This article deals with a new approach to the wildfires legal framework in the European Union. Although the former European norms tackled this subject from a partial point of view, new experiences show that an integrative approach is needed. In fact, all the European institutions agree in relation with the need to advance towards a global and general regulation. So this article tries to explain how the European institutions can base their competences to approve a Framework Directive which should implement tools and instruments in several topics as environment, forest management, land planning and civil protection, all linked to a preventive and extinctive fire management system. The main problems to solve this question have to do with two points. First of all, it is indispensable to justify the competences conferred to the European institutions to regulate in all the subjects mentioned above. Secondly, it is also necessary to give reasons for explaining how the European Community can act in relation with a problem with such wide ranging effects across Europe, and how that new common approach could fulfill the subsidiarity principle.


This study aimed to determine the services received by the taxpayers on real property revenue in Talavera, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. It utilized a descriptive method of research and focused on the modes of payment utilized by 127 respondents and the challenges they've encountered in paying their taxes. Results of the study show that majority of the taxpayers were females in the age bracket of 41-50 years old, married, Roman Catholics, college degree holders working in the local government units with a monthly income between P10,000.00 to P19,999.00 ($200 to less than $400) and are good taxpayers. Their modes of payment were through technological devices such as cellular phones. The high amount of real tax revenue, penalties, excessive collections, and increasing taxes were the most common challenges encountered by the taxpayers. They are in favor of paying the taxes semi-annually. Based on the conclusions of the study the following recommendations were offered: Continuing awareness and education about the income tax returns collections in the whole town must be prioritized and the participation and collaborations of the church and local government in revenue collections as social and moral obligations of responsible Filipino citizen must be strengthened. Keywords— Awareness, evaluation, mode of payment, real property taxpayers, revenue.


Over the past decades, the banking sector has undergone tremendous transformation, and its performance is subject to increasingly important factors. Among these factors, political power and economic freedom which are the subject of our paper. This paper presents a theoretical examination of the fundamentals and the intervention mechanisms of political power. Then a presentation of the different perceptive of economic freedom and the different dimensions of banking performance. Finally, an empirical study is settle down for the Tunisian banking sector, first by a descriptive study then an econometric study. An econometric analysis using panel data by the Generalised Least Squares  (GLS) method was carried out,   on a sample that covers 6 Tunisian commercial banks, three state owned banks and three private banks that account for 70% (= 68.8%) of  the outstanding deposits. The banks studied are banks listed on the Tunisian Stock Exchange (BVMT). Our sample therefore includes the main commercial banks in Tunisia during the period 2008-2018. The dependent variable retained in our model is the return on assets "ROA". This variable presents the banks performance in our paper  and we will be testing the effect of both political power and economic freedom on it. We empirically confirm the existence of an important relationship between political power and the performance of Tunisian banks. Indeed, banking performance improves by the decrease of political power existance d in the sector. On the other hand, we empirically demonstrated that economic freedom has no significant effect on banking performance in Tunisia. But, it remains important to point out the existence of a strong significance between banking performance and other variables of the chosen econometric model hence the need for further academic work.


Reptile footprints occur in the Sloan Canyon Formation of the Dockum Group in the Cimarron Valley of northeastern New Mexico. Forms represented include ?Anomoepus, possibly an early ornithischian dinosaur; cf. Anchisauripus hitchcocki, a small coelurosaurian dinosaur; and Rhynchosauroides [Akropus], probably a sphenodontid rhynchocephalian or a lizard. No bones of lacertoid reptiles or undoubted ornithischians from the American Late Triassic have yet been described. The Sloan Canyon fauna compares with the Brunswick faunas of the Newark Group in eastern North America, Rhynchosauroides [Collettosaurus] palmatus (Lull) [= Eurichnus jenseni Lull] from the Chugwater of Wyoming, R. [Kintneria] brunswickii (Ryan and Willard) [ = orthodactylus howelli Bock] from the Brunswick of Pennsylvania, and R. Chirotherium] peabodyi (Faber) from the Muschelkalk of the Netherlands are redescribed for comparison.


Abstract: Megalobatrachonema papuaensis n. sp. (Ascaridida: Kathlaniidae) from the small intestine of Fojia bumui (Squamata: Scincidae) collected in Papua New Guinea is described and illustrated. Megalobatrachonema papuaensis represents the first species from the Australian realm and the third species assigned to the genus. It is distinguished from other species of Megalobatrachonema by the distribution pattern of caudal papillae (8 precloacal, 10 postcloacal, and 1 median), length of spicules (201–226 µm), and absence of a pseudosucker.


Most cognitive theories agree that a listener of a sports broadcast on radio usually imagines the scene described; the concept `mental image' appears in a specific sort of explanations. In contrast to this conception, it is argued that this concept should rather be understood as part of a certain kind of grounding explanations of the radio listener's understanding. This particular conception is based on the distinction between `specification' and `implementation' as found in the theory of abstract data types. Its application to the field of spatial concepts leads to a computational system (ANTLIMA) which exemplifies how the expression `mental image' could be used while explaining a speaker's ability to control the resolvability of ambiguities in an objective report of what the speaker sees.


A 50-year-old male patient visited for further evaluation of arterial enhancing nodules in cirrhotic liver. Computed tomography (CT) scan revealed vaguely nodular, arterial phaseenhancing nodules at segment 8 of the liver with cirrhotic background. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed four small nodules with early work-up enhancement in arterial phase and rapid washout. Angiography showed hypervascular nodular stains. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was diagnosed according to the noninvasive diagnostic criteria for HCC. A positron emission tomography (PET) scan was done for staging work-up, and increased uptake was noted in rectum. Subsequently, sigmoidoscopy revealed an ulceroinfiltrative lesion encircling the lumen of the rectosigmoid junction. Laparoscopic low anterior resection with wedge resection of liver was done, suspecting concurrent primary tumors of the rectum and liver. Pathologic examination demonstrated moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma in both rectum and liver, suggesting metastatic rectal carcinoma. The present case indicates that metastatic carcinoma as well as HCC should be considered in the differential diagnosis of irregularly enhancing small nodules even in high-risk patient group for HCC.


Pharmacogenetics studies how genetic variation influences the response of patients to drugs. This discipline has a greater impact in those medical specialties that treat complex diseases in which the therapeutic response is insufficient and/or have high costs such as psychiatry. This is a narrative review in which we analyze the main results of pharmacogenetic studies performed with the most relevant groups of psychoactive drugs and discusses missing for incorporating these advances into our daily practice. We conclude that despite the remarkable progress in the field of Pharmacogenetics in the last 10 years, studies in psychiatry have been inconclusive and the clinical use of pharmacogenetic testing is still limited. However, there are some encouraging elements about the applicability of these tools for the improvement of psychiatric treatments.


Automatic speech recognition (ASR) is a technology that allows a computer and mobile device to recognize and translate spoken language into text. ASR systems often produce poor accuracy for the noisy speech signal. Therefore, this research proposed an ensemble technique that does not rely on a single filter for perfect noise reduction but incorporates information from multiple noise reduction filters to improve the final ASR accuracy. The main factor of this technique is the generation of K-copies of the speech signal using three noise reduction filters. The speech features of these copies differ slightly in order to extract different texts from them when processed by the ASR system. Thus, the best among these texts can be elected as final ASR output. The ensemble technique was compared with three related current noise reduction techniques in terms of CER and WER. The test results were encouraging and showed a relatively decreased by 16.61% and 11.54% on CER and WER compared with the best current technique. ASR field will benefit from the contribution of this research to increase the recognition accuracy of a human speech in the presence of background noise.


Study Design: case series. Objective: The restoration of defects in a single procedure with microvascular free flap reconstruction has become a mainstay of head and neck surgery. Yet in patients with complex defects and pre-existing comorbid medical conditions, a staged-reconstructive approach can enhance the safety of the procedure and improve the patient's outcome. Methods: We present 3 representative case examples of a larger series of patients who underwent reconstruction of major defects and discuss the usefulness of a staged-reconstructive approach in the management of complex patients. Results: All 3 patients, with an existing composite defect in the setting of prior radiation therapy, underwent successful staged-reconstructive surgery using a variety of free tissue and regional flap transfers. Conclusions: A staged approach facilitates the reconstruction of complex composite defects, increases vessel availability, and mitigates the risk of flap failure. Although this approach commits the patient to multiple procedures and a more prolonged plan of care, it is preferable to 1 operation in specific complex situations with adverse, high-risk clinical features.


Background: Tongue examination helps considerably in diagnosing the underlying health state of the patient, especially in the cases of chronic diseases. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and association of tongue lesions with risk factors among Yemeni dental patients. Materials and methods: An oral medicine specialist examined all 713 patients attending the dental polyclinics at the University of Sciences and Technology (Sana'a, Yemen). The examination sheet was designed to include information related to patient characteristics, medical history, dental history, habits, and tongue lesions. Results: The prevalence of tongue lesions among the examined participants was 76.5%. The prevalence rate was 83.4% for males and 69.2% for females. Fissured tongue was the most common condition. Logistic regression analysis indicated that older age (p<0.001), gender (p=0.007), khat chewing (p<0.001), and smoking (p=0.001) were associated with fissured tongue; gender (p<0.001), khat chewing (p<0.001), and smoking (p<0.001) were associated with hairy tongue; and older age (p<0.001), khat chewing (p=0.001), and smoking (p=.021) were associated with coated tongue. Conclusion: The prevalence of tongue lesions among this sample of Yemeni population was 76.5%; fissured tongue and hairy tongue were the most prevalent lesions. Khat chewing, smoking, and older age were the associated risk factors for many of studied lesions and anomalies.


The article compiles all in situ finds of magical bricks, which were placed in niches around the body inside the grave that are known so far. It is demonstrated that the text of the ritual described in the Book of the Dead spell 151 is not put to practice exactly as written. The archaeological evidence shows an entirely different approach by the ancient priests, who used the bricks in a more practical way rather than following the strict instructions described in BD 151.


In recent years, deep learning has emerged as a highly active research field, achieving great success in various machine learning areas, including image processing, speech recognition, and natural language processing, and now rapidly becoming a dominant tool in biomedicine [...].


Prevention of widespread diseases can make an important contribution to improving the quality of human life. Furthermore, disease prevention can serve to avoid future demands for medical rehabilitation due to demographic change. In this paper, a literature review on the state of the art in disease prevention through machine learning will be presented first. Subsequently, it was concluded that no previous applications have focused on determining the extent of the influencing factors on the risk of disease and thus identifying preventive measures to reduce the risk of disease. To address this research gap, this paper presents a concept for generating a personalized prediction model for a given disease, using machine learning algorithms for the automated analysis of a wide range of input data. To realize this concept, an assistance system is implemented be presented, which includes prediction models for the three diseases cold, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia to determine disease risks and preventive measures. After entering the user's health data, the assistance system determines the risk for each disease and the preventive measures to reduce the disease risks. Thereafter, the evaluation of the assistance system is presented by testing it on 5 people who used it daily for 4 months.


The concentration of oestrone sulphate was determined in plasma as well as in urine to verify early pregnancy in pigs (within 24-29 days after mating). The threshold level in plasma was 0.70 ngr/ml. and in urine 50 ngr/ml. Accuracy was ninety-nine per cent in samples of plasma and ninety-two per cent in samples of urine respectively.


To determine the ability of semiconductors templated by α-helical polypeptides to form higher order structures and the charge carrier properties of the supramolecular assemblies, L-lysine was functionalized with a sexithiophene organic semiconductor unit via iterative Suzuki coupling and the click reaction. The resultant amino acid was incorporated into a homopolypeptide by ring-opening polymerization of an amino acid N-carboxyanhydride. Spectroscopic investigation of the polypeptide revealed that it adopted an α-helical secondary structure in organic solvents that underwent hierarchical self-assembly to form higher order structures. In cyclohexane, the polymer formed organogels at 2% (w/v). Organic photovoltaic and organic field effect transistor devices were fabricated by deposition of the PCBM blended active layer from chlorobenzene at concentrations shown to induce self-assembly of the polymer. Compared with control compounds, these devices showed significantly greater hole mobility, short circuit current, and efficiency. This work establishes the potential of this previously unreported bioinspired motif to increase device performance.


This study was conducted to evaluate growth performance, carcass characteristics, haematological parameters and cost effectiveness in broilers fed self-formulated and four commercial diets as coded T1 (Control diet), T2, T3, T4 and T5. A total of 220 Anak 2000 broiler chicks were allotted to five dietary treatments with 44 birds per diet and 11 birds per replicate in a completely randomized design. Feed and water were supplied ad libitum and the experiment lasted for 49 days. The daily feed intake (53.00 – 75.55 g), daily weight gain (26.73 – 43.36 g), feed conversion ratio (1.69 – 2.29) and mortality (4 - 14) were significantly affected by the dietary treatments (P 0.05) by the treatments. However, significant (P < 0.05) variations were observed in plucked weight (1.22-1.69 kg), eviscerated weight (1.13-1.59 kg), carcass weight (1.12-1.48 kg) and relative weight of pancreas (0.15-0.31%) as a proportion of live weight. The relative weight of head, spleen, and abdominal fat also differ (P<0.05) among the diets. Most of the haematological parameters studied were within the normal range and were similar except white blood cell (2.18-3.28%) which was significantly affected (P < 0.01) by the dietary treatment. The feed cost per kilogram gained ranged between N124.67 – N190.29 ($0.86 – 1.31) with the lowest value obtained for the self-formulated diet which proved to be most economical. Keywords : Carcass yield, Economy, Gut weight, Performance, Poultry feeds


In this paper we describe our work on improved management of middleware. We argue that a component-based approach to design of middleware results in greatly enhanced and easily extensible management capabilities. As a proof of concept, we present our re-engineered, component-based version of JOnAS, an open-source J2EE server. We describe how we have redesigned and reimplemented JOnAS using fractal, a novel component model that provides flexible control capabilities and hierarchical composition. Next we show how such adaptation allows us to enhance the management functionalities, and in particular how it allows building management systems for both centralized and distributed environments. We mainly focus on the configuration and deployment functionalities we have developed for J2EE servers in a cluster environment.


Given the complexity related to deepwater drilling with narrow operational windows, any effort to increase the confidence on the safety guidelines should be encouraged. There are many procedures in MPD operations that can be verified and validated during the operations, in order to avoid unforeseen situations.
 As initiatives to optimize the drilling process in real time are extremely important, the present study focuses on the development of specific methodologies to support MPD operations, which are implemented on a real time drilling diagnosis software [5].
 It is very useful to review the drilling plan in various situations. With the use of MPD monitoring module is possible to obtain, from the DPPT (Dynamic Pore Pressure Test) and DFIT (Dynamic Formation Integrity Test) procedures, more precise values to compose the operating window. As a consequence of appliying it together with precise hydraulics, cutting transport and torque and drag models, the developed methodology proposes, as output, the ideal operating parameters, such as choke pressure, pump flow rate or adjustments related to the drilling fluid properties. The methodology always considers the best approach to meet the restrictions imposed by the operational window, avoiding drilling problems. Alternatively, if a change on the operating parameters is not sufficient, it also simulates the best position for the Anchor Point.
 The developed methodology was successfully applied in a number of MPD wells recently drilled in distinct deepwater locations, in Brazil. The real time optimization procedures proposed in the present paper are a further step to ensure the reliability of MPD operations in challenging scenarios, aiming enhanced efficiency and safety.


Background: This study aimed to prospectively record changes to treatment for early breast cancer patients during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.  The purpose was to assess the impact on breast cancer outcomes and to determine the need for any mitigative actions.

Methods: The study was conducted in the breast cancer unit of a tertiary referral hospital. Consecutive patients with invasive cancer or ductal cancer in situ (DCIS) discussed in multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings three times a week between March and June 2020 were included. Patients were newly diagnosed, post-operative or post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Standard treatment was defined by Westmead Breast Cancer Institute protocols and any variations related to the pandemic were recorded.

Results:145 patients were included (median age 59 years). Pandemic related changes to management were noted in 13 of 145 (9·0%) patients discussed in the MDT meeting. Four patients experienced a delay to cancer treatments, four were not offered reconstructive/symmetrisation surgical procedures, three had altered radiotherapy protocols and two patients were not offered enrolment to a clinical trial. These impacts affected the groups presenting with new cancers (n=7/86, 8·1%), post-operative cases (n=4/25, 16·0%) and  post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy cases presenting for surgical planning (n=2/34, 5·9%).

Conclusion: Most patients (91·0%)  received standard treatment during the first wave of the pandemic. Variations from institutional protocols are not expected to affect local control or survival in this patient cohort and no mitigative actions have been implemented. Quality of life may have been affected for four patients who had downgraded or delayed reconstructive procedures. Institutional strategies such as utilising telemedicine and COVID-free facilities were successfully implemented within the study period.

Trial Registration: The study was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry
(ACTRN12620000869976).

Funding Statement: None.

Declaration of Interests: RH has participated in advisory boards for AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Merck, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Novartis, Oncosec, Pfizer, Roche and Seagen; and has received speaker honoraria from Merck Sharp and Dohme, Novartis and Roche. EE has participated in advisory board for Merck Sharp and Dohme. There are no conflicts of interests to declare for the other authors.

Ethics Approval Statement: Approval was obtained from the Sydney West Human Research Ethics
Committee (Project ID 2020/PID00900).


We obtain a generally covariant conservation law of energy-momentum for gravitational anyons by the general displacement transform. The energy-momentum currents also have superpotentials and are therefore identically conserved. It is shown that for Deser's solution and Clément's solution, the energy vanishes. The reasonableness of the definition of energy-momentum may be confirmed by the solution for pure Einstein gravity, which is a limit of vanishing Chern-Simons coupling of gravitational anyons.


From a retrospective study carrying on 8 patients operated for sporadic parathyroid adenoma, we underline the place of medical imagery which allowed the detection of parathyroid adenoma in 7 cases. For all our patients the exploration of thyroid space was bilateral, seeking parathyroid glands. The authors discuss the stages and the various processes of the surgical strategy for parathyroid glands' exploration.


Building on the resource-based perspective, we analyze the combined effects of two highly-valued organizational resources, namely IT capabilities and HRM capabilities, on the competitive performance of SMEs. Three resource configurations are derived from data on 227 SMEs (121 manufacturing SMEs, 106 service SMEs) through a cluster analysis: "IT Capabilities-Dominant Configuration" (ITC), "E-Business Capabilities-Dominant Configuration" (EBC), and "HRM Capabilities-Dominant Configuration" (HRC). HRC is the best-performing one, followed by EBC, and ITC is the worst-performing. The results show that manufacturing and service firms are very unevenly distributed within HRC and ITC configurations, suggesting notable differences between the two sectors regarding their respective IT and non-IT capability-building. The fact that service SMEs are overwhelmingly represented (93%) in the worstperforming configuration and completely absent (0%) in the most effective configuration while displaying the strongest IT infrastructure capabilities confirms that the IT productivity paradox is aggravated in service SMEs and calls for further investigation.


In contrast to most organs, the anatomy of the liver may allow naive CD8(+) T cells to make direct contact with liver parenchymal cells. We have previously shown, using a combination of TCR transgenic T cells specific for H-2 K(b) and hepatocytes expressing a transgenic H-2 K(b) molecule, that hepatocytes can induce antigen-specific activation and proliferation of naive CD8(+) T cells independently of CD28 co-stimulation. However, T cell activation by hepatocytes leads to premature T cell death and tolerance, both in vivo and in vitro. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms of T cell death induced by hepatocytes in vitro using primary hepatocytes to activate purified CD8(+) T cells. Neither Fas nor tumor necrosis factor receptor were involved, indicating that hepatocyte- induced death was distinct from activation-induced cell death. Before they started to divide, T cells activated by hepatocytes expressed lower levels of the bcl-x(L) survival gene and 30 times less IL-2 mRNA than CD8(+) cells activated by splenic antigen-presenting cells. Since CD28 co-stimulation increases both IL-2 and bcl-x(L) expression, this suggests that hepatocyte-activated T cells die by neglect because they fail to receive effective co-stimulatory signals. In agreement with this model, premature death promoted by hepatocytes could be prevented by cross-linking CD28. Survival after CD28 cross-linking correlated with increased IL-2 and bcl-x(L) expression, and sustained T cell proliferation, while cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity was prolonged as compared with cells stimulated without CD28 co-stimulation. This study confirms that high- affinity TCR transgenic antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells can be activated to proliferate and differentiate into cytotoxic effector cells. However, prolonged T cell survival and cytotoxicity required CD28 co-stimulation as well. To our knowledge, this is the first report suggesting that tolerance in the context of lack of CD28 co-stimulation can result from Fas-independent peripheral deletion rather than from anergy.


Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term disease that leads to inflammation of the joints and other organs. Adherence is essential to achieve the two main goals of RA treatment which are lowering disease activity and decreasing radiological progression. Objective: Our study aimed to measure rheumatoid arthritis patients' adherence to treatment and factors affecting it. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on 159 rheumatoid arthritis patients attending rheumatology clinic at Zagazig university Hospitals using 8 items Morisky scale to assess their adherence to treatment and a structured questionnaire to assess barriers to their adherence. Results: There is a significant inverse correlation between adherence to treatment and both the age of rheumatoid patients and duration of disease and significant direct correlation with the educational level of patients. There is significant difference between the low and high adherence groups regarding loss of social support, medication cost, medication's side effects, medication's bad taste and long term therapy. Conclusion and recommendations: The existence of medication related factors as barriers to adherence necessitate more efforts from health care system to introduce low cost and more effective drugs with fewer side effects to increase patients' adherence to treatment.


Empirical tests of the resource dispersion hypothesis (RDH), a theory to explain group living based on resource heterogeneity, have been complicated by the fact that resource patch dispersion and richness have proved difficult to define and measure in natural systems. Here, we studied the ecology of African lions Panthera leo in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, where waterholes are prey hotspots, and where dispersion of water sources and abundance of prey at these water sources are quantifiable. We combined a 10-year data set from GPS-collared lions for which information of group composition was available concurrently with data for herbivore abundance at waterholes. The distance between two neighboring waterholes was a strong determinant of lion home range size, which provides strong support for the RDH prediction that territory size increases as resource patches are more dispersed in the landscape. The mean number of herbivore herds using a waterhole, a good proxy of patch richness, determined the maximum lion group biomass an area can support. This finding suggests that patch richness sets a maximum ceiling on lion group size. This study demonstrates that landscape ecology is a major driver of ranging behavior and suggests that aspects of resource dispersion limit group sizes.


Low permeability and complexities of rock formation in tight gas reservoirs make it more complicated to predict well
production performance and estimate gas recovery. To produce from the unconventional reservoirs in the case that formation
rock is not sensitive to damage caused by liquid invasion, hydraulic fracturing is the most common stimulation treatment to
improve the production to the excepted economically rate. In term of reservoir geometry, tight sand formations are normally
consisted by the stacks of isolated lenses of sand bodies that are separated by impermeable layers (e.g. shale). Each sand lens
varies in shape and size and acts as a trap for original hydrocarbon accumulations. The sand lenses parameters such as length
and width can play important role in controlling gas recovery from hydraulically fractured tight gas reservoirs.
This study shows the effect of drainage pattern of the lenticular sand bodies on production performance, gas in place (GIP)
estimation using P/Z vs Gp method, and ultimate gas recovery in tight gas formations. Numerical simulation approaches are
used in order to understand the effect of hydraulic fracture parameters and also attribution of sand lens size and shape to the
drainage pattern and gas recovery in hydraulically fractured tight sand gas reservoirs.
The results highlighted that in tight gas reservoirs, sand lens size in the direction perpendicular to hydraulic fracture wings
has the major impact on gas recovery. Drainage of gas from the reservoirs is controlled by the sand lens width, and the size of
sand lenses in the direction parallel to the hydraulic fracture wings does not have significant effect on gas recovery. The
drainage area of the tight gas reservoirs is limited to the area perpendicular to the hydraulic fractures wings, and therefore P/Z
vs Gp method may underestimate the value of GIP calculated for the lenticular/elliptical shape sand lenses.


A new lean combustion process for internal combustion engines has been developed. This newly devised combustion system, designated as "Active Thermo-Atmosphere Combustion" (ATAC), differs from conventional gasoline and diesel engine combustion processes. ATAC can be applied most easily to two-stroke cycle gasoline engines. Stable combustion can be achieved with lean mixtures at part-throttle operation. With ATAC the fuel consumption and exhaust emissions of two-stroke cycle spark-ignition engines are remarkably improved, and noise and vibration are reduced.


Carnitine transporters have recently been implicated in susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Because carnitine is required for β‐oxidation, it was suggested that decreased carnitine transporters, and hence reduced carnitine uptake, could lead to impaired fatty acid oxidation in intestinal epithelial cells, and to cell injury. We investigated this issue by examining the expression of the carnitine transporters OCTN2 and ATB0+, and butyrate metabolism in colonocytes in a rat model of IBD induced by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS). We found that Octn2 and Atb0+ expression was decreased in inflammatory samples at translational and functional level. Butyrate oxidation, evaluated based on CO2 production and acetylcoenzyme A synthesis, was deranged in colonocytes from TNBS‐treated rats. Treatment with carnitine‐loaded liposomes corrected the butyrate metabolic alterations in vitro and reduced the severity of colitis in vivo. These results suggest that carnitine depletion in colonocytes is associated with the inability of mitochondria to maintain normal butyrate β‐oxidation. Our data indicate that carnitine is a rate‐limiting factor for the maintenance of physiological butyrate oxidation in colonic cells. This hypothesis could also explain the contradictory therapeutic efficacy of butyrate supplementation observed in clinical trials of IBD.—D'Argenio, G., Calvani, M., Casamassimi, A., Petillo, O., Margarucci, S., Rienzo, M., Peluso, I., Calvani, R., Ciccodicola, A., Caporaso, N., and Peluso, G. Experimental colitis: decreased Octn2 and Atb0+ expression in rat colonocytes induces carnitine depletion that is reversible by carnitine‐loaded liposomes. FASEB J. 20, E1878–E1889 (2006)


We briefly discuss how to set-up our Hitachi HF-2000 transmission electron microscope for medium magnification holography. Then we apply this technique to examine the activation of an as-doped wafer by annealing. We also present voltage profiles of the source-drain region of a CMOS transistor with 75 nm gate architecture taken from an off-the-shelf Intel PIII processor. Special attention is given to the analysis of the reconstructed holograms. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2004.119]


A shortcut to adiabaticity is a recipe for generating adiabatic evolution at an arbitrary pace. Shortcuts have been developed for quantum, classical and (most recently) stochastic dynamics. A shortcut might involve a counterdiabatic (CD) Hamiltonian that causes a system to follow the adiabatic evolution at all times, or it might utilize a fast-forward (FF) potential, which returns the system to the adiabatic path at the end of the process. We develop a general framework for constructing shortcuts to adiabaticity from flow fields that describe the desired adiabatic evolution. Our approach encompasses quantum, classical and stochastic dynamics, and provides surprisingly compact expressions for both CD Hamiltonians and FF potentials. We illustrate our method with numerical simulations of a model system, and we compare our shortcuts with previously obtained results. We also consider the semiclassical connections between our quantum and classical shortcuts. Our method, like the FF approach developed by previous authors, is susceptible to singularities when applied to excited states of quantum systems; we propose a simple, intuitive criterion for determining whether these singularities will arise, for a given excited state.


Stepped leaf edges are the major limitation of conforming to the prescribed treatment contour defined by the conventional multileaf collimator (MLC), which produces a scalloped dose pattern. The commercial HD-270 MLC (HDI) technique provides a software solution of the conventional MLC to achieve smoothed edge and optimal penumbra of the MLC shaped field. We implemented the HDI functionality on a 3D treatment planning system and compared the dosimetric effects of the HDI delivery in simulation with those in experiment for a number of the MLC fields. The fields from the contour of varied shapes with different sizes of the leaf stepping were tested for the HDI delivery. There is a good agreement of the dose distribution between the calculation as implemented in the planning system and the measurement performed on the treatment machine. It has been shown that the HDI delivery significantly smooths the stepped field edge with the reduced isodose undulation and effective penumbra. A problem may be present when the HDI is applied for the treatment of the circular contour of smaller diameter, and the conformity of the MLC shaping may not be achievable satisfactorily with the existing system. The optimization of leaf configuration is suggested to improve the conformity of the HDI technique. The HDI planning then can be used to assist in the decision making of applying the HDI treatment delivery.


The author reveals the leading role of the French argot in the Arabic vocabulary borrowing and in the formation of meanings, with which it is used, becoming a part of the French popular language, analyzes the words of Arabic origin, functioning today in the youth slang of France, and provides the evidence that these words may eventually move from the sphere of limited use into the popular French language.


During the first three months of the project, the emphasis has been on the following areas: (1) Design of the apparatus and development of the experimental techniques for the controlled adsorption of alkali on potential additives. (2) Development of techniques for the quantitative and qualitative characterization of alkali distribution in small additive particles using Scanning Auger Spectroscopy. The preliminary experiments of the adsorption of NaCl on bauxite shows a very non-uniform distribution of alkali on the substrate. The chorine appears to undergo some form of chemical interaction with alumina surface. An optimum set of electron beam parameters are found for which the alkali distribution is stable during Auger Spectroscopy and depth profiling by ion milling.


Background: Treatment with interferon-beta (IFN-beta) increases B-cell activating factor of the TNF family (BAFF) expression in multiple sclerosis (MS), raising the concern that treatment of MS patients with IFN-beta may activate autoimmune B cells and stimulate the production of MS-associated autoantibodies. Objective: To investigate whether BAFF levels are associated with disease severity/activity in untreated MS patients, and to assess the effect of IFN-beta therapy on circulating BAFF and anti-myelin basic protein (MBP) autoantibody levels. Results: Twenty-three patients with relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) were followed longitudinally from initiation of IFN-beta therapy. Their blood levels of BAFF correlated positively at baseline with the expanded disability status scale (p < 0.009) and MS severity score (p < 0.05), but not with disease activity as determined by the number of gadolinium-enhanced lesions. The patients were followed for up to 26 months, during which the BAFF levels remained elevated without association to increased disease activity. IFN-beta therapy caused an increase in plasma BAFF levels after both 3 and 6 months of therapy (p < 0.002). However, an 11% decrease in IgM and a 33% decrease in IgG anti-MBP autoantibodies (p < 0.09 and p < 0.009, respectively) was observed after 6 months. Conclusion: Pre-treatment BAFF levels correlate with high disability scores in MS, suggesting that high BAFF expression is a negative prognostic marker. Despite its known beneficial effects, IFN-beta therapy causes a sustained increase in plasma BAFF levels, which does not translate into increased levels of anti-MBP autoantibodies.


Since June 1986 the DIII‐D tokamak has had over 16 000 discharges accumulating more than 250 Gbytes of raw data (currently over 30 Mbytes per discharge). The centralized DIII‐D databases and the associated support software described earlier provide the means to extract, analyze, store, and display reduced sets of data for specific physics issues. The confinement, stability, transition, and cleanliness databases consist of more than 7500 records of basic reduced diagnostic data datasets. Each database record corresponds to a specific snapshot in time for a selected discharge. Recently some profile datasets have been implemented. Diagnostic data are fit by a cubic spline or a parabola by the in‐house energy code to provide density, temperature, radiated power, effective charge (Zeff), and rotation velocity profiles. These fits are stored in the profile datasets which are inputs for the onetwo code which computes transport data.


We show the existence of topological phases of Bloch insulators with time-reversal symmetry in three dimensions. These phases are characterized by topological ${Z}_{2}$ invariants whose stability is studied using band-touching arguments. Unlike insulators which break time-reveral symmetry, some of these topological phases are intrinsically three dimensional. The number of invariants (four) needed to specify the phase of these insulators also differs from the time-reversal-breaking case. The relation between these phases and the quantum spin Hall effect in three dimensions is investigated.


Abstract As a class of bacteria, mycobacteria other than tuberculosis (MOTT), also known as nontuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM), affect both immunocompetents and immunodeficients. Nonspecific clinical symptoms caused by these bacteria include respiratory diseases, which often results in delayed diagnosis. This article discusses the spread, diagnosis, symptoms, and treatment of MOTT in the world. In view of the fact that NTM are prevalent in the environment, their isolation from the upper respiratory system of the respiratory tract does not necessarily indicate an active infection. To make an accurate diagnosis, clinical, radiographic, and microbiological factors must be considered. Clinical symptoms of NTM infection can be difficult to diagnose, even for experienced clinicians, due to their similarity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Based on the determined antibiogram, targeted treatment can be selected based on identification and drug susceptibility of the microorganism. There are a variety of therapeutic options, depending on the pathogen's growth rate. However, it is always important to keep in mind the side effects of the drugs used and to choose the best treatment based on the individual patient's clinical condition.


We propose a novel method for video object proposal to generate sequences of bounding boxes for each object candidate in videos, namely object trajectory proposals. Unlike the image-based methods that produce object proposals independently in each video frame, our method generates temporally consistent proposals in the form of object trajectories, which is crucial for subsequent analysis of object appearance and motion characteristics. Given a video, we extract motion seeds through estimating the outliers of global motion, and generate moving object trajectory proposals from the seeds. By ignoring the motion outliers, we consistently sample bounding boxes with pruning to form static object trajectory proposals. Finally, we rank both the moving and static object trajectory proposals under a unified scoring mechanism. The experimental results show that our method can effectively generate object trajectory proposals and outperform the state-of-the-art methods.


When I had to give up my life to go take care of my elderly parents, both starting to develop dementia, I was so surprised to read that caregivers are often more depressed than those they care for, and that they have a 63 percent higher death rate than their peers. A year later without a day off with my "challenging" elderly father--I was surprised the statistic was that low. Researchers have found that a person who cares for someone with dementia is twice as likely to suffer from depression as someone providing care for a patient without it. And, the more severe the dementia is, the more likely the caregiver is to experience a deeper depression. Since nearly five million people in the United States are afflicted with Alzheimer's disease (just one form of dementia) and 7 out of 10 are being cared for at home by family and friends who provide 75-80 percent of their care--millions of family caregivers are coping with depression or are at great risk of developing it.


Alternative fuels research has been on going for well over many years at a number of institutions. Driven by oil price and consumption, engine emissions and climate change, along with the lack of sustainable fossil fuels, transportation sector has generated an interest in alternative, renewable sources of fuel for internal combustion engines. The focus has ranged from feed stock optimization to engine-out emissions, performance and durability. Biofuels for transportation sector, including alcohols (ethanol, methanol…etc.), biodiesel, and other liquid and gaseous fuels such as methane and hydrogen, have the potential to displace a considerable amount of petroleum-based fuels around the world. First generation biofuels are produced from sugars, starches, or vegetable oils. On the contrary, the second generation biofuels are produced from cellulosic materials, agricultural wastes, switch grasses and algae rather than sugar and starch. By not using food crops, second generation biofuel production is much more sustainable and has a lower impact on food production. Also known as advanced biofuels, the second-generation biofuels are still in the development stage. Combining higher energy yields, lower requirements for fertilizer and land, and the absence of competition with food, second generation biofuels, when available at prices equivalent to petroleum derived products, offer a truly sustainable alternative for transportation fuels. There are main four issues related to alternative fuels: production, transportation, storage, handling and usage. This paper presents a review of recent literature related to the alternative fuels usage and the impact of these fuels on fuel injection systems, and fuel atomization and sprays for both spark-ignition and compression-ignition engines. Effect of these renewable fuels on both internal flow and external flow characteristics of the fuel injector will be presented.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


The influence of opuntia robusta (prickly pear), a traditionally used dietary nutrient against diabetes mellitus among the American Indian population, was examined in 15 young patients suffering from familial heterozygous isolated hypercholesterolemia. Oxidation injury was determined via 8-epi-PGF(2 alpha)in plasma, serum and urine. Daily consumption of 250 g broiled edible pulp of prickly pear had no influence on body weight and body fat composition. Total cholesterol was lowered (P<0.01) as was LDL-cholesterol (P<0.04). No significant changes were observed either in triglycerides or in HDL. Prickly pear induced a significant decrease in plasma (27.9+/-3.3-->25.6+/-3.2;P<0.03), serum (302.0+/-11.4-->283.2+/-14.5;P<0.0003) and urinary (355.9+/-18.4-->323.9+/-16;P<0.00002) 8-epi-PGF(2alpha)values. The findings on a decrease of 8-epi-PGF(2alpha)were more pronounced in females than in males, the highest significance being found in urine, while, in contrast, the effects on total- and LDL-cholesterol were more pronounced in males. A prerunning 4 weeks period of dietary counseling had no significant effect on either of the parameters examined. These findings indicate that the regular ingestion of opuntia robusta is able to significantly reduce in-vivo oxidation injury in a group of patients suffering from familial hypercholesterolemia. This traditional food of the American Indians thus may have a significant cardiovascular benefit.


Darwinian literary analysis is a way to examine texts and arrive at conclusions about evolved human behaviors, motivations, and emotions (Carrol, 1995, 2011). That is, by analyzing texts, it is possible to indirectly analyze human nature. Recently, scholars have examined the works of Jane Austen (Strout, Fisher, Kruger, & Steelworthy, 2010), Harlequin romance novels (Fisher & Cox, 2010), and folktales (Gottschall, Martin, Quish, & Rea, 2004) for this purpose. Although this prior work has been informative, it has only included heterosexual relationships. Symons (1979) noted that lesbian and gay populations are a vital group to gain insight into evolutionary sex differences, as their relationships involve only same sex individuals, thus highlighting dominant female and male mating behaviors. Therefore, in this paper, our primary goal is to analyze lesbian pulp fiction to better comprehend women's evolved mating strategies. We also consider the era that these books were most popular and explore the cultural climate in relation to the characters in the novels. In general, the way the characters are described and their relationship dynamics are consistent gender stereotypes concerning masculine versus feminine women.


This is a review article which aims at presenting andragogy as the science that can orients the education of elderly people, in order to provide theoretical construct to grant nursing consultations to those individuals. For this, its concepts are approached and its assumptions are discussed, based in the six premises elaborated by Malcolm Knowles. This article starts from an extended vision of elderly, in which the mission of nurse/educator is to help them to develop their potential, considering their social atmosphere, their personal and collective experiences and their expectations. It is believed that nurses can use the andragogy theory, because it is perceived that it presents elements that can be added to the nursing consultation.


Pressure studies of the Shubnikov-de Haas (SDH) effect and high-field magnetisation have been performed at 4.2 K in samples of Cd3-x-yZnyMnxAs2 with various compositions. It appears that the changes induced by pressure in both SDH and magnetisation data are strongly correlated and depend mainly on Mn content. A detailed analysis of experimental results confirms this observation, allowing one to explain the pressure dependence of the SDH patterns by a change of the magnetic properties of the system under the influence of pressure.


Introduction. The short-term (quarterly) forecast of GDP is based on factor variables of the financial and nonfinancial sectors of the economy, indicators of foreign economic activity, indicators of economic activity, etc. Although the statistics of these indicators are available on a monthly basis, but its disclosure comes with a certain lag, and values over time can be reviewed and clarified. These data can be used to estimate the quarterly value of GDP before the official information about its empirical volume is published. Purpose. The article aims to forecast the quarterly real GDP of Ukraine by means of a dynamic factor model on the basis of the quarterly and monthly values of the main social and economic macro indicators of Ukraine. The method (methodology). To achieve the task, we have used the econometric methods of macroeconomic modelling, namely the dynamic factor model, the Kalman filter, the method of the main components, etc. Results. The forecast of GDP of Ukraine for the first two quarters of 2018 has been obtained with the help of a dynamic factor model. On the basis of comparison of the obtained forecast with the empirical values of Ukraine's GDP for the similar period, which is published by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, it has been proven the adequacy of the model and the high quality of the results has been concluded.


Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 45, 2004

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Introduction: The chemokine receptor, CXCR-4 and its ligand, SDF-1 α, have been shown to be involved in angiogenesis and metastasis, and have been suggested to be a potential target for cancer therapeutics. HIV-1 Nef peptides have been shown to have a significant inhibitory effect on vascular endothelium. The SCID mouse serves as an excellent vessel to propagate human colorectal cancer and evaluate the effects of this cytotoxic viral protein, Nef, on its in vivo growth. Methods: Fresh surgical specimens of colorectal cancer were implanted in the subcutaneous tissue or gonad fat pad of SCID mice. The mice were injected intraperitoneally with the standard Nef at doses of 2 mcg biweekly. Injections were started at the time of tumor implantation or one week after implantation. Volumetric measurements and weights were taken weekly. Controls were injected with buffer, Nef (with a scrambled amino acid sequence), or no treatment at all. All experimental groups consisted of 5 mice. Xenografts were taken from each group of mice, treated with CD 31 monoclonal antibody, and stained with dapi to identify vascular endothelium. Similar specimens were also stained with hematoxylin and eosin for light microscopic assessment of vascularity. Results: All mice were sacrificed one month after tumor implantation. Tumor growth was significantly inhibited, by 50-65%, in those mice receiving standard Nef peptide. Vessel density as demonstrated by anti-CD 31 monoclonal antibodies was found to be significantly decreased in the Nef-treated group as compared to the controls. The differences in staining intensity was quantitated and found to be greater in all 3 control groups when compared to the Nef-treated groups. Conclusions: HIV-1 Nef cytotoxic peptide inhibits neovascularization as one of it's mechanism in the cytotoxicity of human colorectal cancer xenografts in SCID mice. Nef demonstrated an ability to inhibit colorectal cancer angiogenesis even when the tumors were allowed implant and invade for a week prior to treatment.


A wealth of historical information on climate and weather exists for the African continent. Documentary information, hydrologic indicators, and rain gauge records have been compiled and combined into a semiquantitative precipitation dataset that extends from 1801 to 1900. That dataset describes "wetness" for 90 regions of Africa, using a seven-category index. A regional gauge dataset for 1901–2000 has been converted to the seven-class system, extending coverage to two centuries. These datasets are available through the Paleoclimate Data Center.


Mandibular symphyseal distraction osteogenesis has recently been introduced as a means of resolving arch length deficiencies in the anterior segment and as a method of reducing large vestibular spaces related to a narrow mandible. Accurately relating the required distraction for a given anterior tooth mass and desired future anteroposterior location of the central incisors has not been possible until recently. The relationship between these 3 controlling factors has been mathematically described by the hyperbolic cosine function and a computer program designed for easy use by the clinician. Two clinical cases illustrate the application of the program. A Web site where the program can be downloaded at no cost is mentioned.


this paper we present new architectures and methods that could be used in order to enable Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) functionalities in Digital Streaming Media. Our methods are extended for both scalable and non-scalable media, and could potentially considerably enhance the user's experience while at the same time reduce the decoding complexity and the network bandwidth required for these applications.


We quantified the relative importance of the precautionary motive in determining savings. Existing empirical evidence suggests that the impact of precautionary savings is small if one uses a subjective (based on self-reported expectations) measure of uncertainty about next year income. However, other studies use more objective (based on income data) methods to proxy for income uncertainty by exploiting life-cycle income variation. These studies find a large effect of precautionary savings. These contradictory results may be either suggestive of methodological shortcomings or the result of institutional differences between countries. We refined the subjective method by taking into account the uncertainty as perceived by the second income earner. We then apply the 'objective' and 'subjective' method to the same data set and obtain similar results: the subjective and objective methods suggest that precautionary savings account for approximately 30% of savings. Copyright 2014 Oxford University Press 2013 All rights reserved, Oxford University Press.


Background: The relationship between C-reactive protein (CRP) and proteinuria is not known. Methods: We examined 20,077 screenees (men: 52.4%) of the Okinawa General Health Maintenance Association (OGHMA) registry who were examined between 2004 and 2006. Cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between CRP and dipstick proteinuria were examined. The OGHMA central laboratory measured creatinine and CRP levels using an autoanalyzer (normal: <0.30 mg/dl). The glomerular filtration rate was estimated using the Japanese formula. Results: The prevalence of dipstick-positive proteinuria increased from 5.2% in screenees with a low CRP level of <0.10 mg/dl to 12.3% in those with high CRP levels (0.30–0.90 mg/dl). The CRP values did not affect the mean (SD) estimated glomerular filtration rate: 76.9 (13.7) with low CRP and 76.4 (15.1) with high CRP levels. We examined the relationship between baseline CRP and the development of proteinuria among subjects screened in 2004. Of 8,315 subjects without proteinuria examined again by 2006, 370 (4.4%) had developed proteinuria. The odds ratio (95% CI) for high CRP levels (0.30–0.90 mg/dl; reference CRP: <0.10 mg/dl) was 1.433 (1.013–2.028; p = 0.0422) after adjusting for multivariate variables, suggesting that CRP is closely associated with the prevalence and incidence of proteinuria. Conclusion: A prospective study on the development of proteinuria among those with high CRP levels is warranted. Screenees with high CRP levels may need to be followed up carefully despite the absence of traditional risk factors for proteinuria.


The authors argue the continuing importance of public service values for journalistic practice and news provision in the emerging context of networked communications. Divergent perspectives regarding the economic viability of news production in for-profit and nonprofit sectors are reviewed, in application to two categories of media organizations: legacy media and digital native media. The authors assess the contemporary situation for news firms in the USA and Europe to arrive at a general understanding. Results suggest the public service ethos in journalism is at risk. This encourages the importance of collaborative efforts on the part of policymakers, news providers, and the academic community to address a complex set of problems in news production and provision today. The article makes a case for preserving historic professional values in journalistic practice but is not focused on the narrower interests of a particular sector or institutional arrangement. The authors encourage developing a comprehensive contemporary news media system to secure ongoing innovation, enhance diversity, and advance quality. The article concludes with actionable proposals regarding media policy, operational partnerships, education, and professionalism.


Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of contact lens materials on the structural properties and to examine ultraviolet (UVA part) and visible (Vis) transmittance with and without UV filters of the commercially available silicone hydrogel (SiHy) and bio-hydrogel (bio-Hy) soft contact lenses (CLs) in vitro.
Place and Duration of Study: Hacettepe University, Department of Physics, Ankara, Turkey, between May 2018 and May 2021.
Methodology:Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectra of CLs were recorded (at removing from its package, after 10 min, 1 h and 1 day at room temperature) in the 4000-650 cm-1region  to  estimate water contents of CLs. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) was performed to differentiate chemical structure of CLs based on the spectral differences. Ultraviolet (UVA) and visible light transmittance of (CLs) was measured in the 315 -800 nm region. Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) analyses were performed to obtain further structural information on nano-scale.
Results: One of the key observations in this study is the large influence of lens water content. The HCA analysis grouped all the CLs of same  brand in same cluster based on their chemical similarity. The UVA transmittance results showed that CLs with UV blockers almost met ClassI and ClassII standards. The size (11.8-39.9 nm) and differences in morphologies of the nano globules were determined and correlated with equilibrium water content (EWC).
Conclusion: This work was designed to explain important characteristics of commercial CLs and results will have implications for future experimental and clinical research regarding hydration/ dehydration experiments with CL polymers.


A detailed multi-zone thermodynamic simulation has been developed for the direct-injection diesel engine combustion process. For the purpose of predicting heterogeneous-type combustion systems, the model explores the formation of pre-ignition radicals, start of combustion (SOC), and eventual heat release (including oxidation of incomplete combustion products). These mechanisms are predicted based on the conceptual model of Dec, which provides complete descriptions for the evolution of a reacting diesel fuel jet. Six zones are developed to take into account the surrounding bulk gas, liquid-phase fuel, vapor-phase fuel, pre-ignition mixing, fuel-rich combustion products, as well as the diffusion flame combustion products. The predicted cylinder pressures and heat release rates are compared to the experimental measurements from a 4.5 l, inline four-cylinder John Deere diesel engine for a range of operating conditions with different engine speeds and loads, and exhaust gas recirculation levels. Specifically, the engine possessed a compression ratio of 16.6, and had a bore and stroke of 106 and 127 mm. The results suggest that the simulation is not only valid under the conventional combustion condition, but also successfully predicts combustion processes under high exhaust gas recirculation level conditions. In particular, the detailed thermodynamics and characteristics with respect to the combustion process are investigated under different exhaust gas recirculation levels.


In drinking water supplies the intake of the toxic heavy metal lead is commonly due to metal corrosion in the peripheral water distribution system, especially the user's plumbing or lead service lines. Recently, the problem again received attention in the United States when testing data of drinking water at schools was published (Renner 2009). In Europe several countries are known to have significant numbers of buildings with elevated lead tap water concentrations, for example, the United Kingdom (Watt et al. 1996), Austria (Haider et al. 2002) and Germany (Becker et al. 2001).

Lead exposure from drinking water has been a topic of public health prevention programs in several parts of Germany before, for example, Hamburg (Fertmann et al. 2004) and Frankfort (Hentschel et al. 1999). In 2005 in the northern German state of Lower Saxony, a prevention program was initiated comprising three different approaches at the same time to achieve a widespread effect. To assess the present state of drinking water contamination with lead, a free examination of lead in tap water (after nocturnal stagnation) was offered in cooperation with local public health departments for private households that included young women and families with children (Zietz et al. 2007, 2009). Along with the collection of data, the program aimed to focus public attention on this public health problem. In another part of this program, data from local public health departments on existing lead measurements, especially in public buildings, were collected and analyzed (Zietz et al. 2007, 2009). Finally, a working group on lead replacement, consisting of representatives of all relevant parties (e.g., tenant and landlord associations, crafts people, building and health administrations) was initiated. In the screening part of the project, a total of 2,901 tap water samples from households were collected during 2005–2007. Of these, 7.5% had lead concentrations > 10 μg/L (recommended limit of the World Health Organization) and 3.3% had concentrations above the present limit of the German drinking water ordinance (25 μg/L) (Zietz et al. 2009). We found remarkable regional differences in the frequency of tap water contamination. An additional inclusion criterion in this study was that buildings must have been constructed before 1974 (after which no new lead pipes were installed); therefore, the results cannot be compared directly to other studies. From the data, we roughly estimated that about 4.7% of all households in Lower Saxony have lead concentrations > 10 μg/L (Zietz et al. 2009). In an earlier study in southern Lower Saxony (Zietz et al. 2001a), households with mothers of newborn babies from the area around the university city of Gottingen were investigated. Of the 1,434 stagnation samples, 3.1% had lead concentrations > 10 μg/L.

A moderately higher percentage of households with elevated composite water samples was found in the geographic area of the city of Berlin using two composite water sampling methods (5.6% and 7.0%, respectively. In total, 2,109 households were tested with both methods in the federal state of Berlin (Zietz et al. 2001b). In a representative study of samples collected in all parts of Germany during 1997–1999 (Becker et al. 2001), the 90th percentile of lead concentrations in 4,761 stagnation samples was 7.6 μg/L.

Projects in association with epidemiologic investigations also provide an opportunity to design prevention programs in this field. Generally, we favor the precautionary measure of preventing exposure to lead by replacing pipes completely. The addition of anticorrosive substances to the public water supply can be effective in lowering lead concentrations. In contrast, changing water chemistry (e.g., a new water disinfectant method, as in Washington, DC, USA) can have a substantial effect in elevating lead (Renner 2009). Flushing the water pipes and using only cold water are short-term methods of decreasing exposure to lead from tap water. Using bench-top water filters can also decrease lead concentrations, but problems such as leaching of different substances into the water or microbial contamination may arise under certain conditions. Thus, lead plumbing material in buildings still poses a challenge for public health in the United States and in Europe.


ABSTRACT Milk contamination by phages, the susceptibility of the phages to pasteurization, and the high levels of resistance to phage infection of starter strains condition the evolution dynamics of phage populations in dairy environments. Approximately 10% (83 of 900) of raw milk samples contained phages of the quasi-species c2 (72%), 936 (24%), and P335 (4%). However, 936 phages were isolated from 20 of 24 (85%) whey samples, while c2 was detected in only one (4%) of these samples. This switch may have been due to the higher susceptibility of c2 to pasteurization (936-like phages were found to be approximately 35 times more resistant than c2 strains to treatment of contaminated milk in a plate heat exchanger at 72°C for 15 s). The restriction patterns of 936-like phages isolated from milk and whey were different, indicating that survival to pasteurization does not result in direct contamination of the dairy environment. The main alternative source of phages (commercial bacterial starters) does not appear to significantly contribute to phage contamination. Twenty-four strains isolated from nine starter formulations were generally resistant to phage infection, and very small progeny were generated upon induction of the lytic cycle of resident prophages. Thus, we postulate that a continuous supply of contaminated milk, followed by pasteurization, creates a factory environment rich in diverse 936 phage strains. This equilibrium would be broken if a particular starter strain turned out to be susceptible to infection by one of these 936-like phages, which, as a consequence, became prevalent.


Background Chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure in obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) is commonly treated with non-invasive ventilation (NIV). We hypothesised that treatment of OHS would improve neural respiratory drive (NRD) and improve cardiac function. Patients and methods A prospective, observational single-centre study was conducted. OHS patients were assessed recording NRD, as measured by the electromyogram of the parasternal intercostals (EMGpara) before, during and after NIV set-up and cardiac function with trans-thoracic echocardiography (TTE) before and after NIV set-up. Follow up appointments were planned at 6-weeks (6W-FU) and 3 Months (3M-FU). The tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) score was used to assess the right ventricular (RV) function and EMGpara%max and neural respiratory drive index (NRDI) were recorded to assess NRD. The Wilcoxon test was used to compare baseline with follow-up results. Results 10 patients (age 55.9 (7.6) years, females 50%, weight 126.6 (29.1) kg, BMI 48.1 (7.5) kg/m2) were studied. 3 patients were non-compliant with NIV. NRDI and EMGpara%maxsignificantly improved following NIV set-up, and this effect was maintained at 3M-FU (EMGpara%max 24.4 (12.9)%, 16.9 (5.4)% and 18.6 (6.5)%, p = 0.028 and p = 0.035; NRDI 480.4 (256.0)/min, 314.7 (125.6)/min and 379.5 (138.0)/min, p = 0.22 and p = 0.012; Figure 1). There were no significant differences in cardiac function between baseline and 3M-FU (TAPSE: 2.6 (0.6) mm vs. 2.4 (0.4) mm, p = 1.00) or systolic pulmonary artery pressures (sPAP 36.7 (15.2) mmHg vs 35.8 (16.2) mmHg, p: 0.50). The TAPSE score in compliant patients seemed to improve (n = 3; 2.3 (0.6) mm vs. 2.7 (0.3) mm) while non compliant patients experienced a deterioration (n = 3; 2.7 (0.5) mm vs. 2.2 (0.4) mm). Conclusions NIV improves NRD and respiratory parameters in patients with OHS. However, cardiac function does not improve over a three-month period despite the significant improvements in ventilation. These results are influenced by treatment adherence. Abstract S56 Figure 1 EMG para%max improves following setup of NIV And at 3 month in OHS: (*): p < 0.05


PURPOSE
To describe the normal anatomic relationships of retinal vessel diameters with optic disc, macula, and retinal nerve fiber layer parameters in young children.

METHODS
This was a population-based, cross-sectional study of 1204 healthy children 6 years of age who were participating in the Sydney Childhood Eye Study. Retinal arteriolar and venular diameters were measured from fundus photographs using standardized computer-based methods. Optical coherence tomography was performed to obtain measurements of the optic disc, macula, and retinal nerve fiber layer parameters.

RESULTS
In multivariate analyses, each standard deviation (SD) decrease in optic disc area was associated with a 0.14-pixel decrease (P = 0.05) in arteriolar diameter and a 0.31-pixel decrease (P < 0.01) in venular diameter. Each SD decrease in optic cup area was associated with a 0.15-pixel decrease (P = 0.05) in arteriolar diameter and a 0.43-pixel decrease (P < 0.01) in venular diameter. Each SD decrease in macular (inner/outer) thickness or volume was associated with a 0.25- to 0.39-pixel decrease (P < 0.01) in arteriolar diameter and a 0.36- to 0.71-pixel decrease (P < 0.01) in venular diameter, and each SD decrease in retinal nerve fiber layer thickness was associated with a 0.62-pixel decrease (P < 0.01) in arteriolar diameter and a 0.99-pixel decrease (P < 0.01) in venular diameter.

CONCLUSIONS
Children's eyes with a smaller optic disc, thinner macula, and thinner retinal nerve fiber layer have narrower retinal vessels. These anatomic relationships may provide new insights into the vascular etiology of various ocular diseases.


The use of a genetic marker in paternity determination has been successful with the ABO blood group system but unsuccessful in dermatoglyphics and palatal rugae because the genetic mechanism is polygenic. The palatal rugae of 17 families (34 parents and 49 children) were classified and recorded, and the data used to construct a statistical analysis system (SAS) cluster map. A positive result would have meant a father clustering with all his children at Level 83, where, in fact, the best result achieved was at Level 5. The best cluster occurred at Level 82 between the ten-year-old boy of Family 7 and the eleven-year-old girl of Family 3. It is thus clear that the palatal rugae cannot be used in a practical procedure to determine paternity.


Photosynthetic dinoflagellates that live in symbiosis with corals (family Symbiodiniaceae) are fundamental for the survival of coral reef ecosystems. During coral bleaching events, it is assumed that these symbionts remain available in the water column, in sediments, or are seeded from unbleached coral colonies. Yet, this hypothesis has not been verified and it remains unclear whether some diversity of Symbiodiniaceae may be lost in the process. Culture methods have been developed for some Symbiodiniaceae, but for the vast majority of these photosynthetic symbionts, known culture methods are not successful at maintaining them for extensive periods. For these unculturable symbionts, cryopreservation, which places cells and tissues in suspended animation for days to decades, offers the best hope for saving the biodiversity of these crucial coral partners. Some cryopreservation processes use slow freezing, but if the cells are sensitive to low temperatures, as is the case for Symbiodiniaceae, then rapid freezing, called vitrification, is needed. We here, tested two published vitrification protocols that had been designed for algal symbionts extracted from Hawaiian corals, but we were unable to recover living symbionts after vitrification and warming. Therefore, we report a successful optimisation of the former vitrification protocols, which we tested on algal symbionts freshly extracted from three Hawaiian coral species, the development of ultra-rapid laser-warming cryopreservation techniques for symbionts, and banking procedures for algal symbionts. We also present some successful uptake of cryopreserved algal symbionts by coral larvae, although at a low rate. It is unclear why the former vitrification protocols failed but we propose that it may have been related to thermal stress and bleaching events that occurred on several occasions throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Maintenance of biodiversity is essential for sustaining functional, productive ecosystems with the adaptability to effectively recover from disturbances. By successfully cryopreserving and banking coral symbionts, we provide a critically needed component for securing Symbiodiniaceae biodiversity into the future.


Since July 2010, Argentina are the position of Latin American vanguard in recognizing the right of same sex couples to civil marriage. In addition to the legitimization of equality in the public sphere between homosexual and heterosexual, the fact implies the subversion of the heteronormative character of marriage and family formation, which creates a demand for change from the perspective of understanding of social relations that rules the bonds of dependency between people forming family units. The transformations in terms of citizenship and queer politics pose challenges to the various social sciences, including by geography. In this effervescent context that we have the honor of interviewing Larry Knopp, one of the most important geographers of contemporary queer theory, questioning what makes his practice on academic space, sexuality and citizenship also a political struggle. Larry Knopp held a doctorate in geography from the University of Iowa in 1989 and is currently director of the School Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at the University of Washington – Tacoma. Larry Knopp has as one of their most frequent partners in the production of numerous articles and book chapters the geographer Michael Brown. Together they have raised challenges involving the geography with social justice, politics and citizenship related to sexuality. From this interview we hope that the ideas of Larry Knopp will spread in the geographical community in Latin America, in order to establish a productive dialogue in various places where there is interest in the approach of Queer Geography.


UNLABELLED
Effect of oat β-glucan on the fermentation of set-style yogurt was investigated by incorporating 0%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, and 0.5% of purified oat β-glucan into the yogurt mix. It was found that levels up to 0.3% resulted in yogurts with quality characteristics similar to the control yogurt. Higher levels of β-glucan however retarded the fermentation process with noticeable difference in the characteristics of the yogurt. Examination of the morphologies of yogurt with and without β-glucan revealed that β-glucan formed aggregates with casein micelle and did not form phase-separated domains. This research demonstrated that β-glucan could be added to yogurt up to 0.3%, which meets the nutrient guidelines, to have added nutritional benefits.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Yogurt is known for its beneficial effects on human health and nutrition. Yogurt production and consumption is increasing in the United States every year. However, it is lacking in β-glucans, which are recognized for their nutritional importance as functional bioactive ingredients. The main objective was to develop and characterize low-fat yogurts with added β-glucan. This research demonstrated that β-glucan could be added to yogurt up to 0.3%, which meets the nutrient guidelines for added nutritional benefits, without affecting the characteristics of yogurt significantly. This study will benefit the dairy industry by generating new products offering healthy alternatives.


Background: Many integrated plastic surgery applicants choose to complete one or more visiting subinternships or "away rotations" at programs outside of their home institution. As these rotations are so critical on both sides of the application process, the authors sought to identify the factors that influence subinternship experiences for plastic surgery applicants. Methods: A survey was used to collect information about demographics, the subinternship experience, and interview preferences. The survey was distributed to current plastic surgery interns and applicants who applied to Duke Plastic Surgery in the 2019/2020 application cycle. Results: One hundred forty-two responses were received (response rate, 35.2 percent). The mean number of subinternships completed was 4.47. The defining feature of respondents' best subinternship most often included engagement from faculty and residents, autonomy, and integration with the team. The worst feature of respondents' worst subinternship experience most often included a sense of disinterested or "malignant" residents and faculty, lacking operative/educational opportunities, and disorganization of the rotation. The majority of applicants (60.3 percent) would prefer to return for a standard interview day over interviewing while on rotation. Conclusions: The subinternship experience remains a critical part of the applicant experience when applying to integrated plastic surgery residency programs. The experience on these rotations leaves a lasting impression that is highly variable and influences future recommendations to peers. Rotating students value inclusivity and case volume, and they take note of negative interactions they witness among residents and faculty. These results can help as programs design their subinternship experience for visiting students in the future.


Background Chronic pruritus is a global clinical problem with a high impact on the quality of life and lack of specific therapies. It is an excruciating and frequent symptom of e.g. uncurable renal, liver and skin diseases which often does not respond to conventional treatment with e.g. antihistamines. Therefore antipruritic therapies which target physiological mechanisms of pruritus need to be developed. Substance P (SP) is a major mediator of pruritus. As it binds to the neurokinin receptor 1 (NKR1), we evaluated if the application of a NKR1 antagonist would significantly decrease chronic pruritus. Methods and Findings Twenty hitherto untreatable patients with chronic pruritus (12 female, 8 male; mean age, 66.7 years) were treated with the NKR1 antagonist aprepitant 80 mg for one week. 16 of 20 patients (80%) experienced a considerable reduction of itch intensity, as assessed by the visual analog scale (VAS, range 0 to 10). Considering all patients, the mean value of pruritus intensity was significantly reduced from 8.4 VAS points (SD +/−1.7) before treatment to 4.9 VAS points (SD +/−3.2) (p<0.001, CI 1.913–5.187). Patients with dermatological diseases (e.g. atopic diathesis, prurigo nodularis) had the best profit from the treatment. Side-effects were mild (nausea, vertigo, and drowsiness) and only occurred in three patients. Conclusions The high response rate in patients with therapy refractory pruritus suggests that the NKR1 antagonist aprepitant may indeed exhibit antipruritic effects and may present a novel, effective treatment strategy based on pathophysiology of chronic pruritus. The results are promising enough to warrant confirming the efficacy of NKR1 antagonists in a randomized, controlled clinical trial.


In explaining Statement No. 141, Business Combinations (SFAS No. 141, FASB 2001b) and Statement No. 142, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets (SFAS No. 142, FASB 2001c), accounting textbooks do not adequately describe the theoretical choices the FASB considered or the economic and political context in which the FASB developed these statements. This instructional resource fills that gap. It compares purchase, pooling of interests (hereafter, pooling), and fresh start accounting, as well as various methods of accounting for goodwill under purchase and fresh start accounting; it also discusses the economic and political context in which the FASB deliberated. A simple example (and a separate more complicated homework problem) compares the effects of these methods on post‐combination financial statements. The Teaching Notes discuss how to use this instructional resource to introduce these subjects and integrate them with other subjects covered in advanced financial accounting and merger and acquisition courses.


According to the Complementary Learning Systems (CLS) theory [1] in neuroscience, humans do effective continual learning through two complementary systems: a fast learning system centered on the hippocampus for rapid learning of the specifics, individual experiences; and a slow learning system located in the neocortex for the gradual acquisition of structured knowledge about the environment. Motivated by this theory, we propose DualNets (for Dual Networks), a general continual learning framework comprising a fast learning system for supervised learning of pattern-separated representation from specific tasks and a slow learning system for representation learning of task-agnostic general representation via Self-Supervised Learning (SSL). DualNets can seamlessly incorporate both representation types into a holistic framework to facilitate better continual learning in deep neural networks. Via extensive experiments, we demonstrate the promising results of DualNets on a wide range of continual learning protocols, ranging from the standard offline, task-aware setting to the challenging online, task-free scenario. Notably, on the CTrL [2] benchmark that has unrelated tasks with vastly different visual images, DualNets can achieve competitive performance with existing state-of-the-art dynamic architecture strategies [3]. Furthermore, we conduct comprehensive ablation studies to validate DualNets efficacy, robustness, and scalability. Code will be made available at https://github.com/phquang/DualNet.


Background In October 2016, a senior high school student was diagnosed with sputum-smear positive [SS(+)] pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). We conducted an investigation of an outbreak in the school, including among students and teachers diagnosed with latent TB, who we followed until July 2019. Methods We defined latent TB infection (LTBI) as a tuberculin skin test (TST) induration of 15mm or larger; probable TB as a chest radiograph indicative of TB plus productive cough/hemoptysis for at least 2 weeks, or TST induration of 15mm or larger; and confirmed TB as two or more positive sputum smears or one positive sputum smear plus a chest radiograph indicative of TB or culture positive with M. tuberculosis. We conducted mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit–variable number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) typing based on 24 loci in the isolates. Results Between October 2016 and July 2019, we identified 52 cases, including nine probable, six confirmed, and 37 LTBI cases. The index case-student had attended school continuously despite having TB symptoms for almost three months before being diagnosed with TB. We obtained three isolates from classmates of the index case in 2016; all had identical MIRU-VNTR alleles with the index case. The LTBI rate was lower among students (7.41%, 30/405) than among teachers (26.92%, 7/26) (rate ratio [RR] = 0.28, 95% confidential interval [CI]: 0.13–0.57). Among the 17 students who had latent TB and refused prophylaxis in October 2016, 23.53% (4/17) became probable/confirmed cases by July 2019. None of the six teachers who also refused prophylaxis became probable or confirmed cases. Of the 176 students who were TST(-) in October 2016, 1.70% (3/176) became probable/confirmed cases, and among the 20 teachers who were TST(-), 1 became a probable case. Conclusions Delayed diagnosis of TB in the index patient may have contributed to the start of this outbreak; lack of post-exposure chemoprophylaxis facilitated spread of the outbreak. Post-exposure prophylaxis is strongly recommended for all TST-positive students; TST-negative students exposed to an SS(+) case should be followed up regularly so that prophylaxis can be started if LTBI is detected.


Just after the Korean War, all the big hospitals and medical facilities were destroyed in Korea. Western countries who participated as an allied army helped Korea in medical field in two ways. One was the direct dispatch of the doctors who treated the patients in the newly built hospital named National Medical Center with the help of northern European countries. The other one was the invitation of more than 70 young doctors who worked at the Seoul National University College of Medicine to University of Minnesota in the USA to train the basic science and clinical activities for more than one year with the name of Minnesota Project (Seoul National University Cooperation Project). Scandinavian doctors played a great role at National Medical Center introducing modern techniques in the fields of surgery and many new treatment modalities to Korea. But after they returned home, the activity of the National Medical Center decreased gradually as other big hospitals took its place. Instead, Minnesota Project showed its enormous effects gradually over time after the cessation of the 6 year program in early sixties. Residency program for training of young doctors was introduced to replace the old apprentice style Japanese medical education and surgical department was subdivided like the hospitals in USA into orthopedic, neurosurgery, urology etc. The facilities supplied when they returned to Korea were also very useful for the introduction of modern treatment. Concepts of public health were introduced to the family planning and sanitation for the prevention of disease. With the rapid socioeconomic growth, medicine in Korea developed very rapidly that nowadays big hospitals in Korea showed a comparable treatment results to the top ten hospitals in USA and all these quick advances could be attributed to the outcome of Minnesota project.

Korea became one of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) countries in 2009. This was the first case that the country helped by others became the country which could help the others in less than 60 years. Seoul National University College of Medicine participated from 2010 with the Ministry of Health & Welfare and Korean Foundation for International Health (KOFIH) in Official Development Aid program with the name of Dr. LEE Jong-wook-Seoul Project on purpose of giving back the help from Minnesota Project to other country who needs help. Seoul Project was a nine year program and consisted of four parts. The first was inviting 10 doctors from University of Health Sciences of Lao PDR every year for one year training. The second was supplying the facilities when the trainees returned to their country for to educate students and treat the patients in hospital. The third was dispatching senior consultant in the field they needed to Lao PDR to diagnose the situation, give opinions for the policy, and deliver lectures for the students. The last was improving the environment for an adequate medical education to the students by constructing e-library service and internet facilities in the campus in addition to improving the facilities in the hospital such as the clinic for the childhood cancer. Three doctors finished their training in the field of pediatric hematology and oncology and they started to treat more than 30 childhood leukemia patients with these facilities and chemotherapeutic drugs supplied from Korea. The first survivor of acute lymphoblastic leukemia sustained remission for more than 30 months and this was the first case of pediatric cancer who survived in Lao PDR. Protocols were developed to overcome the limited resources setting and these were possible as the Korean doctors experienced these circumstances 30 years ago. New program for using the trainees who returned to Lao as teachers for the doctors from provincial hospitals would be launched this year.

What we have learned from Seoul Project is that we should not use the term "donor". Instead, we should use the term "partner" for the successful program. The word "gap" between the countries should be changed to "difference" between the countries. Seoul Project is running two workshops a year, once in Lao and once in Korea which is called Scientific Communication Workshop. With these workshops, Korean doctors delivered many new things to Lao but also learned a great amount of knowledge about the treatment in limited resources setting. As the professors visited Lao to meet the trainee before starting the training in Korea, the professors acquired a situation in Lao and they train the doctors from Lao with the concept of treatment in limited resources settings which they experienced already in Korea about thirty years ago. Medical knowledge was not sufficient for the program to succeed. Cultural experiences such as Korean traditional cultures, costumes, foods, sports like baseball, and broadcasting company tour to see the K-pop were also important to make good memories and Korean language was essential for the completed and sustainable outcome. They were also exposed to some Korean pharmaceutical companies and medical facilities companies through the factories tour program. Trainees were also cared after they returned to Lao with the facilities support and consultation with senior consultant dispatched from Korea. They made alumni association of Seoul Project.

As a donor country, Korea dispatched medical teams to see the patients in developing countries for one or two weeks and the time was not enough. Therefore, it should be changed to programs that can initiate sustainable changes in these countries. Just the communication in the field of medicine itself was not enough and medicine should be widened to all the fields of medicine such as health policy, pharmaceuticals, medical machines and paramedics. Performing these programs, we should always be humble to have the idea that we are the partners in the global issue.


This report synthesizes the experience
 of micro hydro developments in Sri Lanka, Peru, Nepal,
 Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. It attempts to draw out the Best
 Practice from this experience. Micro hydro plants are
 defined as having a capacity of between 10 kW and 200 kW.
 The report provides a rigorous comparative microeconomic
 analysis of the cost and financial returns of a sample of
 plants across the five countries. It draws out the
 macroeconomic, financial, and other institutional
 arrangements that appear important to the scaling-up of
 micro hydro investments. Summaries of the microeconomic
 analysis of the case studies of individual micro hyro plants
 are included in the annex to this synthesis report. The
 lessons for "Best Practice" are summarized in
 Section 5.


Reliability information provided by sets of orthogonal check sums in a majority logic decoder for block codes is used in a type-I hybrid automatic-repeat-request (ARQ) error control scheme. The reliability information is obtained through a simple modification of the majority logic decoding rule. It is shown that the reliability performance of Reed-Muller and other majority logic decodable codes can be substantially improved at the expense of a very small reduction in throughput. The simplicity of the decoding circuit permits implementation in systems with very high data rates. >


ABSTRACT Background: Over the past decade, the political movement called 'Revolución Ciudadana' implemented a variety of policies and interventions (P&I) in Ecuador to improve higher education and strengthen local research capacity. We refer specifically to the 'Mandato 14' and the Higher Education Law (LOES, Spanish acronym) launched in 2008 and 2010, respectively. Objective: To assess the impact of these P&I (Mandato 14/LOES) on the production of health sciences-related articles (HSRA), and the relationship of these HSRA with the country's health priorities. Methods: A Scopus search was performed to retrieve HSRA published from 1999 to 2017. Bivariate analysis was used to assess variation between the period I (1999–2008) and period II (2009–2017). Further, we examined the association between the top 10 causes of mortality and the total HSRA output. Results: The final study sample consisted of 2784 articles. After 2008, Ecuadorian production of HSRA increased steadily from 671 to 2133 publications (p<.001). Overall (1999–2017), the most common study design was cross-sectional (32.3%), the primary research focus was in the clinical-surgical area (49.3%), and the academic institutions were the primary drivers of scientific production during period II (56.9% vs. 29.5%, p<.001). Further, we found a decrease in the production of randomized controlled trials (6.7% vs. 1.8%, p<.001). Only 9% of research production involved the primary causes of mortality, and the proportion has remained unchanged over time (8.2% vs. 9.3%, p>.05). Conclusions: Ecuadorian HSRA output increased significantly after 2008. This larger volume of scientific output could be the result to the Mandato 14/LOES implemented in the last decade. However, a low percentage of HSRA are dedicated to addressing the country's health priorities. Proper planning, execution and monitoring of national health research agendas would reduce the mismatch between health burden and the HSRA output in Ecuador and other low-and middle-income countries.


The Plasma Bio-Filler Facelift is an exciting aesthetic process being introduced in dermatology. The dermal filler gel is autologous and easy to obtain. It works well for fine rhytides reduction as well as to volumize, contour and rejuvenate the face, neck and hands. The consistency and autologous nature of plasma bio-filler are better accepted by patients than the high density hyaluronic acid fillers.


Daedalus is a system-level design flow for the design of multiprocessor system-on-chip (MP-SoC) based embedded multimedia systems. It offers a fully integrated tool-flow in which design space exploration (DSE), system-level synthesis, application mapping, and system prototyping of MP-SoCs are highly automated. In this paper, we describe our first industrial deployment experiences with the Daedalus framework. Daedalus is currently being deployed in the early stages of the design of an image compression system for very high resolution cameras targeting medical appliances. In this context, we performed a DSE study with a JPEG encoder application, which exploits both task and data parallelism. This application was mapped onto a range of different MP-SoC architectures. We achieved a performance speed-up of up to 20 x compared to a single processor system. In addition, the results show that the Daedalus high-level MP-SoC models accurately predict the overall system performance, i.e., the performance error is around 5%.


No tool of statutory construction has drawn as much scholarly and judicial attention and controversy as legislative history. This Article shows that the standard account of legislative history fails to account for legislative history generated through agency-Congress legislative communications, which is often among the most relevant legislative history. These communications, which this Article terms "agency legislative history," have important implications for theories and practice of statutory interpretation and agency delegation.
The account of agency legislative history provided here offers a new perspective on the legislative history debate and questions of how empirical realities of the legislative process should influence statutory interpretation. Agency legislative history also sheds new light on the ongoing debate over Chevron's domain. Agency legislative history reinforces arguments in favor of deference to agencies by raising novel questions about courts' institutional capacity to effectively uncover congressional deals, and by providing new reasons to believe that agencies may be better statutory interpreters than courts. At the same time, for the many judges skeptical of broad deference but unsure how to limit it, agency legislative history can allow for more narrowly tailored and empirically supported deference decisions that reflect the variety of ways legislation is made.