This collection will appeal to everyone who has ever wondered about the origin of phrases like "all part of life's rich pattern" and "long time no see". It covers a wide range of catch phrases in current use in all parts of the English-speaking world. Most entries are drawn from the second edition of Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Catch Phrases (second edition, edited by Paul Beale), but have been completely rewritten in the light of recent research, and there are many additions. Catch Phrases include: close your eyes and think of England! have I got news for you! ...refreshes the parts that other ...cannot reach some mothers do'ave'em! you are awful, but I like you.


The use of paramilitary methods in civil policing tasks has become common in Western police agencies. Despite propositions that such methods should undermine the relationship between the police and the public, the effect of paramilitary policing on public trust in the police has not been empirically tested. In the present study, we examine this question in the context of protest policing, which has become a major concern for Western police agencies. Using a survey of 470 protesters who participated in "Occupy" protest events in Israel in 2012, we find that the perceived use of paramilitary methods has an independent and negative effect on trust, stronger than that of police effectiveness and the "neutrality" component of procedural justice. In-depth interviews suggest that the significance of paramilitarism may be the result of a sense of alienation and criminalization it elicits among protesters who generally perceive themselves as law-abiding citizens.


The authors describe a 33-year-old woman who, from the age of 15 years, presented many generalized epileptic seizures per year starting with right-sided adversion or gyration, several times per month long absences and occasional absence status lasting up to 3 days. In this patient, the hyperpnoea provoked a clinically typical absence status with 3 c/sec rhythmic continuous spike-and-wave discharges which were more evident on the left frontal regions of the scalp. This electro-clinical picture is compared to similar cases described in the literature and its nosological specificity is discussed.


An energy-saving and environmentally friendly microwave technology is proposed for producing composite thermal insulation materials based on liquid glass, which are not inferior to foam glass in terms of their properties. It is shown that the use of microwave radiation allows fabricating volumetrically grouted materials by simultaneous porization of the granules and the binder. In such a way, a monolithic structure of products is formed, where the space between the granules is filled with the swollen binder limited by a denser surface layer. It has been proven that the use of microwave radiation allows achieving heating and softening of the entire mass of the liquid-glass composition due to the internal acceleration of the movement of water molecules, their friction, and release of thermal energy, and not due to high temperature from the outside. This has made it possible to carry out swelling at a lower temperature and during a much shorter heat treatment time than at the traditional convective heating, because the sample layer is heated almost instantly under microwave exposure and the liquid glass composition reaches a pyroplastic state in a few seconds. It has been determined that a part of the energy of electromagnetic radiation is transformed into heat, which contributes to intensive porization with the volumetric expansion of the liquid-glass composition. The other part of the energy is directed to structural changes in the material leading to the improvement of its properties, which is associated with the "non-thermal" microwave radiation action.


Self- and family management (SFM) refers to patients' and family caregivers' activities to co-manage illness. Two barriers to SFM are low palliative care literacy and lack of goals of care communication, which potentially result in SFM activities that are unsupportive of patients' goals. Managing Cancer Care: A Caregiver's Guide (MCC-CG) aims to improve palliative care literacy and communication within a SFM training program. In this pilot randomized trial, we enrolled breast cancer family caregivers and collected data at 0, 1, and 3 months on palliative care literacy, SFM engagement, communication, transitions management, uncertainty, caregiver burden, and caregiver competence/personal gain. Participants (n = 35) had a mean age of 54 (range: 18–81) and were 66% white and 34% racial/ethnic minorities. Intervention participants improved their palliative care literacy and SFM engagement, reduced uncertainty and caregiver burden, increased competence/personal gain, and had more goals of care conversations over time. MCC-CG has preliminary efficacy, warranting further study.


Abstract:This article explores the connection between individual experience, religious initiation, historical consciousness, and ethnicity within the context of Dugu, the religion practiced by the Garifuna, an Afro-Amerindian group that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent. During colonial times, in 1797, the British Crown forced the Garifuna people to leave their homeland; they were displaced to the Atlantic coast of Central America, where they now live in scattered communities. This traumatic event remains entrenched in Dugu and emerges among individuals' somatic experiences and ritual performance. Overwhelmed, ancestors become visible in dreams and hallucinatory visions and are the instigators of misfortune. Also, the spirits of the dead are believed to act on the bodies of their living descendants by spirit possession. By focusing on some recurrent patterns of possession episodes among the Garifuna people, I argue that particular scenes of a collective memory are embodied by individuals, who evolve from afflicted patients to "living supports" of a historical legacy via initiation.


Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of major cardiovascular risk factors like glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, and high blood pressure. The most important risk factor for MetS is abdominal obesity. Also, insulin resistance is considered as an underlying pathophysiology of MetS. Under the current paradigm, excess calorie intake and physical inactivity are major contributors to obesity and insulin resistance.Meanwhile, many environmental chemicals have recently received attention as a significant contributor to obesity and obesity-related metabolic dysfunction. Among them, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are closely linked to most components of MetS. POPs are various chemicals which share characteristics of high lipophilicity, the ability to accumulate in fat, and resistance to biodegradation. Although most chlorinated POPs such as polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides were banned several decades ago and the emission of dioxins are strictly regulated in most developed countries, the exposure to these chemicals in the general population still occurs because they have widely contaminated our food chain. Also, POPs accumulated in human adipose tissue have become an important source of internal exposure as POPs are slowly but continuously released from adipose tissue to the circulation.A substantial number of cross-sectional and prospective epidemiological studies on POPs and components of MetS have been published in recent several years. Human findings on POPs and MetS are strongly supported by experimental findings as well. Animal experiments demonstrated that animals exposed to low dose mixed POPs developed abdominal obesity, hepatosteatosis, and insulin resistance, which are all MetS-related conditions. Interestingly there is human and experimental evidence on non-monotonic dose response relation, suggesting that high dose is not always more harmful than low dose. Even though POPs are well-known endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), chronic depletion of glutathione and mitochondrial dysfunction may be more plausible mechanisms.In conclusion, the chronic presence of lipophilic chemical mixtures like POPs in adipose tissue may be related to the recent epidemic of obesity-related metabolic dysfunctions like MetS. Even though the toxicodynamics of POPs could not be separated from the dynamics of adipose tissue in a real world, currently, almost all studies on MetS have not considered the role of adipose tissue as an important internal source of exposure to POPs. Future epidemiological and experimental studies should consider the very obvious fact, namely, that in modern society, adipose tissue is widely contaminated with POPs.


This research investigates the learning result of applying blended learning with the combined use of open educational platform and traditional teaching. This educational intervention took place during the course Principles of Economic Theory in the 3rd grade of High School. We measured the differences in student performance in an assessment test before and after the educational intervention, but also the changes in their attitude as to the course of the economy, itself. Moreover, we evaluated the students' satisfaction from using the open educational platform, but also the social presence which was created. The results led to the conclusion that hybrid teaching methods, can be used in the teaching of Economics and is considered as important as traditional ones.


Although signal distortion-based peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction is a feasible candidate for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) to meet standard/regulatory requirements, the error vector magnitude (EVM) stemming from the PAPR reduction has a deleterious impact on the performance of high data-rate achieving multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. Moreover, these systems must constrain the adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) to comply with regulatory requirements. Several recent works have investigated the mitigation of the EVM seen at the receivers by capitalizing on the excess spatial dimensions inherent in the large-scale MIMO that assume the availability of perfect channel state information (CSI) with spatially uncorrelated wireless channels. Unfortunately, practical systems operate with erroneous CSI and spatially correlated channels. Additionally, most standards support user-specific/CSI-aware beamformed and cell-specific/non-CSI-aware broadcasting channels. Hence, we formulate a robust EVM mitigation problem under channel uncertainty with nonconvex PAPR and ACLR constraints catering to beamforming/broadcasting. To solve this formidable problem, we develop an efficient scheme using our recently proposed three-operator alternating direction method of multipliers (TOP-ADMM) algorithm and benchmark it against two three-operator algorithms previously presented for machine learning purposes. Numerical results show the efficacy of the proposed algorithm under imperfect CSI and spatially correlated channels.


Adults of Dioctophyma renale (Goeze, 1782) (Nematoda) can affect various domestic and wild mammals and occasionally humans. At this stage the nematode is found in the right kidney, but other aberrant locations have been reported. The purpose of this study was to report D. renale findings in dogs in Uruguay. The nematode was reported in canines with unspecific symptom of dioctophymosis and in two west coastal cities over the Uruguay River. We observed moving D. renale in the abdominal cavity and in the testicular bag when performing an ovariectomy and an orchiectomy. Parasite identification was based on the morphological characteristics, particularly size, color, reproductive structures especially in males. Accidental findings when performing surgical procedures confirm that one of the main forms of diagnosis increase the extra-renal casuistry. Dioctophymosis in dogs prompts considering preventive measures related to eating habits and to stimulate a responsible ownership, especially considering the potential risk of human infection.


Abstract:  Spitz nevi are small dome‐shaped nodules that sometimes arise in areas of preexisting hyperpigmentation, such as a speckled lentiginous nevus (nevus spilus), where they present a diagnostic dilemma. We report clinical, histopathological, and molecular findings of two cases of multiple Spitz nevi arising in a speckled lentiginous nevus. We used immunohistochemistry to assess expression of Ki‐67, epidermal growth factor receptor, vascular endothelial growth factor, and RelA in two cases of Spitz nevi arising in a speckled lentiginous nevus. We observed rare staining for the proliferative marker Ki‐67, but positive staining for the growth and antiapoptotic factors epidermal growth factor receptor, vascular endothelial growth factor, and RelA. Characterization of the molecular phenotype of Spitz nevi arising in speckled lentiginous nevi may provide a useful adjunct to long‐term monitoring in this rare but difficult clinical presentation.


Attachment of platelets from the circulation onto a growing thrombus is a process involving multiple platelet receptors, endothelial matrix components and coagulation factors. It has been indicated that VWF crosslinks to polymerizing fibrin. Bound VWF further recruits and activates platelets via interactions with the platelet receptor complex glycoprotein Ib (GPIb). The aim of our study was to investigate the mechanism of VWF incorporation into a fibrin network and thereby characterize the role of VWF in arterial thrombus growth. We monitored the interactions of von Willebrand factor with fibrin(ogen) using different techniques and enzymes in purified test system at high shear stress. Applying surface techniques, ellipsometry and surface plasmon resonance, we real-time observed that VWF does not bind to either a fibrinogen monolayer or to a polymerized fibrin layer formed on the solid surface. However, we found proof for binding of VWF to a fibrin monomer layer during the process of fibrinogen-to-fibrin conversion in the presence of thrombin. Using either Arvin (cleaves FpA but not FpB) or protease III from snake venom Crotalus atrox (cleaves 42 amino acids, where FpB is located) we were able to show that VWF interacts with fibrin monomers. Furthermore, using transmittance measurements we observed that in the presence of VWF the density of the fibrin clot increases suggesting that VWF incorporates into fibrin network in solution. These findings indicate that incorporation of VWF into a fibrin network occurs via the E domain of fibrinogen where FpA and/or FpB were situated. Using a domain deletion mutant deltaC1C2-VWF we demonstrated the involvement of the C1C2 domain of VWF in the binding to fibrin monomers. Our results did not show any interaction of deltaC1C2-VWF with fibrin monolayer in the presence of thrombin. Application of the inhibitor K9-DON against factor XIIIa in the presence of calcium and thrombin slightly decreased the amount of VWF adsorbed on fibrin monolayer but not completely abolished it, illustrating that cross linking via factor XIII is not essential for this phenomenon and suggesting the identification of a second mechanism through which VWF multimers incorporate into a fibrin network. Additionally, under high shear conditions, we were able to show that platelets adhere to fibrin only if VWF had been incorporated. Addition of a GPIb blocking antibody almost completely abolished the adhesion of platelets to the fibrin monomers surface with bound VWF. These data provided evidence that the binding of platelets to a fibrin monomer layer under high shear rate is completely dependent on the VWF-GPIb interaction. All experiments were performed in the presence of abciximab suggesting that the GPIIb/IIIa receptor is not involved in this binding. In conclusion, our experiments show that the C1C2 domain of VWF and the E domain of fibrin monomers are involved in the incorporation of VWF during the polymerization of fibrin and that this incorporation fosters binding and activation of platelets. Fibrin thus is not an inert end product but partakes in further thrombus growth. Our findings help to elucidate the mechanism of thrombus growth and platelet adhesion under conditions of arterial shear rate. Additionally it may help to explain the observed phenotype in types I and III of von Willebrand Disease and the Bernard-Soulier Syndrome. Low amount of (functional) VWF or deficiency in GPIb-IX-V, here lead to disruption in thrombus formation and wound healing. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


A canine study was performed to make a histological and biomechanical evaluation of the interface between bone and two different bioceramic implants. A newly developed glass-ceramic formed by P2O5, CaO, SiO2, and Al2O3, giving a crystal phase composed of CaP2O6-AlPO4-SiP2O7, was compared to hydroxyapatite (HA) coated Ti-6Al-4V implants. A total of 24 implants were inserted into the femoral condyle of 15 adult female golden retriever dogs weighing 20-25 kg. There was a 12 week follow-up. Implants were examined by mechanical testing, histology, histomorphometry, microradiograpic methods, and EDAX analysis. The ultimate shear strength for the HA-coated implants was significantly higher than in the glass-ceramic group. When these values were related to the histomorphometric measurements, the difference could be explained by the tissue-to-implant contact. The glass-ceramic showed direct contact only with nonmineralized, osteoid bone. The HA-coated implants, however, were integrated into the bone. The study indicated that porous glass-ceramic containing AlPO4 causes local osteomalacia and might not be suitable for clinical purposes.


It is important to establish from the outset that the economic impact of marine wildlife tourism is only part of a much bigger picture in terms of its overall economic value. Wells (1997) distinguishes between the economic impact of nature tourism, which he defines as the amount of money spent by nature tourists in the economy on travel, accommodation, food, souvenirs, etc., and the total economic value, which covers 'the broader economic benefits of conservation which can be associated with a nature tourism destination. Direct use by tourists is only one of the economic values which flow from nature tourism destinations' {Wells, 1997, p. 9). Furthermore, the direct effects are only one of the three classes of multiplier effects in the economy: the other two being indirect effects arising from establishments which receive the tourist expenditure purchasing goods and services from other sectors within the local economy; and induced effects which occur from local residents spending their wages, salaries, distributed profit, rent and interest on goods and services in the local economy (Cooper et al., 1998). These positive multiplier effects are, however, limited by leakages which reduce the positive economic impacts of tourism.


ABSTRACT This essay explores the paradox between progressive and reactionary forces in inter-war European modernism through parallels between the London-based writers T.E. Hulme, Wyndham Lewis and Ezra Pound, and between Pound and Lewis' avant-garde art group The Vorticists and the American pre-Beatnik Henry Miller. How did the artistic quest to respect and delineate difference lead writers like Pound and Louis-Ferdinand Céline towards a fascist politics that abhorred it? At the other end of the political spectrum, how do the utopian, radically humanist ideals of a writer like Henry Miller find expression through confrontationally anti-humanist language? The answers to these questions, I argue, shed unexpected light on the politics of the American counterculture after World War Two, a moment that is too often understood in unquestioningly progressive terms.


To investigate the potential of intracrine or paracrine estrogen synthesis and action in the human thyroid gland and thyroid tumors, the presence of the messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs) of both cytochrome P450 aromatase (P450arom) and estrogen receptor (ER) was investigated by RT-PCR with primers designed on the respective coding regions and Southern hybridization analysis with specific probes in neoplastic (n = 42), hyperplastic (n = 7), and adjacent histologically normal thyroid tissues (n = 33) obtained from 43 female and 7 male patients. Most thyroid tissues were positive for both mRNAs, but 2 normal and 3 neoplastic tissues were negative for P450arom mRNA only, 3 normal and 1 hyperplastic tissues were negative for ER mRNA only, and 2 normal tissues were double negative. In some patients, P450arom mRNA was absent in either the neoplastic tissue or the normal one. Single and double negative samples were relatively more frequent in men (n = 4) than in women (n = 7). All negative samples were positive for beta-actin mRNA. RT-PCR amplification and Southern blotting of promoter-specific untranslated 5'-termini revealed that the human thyroid gland and tumors mainly use the ovarian-type promoter, promoter II, for CYP19 expression. Transcripts with either exon I.4 or I.1 were present only in some samples and in very low copy number. When 18 neoplastic samples with their surrounding normal tissues were analyzed immunohistochemically, 57% of those that were positive for P450arom mRNA also had a positive immunoresponse for the corresponding protein. In the case of ER, the percentage was 58%. Immunostaining for P450arom was often particularly intense in neoplastic samples. When 3 adenomata and 1 papillary cancer were incubated with [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone, 17beta-estradiol could be radiochemically identified with a maximal yield of 10.5 fmol/mg x h. In conclusion, the human thyroid gland appears to have the potential for both estrogen synthesis and intracrine or paracrine estrogen responsiveness, which seem to be greater in women than men and may become enhanced with the process of tumorigenesis.


The Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) was evaluated for a region that has a long history of irrigated corn (Zea mays L.). Imprecise irrigation and plentiful fertilizer applications have contributed to the buildup of NO 3 -N in ground water, where concentrations often exceed 30 mg L -1 . Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of management practices on corn yield, N uptake, plant biomass, leaf area development, soil water content, and soil N. Field-measured results from 1992 were used to calibrate RZWQM. The model was evaluated by simulating three irrigation levels and five fertilizer rates for 1993 and 1994. The model simulated the soil water pattern satisfactorily during most of the growing season; however, the simulated soil profile water content was lower than field conditions in the spring and fall. Transpiration appears to be excessive when the leaf area index (LAI) is small. Simulated yields exceeded measured values, with the largest errors for small fertilizer applications in 1993 and for large fertilizer applications in 1994. The mean error between measured and modeled yields was 2.9 Mg ha -1 , with a root mean square error (RMSE) equal to 46% of the mean yield for all treatments over the 3 years. Estimates of LAI and aboveground biomass were closer to measured values, with mean errors of 5% for leaf area and 1% for biomass. The relative RMSE for LAI and biomass was 26 and 17%, respectively. The model underestimated aboveground N uptake, with a mean error of 25 kg N ha -1 and a relative RMSE of 41%. While development of the comprehensive RZWQM has been constructive, improvements are still needed. Excessive depletions in the spring and fall overstate storage of off-season precipitation, and this leads to underestimating annual leaching losses. Combining excessive yield predictions with low N uptake estimates exaggerates the N use efficiency. These discrepancies will have a profound effect on the simulated impact of management practices. Leaching losses and yield effects will be understated, which may lead to development of policies that affect producers more severely than the model implies.


The fact that uncontrolled waste can lead to environmental and health risks has made it necessary to mitigate the degradation of water, soil and air. Several problems associated with traditional waste disposal methods such as lack of space for landfills and associated leachate, air pollution from incinerators and both the United Kingdom and European Union legislation on waste management has shifted attention to recycling as better option for waste disposal. The UK Government's Department of Environment, Transport and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has given out guidelines on the latest performance indicator targets on recycling for individual local authorities. To enhance recycling and in order to meet the government's recycling targets, local authorities in the UK are currently using kerbside recycling programmes. To achieve the above targets, Christchurch Borough Council in the summer of 2003 introduced a new kerbside recycling scheme. Houses and businesses were provided with containers for separation of recyclable material. In June of 2003, a study was carried in Christchurch Borough, Dorset, England with the aim of evaluating kerbside recycling as a means of enhancing waste recycling. About 13,000 properties were surveyed. Findings from the research indicated a significant increase in the number of Christchurch residents participating in recycling. This increased participation was mainly attributed to the introduction of a new kerbside recycling scheme. Reasons were given for non-participation in the new kerbside recycling scheme. These form the basis of recommendations for an improved waste management framework. The substantial diversion of recyclables from landfills also proves why recycling and improved recycling schemes must play a major part in local, national and international waste management plans.


Students rank requires several considerations and criteria. Determination of the criteria must be prepared as much as possible because it is related to the selection of outstanding students. However, this ranking is considered less than optimal and requires a long time because it is processed manually by the school. The right Decision Support System is needed to produce quick and accurate ranking decisions. This study uses the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) as a Decision Support System. This method will use multi-criteria as the main input in decision making. PROMETHEE will be used to analyze criteria based on alternatives compared to rank according to students' grades and abilities. Based on the research sample data, the highest value was 0.739 for alternative A16. This shows that alternative A16 is the best alternative compared to other alternatives based on consideration of all criteria. The development of PROMETHEE with application-based Decision Support Systems is much better because it produces fast and accurate calculations.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the difficulties faced by women with same-sex desire (commonly known as "lalas") in China in securing defamilisation and familisation. It has two objectives – to show the challenges lalas face in organizing their life in interaction with the family, work economy and government; and to discuss how these challenges make women with same-sex desire difficult to secure defamilisation and familisation. Familisation refers to the extent to which people's participation in the family is increased; whereas defamilisation refers to the extent to which people's participation in the family is reduced.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted literature review and in-depth interviews with 20 Chinese women with same-sex desire in Beijing to collect and analyze data for fulfilling the two objectives.

Findings
Lalas face serious challenges in their daily lives – they receive insufficient support from the government, work economy and family in organizing their life and their freedom is constrained by these three sectors. These challenges render lalas difficult to achieve several types of defamilisation/familisation (the "carer," "care receiver," "provider of financial support" and "receiver of financial support").

Originality/value
Few defamilisation and familisation studies focus on women with same-sex desire. No studies on defamilisation and familisation of lalas in China have been done before. With the focus on lalas, the paper discovers new causes of the difficulties in securing defamilisation/familisation, and possible solutions to these difficulties.


Background Despite substantial advances in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), patients continue to report long term limitations. The combination of TNFα antagonists and methotrexate (MTX) in early RA (ERA), defined as disease of >4-24 months duration, improves both clinical and patient reported outcomes. Similar intensive treatment of patients with very early RA (VERA), defined as disease of ≤4 months duration, is known to improve clinical outcomes even further. It is however less clear if very early treatment results in greater gains in patient reported outcomes (PRO). Objectives We investigated whether patients who received TNFα antagonist and MTX combination therapy within 4 months of diagnosis benefited in terms of longer term quality of life (QOL), mental health and disability compared to those who waited (>4-24 months) to receive such treatment. Methods A post-hoc analysis of the Combination of MTX and Etanercept (ETN) in active early rheumatoid arthritis trial (COMET)1 was undertaken. Those subjects receiving MTX and ETN were analysed according to baseline disease duration (VERA v ERA) for the differences in their PROs: QOL (SF36), pain (visual analogue scale, VAS), fatigue (VAS), disability index (HAQ-DI), anxiety & depression (Hospital Anxiety & Depression scale, HADS-A & HADS-D). Baseline differences between all VERA and ERA subjects were identified using ANOVA, Mann-Whitney and Chi-squared tests as appropriate and subsequently used as covariates within ANCOVA models which were performed to compare PRO responses at week 52 among those receiving MTX and ETN combination therapy. Summary scores are presented as Least Squares mean[SE] unless otherwise stated, and a p≤0.05 is considered statistically significant. Results VERA subjects were more likely to be smokers compared to ERA subjects, but otherwise there were no significant differences in baseline characteristics. Of those receiving combination therapy (VERA: n=63, mean[sd] disease duration 3.6[0.5] months; ERA: n=157, disease duration 10.7[5.4] months), there were no statistically significant differences in week 52 PROs according to baseline disease duration (VERA v ERA: SF36 physical summary 43.9[1.2] v 44.3[0.9]; SF36 mental summary mean 51.2[1.3] v 48.6[0.9]; pain VAS 20.5[3.1] v 20.7[2.2]; fatigue VAS 26.3[3.3] v 29.0[2.3]; HAQ 0.6[0.07] v 0.6[0.05] and HADS-A 4.8[0.5] v 5.5[0.3]), although there was a modest, non-significant, indication that VERA subjects were less depressed (HADS-D 3.6[0.5] v 4.6[0.3], p=0.09). Conclusions Unlike clinical outcome measures, very early treatment with the combination of TNFα antagonists and methotrexate does not appear to improve PROs compared to those who receive this treatment after a longer disease duration. Since symptoms such as pain and fatigue commonly precede diagnosis by several months, it may be that the "window of opportunity" for generating the greatest improvements in PROs is even earlier, when they are typically harder to target. References Emery et al. Comparison of methotrexate monotherapy with a combination of methotrexate and etanercept in active, early, moderate to severe rheumatid arthritis (COMET): a randomised, double-blind, parallel treatment trial. Lancet 2008;372:375-82. Acknowledgements The COMET investigators, Pfizer & Laraine Aikman Disclosure of Interest N. Basu Grant/research support: Pfizer, GSK, Consultant for: MSD, GSK, Pfizer, Speakers bureau: Sanofi Aventis, Pfizer, F. Brock Consultant for: Pfizer DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.2402


Abstract. Height of new snow (HN) forecasts help to prevent critical failures of infrastructures in mountain areas, e.g. transport networks, ski resorts. The French national meteorological service, Meteo-France, operates a probabilistic forecasting system based on ensemble meteorological forecasts and a detailed snowpack model to provide ensembles of HN forecasts. These forecasts are however significantly biased and underdispersed. As for many weather variables, post-processing methods can be used to alleviate these drawbacks and obtain meaningful 1-day to 4-day HN forecasts. In this paper, we compare the skill of two post-processing methods. The first approach is an ensemble model output statistics (EMOS) method, which can be described as a Nonhomogeneous Regression with a Censored Shifted Gamma distribution. The second approach is based on quantile regression forests, using different meteorological and snow predictors. Both approaches are evaluated using a 22-year reforecast. Thanks to a larger number of predictors, the quantile regression forest is shown to be a powerful alternative to EMOS for the post-processing of HN ensemble forecasts. The gain of performance is important in all situations but is particularly marked when raw forecasts completely miss the snow event. This type of situations happens when the rain-snow transition elevation is overestimated by the raw forecasts (rain instead of snow in the raw forecasts) or when there is no precipitation in the forecast. In that case, quantile regression forests improve the predictions using the other weather predictors (wind, temperature, specific humidity).


Fe2+ Fe3+ species in layered clay minerals are analysed in samples obtained from two boreholes in Boda Siltstone Formation. In the first series occurrence of Fe2+ components and Fe2+ = > Fe3+ oxidation is demonstrated in upper layers of a strata near to the surface. In the second series minerals are identified with iron present exclusively in ferrous form in a thin strata found in a borehole at 1050 m depth.


Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) is an autonomous, self-configuring and infrastructure-less system in which various mobile nodes are connected by wireless links. In Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET), various routing protocols are there like AODV, DSDV, TORA, DSR etc. Due to the nature of changing topology and infrastructure less in MANETs there are various issues and constraints which affect the performance of the network like mobility, overhead, battery drainage, delay and interference. Various optimization techniques can be used to find out the best and optimal solution. Nature inspired algorithms are meta heuristics that mimics the nature for solving optimization problems opening a new era in computation.


Intra-vehicular wireless sensor networks (IVWSNs) are a promising new research area that can provide part cost, assembly, maintenance savings, and fuel efficiency through the elimination of the wires, and enable new sensor technologies to be integrated into vehicles, which would otherwise be impossible using wired means, such as intelligent tires. The most suitable technology that can meet the high reliability requirement of vehicle control systems and the strict energy efficiency requirement of the sensor nodes in such harsh environment containing a large number of metal reflectors at short distance is the ultra-wideband (UWB). However, there are currently no detailed models describing the UWB channel for IVWSNs, making it difficult to design a suitable communication system. We analyze the small-scale and large-scale statistics of the UWB channel beneath the chassis of a vehicle by collecting data at various locations with 81 measurement points per transmitter-receiver pair for different types of vehicles, including the scenarios of turning the engine on and movement on the road. Collecting multiple measurements allows us to both improve the accuracy of the large-scale fading representation and model small-scale fading characteristics. The path-loss exponent around the tires and other locations beneath the chassis are found to be very different, requiring separate models. The power variation around the path loss has lognormal distribution. The clustering phenomenon observed in the averaged power delay profile (PDP) is well characterized by the Saleh-Valenzuela (SV) model. The cluster amplitude and decay rate are formulated as a function of the cluster arrival times using dual-slope linear models. Cluster interarrival times are modeled using Weibull distribution, providing a better fit than the commonly used exponential distribution in the literature, mainly due to the nonrandomness of the local structure of the vehicle. The variations of local PDPs around the small-scale averaged (SSA) PDPs, in decibels, at each delay bin are modeled by Gaussian distribution with variance independent of the value of the delay and distance between the transmitter and the receiver. The analysis of the model parameters for different vehicles and different scenarios demonstrates the robustness of our modeling approach exhibiting small variance in channel parameters for different vehicle types. Finally, the algorithm for generating the channel model is given. The generated PDPs are in good agreement with the experimental profiles, validating our model.


Three experiments were conducted with broiler chicks to study the effect of different levels of choice animal tallow on absorption of vitamins A and E. The first experiment involved 9 dietary treatments in a 3 X 3 factorial arrangement, consisting of 3 levels of vitamin A (2,000, 10,000, and 18,000 IU/kg) and 3 levels of animal fat (0, 3, and 6%). Liver vitamin A concentration significantly increased linearly (P less than .01) with increasing dietary vitamin A. The effect of dietary fat on liver vitamin A concentration was not significant. The highest liver vitamin A concentration occurred with 3% added fat (5.2% total dietary fat). The second experiment consisted of 7 levels of dietary fat (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10%), each fed with a constant vitamin A (14,500 IU/kg). Increasing fat significantly (P less than .05) increased liver vitamin A concentration in a quadratic manner at 4 and 6 weeks of age (P less than .01). The highest liver vitamin A concentration corresponded to 5% added fat (5.3% total fat). The third experiment involved 9 treatments in a 3 x 3 factorial arrangement with supplemental vitamin E at 0, 10, and 100 IU/kg and animal fat at 0, 3, and 6% of the diet. Plasma vitamin E significantly increased in a quadratic manner (P less than .01) with increasing vitamin E and increased linearly (P less than .01) with increasing fat. Plasma vitamin A concentration also increased (P less than .01) with increasing fat. The fat x vitamin E interaction was significant (P less than .01).


Libraries have traditionally played a central role in collecting and organizing material and giving wide access to culture and knowledge. Does the existing copyright framework provide enough space for online digital libraries to claim an equivalent central role in the online space? This article explores the legal challenges for online digital libraries' collection building. The materials that comprise the content of a library fall broadly under three categories with respect to their copyright status: copyrighted works, works with ambivalent copyright status (such as orphan and out-of-print works) and public domain works. In the paper, I try to answer a number of legal questions related to these three categories of works, inter alia licensing and e-lending as well as digital exhaustion, and also defend the value of creating and sustaining robust digital libraries online. The paper will conclude on how the theory of the commons can improve the existing legal framework and strengthen the libraries' position in order to sustain valuable knowledge commons supporting the ever-growing network ecosystem. Thus, I emphasize the value of maintaining a growing public domain that can be organized and digitally accessible online.


This research was conducted on 24-30 May 2016 in the Laboratory Fish Hatchery and Breeding Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science University of Riau. The purpose of this study are to determine the influence of temperature (room temperature and 30°C) and dose of aquamate (0 mg/L and 20 mg/L) on fertilization, hatching and larvae survival of Pawas (Osteochilus hasselti). The method used in this study is an experimental method by using a completely randomized design with 2x2x3 factorial design. The first factor is the temperature (room temperature and 30°C), while the second factor is the dose of aquamate (0 mg/L and 20 mg/L) with three replications. Fish kept in the twelve unit of 30x30x30cm aquarium with the volume of water were 15 L each. The result showed that the treatment of the giving different temperature and oxygen to hatching the eggs and 5 days fish larvae initial survival of Pawas (Osteochilus hasselti) that is best for Fertilization Rate (FR) of Pawas eggs is room temperature with the addition 20 mg/L aquamate which produce figure conception am ounted to 43.78%, figure Hatching Rate (HR) amounted to 63.24%, the rate of Survival Rate (SR) amounted to 96%. Data from water quality measurements during the study that is the temperature used is room temperature and 30°C, pH range 6-8. The levels of dissolved oxygen on dose of aquamate 0 mg/L namely 3.0 mg/L while on dose of aquamate 20 mg/L namely 7.0 mg/L. Dissolved oxygen was increased on dose of aquamate 20 mg/L as much as 4 mg/L after one day the addition of aquamate into aquarium. Keywords: temperature, oxygen, fertilization rate, hatching rate, survival rate, Osteochilus hasselti C.V


Inkjet printing of electrical tracks in roll-to-roll applications was hampered for a long time since nano-particle inks required thermal sintering at temperatures greater than 120 °C for several minutes. Among a large number of potential R2R compatible techniques, photonic sintering of inkjet-printed metal-based inks was shown to enable very fast sintering times and providing high quality of structural integrity and low electrical resistance [1]. While the above investigations were carried out with a low dutylow frequency irradiation source, novel developments allow for pulse shaping on the timescale of several microseconds and, therefore, the combination of drying and sintering pulses into a single piece of equipment. In this contribution the photonic sintering process was investigated numerically and experimentally for the case of inkjetprinted aqueous copper oxide ink and a Pulse Forge®3200 X2 tool, both implemented onto a NovaCentrix roll-to-roll machine. Our finding support the assumption, that pulse shaping and, therefore, energy tailoring as a function of time, is essential for efficient conversion of wet copper oxide deposits into conductive copper with no impact on the underlying substrate. The paper presents and discusses the resulting electrical resistances of features processed with a conventional hybrid solution using IRradiation for pre-drying as well as a single step drying and sintering using a single radiation source.


The conformational analysis of fifteen β-halohydrins, XCR1R2CR3R4OH, (X=F, Cl and Br) had been studied by ab initio G3 method. The enthalpies of formation values were calculated for nine conformers of each β-halohydrin. The (g , g + ) and (g + , g ) conformers were found to be the most stable due to intramolecular H-bond formation. These H-bonds are weaker than intermolecular H-bonds formed between alkyl halides and alcohols. This trend is more obvious in flouro-species. The rotation of C- X bond of (g , g + ) conformers by 360 ° gives three transition states, this rotation was found to require 6-7 kcal/mol.


This paper focuses on indirect reference to kinds achieved by means of bare plural nominal expressions in Russian, which is a language without articles. These NPs refer to sums of individuals, whose denotation is built on Number. Their default interpretation is indefinite, while generic and definite readings are a result of a pragmatic strengthening, i.e. these readings appear only in certain environments (argument position of k-level predicates, subject position of characterising statements) and depend on the world knowledge of interlocutors. Generically and definitely interpreted expressions are similar to each other, being characterised by maximality, identifiability and presupposition of existence. However, the former ones cannot be spatiotemporally localised or anaphorically anchored. Going beyond Russian, it is suggested that in some languages genericity (along with definiteness) may be encoded semantically by means of a definite article, while in others it is pragmatically inferred on bare NPs; this difference can account for the interand intralinguistic variation in the expression of genericity.


Aim: To estimate the importance of time in determining the difficulty of surgical removal of impacted third molars. Materials and Methods: Two hundred medically fit patients were selected with an age range between 18–25 years of both sexes. These patients had vertically impacted lower third molars and indicated for surgical extraction. The diagnosis of third molar impaction was based on clinical and standard intraoral periapical radiographs. A double–blind approach was adopted whereby two researchers carried out a classification of the operation based on expected time of surgery and the third researcher performed the surgery. The classification of the impaction was performed pre–operatively according to Pell–Gregory classification, then the operation was performed following the standard procedure for this type of surgery. Following extraction, surgical difficulty was rated according to Garcia et al. classification and operation time from the incision till suturing of the flap. Results: Comparison among the three classification systems was performed and the results indicated no significant difference among the three classifications regarding simple and moderate operations, but only a significant difference was recorded for the difficult operations. Conclusion: This study, however, revealed the importance of time in assessing the difficulty of such operations and this, in turn, will help surgeons in scheduling the treatment plan and taking the necessary precautions when dealing with difficult operations.


This paper outlines the idea of the Intelligent Super Base-Station (ISB) which is an advanced cellular base-station. The ISB is based on software radio techniques. We present three different architectures with which the ISB is constructed. For each architecture, the superconducting devices are essential for the ISB system because of the high-speed nature and highly sensitive nature of superconducting analogue-to-digital converters based on the single flux quantum logic. We also present the scenario of the development of the ISB using LTS and HTS junction technology.


The term "distributed software engineering" is ambiguous. It includes both the engineering of distributed software and the process of distributed development of software, such as cooperative work. This paper concentrates on the former, giving an indication of the special needs and rewards in distributed computing. In essence, we argue that the structure of these systems as interacting components is a blessing which forces software engineers towards compositional techniques which offer the best hope for constructing scalable and evolvable systems in an incremental manner. We offer some guidance and recommendations as to the approaches which seem most appropriate, particularly in languages for distributed programming, specification and analysis techniques for modeling and distributed paradigms for guiding design.<<ETX>>


The photoluminescence (PL) of high quality GaN epitaxial layer grown by MOCVD was investigated for various excitation power and temperatures from 8.3 to 300K. The PL at 8.3 K and with relatively low excitation power of GaN film grown on c-plane sapphire by using MOCVD shows clearly free-exciton A, B and exciton A bound to neutral donors (D°X) at 3.502 eV, 3.509 eV, and 3.496 eV, respectively. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) and binding energy of exciton A of the high quality GaN film were evaluated as small as 3.7 meV and 27.9 ± 0.5 meV, respectively. In addition, PL and Raman scattering of GaN films grown on r-plane sapphire and (111) Si substrates by using MOCVD were examined. The residual stress effect was detected in all films.


Abstract Methods based on fuzzy outranking relations constitute one of the main approaches to multiple criteria decision problems. The use of ELECTRE methods require the elicitation of a large number of parameters (weights and different thresholds); but direct eliciting is often a demanding task for the decision-maker (DM). For handling intensity-ofpreference effects on concordance levels, a generalized concordance model was proposed by Roy and Slowinski which is more complex than previous outranking models. In this paper, an evolutionary multi-objective-based indirect elicitation of the complete ELECTRE III model-parameter set is proposed. The evolutionary multi-objective inference method is successfully extended to inferring reinforced-preference model parameters. Wide experimental evidence is provided to support the proposal, which performs well even working on small size reference sets.


The provisions and the operational aspects of the new Warble Fly Orders are described. The new Orders will apply between March 15 and July 31 and during this period owners of cattle showing visible or palpable signs of warbles must treat them with a systemic warble fly dressing. During this period no infested cattle may be moved, even to a slaughterhouse, unless they have been treated and are accompanied by a statutory declaration of treatment.


Concepts reduce the complexity by simplifying the environment that people live. They help us in defining and explaining the objects in our environment. Learning concepts cannot be determined only by classifying objects or by telling the name or definition of a class of objects. Learning concepts has three steps; interpreting, translating and transition. For an individual to overcome these three steps, he has to have the ability to percept common elements objects, events, ideas and behaviors by abstracting them and has to distinguish the common and uncommon sides of these. Glover, Ronning and Bruning (Glover,A.Roning,R.R.,Bruning, R. H., 1990) have divided the database needed in problem solving process into three parts as subject knowledge, general and specific strategic knowledge. The conceptual knowledge that is related to the subject of the problem constitutes the first type of knowledge. Remembering a knowledge signifies that it is known. However, this remembrance can both be by memorizing and comprehending. It is the comprehension step, which is formed by the behaviors that distinguishes a person who has comprehended, from a person who has memorized. (Alkan, H., Altun, M., 1998). As knowledge and skill is not transferred genetically and cannot be controlled by instinct, the behaviors that will be necessary in life should be designated to the person. This can be achieved by learning. The people agree that without learning life cannot be successful. While teaching new knowledge to individuals, it should be made sure that the concepts are formed correctly. In recent years, students' understanding of the scientific concepts is one of the subjects that researchers and teachers give importance to. The reason is that students have difficulties in understanding scientific concepts. Learning concepts in a non-meaningful way leads to the formation and increasing of misconceptions. Misconception is the perception of concepts by students in a different way than their scientifically accepted definitions.


A female infant with complete cleft palate with a large tumor protruding from the mouth was reported. This tumor was covered with skin and was found to arise from roof of the nasal cavity through the palatal cleft. Complete removal of the tumor was performed at about i month of ages without any complication.Histological examination revealed that the tumor consisted of skin, fatty tissue, striated muscle, mucous membrane and bone, and the so-called epignathus was diagnosed.The pathogenesis of this tumor is still unknown and its classification is rather complicated. However, based on both microscopic and macroscopic findings of the tumors which have been reported in the literature, we considered that socalled epignathus could be devided into the following two groups. .1. Nasopharyngeal teratomatous tumors including dermoid, teratoid tumor and true teratoma, which is caused by dislocation of the embryonic tissue into the pharynx.2. Genuine Epiganathus which contains imcomplete extremities, fingers or differentiated organs. It is a kind of unmatured double monster and caused by dislocation of a germ at twin formation.From the view point of our classification above-mentioned, the case reported in this paper should be called, in strict means, nasopharyngeal teratoma.Cleft palate, which combines very rarely with nasopharyngeal teratoma, suggests the migration of embroryonic tissue into the nasopharynx at the very early stage of fetal life before the union of the bilateral palates.


Introduction

A mouse melanoma discovered and described by Harding and Passey (1) was brought to our attention by workers with this tumor at the Memorial Hospital of New York.2 Attempts to grow it in tissue culture were at first unsuccessful. Harding and Passey state that such attempts, made at their instigation, "had failed to give results which would satisfy them that growth of tumour cells had actually been obtained."

In experiments made in this laboratory it was found that fragments taken from heavily pigmented tissues of the Harding and Passey melanoma markedly increase the alkalinity of the culture medium, in which case tissue growth is inhibited. By a method to be described here, it has been found possible to obviate this condition and to obtain good growth. This paper presents a description of the various types of cells which appear in the outgrowth.

Melanoma appears to be closely associated with the epidermis and involves the subcutaneous tissues. The characteristic cell seems to be a highly dendritic cell, called the melanoblast or pigment-producing cell. Becker (2) has given an extended review of the literature on the origin of the pigment-producing cells in the skin and buccal mucosa. The epithelial origin claimed by Bloch (3) for the dendritic melanoblasts has been questioned by others, who consider that it arises from dermal cells or from some part of the peripheral nervous system (Masson, 4). All agree, however, that the typical cell of the melanoma is a dendritic, melanin-producing cell whether it originates from normal melanoblasts or from other cells. Associated with this melanin-producing cell in the tumor may be other cells heavily laden with pigment granules which are generally considered to be phagocytic. In sections of melanomas, the cell bodies of the neoplastic melanoblasts have been classified as fusiform or cuboid and the tumors accordingly termed sarcomatous or carcinomatous. Not much reliance can be placed on mere shape (cf. Becker, 2). The term chromatophore is descriptive, meaning a pigment-carrying cell. It does not necessarily imply that the cell possesses the property of synthesizing pigment. For this reason the term is not used in this paper.


This research is a quantitative study which aims to determine the results differences of the 2nd National Chemistry Olympiad at the public and private senior high school using quizizz media. All participants of the population were sampled in the determination, the sampling technique used was saturated samples. The results of the prerequisite test on the data from this study showed that the data were normally and homogeneous. For normality and homogeneity tests, obtained sig > 0.05. Data analysis using SPSS 24, carried out One Way Anova test, obtained sig.0.01 with a significance level of 5%, these results indicate that there are differences in the results of the 2nd National Chemistry Olympiad (OKN) level is low, the public high school participants results with an average score of 59.48 and private high schools with an average score of 41.95 by utilizing Quizizz media. Keywords: Chemistry, Olympics, Learning, Quizizz


Abstract The aim of this article is to measure economic development and the impact of economic globalisation under the prism of global political economy. Global political economy is a field of study that has its roots in international relations. The growth of world economic transactions after the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the 1970s created the need for a new field of study, in order to explain the interdependence between politics and economics on the international level. Global political economy is the field of study that also examines the implications of economic globalisation for national economies and for the global economy. The concept of economic development is broader than economic growth, which is related to GDP growth. The concept of economic globalisation has changed the prospects of economic development for certain developed and developing economies. The main changes of economic globalisation are closely related to the following aspects of national economies: trade, finance, and production. The analysis of this article will reveal the effects of economic globalisation on different aspects of economic development. These aspects are studied under the prism of indexes such as Financial Development Index, openness to trade, Human Development Index, the GINI Index and other inequality indexes. The aftermath of the global economic crisis of 2007-2008 placed at the epicentre the interdependence of national economies and the issue of economic inequalities. The study of the aforementioned indexes will highlight the alterations that have occurred from the manifestation of the global economic crisis until today. The article is focusing on the following countries: China, Germany, Greece, and the United States for the last decade (2009-2019), on the basis of the available data.


It is a straightforward task for human observers to judge the relative quality of two visual signals of the same content, but subject to different type/level of distortions. However, this comparative image quality assessment (C-IQA) problem remains a difficult challenge for the current research of image quality assessment (IQA). In this paper, we propose a C-IQA approach to predict the relative perceptual quality of a pair of images that are possibly subject to different artifact types/levels. The C-IQA algorithm is designed to emulate the process of comparing the relative quality of two visual stimuli as performed by the human visual system (HVS) within the framework of free energy minimization. The brain's internal generative models initialized on the inputs are used to explain the two images. And their relative quality can then be determined through comparing the free energy level of this model-data fitting process. In the existing work of IQA, the full-reference (FR) and reduced-reference (RR) methods need the prior knowledge of the original images while the no-reference (NR) algorithms usually work with a single input image. The C-IQA approach is inherently different from those existing methods in that it takes as input an image pair and predicts their relative quality without using any knowledge about the original image. A computationally efficient solution to the proposed C-IQA scheme based on a linear autoregressive image model is also introduced. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves about 98% accuracy in line with the subjective ratings when applied on over 300,000 image pairs sampled from the LIVE database, outperforming the FR metrics such as PSNR, SSIM, and some of the most advanced NR IQA algorithms.


Bicornuate and septate uteri are among the commonest Mullerian anomalies. They are sporadic and fairly distinguished, but hybrid deformities can occur. This combination creates aetiological and clinical difficulties. The alternative theory of concurrent fusion and septal resorption of the Mullerian duct is seen as the basis of the altered foetal embryology, while the favourable outlook of a bicornuate uterus may be offset by the suboptimal implantation across the avascular septum. Obstetric care is based on empirical interventions deduced from case series, with varied and inconsistent outcomes. We present a 32-year-old primipara with a dizygotic twin gestation in separate compartments of a septate bicornuate uterus. She had an elective bilateral caesarean delivery at term with an accidental septal resection for morbidly adherent placenta. Although a summation of obstetric risks is a possibility, an excellent outcome was observed.


The goal of this study is to develop a rational data-driven definition of impulsive/reactive aggression and establish distinctions between impulsive/reactive aggression and other common childhood problems. This is a secondary analysis of data from Assessing Bipolar: A Community Academic Blend (ABACAB; N = 636, ages 5–18), Stanley Medical Research Institute N = 392, ages 5–17), and the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS; N = 679, ages 6–12) studies, which recruited youths seeking outpatient mental health services in academic medical centers and community clinics. Following Jensen et al.'s (2007) procedure, 3 judges independently rated items from several widely used scales in terms of assessing impulsive/reactive aggression. Principal components analyses (PCA) modeled structure of the selected items supplemented by items related to mood symptoms, rule-breaking behavior, and hyperactivity/impulsivity to better define the boundaries between impulsive/reactive aggression and other common childhood symptoms. In the rational item selection process, there was good agreement among the 3 experts who rated items as characterizing impulsive/reactive aggression or not. PCA favored 5 dimension solutions in all 3 samples. Across all samples, PCA resulted in rule-breaking behavior, aggression-impulsive/reactive (AIR), mania, and depression dimensions; there was an additional hyperactive/impulsive dimension in the LAMS sample and a self-harm dimension in ABACAB and Stanley samples. The dimensions demonstrated good internal consistency; criterion validity coefficients also showed consistency across samples. This study is a step toward developing an empirically derived nosology of impulsive aggression/AIR. Findings support the validity of the AIR construct, which can be distinguished from manic and depressive symptoms as well as rule-breaking behavior.


Vanillyl-alcohol oxidase (VAO) is a flavoprotein containing a covalently bound FAD cofactor. The enzyme acts on a wide variety of 4-alkylphenols bearing aliphatic side-chains up to seven carbon atoms in length. Short-chain 4-alkylphenols are predominantly hydroxylated to (R)-1-(4′-hydroxyphenyl) alcohols, whereas medium-chain 4-alkylphenols are dehydrogenated to the corresponding 1-(4′-hydroxyphenyl)alkenes. In this account, we summarize our work on the structure, mechanism, and biocatalytic potential of VAO. It is shown that the efficiency of hydroxylation of 4-alkylphenols is dependent on the type of amino acid residue engineered at position 170. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the stereospecificity of the hydroxylation. reaction can be inverted by relocating the active site base to the opposite face of the substrate-binding pocket. 1 Introduction 2 Vanillyl-Alcohol Oxidase 3 Structural Properties of Vanillyl-Alcohol Oxidase 4 Catalytic and Structural Properties of Asp170 Variants 5 Efficiency of Hydroxylation of 4-Alkylphenols 6 Stereospecificity of Hydroxylation 7 Conclusion.


The eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome was associated with the ingestion of L-tryptophan products containing a number of contaminants, one of which has been identified as 1,1'-ethylidene-bis-(L-tryptophan) (EBT), also known as peak E or peak 97. In earlier studies, we demonstrated that EBT induces inflammation and fibrosis in dermal and subcutaneous tissue of C57BL/6 mice. Others have shown EBT to be a potent stimulus for fibroblast activation and collagen synthesis in vitro, and dermal tissue from EMS patients reveals evidence of enhanced collagen gene expression. In the present study using Northern blot analysis and in situ hybridization, we demonstrate enhanced expression of genes for types I, III, and VI collagen in the dermis and subcutis of C57BL/6 mice treated with EBT for 3-21 days. Increased type I procollagen mRNA was noted on day 6 of EBT treatment and was followed by enhanced expression of type III and VI procollagen mRNA at day 21. L-Tryptophan, free of contaminants associated with the eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome epidemic, increased dermal collagen mRNA to a lesser extent than did EBT. Increased procollagen gene expression was accompanied by evidence of enhanced TGF-beta 1 expression in the dermis and subcutis. This animal model provides additional evidence for EBT as a causal agent of the eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome and should prove useful in the study of the pathogenesis of that syndrome.


Bureaucratic organizations have often been studied in organizational theory, especially because of their organizational specificities (Weber 1968; Crozier 1964). They have been described as rigid and having difficulty changing (Crozier, 1964), with respect to the large number of rules and hierarchical levels and the top-down character of the information flow. Such organizations exist in some European countries especially in the "public sector". They are nowadays changing due to the socio-political context, arguing of better profitability. Thus, when top managers desire strategic change, they have to solve the problem of translating the new strategy into practices at each level of organization (Whittington 2003) and particularly where the new strategy is put to the test: the front office. In such organizations, power and resistance seem particularly relevant to analyse the change processes. Different kinds of power and resistance are in relationship to each other (Clegg, 1989, p 208). Resistance may be considered not as a real act (Contu, 2008) but as a constellation of behaviours, discourses and inertia opposition. In such organizations, people are devoted to a specific organizational culture (Alvesson, 2002). Actors may develop resistance because they are devoted to previous values largely shared in the firm. In this paper, we are interested in organizational change in such organizations which in addition to market bureaucratic nature also have a particular and strong culture, in the meaning of Geertz (1973). We will base our reflection on the empirical study of a large Service Transport Organization (Called here STO). Furthermore, we show that we can detect different kinds of resistance to change, and that the evolution of practices depends on the combination of these resistances with elements deriving from the two hegemonies. We propose the notion of "blended practices", showing that characteristically operational actors make their practices evolve by blending procedure applications, resistances, user concern and customer adaptation. Team and middle managers (Rouleau, 2005) play a deciding role in transforming some of these resistances into « creative resistances » and thus contribute to the innovation as a part of mundane activity (Middleton, 1998).


retrieval, however, it has some fairly ofthese disorders has the corresponding obvious limitations and it compares gene product been identified. Each rather unfavourably both with comchapter describes the clinical disorder puterised retrieval systems, some of briefly, outlines the state of molecular which are far more flexible and efficient, knowledge, and then describes in more and in some respects with specialised detail the work undertaken by the books that contain extensive biblioauthor(s). As a set of summaries of graphies. genetic knowledge (in most cases, as of early 1987) these are well written and S H ROBERTS will remain of interest for some time. What makes the volume exciting, however, is the description of the contributors' own work. In some Molecular Genetics in Diseases of chapters this is not emphasised, but I Brain, Nerve and Muscle. Ed L p most enjoyed reading the accounts of Rowland, D S Wood, E A Schon, S work in progress or recently completed. DiMauro. (Pp 481; £45 00.) Oxford: The chapters describing genes whose Oxford University Press. 1989. product is known were generally longer and of more interest to me than were This book is arranged in four sections. the others. The chapter on familial The first is a brief introduction to amyloidotic polyneuropathies, for inheritance, and to the impact of moleexample, was a lucid synthesis of cular genetics on the field ofneurological molecular genetics, protein chemistry, and neuromuscular disorders. The and immunocytochemistry. The second section, more than one third of descriptions of some of the other the book, describes the language and disorders, those of unknown gene tools of molecular genetics. The third product, are perhaps less likely to section, half the book, consists of retain their appeal. This is only to be chapters from distinguished research expected, with the waning of the age of workers outlining their fields of work genetic linkage studies: a similar book and describing their own recent in the future will have many fewer contributions. The final section looks diseases in which the gene product to the future, with discussions of gene remains unknown, or the gene locus therapy and of the ethical issues uncertain. thrown up by the advances in molecular I would warmly recommend this genetics. book to medical geneticists whose The second section is designed as a knowledge of scientific neurology primer of molecular genetics. I found it warrants updating, and to neurologists to be a succinct outline of the field that and other clinicians interested in the would serve as a refresher to those genetic basis of neurological disorders. whose acquaintance with genetics had However, I would suggest some preslipped, but it would be difficult to use liminary reading of elementary it as a primer for the completely molecular genetics for those with little uninitiated. The density of information previous exposure. Medical students is necessarily too great for it to be with an interest in the field, and digestible as a primer, and some topics hopefully with some background in are touched upon only sketchily. This molecular genetics, might also find is inevitable, given the constraints of some of the essays to be suitable space, but it has prevented the editors general background reading. from realising their stated aim. To cover all of genetics from the structure ANGUS CLARKE of DNA, through gene expression, DNA polymorphisms, library construction and analysis, and on to linkage analysis in just 170 pages is International Directory of Genetic perhaps not possible. The quality of Services. 9th edition. Henry T Lynch, the contributions is generally high, and Rodney H Hoden. (Pp 74.) New York: the editors have obviously taken great March of Dimes Birth Defects Founcare to ensure that the techniques dation. 1990. mentioned later in the volume are described here. This well known Directory was first The third section is the heart of the published in 1968 to assist with medical book, and covers many inherited communication in the field of birth neurological disorders: for only some defects. Specifically, it was envisaged that it would aid research by allowing identification of cognate researchers in other centres and also with the provision of counselling to distant branches of a family, particularly where they were resident in another country. The current edition contains information on 873 genetics units, but while this statistic is impressive, it serves to highlight marked deficiencies in genetic services in many countries. Of the 873 entries, 476 relate to centres in the USA and the remainder are distributed among 50 other countries with strikingly only four entries for the African continent and only a single entry for China. This imbalance might reflect a degree of underascertainment and this is in evidence for the UK where seven Regional Genetic Centres are not included, but I suspect the main problem is the apparent lack of genetic services in many countries throughout the world. Successive editions of this Directory will thus be required as this shortfall is remedied and I believe that we can all play a role in helping to make the Directory comprehensive by indicating omissions and duplications to the editors. It would also be helpful to have Fax numbers for the centres and I wonder if the option of supplying information on a computer disc would be worthwhile, particularly as the number of centres throughout the world expands. The editors are thus to be commended for taking on this task which is of benefit to all of us who are involved in both research and service aspects of genetics. Copies of this new edition are available directly from the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation for a small fee which covers packaging and transportation.


This article addresses the relationship between customer satisfaction with automotive technical assistance services (SATISSER) and loyalty to the manufacturer of the vehicle (LEALDFAB), a subject that has not been appropriately investigated in the marketing. Beginning with a theoretical review, an empirical analysis with a sample of 225 users of Brazilian vehicles made by Fiat, Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen was undertaken. By using the structural equation modeling method, evidences were found of a significant link between the exogenous latent variable SATISSER (as cause) and the endogenous latent variable LEALDFAB (as effect). This result may have an inductive effect of hardworking upon manufacturers of goods and service providers in general (not only automobile dealerships) toward improvement of the services component in their offerings.


OBJECTIVE
To examine adolescent and facilitator participation in the first 10 months of an obesity management intervention including electronic contact (e-contact) via e-mail and short message service (SMS) communication.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Participants (n=49) were overweight and obese (13-16 year olds) and were randomized to receive e-contact in the Loozit trial. Adolescents were sent brief, semipersonalized health messages approximately monthly, from 2 to 12 months. We analyzed adolescents' response patterns, reply content, satisfaction with e-contact intervention, and facilitator responsiveness. Two coding systems described the general attributes and content of adolescent replies and facilitator responses.

RESULTS
Adolescents' overall reply rate was 22%. There was no difference in age, sex, socioeconomic status, body mass index z-score, or initial group program attendance between the 27 adolescents who replied to 0-2 messages and the 22 who replied to >or=3 messages. Adolescent SMS replies had less characters and a quicker response time compared with e-mail replies. Adolescent responses were largely relevant to initial health messages sent (91%), with few using "SMS language" (17%) or emoticons (7%). Most adolescents rated e-contact as "somewhat helpful." Facilitators responded to 93% of adolescent replies, and most responses were personalized (93%), encouraging (88%), and educational (75%).

CONCLUSIONS
Although adolescent engagement was modest, SMS and e-mail communication is a feasible and acceptable adjunct to group lifestyle intervention and telephone coaching in overweight and obese adolescents. Healthy eating messages and those concluding with "please reply" elicited the highest reply rates, and thus these message types should be included in future adolescent e-contact interventions.


March 27, 1994. Electronic media in northern Alabama broadcast a warning about a tornado 12 minutes before its touching down. Unfortunately none of the worshipers at the Palm Sunday service at the United Methodist Church in Goshen heard it, and 20 were killed.

February 22–23, 1998. The U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) issued 14 late night and early morning tornado warnings for east central Florida. Still, 42 people died. They were either asleep during the warnings or did not own US. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) time-alert weather radios.


This paper questions the perspective of a "world without agriculture" which underpins the economic paradigm of "structural transformation" and "modern growth". It does so by recomposing worldwide land and labour productivity trends in caloric terms from 1961 to 2007 and by providing an heuristic model showing that the "Lewis Path" to prosperity is only one out of four possible pathways. It shows that more than half of the world population is rather embarked in a "Lewis Trap" where farmers are increasingly numerous and relatively poorer. It highlights how land scarcity and insufficient job opportunities outside agriculture prevent them to increase their labour productivity and incomes with motorized machineries. The emerging paradigm of "ecological intensification" might contribute to overcome the current deadlocks by redirecting worldwide R&D towards small-scale knowledge-intensive and context-specific agricultures overlapping the manufacture and service sectors. (Resume d'auteur)


The parameter of engine speed plays an important role to recognize the engine's condition while working. By using this parameter, it is possible to diagnose engine's malfunctions. In this study, in case of the gasoline engine, we introduce two efficient methods for measuring the engine speed without extracting electrical signals from conventional engine speed sensors. For the first approach, based on the signal pin of the sensor, the engine speed was determined from the frequency of manifold absolute pressure. For the second approach, the frequency of the voltage drop measured at the battery positive terminal caused by ignition operation is the key to calculate the engine speed. The noise filter circuits and the amplifier circuits are used to refine signal, Besides, a Schmitt Trigger circuit using a NE555 timer IC was designed to reshape the oscillation signal from either of these sources into a square wave of which frequency was measured and converted to the engine speed by a microprocessor and display the result on the LCD screen.Compared to engine speed measured by a conventional inductive sensor, the proposed methods provide a competitive result with fast response. The second approach was highly promising due to its simplicity involving in direct voltage measurement at the battery positive terminal.


Between 1990 and 1992 an extensive artificial cavity installation program was conducted on the Francis Marion National Forest (FMNF) in coastal South Carolina where Hurricane Hugo had caused vast devastation. Four artificial cavity types were installed: drilled starts, drilled cavities, modified drilled cavities, and inserts. In 1998, we examined 443 of the artificial cavities (average age 8.5 years). Our objective was to determine the relative effectiveness of the 4 types of artificial cavities by comparing their use and durability as well as host tree mortality and reproductive success of red-cockaded woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) using the various types of artificial cavities. Per annum mortality rates for longleaf pines with drilled starts, drilled cavities, and modified drilled cavities did not vary, but the mortality rate of loblolly pines with inserts was 2.4 times greater than for longleaf pines with inserts. Drilled cavities had the highest usability of all cavity types whereas modified drilled cavities and inserts in loblolly pines had the lowest. Modified drilled cavities were more prone to structural damage than drilled cavities, and inserts and modified drilled cavities were more prone to flooding and enlargement than were drilled cavities. Each type was used successfully for nesting and the number of young fledged from artificial cavities did not differ significantly from the number of young fledged from natural cavities. However, redcockaded woodpecker use of artificial cavities for nesting declined over time, and the long-term usability of drilled starts and drilled cavities for nesting was greater than that of modified drilled cavities and inserts. Although red-cockaded woodpeckers used all cavity types, drilled cavities and drilled starts tended to be the most effective over time. However, managers must weigh training time, tree characteristics, and long-term usability when deciding what types of artificial cavity to install.


In ultra-precision machining (UPM), the depth of cut is within an extremely small fraction of the average grain size of the substrate materials to be cut. Polycrystalline materials commonly treated as homogeneous in conventional machining have to be considered as heterogeneous. The cutting force, one of the dominant factors influencing the integrity of the machined surface in UPM, is observed to strongly depend on the grain orientations. To accurately capture the intrinsic features and gain insight into the mechanisms of UPM of single crystals, the crystal plasticity constitutive model has been incorporated into the commercial FE software Marc by coding the user material subroutine Hypela2 available within it. The enhanced capability of the FE software will be adopted to simulate factors influencing the micro-cutting processes, such as grain orientation variation, the tool edge radius and the rake angle. The simulation results will provide useful information for the optimization of critical processing parameters and enhancement of quality of machined products.


The United States has experienced increasing social and political acceptance of LGBTQ culture. This increasing acceptance has been accompanied by increased representations of LGBTQ in popular culture, particularly television, and, in the case of this work, fictional narratives. While there are certainly representations that are worthy of the term "trailblazing" in their treatment of LGBTQ relationships, many seem to be included in plotlines for shock value. This article discusses and explores three questions: First, what impact might media representations have on heteronormative understandings of LGBTQ culture? Second, does acceptance of LGBTQ culture follow any sort of historical trajectory that is similarly evident in other examples such as with changes in the representation of race over the history of television? And third, how might the representations reviewed in this article affect the struggle for LGBTQ rights?


Objective: The present work aims to analyze the influence of alienation in different areas of adolescent health. Methods: The sample used was a group of adolescents that participated in the Portuguese survey of the European study Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC). The Portuguese survey included students from grades 6, 8 and 10 within the public education system, with an average age of 14 years (SD=1.85). The total sample of the HBSC study carried out in 2010 was of 5050. For this study, only adolescents from the 8th and 10th grades were included in the sample, comprising 3494 students. Results: The results show some health risks in adolescents with higher levels of social alienation. There is a positive association between social isolation and risk behaviours to adolescents' health, such as bullying victims. The feeling of unsatisfaction with life seems to have a lot of influence to feelings of powerlessness, while the biggest association is between normlessness and relationship with family. Be satisfied with life and have a good relationship with family is important assets in adolescent mental health. Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of further explore the influence that social alienation may have on the health of adolescents.


Role-activity diagram (RAD) is a basic role-oriented process model, but there lacks of an objective role identification method during RAD modeling. By means of the analysis of workflow logs--workflow mining, the ratio of activities performed by actors is used to describe their work. The role is, therefore, identified by regarding actors with similar activities, who undertaking the same responsibility. On the basis of role identification, social network diagrams among actors are analyzed by considering activity dependence between them and their interactions are discussed. In this way, we can get role-activity diagrams. Experiments show that the proposed method is viable.


The reproductive biology and behaviour of Theromyzon tessalatum is described from the commencement of copulation to the release of the young and the death of the parent. Copulation occurs several times over a10–20 day period with either the same or different partners. Eggs were laid6–14 days after copulation in usually four cocoons each containing approximately 100 eggs. The cocoons were brooded by the parents and the young, on development of the embryonic attachment organ and later by the posterior sucker, attached to the ventral surface of the parent's abdomen. The young detached from the parent either on contact with a suitable host for a blood meal or after approximately five months just prior to the parent's death.


To identify potential barriers to use of autologous blood procurement to minimize homologous blood transfusion needs during elective surgery, the authors conducted a telephone survey of 120 blood bank directors, representing 138 Ohio hospitals. The prevalence of autologous blood procurement facilities, estimated volume of autologous blood, and attitudes and perceptions of the directors toward autologous blood predeposit programs were assessed. Analysis of the data indicated that 30% of Ohio hospitals have autologous blood procurement facilities; larger hospitals were more likely to have this facility. Overall, 5.5% of transfusions involve predeposited autologous blood. No significant differences were found according to hospital bed size or whether the hospital had a procurement facility. Blood bank directors perceived surgeons to be knowledgeable about autologous predeposit; patient demand and surgical practice were felt to be more effective in promoting the use of autologous blood at the hospital than were blood bank efforts. Directors who had autologous predeposit procurement facilities perceived that the facility provided a marketing advantage. Respondents from larger hospitals were more likely to perceive that these programs could be financially self-sufficient. The authors conclude that an economic cost-benefit analysis of hospital-based autologous blood procurement programs is important. Positive findings may influence transfusion services to adopt autologous blood procurement programs, whereas negative findings may convince hospitals that community blood donor facilities can provide better autologous blood procurement.


Abstract : Across the services, there is an increasing demand for overhead communications capacity. For the U.S. Army, this is a result of its transition to a new force structure that will be knowledge-based and network-centric. Future forces may be more dispersed. Extending their range of communication will be key. Messages will have to be relayed through a multilayered network of terrestrial-, air-, and space-based retransmission nodes. Currently, satellite communications (SATCOM) is being relied on to connect distant units. However, the exclusive use of military or commercial SATCOM may not be available to meet all of the Army's connectivity needs, and high-altitude airships (HAAs) are being considered as an optional surrogate, which could be even more cost-effective if proved technically feasible. New, lighter-than-air (LTA) vehicles that operate at very high altitudes have an obvious attraction for planners of surveillance and communication missions; the ability to see to a more distant horizon results in greatly expanded surveillance volumes (assuming that appropriately powerful sensors are carried onboard). Low probability of intercept (LPI) direct line-of-sight communications will also increase their reach. In recent years, increased emphasis has been placed on systems that can provide extended surveillance and communications support at such high altitudes. These are generically known as High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) systems or High Altitude Long Loiter (HALL) systems. The Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was perhaps the first of these systems to achieve operational success. Flight at high altitude (say, over 60,000 feet) for extended periods (for a matter of days or more) is an extreme technical challenge for fixed-wing aircraft. The purpose of this report is to inform the U.S. Army about the usefulness and limitations of airships in roles of supporting communications and surveillance functions in theater battlespace.


Abstract Motivation The medical data are complex in nature as terms that appear in records usually appear in different contexts. Through this article, we investigate various bio model's embeddings (BioBERT, BioELECTRA and PubMedBERT) on their understanding of 'negation and speculation context' wherein we found that these models were unable to differentiate 'negated context' versus 'non-negated context'. To measure the understanding of models, we used cosine similarity scores of negated sentence embeddings versus non-negated sentence embeddings pairs. For improving these models, we introduce a generic super tuning approach to enhance the embeddings on 'negation and speculation context' by utilizing a synthesized dataset. Results After super-tuning the models, we can see that the model's embeddings are now understanding negative and speculative contexts much better. Furthermore, we fine-tuned the super-tuned models on various tasks and we found that the model has outperformed the previous models and achieved state-of-the-art on negation, speculation cue and scope detection tasks on BioScope abstracts and Sherlock dataset. We also confirmed that our approach had a very minimal trade-off in the performance of the model in other tasks like natural language inference after super-tuning. Availability and implementation The source code, data and the models are available at: https://github.com/comprehend/engg-ai-research/tree/uncertainty-super-tuning.


An electrostatic field intensity distribution, capable of producing a specified path or trajectory of charged particles with given initial and final conditions, is determined. This path represents the geometric locus for the lines of force of the field. Electrodes capable of producing such an electric field are then designed.


Research conducted in 2018 documented the disaster experiences of 56 women and men in Australia aged between 18 and 93 years. This paper draws out the gendered factors that affected their resilience, and in so doing, begins to address the dearth of research related to gendered aspects of long-term disaster resilience. It is unique in capturing the voices of survivors who spoke of events 9 years after the 2009 Black Saturday fires and of earlier fires and floods in Victoria more than 50 years ago, including the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires. Over decades, gendered expectations of men and women significantly hindered resilience. Men spoke of the long-term cost to them of demands to 'be strong' in the worst of disasters and reasons they were reluctant to seek help afterwards. Women spoke of their contributions holding a lesser value and of discrimination. Discussions of violence against women and children after disaster, and suicide ideation in anticipation of future disasters offered critical insights. Protective factors identified by informants were not wholly intrinsic to their character but were also physical, such as essential resources provided in the immediate aftermath, and psychological and community support offered in the long-term. Factors that helped resilience departed from the 'masculine' model of coping post-disaster by moving away from a refusal to admit trauma and suffering, to community-wide resilience bolstered by widespread emotional, social and psychological support. Genuine community planning for disasters before they strike builds trust and offers insights for emergency management planners.


This paper introduces a method for determining the parameters of a dynamic model represented in block diagram form using experimental test data. The problem is formulated as a curve fitting problem: determine the parameters of the model such that the response of the model matches the experimental response. A least square estimation approach is adapted for the solution.<<ETX>>


It has previously been proposed that autistic people have problems with timing which underlie the behavioral and cognitive differences in the condition. However, the nature of this postulated timing issue has not been well specified and the existing experimental literature has generated mixed findings. In the current study, we attempted a systematic investigation of timing processes in autistic adults using scalar expectancy theory as a theoretical framework. Autistic (n = 58) and nonautistic (n = 91) adults matched for age, sex, and full-scale IQ completed a battery of auditory and visual timing tasks measuring basic subsecond duration perception (temporal discrimination thresholds), clock processes (verbal estimation), clock and memory processes (temporal generalization), and event timing (temporal order judgments). Participants also completed suprasecond retrospective duration estimates where the participant was not warned in advanced that they would be required to make a timing judgment, and questionnaires measuring self-reported timing behaviors in daily life. The groups reported differences on questionnaires, but measures of timing performance were comparable overall. In an exploratory analysis, we performed principal components analysis to investigate the relationship between timing judgments and participants' self-reported social-communicative, sensory, and motor traits. Measures of timing performance were not well correlated with these questionnaire scores. The current study, the largest conducted on time and autism to date, shows no clear evidence for reduced timing performance in autistic adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).


Small bowel obstruction secondary to an enterolith formed within a duodenal diverticulum is a rare complication. Twenty-nine cases of enterolith ileus have been reported in the literature. This is a case report of the 30th, with review of the literature. Enterolith ileus closely resembles gallstone ileus in its clinical presentation. Diagnosis is established by documenting normalcy of gallbladder and the presence of small bowel diverticula.


This book was the first broad expose of the social and environmental damage inflicted by the growth of corporate agriculture in California. Factories in the Field--together with the work of Dorothea Lange, Paul Taylor, and John Steinbeck--dramatizes the misery of the dust bowl migrants hoping to find work in California agriculture. McWilliams starts with the scandals of the Spanish land grant purchases, and continues on to examine the experience of the various ethnic groups that have provided labor for California's agricultural industry--Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Filipinos, Armenians--the strikes, and the efforts to organize labor unions


The ecosophycal metropolis: atmospheres, perceptions, narrations .  The ecosophycal metropolis is a proposition to build a perspective of a narration of our time, our contemporary lived experience in relation with the imaginary of the urban environment where we can see a hybrid dialectic in order to notice a reciprocity between nature, urbanities, technics that influence the architectural conceptions and the life styles. This is a new aesthetical paradigm that we must understand like a dynamic of social and cultural life and also like an organic mutation of the urban and social body. In the dynamic of consideration about the relation between metropolis and nature, the proposition aims to understand the ecology of urban life and sensible perception that through the ambiances effect the modalities to live in an optical to being in the world. Our focus about the ecosophycal interrogation is an epistemological and phenomenological procedure in the way to highlights the sensible forms that articulate the urban life experience illustrating some constitutive examples of architectures, modulations and also via the imaginary of narrations and urban utopian fantasies.


BACKGROUND
Epidemiologic studies have shown a correlation between white blood cell (WBC) count and risk of developing myocardial infarction. Aim of this study is to assess the association between WBC and the other risk factors of coronary heart disease in a southern Italian population.

METHODS
Baseline data for the 1091 subjects (522 males and 569 females) enrolled in the "Montecorvino Rovella Project" were used to study factors associated with leukocytes.

RESULTS
WBC count was significantly higher in smokers (8711.1 +/- 1892 cells/dl) than in ex-smokers (6720 +/- 1608 cells/dl) and in those who never smoked (6674 +/- 1608 cells/dl). By multiple linear regression analysis, WBC count showed a positive association with triglycerides (p < 0.01), cholesterol (p < 0.05) fasting glucose levels (p < 0.01) and diastolic blood pressure (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
In this southern Italian population, elevated WBC count has been associated with other risk factors of coronary artery disease, particularly smoking, and has identified a high risk atherogenic profile. Even if the independency of the role of WBC is still under investigation, WBC count should be taken into account in establishing the coronary risk of apparently healthy people.


In iterative equalization and decoding (\turbo-detection") the \turbo{principle" is used for detection of coded data transmitted over a frequency selective channel. Due to the burst and interleaver structure the turbo-detection scheme cannot be adopted to the GSM without modiications. We present some possibilities to adopt turbo detection to TDMA systems with inter-block-interleaving like GSM and show that the turbo principle also works very well if extrinsic information is not available for all bits. Furthermore, we show that turbo-detection is a suitable method to improve the bit error rate not only of protected bits but also of bits transmitted uncoded in a system with unequal error protection, e.g. the class 2 bits in the GSM speech channel.