIR. Different signals, assigned to O2– species bonded to surface cerium ions, were observed depending on the vacuum treatment temperature Tv, a parameter that determines the type of defects generated at the CeO2 surface. Depending on their linewidths and lowest g values, the O2– signals observed in EPR spectra can be grouped into two types, related to species absorbed at isolated and aggregated oxygen vacancies, respectively. The EPR parameters indicate that the bonds of these species to the surface have different degrees of covalency, which might also influence their IR absorption coefficient. While the two oxygen atoms in the O2– species formed on isolated surface oxygen vacancies are EPR equivalent, they are non-equivalent in those formed on aggregated vacancies produced at the higher temperatures. The different EPR signal parameters and the variations in the intensities of the latter, observed with different Tv and thermal treatments of the samples after adsorption, indicate that EPR of adsorbed O2– and related species can be used as a probe to study the generation and properties of defects on CeO2 surfaces.


The temperature T measured with an optical pyrometer results from the solution of an integral equation that contains the spectral transmittance of the optical components τ(λ) and the relative spectral sensitivity of the detector V(λ). Their values as measured at a discrete set of wavelengths are τ (λi) ± Δ τ (λi), i = 1, 2, 3,..., N, and V(λk) ± Δ V(λk), k = 1, 2, 3,..., M. where Δτ(λi) and ΔV(λk) are the corresponding measurement uncertainties. A numerical procedure is presented to calculate the temperature for each measured value of the pyrometer's signal by solving numerically the above-mentioned integral equation, avoiding the introduction of unnecessary approximations. Assuming that the experimental errors at each wavelength are statistically independent, we have derived an equation to calculat ethe temperature uncertainty arising from the random uncertainty of the measured spectral data. As an aid in evaluating both the quality of the measured data and the uncertainties in the numerical procedure, flexible and realistic analytic expressions for τ(λ) and V(λ) have been constructed which lead to an exact algebraic solution of the integral equation.


Author's Abstract. Researchers find that the successful implementation of information systems that span organizational boundaries enhances competitive advantage. However, the process by which networks of design and construction firms implement boundary-spanning technological changes remains poorly understood. In this paper I explore the implementation of threedimensional computer-aided design tools in 26 design and construction organizations. I analyze empirical data collected over a 7-month period to induce a set of antecedent constructs that enable the evolution from "printed sets of plans" to "virtual model" boundary objects. The findings highlight the importance of addressing regulative, technological, work, and organizational issues at the interfaces between design and construction firms when implementing boundary-spanning technological changes.


This paper suggests an experimental approach to comparison. It is argued that comparing should be detached from the question of adequacy in order to regain it as an analytical and explorative tool. This approach is put to work by comparing boxing to computer programming. Drawing on comparisons of sports practices to other social practices by Mead and Bourdieu, the paper deploys sports comparison quite similarly. In a comparative perspective the practice of writing code for software is depicted by using means and modes of description developed from an ethnography of boxing. This serves for illuminating and understanding programming's gestural and embodied logic.


Imperative micturition occurs rather frequently. The data of different authors favour driptan (oxibutinin) in this condition. In the urological clinic of the Medical Institute oxibutinin hydrochloride was tried since 1991. A total of 354 patients were treated (328 females, 12 males and 14 adolescents). The indications to the treatment were the following: instability of the detrusor, urethra or both, isolated forms of pollakiuria, some forms of enuresis, irritation in benign prostatic hyperplasia, correction of detrusor instability in enuresis before operation. Oxibutinine hydrochloride produced positive results in various forms of imperative micturition with symptoms of urgent incontinence (urgent enuresis) or without them. The drug produced a response in many socially maladapted individuals considered incurable.


Global developments in dual citizenship legislation highlight changes to conceptualizations of citizenship by increasing the focus on individual rights. Questions of inclusion and exclusion have been illuminated by the move toward wider acceptance of dual citizenship. To understand global patterns and developments in dual citizenship laws this article analyzes the legislation pertaining to dual citizenship in 115 countries. The results show how dual citizenship is becoming increasingly accepted – a development that has predominantly taken place within the last 20 years. A strong regional pattern is identified, supporting the argument that dual citizenship is spreading in a fashion similar to how the idea of citizenship expanded from Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. Potential internal and external reasons for this development are discussed and individual countries' experiences analyzed.


A portable fluorescence detection system for use with microchip electrophoresis was developed and compared to a benchtop system. Using this system, six neuroactive amines commonly found in brain dialysate (arginine, citrulline, taurine, histamine, glutamate, and aspartate) were derivatized offline with naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde/cyanide, separated electrophoretically, and detected by fluorescence. The limits of detection for the analytes of interest were 50–250 nM for the benchtop system and 250 nM–1.3 μM for the portable system, both of which were adequate for most analyte detection in brain microdialysis samples. The portable system was then demonstrated for the detection of the same six amines in a rat brain microdialysis sample.


Maureen A. McGargill and Kristin A. Hogquisthttp://www.jimmunol.org/content/162/3/1237J Immunol€1999; 162:1237-1245; ;Referenceshttp://www.jimmunol.org/content/162/3/1237.full#ref-list-1This article cites 42 articles, 18 of which you can access for free at: Subscriptionshttp://jimmunol.org/subscriptionsInformation about subscribing to The Journal of Immunology is online at: Permissionshttp://www.aai.org/ji/copyright.htmlSubmit copyright permission requests at: Email Alertshttp://jimmunol.org/cgi/alerts/etocReceive free email-alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up at:


Pulsar timing is a promising technique for detecting low frequency sources of gravitational waves. Historically the focus has been on the detection of diffuse stochastic backgrounds, such as those formed from the superposition of weak signals from a population of binary black holes. More recently, attention has turned to members of the binary population that are nearer and brighter, which stand out from the crowd and can be individually resolved. Here we show that the timing data from an array of pulsars can be used to recover the physical parameters describing an individual black hole binary to good accuracy, even for moderately strong signals. A novel aspect of our analysis is that we include the distance to each pulsar as a search parameter, which allows us to utilize the full gravitational wave signal. This doubles the signal power, improves the sky location determination by an order of magnitude, and allows us to extract the mass and the distance to the black hole binary. Subject headings: gravitational waves, pulsars: general


At cosmic dawn, the 21 cm signal from intergalactic hydrogen was driven by Ly-α photons from some of the earliest stars, producing a spatial pattern that reflected the distribution of galaxies at that time. Due to the large foreground, it is thought that at around redshift 20 it is only observationally feasible to detect 21 cm fluctuations statistically, yielding a limited indirect probe of early galaxies. Here, we show that 21 cm images at cosmic dawn should actually be dominated by large (tens of comoving megaparsecs) high-contrast bubbles surrounding individual galaxies. We demonstrate this using a substantially upgraded seminumerical simulation code that realistically captures the formation and 21 cm effects of the small galaxies expected during this era. Small number statistics associated with the rarity of early galaxies, combined with the multiple scattering of photons in the blue wing of the Ly-α line, create the large bubbles, and also enhance the 21 cm power spectrum by a factor of 2–7 and add to it a feature that measures the typical brightness of galaxies. These various signatures of discrete early galaxies are potentially detectable with planned experiments, such as the Square Kilometer Array and the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array, even if the early stars prove to be formed in dark matter halos with masses as low as 108 M ⊙, 10,000 times smaller than the Milky Way halo.


The meanings and experience of everyday music listening for women living with chronic physical illness were investigated. Multiple, in-depth interviews with six women, living with a diagnosed illness and identifying music listening as important in their life, provided a primary source of data. Analysis included a guided existential reflection and engagement in phenomenological writing. A key finding was the suggestion that to listen to music was to be in the company of a long-time companion who ultimately aided in coping with the unanticipated arrival of chronic illness. Further findings identified music listening as strongly embodied, 'timeless', 'time-full', 'timetabled', 'time-encored', and spatially freeing and comforting, which had positive experiential meanings in terms of living with chronic illness. These findings reveal something new about the phenomenon of listening to music in a particular context and invite further phenomenological inquiry, as well as investigation of music listening as a social process and the body's role in identifying the 'right' music.


How can public-sector regimes, agencies, programs, and activities be organized and managed to achieve public purposes? This general question is the concern of officials in all branches and at all levels of the public sector: legislators, elected and appointed executives, and judges at federal, state, and local levels of government. Underlying it is an even broader question: how can government continually improve performance so as to earn the respect of citizens who pay for and whose lives are affected by its program and regulatory activities? The fact that this question is of fundamental importance in politics, policy implementation, public administration, and public management motivates the systematic study of governance, that is, research whose objective is determining how, why, and with what consequences public-sector activity is structured and managed.


We demonstrated a 40-channel dense-wavelength-division-multiplexed (DWDM) monolithically integrated receiver on silicon, which consists of a silicon nitride (Si3N4)arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) demultiplexer with integrated germanium-on-silicon waveguide photodetectors. Net responsivities from a cleaved standard single-mode fiber to detectors of 0.15 ~ 0.22 A/W are measured, with flattened passbands with 1-dB bandwidth over 60% of the 200-GHz channel spacing. Single-channel operation up to 40 Gb/s is demonstrated with a SiGe transimpedance amplifier.


The article examines the possibilities of a noblewoman's influence on strengthening the positions and promoting the interests of her own and her family in the Early Tudor aristocratic society, based on the letters of Lady Honor Lisle. It is revealed that letters, personal contacts, patronage, exchange of information and gifts were widely practiced by Lady Lisle. The limits of this woman's power were also outlined by various requests addressed to her, the fulfillment of which was within the competence of her husband. The author concludes that Lady Honor Lisle, in accordance with the ideas of that time, was perceived primarily as the wife of Viscount Lisle and an instrument of influence over her high-born spouse.


This paper presents a dual-axes confocal fluorescence imaging system based on a two-dimensional (2-D) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) scanner. The gimbaled scanner is fabricated on a double silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer and is actuated by self-aligned, vertical, electrostatic comb actuators. The device is aluminum coated by blanket evaporation to increase efficiency. Fluorescence imaging is successfully demonstrated by a table-top microscope system. Images with a field of view (FOV) of 211 mumtimes210 mum are acquired at 8 frames per second. The transverse resolution is 5.63 mum and 6.92 mum for the vertical and horizontal dimensions, respectively


Objective: Femoral neck fractures that are associated with femoral shaft fractures have historically been associated with high rates of missed diagnosis. Despite the potentially serious consequences of a missed femoral neck fracture, little work has been conducted to rigorously evaluate the ability of commonly used imaging studies to detect such fractures. Our hypothesis was that axial-view computed tomography is superior to plain radiography at detecting femoral neck fractures. Design: Blinded assessment of a randomized image set that included axial-view computed tomographic scans of the pelvis, anteroposterior-view radiographs of the pelvis, and anteroposterior-view radiographs of the femur. Setting: Academic trauma center. Patients: Twenty-eight patients who had femoral shaft fractures with femoral neck fractures and 60 patients who had femoral shaft fractures without femoral neck fractures. Intervention: Images that were stripped of demographic data were independently viewed in random order on computer workstations by 5 trauma fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeons who were blinded to treatment and diagnosis. Main Outcome Measurements: Sensitivity, specificity, positive post-test probability, and 1 minus negative post-test probability were calculated for diagnosing femoral neck fracture based on each image type. Results: Interobserver reliability showed "substantial agreement" (kappa > 0.65) for all imaging modalities, indicating that the surgeons had a high level of agreement. All 3 imaging sets had high specificity (>94%) and 1 minus negative post-test probability (>95%) but had poor sensitivity (<65%) and positive post-test probability (<58%). False positives and false negatives were equally likely for all imaging modalities (P > 0.2). Conclusions: Plain radiography and computed tomography have rates of missed femoral neck fractures that are similar and substantial, with a sensitivity of only 56%–64%. Our data emphasize the importance of intraoperative and postoperative imaging in detecting nondisplaced femoral neck fractures in association with femoral shaft fractures.


Lots of study on bubbles scattering has shown that bubbles have much higher target strength than solid targets in low frequency condition. Based on this fact we can use gas-filled objects to simulate bubbles, achieving high target strength in low frequency condition. But with the existence of surface material, the scattering characteristics of gas-filled objects can be different with bubbles. In this paper, we analyze the scattering strength of gas-filled objects with different surface material and compare the results. The surface material is assumed to be rubber so that its acoustic characteristic is similar to fluid. The simulation shows that surface material can substantially affect the resonant frequency and decrease the target strength.


This research is intended to improve the performance of ZnO/n-Si solar cells. The structures were fabricated using thermal evaporation techniques. The indium dopant at suitable heat treatment is used to enhance the electrical characteristics of ZnO layer resulting in reducing atmospheric condition to change the stiochiometry of ZnO layer. The electric properties of the fabricated samples are dependent on many parameters such as annealing temperature, ZnO layer thickness, Indium layer thickness and temperature. The indium layer were deposited at different thickness (10-30) nm during the fabrication of the ZnO/n-Si solar cells. The resultant samples has been studied and the results obtained show an improvement in the efficiency of 0.4% compared with the standard ZnO/n-Si solar cell. Keyword: ZnO/n-Si, Indium, Thermal Evaporation.


This paper's foundation is the global character of (harmful) tax competition. While this phenomenon's global existence is widely recognised alongside the global endeavours to fight against it, the situation in Rwanda seems not to be the same. That makes up the main purpose of this paper which aims to show how (harmful) tax competition constitutes a glob‐ al issue, but with little attention under Rwandan law. In that regard, this paper calls the at‐ tention of Rwandan policymakers, academics, and researchers to dive deep in the matters of tax competition for the sake of making Rwanda stand on the safe side. This paper plays a role of a wake-up bell to step in other legal systems' concerns in the regulation of (harmful) tax competition.


This paper is one of the few studies to review the empirical literature on strategic management tools and techniques usage. There are many techniques, tools and methods, models, frameworks, approaches and methodologies, available to support strategic managers in decision making. They are developed and designed to support managers in all stages of strategic management process to achieve better performance. Management schools provide knowledge of these tools. But their use in organizations should be seen in practice‑based context. Consequently, some questions arise: Do they use these strategic tools and techniques in their workplace? Which strategic tools and techniques are used more in organizations? To answer these questions we have made a review of empirical studies using textual narrative synthesis method. Initially, this study presents a tabulation with a summary of empirical research for the period 1990–2015. The included studies are organized clustering them by enterprise size and sector and by country level development. A synopsis of the ten most used strategic tools and techniques worldwide resulted as follows: SWOT analysis, benchmarking, PEST analysis, "what if" analysis, vision and mission statements, Porter's five forces analysis, business financial analysis, key success factors analysis, cost‑benefit analysis and customer satisfaction.


Synthesis of silver nanowires (Ag NWs) has been studied for decades. However, Ag NWs with diameters below 20 nm synthesised by simple and robust approaches are still rarely reported. In this work, Ag NWs with an average diameter of ∼15 nm and an aspect ratio of over 1000 have been prepared by using a Grignard reagent 5-chloro-2-thienylmagnesium bromide as an assistant additive. In particular, the presence of 5-chloro-2-thienylmagnesium bromide is proven to be beneficial for the in situ formation of smaller AgBr and AgCl particles step by step in comparison with traditional inorganic halide ions, and then promote the final growth of ultrafine Ag NWs.


Abstract Objectives: The aims of the study were to assess hearing-aid uptake in patients with otosclerosis 28–30 years after stapedectomy and to evaluate hearing-aid benefit to users. Design: A retrospective study was performed; it included a review of medical records and follow-up 28–30 years after surgery, including audiometry, clinical examination, structured interview, and a validated questionnaire, IOI-HA. Study sample: Sixty-five patients, who had undergone stapedectomy at a tertiary referral center in 1977-79. Results: In 95% of the subjects there was a theoretical need for hearing-aid amplification at follow-up; 46% of the subjects had no hearing aids, while 26% had unilateral and 28% bilateral hearing aids. Hearing sensitivity in the best ear predicted hearing-aid uptake. Of the subjects with a hearing aid, 94% were everyday users and 54% were full-time users (> 8 hours/day). The subjects reported a high level of satisfaction (mean 4.5) and benefit (mean 4.2), but also residual activity limitations (mean 3.1). Conclusions: The study shows that there is an unmet need for long-term hearing rehabilitation among patients previously undergoing surgery for otosclerosis. The patients who were using hearing aids were generally very satisfied with their hearing aids, but they still reported residual activity limitations.


Using the Burke, Hsiang, and Miguel (2015) framework, we examine the nonlinear response effect of economic growth to historic temperature and precipitation fluctuations. We confirm that aside from the significant effect of rising temperature on agricultural production, industrial production and investment endeavors also serve as other potential channels through which temperature significantly affects overall economic productivity. We find the overall economic productivity of developing Asia to be at least 10% lower by 2100 relative to business as usual. We also empirically analyze policy measures and factors that could help countries mitigate consumption volatility driven by climate change-related events. Consistent with several microlevel findings, financial inclusiveness helps households mitigate consumption volatility amid temperature change. Likewise, government plays a critical role in moderating the negative impact of rising temperature in both output and consumption.


Recently, rudder erosion due to cavitation has been frequently reported on a semi-spade rudder of a high-speed large ship. This problem raises economic and safety issues when operating ships. The semi-spade rudders have a gap between the horn/pintle and the movable wing part. Due to this gap, a discontinuous surface, cavitation phenomenon arises and results in unresolved problems such as rudder erosion. In this study, we made a rudder model for 2-D experiments using the NACA0020 and also manufactured gap flow blocking devices to insert to the gap of the model. In order to study the gap flow characteristics at various rudder deflection angles(, , ) and the effect of the gap flow blocking devices, we carried out the velocity measurements using PIV(Particle Image Velocimetry) techniques and cavitation observation using high speed camera in Seoul National University cavitation tunnel. To observe the gap cavitation on a semi-spade rudder, we slowly lowered the inside pressure of the cavitation tunnel until cavitation occurred near the gap and then captured it using high-speed camera with the frame rate of 4300 fps(frame per second). During this procedure, cavitation numbers and the generated location were recorded, and these experimental data were compared with CFD results calculated by commercial code, Fluent. When we use gap flow blocking device to block the gap, it showed a different flow character compared with previous observation without the device. With the device blocking the gap, the flow velocity increases on the suction side, while it decreases on the pressure side. Therefore, we can conclude that the gap flow blocking device results in a high lift-force effect. And we can also observe that the cavitation inception is delayed.


Study objectives: The aim of this study was to clarify the usefulness of COPD screening by using a community-based lung cancer screening program. Methods: In Japan, community-based lung cancer screening by chest X-ray has been established. Japanese residents who are 40 years old or higher can freely receive chest X-ray every year. We utilized this screening system in Chiba City in order to detect COPD. From April 2010 to March 2011, 83,924 participants received regular lung cancer screening by chest X-ray at the first examination centers, which was approximately 30% of objective residents. We set the criteria of suspicious of COPD indicating 60 years or older, positive smoking history and having any chronic respiratory symptoms. 1,170 (1.3%) were recognized as suspicious of COPD and 551 of them (56.2%) received further examination including pulmonary function test (PFT) and/or chest computed tomography (CT) as the second close examination at 39 second examination centers. Results: 138 participants (25.0%) were reported as COPD from the second examination centers and 42.2% of them were necessary for COPD treatment. Only eight participants (5.8%) were already diagnosed COPD before screening. PFT data could be collected from 173 participants, and 43 (24.9%) were diagnosed as COPD (FEV1 less than 70%). Emphysema grades according to Goddard classification on CT revealed that 21.1% was radiological emphysema. One patient with normal chest X-ray was detected lung cancer by CT and could receive curative surgery. Conclusion: COPD screening by using a community-based lung cancer screening program may be effective for detection of COPD. These patients can be treated COPD as early as possible.


The characteristic brilliant vocal sound found in musicalgenres as diverse as musical theater, R & B, gospel, salsa,country, pop and opera, will appear named in literatureaccording to the method or vocal school studied. The aimof this article is to clarify the significance of this soundbetween two methods of modern singing, Estill VoiceTraining, exposed by Jo Estill and the Complete VocalTecnique, exposed by Cathrine Sadolin. Twang in theEstill Voice is referenced as a vocal tract configurationthat has as main components a narrow epilaryngealtube, the larynx in a high position, the soft palate ina high position and a light register, in the CompleteVocal Tecnique (CVT) this term it is used to describe thenarrowing of the epilaryngeal tube. Is Twang a vocaltract configuration? Or is it just the modification of thewidth of the epilaryngeal tube?


The author reviews the WHO-EURO report Exploring Health Policy Development in Europe, critically analyzing its content and showing the technocratic nature of the report's discourse, which lacks any grasp or understanding of the political context in which health policies are developed and reproduced in the European region. In a supposedly apolitical way, the report attributes changes in health policy primarily to economic, technological, and demographic events, without referring to the enormously important political events in Europe that mediate these health policy changes. Also, the uncritical nature of the report—which simply reproduces the "conventional wisdom" in the policy circles of most international health agencies and reflects the fact that most of its contributors are employees of their national governments—gives it a public relations tone that limits its usefulness and relevance for most health and social policy analysts.


In set-system auctions, there are several overlapping teams of agents, and a task that can be completed by any of these teams. The auctioneer's goal is to hire a team and pay as little as possible. Examples of this setting include shortest-path auctions and vertex-cover auctions. Recently, Karlin, Kempe and Tamir introduced a new definition of frugality ratio for this problem. Informally, the "frugality ratio" is the ratio of the total payment of a mechanism to a desired payment bound. The ratio captures the extent to which the mechanism overpays, relative to perceived fair cost in a truthful auction. In this paper, we propose a new truthful polynomial-time auction for the vertex cover problem and bound its frugality ratio. We show that the solution quality is with a constant factor of optimal and the frugality ratio is within a constant factor of the best possible worst-case bound; this is the first auction for this problem to have these properties. Moreover, we show how to transform any truthful auction into a frugal one while preserving the approximation ratio. Also, we consider two natural modifications of the definition of Karlin et al., and we analyse the properties of the resulting payment bounds, such as monotonicity, computational hardness, and robustness with respect to the draw-resolution rule. We study the relationships between the different payment bounds, both for general set systems and for specific set-system auctions, such as path auctions and vertex-cover auctions. We use these new definitions in the proof of our main result for vertex-cover auctions via a boot-strapping technique, which may be of independent interest.


Of the approximately 18,000 new cases of cancer in Venezuela each year, only half can be treated with surgery and radiation. The remainder must be treated systematically using chemotherapy or biological response modifiers. It has become evident that any drug resistant human tumors express the MDR1 gene, since MDR1 RNA levels are elevated in many cancers that do not respond to chemotherapy. Human mammary carcinomas have multiple oncogene alterations, the most frequently reported being overexpression of the oncogenes c-myc, int-2, neu and c-myb. Thirteen specimens of mammary cancer were obtained by biopsy of untreated patients in stage IIIB. All these patients received three cycles of FAC or CMF-L+GM-CSF after biopsy. In the slot blot analysis of RNA from invasive carcinomas, MDR1 and c-myc transcripts were detectable at a high level in 30% of tumors. Two patients with increased levels of MDR1 before chemotherapy did not respond to the treatment and distant metastasis and death occurred in these patients. Another patient, MDR1-negative before therapy, did not respond to CMF-1 + GM-CSF and showed high levels of MDR1 transcripts in a second biopsy which was obtained during surgery.