The optimum extraction conditions for the highest recovery of total phenolics and carotenoids contents for leaves of Passiflora edulis were developed using response surface methodology. The effects of solvent concentration (30-100%), extraction temperature (30-60°C) and extraction time (30-90 min) on the recovery of total phenolics and carotenoids were investigated. A second order polynomial model produced a satisfactory fitting of the experimental data with regard to total phenolics (R = 84.75%, p < 0.004) and carotenoid (R = 78.74, p < 0.019) contents. The optimum extraction conditions of ethanol concentration, extraction temperature and extraction time for phenolics, were 6.1%, 70.2°C, and 110.5 min and for carotenoids, the optimum parameters were Original Research Article Gunathilake et al.; AJB2T, 1(1): 1-12, 2017; Article no.AJB2T.33480 2 100%, 70.2°C and 110.5 min, respectively. The optimal predicted contents for total phenolics (9.03 mg Gallic Acid Equivalent (GAE)/ g DW) and carotenoids (8.74 mg/g DW) values in the extracts were agreed with the experimental values obtained with optimum extraction conditions for each response.


ABSTRACT Ma, X.; Zhao, K.C.; Li, Y.X., and Zhu, H.Y., 2019. Infrastructure and sustainable development in coastal areas in China. Selected Topics in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 94, pp. 67–72. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. In order to study the influence of infrastructure investment to economy in the interior of China and the coastal areas, this paper uses qualitative analysis and empirical analysis to demonstrate the both the relationship between infrastructure investment and regional economic development in China and the divergence between coastal and inland areas. Compared with other regions, China's coastal zone economy is highly extroverted and open. Coastal zone plays an important role in national sustainable economic development strategy. Based on qualitative analysis, this paper firstly establishes a cooperative game model to qualitatively and horizontally analyze the differences and complementarities between central and local governments in regional infrastructure investment. Empirical analysis is adopted to discuss various kinds of infrastructure construction investment at the national level. In the conclusion, preliminary policy recommendations are put forward.


ABSTRACT The central nervous system utilizes tendon compliance of the intrinsic foot muscles to aid the foot's arch spring, storing and returning energy in its tendinous tissues. Recently, the intrinsic foot muscles have been shown to adapt their energetic contributions during a variety of locomotor tasks to fulfil centre of mass work demands. However, the mechanism by which the small intrinsic foot muscles are able to make versatile energetic contributions remains unknown. Therefore, we examined the muscle–tendon dynamics of the flexor digitorum brevis during stepping, jumping and landing tasks to see whether the central nervous system regulates muscle activation magnitude and timing to enable energy storage and return to enhance energetic contributions. In step-ups and jumps, energy was stored in the tendinous tissue during arch compression; during arch recoil, the fascicles shortened at a slower rate than the tendinous tissues while the foot generated energy. In step-downs and landings, the tendinous tissues elongated more and at greater rates than the fascicles during arch compression while the foot absorbed energy. These results indicate that the central nervous system utilizes arch compression to store elastic energy in the tendinous tissues of the intrinsic foot muscles to add or remove mechanical energy when the body accelerates or decelerates. This study provides evidence for an adaptive mechanism to enable the foot's energetic versatility and further indicates the value of tendon compliance in distal lower limb muscle–tendon units in locomotion.


Lobster mushroom is a wild edible mushroom with potential commercial value. It is the product resulting of the infection, most commonly of Russula brevipes, by Hypomyces lactifluorum. This study undertook quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis of tissues sampled at different infection stages to investigate R. brevipes - H. lactifluorum interaction. We followed the colonization of R. brevipes sporocarps by H. lactifluorum that leads to the edible lobster mushrooms. In parallel, metabolomics analysis was performed to detect differences in metabolite profile among non-infected R. brevipes sporocarp and lobster mushroom. The results show that H. lactifluorum DNA is not restricted to the margin but is distributed relatively evenly across the sporocarp of the lobster mushroom. Russula brevipes DNA was also present throughout the sporocarp but was less abundant at the margins and increased inwards. Russula brevipes DNA also declined as the infection progressed. Metabolomics analysis revealed that the flesh of lobster mushroom, which remains identical in appearance to the flesh of the host, undergoes transformation that alters its metabolite profile, most notably of lipids and terpene compounds. These results define a parasitic relationship between the two species that entails a decline of R. brevipes DNA and a modification of its metabolite profile.


Abstract The crosstalk between maternal stress exposure and fetal development may be mediated by epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation (DNAm). To address this matter, we collect 32 cord blood samples from low-income Brazilian pregnant adolescents participants of a pilot randomized clinical intervention study (ClinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: NCT02807818). We hypothesized that the association between the intervention and infant neurodevelopmental outcomes at 12 months of age would be mediated by DNAm. First, we searched genome methylation differences between cases and controls using different approaches, as well as differences in age acceleration (AA), represented by the difference of methylation age and birth age. According to an adjusted p-value ≤ 0.05 we identified 3090 differentially methylated positions- CpG sites (DMPs), 21 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) and one comethylated module weakly preserved between groups. The intervention group presented a smaller AA compared to the control group (p = 0.025). A logistic regression controlled by sex and with gestational age indicated a coefficient of −0.35 towards intervention group (p = 0.016) considering AA. A higher cognitive domain score from Bayley III scale was observed in the intervention group at 12 months of age. Then, we performed a potential causal mediation analysis selecting only DMPs highly associated with the cognitive domain (adj. R 2 > 0.4), DMRs and CpGs of hub genes from the weakly preserved comethylated module and epigenetic clock as raw values. DMPs in STXBP6, and PF4 DMR, mediated the association between the maternal intervention and the cognitive domain at 12 months of age. In conclusion, DNAm in different sites and regions mediated the association between intervention and cognitive outcome.


Analysis of applied magnetic field and electrical current in Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) accelerator due to electrical efficiency has been numerically investigated. Studies were carried out using air plasma as a working gas in equilibrium condition. Composition of simulated air-plasma consists of two species, N2, and O2, with concentration of 1 mol and 0.284 mol, respectively. The working gas is seeded with potassium and seed fraction is 1% by weight of all gas, which corresponds to 0.949% in mole ratio. In order to solve the set of differential equations with MHD approximations, the MacCormack scheme is employed. The Magnetohydrodynamic Augmented Propulsion Experiment (MAPX) channel designed and developed by NASA MSFC is used to investigate the MHD accelerator performance. Numerical results show the characteristic of MHD accelerator electrical efficiency with variation of different applied magnetic field and electrical input.


Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are good for human health, specially for digestive system. Human body is full of bacteria, both good and bad. Probiotics are often called "good" or "helpful" bacteria because they help keep our gut healthy. The health promoting benefits and efficacy of probiotics has been demonstrated in many models of gastrointestinal disease. Probiotics have an antimicrobial effect through modifying micro flora, secreting antibacterial substances, competing with pathogens and bad microorganism to prevent their adhesion, competing with nutrients necessary for pathogen survival, producing an antitoxin effect and reversing some of the consequences of infection on the gut epithelium. Fermented milks, kulfi, cheese, enriched yoghurt, yoghurt-like products are the commonly used Probiotic food preparation.


We explored the possibility of using a saline aerosol for bolus dispersion measurements to detect peripheral airway alterations in smokers. Indexes of ventilation inhomogeneity in conductive (S(cond)) and acinar (S(acin)) lung zones, as derived from the multiple-breath N(2) washout (Verbanck S, Schuermans D, Van Muylem A, Noppen M, Paiva M, and Vincken W, J Appl Physiol 83: 1807-1816, 1997), were also measured. The saline bolus test consisted of inhaling 60-ml saline aerosol boluses to different volumetric lung depths (VLD) in the 1.1 liter volume above functional residual capacity. In the never-smoker group (n = 12), saline boluses showed bolus dispersion values consistent with normal values reported in the literature for 0.5- to 1-microm aerosols. In the smoker group (n = 12; 28 +/- 9 pack years, mean +/- SD), significant increases were seen on dispersion and skew of the most peripherally inhaled saline boluses (VLD = 800 ml; P < 0.05) as well as on S(acin) (P = 0.007) with respect to never-smokers. Shallow inhaled boluses (VLD = 200 ml) and S(cond) did not reveal any significant differences between smokers and never-smokers. This study shows the consistent response of two conceptually independent tests, in which both saline aerosol and gas-derived indexes point to a heterogeneous distribution of smoking-induced structural alterations in the lung periphery.


Interest in Intelligent Transportation Systems comes from the problems caused by traffic congestion, road accidents and air pollution. Traffic congestion continues to grow worldwide as a result of increased motorization, population growth, changes in population density and urbanization. Interest in ITS can also be attributed to reducing road accidents and increasing traffic safety. The most common causes for road accidents are excessive speed, inattentive driving and ignorance of the right-of-way rules. To eliminate these causes, experience, knowledge of traffic regulations and a new car are not enough % vehicle safety systems have to take part as well. Therefore, the European Union issued a directive on the installation of intelligent systems, whose functions are active support during driving, warning the driver in dangerous situations and alerting passengers of the car in case of irregularities in motor function or actions carried out by the driver that may cause danger, such as swerving while falling asleep. These systems help drivers to avoid accidents, and in the event of a collision, an emergency call is automatically made. Furthermore, they can be used to regulate traffic patterns or to reduce engine performance, which would reduce pollution. With these benefits in mind, the EU has indicated to the automotive industry that installation of these new Intelligent Transportation Systems should be mandatory in their new vehicles.


Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are those cells present in the blood and have antigenic and/or genetic characteristics of a specific tumor type. CTCs can be detected in the peripheral blood of cancer patients. Various techniques are available for detection of CTCs, which provide evidence for future metastasis. CTCs may provide new insight into the biology of cancer and process of metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The detection of CTCs may represent a new diagnostic tool for predicting the occurrence of metastatic disease in OSCC and endow with the treatment strategies to efficiently treat and prevent cancer metastasis. This review gives an insight into the significance of CTCs and different techniques for detection of CTCs.


As visual display complexity grows, visual cues and alerts may become less salient and therefore less effective. Although the auditory system's resolution is rather coarse relative to the visual system, there is some evidence for virtual spatialized audio to benefit visual search on a small frontal region, such as a desktop monitor. Two experiments examined if search times could be reduced compared to visual-only search through spatial auditory cues rendered using one of two methods: individualized or generic head-related transfer functions. Results showed the cue type interacted with display complexity, with larger reductions compared to visual-only search as set size increased. For larger set sizes, individualized cues were significantly better than generic cues overall. Across all set sizes, individualized cues were better than generic cues for cueing eccentric elevations (>± 8 °). Where performance must be maximized, designers should use individualized virtual audio if at all possible, even in small frontal region within the field of view.


A rapid and precise method is suggested for quantitative determination of highly molecular fatty acids in a sample either in the esterified (mono-, di- and triglycerides, cholesterol ethers, and phospholipids) or in the non-esterified state, as well as like salts of fatty acids (soaps). Methyl ethers of fatty acids have been obtained by immediate methanolysis of the sample studied. The method advantages are both indices of the amount of the internal standard added to the sample of concern and possibility to determine highly molecular fatty acids in any sample taken either from plants or from animals.


TNF-stimulated gene 6 (tsg6), encoding a 35-kDa secretory glycoprotein (TSG-6), is induced in fibroblasts, chondrocytes, synovial cells, and mononuclear cells by the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-1, or by LPS. Large amounts of TSG-6 protein were found in synovial fluids of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. TSG-6 protein forms a stable complex with components of the serine protease inhibitor, inter-alpha-inhibitor (I alpha I). In this work, we show that TSG-6 potentiates the inhibitory effect of l alpha l on the protease activity of plasmin. The plasmin/plasminogen activator system is important in the protease network associated with inflammation. To test the hypothesis that through their cooperative inhibitory effect on plasmin TSG-6 and l alpha l can modulate the protease network and thus inhibit inflammation, we examined the effect of TSG-6 on experimentally induced inflammation. Human recombinant TSG-6 protein showed a potent anti-inflammatory activity in the murine air pouch model of carrageenan- or IL-1-induced acute inflammation. The inhibitory effect of locally administered TSG-6 on the IL-1-induced cellular infiltration was comparable with that of systemic dexamethasone treatment. Two mutant TSG-6 proteins with single amino acid substitutions close to the N terminus showed a complete or partial loss of anti-inflammatory activity. The anti-inflammatory effect of the TNF/IL-1-inducible TSG-6 protein, along with its ability to inhibit protease action through interaction with l alpha l, suggests that TSG-6 production during inflammation is part of a negative feedback loop operating through the protease network.


Abstract Proterozoic migmatites in the Black Hills, South Dakota, were examined to determine if partitioning of trace elements hosted by rock-forming minerals between melanosomes and leucosomes preserves residue-melt equilibrium that was presumably established during partial melting of pelitic lithologies. Granitic leucosomes in the Black Hills, as is often the case elsewhere, have positive Eu anomalies, are highly enriched in Sr and Ba, and are depleted in Rb and Cs relative to granites derived by partial melting of metapelites. Distributions of these trace elements between melanosomes and leucosomes cannot be simulated using mineral-melt distribution coefficients. A metamorphic reaction-progress method is used to demonstrate that the distributions approach mineral-mineral equilibrium rather than mineral-melt equilibrium. Application of published diffusion data for the relevant elements in feldspars shows that solid-state equilibrium is unlikely to have been established during subsolidus cooling. Instead, it is suggested that partial melts maintained chemical equilibrium with melanosomes during crystallization that lead to the migmatites.


Sigma factors are bacterial transcription factors that bind the core RNA polymerase and direct transcription initiation at a specific promoter site. These specialized sigma factors bind the promoters of genes appropriate to the environmental conditions and selectively increase the transcription of those genes. Here, we attempt to identify sigma factors in 5 genomes belonging to the Enterobacter cloacae complex (Ecc), a group of gram-negative bacteria that are important nosocomial pathogens. This process includes the identification of orthologous sequences, conserved motifs, domains, families, phylogenetic profiles, and protein-protein associations of these components. Based on the reference genome, genome-wide comparison revealed that the genomes of Enterobacter asburiae JCM6051, Enterobacter nimipressuralis CIP 104980, Enterobacter hormaechei ATCC49162, Enterobacter kobei JCM 8580, and Enterobacter ludwigii EN-119 encode 10 sigma factors that exist in the reference strain Enterobacter cloacae subsp cloacae ATCC13047. Moreover, the sequence similarity, protein domains and families of the sigma factors, protein-protein association, and phylogenetic profile indicate that the sigma factor proteins of these 5 strains may have evolutionary relatedness and functional characteristics important to their various environmental niches. Interestingly, the absence of RpoS in E kobei, which contributes to bacterial survival under environmental stress conditions, indicates that RpoS might have been independently acquired and may play different roles relating to pathogenicity, host range determination, and/or niche adaptation. Future work such as RNA sequencing will be directed towards investigating the roles that these sigma factors play in the biology of the Ecc.


There has been an immense research focus on the topic of cortical reorganization in human evolution, but much less is known regarding the reorganization of subcortical circuits which are intimate working partners of the cortex. Here, by combining advanced image analysis techniques with comparative neuroimaging data, we systematically map organizational differences in striatal, pallidal and thalamic anatomy between humans and chimpanzees. We relate interspecies differences, a proxy for evolutionary changes, to genetics and behavioral correlates. We show that highly heritable morphological measures are significantly expanded across species, in contrast to previous findings in the cortex. The identified morphological-cognitive latent variables were associated with striatal expansion, and affective latent variables were associated with more evolutionarily-conserved areas in the thalamus and globus pallidus. These findings provide new insight into the architecture of these subcortical hubs and can provide greater information on the role of these structures in health and illness.


Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) has recently become useful for chemically selective bioimaging. It is usually measured via modulation transfer from the pump beam to the Stokes beam. Impulsive stimulated Raman spectroscopy, on the other hand, relies on the spectral shift of ultrashort pulses as they propagate in a Raman active sample. This method was considered impractical with low energy pulses since the observed shifts are very small compared to the excitation pulse bandwidth, spanning many terahertz. Here we present a new apparatus, using tools borrowed from the field of precision measurement, for the detection of low-frequency Raman lines via stimulated-Raman-scattering-induced spectral shifts. This method does not require any spectral filtration and is therefore an excellent candidate to resolve low-lying Raman lines (<200  cm-1), which are commonly masked by the strong Rayleigh scattering peak. Having the advantage of the high repetition rate of the ultrafast oscillator, we reduce the noise level by implementing a lock-in detection scheme with a wavelength shift sensitivity well below 100 fm. This is demonstrated by the measurement of low-frequency Raman lines of various liquid samples.


Transgenic mouse models of Huntington's disease (HD) were examined following the onset of overt behavioral symptoms. The HD transgenic mice demonstrated profound striatal losses in D1, D2, and D3 dopamine (DA) receptor proteins in comparison with their nonsymptomatic, age‐matched littermate controls. In parallel, a robust increase in the striatal D5 DA receptor subtype occurred in the transgenic compared with the wild‐type control mice. This receptor elevation was accompanied by heightened cyclic AMP levels, which may be induced by the adenylyl cyclase‐linked D5 receptor. This is a unique result; normal striatal D5 protein levels are modest and not thought to contribute substantially to cyclic AMP‐mediated DA signaling mechanisms. Simple compensatory up‐regulation of D5 DA receptors in response to D1 receptor subtype loss does not explain our findings, because genetic inactivation of the D1 DA receptor does not alter levels of D5 DA receptor expression. Immunofluorescent detection of tyrosine hydroxylase showed that nigrostriatal DA containing terminals were reduced, further supporting that disturbances in DA signaling occurred in HD transgenic models. The substance P‐containing striatal efferent pathway was more resistant to the HD mutation than met‐enkephalin‐producing striatal projection neurons in the transgenics, based on neuropeptide immunofluorescent staining. Analogous findings in multiple transgenic models suggest that these changes are due to the presence of the transgene and are not dependent on its composition, promotor elements, or mouse strain background. These findings suggest modifications in the striatal DA system and that its downstream signaling through cyclic AMP mechanisms is disrupted severely in HD following onset of motor symptoms. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


This issue of Development Policy Review arises from a study of the impact and effectiveness of transparency and accountability initiatives (TAIs) in different development sectors. It analyses existing evidence, discusses how approaches to learning about TAIs might be improved, and recommends how impact and effectiveness could be enhanced.


The structure of the light-induced metastable state SII of Na{sub 2}[Fe(CN){sub 5}NO]{center_dot}2H{sub 2}O was investigated by single-crystal neutron diffraction. The population of SII of 16(3)% was determined by an in situ transmission measurement. The final structural refinement yields a side-on bonded configuration of NO in the metastable state SII with distances Fe-O, Fe-N, and N-O of 2.01(5) A, 1.96(5) A, and 1.11(8) A, respectively. The angle Fe-N-O is 77(4) deg. The population determined from the refinement is 12(2)%, in good agreement with the value of 16(3)% determined from the independent in situ transmission measurement.


In this paper, the colloidal stability and electrorheological responses of semi-conductive polyaniline particles dispersed in a mineral oil were investigated experimentally. The polyaniline was synthesized by polymerization of aniline monomer. The surfactants used for the colloidal stability were commercially available nonionic Span20, Span80, and Span85, which are distinctly different in their molecular structures. Dynamic yield stress of polyaniline suspension, which possessed the quadratic dependence on electric field strength at low electric field, exhibited the linear dependence at high electric field. In addition, the conductivity of polyaniline particles influenced the electrorheological response and there existed the optimal conductivity for the maximum yield stress. In the presence of nonionic surfactants used here, the yield stress of polyaniline exhibited a local maximum at a certain surfactant concentration. The existence of optimal surfactant concentration was confirmed by the surfactant adsorption isotherm. We hypothesized that below the optimal threshold concentration, the electrorheological activity was enhanced by the increased interfacial polarization induced by the adsorbed surfactant molecules. Above the threshold concentration, however, the electrorheological activity was degraded by the conduction through the field-induced surfactant-rich bridge between adjacent particles. This optimal concentration coincided with the saturation concentration in the adsorption isotherm. The surfactants used in this study showed the improved colloidal stability due mainly to the induced steric hindrance effect. For the colloidal stability, Span80 was the most effective. However, considering that ER activity comes mainly from relatively large particles of O(µm), which are mostly present in our system, Span85 was the best choice for a stabilizing additive in the present ER suspension. In addition, our results showed that the presence of the nonionic surfactants considered here did not cause any sensible degradation at high temperatures. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.


In this study, Vickers indentation was used to investigate the two-way shape-memory effect (TWSME) in an austenitic Ti-50.9 at.% Ni alloy, exposed to different heat treatments. Three aging treatments were used to manipulate the size of Ti_3Ni_4 precipitates. All samples were Vickers indented, and the indent depth was investigated as function of thermal cycling. The TWSME was found only in the material aged at 400 °C, which contained coherent precipitates. Thermal cycling shows stable TWSME, however, heating well above the austenite finish temperature lead to permanent austenitic protrusions. The results indicate that stabilized martensite plays a critical role in creating TWSME surfaces.


Background Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease which affects axiel and peripheral joints. The relationship between AS and microRNAs (miRNAs) has not been well documented in the literature. Objectives The objective of this study is to investigate some of the blood miRNA levels in patients with AS, and their correlations between disease activity and functional capacity. Methods Fifty patients with AS and 42 healty volunteers, total of 92 subjects have been enrolled in the study. The Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) score, the The Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) and The Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology (BASMI) scores have been calculated. miRNA analysis were carried out by using high capacity real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method. Results No significant relationship has been found between patients and healty subjects in terms of miRNA expressions. Expressions of miRNA-16-5p, miRNA-451a, miRNA-320a, miRNA-126-3p, miRNA-17-5p, miRNA 146a-5p and miRNA-223-3p were found to be in low levels in patients with AS. Positive correlations between BASDAI and BASFI scores with the expression of miRNA-205-5p have been found in patients with AS. Conclusions The results of our study have revealed that there was no any relationship between AS and the blood expression of miRNA levels. However, the blood expression of miRNA-205-5p may play a role in terms of disease activity and functional capacity. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.3529


The mechanisms and processes by which subducted slab interacted with mantle plume remain controversial, as direct observation of such interaction is difficult to impossible. Compositional heterogeneity of large igneous provinces (LIPs) additionally makes plume-slab interaction hard to detect. Oxygen isotopes are sensitive enough to trace the source of magmas. Here we provide evidence for plume-slab interaction mainly based on in situ zircon Hf-O isotope analyses, as well as whole-rock elemental and Sr-Nd-Hf isotope analyses, on the Late Permian and Early Triassic A-type granites on the margin of the Emeishan LIP in SW China. These granites show typical A-type geochemical characters, such as high total alkali (7.93−9.68 wt%) and field strength element (HFSE, e.g., Zr and Nb) contents, and high FeOT/(FeOT+MgO) (0.87−0.98) and Ga/Al (3.67−5.06) values. The Late Permian (ca. 259 Ma) and Early Triassic (ca. 248 Ma) granites show high Nb/Th (>3.0) and low Y/Nb (<1.2) and Yb/Ta (<2.0) ratios similar to the oceanic island basalts and have near-zero εNd(t) (−0.83 to −0.13 and −0.15 to +0.16, respectively) and depleted εHf(t) (+2.71 to +3.39 and +2.62 to +3.55, respectively). In situ zircon O-Hf analyses yielded anomalously low δ18O (0.2−2.0‰ and 3.2−4.8‰, respectively) and positive εHf(t) (1.6−7.0 and 3.9−8.8, respectively), suggesting varying proportions of hydrothermally altered oceanic crust in their source region. Our results imply that significant amounts of altered Paleotethyan oceanic crust have been subducted in the upper mantle beneath the western South China Block. The nearby rising Emeishan mantle plume may have rapidly entrained and incorporated these oceanic crustal materials to the shallow mantle so that their low-δ18O isotope feature was preserved. Subsequent decompression-related partial melting of this hybrid source formed parental rocks of the low-δ18O A-type granites. Our findings also suggest that LIPs could obtain their compositional (especially oxygen isotope) diversity through the interaction between the subducting slab and rising mantle plume.


Introduction

BCL2 is an anti-apoptotic protein overexpressed in CLL and critical in the pathogenesis of the disease; venetoclax (VEN) is an orally available, selective BCL2 inhibitor. Bendamustine (B) and rituximab (R) combination has demonstrated efficacy in relapsed/refractory (R/R) and previously untreated (frontline, 1L) patients (pts) with CLL. Preclinical data suggest that VEN+BR may provide synergistic activity in pts with CLL. Clinical data from VEN, both as a single-agent and in combination with R, support VEN+BR combination in CLL. We report an ongoing phase 1b study ([NCT01671904][1]) that is evaluating as primary objectives the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of VEN when combined with BR, plus safety, tolerability, and order of administration to reduce toxicities of this combination in R/R or 1L CLL pts.

Methods

Pts with ECOG PS ≤1, 0-3 prior chemotherapy lines, and adequate marrow, hepatic, renal and coagulation function are being enrolled in dose finding cohorts and subsequent safety expansion cohorts, ranging from VEN 100 to 400 mg/day (3+3 dose escalation design). Pts are assigned to one of two dosing schedules (Fig 1) with VEN (Schedule A) or BR (Schedule B) introduced first; both include a gradual VEN dose ramp-up and other prophylactic measures to reduce the risk of tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) and risk stratification for TLS (high, intermediate and low). On completing combination therapy, pts continue single-agent VEN until disease progression (R/R CLL) or up to 18 months (1L CLL). Dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) data are reviewed after all pts in a cohort have completed 21 days of combination treatment at the target VEN dose and focus on TLS and cytopenias. Efficacy is assessed by investigators (iwCLL guidelines; Hallek et al. 2008).

Results

At data cutoff (April 30, 2015), 30 pts have been treated; 20 R/R pts, 12 on Schedule A (3 at 100 mg, 3 at 200 mg, and 6 at 400 mg) and 8 on Schedule B (all at 400 mg), and 10 1L pts, 6 on Schedule A and 4 on Schedule B (all at 400 mg). Baseline characteristics are shown in Fig 2. Of 10 pts with reported cytogenetics, 2 have del(17p). Median time on study is 5.5 (range, 0.03-15.2) months. No safety difference between Schedules A and B was seen in the DLT observation period for R/R CLL pts; neither schedule exhibited any toxicities precluding choice of the highest administered dose of 400 mg daily VEN. Schedule B was chosen for R/R safety expansion due to potential for tumor debulking prior to VEN. Dose finding in 1L Schedule A also selected 400 mg; dose finding for Schedule B is ongoing.

Of 30 safety-evaluable, 27 (90%) pts experienced any adverse event (AEs; Fig 3). Most common AEs were neutropenia and nausea. Most G3 AEs were hematological toxicities; common non-hematological included diarrhea and hypertension. No TLS events (laboratory or clinical) were observed. There were 13 serious AEs in 10 (33.3%) pts, 8 (26.7%) due to study treatment. No deaths were reported. Of all 30 pts, 25 received VEN, with 5 still completing the BR only portion of Schedule B. Dose interruptions were seen in 13 pts mainly due to neutropenia for both VEN and BR; 8 pts had a VEN dose reduction. Early drug discontinuations (any reason): VEN, 2pts (gastroenteritis norovirus, progressive disease); BR together, 3 pts; B, 7 pts (commonly for neutropenia or physician decision); R, 1 pt.

Across cohorts, 17/20 R/R CLL pts had response assessments; 100% responded, with 3 CRi. Response evaluation for 1L pts is early and evaluation across all cohorts and patients is ongoing. Full MRD data will be presented at the meeting, but early analysis shows pts exhibiting MRD negativity in peripheral blood, many as early as Cycle 4.

Conclusion

These early results report the first study evaluating the VEN+BR combination in pts with CLL. Daily VEN 400 mg can be safely combined with BR in patients with R/R CLL using both administration schedules (VEN or BR first), with 400 mg also established as safe for 1L pts with CLL under Schedule A. No TLS was observed with either administration schedule, despite many pts at medium (53%) or high (33%) TLS risk. VEN+BR is, as expected, associated with frequent hematologic toxicity, which appears manageable in most pts being treated, although 10 pts discontinued either B or BR prior to completing 6 cycles of administration. Early response and MRD data are promising.

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Disclosures Salles: Celgene Corporation; Roche: Speakers Bureau; Celgene Corporation; Roche and Gilead Sciences: Research Funding; Calistoga Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Celgene Corporation; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, L.P.; Roche: Consultancy. Off Label Use: Venetoclax is an investigational drug that is not yet approved in this indication. Boyd: Genentech, Inc.: Research Funding; Celgene: Speakers Bureau; US Oncology: Research Funding. Morschhauser: Genentech Inc./Roche: Other: Advisory boards. Wendtner: Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Genentech, Inc.: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding. Hallek: Janssen: Honoraria, Other: Speakers Bureau and/or Advisory Boards, Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Honoraria, Other: Speakers Bureau and/or Advisory Boards, Research Funding; Celgene: Honoraria, Other: Speakers Bureau and/or Advisory Boards, Research Funding; Boehringher Ingelheim: Honoraria, Other: Speakers Bureau and/or Advisory Boards; AbbVie: Honoraria, Other: Speakers Bureau and/or Advisory Boards, Research Funding; Roche: Honoraria, Other: Speakers Bureau and/or Advisory Boards, Research Funding; Gilead: Honoraria, Other: Speakers Bureau and/or Advisory Boards, Research Funding; Mundipharma: Honoraria, Other: Speakers Bureau and/or Advisory Boards, Research Funding. Eichhorst: AbbVie: Consultancy; Mundipharma: Consultancy, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Roche: Consultancy, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau. Kozloff: Genentech: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Roche: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; AbbVie: Consultancy. Cartron: Gilead: Honoraria; GSK: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria; Sanofi: Honoraria. Li: Genentech, Inc.: Employment. Hilger: Genentech, Inc.: Employment. Mobasher: Genentech, Inc.: Employment. Stilgenbauer: Roche: Honoraria, Research Funding.

 [1]: /lookup/external-ref?link_type=CLINTRIALGOV&access_num=NCT01671904&atom=%2Fbloodjournal%2F126%2F23%2F829.atom
 [2]: pending:yes


Although the behavioral component was an integral part of the original formulation of the third-person effect hypothesis, little research has examined the impact of biased media effect perceptions on behaviors that assume others have already been affected. The present study examines how third-person perceptions (the belief that other people are particularly vulnerable to media messages) contributed to intentions to prepare for problems stemming from Y2K, also known as the "millennium bug." Analyses using data from 2 regional probability samples taken in late 1999 show that perceptions about the potential effects of news messages influenced public anxiety about the Y2K situation and beliefs that other people would overprepare for the new year. These 2 variables, in turn, predicted intentions to stockpile supplies of food, water, gasoline, and cash. The article discusses the implications of these findings for understanding the relationship between perceptions of media effects and an extended range of behaviors.


We present a quantitative study of the X-ray morphology of galaxy clusters, as a function of their detection method and redshift. We analyze two separate samples of galaxy clusters: a sample of 36 clusters at selected in the X-ray with the ROSAT PSPC 400 deg2 survey, and a sample of 90 clusters at selected via the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) effect with the South Pole Telescope. Clusters from both samples have similar-quality Chandra observations, which allow us to quantify their X-ray morphologies via two distinct methods: centroid shifts (w) and photon asymmetry ( ). The latter technique provides nearly unbiased morphology estimates for clusters spanning a broad range of redshift and data quality. We further compare the X-ray morphologies of X-ray- and SZ-selected clusters with those of simulated clusters. We do not find a statistically significant difference in the measured X-ray morphology of X-ray and SZ-selected clusters over the redshift range probed by these samples, suggesting that the two are probing similar populations of clusters. We find that the X-ray morphologies of simulated clusters are statistically indistinguishable from those of X-ray- or SZ-selected clusters, implying that the most important physics for dictating the large-scale gas morphology (outside of the core) is well-approximated in these simulations. Finally, we find no statistically significant redshift evolution in the X-ray morphology (both for observed and simulated clusters), over the range of to , seemingly in contradiction with the redshift-dependent halo merger rate predicted by simulations.


The role of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is reviewed. The rationale for and approach to reducing STD prevalence in high-risk communities are presented. Given the asymptomatic nature of these infections and problems associated with delivering curative therapy, effective interventions will require the use of diagnostic tests for screening and the use of single-dose therapies in appropriate settings: Treatment of individuals with STDs will likely reduce individual risk, while reduction of STD prevalence in high-risk communities may curtail the epidemic spread of HIV.


A neural network analysis of agrichemical occurrence in groundwater was conducted using data from a pilot study of 192 small-diameter drilled and driven wells and 115 dug and bored wells in Illinois, a regional reconnaissance network of 303 wells across 12 Midwestern states, and a study of 687 domestic wells across Iowa. Potential factors contributing to well contamination (e.g., depth to aquifer material, well depth, and distance to cropland) were investigated. These contributing factors were available in either numeric (actual or categorical) or descriptive (yes or no) format. A method was devised to use the numeric and descriptive values simultaneously. Training of the network was conducted using a standard backpropagation algorithm. Approximately 15% of the data was used for testing. Analysis indicated that training error was quite low for most data. Testing results indicated that it was possible to predict the contamination potential of a well with pesticides. However, predicting the actual level of contamination was more difficult. For pesticide occurrence in drilled and driven wells, the network predictions were good. The performance of the network was poorer for predicting nitrate occurrence in dug and bored wells. Although the data set for Iowa was large, the prediction ability of the trained network was poor, due to descriptive or categorical input parameters, compared with smaller data sets such as that for Illinois, which contained more numeric information.


Purpose Injury to the urethra is an uncommon complication of pelvic fracture in male blunt trauma victims. We evaluated whether there was an association between location and displacement of anterior pelvic fractures and presence of urethral injury. Methods and Materials We completed a retrospective, nested case-control study of 119 male patients, a subset of a previously reported cohort from a large level 1 trauma center between January 1, 1997 and July 15, 2003. We performed detailed measurements of the location, displacement, and direction of force of each anterior pelvic fracture from CT scans and pelvic radiographs. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine the presence and strength of any association between specific anterior pelvic fracture locations and urethral injury after controlling for age, mechanism of injury, overall injury severity, and direction of force. The study design and implementation were approved by the institutional review board with a waiver of informed consent. Results Urethral injury was present in 25 patients, and all had anterior pelvic fracture (inclusive of pubic symphysis diastasis). There were no urethral injuries in patients with fractures isolated to the acetabulum. Pelvic fractures that were independently associated with urethral injury in the multiple regression model included displaced fractures of the inferomedial pubic bone, OR = 6.4 (95% CI 1.6 to 24.9), and symphysis pubis diastasis, OR = 11.8 (95% CI 4.0 to 34.5). Each millimeter of diastasis of the symphysis pubis or displacement of an inferomedial pubic bone fracture was associated with an approximately 10% increased risk for urethral injury. Conclusions The location and extent of displacement of anterior pelvic fractures in males predict risk of urethral injury and may be valuable in determining when evaluation of the urethra is appropriate.


It's been a quarter of century since one of the founders of economic imperialism was crowned with glory and awarded for the establishing of hitherto non-conventional economic approach. Application of analytical tools of economic analysis on non-economic issues has proved that economic science has the capacity and the ability to step outside traditional boundaries of the discipline. The trend of economics' engaging with neighboring disciplines has dramatically increased since that time. Not only has narrow mainstream methodology expanded greatly, but it proceeded in a way that the range of topics subjected to economics' influence seemed to be endless. And economics imperialism continued to evolve, changing only its forms from aggressive to sophisticated one. Although suited to meet economics aspirations, it surely enabled more detailed and thorough understanding of diverse social phenomena. In spite of the fact that economics itself experienced remarkable improvements owing to such kind of imperialism, its continuous challenging and compromising did not cease to be questioned. That is why this paper is intended to sketch SWOT analysis of economic imperialism. More precisely, its purpose is twofold: a) to review what literature lately offered about justification of economic imperialism; b) to analyze whether weaknesses it produced within economics as well as threats stemming from outside discipline's borders may jeopardize future progress of economic science. We believe that this approach might be helpful for future studies assessing in what extent the unification of the mainstream and his methodical empowerment are still sufficient to compensate epistemological limitations imposed by economic imperialism.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Hallucinations that involve shifts in the subjectively experienced location of the self, have been termed "out-of-body experiences" (OBEs). Early psychiatric accounts cast OBEs as a specific instance of depersonalisation and derealisation disorder (DPD-DR). However, during feelings of alienation and lack of body realism in DPD-DR the self is experienced within the physical body. Deliberate forms of "disembodiment" enable humans to imagine another's visuo-spatial perspective taking (VPT), thus, if a strong relationship between deliberate and spontaneous forms of disembodiment could be revealed, then uncontrolled OBEs could be "the other side of the coin" of a uniquely human capacity. Methods: We present a narrative review of behavioural and neuroimaging work emphasising methodological and theoretical aspects of OBE and VPT research and a potential relationship. Results: Results regarding a direct behavioural relationship between VPT and OBE are mixed and we discuss reasons by pointing out the importance of using realistic tasks and recruiting genuine OBEers instead of general DPD-DR patients. Furthermore, we review neuroimaging evidence showing overlapping neural substrates between VPT and OBE, providing a strong argument for a relationship between the two processes. Conclusions: We conclude that OBE should be regarded as a necessary implication of VPT ability in humans, or even as a necessary and potentially sufficient condition for the evolution of VPT.


An investigation in traditional approach to manufacturing system control based on centralized or hierarchical control structures presents good characteristics in terms of productivity due to its inherent optimization capabilities. However, it does not possess the dynamic and adaptive response to change which is currently the key to competitiveness in global market. Agent-based manufacturing system control fits into this gap left by the traditional approach and it is potentially beneficial due to the need for automated decision-making, reaction to disturbances and the parallel computation. This paper reviews the negotiation protocol in agent based manufacturing systems control and also explore negotiation mechanisms. While there are other interesting artificial intelligence techniques that have already been employed in manufacturing system controls for more than two decades, however, recent developments in multi-agent technique will bring new and interesting possibilities.


Background Breast cancer, although the most frequently diagnosed malignant tumor in humans, has a less clear etiology compared to other frequent cancer types. Mouse-mammary tumor virus (MMTV) is involved in breast cancer in mice and dogs and might play a role in the etiology of some breast cancers in humans, since it has been identified in 20-40% of breast cancer samples in Western Europe, USA, Australia and some other parts of the world's population. The purpose of our study was to identify MMTV DNA sequences in breast tissue samples from breast cancer patients who underwent curative surgery in our regional center in Romania, EU. MethodsWe selected 75 patients with non-metastatic breast cancer treated surgically with curative intent, which did not undergo any neoadjuvant treatment. Out of these patients, 50 underwent radical lumpectomy and 25 modified radical mastectomy. We searched using PCR the MMTV-like DNA env sequence in the breast cancer tissue and normal breast tissue obtained from the same patients. ResultsNone of the examined samples was positive for MMTV-like target sequences on PCR.ConclusionsWe could not prove that MMTV plays a role in the etiology of breast cancer in our patient group. This finding is similar to publications of other geographically related research groups and might be due to the fact that only the Mus musculus domesticus mouse species was proven to carry infectious MMTV, but not the Mus musculus musculus species, which is specific to South-Eastern Europe (including Romania) and some parts of Asia.


Multiphoton photoelectron emission from individual Au nanorods deposited on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates is studied via scanning photoionization microscopy, based on femtosecond laser excitation at frequencies near the rod longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). The observed resonances in photoemission correlate strongly with plasmon resonances measured in dark field microscopy (DFM), thus establishing a novel scheme for wavelength-resolved study of plasmons in isolated metallic nanoparticles based on highly sensitive electron counting methods. In this work, we explore experimental and theoretical effects of (i) morphology and (ii) aspect ratio (AR) for longitudinal plasmon resonance behavior in Au nanorods. A quasilinear dependence between LSPR and aspect ratio (AR) is experimentally determined [Δλ≈ +100(10) nm/AR unit] for Au nanorods on ITO, in excellent agreement with the first principles value from finite element computer modeling [Δλ = +108(5) nm/AR unit]. Interestingly, however, LSPR values for larger vs. smaller diameter rods (w≈ 20 nm and 10 nm) are systematically red-shifted [ΔE≈-0.03(1) eV; Δλ≈ +15(5) nm at λ≈ 800 nm], indicating that electromagnetic retardation effects must also be considered for highest accuracy in LSPR position. To augment these results, the influence of the dielectric environment on the rod LSPR has been explored both experimentally and numerically. In particular, detailed finite-element simulations for ITO supported Au nanorods are found to yield plasmon resonances in near quantitative agreement (ΔE≈±0.04 eV) with experiment, with residual differences arising from uncertainty in the refractive index of the ITO thin film. Furthermore, the results indicate that plasmon resonance predictions based on infinitely thick ITO substrates are reliable to a few meV for film thicknesses larger than approximately twice the rod width.


We are concerned with using discourse focus to generate felicitous natural language responses to "Where is" -type queries by a user with respect to a map. In ordinary language this is typically achieved by using a locative expression whose syntax involves using a preposition (such as in or at) and its object ( which serves as a reference point). The selection of an appropriate reference point is important when generating such locative expressions. We attempt to use discourse focus to model the user's mental body position in the selection of an appropriate reference point. This enables the user to use body-oriented inference strategies associated with small scale space to make better sense of the overall spatial organization of the geographic entities and the large scale space of which these geographic entities are a part.


The author presents conversion coefficients from air kerma, to ambient dose equivalent and to directional dose equivalent for the ISO low air kerma rate series and for the ISO narrow series.


Myxoid and round cell liposarcoma commonly occur in the thigh and retroperitoneum, and an intraperitoneal location and bony spread are rare. A young woman was admitted with the complaint of right thigh pain. Tru-cut biopsy revealed well-differentiated myxoid and round cell liposarcoma. Following chemoradiotherapy, the mass was removed with wide local excision. A vertebral metastasis at the 11th thoracic vertebra was discovered 11 months later. Following chemoradiotherapy, the corpus of the 11th thoracic vertebra was excised, and an implant was placed. Six months later, abdominopelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated a giant pelvic mass. Hysterectomy, lower anterior resection of the sigmoid colon, and removal of 8 cm of jejunum were performed. After 4 months, masses in the left abdominal wall, left axilla, and nearby pancreas were detected. Pathology was low-grade myxoid liposarcoma. This uncommon pattern of spread should certainly be taken into account when determining prognosis.


Dominance-based Rough Set Approach (DRSA), as the extension of Pawlak's Rough Set theory, is effective and fundamentally important in Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). In previous DRSA models, the definitions of the upper and lower approximations preserve the class unions rather than the singleton class. In this paper, we propose a new Class-based Rough Approximation with respect to different DRSA models including Classical DRSA model, VC-DRSA model and VP-DRSA model. In addition, we explore the new class-based reducts and their relations.


A computer-based artificial neural network (ANN) that learns to classify sentences in a text as important or unimportant is described. The program is designed to select the sentences that are important enough to be included in composition of an abstract of the text. The ANN is embedded in a conventional symbolic environment consisting of lexical/semantic, morphological, syntactic, and pragmatic analyzers and synthesizers. Only certain features are computed by these symbolic modules, those that are more relevant to this sentence classification task. The selected features are translated into vectors of ones, zeros, and intermediate values, and input into the network. In this way, the ANN collectively considers all linguistic and pragmatic levels in making a decision. This is in contrast to most text abstraction systems, which use information retrieval techniques such as keyword extraction. Preliminary testing shows the ANN has a success rate of 86 percent with 10 different sets of novel sentences, after having been trained on disparate sets of 90 sentences. Contains 12 references. (Author/MSE) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original docnent. *****************************************10,****************************


One hundred and twenty weanling rats fed diet NIH 2000 that were free of Streptococcus sobrinus and other mutans streptococci were employed in this study. Sixty rats were inoculated orally with S. sobrinus 6715. Each infected rat (donor) was paired and housed with an uninfected recipient. Saliva and serum samples were collected from 24 (12 donor and 12 recipient) rats at the baseline (day 0) and from groups of 12 recipients sacrificed on days 10, 24, 38, and 52, and the level of infection with S. sobrinus was monitored. Salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG and serum IgM and IgG antibodies reactive with whole cells (WC), glucosyltransferase (GTF), and the serotype carbohydrate (g) of S. sobrinus were measured by an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Although the rats were free of S. sobrinus and other mutans streptococci at baseline, they exhibited salivary IgA and serum IgM antibodies reactive with S. sobrinus WC, GTF, and g and serum IgG antibodies reactive with WC and GTF. Infection of recipients with S. sobrinus did not induce salivary antibodies reactive with WC, GTF, or g. In contrast, increases in serum IgM and IgG antibodies reactive with WC and serum IgM antibodies reactive with g were observed.


ABSTRACT The rapid advances of China's universities in major international league tables are generally believed to be an accomplishment of Project 985. A quasi-experimental study was, therefore, undertaken to test the belief and to evaluate the effectiveness of this policy intervention, using 15-year panel data between 1998 and 2013. Results from a difference-in-differences model showed that Project 985 had a positive effect on publication outputs of '985' universities. Tier 2 '985' universities gained strong momentum in publication growth in international and ISI journals. Additionally, Theil index decomposition was employed to examine the stratification effect of Project 985. Results confirmed the homogenising trend within '985' universities. In contrast, the vertical differentiation between '985' and '211' universities was noticeably enlarged. While sustained public funding is still vital, the study findings inform policy makers and higher education leaders of greater sectorial and institutional reforms to fulfil individual higher education institutions' needs and remove bottlenecks in publication growth.


In the context of the backscattering of waves from a random rough surface, a theoretical model is used to investigate the geometrical self-shadowing of a surface described by Gaussian statistics. Expressions are derived for various shadowing probabilities as functions of the parameter characterizing surface roughness and of the angle of incidence of the illuminating beam. The theoretical shadowing functions compare closely with those obtained experimentally from a recent computer simulation of a Gaussian surface.


In 2012 the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD 2012a) issued an assessment of Mexico's telecommunications industry. This report concluded that the performance of the sector, while improved, remains below attainable goals, and that the causes of the performance deficit are insufficient competition and ineffective regulation. The dominant telecommunications firm in Mexico, Telmex, responded to the OECD by commissioning two consulting reports (Hausman and Ros, 2012, and Sidak, 2012) that were highly critical of the OECD report. This article assesses the main criticisms of the OECD report by the Telmex consultants. The main conclusions are that both the regulatory policies and the performance of the industry are generally worse in Mexico than in peer nations, and that most of the criticisms of the OECD report by the Telmex consultants are not valid.


Can cancer be predicted early? Why are people born color blind? How are mutations passed on? From color blindness, muscular dystrophy, and cancer to even the polymorphism that occurs to cause blue eyes, mutations are a crucial topic to understand in the scientific community. Mutations are alterations in genetic sequences, such as when the body codes for the wrong gene, whether it be due to an environmental factor or an intrinsic factor. In this article, we will explain how cancerous mutations work, and address potential ways to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment in the future.


We perform the optimal design of gas-cooled Peltier current leads (PCLs), such that their resulting heat leaking into superconducting magnets can be minimized. Superior to previous investigations, the effect of gas cooling on both the Cu lead and the thermoelectric element in a PCL is taken into consideration. Analytical temperature distribution is derived as well as the concerned heat leaking into superconducting magnets. Numerically iterative calculations are, therefore, avoided. Moreover, temperature-entropy diagrams are constructed to distinguish conventional all-Cu leads from PCLs with and without gas cooling. Both the heat leak and the input power of current leads can be easily identified from the areas subtended by the isotherms on the simple two-dimensional temperature-entropy plane.


The Brazil nut is considered one of the noblest trees of the Amazon biome and contains social, ecologic and economic importance to this region. The study of the spatial variance of the edaphic properties in native nut trees can direct future researches about more efficient samplings. The Geostatistics is the methodology utilized for this type of study, once that it considers the structural and random characteristics of a variable spatially distributed. This work sought to get a higher knowledge about the distribution of the nutrients in the soil, verifying the relationship with the occurrence of this species, to thereby provide subsidies to future forest management and maintenance/enlargement of the productivity in these areas. The soil samples were collected from 30 × 30 m on the line, in all of the lines in part of the study, totaling 60 samples. All of the points were georeferenced. The preparation of the samples for the sample preparation for the chemical analysis and the methods and calculations to determine the physicochemical variables studied were described by Nogueira and Souza (2005). The statistical and geostatistical analysis were conducted using the R computational environment, version 3.2.2. Most of the studied variables presented defined level. For the physical variables, there was predominance of the adjustment to the model of the gaussian variogram, follower by the spherical model. In the case of the chemical variables, there were two occurrences for each adjustment model (spherical, exponential and gaussian). The variables that best presented spatial relation with the occurrence of Brazil nut trees were the silt, clay, macroporosity, pH, phosphorus, zinc and copper.

 Key words: Geostatistics, Brazil nut, soil, physical properties, chemical properties.


This paper presents a new monitoring tool called SYNEMA that helps to visualize different types of alerts from well-known security sensors. The architecture of the proposed tool is distributed and enables centralizing the collected information into a lightweight visualizer. The front-end proposes many display modes in order to give the ability to clearly see malicious activities and to be able to visually monitor information collected at system, network and user level in the hosts. The paper concludes with development perspectives about an auto-configurable plugin for visual correlation of attacks.


Discriminatory treatment of immigrants is often considered morally objectionable. However, principles of non-discriminatory treatment of immigrants after their admission to a state can discourage economic immigration flows that would greatly benefit immigrants and their home states. Is discrimination therefore justified? This article employs a minimal liberal framework of analysis to suggest an analytical rather than instrumental moral basis for some forms of discrimination against immigrants. The minimal liberal framework is contrasted with a weak Paretian framework that is ex ante structurally prejudiced towards an egalitarian outcome and fails to distinguish between the distinct implications of different types and degrees of discrimination. The analysis shows that discrimination against immigrants can be justified, so long as it does not entail violations of immigrants' substantive human rights. Furthermore, immigration-encouraging discrimination is found to be preferable to immigration-deterring discrimination, although the latter is also justifiable. While the minimal liberal framework is not necessarily advocated as the preferred decision-making rule, its use demonstrates that the morality of broad principles of non-discrimination towards immigrants should not be taken for granted.


Two kinds of macromolecules applied in papermaking were modified with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and loaded with ciprofloxacin hydrochloride (CipHCl) in an attempt to compare their potential applications in antimicrobial paper. β-CD grafted cellulose (β-CD-Cel) and β-CD grafted cationic starch (β-CD-CS) were prepared by grafting β-CD onto cellulose fiber and cationic starch using citric acid (CA) and epichlorohydrin (ECH) as crosslinking agents, respectively. β-CD-Cel and β-CD-CS were both loaded with an antimicrobial agent (CipHCl) to form inclusion complexes, namely β-CD-Cel-CipHCl and β-CD-CS-CipHCl. Furthermore, the inclusion complexes were added to the pulp to prepare antibacterial paper. The antimicrobial activity and physical properties of the paper were investigated. The results showed that the paper with both inclusion complexes exhibited excellent antibacterial activity, and the antibacterial activity with β-CD-CS-CipHCl was higher than that with β-CD-Cel-CipHCl. Moreover, the addition of both β-CD-Cel-CipHCl and β-CD-CS-CipHCl affected the tensile and tear strengths of the paper. The paper with β-CD-CS-CipHCl had better physical properties than that with β-CD-Cel-CipHCl because the CS acts as a reinforcing agent in papermaking. These prepared antibacterial paper sheets may be useful for preventing wound and nosocomial infections in the medical and packaging fields.


On 27 September 2019, the Federal Cartel Office ("FCO") and the Federal Network Agency ("FNA") jointly published guidelines for the control of abusive practices in the electricity generation and…


The structure of the human, but mainly of the rhesus monkey, retina as examined by Golgi-staining techniques is described and interpreted on evidence from both light and electron microscopy. One type of rod bipolar cell and two types of cone bipolar cell are recognized. The rod bipolar is exclusively connected to rods. The midget bipolar is postsynaptic to only one cone but each cone is also presynaptic to a diffuse cone (flat) bipolar. Such flat bipolar cells are in synaptic relationship with about seven cones. No other bipolar cell types have been found. The brush bipolar of Polyak is interpreted as probably a distorted rod bipolar, while Polyak's centrifugal bipolar is a misinterpretation of the morphology of diffuse amacrine cells. When presumptive centrifugal bipolars were observed they appeared to be a developmental stage of amacrine cells. In the outer plexiform layer two types of horizontal cell have been defined. Each type of horizontal cell has a single axon and two kinds of horizontal cell axon terminals are recognized. In the inner plexiform layer there are two main classes of amacrine cells: the stratified amacrines and the diffuse amacrines. Each class of amacrine has a wide variety of shapes. Polyak's midget ganglion cell is confirmed and his five other kinds of ganglion cell are classified into diffuse and stratified ganglion cells according to the level at which their dendrites branch within the inner plexiform layer. A fuller summary is given by the diagram and in the legend of figure 98, p. 174. A new type of midget bipolar is described in the Appendix (p. 177).


The implications for the NVV Auger spectrum of HI of the recent high resolution studies of the I 4d photoelectron spectrum of HI are discussed. It is found that ligand field splitting must be considered in the interpretation of the Auger spectrum. However, vibrational structure is definitively present in the Auger spectrum and could possibly explain the apparent discrepancies concerning linewidths between the photoelectron and Auger electron spectra.


Automation technology is very helpful now that human activities, with the automation technology will save time and cost. In this case the author will discuss the automation of field-based water reservoir filling AT8535, AT8535 specification that has a lot of memory allocation is very precise in making these automation systems. Very often the water is free of charge when owners forget to turn off the pump when the water was filling a water reservoir, with the existence of this automation will save water and electric power used. This tool works with two conditions ie, when the water reaches the upper limit of the water pump will automatically die and vice versa when the water reaches the lower limit of surface water pumps will be alive until the water reaches the upper limit. This process is performed by the sensor ping as a major component of data collection which forms the form of distance in units of (cm), then the data was processed by the microcontroller and executed in accordance with a program that has been injected. So that the two conditions above the appliance running. Thus there is no more water is wasted in vain and more efficient use of electrical power. With this tool made the job is expected to help humans in daily life - the day especially in the process of turning on and off the water pump.


Ansley Coale and Edgar Hoover were right about Asia. Rising fertility and declining infant mortality have had a profound impact on Asian savings, investment and foreign capital dependency since Coale and Hoover wrote in 1958. We argue that: Much of the impressive rise in Asian savings rates since the 1960s can be explained by the equally impressive decline in youth dependency burdens; Where Asia has kicked the foreign capital dependence habit is where youth dependency burdens have fallen most dramatically; Aging will not diminish Japan's capacity to export capital in the next century, but little of it will go to the rest of Asia since the rest will become net capital exporters, at least if demography is allowed to have its way. These conclusions emerge from a model which rejects steady-state analysis in favor of transition analysis, and extends the conventional focus of the dependency rate literature on savings to investment and net capital flows.


It is generally admitted that artificial pneumothorax is not only the most widely applicable method of collapsing the lung in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis but also the most valuable. Unfortunately, pleuritic adhesions are almost invariably present in cases in which the patients require pneumothorax treatment and constitute the greatest obstacle to a satisfactory end-result. As a result of experience in the treatment of approximately 1,400 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis with artificial pneumothorax during the past eighteen years, my co-workers and I are convinced of the importance of establishing a type of pneumothorax which within a few months will give the diseased lung sufficient functional rest, collapse or compression to render it no longer a source of tuberculotoxemia or tubercle bacilli-laden sputum. The importance of a satisfactory collapse of the lung is strikingly shown in the accompanying table. A careful review of the clinical records and stereoroentgenograms in 245 cases


This work is an experimental evaluation of the wear and friction of a high strength alloy steel (super-CMV (SCMV» in its as heat treated and plasma nitrided states under fretting conditions in air, at both ambient and elevated temperatures.

In order to conduct the experimental programme, a new test rig and associated data processing and assessment capability was developed. Wearing couples in homogeneous and heterogeneous arrangements were tested to assess the effectiveness of the nitriding process as a fretting palliative-the heterogeneous mating is particularly representative of configurations found in aerospace transmission assemblies. A range of test conditions were examined with a line contact, including normal loads from 25 to 65Nmm-1, displacement amplitudes from 10 to 100 µm and temperatures from 24 to 450°C.

At ambient temperatures, the wear behaviour was assessed using an energy-wear analysis, whereupon it was demonstrated that the wear volume was a linear function of the dissipated frictional energy (over the range of loading conditions) with a significant energy threshold before the onset of wear. Accordingly, the fretting wear over the full range of loading conditions could be described by a single wear rate and threshold value. The wear rate for homogeneous couples of nitrided super-CMV (SCMVN) was found to be 12 % lower than that for comparable SCMV pairings, although the lower threshold energy for the SCMVN case would lead to them suffering greater wear at < 2.5 kJ of dissipated energy (in the configuration examined). In heterogeneous couples, the harder SCMVN specimen was found to wear preferentially; while the SCMV specimen suffered severe plastic damage of the surface, a protective oxide debris bed was seen to form, which protected the underlying SCMV from wear and abraded the SCMVN specimen.

At elevated temperatures, the tribology (of both SCMV and SCMVN) was dominated by the formation of a glaze-layer. The progressive formation of the glaze, with increasing temperature, led to a critical transition temperature (TT) above which a significant reduction in both the wear and friction of the materials was observed. For SCMV, after only a modest increase in temperature to 85 °C, the overall loss of material from the contact had become negative. At temperatures greater than 85°C, negative wear was maintained, with the coefficient of friction dropping monotonically until a slight minimum at 300°C. The behaviour for the SCMVN couples was very similar; the transition to negative wear occurred at a higher temperature of 150°C but the friction minimum was also found at 300°C. It is proposed that the changes in wear rate and friction coefficient were due to changes in the way that the oxide particles sintered to form a protective debris bed, with sintering of the oxide debris particles at these low temperatures being promoted by the nano-scale at which the oxide debris is formed.


A continuous spectroscopy-based monitoring approach of the amine reagent preparation prior to flotation processing was investigated. The process involved the neutralization of a long carbon chain amine, C16-C20, with hydrochloric acid. Current methods of monitoring the degree of neutralization, controlling the HCl addition, and monitoring the amine content were based on pH measurements, with out-of-line sample lab-validation carried out using titration-based methods. Industry feedback indicated this method was prone to error and had resulted in challenges in process control. This work demonstrates a novel method of measuring both amine content and degree of neutralization using a mini-fluidic reactor and FT-NIR system equipped with a flow-through heated transmission cell. Analysis of the spectral response for wavenumbers in the range of 4,258-4,400 cm-1 yielded amine content and degree of neutralization measurements accurately to within ± 0.065 wt%, and ± 6.0% margin of errors, respectively. This led to monitoring intensification to increase KCl recoveries in flotation processing.


It is reported on a 21-year-old female with super-female syndrome in association with an early childhood brain damage exhibiting idiopathic epilepsy, severe oligophrenia, emotional instability, Little syndrome, areflexia of the legs, strabismus, telecanthus, broad nose, epicanthic fold, clinodactyly of little fingers, radio-ulnar-synostosis, retardation of ossification, aortic insufficiency, erythro-cyanosis, one-side clubfoot and nephrosclerosis, also menstrual cycle dysfunction.


The interaction between metalloporphyrins and their axial ligands plays an important role in the electron transfer (ET) processes in which the excited porphyrin participates. An efficient photoinduced ET reaction of a double-linked zinc(II) porphyrin-fullerene dyad was demonstrated in ionic environment. The chloride ion of tetrabutylammonium chloride (TBACl) electrolyte solution ligates the zinc porphyrin moiety in the dyad which results in a red shift of the absorption bands and lowers the energy of the charge-separated state by about 0.26 eV as compared to the nonligated dyad. Excitation of the porphyrin chromophore results in ET from porphyrin to fullerene in a moderately polar solvent, anisole. In nonionic and nonligating ionic environments, the ET reaction occurs through an intermediate state, an intramolecular exciplex, which has emission in the near-infrared region of the spectrum. This emission is not observed directly for the dyad in TBACl/anisole solution, but evidence of the exciplex intermediate was seen in the time-resolved measurements. The lower energy of the charge-separated state in the ligated environment explains the different ET reaction rates determined in the spectroscopic studies: the charge recombination process of the ligated dyad is about 5 times faster than that of the nonligated one.


An overall (at random) study of 183 patients with cancer of the stomach or rectum at an oncological hospital showed that all cases had certain psychogenic reactions, which differed both by their clinical expression and severity. The type and severity of psychogenic reactions correlated with the stage of treatment (diagnostic, preoperational, etc.) sex, age, education and the localization of the tumor and premorbid personality traits. The paper offers data on the use of combined treatment (psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic impact) aimed at removal of psychogenic disorders.


The degree of similarity of the ∂13C records of the planktonic foraminiferal species N. pachyderma and of the benthic foraminiferal genus Cibicides in the high-latitude basins of the world ocean is used as an indicator of the presence of deepwater sources during the last climatic cycle. Whereas continuous formation of deep water is recognized in the southern ocean, the Norwegian Sea stopped acting as a sink for surface water during isotope stage 4 and the remainder of the last glaciation. However, deep water formed in the north Atlantic south of the Norwegian Sea during the last climatic cycle as early as isotope substage 5d, and this area was also the only active northern source during stages 4–2. A detailed reconstruction of the geographic distribution of ∂13C in benthic foraminifera in the Atlantic Ocean during the last glacial maximum shows that the most important deepwater mass originated from the southern ocean, whereas the Glacial North Atlantic Deep Water cannot be traced south of 40°N. At shallower depth an oxygenated 13C rich Intermediate Water mass extended from 45°N to 15°S. In the Pacific Ocean a ventilation higher than the modern one was also found in open ocean in the depth range 700–2600 m and is best explained by stronger formation of Intermediate Water in high northern latitudes.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the impact of body mass index on early outcomes of coronary artery bypass grafting in terms of morbidity and mortality.

METHODS
This retrospective comparative study was conducted at Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi Institute of Cardiology, Multan, Pakistan, and comprised data of patients who underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting from December 2007 to December 2015. Analysis of variance and chi-square test were used for analysis of groups formed on the basis of body mass index. SPSS 20 was used for data analysis.

RESULTS
Of the 2,366 patients, 830(35.1%) had normal body mass index, 1,024(43.3%) were overweight, 402(16.9%)were obese and 110(4.6%) were morbidly obese. The overall mean age was 55.82±9.58 years. The mean age of morbidly obese patients was significantly lower (p=0.02). Additive euro score was high in patients with normal body mass index (p=0.006). Post-op creatine kinase muscle and brain MB levels and incidence of peri-operative myocardial infarction was significantly high in obese and morbidly obese groups (p=0.002 and p=0.01, respectively). Hospital stay time was significantly longer in obese and morbidly obese patients (p=0.01). The incidence of post-operative complications was the same in all groups (p>0.05). Operative mortality was also the same between the groups (p=0.58).

CONCLUSIONS
Higher body mass index was associated with increased risk of short-term morbidity in terms of myocardial infarction after surgery and increased length of hospital stay. Our study did not support the concept of obesity paradox.


The emergence of the so-called networked or knowledge society profoundly transforms governance approaches on a global scale by introducing new forms of collaboration and exchange between society and government. Government institutions and agencies had to respond by optimally utilising ICT technology to facilitate e-governance applications for improved interactions with society. In light of this context a skilled and competent workforce for the application of appropriate e-governance technologies is essential. As the administrative leaders of executive institutions (i.e. government departments), civil service managers have to champion and oversee all e-governance applications and practices. Various general training models for capacity-building of civil service managers exist, but a comprehensive competency framework for their e-readiness as far as e-governance applications are concerned, is largely absent. Such a competency framework should be congruent with the unique governance circumstances, applications, operations, e-governance praxis, regulatory framework, and the ICT infrastructure-growth trajectory of a particular country. The purpose of this article is threefold. Firstly, it will outline contextual perspectives regarding the utilisation of ICT in promoting e-governance in general, including an analysis of the seemingly insufficient alignment between government operational demands and the e-readiness (i.e. competencies) of civil service managers. Secondly, the article will explore the South African Government's initiatives in promoting e-governance competencies of its civil service; and thirdly, it will propose a comprehensive competency framework for civil service managers based on a comparative analysis of various models and best practice around the globe.


Abstract Amsterdam is situated on the coastal-deltaic plain of the western Netherlands. Its geographical position brought the city prosperity, but also created huge challenges associated with heterogeneous and often adverse ground conditions. This paper explores the geology of Amsterdam to a depth of c. 100 m, based on the output of the 3D geological subsurface models DGM and GeoTOP. The model results are used to create a geological map of the area, to determine the extent and depth of the foundation levels that are in use for buildings in the city centre and to detect the source of filling sand on which part of the more recent expansion of the city was founded. It is shown that subsurface conditions have had a profound effect on both landscape development and historical city growth. Geomodels like DGM and GeoTOP provide an easily accessible way to obtain a better understanding of the shallow subsurface.


Formulation of the problem. The southeastern part of Dnieper-Donets Basin is one of the most developed regions in Ukraine where a number of hydrocarbon deposits are located, their underground (reservoir) waters and brines are characterized by high contents of various microelements, including bromine. According to this, the study of groundwater geochemistry to determine the possibility of its industrial extraction is an actual problem.The purpose of the article. The article makes an attempt to determine the possibility to use underground waters of Carboniferous and Permian deposits of the southeastern part of Dnieper-Donets Basin as a hydro-mineral raw material for bromine mining.Methods. In the work, a hydrogeochemical prospecting method has been used, taking into account geological, hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical features of the area. The authors collected and systematized a large actual (stock) material, which allowed them to make up a database of the groundwater chemical composition in the study area.Results. In the course of the work, the geochemistry of bromine in underground waters of Carboniferous and Permian sediments was studied. It is emphasized that chloride-sodium waters and brines with salinity of 5-10 to 250 g / dm3 formed in the Paleozoic deposits at a depth of more than 800-1000 m. It is noted that inverse hydrogeochemical zoning (inversion) is often found on anticlinal structures. It was revealed that bromine content in groundwater was controlled by the amount of mineralization and the total chemical composition (geochemical type) of the waters. It is shown that groundwater enrichment with an element increases with the aquifers depth. Underground waters, enriched with various trace elements, and primarily bromine, are most often unloaded in the arched parts of the anticlinal structures controlled by disruptive disturbances. Moreover, the main factors of bromine accumulation in groundwater are heat and mass transfer processes, as well as exchange reactions in the hydrogeochemical system "rock-water". It is determined that the bromine content on individual structures achieves industrial concentrations required for economically efficient extraction of the element from aqueous solutions.Scientific novelty and practical significance In the course of the studies, the feasibility of using reservoir waters of oil and gas deposits in the southeastern part of Dnieper-Donets Basin as a hydromineral raw material for bromine mining is substantiated.


Analyzing massive code bases is a staple of modern software engineering research – a welcome side-effect of the advent of large-scale software repositories such as GitHub. Selecting which projects one should analyze is a labor-intensive process, and a process that can lead to biased results if the selection is not representative of the population of interest. One issue faced by researchers is that the interface exposed by software repositories only allows the most basic of queries. CodeDJ is an infrastructure for querying repositories composed of a persistent datastore, constantly updated with data acquired from GitHub, and an in-memory database with a Rust query interface. CodeDJ supports reproducibility, historical queries are answered deterministically using past states of the datastore; thus researchers can reproduce published results. To illustrate the benefits of CodeDJ, we identify biases in the data of a published study and, by repeating the analysis with new data, we demonstrate that the study's conclusions were sensitive to the choice of projects. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Software and its engineering → Ultra-large-scale systems


In medicine courses, improve the skills of surgery students is an essential part of the program. For training the surgeon residents the institutions normally using a standard checklist to evaluate the student evolution. However, the checklist evaluation is susceptible to evaluator bias, inter-evaluator variability, besides being time-consuming. The automation of this process is an important evolution in medical training. An alternative to the instructor checklist is capturing and evaluation of kinematic data regarding the surgical motion. We propose a novel CNN architecture for automated robot-assisted skill assessment. We explore the use of the SELU activation function and a global mixed pooling approach based on the average and max-pooling layers. Finally, we examine two types of convolutional layers: real-value and quaternion-valued. The results suggest that our model presents a higher average accuracy across the three surgical subtasks of the JIGSAWS dataset.


The gastroprotective properties of tizanidine, a centrally acting myorelaxant, are discussed. It is noted that there is no strong evidence suggesting the ability of tizanidine to reduce the risk of serious gastrointestinal complications arising from with the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and to decrease their need (average daily dose). It is stated that in inflammatory rheumatic diseases, myorelaxants (including tizanidine) are likely to be useful as a component of symptomatic therapy in a number of cases.


Being supported by a mentor affects new venture survival by decreasing the liability of newness. Traditional conceptions of the liabilities of newness come from institutional and ecological theories. The concept describes the lack of new roles, resources, economic and social capital (external liabilities) as well as the necessity for building internal coordination and routines (internal liabilities). A mentoring relationship is defined as an interpersonal relationship involving a more experienced professional and less experienced entrepreneur. For monitoring process, we focused on the outcomes for the protege, for the mentor or for both. Proposing an integrated framework, we illustrate it studying two very different dyads. The finding show more support for the external liability than for the internal coordination argument.


The rates of oxidation of 1:1 mixtures of associating thiols, each having the binding site (Remark: Graphics omitted.) and the recognition site [p-(CH3)2NC6H4 or R], with O2 were measured in 80% (v/v) acetonitrile-20% water in the range of 20 to 50 °C. Oxidation of the thiol having the p-(CH3)2NC6H4 group proceeds about 100 times faster than that of the thiols with R. It has been found that oxidation of 1:1 mixtures of the thiols is first-order with respect to thiols and 0.7 th-order with respect to triethylamine by means of the method of initial rates. The k1.7 values for R=C6H5, p-CH3C6H4, and p-C2H5C6H4 were similar to one another; this makes a sharp contrast with our previous work that the selectivity (the logarithmeric ratio of the yield of the unsymmetrical disulfide to twice that of the symmetrical disulfide) changes greatly with the structures of R and temperature. It is concluded that the product ratio does not depend upon the k1.7. The large negative activation entropies (−51 to −45 cal K−1 mol−...


Eighteen, healthy male newborns, 2–5 days old, were subjects in this study of the effects of a pacifier on the newborn's behavioral and adrenocortical responses to circumcision. Half of the subjects were randomly assigned to a condition in which they were encouraged to suck on a pacifier during circumcision, while half served in a no pacifier, control condition. Behavioral observations were made for 1/2 hour before, during, and after circumcision; while blood samples for serum cortisol determination were obtained immediately before circumcision and 30 min later. The results showed that stimulating the newborn with the pacifier reduced crying by about 40%. Reducing crying, however, had no significant effect on the adrenocortical response. Elevations of serum cortisol predicted average behavioral state following circumcision, whereas crying during circumcision did not. Furthermore, there was evidence that the neonatal adrenocortical system was sensitive to variations in surgical procedures. The results indicate the importance of obtaining data on both behavioral and hormonal systems in studies of stress and coping in human newborns.


In September 1995, journalist Dale Maharidge wrote an epitaph for his own career. He and photographer Michael S. Williamson had produced three books in the 1980s about American poverty and the working class: Journey to Nowhere, And Their Children After Them, and The Last Great American Hobo. When an editor at Gale Research Inc. asked him to describe their work covering the destitute lives of so many Americans, Maharidge confessed that the reporting had taken a lot out of them:


Revision with unchanged content. Children's rights are a world wide clarion call – yet, when it comes to implementing it in practice, the hearts of everybody starts racing because suddenly the issue is not academic, it's personal. In practice it is evident that children's voices are not being heard or taken into consideration – while adults are solely responsible for making decisions that affects the lives children have to live. Children continue to suffer and are being traumatised due to the fact they have to live a life decided by adults who presumed to know the best. The inconsistency when working with children, specifically during the legal process, has been experienced as a serious problem. Research was undertaken to rectify the situation. The hypothesis for the study was formulated as follows: A protocol that can be followed by professional role-players can ensure that children's rights, during a legal process, will be protected. The key professional role-players involved with children during a legal process have been identified as social workers, child-care commissioners, lawyers, family advocates, judges but the book was written to all professionals working with children. Research results proofed that a protocol as a hands-on guideline, is a much needed tool for the professional role-player in practice.


The Guptīs of Bhavnagar, India, represent an unexplored case of taqiyya, or precautionary dissimulation, and challenge traditional categories of religious identity in South Asia. Taqiyya is normally practiced by minority or otherwise disadvantaged groups of Muslims who fear negative repercussions should their real faith become known. Historically, the Shī'a, whether Ithnā-'asharī or Ismaili, have commonly dissimulated as Sunnīs, who form the dominant community. However, the Guptīs, who are followers of the Ismaili imam, and whose name means "secret" or "hidden ones," dissimulate not as Sunnī Muslims, but as Hindus. The Guptī practice of taqiyya is exceptional for another reason: Hinduism is not simply a veil used to avoid harmful consequences, but forms an integral part of the Guptīs' belief system and identity, and the basis of their conviction in the Aga Khan, not only as the imam, but as the avatāra of the current age.


OBJECTIVES
The aims of this study were firstly to examine patient demographics, lesion types and referral sources to Cork University Dental School and Hospital (CUDSH) for oral medicine services and secondly, to indicate factors that could improve the efficiency of the service provided.

METHODS
A retrospective analysis of the clinical records for all new patients, both public and private, seen in the CUDSH oral medicine unit (n = 412) in the calendar year 2007 was undertaken. For each patient the following parameters were recorded: age, gender, residence, referral source and the reason for referral including site of lesion.

RESULTS
The majority of patients were females and the majority of referrals came from general dental practitioners. The most common reason for referral was due to concern about white lesions. Raised soft tissue lesions including epuli and mucocoeles were second and ulceration, including recurrent aphthous and traumatic ulceration, was the third most common reason for referral.

CONCLUSIONS
To our knowledge this is the first study to investigate factors influencing referrals to oral medicine clinics in Ireland. Based on the results presented there appears to be a considerable demand for an oral medicine service dealing with oral lesions and conditions which other practitioners consider to be outside the scope of their practice. Studies of this nature should prove to be valuable in maximising hospital resources at a time when economic factors are leading to increased financial pressure in health care funding.


An overly simplistic but nonetheless useful model is employed to explore basic attributes of field ionization detection. The base cross-sectional detection area of a field ionization tip is set by a centrifugal barrier: molecules impinging at too high a velocity or too large an impact parameter cannot reach the tip and therefore cannot be ionized. For those that do reach the tip, the probability of ionization depends critically on whether they lose sufficient energy on their initial impact to be captured in the polarization field of the tip. Capture is enhanced if the tip radius lies well within the centrifugal barrier and the impinging species is highly polarizable. Scaling relations are developed within the context of this model, allowing recent measurements of field ionization yields to be assessed.


The chemometric analysis of Raman spectra of biological materials is hampered by spectral variations due to the instrumental setup that overlay the subtle biological changes of interest. Thus, an established statistical model may fail when applied to Raman spectra of samples acquired with a different device. Therefore, model transfer strategies are essential. Herein we report a model transfer approach based on extended multiplicative signal correction (EMSC). As opposed to existing model transfer methods, the EMSC based approach does not require group information on the secondary data sets, thus no extra measurements are required. The proposed model-transfer approach is a preprocessing procedure and can be combined with any method for regression and classification. The performance of EMSC as a model transfer method was demonstrated with a data set of Raman spectra of three Bacillus bacteria spore species ( B. mycoides, B. subtilis, and B. thuringiensis), which were acquired on four Raman spectrometers. A three-group classification by partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) with leave-one-device-out external cross-validation (LODCV) was performed. The mean sensitivities of the prediction on the independent device were considerably improved by the EMSC method. Besides the mean sensitivity, the model transferability was additionally benchmarked by the newly defined numeric markers: (1) relative Pearson's correlation coefficient and (2) relative Fisher's discriminant ratio. We show that these markers have led to consistent conclusions compared to the mean sensitivity of the classification. The advantage of our defined markers is that the evaluation is more effective and objective, because it is independent of the classification models.