Purpose of Review
To describe the clinical presentation, diagnosis, management, and outcomes of 4 confirmed Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) cases and a review of the literature.

Recent Findings
There was a sharp rise in the number of EEE cases in the United States in 2019, with 38 confirmed cases and 15 deaths. Our institution cared for 10% of patients with neuroinvasive EEE nationwide. These were the first cases seen locally since 2010.

Summary
EEE virus causes one of the most lethal types of arboviral encephalitis in the United States with a mortality of 30%-40%. Manifestations of EEE infections can range from mild encephalopathy to coma. Common findings include CSF pleocytosis and involvement of the basal ganglia on MRI. Given the rarity of this disease and nonspecific findings, diagnosis can be challenging, and a high clinical suspicion is important. Management is mainly supportive, and the use of IV immunoglobulin remains controversial. Two of our 4 patients died; these patients had coma within 48 hours, hyponatremia, involvement of bilateral thalami and brainstem, status epilepticus, and severe brain dysfunction in EEG.


In distributed sensing, the statistical model of the data collected by the sensor elements is often unavailable. In addition, these statistics may vary among the sensors and over time, for instance due to: 1) hardware variations; 2) the sensors' geographical locations; 3) different noise statistics; 4) diverse channel conditions between the sensor elements and the fusion center (FC); and 5) the presence of misbehaving sensors sending false data to the FC. In this paper, we consider the problem of centralized binary hypothesis testing in a wireless sensor network consisting of multiple classes of sensors, where the sensors are classified according to the probability density function (PDF) of their received data (at the FC) under each hypothesis. The sensor nodes transmit their observed data to the FC, which must classify the nodes and detect the state of nature. To optimally fuse the data, the FC must also estimate the PDFs of the sensors' observations. We develop a method based on the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm to estimate the PDFs for each sensor class, to classify the sensors, and to detect the underlying hypotheses. The estimation of PDFs is nonparametric in that no prior model is assumed. Simulation results using fewer than three iterations of the EM algorithm demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.


The deregulation, that has been introduced with the "definitive" legislative decree n.81/2008, bringing the experience as method, sets the conditions for a concrete new cultural passage today. It intervenes not only on the lacks and the necessary updating in the respects of the preceding legislation, but particularly on the formalities of application and intervention of the dispositions provided for it. These formalities are decisive for the achievement of a diffused, effective and best condition of guardianship in the places of employment. This condition sets the worker, woman and man, to the centre of the working organization. For too much time technical word and organizational word have been separated. Only for the first one the necessity to complete the evaluation of the risk had been foreseen, elaborating the suitable procedures charged to specific subjects. Today the working organization is considered a decisive variable in the working context. The analysis of her characteristics is definitely introduced, putting the executive duties under observation (loads and rate of job...), in relation to their development (working environments, equipments, living spaces...) and in role of the operator's peculiarities and his abilities (age, gender, kind of working contract, knowledges, competences, working experience).


Samples of dry earthworm casts lying on the soil surface were collected within the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomoso campus randomly and were analyzed for the presence of trace elements using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer while flame photometer was used for major minerals analysis. The results showed that trace elements concentrations in earthworm casts were as follow: Fe, 1400 ± 0.01mg/kg, Mn, 79.00 ± 0.03mg/kg, Zn, 65.00 ± 0.01 Cu, 8.50 ± 0.02, The mineral composition results showed that the earthworm casts contained K, 72500 ± 0.03mg/kg, P, 3450.00 ± 0.04mg/kg, Ca, 581.00 ± 0.02mg/kg, Mg, 45.50 ± 0.01mg/kg. When compared the results obtained from this research work with the results previously reported for some medicinal plants it shows that earthworm casts has the potentiality of being used as medicament in traditional medicine, the high contents of iron, zinc and manganese could make the earthworm cast a good antianaemic and antidiabetic agents.


Molecular markers have been widely applied in the conservation of endangered species for revealing their population genetic variation and evolutionary history, providing essential information for making conservation strategies and conducting restoration practices. Here, we introduced the applications of molecular markers at different stages of conservation efforts: (1) Molecular markers can be used to elevate the precision of identifying conservation units such as excluding the influence of cryptic species and hybridization. (2) Phylogenetic relationships are useful for distinguishing conservation priorities for biodiversity hotspots and discerning species and populations. (3) Molecular markers can contribute to instruct the strategies in ex situ conservation programs. (4) Dynamic monitoring and assessment of conservation activities can be achieved with molecular markers. Finally, we discussed the prospects of applying molecular markers for improving conservation strategies considering global change, including long-term monitoring of genetic dynamics, the use of conservation genetics in conservation management, and the development conservation genomics.


Inversion of potential field geophysical data to generate physical property models is becoming increasingly common in the exploration industry. This study aimed to develop relationships between physical properties and mineralogy in ultramafic rock-hosted mineral deposits, based on an analysis of the crater facies-dominated Anuri kimberlite (Canada) and the intrusive magmatic sulfide deposit at Kabanga (Tanzania). Physical property distributions for rock types and minerals that contribute to density and magnetic susceptibility were characterized in both deposits. Magnetic susceptibility is directly related to magnetite abundance, which is an igneous phase and is produced by serpentinization of ultramafic rocks of both deposits. Magnetite in kimberlite also occurs in crustal xenoliths, which dilute the diamond content. Consequently, susceptibility in the Anuri kimberlite is inversely related to diamond grade. In the Kabanga magmatic sulfide deposit, susceptibility is unrelated to ore content, but does indicate the degree of serpentinization. Density is a function of dense minerals concentrated with ore during primary sorting and settling processes in both deposits. As such, density is directly correlated with ore in both volcaniclastic kimberlite breccia of the Anuri kimberlite and ultramafic rocks at Kabanga. However, serpentinization decreases the density of ultramafic rocks significantly, masking any density anomalies associated with sulfide minerals. Modeling demonstrates that a pervasively serpentinized rock with up to 50% sulfide minerals can have a density equal to that of a barren ultramafic rock. A combination of susceptibility and density can be used to identify high-grade rocks in both deposits. In the Anuri kimberlite, rocks with high diamond contents have susceptibilities less -than 10 x 10" SI and densities of 2.42 2.51 g/cm . In magmatic sulfide deposits, susceptibility and density can be used to accurately calculate ore mineral abundances. Relationships developed between physical properties and mineralogy for these deposits can not only be applied to other crater facies-dominated kimberlites and both intrusive and extrusive magmatic sulfide deposits, but also to other ultramafic rock-hosted mineral deposits with comparable geologic processes. Consequently, both magnetic and gravity surveys can be interpreted in combination to give a powerful remote tool in predicting grade.


Perivascular epithelioid cell tumors (PEComas) are a distinctive group of mesenchymal neoplasms that demonstrate features of smooth muscle and melanocytic differentiation. Here, we present the clinicopathologic, immunohistochemical, and molecular features of 15 uterine sarcomas diagnosed as malignant PEComa. The median patient age was 56 years (range: 27 to 86 y). The median tumor size was 8.0 cm (range: 5.0 to 14.0 cm). All tumors were classified as malignant based on the presence of mitoses (15/15; 100%), necrosis (15/15; 100%), lymphovascular invasion (8/15; 53%), and high nuclear grade (13/15; 87%). Molecular analysis revealed the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway gene mutations in 7 cases (47%), including mutually exclusive variants in TSC1 (27%) and TSC2 (20%). Recurrent alterations were also identified in TP53 (53%), RB1 (30%), ATRX (33%), and BRCA2 (13%). Tumors with inactivating ATRX mutations all demonstrated loss of ATRX expression by immunohistochemistry. Loss of expression was also observed in 2 tumors without demonstrable ATRX alterations. Clinical follow-up was available for 14 patients (range: 5 to 92 mo; median: 15 mo). Five patients developed local recurrence and 9 developed metastases; 2 patients died of their disease. Our series expands the spectrum of molecular events in tumors diagnosed as malignant PEComa and further highlights the important role of targeted sequencing in tumors with focal melanocytic marker expression.


Following an acute myocardial infarction, the size of the infarct and the resulting left ventricular volume and function are important predictors of mortality. Identifying patients with impaired tissue level perfusion after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for myocardial infarction therefore could have prognostic implications. To obtain combined measures of left ventricular perfusion, volumes and function we applied a gated myocardial perfusion imaging by 99mTc-sestamibi single photon emission computerized tomography to 19 patients immediately after revascularization by PCI and repeated this after 3 months. The results of the acute myocardial perfusion imaging significantly correlated to final infarct size, left ventricular volumes and function 3 months later. It is concluded that the method holds the potential for risk stratifying patients immediately after revascularization for acute myocardial infarction.


Creative economy is becoming an important aspect for our future economy because it is based on knowledge and creativity, which are renewable resources. Creative economy needs good quality of creative human resources (creative class) to improve. Indonesia has a huge number of population with 70% of total are working-aged population which are potentialin promoting creative economy, yet, Indonesia's creative industry still can't compete globally. Some strategies are needed to improve the quality and the quantity of creative class in Indonesia. One of the strategies is by providing creative environment with creative space as medium. A well-designed space can increase motivation, expand creative tempo, entertains and inspires. Creative space should provide attention, stimulation and focus.To achieve such characteristics, Organic Architecture is considered as the right design approach. Organic Architecture principals are used in designing strategy, such as in site analysis, spatial analysis, mass organization, mass transformation and facade programming. Analytical process applying Organic Architecture principals produces the design of creative hub building thatoptimizes the creative process.


3-Azabicyclo[3.1.0]hex-2-en-1-yl phosphonates were prepared in a five-step reaction route from β-ketophosphonates. The key steps in this sequence are an atom-transfer radical cyclization and an unforeseen lithium-halogen exchange with n-BuLi. The cyclization reaction proceeds with excellent diastereoselectivity. The resulting cyclic imines were reduced, and 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexan-1-yl phosphonates were obtained.


This study reports three experiments investigating children's understanding of the distinction between pretence and reality. Previous research (e.g. Harris, Brown, Marriott, Whittall, & Harmer, 1991; Johnson & Harris, 1994) has suggested marked individual differences in children's susceptibility to pretend-reality confusions. The present series of experiments explored the effects of cognitive availability and affect on pretence understanding. In Expts 1 and 2, 5-6-year-old children were asked to pretend that liked, disliked and neutral entities were inside either opaque (high availability) or transparent (low availability) boxes. The children's responses when asked to select or reject the boxes was determined by the affect evoked by the entity. In Expt 3, children were asked to explain their behaviour towards the pretended entities. The results indicated individual differences between groups of children. Across all three studies the evidence suggests that some children as old as 6 years of age may experience temporary pretend-reality confusions which can be explained in terms of the effects of availability.


Spore-based Bacillus probiotic treatment improves intestinal health. The intestinal microbiota influences both the innate and adaptive immune responses. As such, the influence of ongoing spore-based probiotic treatment (five probiotic strains of Bacillus) on the clinical outcomes of mild COVID-19 was evaluated in this retrospective, observational study. Demographics, medical history, probiotic use, and COVID-19 symptom information were collected. The study included 120 patients with a PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and mild COVID-19 symptoms. The probiotic group (n = 60) comprised patients with ongoing probiotic treatment (≥1 month); the control group comprised patients not taking probiotics (n = 60). The primary outcome was time to symptom resolution; secondary outcomes included time to fever resolution and presence of digestive symptoms. The probiotic group had a significantly shorter time to symptom resolution (mean (95% confidence interval) days: control group, 8.48 (6.56, 10.05); probiotic group, 6.63 (5.56; 6.63); p = 0.003) and resolution of fever (control group, 2.67 (1.58, 3.61); probiotic group, 1.48 (1.21, 2.03); p < 0.001). More patients in the probiotic group (n = 53) than in the control group (n = 34) did not have digestive symptoms (p < 0.001). Among adults with mild COVID-19, participants receiving ongoing probiotic treatment had a shorter clinical course, and fewer had digestive symptoms compared with those not taking probiotics.


The purpose of this investigation was to compare accelerometer activity counts and oxygen consumption between young and elderly individuals. Sixteen young (21.3 ± 2.5 yrs) and sixteen elderly (66.6 ± 2.9 yrs) participants completed 30 minutes of resting oxygen consumption to determine resting metabolic rate and four 6 min walking intensities ranging from 27 to 94 m·min−1. Resting oxygen uptake was significantly lower for the older participants. Exercise oxygen consumption was significantly higher for the elderly group. There were no significant differences in activity counts between groups at each of the exercise intensities. When using measured resting metabolic rate, activity counts of 824 and 2207 counts·min−1 were associated with moderate (3 METs) physical activity intensity for the older and young participants, respectively. However, using standard resting metabolic rate (3.5 mL·kg−1·min−1), activity counts of 784 and 2009 counts·min−1 were associated with moderate physical activity intensity for the elderly and young participants, respectively. These findings indicate that activity counts are similar across age groups even though the oxygen consumption of exercise is greater among elderly individuals.


This study characterized totally the effects of early Ag exposure by the suckling route on later specific antibody responses. When mother mice of BALB/c or C57BL/6 strains were injected with deaggregated human gamma-globulin (HGG) immediately after delivery, total amounts of HGG in sera of offspring increased until 2 wk of age. The catabolism of transferred HGG was extremely slow and the half-life was about 3 wk in both strains. Hence, small amounts of Ag in mothers, 0.5 micrograms in C57BL/6 and 50 micrograms in BALB/c, could tolerize their offspring effectively. As these were minimum tolerogenic doses, the strain difference in ease of tolerance induction is apparent already during suckling. The study on timing dependent effects of HGG-specific antiserum on tolerance induction by mothers given 50 micrograms HGG demonstrated that the tolerance is achieved within the 1st wk of lactation in C57BL/6 offspring, but not in BALB/c offspring, and the restoration from the tolerance needs more than 6 wk under circumstances, supposedly, without free Ag. Whereas the tolerance was induced in a dose-dependent manner in each class of antibody, the dissociation of tolerant states between IgM, IgG, and IgE antibody classes was found in C57BL/6 offspring. It is interesting that C57BL/6 offspring were sensitized weakly, but significantly, by mothers given subtolerogenic doses. However, this was not apparent in BALB/c. Thus, the Ag dose and the animal strain are related closely to the consequences of this Ag exposure. The aging of suckling mice within the first 2 wk of life or immunomodulators administered early in life did not seriously affect the consequences. Studies on a cellular basis showed that the tolerance is caused by the selective defect in helper T cell function and the suppressor cell activity is not associated with the mechanisms. This contrasts with other models of oral tolerance.


To distinguish between intrinsically stable helices and those stabilized by the protein three-dimensional structure, we report the hydrogen-deuterium exchange (H2H) rates of 29 amide protons of ferricytochrome c in a molten globule state (at 35 degrees C, pH 2.0 with 0.5 M KCl), monitored by 2D-NMR. The results of the H2H-exchange experiments have been analyzed to calculate the protection factors. The helices were not uniformly stable and amide protons of residues belonging to the N and C-terminal helices had high protection factors. The protection factors of amide protons involved in the 50's helix were low, and could not be determined quantitatively. In the 60's helix we found two amide protons with protection factors comparable to those of the N and C-terminal helices. These results, compared with previously reported intrinsic helicities of peptide fragments, indicate that the relative helicities of isolated fragments are not directly reflected in the stability of the helices in the molten globule state, even though this state has no rigid tertiary structure. This suggests that loose interactions between helices are present in the molten globule state of cytochrome c, and that they are essential for keeping the helicity of the helical segments. The loose tertiary interactions discussed here differ from the usual tertiary interaction found in the native state in that the specific interdigitization between side-chains is absent.


Energy-based models (EBMs) exhibit a variety of desirable properties in predictive tasks, such as generality, simplicity and compositionality. However, training EBMs on high-dimensional datasets remains unstable and expensive. In this paper, we present a Manifold EBM (M-EBM) to boost the overall performance of unconditional EBM and Joint Energy-based Model (JEM). Despite its simplicity, M-EBM significantly improves unconditional EBMs in training stability and speed on a host of benchmark datasets, such as CIFAR10, CIFAR100, CelebA-HQ, and ImageNet 32x32. Once class labels are available, label-incorporated M-EBM (M-JEM) further surpasses M-EBM in image generation quality with an over 40% FID improvement, while enjoying improved accuracy. The code can be found at https://github.com/sndnyang/mebm.


History of the development of DAWT's stretches a period of more than 50 years. So far without any commercial success. In the initial years of development the conversion process was not understood very well. Experimentalists strived at maximising the pressure drop over the rotor disk, but lacked theoretical insight into optimising the performance. Increasing the diffuser area as well as the negative back pressure at the diffuser exit was found profitable in the experiments. Claims were made that performance augmentations with a factor of 4 or more were feasible, but these claims were not confirmed experimentally. With a simple momentum theory, developed along the lines of momentum theory for bare windturbines, it was shown that power augmentation is proportional to the mass flow increase generated at the nozzle of the DAWT. Such mass flow augmentation can be achieved through two basic principles: increase in the diffuser exit ratio and/or by decreasing the negative back pressure at the exit. The theory predicts an optimal pressure drop of 8/9 equal to the pressure drop for bare windturbines independent from the mass flow augmentation obtained. The maximum amount of energy that can be extracted per unit of volume with a DAWT is also the same as for a bare wind turbine. Performance predictions with this theory show good agreement with a CFD calculation. Comparison with a large amount of experimental data found in literature shows that in practice power augmentation factors above 3 have never been achieved. Referred to rotor power coefficients values of CP,rotort= 2.5 might be achievable according to theory, but to the cost of fairly large diffuser area ratio's, typically values of β>4.5.


Destruction of interstellar dust occurs predominantly in supernova shock waves in the warm neutral/ionized medium (density approximately = 0.25/cu cm, temperature approximately = 10(exp 4) K). Recent theoretical developments and laboratory data for sputtering processes and grain-grain collisional vaporization allows us to better evaluate the grain destruction rate in interstellar shocks in the warm medium. We find that, independent of composition, grain denstruction in supernova blast waves is dominated by nonthermal sputtering for shock velocities greater than 50 km/s and less than or equal to 150 km/s and thermal sputtering at higher shock velocities. We use a detailed scheme for the vaporization of grains colliding at high velocities (v(sub s) greater than or equal to 20 km/s) and show that the grain-grain collision destruction process is only dominant for shock velocities of less than or equal to 50-80 km/s and is less important than previously assumed. Nevertheless, the grain-grain destruction rates are of order 30%-90% of the sputtering rates at v(sub s) greater than 100 km/s and less than 200 km/s and are important in vaporizing the cores of grains. Detailed results for grain destruction as a function of grain size and composition are presented. We also present results for silicon carbide, iron, ice, and porous test particles. For carbonaceous grains we find that the fractional destruction is less than or equal to 0.29, and for silicate it is less than or equal to 0.45, for v(sub s) less than or equal to 200 km/s. We have calculated grain lifetimes, using the three-phase model of the interstellar medium, and find lifetimes of 4 x 10(exp 8) yr for carbonaceous grains and 2.2 x 10(exp 8) yr for silicate grains. Given that the typical stardust injection timescale of 2.5 x 10(exp 9) yr, we conclude that efficient mechanisms for grain growth in the interstellar medium must exist in order that a significant fraction of the refractory elements be incorporated in dust, as observed. Therefore, although our improved model has less vaporization of dust due to grain-grain collisions, sputtering still destroys dust efficiently and grain mantle growth in the interstellar medium is required, a conclusion reached in previous models of grain destruction in the interstellar medium. Carbonaceous mantles on silicate grains can protect the silicate cores from sputtering destruction in interstellar shock waves, provided that the protective mantles can efficiently reform in the interstellar medium. Also, if the grains are porous the postshock grain velocities are lower than for solid particles, and grain destruction is reduced. Porosity and mantling may increase the grain lifetime by factors of approximately 3 and approximately 3-4, respectively. The fraction of interstellar silicon in silicate stardust is therefore less than or equal to 0.25, but more silicon might be depleted in the form of a grain mantle.


Hepatitis C virus rapidly evolves, conferring resistance to direct acting antivirals. While resistance via active site mutations in the viral NS3/4A protease has been well characterized, the mechanism for resistance of non-active site mutations is unclear. R155K and V36M often co-evolve and while R155K alters the electrostatic network at the binding site, V36M is more than 13 Å away. In this study the mechanism by which V36M confers resistance, in the context of R155K, is elucidated with drug susceptibility assays, crystal structures, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for three protease inhibitors: telaprevir, boceprevir and danoprevir. The R155K and R155K/V36M crystal structures differ in the α-2 helix and E2 strand near the active site, with alternative conformations at M36 and side chains of active site residues D168 and R123, revealing an allosteric coupling, which persists dynamically in MD simulations, between the distal mutation and the active site. This allosteric modulation validates the network hypothesis and elucidates how distal mutations confer resistance through propagation of conformational changes to the active site.


This study aims to explain how the distribution system of zakat funds in Baznas Bogor City on the welfare level of Asnaf Gharimin during the Covid-19 pandemic and how effective it is. This study uses qualitative methods with data collection techniques in the form of interviews, observations and documentations. The primary data in this study were the deputy chairman II for the utilization and distribution of the Baznas Bogor City, the head for the utilization and distribution of the Baznas Bogor City, and the head of the sub-section for the utilization of the Baznas Bogor City. The results of the study stated that the zakat fund distribution system that wa successfully distributed by the Baznas Bogor City contained 25 asnaf gharimin during the Covid-19 pandemic. For funds channeled to asnaf gharimin, it is given via transfer. The effectivveness of the distribution of zakat funds to asnaf gharimin is already quite effective. Because the community also really feels helped by the help of zakat funds, so they can meet their needs and live a better life..


Objectives: We aim to compare dietary intakes among food secure and food insecure vulnerable women from Culiacan, Sinaloa. Methods: Cross-sectional study design. We collected data by direct interviews from adult females. Questionnaires included sociodemographic characteristics, theMexican Food Security Scale and a 24h recall. Weight and height were measured, and BMI was calculated. Associations between food security levels and dietary intakes were assessed using Mann-Whitney U test for continuous variables and X2 test for categorical variables. Data is presented as mean± SD ormedian (IQR). Results:One hundred and seventy five women (aged: 46.2± 15.9 y; BMI: 29.8 ± 6.8 k/m2), participated in this research. The prevalence of household food security (HFS) was 51%, whereas 49% of the population reported some level of household food insecurity (HFI); 26% mild insecurity, 12% moderate insecurity and 11% severe insecurity. Energy intake was 1586 kcal (1149, 2147 kcal), the percentage of energy from carbohydrates was 56%, from fat 28%, and from protein 16%. Daily intake of saturated fat did not comply with the national recommendation, saturated fat provided 11% of daily energy, monounsaturated fat 10%, and polyunsaturated fat 7%. There were no differences between groups (HFS vs. HFI) for age, BMI and energy intake; however, the HFS group had a significantly higher intake of saturated fat; 19 vs. 13 g (P= 0.006). Sugar and calcium intake were also higher in the HFS than in the HFI group, 69 vs. 51 g and 716 vs. 510 mg, respectively (P < 0.05). Total fat (53 vs. 43 g), riboflavin (1.27 vs. 0.99 mg) and vitamin A (398 vs. 337 μg RE) showed a trend towards an increased intake in the HFS group (P < 0.100). Food security is associated with higher intake of macro and micronutrients, although further analysis is needed to identify the main food sources of saturated fat, sugar and calcium. Conclusions: Although there is a high prevalence of overweight and obesity, deficient dietary intake of micronutrients could indicate the presence of "hidden hunger" (micronutrients deficiencies) on this vulnerable population. A better understanding of the relationship between food security and dietary intake in this population, may be useful in developing successful interventions. Funding Sources: UAS, CONACyT.


This paper is concerned with epistemic adverbs of the MAYBE type (deriving from a modal auxiliary 'can' or 'may' + a main verb meaning 'happen' or 'be') in Mainland Scandinavian. MAYBE is a sentence adverb that occurs both in V2 and non-V2 clauses. In non-V2 clauses, MAYBE is the first constituent followed by a clause which has subordinate word order. In V2 clauses, MAYBE can be any constituent except the second one. Swedish MAYBE may also occur in non-V2 clauses in which it is the second constituent, i.e., MAYBE occupies the position of the finite verb. This clause type is not available in Norwegian and Danish. I will outline the etymology, development and grammaticalization path of Mainland Scandinavian MAYBE and argue that the coexistence V2 and non-V2 clauses with MAYBE is due to different stages of grammaticalization in the development of MAYBE.


Chemical tankers are a type of ocean carrier with multi-compartments to simultaneously carry various liquid chemicals in bulk and prevent their mixing. This paper discusses the difficulties chemical tanker managers experience when planning vessel routes and scheduling inventory maintenance because of chemical tankers' unique characteristics and operational constraints. To date, no models have addressed chemical tankers' inventory routing and scheduling needs while accounting for these challenges. Bridging the research gap, we propose a novel, integrated, mathematical model of inventory ship routing and stowage planning problem (ISRSPP) for chemical tankers. We seek to combine stowage planning, which is an operational problem, with inventory ship routing, which is a tactical problem, through integrated tactical planning. Our objective is to propose a solution with minimal total voyage costs. For this purpose, we formulate our problem in a mixed integer linear program. We build two scenarios to analyze the models applicability and performance, and we solve both of them using a commercial solver. Our results confirm that the stowage planning problem cannot be separated from the inventory ship routing problem for chemical tankers because such a separation could lead to fleet routes for which no feasible stowage plan is possible.


A new arthrotardigrade, Prostygarctus aculeatus gen. nov., sp. nov. is described from intertidal meiobenthos samples collected at Ofir beach, Esposende, North of Portugal. The new species, an armoured arthrotardigrade of the family Stygarctidae, is easily distinguished from all the other stygarctids by an unusual caudal apparatus, which consists of a very long medial spine with two lateral furca-like processes. It is also characterised by the presence of backwardly directed dorsal spines and a pair of ventral spines. Furthermore, it has four digits on each leg, ending in simple claws. The morphological peculiarities exhibited by the new species justify the establishment of a new genus and will provide useful insights to help develop our understanding of the phylogenetic relationships of armoured arthrotardigrades.


This article presents an improved genetic algorithm (GA), which finds solutions to problems of robust design in multivariate systems with many control and noise factors. Since some values of responses of the system might not have been obtained from the robust design experiment, but may be needed in the search process, the GA uses response surface methodology (RSM) to estimate those values. In all test cases, the GA delivered solutions that adequately adjusted the mean of the responses to their corresponding target values and with low variability. The GA found more solutions than the previous versions of the GA, which makes it easier to find a solution that may meet the trade-off among variance reduction, mean adjustment and economic considerations. Moreover, RSM is a good method for estimating the mean and variance of the outputs of highly non-linear systems, which makes the new GA appropriate for optimizing such systems.


Abstract Background and Purpose: The construct of organizational ambidexterity (OA) has attracted the growing attention in management research. Previous empirical research has investigated the effect of organisational ambidexterity on performance from various perspectives. This study aims to resolve the contradictory previous research findings on the relationship between organisational ambidexterity and innovation performance. We unpack this construct with combined dimension of ambidexterity, which relates to a combination of high levels of both exploration and exploitation (introduction of products or services that were new to the market and new to the firm). Methodology: We frame our ambidexterity hypothesis in terms of firm's innovation orientation. The hypothesis is tested by using Community Innovation Survey (CIS) 2006 micro data at the organizational level in twelve countries. To operationalize an ambidexterity and firms innovation outcome, we used self-reported measures of innovativeness. Results: To test our hypothesis, we developed a set of models and tested them with multiple hierarchical linear regression analyses. The results indicate that exploration and exploitation are positively related to firm's innovation performances which supports our assumption that both are complementary. Furthermore, we find that above and over their independent effects, through combining them into a single construct of organizational ambidexterity, this variable remains negatively and significantly related to innovation performance. Conclusion: These results provides the managers with an idea of when managing trade-offs between exploration and exploitation would be more favorable versus detrimental. For firms with lower organizational ambidexterity, the relationship between exploration-exploitation and the firm's innovation performance is a more positive one.


In the twenty-first century, patient's rights are an integral part and concretization of broader human rights. Around the world those rights arise from a common characteristic of the twenty-first century sense of violating subjective rights and dignity of the human person. Instruments recorded in national and international legislation protect the patient against medical services that do not meet current medical knowledge. National legislation imposes an obligation on the physician to provide medical services corresponding to current medical knowledge and perform their work with due diligence. It is now one of the most important rights of the patient, which is often not observed by medical personnel. The authors of this article present the case of a 50-year-old patient in whom the surgeon excising skin lesion failed to send the excited material for routine pathological examination. After 22 months patient had melanoma metastatic lymph node in the axilla. Failure to transfer the tumor excised for microscopic examination is a mistake in the art of medicine and the diagnosis is often delayed until effective treatment of neoplasm disease is no longer possible. In this article the authors present the legal consequences that may threaten a physician who does not send excised skin lesion for routine pathological examination.


The zero lower bound on nominal interest rates can affect the effectiveness of monetary policy potentially in two ways. First, it limits the size of a change in the policy interest rate when trying to loosen money. For example, when the nominal rate is 0.5 percent, it obviously cannot be cut by more than 0.5 percent. Second, it may alter the mechanism of how a movement of the policy rate drives market rates of longer maturities. This paper is an attempt to investigate the latter issue, and, in particular, to empirically examine the effect of monetary policy on the term structure of interest rates when nominal short-term rates are close to zero, using Japanese data in the 1990s and early 2000s. We found that when the policy short rate is already zero but longer rates are still positive in the zero interest rate period, an expansionary monetary policy still works through the conventional interest rate channel by pushing down longer rates, although the effect is much weakened relative to the normal time. When the longer rates are already lowered to some level, however (for example, the 10-year bond rate went down to the level as low as 1.5 percent during the quantitative easing period of 2001-06), a further expansion of the monetary base by increasing excess reserves of banks appears to have little effect in lowering longer-term rates.


This report, the second in the series of reports produced by COST Action 16111 Ethmigsurveydata, presents the results from the analysis of the survey metadata compiled through the Ethnic and Migrant Minorities (EMM) Survey Registry launched by the COST Action and with the support of the H2020 project Social Sciences and Humanities Open Cloud (SSHOC). The current version of the report focuses on six countries for which the metadata is complete and controlled for quality: Croatia, Norway, Switzerland, Romania, Germany and Turkey. The report begins with an introduction about the survey metadata compilation undertaken by Ethmigsurveydata, followed by a detailed overview of the methodological approaches used to develop the EMM Survey Registry. The report is then structured into five additional sections that present the findings for the EMM surveys in these six countries in relation to their geographical and target group coverage, the definition and measurement of EMMs, the topics covered by the surveys, their technical characteristics, and their accessibility and reusability. The final section offers conclusions and recommendations for funders, data producers and data analysis.


We aim ed to predict mortality in stroke patients by using multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural networks. Materials and methods: A data set consisting of 584 stroke patients was analyzed using MLP neural networks. The effect of prognostic factors (age, hospitalization time, sex, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, embolism, stroke type, infection, diabetes mellitus, and ischemic heart disease) on mortality in stroke were trained with 6 different MLP algorithms [quick propagation (QP), Levenberg-Marquardt (LM), backpropagation (BP), quasi-Newton (QN), delta bar delta (DBD), and conjugate gradient descent (CGD)]. The performances of the MLP neural network algorithms were compared using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve method. Results: Among the 6 algorithms that were trained with the MLP, QP achieved the highest specificity (81.3%), sensitivity (78.4%), accuracy (80.7%), and area under the curve (AUC) (0.869) values, while CGD achieved the lowest specificity (61.5%), sensitivity (58.7%), accuracy (60.8%), and AUC (0.636) values. The AUC of the QP algorithm was statistically significantly higher than the AUCs of the QN, DBD, and CGD algorithms (P < 0.05 for all of the pairwise comparisons). Conclusion: The MLP trained with the QP algorithm achieved the highest specificity, sensitivity, accuracy, and AUC values. This can be helpful in the prediction of mortality in stroke.


The karyotypes of four species of the genus Meriones (Rodentia, Gerbillidae) : M. tristrami, M. crassus, M. libycus and M. persicus are compared. About 20 chromosomal rearrangements separate these species into two groups. Robertsonian evolution, associated with inversions and fissions, appears to have occurred.


In the present work, B-site modified layer-structured strontium bismuth titanate (SBT) ceramics with the nominal formula SrBi4Ti4 xZrxO15 were prepared by solid state reaction route and the tailoring effects of zirconium (Zr) were investigated thoroughly. The X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the substitution leads to the formation of a single phase layered perovskite up to x # 0.15 and a ZrO2-based secondary phase was detected for higher Zr-doped compositions. The higher grain-growth rate induced by the larger ionic radius of Zr than Ti was supported by the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) results. The transition temperature increases slightly for the Zr-modified compositions, which can be described in terms of structural distortion due to the internal stresses developed within the ceramics. The Cole–Cole plot analysis of impedance spectra enabled to distinguish two relaxation behaviours that were assigned to originate from grains and grain boundaries. It was also observed that the remnant polarization and piezoelectric coefficient increases up to the solubility limit of Zr and then decreases with higher doping content. The temperature dependent piezoelectric coefficient was also studied, and was found to be stable up to the transition temperature in all compositions. All these results were explained on the basis of occupancy of the Zr ion at the B-site and for the higher composition ZrO2 secondary phase. Even the composition x 1⁄4 0.15 exhibited low conductivity, a moderate dielectric constant and a highly stable d33 value, demonstrating that the ceramic is an excellent material for hightemperature piezoelectric application. The possible reason for the enhancement of the electrical properties in the Zr-modified ceramic was discussed based on the structural analysis, which may be used for designing and/or modifying properties of SBT-related ceramics.


In this letter, a room-temperature multideposition multiannealing (MDMA) technique in ultraviolet ozone (UVO) ambient is applied to metal-gated (TiN) ALD HfO2 gate dielectric. Compared to the conventional rapid thermal annealing, the nMOSFETs with UVO MDMA show superior properties, in terms of enhanced channel electron mobility, improved immunity to biased temperature instability, and reduced gate dielectric relaxation current. This is explained by the reduction of bulk oxide trap and interface trap density because of healing of oxygen vacancies (Vo) after UVO MDMA annealing. The novel room-temperature UVO annealing is thus proposed to be a promising technique to enhance the gate stack integrity in a gate-last integration scheme.


In a recent issue of Science Translational Medicine , Cummings and colleagues have shown for the first time, in a cohort of rare Mendelian disorders, the clinical utility of next-generation sequencing (NGS)2-based transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) to increase molecular diagnostic yield (1). In this study, they performed RNA-seq on the target tissue of skeletal muscle biopsies from patients with putative monogenic neuromuscular disorders (NMDs) that were undiagnosed from whole exome sequencing (ES) or genome sequencing (GS) results. The authors could identify pathogenic events focusing on splicing defects and allelic imbalance that resulted in a 34% increased definite molecular diagnosis, thereby demonstrating the promise of RNA-seq as a complementary tool to ES or GS in the clinical setting. These study results are even more promising because as DNA-based NGS analyses continue to produce massive amounts of data, the number of coding and noncoding variants of uncertain significance (VUSs) identified also increases, which in turn creates a medical and financial burden on variant classification, disease association, and follow-up diagnosis and therapy options. As Cummings et al. describe, current in silico approaches in clinical DNA-based genetic testing to classify VUSs have limitations and potentially lead to false-positive prediction of pathogenic splice-site aberrant events. In addition to the high prevalence of VUSs, the diagnostic challenges are further enhanced in cases of genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous rare disorders such as NMDs, in which >200 genes are associated with broad and overlapping phenotypic spectra.

To overcome clinical diagnostic challenges, more emphasis is being given using other -omics approaches to analyze the functional consequences of genomic data at the levels of RNA, protein, epigenomics, posttranslational modifications, metabolites, and RNA-seq in particular (2), as recommended by American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics guidelines. Indeed, the clinical utility of RNA-based testing, albeit not using target tissue, has …


Various methods have been proposed to construct Latin hypercube designs with small correlations. Orthogonal arrays have been used to construct Latin hypercube designs with multi-dimensional stratification. To integrate these two ideas, we propose a method to construct Latin hypercube designs with both controlled correlations and multi-dimensional stratification. For numerical integration, the constructed designs not only filter out lower-dimensional variance components as effectively as ordinary orthogonal array-based Latin hypercube designs, but also filter out bilinear terms more effectively. The proposed construction method entails no iterative searches. Sampling properties of the constructed designs are derived. Examples are given to illustrate the proposed construction method and the theoretical results.


Background Potassium (K), an important nutrient element, can improve the stress resistance/tolerance of crops. The application of K in resisting plant parasitic nematodes shows that the K treatment can effectively reduce the occurrence of nematode diseases and increase crop yield. However, data on K2SO4 induced rice resistance to Meloidogyne graminicola are still lacking. To evaluate rice resistance against M. graminicola induced by K2SO4 and to further clarify its mechanism is essential for the rational use of K fertilizer to ensure the safety of rice production.Results In this work, K2SO4 treatment effectively reduced the numbers of both galls and nematodes in rice roots, and delayed the development of nematodes to the adult stage. Rather than by affecting the attractiveness of roots to nematodes and the morphological phenotype of giant cells at feeding sites, such effect was achieved by rapidly stimulating hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) accumulation, increasing callose deposition. Meanwhile, such induced resistance required the active participation of the potassium channel OsAKT1 and the potassium transporter OsHAK5. The numbers of both galls and nematodes were higher in both gene deficient plants than that in the wild-type plants, and the K2SO4-induced resistance showed weaker in the defective plants than in the wild-type plants.Conclusions K2SO4 treatment effectively induces rice resistance to root-knot nematode M. graminicola. The mechanism of inducing resistance is to prime the basic defense of rice, up-regulating the expression of resistance-related genes and with the involvement of K+ channel and transporter. These laid a foundation for further study on the mechanism of rice to defense against root-knot nematodes and the effective use of potassium fertilizer to improve rice resistance against nematodes in the field.


BACKGROUND
Thrombin generation assays (TGA) have potential applications as measures of hemostatic balance in animal models. However, variations in plasma processing greatly influence human TGA, and may also impact on the translational value of TGA in animal studies.

OBJECTIVES
The purpose of the study was to compare the performance characteristics of Sprague-Dawley rat plasma prepared by single vs double centrifugation protocols in TGA and fibrinolysis assays.

METHODS
Platelet-poor plasma (PPP) from adult rats (n = 20 males; 20 females) was prepared by centrifugation at 1200g × 12 min, or 2 sequential centrifugations of 2500g × 15 min. Plasma aliquots were assayed fresh and after freeze-thaw in a commercial fluorogenic TGA (Technothrombin TGA, Technoclone) using 2 different trigger reagents containing approximately 7 pM human tissue factor. In addition to TGA variables (lag time, peak thrombin, endogenous thrombin potential), we compared clotting time test and fibrinogen concentration, residual platelet and platelet-derived microparticle (PMP) counts measured by flow cytometry, and variables of fibrin clot formation and lysis measured in turbidimetric assays.

RESULTS
Single-centrifugation PPP demonstrated significantly greater thrombin-generating potential regardless of trigger reagent, yielded higher residual platelet and procoagulant PMP counts, and more stable fibrin clot profiles. The influence of a freeze-thaw cycle on TGA varied depending on trigger reagent, and male sex was associated with an overall "procoagulant" phenotype.

CONCLUSIONS
Preanalytic processing and sex have significant effects on many functional measures of hemostasis in rats. A standardized double centrifugation protocol to prepare PPP is recommended for future studies.


The study is to examine the relationship between involvements in decision making and organization productivity. Employee involvement decision making (EIDM) is the extent in which employers allow its employees to involve in organizational decision making. The study was designed to investigate Deposit Money Bank in Yola (Access Bank). The focus of the study was to find out how involvements in decision making were handled in the organization. The simple and purposive sampling techniques were used to obtain a sample of 50 respondents for study, the questionnaire consisting of 20 questions on the various employee involvements in decision making in an organization and the data collected were analysed using tables and percentages. Finding from the study indicated that employee involvement in decision making is an effective tool to enhance productivity. The research revealed that allowing all employees to involve in decision making is the best and help increases commitment of workers as well as promoting creativity and innovation in the organization. The paper recommended that employees should be involved in decision making of an organization because it makes the workers feel part as owner of the organization; the relationship between managers and employee should be encouraged to enhance consultation and free flow of information in an organization.


Such fun Bob and Barbara Decker are having in their "retirement" years! After distinguished academic and government careers, Bob and his wife Barbara have established productive second careers as authors of popular guidebooks to America's national parks, and they have managed to travel extensively for research on books yet to be published. The Deckers have identified 39 volcano-related national parks and National Monuments in the United States, and offer Volcanoes in America's National Parks to introduce readers to most of them.

This attractive, well-bound, soft-cover book begins with a concise 48-page introduction to modern volcanology with lucid explanations of eruptive processes, volcanic features, and why volcanoes form where they do. The descriptions of individual parks that follow are brief, but they give essential information about the geologic and human history of each park, with well-written explanations of how individual volcanic features of scenic interest formed.


Background. Companies commonly invest majorBackground. Companies commonly invest major effort into removing, respectively not introducing, technical debt issues detected by static analysis tools such as SonarQube, Cast, or Coverity. These tools classify technical debt issues into categories according to severity, and developers commonly pay attention to not introducing issues with a high level of severity that could generate bugs or make software maintenance more difficult. Objective. In this work, we aim to understand the diffuseness of Technical Debt (TD) issues and the speed with which developers remove them from the code if they introduced such an issue. The goal is to understand which type of TD is more diffused and how much attention is paid by the developers, as well as to investigate whether TD issues with a higher level of severity are resolved faster than those with a lower level of severity. We conducted a case study across 78K commits of 33 Java projects from the Apache Software Foundation Ecosystem to investigate the distribution of 1.4M TD items. Results. TD items introduced into the code are mostly related to code smells (issues that can increase the maintenance effort). Moreover, developers commonly remove the most severe issues faster than less severe ones. However, the time needed to resolve issues increases when the level of severity increases (minor issues are removed faster that blocker ones). Conclusion. One possible answer to the unexpected issue of resolution time might be that severity is not correctly defined by the tools. Another possible answer is that the rules at an intermediate severity level could be the ones that technically require more time to be removed. The classification of TD items, including their severity and type, require thorough investigation from a research point of view.effort into removing, respectively not introducing, technical debtissues detected by static analysis tools such as SonarQube, Cast, or Coverity. These tools classify technical debt issues intocategories according to severity, and developers commonly payattention to not introducing issues with a high level of severitythat could generate bugs or make software maintenance moredifficult. Objective. In this work, we aim to understand the diffuseness ofTechnical Debt (TD) issues and the speed with which developersremove them from the code if they introduced such an issue. The goal is to understand which type of TD is more diffusedand how much attention is paid by the developers, as well asto investigate whether TD issues with a higher level of severityare resolved faster than those with a lower level of severity. Weconducted a case study across 78K commits of 33 Java projectsfrom the Apache Software Foundation Ecosystem to investigatethe distribution of 1.4M TD items. Results. TD items introduced into the code are mostly relatedto code smells (issues that can increase the maintenance effort). Moreover, developers commonly remove the most severe issuesfaster than less severe ones. However, the time needed to resolveissues increases when the level of severity increases (minor issuesare removed faster that blocker ones). Conclusion. One possible answer to the unexpected issue ofresolution time might be that severity is not correctly definedby the tools. Another possible answer is that the rules at anintermediate severity level could be the ones that technicallyrequire more time to be removed. The classification of TD items, including their severity and type, require thorough investigationfrom a research point of view.


The effect of supplements of vitamins B‐1, B‐2, niacin, B‐6 and C has been assessed in a randomized double‐blind trial in 15 hospitalized elderly patients suffering from senile dementia. Supplementation did not prevent an increase in either cognitive impairment or behavioural disturbance. However, it did result in weight gain over a six‐week period. Hospitalized demented patients generally suffer significant weight loss, which increases with the duration of hospitalization. Vitamin supplementation may therefore protect against physical deterioration and the development of cachexia.


: Due to the frequent occurrence of floods in urban areas, it is imperative to investigate their causes and determine whether they are mainly the result of global climate change or urbanization induced by human activities. Existing research on the impact of urbanization on urban floods focuses on hazards assessment as well as sensitivity tests. They are critical to risk reduction and severe weather early warning. Precipitation intensity downwind or over cities may be enhanced. Meanwhile the increased areal coverage of impervious surfaces in urban areas can alter the natural hydrologic response. In order to reveal the spatiotemporal characteristics of elevated flood risks in urban areas, by examining published work on the topics, we put forward the following thoughts on future research direction. The first is to use high spatial resolution observation data to determine the distribution of hazards induced by rainstorms in urban areas. The second is to develop suitable hydrological models using high resolution urban land surface data for simulating the hydroclimatic sensitivity of watersheds. The third is to combine rainstorm hazards and sensitivity in risk assessment to reveal the discrepancy of flood risks in urban areas, as well as effects induced by urbanization. Risk assessment identifies flood risks in urban areas and can be useful for risk management, which is essential in risk mitigation.


The acute coronary syndrome is defined as acute anginal pain because of partial or total occlusion of one or more coronary arteries due to advanced coronary heart disease. Three clinical entities can be identified: Unstable angina (UA), Non-ST-segment elevation MI (NSTEMI) and ST-segment elevation MI. They can be differentiated based on the ECG changes and the cardiac markers. ACS is initially managed medically with a well-known algorithm. Revascularization of the coronaries either by cardiac catheterization or surgery should be planned as soon as possible.


Cardiolipin (CL) is a unique dimeric phospholipid localized primarily in the mitochondrial membrane. In eukaryotes, the enzyme CL synthase catalyses the synthesis of CL from two lipid substrates, CDP‐diacylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol. In earlier studies, we reported the purification of CL synthase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the cloning of the gene CRD1 (previously called CLS1) that encodes the enzyme. Because CL is an important component of the mitochondrial membrane, knowledge of its regulation will provide insight into the biogenesis of this organelle. To understand how CL synthesis is regulated, we analysed CRD1 expression by Northern blot analysis of RNA extracted from cells under a variety of growth conditions. CRD1 expression is regulated by mitochondrial development factors. CRD1 levels were 7‐ to 10‐fold greater in stationary than in logarithmic growth phase, and threefold greater in wild‐type than in ρ0 mutants. Expression was somewhat elevated during growth in glycerol/ethanol versus glucose media. In contrast, CRD1 expression was not regulated by the phospholipid precursors inositol and choline, and was not altered in the regulatory mutants ino2, ino4 and opi1. Mutations in cytochrome oxidase assembly, which led to reduced Crd1p enzyme activity, did not affect CRD1 expression. The crd1 null mutant makes a truncated CRD1 message. Although the null mutant can grow on both fermentable and non‐fermentable carbon sources at lower temperatures, it cannot form colonies at 37°C. In conclusion, CRD1 expression is controlled by factors affecting mitochondrial development, but not by the phospholipid precursors inositol and choline. Expression of CRD1 is essential for growth at elevated temperatures, suggesting that either CL or Crd1p is required for an essential cellular function.


Introduction: the Russian doctrinal sources have been noting the formation of a new type of law-making for several years. It differs from other types in that amendments and changes to the constitutional norms are made without their direct changing. This type of law-making is called "transformation of constitutional norms". The purpose of the study is to formulate the concept of transformation of constitutional norms and to identify the specific features and distinctions of this legal phenomenon. Methods: the methodological framework for the study is a set of methods of scientific knowledge, among which the main ones are the methods of comparison, analysis, and generalization of legal material. Results: the author's position on the need to determine the features, limits, and distinctions of this institution in Russian science is based on the study of the modern legislation, as well as a large number of examples from judicial practice. Based on this approach to the study of legal material, the very concept of transformation of constitutional norms was studied, the ambiguities of the transformation processes were identified, and the features and limits of transformation were formulated. Conclusions: as a result of the study, the role of transformation as a regulator of public relations and a new type of law-making is revealed. The features, signs, and limits of the transformation of constitutional norms are established through the analysis of examples in the judicial practice of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. It is determined that the transformation is temporary, can fill a legal gap, and has a specific mechanism of implementation, which is due to special forms of transformation (interpretation, application of legal positions, ratification, and implementation).


Very few items engendered by the Virgil bimillenary reach the standard of the conference held at Wolfenbiittel, 5-7 Oct. 1982. I single out five contributions. (1) Ernst Schmidt on the poetic and personal relationship of Virgil and Horace, from the impact of Buc. 4 on Iambi 7 and 16, through the influence of G. on Horace's conception of poetry in Carm. 1-3, to the widely recognised impact of the Aeneid on Carm. 4. (ii) Karl Galinsky on the Aeneas-legend. He has taken good notice of archaeological discoveries since Aeneas. Sicily and Rome (1969) and many of his arguments are sharpened and refined somewhat (n. 23 excepted; pietas has a complex literary prehistory which G. still determinedly belittles). The reviewer's own exposition of these matters is now available in Encic. Virgiliana 2 (Rome, 1985), 221-9 (a much revised and enlarged English account to appear in Studies in Roman Myth and Mythography, ed. J. N. Bremmer and N. M. Horsfall, BICS Supplement 1987). We do not often agree, (iii) Poschl's Das Befremdende in der Aeneis belongs within the context of the intense debate about Right and Wrong in the Aeneid which has consumed so much paper in Germany and America of late. P. says sober things about familiar and disconcerting ambiguities in Virgil's representation of Aeneas' morality. It is worrying that they still need to be said. Not least in view of (iv) Antonie Wlosok's fascinating exposition of Lactantius' critique of Aeneas' pietas (div. inst. 5.10), and also of Constantine's oration on Buc. 4. Some criticisms of Aeneas hardly need to be renewed with such vigour after 1700 years, (v) Many readers will share the reviewer's warm interest in J. Draheim's survey of Vergil in der Musik (with Diskographie, etc.; see now too R. Monterosso and M. Sala in Encic. Virgiliana s.v. Eneide, sections 12 and 13). Rezeptionstudies have largely taken over this volume; that is the new focus of interest in work on Virgil in Germany, and a narrow-minded and conventional reviewer learned much.


Background Today a common approach to solve a complicated problem is to assemble a temporary workforce in order to solve the problem by working together within a project. One of the difficulties with working in projects is to maintain the planned budget. Working hours and costs are often exceeded. Many companies presume that any certain project will succeed, a presumption that leads companies not to anticipate risks involved in a project. In companies today there is seldom time for evaluation or moderation of a project, in order to have time for evaluation there is a great need for an adequate planning of the project. Intent The intention with this study is to create a model for planning, budgeting and evaluation of projects within consultancy companies.MethodWith the help of interviews and discussions within the group Hamnar och Byggkonstruktioner at Sweco has evidence to present a proposal on planning, budgeting and monitoring been developed. Results A model has been developed to ease for consultancy companies to plan, budget, monitor and evaluate projects. The model aims to create a transparency and understanding of how certain projects are progressing at the same time as a continuous monitoring can be done.


SUMMARY: In his article Ronald Suny takes aim at a critical examination of relationship between modernity and the Soviet experiment, ideology and analytical apparatus employed for exploration of Soviet history, placing that examination in the context of historiographic discussions in the US Slavic field. The author takes as a point of departure the recent book by J. Scott and combines the analysis of Scott's argument with a scrutiny of major interpretative models used in American historiography for Soviet studies, namely the "Totalitarian" and "developmentalist" ones. He differentiates between the modernization trend, which focuses on processes of social change in Soviet society, revises the image of the 1917 revolution and the nature of the soviet political regime, and modernity trend, which emphasizes the legacy of enlightenment and modern rationality in the Soviet experiment, stressing the revisionist impact of both on the historiographic image of the Soviet history. However, the author notes that the collapse of the Soviet Union has reversed the balance between the "Totalitarian" and "developmentalist" interpretations of Soviet history to the advantage of libertarian perspective on modern state and society, which now necessitates a reconstruction of relationship between soviet socialism and European modernity. Identifying modernity as a normative discourse, Suny analyzes the interplay between modernism and antimodernism, asserting that soviet socialism was not an alternative to modernity but rather an alternative within the range of historic variations of modernity. He then reviews in detail two major contributions to Soviet history by US historians of Russia, M. Malia and S. Kotkin. While welcoming their approaches to the Soviet Union as a variant and modification of European modernity, he criticizes their way of reducing the Soviet experience to the Bolshevik ideological blueprints, offering instead an understanding of Soviet ideology (socialism) and politics as a dynamic, contingent, and eventually evolving discursive process.


The Lower Proterozoic, Lake Superior-type Sokoman Iron Formation of the Labrador Trough is one of the world's largest iron formations. It represents a unique, major event in the history of the Trough. Originally a largely irregularly bedded, intraclastic, granular, locally oolitic, conglomeratic iron formation, it is highly variable in its stratigraphy, mineralogy, and textures, which are the consequence of sedimentology, diagenesis, metamorphism, structural deformation, and magmatic overprint. Despite its complexity, the regional characteristics of the iron formation within the 1200 km length of the Labrador Trough indicate three main stratigraphic units, defined by their dominant iron minerals: the lower and upper parts of the formation are characterized by the abundance of iron silicates and carbonates (silicate-carbonate facies), and the middle part is characterized by the dominance of iron oxides (oxide facies). The origin of these lithostratigraphic units of the iron formation is attributed to three main sea-level changes which changed the chemistry (oxidation–reduction potential) and the physical energy (wave and current action) of the sedimentary environment.
 The vast amount of iron and some of the silica required for deposition of the Sokoman Formation is inferred to be the consequence of intense hydrothermal activity within a major rift created by the eastward extension of the Labrador Trough ca 1.88 Ga. The hydrothermal fluids venting within the rift saturated the deep and likely anoxic sea of the Trough with ferrous iron and some silica which then upwelled onto its oxygenated shallow waters to deposit the iron formation.
 The end of the processes involved in creating the iron formation ca. 1.82 Ga is attributed to the westward contraction of the Trough induced by the Hudsonian (Trans-Hudson) orogeny, which closed the iron- and silica-generating rift and at the same time ended all magmatic activities and related sedimentation coeval with the deposition of the iron formation.


Sepsis may be associated with activation of the coagulation system and, in its most severe form, may result in disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). Initially, there is thrombosis primarily affecting small and medium sized vessels and contributing to organ dysfunction, but continued activation results in consumption of coagulation factors. This results in prolongation of global coagulation parameters. Often thrombocytopenia is the initial feature in sepsis, which may be followed by prolongation of global coagulation assays, and in severe cases, associated with hypofibrinogenaemia, with overactivation of the fibrinolytic path. The end result is a bleeding phenotype. Scoring systems can be used to help identify patients at risk of DIC and aid in confirming a diagnosis of DIC utilising routine laboratory parameters. Discussion includes medical and blood product support of haemostasis, from thrombotic to bleeding states, in relation to sepsis trigger.


This paper studies the long-term effect of radiation on cognitive skills. We use regional variation in nuclear fallout caused by the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, which led to a permanent increase in radiation levels in most of Europe. To identify a causal effect, we exploit the fact that the degree of soil contamination depended on rainfall within a critical ten-day window after the disaster. Based on unique geo-coded survey data from Germany, we show that people who lived in highlycontaminated areas in 1986 perform significantly worse in standardized cognitive tests 25 years later. This effect is driven by the older cohorts in our sample (born before 1976), whereas we find no effect for people who were first exposed during early childhood. These results are consistent with radiation accelerating cognitive decline during older ages. Moreover, they suggest that radiation has negative effects even when people are first exposed as adults, and point to significant external costs of man-made sources of radiation.


We study the problem of containment of shape expression schemas ShEx for RDF graphs. We identify a subclass of ShEx that has a natural graphical representation in the form of shape graphs and whose semantics is captured with a tractable notion of embedding of an RDF graph in a shape graph. When applied to pairs of shape graphs, an embedding is a sufficient condition for containment, and for a practical subclass of deterministic shape graphs, it is also a necessary one, thus yielding a subclass with tractable containment. Containment for general shape graphs is EXP-complete. Finally, we show that containment for arbitrary ShEx is decidable.


Investigated visual attention to and story comprehension of televised stories in 4- to 6-year-old children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and comparison children. Half of the children in each group watched the program with toys in the room, and the other half watched without toys. Visual attention to the television was recorded, and story comprehension was assessed by performance on cued recall questions. All children attended significantly less when toys were present, but the difference when toys were present was greater for children with ADHD. The groups did not differ on recall of factual information when toys were absent. When toys were present, the comparison children showed no decrement in performance on factual questions, whereas the performance of children with ADHD was significantly worse. On questions testing causal connections, the children with ADHD performed more poorly than comparison children regardless of whether toys were present. Implications of these results for understanding and treating the academic and social difficulties of children with ADHD are discussed.


The characteristics of nurses acting as organizational champions, as well as the ways that clinical leaders systematically harness the energy of these champions in support of innovation, were explored in this qualitative descriptive study. The specific aims were guided by prior empirical evidence and identified research needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 formal nursing leaders (e.g. managers, educators, administration) in an academic medical center. This study, including the interview guide, was informed by Kouzes and Posner's (2007) Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. Two models were developed to describe the data. Overall, participants echoed prior empirical findings identifying a need for organizational champions' support of innovation and explained how some nurses seem to have "innate" characteristics that make them champions. Participants identified the champion as the "go to" person who can see the bigger picture and who seems to "own their own practice". They described the importance of being truly present on the unit in order to harness the energy of these champions. Once champions are identified, leaders match the champions' talents to the innovation planned, secure buy in from the champions, and actively work to support champions and get a culture of innovation "in the drinking water." This work enhances the leader's experience and makes him/her feel inspired and engaged. The two models developed based on the participants' description of their experience working with staff nurses acting as organizational champions provide a framework for clinical leaders to identify and engage organizational champions in their clinical areas in support of innovation.


We succeeded in obtaining excellent Jc values of Bi2212 multifilamentary round wire with a precisely controlled heat treatment. The heat treatment, which consisted of melt solidification and a subsequent slow-cooling process, was applied to Bi-2212 superconductors. The Ic values of Bi-2212 wires heat treated with a maximum processing temperature Tmax below the optimum Tmax of Bi-2212 were zero, while high Ic values of 450 A, Jc = 280 kA cm−2 at 4.2 K and 10 T magnetic field, were obtained in a very narrow temperature range of the optimum Tmax. When the wires were heat treated with Tmax over the optimum Tmax, however, the Ic values were almost one-half of the highest Ic values. We found that the optimum Tmax window was very narrow for our multifilamentary wires. The well controlled heat treatment resulted in uniform filaments with few outgrowths from multifilaments and, hence, high Ic values for the wires.


Abstract. Uncertainty in the return levels of insured loss from European wind storms was quantified using storms derived from twenty-two 25 km regional climate model runs driven by either the ERA40 reanalyses or one of four coupled atmosphere-ocean global climate models. Storms were identified using a model-dependent storm severity index based on daily maximum 10 m wind speed. The wind speed from each model was calibrated to a set of 7 km historical storm wind fields using the 70 storms with the highest severity index in the period 1961–2000, employing a two stage calibration methodology. First, the 25 km daily maximum wind speed was downscaled to the 7 km historical model grid using the 7 km surface roughness length and orography, also adopting an empirical gust parameterisation. Secondly, downscaled wind gusts were statistically scaled to the historical storms to match the geographically-dependent cumulative distribution function of wind gust speed. The calibrated wind fields were run through an operational catastrophe reinsurance risk model to determine the return level of loss to a European population density-derived property portfolio. The risk model produced a 50-yr return level of loss of between 0.025% and 0.056% of the total insured value of the portfolio.


The formation kinetics of open half-monolayer films on solid substrates is studied by the deposition of particles from a gaseous (vapor) phase to a cold substrate (room temperature) provided the lateral interaction between the particles of adsorbed layer (adlayer) is attractive. A detailed analysis of two limiting cases is presented: when the half-monolayer film formation rate is limited by the adsorption of particles from the gas phase and when the formation of the half-monolayer film surface is determined by the rate of surface diffusion of the adsorbed particles. The asymptotic analysis of the coverage dispersion evolution and the characteristic spatial scale of coverage inhomogeneities at the early and late stages of relaxation of a submonolayer film after quenching under the spinodal is carried out. It is found that separation of the adlayer occurs, so inhomogeneities of submonolayer films at the later stages of the process tend to equilibrium values of coverage in any case. However, asymptotic and numerical analysis shows that in the second case for some relationship between the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the adlayer an intermediate asymptotic relaxation process can be observed. It testifies to a kinetic slowdown of the separation process at the spinodal values of coverages. This fact manifests as the appearance of the intermediate plateau in the evolution curves for the coverage dispersion and nonmonotonic change of the characteristic spatial scale of coverage inhomogeneities. Moreover, at the early stages of the coverage evolution, the incubation period is revealed in the development of its inhomogeneities. It is shown that at the later stages of the separation of the half-monolayer film, the characteristic spatial scale of coverage inhomogeneities increases with time according to the law τ {1/2} and the width of the transition region between enriched and depleted regions of adlayer decreases as 1/τ {1/2}.


Hippocrates described the importance of patient compliance over 2000 years ago, but the issue continues to generate intense debate [1]. Dictionary definitions often disregard the evolution of language, but definitions in science and medicine are constantly changing. New and modified terminology is needed to capture and communicate emerging ideas, practices and discoveries. The issue of compliance, adherence and concordance is a case in point.

Concordance is not synonymous with either compliance or adherence. Concordance does not refer to a patient's medicine-taking behaviour, but rather the nature of the interaction between clinician and patient. It is based on the notion that consultations between clinicians and patients are a negotiation between equals [2]. How individual patients value the risks and benefits of a particular medicine may differ from the value assigned by their clinicians [3]. In adopting a concordant approach clinicians should respect the rights of patients to decide whether or not to take prescribed medicines. The aim of concordance is the establishment of a therapeutic alliance between the clinician and patient. Concordance is synonymous with patient-centred care. Nonconcordance may occur if a therapeutic partnership is not established and therefore may denote failure of the interaction.

In contrast, compliance and adherence relate to the medicine-taking behaviour of the patient. Compliance and adherence can be estimated using prescription claims records, pharmacy dispensing data, validated survey instruments or electric pill counters, as well as direct measures such as serum drug levels [4]. However, concordance can not. There are still no accepted, valid and reliable tools to measure concordance. While Aronson correctly points to the lack of evidence for improved health outcomes following concordant interactions, research suggests many patients do wish to be involved in decision making about their own treatment regimens [5]. This is particularly true in the field of psychiatry, where many patients may receive only minimal information about their prescribed medicines [6, 7], but may also apply to patients receiving long-term therapy for somatic diseases [8].

Just like Hippocrates, most clinicians recognize the importance of good adherence. In the case of the 81-year-old lady with worsening heart failure, the author attributed non-adherence to the 'very simple' cause of morning diuresis. However, understanding the reasons for non-adherence is not always so simple. Patient-related reasons for non-adherence may include forgetfulness, the decision to omit doses, lack of information and emotional factors [4]. Clinician-related reasons may include prescription of complex regimens, failing to explain the benefits and side-effects of treatment, not giving consideration to a patient's lifestyle or the cost of medicines, and having a poor therapeutic relationship with the patient. Most traditional methods of assessing medicine taking do so quantitatively, and provide little insight into the reasons for non-adherence. These methods may lead clinicians to attribute non-adherence to patient-related reasons. Greater use of qualitative research techniques may reveal that the reasons for non-adherence also lie in the way clinicians work and the healthcare system operates. Use of a concordant approach in clinical practice may be one mechanism by which non-adherence can be better understood and addressed.


Visualisation of spatial networks based on pairwise metrics such as (dis)similarity coefficients provides direct information on spatial organisation of biological systems. However, for large networks, graphical representations are often unreadable as nodes (samples), and edges (links between samples) strongly overlap. We present a new method, MAPI, allowing translation from spatial networks to variation surfaces. MAPI relies on (i) a spatial network in which samples are linked by ellipses and (ii) a grid of hexagonal cells encompassing the study area. Pairwise metric values are attributed to ellipses and averaged within the cells they intersect. The resulting surface of variation can be displayed as a colour map in Geographical Information System (GIS), along with other relevant layers, such as land cover. The method also allows the identification of significant discontinuities in grid cell values through a nonparametric randomisation procedure. The interest of MAPI is here demonstrated in the field of spatial and landscape genetics. Using simulated test data sets, as well as observed data from three biological models, we show that MAPI is (i) relatively insensitive to confounding effects resulting from isolation by distance (i.e. over‐structuring), (ii) efficient in detecting barriers when they are not too permeable to gene flow and, (iii) useful to explore relationships between spatial genetic patterns and landscape features. MAPI is freely provided as a PostgreSQL/PostGIS data base extension allowing easy interaction with GIS or the r software and other programming languages. Although developed for spatial and landscape genetics, the method can also be useful to visualise spatial organisation from other kinds of data from which pairwise metrics can be computed.


Background and Objectives: Currently, one of the most useful prognostic indicators in Ewing sarcomas (ES) is the presence of metastatic disease at diagnosis. According to various clinical guidelines, the assessment of bone marrow (BM) metastases, using light microscopy examination of bone marrow aspirates and biopsies (BMAB) is mandatory. However, the prognostic value of BM positivity is discussed controversially. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to retrospectively review BM samples from patients with ES. Materials and Methods: This retrospective single centre study included 31 patients that were newly diagnosed with ES between 2000 and 2014. Twenty-seven patients had skeletal ES and in 4 patients the tumour was localized in the soft tissue only. Metastases at diagnosis were present in 5 out of 31 patients. BM samples were morphologically and immunohistochemically searched and screened for the presence or absence of BM metastases. Furthermore, in 15 of the 31 patients BM samples were still available and were reanalysed, using nested-polymerase chain reaction. Results: All BM samples of our 31 ES patients, including the 5 metastatic patients, were, morphologically and immunohistochemically tested negative for tumour cell appearance. The nested-PCR results were also negative in all of our 15 retested patients, including two patients with metastatic disease. Conclusions: Based on our results and on the contradictory results reported in the literature we recommend a re-evaluation of the necessity and the prognostic value of BMAB in the initial staging process of newly diagnosed ES patients.


Balcerek M., Szopa J. (2012): Ethanol biosynthesis and hydrocyanic acid liberation during fruit mashes fermentation. Czech J. Food Sci., 30: 144–152. The biosynthesis of ethanol and release of hydrocyanic acid are important factors characterising the fermentation process of fruit mashes. The effects were determined of the fruit pretreatment and method of fermentation (with or without the addition of wine yeast) on the dynamics of ethanol biosynthesis and hydrocyanic acid liberation during fruit mashes fermentation and its concentrations in the spirits obtained. Depending on the fermentation variants, the highest rate of ethanol biosynthesis was observed between the first and third days of plum mashes fermentation, and between the first and fourth days of chokeberry mashes fermentation. In the majority of fermented mashes, the maxi mum dynamics of HCN liberation was recorded on the first day of the process. Spontaneous fermentation of fruit pulp resulted in much higher amounts of HCN in the spirits obtained (10.5 mg/l of plum spirit 40%, v/v, and 28.90 mg/l of chokeberry spirit 40%, v/v) in relation to the contents observed in the distillates from the mashes fermented with the addition of S. bayanus wine yeast (2.80 mg/l of plum spirit 40%, v/v, and 12.46 mg/l of chokeberry spirit 40%,v/v). The treatment with the pectolytic preparation (PEKTOZYME TM POWERMash) had no significant effect on the concentration of HCN in fruit spirits, whereas the pressure/thermal treatment reduced HCN content, especially in chokeberry distillate, by ca. 71% as compared to the reference spirit (obtained from raw pulp).


The paper suggests that the use of classical wavelets may be auxiliary in the analysis of a periodic signal. This is because the intuitive interpretation of the wavelet transform is not obvious. It is proposed to consider the Fourier transform as the main tool in applied research of periodic signals. An example is provided to support this point of view. To isolate the periodic component of the signal, along with wavelet analysis, it is proposed to perform spectral analysis. To do this, pre-filtering is performed using singular wavelets. This approach can significantly complement classical wavelet analysis.


In the course of transgenic experiments on the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans , RNA interference, usually abbreviated as RNAi, was discovered first. It is a gene-silencing effect and is found to be widely distributed in eukaryotes. It was observed that control injections of sense RNA were just as effective as antisense RNA, directed at specifically inhibiting target genes in C. elegans by the injection of antisense RNA during an experiment causing the reduction or elimination of expression from the gene under investigation. Subsequently, by injecting double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) corresponding to the target gene, it was discovered that the effect could be most potently elicited, and contamination of the single-stranded RNA (ssRNA; either sense or antisense) by traces of dsRNA could explain the earlier results. By post-transcriptional mechanism, substantial or complete inhibition of expression from any gene can be done using dsRNA corresponding to part or all of the mature mRNA from any given gene. An attempt was made here to describe the basic underlying molecular mechanism of RNAi, the methodology and various experimental requirements, and its advantages and disadvantages. In relation to CRISPR/Cas9 technology, the future prospects of virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) are considered finally. For the cutting-edge CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology, VIGS has emerged as the preferred delivery system besides using it to overexpress or silence genes.


The chemical durability and mechanical properties of a kind of alkali-proof basalt fiber BF-CMD-01 and its reinforced F46 epoxy resin matrix composites are presented. The basalt fiber was boiled in distilled water, sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid, respectively. Then the mass loss and strength change of the fibers were studied showing that the alkali resistance of the basalt fiber is better than acid resistance. The flexural properties and surface morphologies of the composites were investigated after being immersed in 8 kinds of chemical mediums for 15, 30 and 90 days. Due to the difference of basalt fiber resistance in two kinds of mediums, the composites corrosion behaviors differ greatly in acid and alkaline reactions. In acid mediums, the flexural strength and flexural modulus change in the same way. In alkaline mediums, the flexural modulus keeps close to the original value while the flexural strength declines gradually. Additionally, the mechanical properties of basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) and S-2 glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) have been tested, and analyzed contrastively. The results show that the interface formed between basalt fiber and epoxy resin is better than that of glass fiber and epoxy resin.


COX-2 expression affects mammary tumourigenesis by promoting angiogenesis and cell proliferation, encouraging metastatic spread and tumour-associated inflammation. Samples of canine mammary tumours (n = 109) were submitted to immunohistochemistry to detect COX-2, CD31, VEGF, Ki-67, CD3 and MAC387 expression. Concurrent high expression of COX-2/CD31, COX-2/VEGF, COX-2/Ki-67, COX-2/CD3 and COX-2/MAC was associated with elevated grade of malignancy, presence of intravascular emboli and presence of lymph node metastasis. Tumours with high COX-2 (P < 0.001) and tumours with concurrent expression of high COX-2 and high CD31 (P = 0.008); high VEGF (P < 0.001); high Ki-67 (P < 0.001); high CD3+ T-lymphocytes (P = 0.002) and elevated MAC387 macrophages (P = 0.024) were associated with shorter overall survival (OS) time. Interestingly the groups with high COX-2/CD31 and high COX-2/VEGF retained their significance after multivariate analysis arising as independent predictors of OS. Present data highlight the importance of COX-2 in canine mammary tumourigenesis.


In China, health care resources for expectant mothers and children are still not utilized to full efficiency, with health requirements still not being met. The purpose of this study is to critically examine the efficiency of gynecology and obstetrics hospital (OB/GYN) units in Shanxi province of China, with the overarching objective of exploring methods for improving their efficiency. We employ the three-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to measure the efficiency of 134 OB/GYN units in Shanxi. The results show that the technical efficiency and scale efficiency scores of the sample units were low (0.48 and 0.54, respectively). The efficiency of the OB/GYN units varies by region, city, and county and by type of unit. We conclude that the main reason for the low efficiency of OB/GYN units in Shanxi province lies in the unreasonable scale. The government should, therefore, allocate health resources more reasonably, improving the efficiency of different regions, cities, and counties, as well as different types of OB/GYN units.


Central to this article is the Dutch poet and writer Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer who in recent years has positioned himself explicitly as a European intellectual. Using Odile Heynders' definition of the public intellectual, it examines the ways in which Pfeijffer has contributed to the public debate on the so-called 'refugee crisis'  in  and  beyond his literary works. By means of a close reading of  Brief aan Europa  [ Letter to Europe ] (2015), the article examines the literary tools with which Pfeiffer tries to add complexity to this debate, for instance techniques such as personification, focalization and identification. In his literary writings Pfeijffer seems to prompt his readers to rethink their luxury position and to direct their attention to the complex issues underlying the 'refugee crisis'. Simultaneously, however, he also uses images that appear rather problematic and result in stereotyping. Finally, the article also touches upon the more general difficulties of writing on the 'refugee crisis' today. Is a Western, privileged writer like Pfeijffer allowed to use the stories of refugees for his own economic benefit? By looking into his public position and performances, the article shows that his economic success and cultural authority are intricately connected to his position as a public intellectual writing on the 'refugee crisis'.


It has been suggested that nitrosyliron(II)hemoglobin may represent a form of stabilized NO. and may be responsible for NO. delivery in the peripheral circulation. In this work, we show that NO. can be released from nitrosyliron(II)hemoglobin through reaction with peroxynitrite. Outer-sphere oxidation of the iron center generates nitrosyliron(III)hemoglobin, from which NO. dissociates at a rate of ca. 1 s(-1). The second-order rate constant for the reaction of peroxynitrite with nitrosyliron(II)hemoglobin is (6.1 +/- 0.3) x 10(3) M(-1) s(-1) (at pH 7.2 and 20 degrees C). In the presence of 1.2 mM CO(2), the rather large value of the second-order rate constant, (5.3 +/- 0.2) x 10(4) M(-1) s(-1) (at pH 7.2 and 20 degrees C), indicates that this reaction may take place in vivo. The reactive nitrogen species generated from this reaction, N(2)O(3) and/or NO(2), may lead to protein modifications, such as nitration of tyrosine and/or tryptophan residues and nitrosation of cysteine residues.


Summary: Environmental offences (whether causing pollution, threatening to cause pollution, breach of a local authority licence or permit, or breach of an IPC or IPPC licence) may be committed by a range of people from a body corporate to an individual manager and the ensuing liabilities can be civil, criminal or both. Claims can be (1) constitutional; (2) statutory (Irish and European); and (3) common law based. I propose in this paper to deal with these liabilities in the environmental context and also to highlight some landmark cases and what is coming down the track in the future.


I was born in 1947 with developmental dysplasia of my right hip and was put in plaster for some months, but without success. In 1948, poliomyelitis left my other leg flaccid. I was fitted with a calliper and learned to walk, aged 3, by holding the collar of an Alsatian dog. Small in stature, with a pronounced limp and one stick, I was ready for school. Growing up disabled, I received enormous kindness. After the Second World War, many disabled people just operated lifts or sold newspapers. The special school I was going to be sent to had never had a pupil pass the 11-plus to allow them a decent secondary education, but a normal infant school headteacher bent the rules to take me in, assisted by an Alderman. I was started in the normal world. My secondary school made special arrangements without fuss. The Health Service was marvellous. Although


Instance-aware segmentation of unseen objects is essential for a robotic system in an unstructured environment. Although previous works achieved encouraging results, they were limited to segmenting the only visible regions of unseen objects. For robotic manipulation in a cluttered scene, amodal perception is required to handle the occluded objects behind others. This paper addresses Unseen Object Amodal Instance Segmentation (UOAIS) to detect 1) visible masks, 2) amodal masks, and 3) occlusions on unseen object instances. For this, we propose a Hierarchical Occlusion Modeling (HOM) scheme designed to reason about the occlusion by assigning a hierarchy to a feature fusion and prediction order. We evaluated our method on three benchmarks (tabletop, indoors, and bin environments) and achieved state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance. Robot demos for picking up occluded objects, codes, and datasets are available at https://sites.google.com/view/uoais.


This video presents the working of a new algorithm/software called DelPSC that meshes piecewise smooth complexes in three dimensions with Delaunay simplices. Piecewise smooth complexes admit a large class of geometric domains including polyhedra, smooth and piecewise smooth surfaces with or without boundary, and non-manifolds. The algorithm and its proof of correctness are described in the paper [7].


The Ravenscar profile defines a subset of Ada tasking that can be statically analysable for real-time properties. The implications of the Ravenscar profile and other commonly used high-integrity restrictions for developing device drivers are analysed in the paper, and some guidelines are provided based on the analysis. The technical content of the paper is based on the authors' experience in developing communication drivers for the Open Ravenscar realtime Kernel (ORK) that are well suited for space onboard applications. A reference architecture for device drivers is proposed, and two instances of drivers based on it are described.


The synthesis of 2- and 6-trifluoromethylated purines and 1-deazapurines was performed by formal [3 + 3]-cyclization reactions of 5-aminoimidazoles with a set of trifluoromethyl-substituted 1,3-CCC- and 1,3-CNC-dielectrophiles. The corresponding fluorinated nucleosides were synthesized by glycosylation of 9-unsubstituted purines and 1-deazapurines with peracetylated β-ribose, β-glucose, and rhamnose and subsequent deprotection. These scaffolds can be considered as potential inhibitors of adenosine deaminase (ADA) and inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) enzymes.