Microfluidic technologies and on-chip optical components have advanced such that on-chip sensing of minute chemical and molecular compounds is possible, e.g., detection of gases, pathogens, and DNA. Such DNA analyses require purification and amplification to maximize sensitivity. A common method for amplification of a DNA segment is polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which amplifies DNA segments through temperature changes in an assay process. As such, there is great interest in optofluidic lab-on-a-chip PCR methods. However, developments are limited due to challenges in optically driven temperature fluctuations. These challenges arise when the microfluidic samples are smaller than the optical penetration depth of the incident light and only minimal absorption is achieved. To overcome these challenges, this work presents a bio-photonic approach to the PCR method which utilizes infrared (IR) radiation with whispering gallery mode (WGM) waves. The WGM waves greatly increase the interaction length in the microdroplet, allowing smaller (and scalable) dimensions. This improved interaction length occurs because the applied IR radiation is confined along the perimeter of the microdroplet and its surrounding medium. The operation is modelled with finite-different time-domain electromagnetic simulations, comparing current optical heating with the presented technique. These simulations are validated through an experimental analysis with a thermal camera measuring temperature fluctuations. Ultimately, the presented approach is shown to greatly increase scalability in PCR lab-on-a-chip systems.


The study of the genetics of non-epithelial tumor formation in mice presents a number of inherent difficulties. These are unavoidable and are mentioned merely in order that the reader may appreciate some of the factors involved in an investigation of the present type. The general clinical symptoms of the presence of non-epithelial tumors in mice differ greatly according to the location and type of the neoplasm. It may be helpful to list some of the observations on this point. In the mice observed by the writers tumors of the lymphoblastoma series are the commonest type next to the mammary carcinoma group, which has been extensively studied and reported upon in previous papers (Staff of Jackson Memorial Laboratory, 1933; Murray and Little, 1935a, 1935b, 1936; Bittner, 1936; Cloudman, 1936, 1937). Tumors of lymph cells may occur wherever lymphatic tissue is present. They generally are primary in the spleen or in the various mesenteric or other peritoneal nodes. When they are thus situated the clinical symptoms are an abdominal swelling, with hardening, frequent turgidity, ascites or generalized edema, and occasional asymmetry. Often by careful palpation the enlargement of the spleen or the presence of other peritoneal nodules can be detected. In some animals the peritoneal cavity may be grossly distended by fluid. This fluid is of three types. It may be hemorrhagic, of the deep color of venous blood; in other cases it is milky with a pink tinge; while in still others it is clear and watery. As yet no consistent correlation between any of the three types of fluid and any particular character of the lymphatic tumor has been detected.


Recent research conducted by ICRAF and collaborators has demonstrated a strong demand for Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in the humid forest areas of Cameroon. These NTFPs include: Cola nitida, Ricinodendron heudelotii, Gnetum africanum and Irvingia spp. However, farmers find it difficult to achieve good returns from these products, even with viable national, regional and international markets for the products. In response to that, ICRAF-AHT (Africa Humid Tropics) is leading a "Farmer Enterprise Development" project aimed at empowering rural households through the development of appropriate marketing strategies that can be used for a range of products. The innovative approach combines training and development of farmer entrepreneurial skills, the development of NTFPs markets through adding value and developing appropriate technologies to improve product quality, harvesting, storage, processing and packaging. The approach is based on research, development of appropriate technologies, partnerships and farmers' group -enterprise development. This paper looks at the importance of biophysical and market research in order to develop a holistic enterprise development strategy using kola nut as a case study. Results show that there are clear limitations to significantly increasing income from kola nuts business in Cameroon: limited market access, low resource regeneration, limited available capital, and lack of appropriate processing technology. Results also show that kola weevils (Balanogastris kolae & Saphrorhinus spp.), attacking the nuts both prior to harvest and during storage, are the major problem faced by kola producers, wholesalers, retailers and even consumers. Economic simulations have demonstrated that reducing post-harvest losses to 5% and increasing production by 5% could increase the profitability of the kola nut business by 17%. The efficiency of various weevil control methods as used by farmers is assessed in on-farm trials to provide appropriate control approaches. Meanwhile, group- marketing approaches are also evaluated with farmer groups in the Northwest province of Cameroon and links between kola producers and traders are established.


This paper investigates some functions of pronominal
self-reference in political speeches in an international
institutional context, thus aiming to contribute to the study
of evaluation in political discourse. A total of thirty
speeches by the last three Directors-General of UNESCO is used
as a corpus for the present research. The analysis - which is
undertaken from the point of view of pragmatics and stylistics
- studies the role of personal pronouns used for
self-referencing and the expressions with which they typically
collocate as markers of positioning the self, expressing stance
and organising discourse. Furthermore, it addresses
idiosyncratic variation in the choice of self-reference devices
in the addresses of the three speakers.


In an intensive investigation of soil moisture simulation in land surface schemes, a number of numerical experiments was conducted with 14 representative schemes and the results compared with Hydrological and Atmospheric Pilot Experiment - Modelization du Bilan Hydrique (HAPEX-MOBILHY) data. The results show that soil moisture simulation in current land surface schemes varies considerably. After adjustment of land surface parameters, the disagreement in soil moisture for a 1.6-m soil layer remains around 100 mm. Correspondingly, the range of variation in predicted annual cumulative evaporation as well as total runoff plus drainage is around 250 mm (annual precipitation being 856 mm for HAPEX-MOBILHY). The partitioning of surface available energy into sensible and latent heat fluxes is closely coupled to the partition of precipitation into evaporation and runoff plus drainage. Although, on average, the range of variation in net radiation is about 8 W m−2, that of both the latent and sensible heat fluxes is twice as large. These disagreements are related to different causes but attempts to establish the link between the outcome and the responsible mechanism has had only limited success to date because of the complex interactions embedded in the schemes. This study implies that different schemes achieve different equilibrium states when forced with prescribed atmospheric conditions and that the time period to reach these states differs among schemes; and even when soil moisture is fairly well simulated, the processes (particularly evaporation and runoff plus drainage) controlling the simulation differ among schemes and at different times of the year. These results suggest that prescription of land surface scheme physics may have to be a function of the type of predictions (short-term weather forecasting, mesoscale modeling or climate ensembles) required as well as the underlying scheme formulation and that scheme simulations must be validated for all components of the prediction.


The first estimates of atmospheric deposition fluxes of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to the Hudson River Estuary are presented. Concentrations of PCBs were measured in air, aerosol, and precipitation at nine sites representing a variety of land-use regimes at regular intervals from October 1997 through May 2001. Highest concentrations in the gas phase were observed at urban sites such as Camden and Jersey City (sigmaPCB concentrations averaged 3250 and 1260 pg m(-3), respectively). In great portions of the state encompassing forested, coastal, and suburban environments, gas-phase sigmaPCB concentrations were essentially the same (averaging 150-220 pg m(-3)). This spatial trend suggests that atmospheric PCBs arise from highly localized, urban sources which influence atmospheric concentrations and deposition fluxes over a distance of a few tens of kilometers. Atmospheric sigmaPCB deposition fluxes (gas absorption + dry particle deposition + wet deposition) ranged from 7.3 to 340 microg m(-2) yr(-1) and increased with proximity to urban areas. While the magnitude of the fluxes increased with urbanization,the relative proportions of wet, dry, and gaseous deposition remained largely constant. Because the Hudson River Estuary is adjacent to urban areas such as Jersey City, it is subject to higher depositional fluxes of PCBs. These depositional fluxes are at least 2-10 times those estimated for the Chesapeake Bay and Lake Michigan. Inputs of PCBs to the Hudson River Estuary from the upper Hudson River and from wastewater treatment plants are 8-18 times atmospheric inputs, and volatilization of PCBs from the estuary exceeds atmospheric deposition of low molecular weight PCBs.


A 78-year-old woman visited our hospital after developing severe abdominal pain and upper abdominal swelling. An emergency operation was performed following a diagnosis of linea alba hernia with impaction of the falciform ligament of the liver as observed on CT findings. A defect of about 30 mm in diameter was observed in the linea alba, and preperitoneal adipose tissue and the falciform ligament of the liver prolapsed from the location of the defect and were impacted. We resolved the impaction of the falciform ligament of the liver by dissecting it, and we resected the preperitoneal adipose tissue. Simple closure was performed to correct the hernia orifice because the surrounding tissue was relatively rigid and the tension was mild. The patient's condition improved, and she was discharged on the 5th postoperative day.


In the last decade significant changes in capitalism are appearing, it entered a new stage. After the political breakdown of Feudalism in World War 1 a stage of capitalism that aimed at integration of all parts of society was slowly developing. 15 years later the authoritarian regimes of national socialism, Fascism, intermitted the evolution of Integrated Capitalism. Since 1945 it flourished again, though its political governance on a global level in recent decades ran into more and more contradictions. After the deep economic crisis of 2008 a turning point towards authoritarian governance of capitalism - in particular in the USA - is evident. Since this type of new nationalist authoritarian capitalism destroys global integration it is called Disintegrating Capitalism. An immediate consequence of the global contradiction between worldwide interwoven production processes and rivalries between nationalist regimes is a rapidly rising danger of a third World War. The second, more speculative part of the paper explores possible forms, which this WW3 could take on. A conclusion provides some ideas on possibilities to react to war tensions.


BACKGROUND
Inflammatory factors are involved in the cardiac remodelling process after myocardial infarction (MI). Pronounced and sustained activation of proinflammatory factors is believed to enhance the damage to the myocardium and leads to its dysfunction and heart failure. Anti-inflammatory factors, especially interleukin-10 (IL-10), exert a protective action by reducing excessive inflammatory reactions.

AIM
To asses the relationship between serum levels of IL-6, IL-10, CRP and echocardiographic indices of myocardial function in patients with ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with primary angioplasty. Prognostic value of IL-6, IL-10 and CRP levels in predicting systolic and diastolic dysfunction 6 months after MI was also assessed.

METHODS
We studied 75 patients aged 36-82 (28 women and 47 men) presenting with STEMI treated with primary angioplasty. Blood samples for assesment of IL-6, IL-10 and CRP levels were on days 3 and 7 (3d, 7d) of MI and after 6-month follow-up (6m). Echocardiographic examination was performed on day 7 and 6 months after MI during which the parameters of LV systolic (LVEF, WMSI) and diastolic function (E/A, DT, IVRT, Ep, E/Ep) were evaluated. Twenty four healthy persons served as controls.

RESULTS
Interleukin-6 and CRP levels in consecutive measurements correlated significantly inversely with LVEF (7d) and LVEF (6m). The IL-10 (7d) and IL-10 (6m) level correlated positively with LVEF (6m) (r=0.39, p=0.02; r=0.27, p=0.04). The IL-6 and CRP levels in consecutive measurements correlated significantly positively with E/A and E/Ep and inversely with IVRT, DT and Ep. The IL-10 (3d) level correlated inversely with DT (6m) (r=-0.25, p=0.04), while IL-10 (7d) level correlated positively with DT (6m) (r=0.36, p=0.004). Increased level of IL-6 (3d) and CRP (3d) was an independent prognostic factor of LV systolic (OR=1.27, p=0.02; OR=1.14, p=0.05) and diastolic dysfunction (OR=1.14, p=0.03; OR=1.05, p=0.01) 6 months after MI.

CONCLUSIONS
1. A significant, correlations between increased IL-6, CRP level and impaired LV systolic and diastolic function indicate the possible involvement of these factors in postinfarction cardiac damage. 2. Increased level of IL-6 and CRP in the acute phase of MI is an independent predictor of LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction 6 months after MI. 3. Increased serum level of IL-10 in the acute phase of MI reflects the extension of post-infarction myocardial lesion. 4. Maintenance of increased level of IL-10 for days/months after MI seems to be prognostically beneficial.


This monograph contains the illustrations and descriptions of ceramics from special deposits (the burials, caches, and problematical deposits) from the central area of Tikal. These include the best-preserved whole vessels and elaborate polychrome painted and stuccoed cylinders, urns, and tripod vessels with appliqued and painted ornament, and figural representations. Glyphs painted on some of these ceramics provide insights into the potentially royal lineage of the individuals. The ceramic sequence includes ten complexes dating between 800 B.C. (Middle Preclassic) and ca. A.D. 1200 (Postclassic). University Museum Monograph, 81


Liver cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths globally, of which hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the major subtype. Viral hepatitis B and C infections, alcohol abuse, and metabolic disorders are multiple risk factors for liver cirrhosis and HCC development. Although great therapeutic advances have been made in recent decades, the prognosis for HCC patients remains poor due to late diagnosis, chemotherapy failure, and frequent recurrence. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous, non-coding RNAs that regulate various molecular biological phenomena by suppressing the translation of target messenger RNAs (mRNAs). miRNAs, which often become dysregulated in malignancy, control cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and development in HCC by promoting or suppressing tumors. Exploring the detailed mechanisms underlying miRNA-mediated HCC development and progression can likely improve the outcomes of patients with HCC. This review summarizes the molecular and functional roles of miRNAs in the pathogenesis of HCC. Further, it elucidates the utility of miRNAs as novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets.


Work on Abusive Language Detection has tackled a wide range of subtasks and domains. As a result of this, there exists a great deal of redundancy and non-generalisability between datasets. Through experiments on cross-dataset training and testing, the paper reveals that the preconceived notion of including more non-abusive samples in a dataset (to emulate reality) may have a detrimental effect on the generalisability of a model trained on that data. Hence a hierarchical annotation model is utilised here to reveal redundancies in existing datasets and to help reduce redundancy in future efforts.


It is believed that there is merit in researching how the management of track maintenance is organized in the United Kingdom, in particular by Network Rail, and then evaluating how this can be applied to the benefit of Indonesian Railways. The purpose of this research was expected to provide recommendations for management improvement of track maintenance by researching the track maintenance management system in Network Rail. This research study is based on secondary data. The analysis was conducted by using comparison method which compares the British Railways management and Indonesia railway management related to track maintenance management. The track maintenance management system was studied by using Network Rail. The results were compared with track maintenance management system in Indonesia. The comparison will provide the data differences that evaluated so the problem can be identified. The final result of this analysis was the identification of problems and improvisation that can be done for the development of track maintenance management in Indonesia. Several management issues have been mapped to several groups: finance management, structure organization, and asset management. From the problems that have been mapped, some improvements are recommended as monopolist authority restriction, maintenance system contract extension, re-structuring organization hierarchy, business plan consideration, track monitoring strategy arrangement, and condition based maintenance strategy adoption.


Analytic mechanics is a course that requires a media to be able to improve students' concept understanding. To face the industrial revolution 4.0 era, the education that can establish creative, innovative, and competitive generations is importantly needed. Objectives - This study examines the analytic mechanics learning based on multiple representations (MR) using GeoGebra software in forwardness to face the industrial revolution 4.0 (MR-Geo.4IR). This study involved 21 third semester students from one of the private universities in Jakarta. The instrument used was GeoGebra software to analyse images and graphics in an analytic mechanics concept in an MR-based concept module and student-worksheet. Methods - This study used quantitative and qualitative descriptive methods to determine the achievement of students on MR-based analytic mechanics learning using GeoGebra software on gravity and central force (GCF), particle system dynamics (PSD), rigid object rotation (ROR), and three-dimensional rigid object rotation (3DROR) materials. Findings - The results of this study found that the average score percentage of MR-based concept module from 3 respondents is 14.29% in "very high" category, from 17 respondents is 85.71% in "high" category, and from 1 respondent is 0.05% in "moderate" category. Based on student-worksheet assessment results, it is found that the average score percentage for each material from 21 respondents is 62% in "moderate" category for GCF, 77.10% in "high" category for PSD, 83.33% in "very high" category for ROR, and 78.95% in "high" category for 3DROR. It can be concluded that MR-based analytic mechanics learning using GeoGebra software in concept module and student-worksheet filling can improve concept understanding mastery in GCF, PSD, ROR, and 3DROR materials. Research Limitations - Limitation of this study is that this study only involved one class with a small number of students from merely one university. So that the results are not potential enough to represent the overall situation. This can be a way to conduct further research with more study materials. Originality - This study is the first study that scrutinize MR-based mechanics lectures using GeoGebra software in analysing verbal, images, graphics, and mathematics.


In support of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, we have started to evaluate regional seismic-event discrimination capabilities for central Asia, emphasizing western China. We have measured noise and signal levels of over 260 earthquakes and 26 underground nuclear explosions recorded at the broadband, digital station WMQ in western China and over 120 earthquakes and five nuclear explosions at station AAK in Kyrgyzstan. The explosions are from the Kazakh Test Site (KTS) and Lop Nor, China. The earthquakes are mostly from northwest China. Event magnitudes (measured as either mb or ML) range between 2.5 and 6.5 and maximum event-station distance is about 1700 km. We formed phase, spectral, cross-spectral, short-period/long-period, and long-period ratios to test many possible event discriminants. All ratios were corrected for distance effects before forming ratio-versus-magnitude discrimination plots.
 The most consistent discriminants for separating earthquakes from explosions are P/S phase ratios for frequencies above 3 to 4 Hz. P-wave (f > 1 Hz) to Rayleigh-wave (0.03 Hz < f < 0.1 Hz) ratios are also effective, but surface-waves are difficult to measure for magnitudes below about 4.5. For the P/S ratios, separation between earthquakes and explosions increases with frequency, and for the P/R ratios, separation increases with increasing P frequency. The P (3 to 6 Hz)/S (0.75 to 1.5 Hz) cross-spectral ratios also separate earthquakes and explosions. These cross-spectral ratios may prove quite useful because, due to weak high-frequency Lg signals from explosions, the high-frequency P/Lg ratio sometimes cannot be evaluated, but the P (3 to 6 Hz)/Lg (0.75 to 1.5 Hz) can be evaluated successfully.
 P spectral ratios (3 to 6 Hz/0.75 to 1.5 Hz) also separate earthquakes and explosions but not quite as consistently as the P/S ratios. However, P spectral ratios may prove useful in cases where path effects block or highly attenuate Sn and Lg waves, rendering the P/S ratios unavailable. In contrast to Nevada Test Site (NTS) events, the Lg (3 to 6 Hz/0.75 to 1.5 Hz) spectral ratio does not separate earthquakes and nuclear explosions in central Asia. This observation may be a source effect, as Asian explosions are thought to be detonated in highly lithified rocks below the water table, while most of the smaller (mb < 4.8) NTS explosions have been detonated in poorly lithified rocks above the water table.
 For station AAK, the short-period spectral and cross-spectral ratios identify a few earthquakes (not recorded at WMQ) from the north Pamir region that plot with the Lop Nor explosions. The waveforms from these earthquakes lack surface waves and a distinct Lg phase. These events, which we interpret as having occurred in a subducted slab, do separate from the explosions on high-frequency (f > 4 Hz) P/S discrimination plots. For station WMQ, long-period R/L (Rayleigh-wave/Love-wave) ratios separate KTS explosions and Asian earthquakes. However, R/L ratios fail to identify the large Lop Nor explosions recorded at station AAK because the Love waves are as large as the Rayleigh waves, suggesting that strong tectonic release occurs with these explosions. Because we have examined only one path at a single station for these explosions, source-radiation pattern may be influencing this observation.


This investigation shows that the reproducibility of uroflow measurements is limited. For their evaluation, anamnesis and the measured results have to be taken into account equally. We found correspondence of both parameters in about 50% only. One single measurement cannot provide precise information, as psychogenic, social, and other factors influence the measurement. In our study 3 subjects had their micturitions registered over a period of 2 months. We found an increase of the maximum flow with increasing bladder volume. The maximum bladder volume was reached in only four micturitions. Normal values range at about 25% of the maximum bladder volume. Analyzing the micturitions in regard to the time of day, we found maximum flow rates in the morning hours. Under clinical conditions the altered surroundings lead to a measured result which is psychogenically influenced and can only be balanced after repeated measurements. The curves of all 3 patients were equal and inconspicuous. In cases of infravesical obstruction, surgical success could be documented by comparing the pre- and postoperative uroflows. In all cases of neurogenic bladder disorders and unclear findings, uroflow measurements are, however, not sufficient, and diagnosis is accomplished by a complete urodynamic examination. In spite of certain restrictions, uroflowmetry yields a high level of information, besides being a simple, at any time reproducible, and noninvasive procedure. Due to its low costs, it should be the primary step in diagnostics in the clinic as well as for practitioners.


This paper presents F-Siamese Tracker, a novel approach for single object tracking prominently characterized by more robustly integrating 2D and 3D information to reduce redundant search space. A main challenge in 3D single object tracking is how to reduce search space for generating appropriate 3D candidates. Instead of solely relying on 3D proposals, firstly, our method leverages the Siamese network applied on RGB images to produce 2D region proposals which are then extruded into 3D viewing frustums. Besides, we perform an on-line accuracy validation on the 3D frustum to generate refined point cloud searching space, which can be embedded directly into the existing 3D tracking backbone. For efficiency, our approach gains better performance with fewer candidates by reducing search space. In addition, benefited from introducing the online accuracy validation, for occasional cases with strong occlusions or very sparse points, our approach can still achieve high precision, even when the 2D Siamese tracker loses the target. This approach allows us to set a new state-of-the-art in 3D single object tracking by a significant margin on a sparse outdoor dataset (KITTI tracking). Moreover, experiments on 2D single object tracking show that our framework boosts 2D tracking performance as well.


Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. The WHO proposed 19 "Best Buy" policies to prevent NCDs, mainly addressing four leading risk factors: tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diets and insufficient physical exercise. Yet, little is known about how implementation has changed over time and the role of geopolitical factors. This study addresses that crucial gap.

 We calculated policy implementation scores for all 194 WHO member states from the 2015, 2017 and 2020 WHO NCD Progress Monitor Reports. We analyzed global trends across the three years for all countries and by geopolitical group and used linear regression to assess association with health, economic and political indicators.

 The global average implementation score in 2020 was 47.0% (SD 19.8%), compared to 44.9% (SD 19.1%) in 2017 and 39.0% (SD 19.3%) in 2015. Implementation scores varied by income level (p < 0.001), with high-income countries' average implementation score over twice that of low-income countries (59.7% vs. 28.9%). Implementation improved for all policies in 2015-2020 except the three alcohol policies which decreased. Implementation scores were associated with the proportion of deaths due to NCDs (β 0.8, 95% confidence interval 0.7-0.9, p < 0.001); however, on average, countries with a greater increase in the proportion of deaths due to NCDs were less likely to implement NCD policies (p < 0.001).

 Implementation of policies to prevent NCDs is improving over time, but the average implementation score remains below 50% and progress is uneven. Our findings suggest the need to increase implementation of recommended interventions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries and where the proportion of NCD deaths is growing fastest, and to urgently address the decreasing level of implementation of alcohol interventions.

 Implementation of recommended, cost-effective policies to prevent NCDs is improving but remains low, and alcohol policies are decreasing. Low-income countries, and countries where the proportion of deaths due to NCDs is growing the fastest, are least likely to have recommended policies in place to prevent NCDs.


Natural Language Processing systems crucially depend on the availability of lexical and conceptual knowledge representations. They need to be able to disambiguate word senses and detect synonyms. In order to draw inferences, they require access to hierarchical relations between concepts (dog isAn animal) as well as non-hierarchical ones (gasoline fuels car). Knowledge resources such as lexical databases, semantic networks and ontologies explicitly encode such conceptual knowledge. However, traditionally, these have been manually created, which is expensive and time consuming for large re- sources, and cannot provide adequate coverage in specialised domains. In order to alleviate this acquisition bottleneck, statistical methods have been created to acquire lexical and conceptual knowledge automatically from text. In particular, unsupervised techniques have the advantage that they can be easily adapted to any domain, given some corpus on the topic. However, due to sparseness issues, they often require very large corpora to achieve high quality results. The spectrum of resources and statistical methods has a crucial gap in situations when manually cre- ated resources do not provide the necessary coverage and only limited corpora are available. This is the case for real-world domain applications such as an NLP system for processing technical information based on a limited amount of company documentation. We provide a large-scale demonstration that this gap can be filled through the use of automatically generated networks. The corpus is automatically transformed into a network representing the terms or concepts which occur in the text and their relations, based entirely on linguistic tools. The net- works structurally lie in between the unstructured corpus and the highly structured manually created resources. We show that they can be useful in situations for which neither existing approach is ap- plicable. In contrast to manually created resources, our networks can be generated quickly and on demand. Conversely, they make it possible to achieve higher quality representations from less text than corpus-based methods, relieving the requirement of very large scale corpora. We devise scaleable frameworks for building networks from plain text and Wikipedia with varying levels of expressiveness. This work creates concrete networks from the entire British National Corpus covering 1.2m terms and 21m relations and a Wikipedia network covering 2.7m concepts. We develop a network-based semantic space model and evaluate it on the task of measuring semantic relatedness. In addition, noun compound paraphrasing is tackled to demonstrate the quality of the indirect paths in the network for concept relation description. On both evaluations we achieve results competitive to the state of the art. In particular, our network-based methods outperform corpus-based methods, demonstrating the gain created by leveraging the network structure.


Structural optimization, when approached by conventional (gradient based) minimization algorithms presents several difficulties, mainly related to computational aspects for the huge number of nonlinear analyses required, that regard both Objective Functions (OFs) and Constraints. Moreover, from the early '80s to today's, Evolutionary Algorithms have been successfully developed and applied as a computational alternative to many optimization problems, such as structural ones. In this study the effectiveness of a relatively new Evolutionary Algorithm, namely Differential Evolutionary, is investigated for constrained optimization. This presents many interesting advantages and so that it is a candidate to be widely used in many real structural optimization problems. The algorithm version here used has been developed by hybridizing some recent versions of Differential Evolutionary algorithms proposed in literature, and uses a specific way for dealing with constraints which, always, concern real structural optimization problems. The effectiveness of proposed approach has been demonstrated by developing two cases of study, which regard simple but very significant structural problems for steel structures, one of which is a standard benchmark in structural optimization. The analyses show the simplicity and effectiveness of the proposed approach, so that it can be suitably ready for practical uses out of academic contest.


Intelreg Coretrade microprocessors, including Xeonreg 5100 (codenamed Woodcrest) and Coretrade 2 Duo (code named Conroe and Merom), was the first Intelreg Converged Core product which simultaneously hit all market segments (server, desktop and mobile platforms). A year after these microprocessors have successfully entered the market and significantly improved Intelreg revenues and competitive position, it is time to analyze the post silicon validation experience. This paper discusses the Core processor's validation challenges, among them were: Very aggressive delivery schedule. The parallel validation of three market segment products within a one year time frame (first silicon to product revenue qualification). Dramatic difference of Coretrade Architecture and micro-architecture from those of Pentiumreg 4 family microprocessors which held the desktop and server market segments for the prior six years. The paper describes the post silicon functional validation methodologies, on both the system validation (SV) and compatibility validation (CV) disciplines, at Intel Corporation as well as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) engagements during the validation cycle. The validation strategy was to quickly ramp up the internal validation capabilities and uncover all silicon issues within Intel Corporation. The overall goal was to preserve the tight OEM partner development cycles from samples to launch. The paper summarizes the major results vs. expectations and key learning for the future products.


To the Editor:— When one sibling of a multiple pregnancy dies during early gestation, the dead fetus is retained in utero along with its viable sibling, and it may not interfere with its sibling's growth and survival. An uneventful pregnancy is said to be the rule. 1 An exception is reported in which a fetus papyraceus, or dead twin, was associated with the later intrauterine death of its sibling. The diagnosis was made from antepartum roentgenograms. Report of a Cas:e:— The 27-year-old patient was para 0, gravida 1, Rh +, and healthy. Her expected date of delivery was June 24. Her membranes ruptured on April 7. A fetal heart was heard on April 23. Labor began on May 11, but no fetal heart was heard. Roentgenographic study done that day revealed a twin pregnancy one of which was a fetus papyraceus: the other was a recently dead twin, death having taken place between April 23 and May 11. The roentgenographic features are described in the legends accompanying Fig 1 and 2. The next morning there was a spontaneous delivery of dead twins. The first was a macerated fetus papyraceus. Its stillborn twin followed as a breech. There were no complications.


Abstract. Pi2s are a category of Ultra Low Frequency (ULF) waves associated with the onset of magnetic substorms. Recent work has suggested that the deceleration of bulk plasma flows in the central plasmasheet, known as bursty bulk flows (BBFs), are able to directly-drive Pi2 oscillations. Some of these studies have further shown evidence that there is a one-to-one correlation between Pi2 magnetic waveforms observed on the ground and periodic peaks in flow velocity within the BBF, known as flow bursts. Utilising a favourable conjunction between the Geotail spacecraft and the Canadian Array for Real-time Investigations of Magnetic Activity (CARISMA) magnetometer array on 31 May 1998, we examine the causality of the link between BBF flow bursts and Pi2 waveforms. Using a series of analytical tests in both the time and frequency domains, we find that while the Pi2 and BBF waveforms are very similar, the ground response for this event occurs prior to the observed flow enhancements in the magnetotail. We conclude that during this specific case study the temporal variations of the flow bursts within the BBF are not directly-driving the observed ground-based Pi2 waveforms, despite the fact that a visual inspection of both time-series might initially suggest that there is a causal relationship. We postulate that rather than there being a direct causal relation, the similar waveforms observed in both Pi2s and BBFs may result from temporal variations in a common source for both the BBFs and the Pi2s, such as magnetic reconnection in the tail, this source modulating both the Pi2 and BBF at the same frequency.


Background: Periodontitis (PD) is well-known chronic disease affecting the periodontal ligament and alveolar bone, Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic joint disease with compound reasons characterized by synovial inflammation, subchondral bone remodeling, also the formation of osteophytes, that cause cartilage degradation. Chronic periodontitis and osteoarthritis are considered widely prevalent diseases and related to tissue destruction due to chronic inflammation in general health and oral health. The aim of this study is todetermine the association of chronic periodontitis and osteoarthritits in patients by analysing tumor necrosis factor alpha TNFα and high sensitive c-reactive protein (hsCRP) in the serum. Materials and Method: A total of 80 patients of both sexes aged 35-50 years ,30 patients with osteoarthritis and moderate chronic periodontitis (CP+OA), 30 patients of both sexes aged 35-50 years with moderate chronic periodontitis alone (CP). And control group (C) of 20 healthy patients with healthy periodontium participated in this cross sectional study. we excluded the postmenopausal and pregnant woman from female patient and smoker patient also. All patients are free of medication and have good general health with no history of systemic disease. Participants with OA have documentation or radiographic imaging, consistent with degenerative arthritis in the absence of an inflammatory condition. Venous blood samples were drawn from each subject using pyrogen-free heparinized collection tubes. Tubes were centrifuged according to the manufacturer's guidelines, then stored at -15°C till analyse. serum TNFα and hs CRP were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: A non-significant differences between studied group regarding serum level of hsCRP and TNF-α, as well as, the result revealed that the median of serum levels of hsCRP were little higher in chronic periodontitis with osteoarthritis group than chronic periodontitis group and control groups represent as 0.31, 0.29, and 0.24. Similarly, the medium serum level of TNFα was higher in chronic periodontitis with OAthan in other two groups (10.615, 10.533, and 9.682 respectively). The age and gender showed a non-significant difference between the groups Conclusion: The present study revealed that there's a strong positive correlation between serum levels of hsCRP and TNFα in patients of all groups but there is no correlation between Osteoarthritis and chronic periodontitis.


The primary aims of this thesis, is to provide a body of knowledge on variable structure system theory and to apply the developed design concepts to control practical systems. It introduces the concept of a structure. The main aim in designing variable structure controllers, is to synthesize a variable structure system from two or more single structure systems, in such a way that the ensuing system out-performs its component structures. When a sliding mode is defined, the ensuing closed loop behaviour of the system is invariant to plant parameter changes and external disturbances. A variable structure controller was designed for a servo motor and successfully applied to the system. In practice, the phase plane representative point does not slide at infinite frequency with infinitesimal amplitude along the switching surface(s). Thus, the concept of a quasi-sliding regime was introduced. For high performance system specifications, the phase plane representative point could cycle about the origin. In some instances, sliding could be lost. For high speed applications, a novel design modification ensured that the system did not lose sliding. In addition, the controller could track a rapidly changing set point. Successful results support the developed theory.


Media consumption is an inherently social activity, serving to communicate ideas and emotions across both small- and largescale communities. The migration of the media experience to personal computers retains social viewing, but typically only via a non-social, strictly personal interface. This paper presents an architecture and implementation for media content selection, content (re)organization, and content sharing within a user community that is heterogeneous in terms of both participants and devices. In addition, our application allows the user to enrich the content as a differentiated personalization activity targeted to his/ her peer-group. We describe the goals, architecture and implementation of our system in this paper. In order to validate our results, we also present results from two user studies involving disjoint sets of test participants.


INTRODUCTION
An acute limp implies an underlying pathology that causes disruption of the standard gait pattern.

DIAGNOSIS AND HISTORY OF DISEASE
The differential diagnosis of a limp includes trauma, infection neoplasia, inflammatory, congenital, neuromuscular or developmental disorders. History of disease and clinical examination present first steps in adequate evaluation. A useful approach is to consider the causes of limping from head to foot to avoid overlooking common underlying conditions. The age of patient can further narrow the differential diagnosis, because certain disease entities are age-specific.

LABORATORY ANALYSIS
Laboratory analysis should always include complete blood count, erythrocyte sedimetation rate, C-reactive protein, rheumatic factor, PPD 3. In some cases we have to perform tests of enzyme values such as alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, and other subspecial analyses in order to exclude some systemic and autoimmune diseases.

RADIOLOGIC DIAGNOSIS
Radiologic diagnosis should include: ultrasonography (doppler ultrasonography and in some cases, arteriography); Plain films (always anteroposterior (AP) and profile or some special angle); computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging.

CONCLUSION
In this paper we suggested an algorithm for examination of a limping child: 1. Analysis of foot morphology and the gait without socks and shoes. 2. Strength test including walking on toes and heels and running. 3. Evaluation of arthritis, stiffness, pain, skin changes. 4. Points of a maximum pain with ROM testing. 5. Traces of trauma with echimosis. 6. Evaluation of leg length discrepancy. 7. Muscle tonus. 8. Abdominal examination 9. Examination of the spine and back.


Spiking Neural P (SN P) system characterizes the movement of spikes among neurons. Extended Spiking Neural P systems with Astrocytes (ESNPA systems) incorporates the functioning of astrocytes (star-shaped glial cells spanning around neurons), which play an important role on the functioning and interaction of neurons. In this paper we propose a methodology for translating ESNPA systems to Petri nets and analyze its properties using Petri nets. Subject Classification: 68Q45, 68Q85, 68Q10.


Introduction: In the United Kingdom, licensed nicotine-containing products can be recommended to reduce the harm associated with smoking. Many smokers find currently available nicotine replacement products unsatisfactory. The arterial and venous pharmacokinetics (PK) of nicotine delivered via a novel inhaler device were determined. Methods: Results are reported for Parts A (N = 18) and C (N = 18) of a 4-part (A–D) Phase I study. Participants (18–55 years, ≥10 cigarettes/day, smoking within 1hr of waking, expired carbon monoxide >10 ppm on screening) orally inhaled 2 single doses of nicotine (2 of 3 dose levels [0.22, 0.45, and 0.67 mg]) (Part A) and repeated hourly doses of 0.67mg nicotine for 12hr (Part C), via the novel device. Arterial and venous PK and tolerability were assessed. Results: In Part A, mean arterial plasma nicotine concentrations at 2min after the start of inhalation were 1.10, 2.06, and 2.59ng/mL for the 0.22, 0.45, and 0.67mg doses, respectively. Mean maximum arterial plasma nicotine concentrations (C max) were 2.11, 3.73, and 4.38ng/mL and mean times to C max were 10.2, 7.3, and 6.5min after the start of inhalation for the 0.22, 0.45, and 0.67mg doses, respectively. In Part C, the mean pre- and postdose venous plasma nicotine concentration increased steadily and fluctuated in the range 8–10mg/mL after 9hr. The novel device was well tolerated; most adverse events were mild. Conclusion: The novel inhaler device delivers nicotine rapidly into the systemic circulation and offers a viable alternative to cigarettes for those finding it difficult to quit the behavioral and sensorial aspects of smoking.


The computational cost in medical image reconstruction and processing is high, so performance improvement is required. We implemented a distributed system based on replicated worker pattern. The JINI technology was used to support a set of distributed services. The system was design and implemented to enable each replicated worker (compute server) to solve any task described by JavaSpaces Entry interface. Each worker can be configured to start as a standalone process or as a screen saver utility. The SaverBeans API was used to automatically build the screen saver code for Windows and Linux platforms. The distributed system was successfully applied to process data for medical image synthesis purposes. The achieved results proved the computational performance increase with limited modification of the original image reconstruction source code.


Milk samples were collected from goat farms in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and the cell culture used for this study was L. bulgaricus FNCC 041. Chemical composition including protein, lactose and fat were determined using the procedure of AOAC (1990) and CLA was determined as per Lin et al. (1999). Fermented goat milk was made from 3.0 and 5.0% starter L. bulgaricus and incubated at 37 °C until pH reached between 4.5 and 5.0. The chemical composition and CLA content of fermented milk products were determined.


8506 Background: The addition of rituximab to standard therapy with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone (CHOP21) has resulted in improved survival outcomes in the treatment of diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (DLBC NHL). In addition, the administration of CHOP as a 14 day cycle (CHOP14) has shown benefit over standard CHOP21 chemotherapy. This randomised study was designed to evaluate the toxicity and survival outcomes achieved with the addition of rituximab to CHOP14 (R-CHOP14), as compared to standard therapy (R-CHOP21) in newly diagnosed DLBC NHL.

METHODS
Patients were randomised to receive either eight cycles of standard R-CHOP21 or six cycles of R-CHOP14 (+ G-CSF) with two additional cycles of single agent rituximab. Randomisation was stratified by age (≤60 vs >60), WHO performance status (0-1 vs 2) and LDH level (normal vs raised). The primary endpoint is overall survival. The study was powered to detect an improvement in 2-year survival in the R-CHOP14 arm of 8% (70% to 78%) with 5% significance and 90% power (2-sided).

RESULTS
Recruitment is complete with 1080 patients randomised. Patient characteristics in the R-CHOP21 and R-CHOP14 arms are; IPI score of ≥4 17%:15%, stage III/IV disease 63%:62%, B symptoms 44%:47%, bulk disease 51%:48%. Median age is 61 years in both arms. 82% of patients in the R-CHOP21 arm completed study therapy as compared to 89% in the R-CHOP14 arm. Reported grade III/IV toxicities in the R-CHOP21 and R-CHOP14 arms are; neutropenia 57%:31%, thrombocytopenia 5%:9%, Infection 22%:17%, cardiac 1%:2%, nausea & vomiting 8%:8%, mucositis 2%:3%. The radiological complete response rate (CR/CRu) is 47% in both treatment arms. With a median follow-up 14 months 805 patients remain alive.

CONCLUSIONS
Results indicate that R-CHOP14 can be delivered as effectively as R-CHOP21 with comparable levels of acute toxicity. Final analysis will be performed when 330 deaths have occurred. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


This article investigates the use of coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element methods (DEMs) to simulate heat transfer in an aggregate drum dryer used in the production of hot mix asphalt. To be properly coated by the asphalt binder, the aggregate must be completely dried, a process accomplished in a counter flow drum heated by a direct fire burner. Attached flighting is positioned inside the drum to facilitate heat transfer. Because direct observation is impossible, commercial codes from FLUENT and DEM solutions were used to simulate heat transfer from the burner flame to the aggregate. A fully reacting CFD simulation of a natural gas flame was coupled to a DEM simulation using an Eulerian model with heat transfer and momentum exchanged between the phases. Results indicate that the coupled model correctly captures the dominant mode of heat transfer (convection) as the particles are showered through the hot gases. The methodology established in the study provides a base for further investigation into optimising dryer performance.


In previous studies it has been shown that callus cell cultures of Arabidopsis thaliana respond to changes in gravitational field strengths by altered gene expression. In this study an investigation was carried out into how different g conditions affect the proteome of such cells. For this purpose, callus cells were exposed to 8 g (centrifugation) and simulated microgravity (2-D clinorotation: fast rotating clinostat, yielding 0.0016 g at maximum; and 3-D random positioning) for up to 16 h. Extracts containing total soluble protein were subjected to 2-D SDS-PAGE. Image analysis of Sypro Ruby-stained gels showed that approximately 28 spots reproducibly and significantly (P <0.05) changed in amount after 2 h of hypergravity (18 up- and 10 down-regulated). These spots were analysed by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). In the case of 2-D clinorotation, 19 proteins changed in a manner similar to hypergravity, while random positioning affected only eight spots. Identified proteins were mainly stress related, and are involved in detoxification of reactive oxygen species, signalling, and calcium binding. Surprisingly, centrifugation and clinorotation showed homologies which were not detected for random positioning. The data indicate that simulation of weightlessness is different between clinorotation and random positioning.


Researchers are getting a much better understanding of cardiomyopathy, in which the heart is abnormally enlarged, usually as a result of a genetic abnormality. This information may also help in the fight against an equally dangerous but much more common condition: heart failure.


Thirty-eight cases of post-transfustion HCV hepatitis have been followed for 5-24 years. Cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma were found in 44.7 per cent and 13.1 per cent respectively. Cirrhosis was recognised by pathological evidence as early as one and a half years after transfusion and the clinical evidences of decompensated cirrhosis were noted in the fifth year post-transfusion onward. Hepatocellular carcinoma was first recognised in year ten and thereafter. Nine patients died of liver failure or hepatocellular carcinoma during years 8-16 of the follow-up. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to screen out the HCV infected blood donors and to treat the HCV patients as early and as effectively as possible.


In this paper the author focuses on Australian land management and in particular on the environmental management issues that could have been prompted by the High Court recognition in 1996 (in Wik Peoples v. The State of Queensland) that native title to land and pastoral leaseholdings can co-exist. Drawing on themes of self-determination and co-existence, the paper looks at more specific topics such as aboriginal title to land—what has been called land rights or native title in Australia—and some implications of that for land, sea and resource management. Central to this analysis are competing theories of Aboriginal land management and links between Aboriginal traditional knowledge and conservation of species. These are illustrated through the marine mammal, the dugong. The Australian debates lead to the Canadian debates and then to Scandinavia and the role of the Sami people in protection and management of the Arctic region. Issues of indigenous self determination inevitably provide an overall theme to these discussions. As a matter of global concern, the paper asks, but does not decide, whether indigenous peoples may manage fragile eco-systems more effectively than outsiders. It maintains that what is important in this context is a broader question. This concerns how culturally inclusive land and resource management can emerge from recognition of indigenous land and human rights and how comparative developments can provide crucial cross-jurisdictional information for future developments and opportunities in the interests of environmental conservation.


We live in a world of great opportunities, but also of boundless demands. It is generally
agreed that the 21st century would be a century of culture. Globalization of culture is an important
element of social globalization. This process should be understood as a formation of
various relationships and dependencies between societies and their cultures. Globalization
of culture entails a change in values and norms, a disturbance of social memory, and shallow
culture. Presently culture has become a consumer culture, and it is created by the world of
media and the Internet.
The article is an important voice in a wider discussion on the impact of cultural globalism
on human security. The author is convinced that cultural globalism to the greatest extent
affects human personality and social hazards. An important part of it is the description of
personal security, in which human subjectivity, freedom and responsibility of cultural threats
play a significant role.


By using the relationship between the spectral densities of specimens of a given kind of color film at three separated wavelengths and their chromaticities, integral color densitometer data can be correlated with dominant wavelength and purity data. Transformation grids are prepared to facilitate this conversion.Color film balance can be represented by a series of vectors, each drawn from different density levels along a density vs log exposure curve. The vectors represent, by their directions, the dominant wavelengths of the corresponding gray-exposed patches of the sensitometric strip and by their lengths, the extent of the departure from gray balance. For any particular case, a grid can be prepared which relates the vectors to the corresponding Munsell colors of the patches. In a similar way, the correlation between the vectors and the filtration of the light source necessary to correctly reproduce gray can be established and utilized in grid form.Although developed primarily for three-layer reversible color film, the treatment is applicable to any three-color reproduction process.


It is recognized that a large proportion of eukaryotic RNAs and proteins is not produced from conventional genes but from short and alternative (alt) open reading frames (ORFs) that are not captured by gene prediction programs. Here we present an in silico prediction of altORFs by applying several selecting filters based on evolutionary conservation and annotations of previously characterized altORF peptides. Our work was performed in the Bithorax-complex (BX-C), which was one of the first genomic regions described to contain long non-coding RNAs in Drosophila. We showed that several altORFs could be predicted from coding and non-coding sequences of BX-C. In addition, the selected altORFs encode for proteins that contain several interesting molecular features, such as the presence of transmembrane helices or a general propensity to be rich in short interaction motifs. Of particular interest, one altORF encodes for a protein that contains a peptide sequence found in specific isoforms of two Drosophila Hox proteins. Our work thus suggests that several altORF proteins could be produced from a particular genomic region known for its critical role during Drosophila embryonic development. The molecular signatures of these altORF proteins further suggests that several of them could make numerous protein–protein interactions and be of functional importance in vivo.


Although clustering has been studied for several decades, the fundamental problem of a valid evaluation has not yet been solved. The sound evaluation of clustering results in particular on real data is inherently difficult. In the literature, new clustering algorithms and their results are often externally evaluated with respect to an existing class labeling. These class-labels, however, may not be adequate for the structure of the data or the evaluated cluster model. Here, we survey the literature of different related research areas that have observed this problem. We discuss common "defects" that clustering algorithms exhibit w.r.t. this evaluation, and show them on several real world data sets of different domains along with a discussion why the detected clusters do not indicate a bad performance of the algorithm but are valid and useful results. An useful alternative evaluation method requires more extensive data labeling than the commonly used class labels or it needs a combination of information measures to take subgroups, supergroups, and overlapping sets of traditional classes into account. Finally, we discuss an evaluation scenario that regards the possible existence of several complementary sets of labels and hope to stimulate the discussion among different sub-communities — like ensemble-clustering, subspace-clustering, multi-label classification, hierarchical classification or hierarchical clustering, and multiview-clustering or alternative clustering — regarding requirements on enhanced evaluation methods.


Rates of reduction in viability and degree of cell killing were relatively independent of concentrations when replicating cultured L1210 cells were exposed to increasing concentrations of 6-thioguanine, 6-methylthiopurine ribonucleoside, 9-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl-9H-purine-6-thiol, or 9-ethyl-6-thiopurine. The relative lack of dependence of cell killing rate on cytotoxic concentrations suggest (a) that these agents may be only effective aganinst proliferating cells, and (b) that only limited therapeutic advantage can be gainged by increasing their concentration beyond a minimum effective level. In contrast, the rate and degree of cell killing were dependent upon concentrations when cells were exposed to increasing amounts of 4-aminopyrrolo(2,3-d)pyrimidine-beta-D-ribofuranoside or to 2-fluoroadenosine, indicating that these analogs are not cell-cycle-stage-specific and that nonreplicating cell populations may be sensitive to them.


Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is emerging as one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease world-wide. It has strong association with obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and metabolic syndrome. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in newly detected T2DM patients having NAFLD with high serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 110 newly detected T2DM patients with high serum ALT level were evaluated. To find out the etiology of high serum ALT level, abdominal ultrasonography was done to detect NAFLD cases along with other relevant investigations. All NAFLD cases then underwent further evaluation for the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Results: Out of 110 study subjects, NAFLD was detected in 80 (72.7%) individuals. According to International Diabetic Federation (IDF) criteria, metabolic syndrome was detected in 56 (56/80, 70%) of NAFLD cases. Among the 56 patients with NAFLD, male were 24 (42.9%) and female were 32 (57.1%) and 14 (14/56, 25%) cases had all five components of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome was found in all female NAFLD subjects (32, 100%). Mean age of patients with metabolic syndrome was 43.11±10.77 years and mean body mass index (BMI) was 27.87±3.72 kg/m2. Hypertension was found in 37.5% cases. High BMI (e"25 kg/m2) was found in 87.5% cases. Mild, moderate and severe fatty liver were found in 28.6%, 46.4% and 25% cases respectively. Dyslipidemia was found in all (56, 100%) NAFLD subjects with metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome had significant correlation with BMI (p 0.00), abdominal obesity (p 0.00) and serum triglyceride level (p 0.04). Conclusion: Over two-thirds of T2DM patients having NAFLD had metabolic syndrome in this study.


Assessing liquefaction potential, in situ screening, and remediation of non-plastic silty soils are difficult problems. Presence of silt particles among the sand grains in silty soils affects the soil response in each of the above cases in different ways. First part of this paper addresses the effects of silt content on liquefaction resistance, hydraulic conductivity, and coefficient of consolidation of silty soils compared to clean sand. Secondly it addresses the effects of silt content and consolidation characteristics on cone resistance of silty soils and sand. A relationship between normalized cone resistance, liquefaction resistance, and consolidation characteristics is presented. The third part of the paper focuses on the effects of silt content and soil permeability on the effectiveness of dynamic compaction (DC) and vibratory stone column (SC) supplemented with wick drains to densify silty soils and mitigate liquefaction..


We present a detailed pressure study of the electrical resistivity ρ(T) and the specific heat C(T) of the non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) compound YbRh2Si2 and of ρ(T) for a single crystal in which 5 at.% of Si is replaced by isoelectronic Ge. The magnetic phase diagram is deduced up to p ~ = 2.5 GPa. A comparison of the effects of the volume change introduced by doping and/or by hydrostatic pressure will be given. We show that the NFL behaviour observed in ρ(T) as well as the magnetic phase diagram are not influenced by the disorder introduced by alloying.


Background: In sub-Saharan countries, HIV testing and treatment facilities are available, especially at subsidized rates for the past few years. Methods: A prospective and descriptive review was conducted at Yalgado Ouédraogo Teaching Hospital Internal Medicine department in Ouagadougou, using personal case report forms, between June 2009 and August 2010 in all newly diagnosed adults with positive HIV antibody. Results: The study participants consisted of 191 patients at a median age of 37 years (range, 18-65 years) and sex ratio (men/women): 0.66. In all, 110 (57.6%) patients were symptomatic. Fourteen patients were lost to follow-up. Of the 177 patients, 144 had CD4 count <350 cells/mm3 and all have been treated. At the ninth month, weight gain and immune restoration were significant (P < .01); only 79 of the 144 patients had viral load measurement, and 76 of the 79 were undetectable. Mortality rate of treated patients was 6.25%. Conclusion: Laboratory tests and highly active antiretroviral therapy make the management of patients easier, but a majority of them still presented late and were still lost to follow-up. Nevertheless, we have excellent treatment success.


The historical survey presented here demonstrates that musical instruments of the lute type derive from outside the African continent, even though they have probably been present in the North African region for several millennia. The first evidence of their appearance in ancient Egypt goes back to the era of Dynasty XVIII (ca. 1550–1292 BCE). The use of lutes having a long neck may have been preserved later among various Berber-speaking populations, and their wide dissemination over West Africa can only be dated with certainty to the period after the 14th century, when widespread conversion to Islam led to the replacement of an older arched type (having few strings and capable of producing a limited range of sounds) with a long-necked lute type borrowed from the Berbers, which can be considered more advanced owing to its mode of stretching the strings with a tuning ring. This paradigm shift is obvious in the epic song cycle known as Gassire's Lute. Parallel to this development harp lutes appeared as a kind of cross between lutes and bow harps; and types of this new instrument having a larger body and multiple strings could rival the short-necked oud, an urban instrument spread by Arab tribes. Perhaps for this reason, the latter was not widely adopted among the Islamized populations of West Africa, while it did become popular in Europe in the 13th century, first adopted by the Spaniards. The fact that long-necked lutes are found only in North and West Africa also proves that the Nilotic-speaking peoples did not borrow these, unlike harps and lyras, which they did. Had they done so, the southward expansion of Nilotic-speaking populations would have led to the distribution of long-necked lutes over Central and Eastern Africa. For the same reason these instruments must have appeared in West Africa only after the Bantu expansion, before which era their use must have been restricted to Berber-speaking groups for three millennia. Short-necked lutes are likely to have been originated in Central Asia and they certainly spread from that region; the archaic type that is carved from one block of wood and has a bottle-like shape spread to Southeast Asia with the Muslim expansion and may have been carried from there to the islands of the Indian Ocean and sporadically to East Africa as well. Its wider adoption over the latter region was probably hindered by the ubiquity of rival instruments (harps and lyras) there. Moreover, the short-necked lutes carved of a single block of wood were not suitable for further development with the aim of increasing the volume, hence the recent widespread adoption among the inhabitants of the eastern and southern regions of Africa of a long-necked lute type having a larger, box-like body.


Abstract:Using examples from Toronto's newspapers, this article examines the impact of the 1918–19 Spanish flu pandemic on the city's theatre and the changes that followed in the twenties. Like during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 1918 health boards across Ontario ordered all theatres to close. However, after two weeks, theatres opened, and productions from New York City's Broadway, such as the musical comedy Ask Dad, appeared at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, to rave reviews. Toronto's stages became more diverse following the Spanish flu, with productions such as Shuffle Along, the first all-Black musical on Broadway, which hit the city's stages in 1923, and one of the first locally cast shows, Amateur Minstrel Frolics, which appeared in 1924 at the Winter Garden Theatre. This article explores how and why the theatre changed after the last pandemic and what issues, such as those related to race and gender, lingered on.


The aim of the present study was to study the demographic profile, type of antepartum haemorrhage, maternal and perinatal complications in cases of antepartum haemorrhage and to formulate preventive guidelines so as to reduce maternal and perinatal complications in cases of antepartum haemorrhage. This retrospective study period extends from 1 st May 2013 to 30 th June 2013. Fifty-seven diagnosed cases of antepartum haemorrhage were included in the study. The data was collected on a predesigned proforma and percentage analysis was done. Out of total 57 diagnosed cases of antepartum haemorrhage, multiparty was the major risk factor observed in present study. Placenta previa was the commonest type of antepartum haemorrhage, abruptio placentae being the second major type. In spite of tertiary care, there was 1 maternal death and high perinatal mortality (21.1%). The present study indicates that uncorrected anaemia (71.9%) is still common in India contributing to increased maternal mortality and also necessitating high requirement of blood transfusion (66.7%). Multiparty (61.4%), previous LSCS (21%) were the major etiological factors contributing to antepartum haemorrhage. Based on the observations made during the study, it can be concluded that antepartum haemorrhage is the major cause of maternal morbidity and perinatal mortality. Keywords : Antepartum haemorrhage, Placenta previa, Abruptio Placentae, Maternal mortality


Patients with type 2 diabetes have high levels of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRLs), including apolipoprotein B-48 (apoB-48)-containing TRLs of intestinal origin, but the mechanism leading to overaccumulation of these lipoproteins remains to be fully elucidated. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the in vivo kinetics of TRL apoB-48 and VLDL, intermediate density lipoprotein (IDL), and LDL apoB-100 in type 2 diabetic subjects (n = 11) and nondiabetic controls (n = 13) using a primed-constant infusion of l-[5,5,5-D3]leucine for 12 h in the fed state. Diabetic subjects had significantly higher fasting glycemia, higher fasting insulinemia, higher plasma triglyceride, and lower HDL-cholesterol levels than controls. Compared with controls, diabetic subjects had increased TRL apoB-48, VLDL apoB-100, and IDL apoB-100 pool sizes as a result of increased production rates (PRs) and reduced fractional catabolic rates of these lipoprotein subfractions. Furthermore, multiple linear regression analyses revealed that the diabetic/control status was an independent predictor of TRL apoB-48 PR and represented nearly 35% of its variance. These results suggest that the overaccumulation of TRLs seen in patients with type 2 diabetes is attributable to increased PRs of both intestinally derived apoB-48-containing lipoproteins and TRL apoB-100 of hepatic origin and to decreased catabolism of these subfractions.


Since the end of the Great Recession in mid-2009, the unemployment rate has recovered slowly, falling by only one percentage point from its peak. We find that the lackluster labor market recovery can be traced in large part to weakness in aggregate demand; only a small part seems attributable to increases in labor market frictions. This continued labor market weakness has led to the highest level of long-term unemployment in the U.S. in the postwar period, and a blurring of the distinction between unemployment and nonparticipation. We show that flows from nonparticipation to unemployment are important for understanding the recent evolution of the duration distribution of unemployment. Simulations that account for these flows suggest that the U.S. labor market is unlikely to be subject to high levels of structural long-term unemployment after aggregate demand recovers.


In block motion estimation, a search pattern with a different shape or size has a very important impact on search speed and distortion performance. A square-shaped search pattern is adopted in many popular fast algorithms. Recently, a diamond-shaped search pattern was introduced in fast block motion estimation and has exhibited a faster search speed. Based on an in-depth examination of the influence of the search pattern on speed performance, we propose a novel algorithm using a hexagon-based search pattern to achieve further improvement. The hexagon-based search pattern is investigated in comparison with diamond search pattern and demonstrates significant speedup gain over the diamond-based search. Analysis shows that a speed improvement rate of the hexagon-based search (HEXBS) algorithm over the diamond search (DS) algorithm can be over 80% for locating some motion vectors in certain scenarios. In short, the proposed HEXBS algorithm can find the same motion vector with fewer search points than the DS algorithm. Generally speaking, the larger the motion vector, the more search points the. HEXBS algorithm can save, which is further justified by experimental results.


This paper gives an account of the Italian negative particle mica as an epistemic common ground management operator signaling denial/negation relative to the speaker. This allows us to provide a unified account of its behavior in assertions and polar questions. Along the way we give an account of biased Italian negative polar questions, arguing that they behave parallel to English biased questions despite surface differences.


This chapter explores the tenets and the practice of a transnational initiative to promote local entrepreneurial growth: the Building Global Innovators (BGI) model, a startup accelerator based in Lisbon (Portugal) and in Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA). We examine the pathways through which BGI's process and global network of experts helped two successful Portuguese technology startups grow and scale very quickly – Movvo and Veniam. We combine literatures from strategic management, marketing and economic geography to explore BGI's transnational acceleration model, which taps into global "pipelines" and distant entrepreneurial ecosystems, namely as a way to access the expertise, market opportunities and venture capital that is often unavailable in emergent and policy-sheltered local clusters. We discuss the relevance of such a transnational acceleration model for high-tech startups in peripheral economies.


AbstractA freezing rain event, in which the Meteorological Centre of Canada's 2.5-km numerical weather prediction system significantly underpredicted the quantity of freezing rain, is examined. The prediction system models precipitation types explicitly, directly from the Milbrandt–Yau microphysics scheme. It was determined that the freezing rain underprediction for this case was due primarily to excessive refreezing of rain, originating from melting snow and graupel, in and under the temperature inversion of the advancing warm front ultimately depleting the supply of rain reaching the surface. The refreezing was caused from excessive collisional freezing between rain and graupel. Sensitivity experiments were conducted to examine the effects of a temperature threshold for collisional freezing and on varying the values of the collection efficiencies between rain and ice-phase hydrometeors. It was shown that by reducing the rain–graupel collection efficiency and by imposing a temperature threshold of −5°C, ...


Associations between symptoms and interpersonal problems, assessed with the Symptom Checklist–90 (SCL–90–R) and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems–64-item version (IIP–64), are examined in a large psychiatric outpatient sample. On the basis of the IIP–64 scores, the sample was divided into 8 subgroups, made up of different types of predominant interpersonal problems. These octant groups were used as independent variables in analyses testing hypothesized associations with symptom subscales of the SCL–90–R. In general, strong associations between symptoms and interpersonal problems were found. In addition, hostile and paranoid ideation symptoms displayed significant differences among octant groups, and were associated with interpersonal problems of the vindictive/self-centered kind. Phobic anxiety was associated with interpersonal problems of the socially inhibited kind. Assessing specific combinations of symptoms and interpersonal problems might be useful in treatment planning and evaluation.


Faced with the anthropic activities of urban streams stretches through
rectification with concrete, there is a concern about the modifications
of the aquatic habitats and consequent ecological damages to the
ecosystems. Based on biophilic engineering, there is a great opportunity
to idealize and test interventions to revitalize such hampered
ecosystems. Hence, we verified the performance of biological and organic
factors, after the implementation of one-off interventions in three
rivers using biophilic handmade materials and structural elements in
their fixation. We carried out the project in urban stretches of
concrete bed streams, located in Sorocaba-SP, Southeast of Brazil. In
two years, we conducted biweekly in situ and laboratory measurements to
characterize the study sites, idealize, scale, implement the projects,
and, evaluate the ecological responses of the implementations. We
collected sampling in two points: upstream and downstream interventions.
We evaluated the performance of the interventions through the analysis
of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) factors and
by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). We presented the results
through a decision-making matrix for stakeholders, which indicated that
our ideas are of low cost and easy to implement. Then, we got the
following scenario of SWOT priorities: opportunity (58.55%), strength
(24.71%), threat (10.74%), and weakness (6.00%). They demand constant
efforts for maintenances and they need adjustments to a better
understood by residents and the watershed management. We concluded that
the strengths observed in the project turn our idea replicable in any
part because it attaches the idea of caring about the environment
through biophilic techniques, and the weaknesses are liable to
modifications (improvements) in future projects that consider such
proposal.


New technologies in endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) evaluation have been developed because of the need to improve the EUS and EUS-fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) diagnostic rate. This paper reviews the principle, indications, main literature results, limitations and future expectations for each of the methods presented. Contrast-enhanced harmonic EUS uses a low mechanical index and highlights slow-flow vascularization. This technique is useful for differentiating solid and cystic pancreatic lesions and assessing biliary neoplasms, submucosal neoplasms and lymph nodes. It is also useful for the discrimination of pancreatic masses based on their qualitative patterns; however, the quantitative assessment needs to be improved. The detection of small solid lesions is better, and the EUS-FNA guidance needs further research. The differentiation of cystic lesions of the pancreas and the identification of the associated malignancy features represent the main indications. Elastography is used to assess tissue hardness based on the measurement of elasticity. Despite its low negative predictive value, elastography might rule out the diagnosis of malignancy for pancreatic masses. Needle confocal laser endomicroscopy offers useful information about cystic lesions of the pancreas and is still under evaluation for use with solid pancreatic lesions of lymph nodes.


Background and Objective Emerging evidence suggests a role for diet in multiple sclerosis (MS) care; however, owing to methodological issues and heterogeneity of dietary interventions in preliminary trials, the current state of evidence does not support dietary recommendations for MS. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of different dietary approaches on MS-related fatigue and quality of life (QoL) through a systematic review of the literature and network meta-analysis (NMA). Methods Electronic database searches were performed in May 2021. Inclusion criteria were (1) randomized trial with a dietary intervention, (2) adults with definitive MS based on McDonald criteria, (3) patient-reported outcomes for fatigue and/or QoL, and (4) minimum intervention period of 4 weeks. For each outcome, standardized mean differences (SMDs) were calculated and included in random effects NMA to determine the pooled effect of each dietary intervention relative to each of the other dietary interventions. The protocol was registered at PROSPERO (CRD42021262648). Results Twelve trials comparing 8 dietary interventions (low-fat, Mediterranean, ketogenic, anti-inflammatory, Paleolithic, fasting, calorie restriction, and control [usual diet]), enrolling 608 participants, were included in the primary analysis. The Paleolithic (SMD −1.27; 95% CI −1.81 to −0.74), low-fat (SMD −0.90; 95% CI −1.39 to −0.42), and Mediterranean (SMD −0.89; 95% CI −1.15 to −0.64) diets showed greater reductions in fatigue compared with control. The Paleolithic (SMD 1.01; 95% CI 0.40–1.63) and Mediterranean (SMD 0.47; 95% CI 0.08–0.86) diets showed greater improvements in physical QoL compared with control. For improving mental QoL, the Paleolithic (SMD 0.81; 95% CI 0.26–1.37) and Mediterranean (SMD 0.36; 95% CI 0.06–0.65) diets were more effective compared with control. However, the NutriGRADE credibility of evidence for all direct comparisons is very low because of most of the included trials having high or moderate risk of bias, small sample sizes, and the limited number of studies included in this NMA. Discussion Several dietary interventions may reduce MS-related fatigue and improve physical and mental QoL; however, because of the limitations of this NMA, which are driven by the low quality of the included trials, these findings must be confirmed in high-quality, randomized, controlled trials.


This paper considers federated learning (FL) with constraints, where the central server and all local clients collectively minimize a sum of convex local objective functions subject to global and local convex conic constraints. To train the model without moving local data from clients to the central server, we propose an FL framework in which each local client performs multiple updates using the local objective and local constraint, while the central server handles the global constraint and performs aggregation based on the updated local models. In particular, we develop a proximal augmented Lagrangian (AL) based algorithm for FL with global and local convex conic constraints. The subproblems arising in this algorithm are solved by an inexact alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) in a federated fashion. Under a local Lipschitz condition and mild assumptions, we establish the worst-case complexity bounds of the proposed algorithm for finding an approximate KKT solution. To the best of our knowledge, this work proposes the first algorithm for FL with global and local constraints. Our numerical experiments demonstrate the practical advantages of our algorithm in performing Neyman-Pearson classification and enhancing model fairness in the context of FL.


Abstract The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of first-line combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) regimen on the course of CD8+ T-cell counts in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. A retrospective observational study conducted on the French DAT'AIDS Cohort of HIV-infected patients. We selected 605 patients initiating a first-line cART between 2002 and 2009, and which achieved a sustained undetectable HIV plasma viral load (pVL) for at least 12 months without cART modification. The evolution of CD8+ T-cell counts according to cART regimen was assessed. CD8+ T-cell counts were assessed in 572 patients treated with 2NRTIs+1PI/r (n= 297), 2NRTIs+1NNRTI (n= 207) and 3NRTIs (n= 68). In multivariate analysis, after 12 months of follow-up, the 3NRTIs regimen was associated with a significantly smaller decrease of CD8+ T-cell count compared with NNRTI-containing regimens (–10.2 cells/&mgr;L in 3NRTIs vs –105.1 cells/&mgr;L; P=0.02) but not compared with PI-containing regimens (10.2 vs –60.9 cells/&mgr;L; P=0.21). After 24 months, the 3NRTIs regimen was associated with a smaller decrease of CD8+ T-cell count and % compared with PI/r- and NNRTI-containing regimens (0.2 in 3NRTIs vs –9.9 with PI/r-regimens, P=0.001, and vs –11.1 with NNRTI-regimens, p < 0.0001). A focus analysis on 11 patients treated with an INSTI-containing cART regimen during the study period showed after 12 months of follow-up, a median decrease of CD8+ T-cell count of –155 [inter quartile range: –302; –22] cells/&mgr;L. Our data highlight the fact that cART regimens have differential effects on CD8 pool down regulation.


Nonuniformity in magnet strength in permanent magnet motors results in a vibration-inducing unbalanced force acting on the rotor. This force is the difference of two large numbers and assuch is difficult to determine precisely with numerical models. In this paper, a permanent magnet motor with unbalanced magnets is analyzed by the finite element method. Three diiTera&-techniques for computing the net force on the rotor, including a recently developed field-correction approach, are compared. Sensitivities of the techniques to computational limitations and finite element mesh characteristics are discussed. --


Influence competition finds its significance in many applications, such as marketing, politics and public events like COVID-19. Existing work tends to believe that the stronger influence will always win and dominate nearly the whole network, i.e., "winner takes all". However, this finding somewhat contradicts with our common sense that many competing products are actually coexistent, e.g., Android vs. iOS. This contradiction naturally raises the question: will the winner take all? To answer this question, we make a comprehensive study into influence competition by identifying two factors frequently overlooked by prior art: (1) the incomplete observation of real diffusion networks;(2) the existence of information overload and its impact on user behaviors. To this end, we attempt to recover possible diffusion links based on user similarities, which are extracted by embedding users into a latent space. Following this, we further derive the condition under which users will be overloaded, and formulate the competing processes where users' behaviors differ before and after information overload. By establishing the explicit expressions of competing dynamics, we disclose that information overload acts as the critical "boundary line", before which the "winner takes all" phenomenon will definitively occur, whereas after information overload the share of influences gradually stabilizes and is jointly affected by their initial spreading conditions, influence powers and the advent of overload. Numerous experiments are conducted to validate our theoretical results where favorable agreement is found. Our work sheds light on the intrinsic driving forces behind real-world dynamics, thus providing useful insights into effective information engineering.


Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common subtype of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Hyperplasia suppressor gene (HSG) has been reported to inhibit cell proliferation, migration, and remodeling in cardiovascular diseases. However, there lacks systematic researches on the effect of HSG on the apoptosis and proliferation of lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells and data of in vivo experiments. The present study aims to investigate the effects of HSG gene silencing on proliferation and apoptosis of lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells. The human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cell was selected to construct adenovirus vector. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and Western blot analysis were conducted to detect expressions of HSG and apoptosis related-proteins. Cell Counting Kit (CCK)-8 assay was performed to assess A549 cell proliferation and flow cytometry to analyze cell cycle and apoptosis rate. The BALB/C nude mice were collected to establish xenograft model. Silenced HSG showed decreased mRNA and protein expressions of HSG, and elevated A549 cell survival rates at the time point of 24, 48, and 72 h. The ratio of cells at G0/G1 phase and apoptosis rate decreased and the ratio of cells at S- and G2/M phases increased following the silencing of HSG. There were decreases of B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2)-associated X protein (Bax), Caspase-3, and Caspase-8 expressions but increases in Bcl-2 induced by silenced HSG. As for the xenograft in nude mice, tumor volume increased, and apoptosis index (AI) decreased after HSG silencing. These results indicate that HSG gene silencing may promote the proliferation of A549 cells and inhibit the apoptosis. HSG may be a promising target for the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma.


Major obstacles for electric vehicles are the relatively short range and insufficient infrastructure to sustain long travels among other challenges. While batteries and other technologies, that enable future vehicles to overcome the difficulties, are in development, it is already possible to decrease energy consumption by applying a more energy efficient driving behavior. Furthermore, the rise of advanced perception and V2X technologies have opened up new possibilities for safety, but also energy efficiency applications. This publication proposes a model predictive optimization approach that makes use of a power-train model, sequences of traffic lights and other vehicles to compute energy efficient velocity and gear shift profiles over a finite optimization horizon. A stagewise forward-backward Dynamic Programming approach is used for optimization. In order to decrease the search space, the optimization works with alternating state components among other techniques. We will also introduce the REM 2030 electric vehicle that our project partners have developed in the project REM 2030.


In the context of transferbased MT systems, the nature of the intermediate represenations, and particularly their 'depth', is an important question. This paper explores the notions of 'independence of languages' and 'simple transfer', and provides some principles that may enable linguists to study this problem in a systematic way.


Two eye-tracking experiments were conducted to assess the influence of words either looking like the target word (orthographic distractors) or semantically related to the target word (semantic distractors) on visual search for words within lists by adolescents of 11, 13, and 15 years of age. In Experiment 1 (literal search task), participants saw the target word before the search (e.g., "raven"), whereas in Experiment 2 (categorical task) the target word was only defined by its semantic category (e.g., "bird"). In both experiments, participants' search times decreased from fifth to ninth grade, both because older adolescents gazed less often at non-target words during the search and because they could reject non-target words more quickly once they were fixated. Progress in visual search efficiency was associated with a large increase in word identification skills, which were a strong determinant of average gaze durations and search times for the categorical task, but much less for the literal task. In the literal task, the presence of orthographic or semantic distractors in the list increased search times for all age groups. In the categorical task, the impact of semantic distractor words was stronger than in the literal task because participants needed to gaze at the semantic distractors longer than at the other words before rejecting them. Altogether, the data support the assumption that the progressive automation of word decoding up until the age of 12 and the better quality of older adolescents' lexical representations facilitate a flexible use of both the perceptual and semantic features of words for top-down guidance within the displays. In particular, older adolescents were better prepared to aim at or reject words without gazing at them directly. Finally, the overall similar progression of the maturation of single word visual search processes and that of more real-life information search within complex verbal documents suggests that the young adolescents' difficulties in searching the Web effectively could be due to their insufficiently developed lexical representations and word decoding abilities.


Intensive supervision programs (ISP) have proliferated in the past decade. They generally emphasize reduced caseloads, close surveillance, urinalysis testing, treatment, and employment. The RAND Corporation, in a randomized field experiment, evaluated a national ISP demonstration project in fourteen jurisdictions in nine states. The programs were implemented well, particularly with respect to probation and parole officers' contacts and drug testing but were less successful at increasing treatment participation. Intensive supervision probation did not decrease the frequency or seriousness of new arrests but did increase the incidence of technical violations and jail terms. Stepped-up surveillance and frequent drug tests increased incarceration rates and drove up program and court costs compared with routine supervision. Development of an array of sentencing options to create a graduated sentencing system should justify continued development and testing of ISP programs.


The plant remains secured from three settlement sites on the Khabur (fig. 1) are discussed. At third millennium BC Tell al-Raqa'i and Tell Bderi, two-rowed barley (Hordeum distichum ) was by far the most important cereal, followed by emmer wheat ( Triticum dicoccum ), einkorn wheat ( Triticum monococcum ) and hard wheat/bread wheat ( T. durum/aestivum ). Lentil ( Lens culinaris ), pea ( Pisum sativum ) and grass pea ( Lathyrus sativus ) were at most minor crops. It is likely that safflower ( Carthalllus tinctorius ) was cultivated. A great number of field-weed taxa were identified. At Tell Schech Hamad, charred remains of a large supply of tworowed barley were found in one of the rooms of the Middle Assyrian Palace (13th century BC). This barley supply is remarkable because of the considerable admixture of Hordeum spontaneum , (the wild form of H. distichum ). Crop plants recorded from Late Assyrian Tell Schech Hamad (7th century BC) include two-rowed and six-rowed barley ( H. distichum and H. vulgare ), hard wheat/bread wheat, broomcorn millet ( Panicum miliaceum ), foxtail millet ( Setaria italica ), lentil and sesame ( Sesamum indicum ).


The class of 3,3′-diaryl substituted tetranaphthobisazepinium bromides has found wide application as highly efficient C2-symmetrical phase-transfer catalysts (PTCs, Maruoka type catalysts). Unfortunately, the synthesis requires a large number of steps and hampers the build-up of catalyst libraries which are often desired for screening experiments. Here, we present a more economic strategy using dinaphthoazepine 7 as the common key intermediate. Only at this stage various aryl substituents are introduced, and only two individual steps are required to access target structures. This protocol was applied to synthesize ten tetranaphthobisazepinium compounds 1a–1j. Their efficiency as PTCs was tested in the asymmetric substitution of tert-butyl 2-((diphenylmethylene)amino)acetate. Enantioselectivities up to 92% have been observed with new catalysts.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of generation Y's career establishment strategies on self-directedness career and to determine the moderation effect of gender on the relationship.

Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 188 full-time employees from different functional areas and departments of selected MNCs in Malaysian Electrical and Electronic Industry. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to examine the influences of establishment strategies and the moderating role of gender on self-directedness career.

Findings
Findings show that there are significant positive relationship between career strategies and self-directedness career at career establishment stages of generation Y. There is a significant difference between males and females in career establishment strategy (i.e. creating career opportunities) and self-directedness career.

Research limitations/implications
This paper explains self-directedness career based on the review of related career literatures whereby some may not specifically referring to Generation Y.

Practical implications
Such insights are useful for HRD practitioners dto develop relevant HRD interventions to assist individuals and organizations in career development.

Originality/value
This paper offers new insight into the predictors of self-directedness career and the moderating role of gender on the relationships.


SUMMARY As the adolescent population living in this country undergoes dramatic demographic changes in the 21st Century, increasing both in numbers and ethnic/racial diversity, practitioners and policy makers need to understand the prevalence of and trends in adolescent risk-taking behaviors, morbidity and mortality. Significant disparities in health status exist by ethnicity/race and gender in areas including: unintentional injury, violence, mental health, substance use, sexual behavior, and disease prevention. The epidemiological profile can help mobilize communities to address adolescent health issues. Developing effective interventions will require an ecological approach that builds on adolescents' assets and takes into account the contexts in which they live.


Nowadays an optimal design of a combined system of an electron gun and a deflection coil in cathode ray tubes is demanded. Therefore, an analysis is necessary of the effects on electron beam optics of eddy currents in the conducting parts of an electron gun, induced by the magnetic deflection field. Such an analysis, based on numerical calculations and verified by experiment, is presented in this paper. The analysis of the transient behaviour of the induced eddy currents shows that a steady state is reached on a /spl mu/sec time scale and that the steady-state solution can serve to determine the most important effects on the electron optics. It appears that, in general, both for homogeneous and realistic (inhomogeneous) deflection fields, the influence of the induced fields on the convergence of the electron beams is very small (<50 /spl mu/m).