There are similarities between the clinical, biological and histological features of thrombotic micro-angiopathy (TMA) when it is a complication of pregnancy and the "Help Syndrome" (HS). HS can be associated in pregnancy with pre-eclampsia, thrombocytopenia, micro-angiopathic haemolysis and hepatic cytolysis. We have analysed on the one hand biological features of six cases that occurred in the literature and two personal cases of thrombotic micro-angiopathy that had been proven histologically; and on the other hand the histological findings of the liver in two cases of the literature and in a personal case of HS. Demonstration that in HS deposits exist under the endothelium in the region of the hepatic biopsy suggest that the latter can only be a special clinical form of TMA.


Antagonistic activity of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) namely Streptococcus faecalis, Pediococcus cerevisiae and Lactobacillus casei was tested against seafood-borne bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens and Listeria monocytogenes. Three lactic acid bacteria such as Streptococcus faecalisp Lactobacillus casei and Pediococcus cerevisiae were coated on cooked mackerel meat, individually and in combination against fish-borne bacteria. S. faecalis inhibited C. perfringens in individual coat by 3. 7 log units as compared to control, whereas L. casei did not inhibit C. perfringens. P. cerevisiae inhibited S. aureus by 5 log units. L. casei, inhibited L. monocytogenes by 3.3 log units on the third day of storage as compared to control. On the other handS. aureus and B. cereus were inhibited on the third and second day by 4.9 log and 5.2 log units respectively. B. cereus, S. aureus, L. monocytogenes were the most sensitive to all three LAB. C. perfringens was the least inhibited among all the seafood-borne bacteria tried. Multiple LAB or LAB strains in combination showed much earlier inhibitory activity on seafood-borne bacteria than single LAB coat.


A new electrodeposition condition utilizing p-benzoquinone reduction was developed to produce BiOI electrodes composed of extremely thin 2D BiOI crystals. These electrodes served as precursors to form porous BiVO4 electrodes via mild chemical and thermal treatments. The resulting porous BiVO4 electrodes showed outstanding photoelectrochemical performance for sulfite oxidation reaching 1.25 mA cm−2 at 0.5 V vs. RHE in 0.1 M potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7) containing 0.1 M sodium sulfite. When a ca. 100 nm thick FeOOH layer was deposited on the surface of BiVO4 as an oxygen evolution catalyst, the kinetics of water oxidation was improved to the level of sulfite oxidation and the maximum power point for solar water oxidation was achieved at a bias as low as 0.55 V vs. RHE with a photocurrent density of 1.17 mA cm−2. The remarkable solar water oxidation performance achieved by the porous BiVO4–FeOOH system strongly encourages further morphological and compositional optimizations of the BiVO4-based photoanode systems to realize highly efficient and practical solar water oxidation.


This dissertation identifies what may be done to overcome barriers to information sharing among federal, tribal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and emergency responders. Social, technical, and policy factors related to information sharing and collaboration in the law enforcement and emergency response communities are examined. This research improves information sharing and cooperation in this area. "Policing in most societies exists in a state of "dynamic tension" between forces that tend to isolate it and those that tend to integrate its functioning with other social structures" (Clark, 1965). Critical incidents and crimes today cross jurisdictions and involve multiple stakeholders and levels. Law enforcement and emergency response agencies at federal, tribal, state, and local levels, including private sector entities, gather information and resources but do not effectively share this with each other. Despite mandates to improve information sharing and cooperation, gaps remain perhaps because there is no clear understanding of what the barriers to information sharing are. Information sharing is examined using a multi-method, primarily qualitative, approach. A model for information sharing is presented that identifies social, technical, and policy factors as influencers. Facets of General Systems Theory, Socio-technical Theory, and Stakeholder Theory (among others) are considered in this context. Information sharing is the subject of the first work of the dissertation: a theoretical piece arguing for use of a conceptual framework consisting of social, technical, and policy factors. Social, technology, and policy factors are investigated in the second essay. That essay introduces a new transformative technology, "edgeware," that allows for unprecedented connectivity among devices. Social and policy implications for crisis response are examined in light of having technological barriers to sharing resources reduced. Human and other factors relevant to information sharing and collaboration are further examined through a case study of the Central New York Interoperable Communications Consortium (CNYICC) Network, a fivecounty collaboration involving law enforcement, public safety, government, and non-government participants. The three included essays have a common focus vis-à-vis information sharing and collaboration in law enforcement and emergency response. The propositions here include: (P1) Information sharing is affected by social, technical, and policy factors, and this conceptualization frames the problem of information sharing in a way that it can be commonly understood by government and non-government stakeholders. The next proposition involves the role of technology, policy, and social systems in information sharing: (P2) Social and policy factors influence information sharing more than technical factors (assuming it is physically possible to connect and/or share). A third proposition investigated is: (P3) Social factors play the greatest role in the creation and sustaining of information sharing relationships. The findings provide a greater understanding of the forces that impact public safety agencies as they consider information sharing and will, it is hoped, lead to identifiable solutions to the problem from a new perspective. THREE ESSAYS ON LAW ENFORCEMENT AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE INFORMATION SHARING AND COLLABORATION: AN INSIDER PERSPECTIVE By Joseph V. Treglia B.A. Syracuse University, 1988 M.S. Syracuse University, 1993


ABSTRACT The study investigates child social competence a three different measurement levels (overall level, factor level, and item level), in a sample of parents and children participating in interventions towards emerging or present child problem behaviours. Parents of 550 children aged 3–12 (71% boys) evaluated social competence using the Home and Community Social Behaviour Scales (HCSBS), which assess two aspects of the concept: peer relations and self-management/compliance. An additive index across all 32 items was made to examine how parents reported overall social competence across ages, whereas factor analysis was used to investigate their underlying latent structure. Network analysis was used to investigate how the social competence items connect and interact. Results showed that parents reported higher levels of overall social competence among the girls compared to the boys, but this difference vanished about age 12. Factor analyses showed that a bifactor-ESEM model obtained the best model fit to data, whereas the network analysis revealed differential clustering and strength centrality for the items. Implications of these results are discussed.


This letter presents an experimental study investigating the effect of frequency sub-bands on regional accent identification (AID) and speaker identification (SID) performance on the ABI-1 corpus. The AID and SID systems are based on Gaussian mixture modeling. The SID experiments show up to 100% accuracy when using the full 11.025 kHz bandwidth. The best AID performance of 60.34% is obtained when using band-pass filtered (0.23-3.4 kHz) speech. The experiments using isolated narrow sub-bands show that the regions (0-0.77 kHz) and (3.40-11.02 kHz) are the most useful for SID, while those in the region (0.34-3.44 kHz) are best for AID. AID experiments are also performed with intersession variability compensation, which provides the biggest performance gain in the (2.23-5.25 kHz) region.


Grass and paper coated with several compounds containing the 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy moiety have been subjected to combustion. By using compounds that had been purified to achieve low background amounts of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) together with an efficient cleanup and analysis of the residue, it was possible to detect as little as 0.001 microgram of TCDD in the combustion products of 0.5 gram of the 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy material. Small self-supported fires converted about 10–6 of the 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy material to TCDD.


Integrated Product Design uses several methodologies, Design for Manufacturing is one of them. DFM pretends to facilitate manufacturing of parts by means of analysis of geometries, values and tolerances, and is used in first design stages in order to decrease the product cost. The design for manufacturing was studied as well as design rules to propose a methodology for Design for Investment Casting.


Khaya senegalensis, a member of the family Meliaceae, is a plant commonly used by the local people of Nasarawa State of Nigeria for the treatment of dysentery, mucous diarrhoea and wound infections. The leaves and the bark of the plant were screened for their phytochemical properties and antimicrobial activity. Ethanol was used for the extraction of the active compounds. The test organisms were Staphylococcus aureus, Steptococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. Results of the phytochemical screening showed that saponins, tannins, alkaloids, glycosides, steriods, terpenoids and flavonoids were the active compounds present in the leaves and bark of the plant. The antimicrobial susceptibility test showed that S. aureus, S. feacalis and C. albicans were susceptible to both the leaf and bark extracts, while E. coli was not. The extracts were also found to be bactericidal to S. aureus and S. feacalis, and fungicidal to C. albicans. This study demonstrates the potentials of K. senegalensis as a source of antimicrobials that could be harness for use in the Health Care Delivery process.


The purpose of this study is to increase the part recovery rate (to more than 70%) during the casting of a ductile cast iron turbo charger housing using a heater around the riser. Before creating a casting mold, various runner and riser systems were designed and analyzed with a casting simulation analysis tool. The design variables were the heater temperature, top insulation, riser location, riser diameter and the riser shape. During the feeding from the riser to the part, the reverse model was better than the forward model. When heating the riser (above 600 ℃), solidification of the riser was delayed and the feeding effect was suitable compared to that without heating. At a higher heating temperature, less solidification shrinkage and porosity were noted inside the part. On the basis of a casting simulation, eight molds were fabricated and casting experiments were conducted. According to the experimental conditions, external and internal defects were analyzed and mechanical properties were tested. The ultimate tensile strength and elongation outcome were correspondingly more than 540MPa and 5% after a heat treatment. In addition, a maximum part recovery rate of 86% was achieved in this study.


The PI3K/AKT signaling is activated in various hematologic malignancies. We evaluated the effect of a novel, pan-AKT kinase inhibitor, GSK690693, on the proliferation of 112 cell lines representing different hematologic neoplasia. Fifty-five percent of all cell lines tested were sensitive to AKT inhibitor (EC(50)<1 microM), with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Burkitt lymphoma showing 89%, 73%, and 67% sensitivity to GSK690693, respectively. The antiproliferative effect was selective for the malignant cells, as GSK690693 did not inhibit the proliferation of normal human CD4(+) peripheral T lymphocytes as well as mouse thymocytes. Phosphorylation of downstream substrates of AKT was reduced in both sensitive and insensitive cell lines on treatment with GSK690693, suggesting that the cause of resistance was not related to the lack of AKT kinase inhibition. Consistent with the role of AKT in cell survival, GSK690693 also induced apoptosis in sensitive ALL cell lines. Overall, our data provide direct evidence for the role of AKT signaling in various hematologic malignancies, especially ALL and some lymphomas.


Autoimmune nephrotic syndrome is often characterized by frequent recurrence. It is commonly associated with reduced response to steroid therapy and its clinical management may be challenging. We report a case in which the combination of standard therapy with a biophysical treatment resulted in both clinical improvement and disappearance of autoimmune markers.


Solutions of the Favre-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for two well-documented transonic turbulent flows are compared in detail with existing experimental data in this paper. While the boundary layer in the first case remains attached, a region of extensive flow separation has been observed in the second case. Two recently developed k _, two-equation, eddy-viscosity models are used to model the turbulence field. These models satisfy the realizability constraints of the Reynolds stresses. Comparisons with the measurements are made for the wall pressure distribution, the mean streamwise velocity profiles and turbulent quantities. Reasonably good agreement is obtained with the experimental data.


In this section we provide an extensive summary of human sensors on the move, or mobile systems that are designed to collect data from smartphones that users carry in their everyday life. One can rely on people's own mobile phones to collect data as they are at their close vicinity 90% of the time (Dey et al. 2011). These devices have immense potential to collect rich data about people's behaviour and habits, as well as their environment. In this chapter, we first outline the general idea of human sensor, then dive into some technical challenge before we present a number of systems to generate context on mobile phones.


Nonlinear-optical upconversion has recently been under intense investigation as a method for the detection of infrared radiation [1]. By upconversion of mid-infrared (MIR) signals to the spectral range suitable for near infrared detectors (mainly silicon-based), higher detection sensitivities [2,3] and acquisition bandwidths [3,4] can be achieved.


This note provides initial information on the development of a computerized data base concerning dioxin and polychlorinated furans in aquatic media including sediments, animals, and bioassay results. The ultimate goal of compiling this data is to provide Corps elements with numerical and descriptive guidance so sediment, tissue, and bioassay results concerning dioxins and polychlorinated furans in the environment can be related to the potential for biological and environmental effects.


The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) was endorsed by The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2001. However, Hong Kong is at the beginning stage of implementing and testing ICF-based practices. This study examines any changes in the valences of disability practitioners in an organization under the newly introduced ICF-based practices. It was hypothesized that the involved staff members' self-perceived valences in relation to the ICF would be enhanced. A pretest-posttest design was adopted. The 27-item Scale on Staff Valence under ICF-based practice (SSV-ICF) was used to measure the impact on staff valence of a pilot scheme in which ICF-based practice was implemented. Self-report questionnaires were completed by the involved staff members at the beginning of the pilot scheme and 12 months later. Analyses used paired samples t-tests and one-way repeated measures ANOVAs, performed by SPSS software, version 25. In total, 91 participants took part in the study. Results showed that participants achieved positive changes in all domains of valences, while participants' level of involvement in the new ICF-based intervention had significant effects on their score differences in the "Competence" domain (r = 0.262, p < 0.05), "Intrapersonal" domain (r = 0.242, p < 0.05), and "Total Score" of SSV-ICF (r = 0.210, p < 0.05). The study demonstrated that disability practitioners who implemented ICF-based practices developed higher staff valences, which, in turn, benefited service users. Implementation of ICF-based practices also contributed to a more positive organizational culture.


OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of the cumulus cell's apoptosis parameter in the maturation of immature rescue oocytes. STUDY DESIGN: In this experimental study, donated immature germinal vesicle oocytes were cultured for, in vitro maturation, embryo development in matured germinal vesicle oocytes were compared with apoptotic properties of cumulus cells. RESULTS: In all of the immature oocytes after oocyte in vitro maturation, the maturation rate has been observed as 56.1% and 2PN rate as 63.0%. Afterin vitro maturation of germinal vesicle oocytes, there was no difference in apoptosis rates of the cumulus cells between mature and immature oocytes (p> 0.05). The ratio of 2PN in matured germinal vesicle oocytes showing embryo development was 35.4%. A positive correlation was found between luteinizing hormone values on day 3 and E2 values during HCG days during oocyte maturation and embryo development (p=0.021, p=0.020). In addition, it has been observed that the germinal vesicle oocytes, which have completed their maturation and developed into embryos, have high E2 values during HCG days (p=0.020). CONCLUSION: In our study, it has been demonstrated that in vitro maturation in rescue oocytes from stimulated cycles, embryo development potential could not be explained by the apoptosis parameter.


The sensitivity of monolayers of Ilford L-4 nuclear emulsion to β--particles is approximately 0.20 grain per particle emitted for H3, and 0.025 grain per particle for p32. The sensitivity for thick layers is 1.3 grains per tritium β--particle emitted within the emulsion. In electron microscopic autoradiographs the maximum resolution is approximately 0.1 micron for H3 and 0.3 micron for p32.


Platybelodon is the predominant proboscidean of northern China's Middle Miocene. However, the cranial and cheek tooth morphologies are not clearly diagnosed. In particular, the differential diagnoses between Platybelodon and Gomphotherium have not been comprehensively examined. Here we restudied the cranium previously identified as Gomphotherium shensiense . The upper tusks lack an enamel band, the rostrum is long and narrow, the facial part is rostrally positioned, and a large "prenasal slope" is present. These characters are distinct from those of any species of Gomphotherium , but fit well with some primitive species of Platybelodon , i.e., P. tongxinensis and P. danovi . The molars are also close to the type specimen of P. tongxinensis in the tetralophodont M3 with mesiodistally wide interlophs, curved outline, and a tendency of cementodonty. In this article, we synonymized Gomphotherium shensiense with P. tongxinensis . Moreover, we recognized a new species, Platybelodon tetralophus , from the P. grangeri material collected by the AMHN expedition in Tunggur region. Platybelodon tetralophus differs from P. grangeri and the other species in the tetralophodont M2 and m2, representing the most derived species within Platybelodon . It has only occurred in the uppermost horizon of the Tunggur Formation, i.e., the Tamuqin Fauna ( Platybelodon Quarry and Wolf Camp Quarry of AMHN). This work is a comprehensive amending of the genus Platybelodon .


This article looks at organizational culture and identity of different organisations in EVE Online, using a combination of critical historical and ethnographic approaches. We argue that it is helpful to understand major organizations in EVE as analogous to early polities, in terms of the ways in which claims to leadership and power are demonstrated (for example through the writing of history). Yet, as we show, these organizations have strong cultures which demonstrate resilience and a resistance to top-down cultural change, meaning that the successful implementation of such change is governed by rank-and-file members rather than their leadership. We propose that the cultural (rather than political or social) nature of this resilience is centrally important in understanding how organizations in EVE function. This unity of practices and understanding allows EVE's major organizations to suffer huge losses to their position and prestige, and yet remain viable communities and potentially resurgent powers. This seems to challenge the 'social network'-type descriptions often used to explain the persistent groups seen in many online games.


Thomas Kailath Inform. Systems Lab. Stanford University Stanford, Calif. 94305 A rigorous analysis on the finite precision computational <)Spects of neural network as a pattern classifier via a probabilistic approach is presented. Even though there exist negative results on the capability of perceptron, we show the following positive results: Given n pattern vectors each represented by en bits where e > 1, that are uniformly distributed, with high probability the perceptron can perform all possible binary classifications of the patterns. Moreover, the resulting neural network requires a vanishingly small proportion O(log n/n) of the memory that would be required for complete storage of the patterns. Further, the perceptron algorithm takes O(n2) arithmetic operations with high probability, whereas other methods such as linear programming takes O(n3 .5 ) in the worst case. We also indicate some mathematical connections with VLSI circuit testing and the theory of random matrices.


This study aimed to understand the nurses' contributions in the network of relationships and interactions of community health workers (CHW) in a city located in the south of the country. The Grounded Theory was used and twenty individuals were interviewed, among health professionals and users of the health center, divided into three sample groups. The nurse is recognized as a key element in the network of relationships and interactions of the CHW with the community, being viewed as a leader. Although showing signs of an authoritarian leadership, the nurse promotes dialogue and acts as a facilitator of teamwork in health promotion. It was concluded that the nurses of the Family Health Strategy have a significant role in the health team, providing clinical support to organize the care, and management, to foster good relations, direct the activities and conduct the flow of information.


The change of the building morphology directly affects the surrounding environment, while the evaluation of these environment data becomes the main basis for the genetic iterations of the building morphology. Indeed, due to the complexity of the outdoor natural ventilation, multiple factors in the site could be the main reasons for the change of air flow. Thus, the architect is suggested to take the wind environment as the main morphology generation factor in the early stage of the building design. Based on the research results of 2017 DigitalFUTURE Wind Tunnel Visualization Workshop, a novel self-form-finding method in design infancy has been proposed. This method uses Arduino to carry out the dynamic design of the building model, which can not only connect the sensor to monitor the wind environment data, but also contribute the building model to correlate with the wind environment data in real time. The integration of the Arduino platform and the physical wind tunnel can create the possibility of continuous and real-time physical changes, data collection and wind environment simulation, using quantitative environmental factors to control building morphology, and finally achieve the harmony among the building, environment and human.


In recent years, steryl esters have become an attractive for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and food industries. Hence, the effect of exogenous antioxidant, β-sitosteryl sinapate on oxidative stability and antioxidant activity (AA) of refined rapeseed oil was evaluated by the accelerated shelf-life test. Oxidative parameters of refined rapeseed oil—peroxide value (PV), anisidine value (p-AnV), acid value (AV), and spectrophotometric indices (K232, K268)—increased during storage. However, the addition of β-sitosteryl sinapate caused a decrease of the primary and secondary oxidation products in the supplemented oils in comparison with the control sample. Moreover, oils with steryl ester had higher AA than oil without the synthetic antioxidant. The accelerated storage negatively affected the antioxidant potential of refined and enriched oils causing the AA decrease by 25–54% and 7–15%, respectively. Studies have consistently demonstrated beneficial associations between the presence of β-sitosteryl sinapate in oil samples and the inhibition of their oxidative degradation under the accelerated conditions. Additionally, the possibility of using the synchronous fluorescence (SF) spectroscopy and excitation–emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy for identification and observing changes in main fluorescent components present in non-supplemented and supplemented rapeseed oils during the accelerated storage was attempted.


Serious games and other training applications have the requirement that they should be suitable for trainees with different skill levels. Current approaches either use human experts or a completely centralized approach for this adaptation. Where agents are increasingly used in serious game implementations as a means to reduce complexity and increase believability, their use for adaptation can lead to situations in which the lack of coordination between the agents makes it practically impossible to follow the intended storyline of the game and select suitable difficulties for the trainee. In this paper we propose an architecture for game design that introduces a monitoring module to check the development of user skills and direct coordinated agent adaptation. Agents propose possible courses of action that are fitting their role and context, and the monitor module uses this information together with its evaluation of user level and storyline progress to determine the most suitable combination of proposals.


Abstract The food choice and intake of animals (including humans) has typically been studied using frameworks of learning and feeding motivation. When used in isolation such frameworks could be criticized because learning paradigms give little consideration to how new food items are included or excluded from an individual's diet, and motivational paradigms do not explain how individuals decide which food to eat when given a choice. Consequently we are posed with the question of whether individuals actively interact with the food items present in their environment to learn about their nutritional properties? The thesis of this review is that individuals are motivated to actively sample food items in order to assess whether they are nutritionally beneficial or harmful. We offer a unifying framework, centred upon the concept of exploratory motivation, which is a synthesis of learning and paradigms of feeding motivation. In this framework information gathering occurs on two levels through exploratory behaviour: (i) the discrimination of food from nonfood items, and (ii) the continued monitoring and storage of information concerning the nutritional properties of these food items. We expect that this framework will advance our understanding of the behavioural control of nutrient intake by explaining how new food items are identified in the environment, and how individuals are able to monitor changes in the nutritional content of their food resource.


: In this paper, we study a property of opacity in the language-based framework of discrete event systems. The problem of synthesizing a supervisor that enforces opacity in a maximally permissive way is addressed. A maximally permissive opacity-enforcing supervisor is realized by an automaton that generates the supremal closed controllable and opaque sublanguage of the generated language of the system. This motivates the study on computability of the supremal sublanguage. We present a formula for computing the supremal sublanguage under some assumption on uncontrollable events. Whenever the languages under consideration are regular, the supremal sublanguage is e ff ectively computed using the presented formula.


Using current, improved commercial equipment, the authors reexamined the calibration procedure of the dual-probe gamma soil densitometer, using exact density standards. When each instrument is individually calibrated, the procedure, as originally designed, gives consistent and accurate results.


The suitable identification of the five parameters for the single-diode model of a photovoltaic module is mandatory for having a correct simulation of the module behavior, at least in STC conditions. This process is afforded in literature by means of a number of fitting procedures, but many studies report difficulties in identifying the series and the parallel resistances for modules showing a high fill factor. In these cases, the identified value of such resistances may become negative, with an evident contrast with the physical meaning of such parameters. In this paper two approaches presented in literature, and based on some simplifications of the nonlinear problem under study, are firstly compared and also jointly used. Their application to some practical cases is discussed and compared with the exact solutions of two different formulations of the system of five non-linear equations.


Using microscopic dynamical density functional theory, we calculate the dynamical formation of polycrystals by following the crystal growth around multiple crystalline seeds imposed to an undercooled fluid. Depending on the undercooling and the size ratio as well as the relative crystal orientation of two neighboring seeds, three possibilities of the final state emerge, namely no crystallization at all, formation of a monocrystal, or two crystallites separated by a curved grain boundary. Our results, which are obtained for two-dimensional hard disk systems using a fundamental-measure density functional, shed new light on the particle-resolved structure and growth of polycrystalline material in general.


Between the 18th and 19th centuries adventurism became a staple part of the bourgeois ideology of material acquisition. The paper focuses on Gerasim Zelić's Žitije, signalling how it is filled with descriptions of the struggle to reach an important social position and obtain material gain. Nevertheless, Zelić cannot be compared with contemporary adventurers, as he combines the aspiration of the Enlightenment with a strong faith in the concept of predestination, on one side, and the struggle to obtain personal gain with a strong commitment towards the common good, on the other.


Abstract This case study describes the process librarians at a large research university used to evaluate a systematic review searching service. PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Scopus were searched for studies with a local, health sciences author. Data on librarian involvement, search quality, and standards adherence were recorded. Results of the assessment indicate a gradual increase in librarian authorship or acknowledgement over time, a moderate improvement in adherence to reporting standards over time, and insight into which departments better adhere to standards. Ideas for improving the quality and reach of the service while ensuring sustainability are discussed.


The investigation discussed herein sought to (a) examine the relationship between curiosity and depression, (b) investigate the effects of induced mood on factors of surprise, perceived value of information, and desire for additional knowledge, and (c) examine the duration of the Velten (1968) mood induction procedure effects. Thirty-nine female and 21 male college students were randomly assigned to one of three mood induction conditions: a depression mood condition, an elation mood condition, or a neutral mood condition. A screening procedure utilized by Thomas, McFarland, Lane, and Ellis (1984) was employed so that subjects reporting initial signs of depression prior to the mood induction procedure could be excluded from the experimental conditions. The mood induction procedure employed in this investigation required that each group of subjects read 60 statements designed to aid the subjects in experiencing the desired mood state. The neutral mood condition served as the control group. The Depression Adjective Checklist (DACL), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) short form, and a writing speed task (WST) were used as pre-induction measures. The Melbourne Curiosity Inventory state (MCI-s) form, Melbourne Curiosity Inventory trait (MCI-t) form, Experiment Descriptions Inventory (EDI), DACL, and WST served as post-induction measures. The BDI short form and the DACL were used as 10 minute follow-up measures. Results indicated that the Velten (1968) mood induction procedure was effective at inducing the desired mood states as measured at post-induction. However, depressed subjects did report a slightly significant improvement in mood following a 10 minute waiting period. Separate analyses conducted on state curiosity scores revealed that depressed subjects reported significantly less state curiosity than elated or neutral subjects. There were no significant differences between the groups on a measure of trait curiosity. For the EDI data, subjects in the depression mood condition reported significantly less perceived value and desire for additional knowledge for the 10 experiment descriptions than either the elated or neutral subjects. The clinical and experimental implications of these findings, in addition to the ethical issues pertaining to the use of mood induction procedures, are discussed.


Abstract This article explores the intellectual puzzle of whether the domestic political instability associated with the Arab Spring is responsible for a surge in global terrorism that peaked in 2014. A series of negative binomial regressions demonstrate strong support for an "escalation effect": more severe forms of domestic political instability, most notably government purges and riots, breed greater levels of terrorism, although the most severe form of domestic political instability—revolution—does not. We also find that specific types of domestic political instability affect terrorism levels differently depending on geographical region and regime type (i.e., democracy versus dictatorship).


This book represents recent research on tropical cyclones and their impact, and a wide range of topics are covered. An updated global climatology is presented, including the global occurrence of tropical cyclones and the terrestrial factors that may contribute to the variability and long-term trends in their occurrence. Research also examines long term trends in tropical cyclone occurrences and intensity as related to solar activity, while other research discusses the impact climate change may have on these storms. The dynamics and structure of tropical cyclones are studied, with traditional diagnostics employed to examine these as well as more modern approaches in examining their thermodynamics. The book aptly demonstrates how new research into short-range forecasting of tropical cyclone tracks and intensities using satellite information has led to significant improvements. In looking at societal and ecological risks, and damage assessment, authors investigate the use of technology for anticipating, and later evaluating, the amount of damage that is done to human society, watersheds, and forests by land-falling storms. The economic and ecological vulnerability of coastal regions are also studied and are supported by case studies which examine the potential hazards related to the evacuation of populated areas, including medical facilities. These studies provide decision makers with a potential basis for developing improved evacuation techniques.


The study utilized the ex-post facto research design to investigate how interest and learning approaches utilized in Economics discriminates the academic performance of students in the subject area. The population comprised senior secondary school two students in Ife Central Local Government of Osun State while the sample comprised 94 students in five secondary schools in the area. Three research instruments viz: Individual Interest Questionnaire (IIQ), Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) and Economics Achievement Test (EAT) were used to collect appropriate data. The Discriminant Function Analysis was utilized to analyse data collected. Findings revealed a function with coefficients in order of magnitude as revealed by structure matrix as follows: Interest in Economics (1.06), Surface Approach (0.41) and Deep Approach (-1.14). None of coefficients was significant at 0.05 significance level. The function was maximized for: 47.1% of students who scored above 50% and 57.1% of those who scored below 50%. The conclusion that was reached was that adequate cognizance should be given to the improvement of the process of teaching the subject including assessment practices.
Key words: Discriminant Function Analysis; Interest; Learning Approaches; Performance; Senior Secondary School.


Summary The effects of the oriented strand board (OSB) furnish drying temperature and moisture content on VOC emissions were evaluated and compared to those of the OSB pressing time and temperature and resin content. Results clearly showed the important role played by the drying temperature on the strand emissions. A decrease of emissions is observed when the furnish at a given original moisture content had been exposed to increasingly high temperatures. Also, the combined effect of moisture content and heating temperatures showed an increase of the detected TVOC as moisture content and the temperature increased. At a very high temperature however, the furnish at low moisture content started to degrade, and an increase in the emission level could be observed. The results showed that emissions from oriented strand board (OSB) panels were more sensitive to resin content and pressing time. The Box-Behnken statistical linear model used to treat the data revealed that a linear fitting better correlates our results. The correlation between the internal bond (IB) and the panel's emissions indicated a decrease in emissions as the quality of the board (IB) increases in agreement with better resin curing. The acquisition of more data will certainly be helpful to support this preliminary study.


Studies in the periodontic literature have shown an average of 0.5 mm to > 1.0 mm of bone loss after full thickness flap reflection. Similar literature has revealed that the tetracycline family of antibiotics can prevent bone loss. The purpose of this study was to observe the effect of systemic Doxycycline on crestal alveolar bone loss after periradicular surgery in beagle dogs. Five beagle dogs were used in two phases of this study. In the first phase (control sides), after reflecting full thickness flaps in one mandibular quadrant, notches were placed in the enamel of the third and fourth premolar teeth using a one-quarter round bur. Using magnification, measurements were taken from the reference notches to the height of the alveolar crest. After 8 wk, flaps were reflected in the same quadrant and measurements retaken, and the amount of bone loss was then measured. In the second phase (experimental sides), the same procedure was performed on the contralateral mandibular quadrant, but the dogs were placed on 4.4 mg/kg/day of Doxycycline for 10 days after reflections of full thickness flaps. After another 8 wk, the area was reflapped and measured. There was significantly (p < 0.01) less bone loss on the Doxycycline-treated side.


Gas-phase complex organic molecules have been detected toward a range of high- and low-mass star-forming regions at abundances which cannot be explained by any known gas-phase chemistry. Recent laboratory experiments show that UV irradiation of CH3OH-rich ices may be an important mechanism for producing complex molecules and releasing them into the gas phase. To test this ice formation scenario, we mapped the B1-b dust core and nearby protostar in CH3OH gas using the IRAM 30 m telescope to identify locations of efficient non-thermal ice desorption. We find three CH3OH abundance peaks tracing two outflows and a quiescent region on the side of the core facing the protostar. The CH3OH gas has a rotational temperature of ∼10 K at all locations. The quiescent CH3OH abundance peak and one outflow position were searched for complex molecules. Narrow, 0.6–0.8 km s−1 wide, HCOOCH3 and CH3CHO lines originating in cold gas are clearly detected, CH3OCH3 is tentatively detected, and C2H5OH and HOCH2CHO are undetected toward the quiescent core, while no complex molecular lines were found toward the outflow. The core abundances with respect to CH3OH are ∼2.3% and 1.1% for HCOOCH3 and CH3CHO, respectively, and the upper limits are 0.7%–1.1%, which is similar to most other low-mass sources. The observed complex molecule characteristics toward B1-b and the pre-dominance of HCO-bearing species suggests a cold ice (below 25 K, the sublimation temperature of CO) formation pathway followed by non-thermal desorption through, e.g., UV photons traveling through outflow cavities. The observed complex gas composition together with the lack of any evidence of warm gas-phase chemistry provides clear evidence of efficient complex molecule formation in cold interstellar ices.


Life cycle asset allocation has recently gained popularity and is the default option in pension funds worldwide. A line of recent studies has refuted its glory and argues that a balanced fund with a fixed allocation throughout the investment horizon may yield better results. The question arises from these studies: What should be the balanced fund's optimum asset allocation weight? Therefore, the present study uses Genetic Algorithm to obtain the optimum asset allocation weight for India's defined contribution pension plan subscribers. To validate our result, the study compares the results of a Genetic Algorithm to the outcomes of widely used asset allocation techniques, notably the life cycle and equally weighted strategies. This study holds important policy implications as, given the size of the pension asset and the long investment duration, even a trivial increase in return will substantially impact investment outcomes, affecting the subscribers' well-being in old age.


This article aims to determine the effect of a virtual chemistry laboratory on university student achievement. The article describes a model of a laboratory course that includes a virtual component. This virtual component is viewed as a tool of student pre-lab autonomous learning. It presents electronic resources designed for a virtual laboratory and outlines the methodology of e-resource application. To find out how virtual chemistry laboratory affects student scientific literacy, research skills and practices, a pedagogical experiment has been conducted. Student achievement was compared in two learning environments: traditional – in-class hands-on – learning (control group) and blended learning – online learning combined with in-person learning (experimental group). The effectiveness of integrating an e-lab in the laboratory study was measured by comparing student lab reports of the two groups. For that purpose, a set of 10 criteria was developed. The experimental and control student groups were also compared in terms of test results and student portfolios. The study showed that the adopted approach blending both virtual and hands-on learning environments has the potential to enhance student research skills and practices in analytical chemistry studies. Published: 4 December 2017 Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2017,  25 : 1968 -  http://dx.doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v25.1968


Infectious disease risk prediction plays a vital role in disease control and prevention. Recent studies in machine learning have attempted to incorporate epidemiological knowledge into the learning process to enhance the accuracy and informativeness of prediction results for decision-making. However, these methods commonly involve single-patch mechanistic models, overlooking the disease spread across multiple locations caused by human mobility. Additionally, these methods often require extra information beyond the infection data, which is typically unavailable in reality. To address these issues, this paper proposes a novel epidemiology-aware deep learning framework that integrates a fundamental epidemic component, the next-generation matrix (NGM), into the deep architecture and objective function. This integration enables the inclusion of both mechanistic models and human mobility in the learning process to characterize within- and cross-location disease transmission. From this framework, two novel methods, Epi-CNNRNN-Res and Epi-Cola-GNN, are further developed to predict epidemics, with experimental results validating their effectiveness.


Abstract In this work the control system for a continuous gravimetric blender for polymer extrusion process has been designed. The plant considered in this paper is a blending machine that mixes two different polymers, a bulk one and an additive. Each component of the mix is metered by a dedicated screw meter system. The mass delivered by each meter is measured by a load cell. The two components are poured into a hopper (the mixer) directly embedded on the extruder input. The control objectives are manifold and include: accurate mass flow estimate on the basis of the weight and screw speed measurements; accurate mass flow regulation of each meter; keeping of the relative proportions among all the components that are metered in all the operating conditions; guarantee that inside the mixer there is always material enough to fulfill the mass flow variation request of the extruder.


PIM (processing-in-memory) based hardware accelerators have shown great potentials in addressing the computation and memory access intensity of modern CNNs (convolutional neural networks). While adopting NVM (non-volatile memory) helps to further mitigate the storage and energy consumption overhead, adopting quantization, e.g., shift-based quantization, helps to tradeoff the computation overhead and the accuracy loss, integrating both NVM and quantization in hardware accelerators leads to sub-optimal acceleration. In this paper, we exploit the natural shift property of DWM (domain wall memory) to devise DWMAcc, a DWM-based accelerator with asymmetrical storage of weight and input data, to speed up the inference phase of shift-based CNNs. DWMAcc supports flexible shift operations to enable fast processing with low performance and area overhead. We then optimize it with zero-sharing, input-reuse, and weight-share schemes. Our experimental results show that, on average, DWMAcc achieves 16.6× performance improvement and 85.6× energy consumption reduction over a state-of-the-art SRAM based design.


This study refers to the laboratory tests that have been conducted under 50 Hz applied voltage on a polluted plane model simulating the 1512 l outdoor insulator largely used by the Algerian Company of Gas and Electric Power (SONELGAZ). They were carried out in order to identify the pollution level of the insulator surface, first by measuring the leakage current (LC) waveforms (i), and then by measuring the voltage waveforms (ii). (i) The evaporation of the electrolytic solution has especially been taken into account when electric discharges appeared on the contaminated insulator surface by performing a spectral analysis of LC waveforms. This has been done with the Welch periodogram in order to understand the contribution of LC frequency harmonics in drying the wetted layer depending on the pollution level of the insulator surface. (ii) As for the continuous wavelet transform, it has been used for analysing locally the voltage waveform, to understand the effects of different pollution levels on voltage drops, and ultimately to establish a visual diagnostic tool for monitoring the pollution level and for preventing the breakdown flashover.


Abstract Investments in Early Childhood Development (ECD) are one of the most effective ways in which to decrease social inequalities caused by adverse environments as such environments hamper the development of young children. These interventions could increase school attendance numbers and could increase the pass rates in primary and secondary schools. Formal education age is too late for a child to start education as the early ages form the basis of development and learning in later years. Consequently, there is a need to focus on early childhood care and development. This article presents a descriptive study of an Early Childhood Development intervention project that resulted in a wide range of learning and development opportunities for children in townships in the Vaal Triangle in South Africa. ECD practitioners and lecturers from the North-West University (NWU), Vaal Triangle Campus planned the intervention programme together. The outcomes of this intervention project were achieved. The components of the intervention programme were implemented as intended and what was delivered went according to the way in which it was planned. Reflection from ECD practitioners and lecturers indicates that this project has started to address the learning needs of practitioners and as a result, learners in these townships.


This paper presents an efficient method to compute the maximum likelihood (ML) estimation of the parameters of a complex 2-D sinusoidal, with the complexity order of the FFT. The method is based on an accurate barycentric formula for interpolating band-limited signals, and on the fact that the ML cost function can be viewed as a signal of this type, if the time and frequency variables are switched. The method consists in first computing the DFT of the data samples, and then locating the maximum of the cost function by means of Newton's algorithm. The fact is that the complexity of the latter step is small and independent of the data size, since it makes use of the barycentric formula for obtaining the values of the cost function and its derivatives. Thus, the total complexity order is that of the FFT. The method is validated in a numerical example.


Fairness in machine learning (ML), the process to understand and correct algorithmic bias, has gained increasing attention with numerous literature being carried out, commonly assume the underlying data is independent and identically distributed (IID). On the other hand, graphs are a ubiquitous data structure to capture connections among individual units and is non-IID by nature. It is therefore of great importance to bridge the traditional fairness literature designed on IID data and ubiquitous non-IID graph representations to tackle bias in ML systems. In this survey, we review such recent advance in fairness amidst non-IID graph data and identify datasets and evaluation metrics available for future research. We also point out the limitations of existing work as well as promising future directions.


Genomic DNA methylation was analyzed in Acacia mangium Willd. microshoots micropropagated in vitro from juvenile and mature explants, and in relation to leaf morphology of the microshoots, which is considered a phase change indicator. Based on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses, we found more DNA methylation in microshoots exhibiting juvenile leaf morphology (22.4%) than in microshoots of the mature phyllode morphological type (20.7%), irrespective of the age of the source material. Overall, the degree of DNA methylation in A. mangium microshoots was consistent with values reported for other angiosperms. Complementary investigations based on methylation sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP) techniques established that, of 1204 fragments revealed by the different primer pairs used, 49 (i.e., 4.08%) were derived from C(5m)CGG methylated sites. Three of these C(5m)CGG sites were exclusive to the juvenile plant material, and three sites were exclusive to the mature source. No fragments were associated specifically with leaf morphology, rather than with plant age. Thus, although the two age classes could not be distinguished based on a quantitative HPLC measure of DNA methylation, qualitative differences existed, as demonstrated by the six age-specific markers identified by MSAP. The reliability of the MSAP data was confirmed on a larger sample of juvenile plant material, which suggested that the total of six methylation markers detected is probably an underestimation of the age-related differences in DNA methylation that may exist between juvenile and mature plant materials.


The authors examined the relation between time since onset of illicit drug injection (time at risk) and rates of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection by using meta-regression. In 72 prevalence studies, median time since onset of injection was 7.24 years and median prevalence was 66.02%. The model showed statistically significant linear and quadratic effects of time at risk on HCV prevalence and significantly higher prevalence in developing and transitional countries and in earlier samples (1985-1995). In developed countries post-1995, mean fitted prevalence was 32.02% (95% confidence interval: 25.31, 39.58) at 1 year of injection and 53.01% (95% confidence interval: 40.69, 65.09) at 5 years. In developing/transitional countries post-1995, mean fitted HCV prevalence was 59.13% (95% confidence interval: 30.39, 82.74) at 1 year of injection. In 10 incidence studies, median time at risk was 5.29 years and median cumulative HCV incidence was 20.69%. Mean fitted cumulative incidence was 27.63% (95% confidence interval: 16.92, 41.70) at 1 year of drug injection. The authors concluded that time to HCV infection in developed countries has lengthened. More rapid onset of HCV infection in drug injectors in developing/transitional countries resembles an earlier era of the HCV epidemic in other regions.


A report on the hysteroscopic removal of a Gräfenberg ring after almost fifty years in utero. In addition to the differential diagnostic considerations, the medical history aspects of this case are particularly interesting.


Syuichi Satot, Kunio Kondott, Hisashi Satott , Shizuo Shimadatt and Mitsuru Kaneko Abstract Emphasizing expressions are an effective way of creating motion in moving pictures. The author proposes a "Motion Filter" which is a computerized tool to design the motion of characters for animation. Computer animation has been in great demand in the field of TV processing. However most animation has been crteated by animators who paint their work directed onto celluloid in cartoon films. The writer asked those experts about their techniques and analysed these in order to be able to transfer them into a computer system. Motion Filter accepts keyframes as input motion and transforms these into emphasized motions. It works interactively and is friendly to most users who wish to design animation.


Purpose of reviewThis review assesses the relative effect of fat versus carbohydrate and the differences between fatty acids and types of carbohydrate on insulin resistance and associated risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Recent findingsThe debate continues over whether high-carbohydrate or high-fat diets have the more deleterious metabolic effects. Large randomized controlled trials have shown that a reduction of fat intake as part of a healthy lifestyle combined with weight reduction and exercise reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. Carbohydrate as fruit and vegetable together with low-fat dairy products reduce blood pressure. The results of trials of fatty acid type continue to favor the use of monounsaturated fats. However, the advantages over carbohydrate have not always been clear. In terms of carbohydrate, the glycemic index appears to be a better predictor of the metabolic effects of a diet than the sugar content. The fiber content of the carbohydrate food appears to confer benefits in terms of diabetic control. Lower cholesterol and postprandial blood glucose results are associated with viscous fibers. SummaryDiets that are higher in monounsaturated fatty acids, fiber and low glycemic index foods appear to have advantages in insulin resistance, glycemic control and blood lipids in a number of studies. The division of nutrients into total fat (regardless of fatty acids) versus carbohydrate (type and quantity not specified) appears to be less helpful in predicting outcomes.


Cortex tissue from postclimacteric ;Golden Delicious' apples (Malus domestica, Borkh.) stored at 0 C for 9 months after harvest were induced to form callus in vitro. Cell suspension cultures were subsequently formed from calli. Of five media tested, only the medium of Schenk and Hildebrandt (Can J Bot 1972, 50: 192) and that of Uchimiya and Murashige (Plant Physiol 1974, 54: 936) allowed callus formation. During growth both the callus and cell cultures produced ethylene in a pattern which showed a rapid rise and then a fall as the culture grew. (14)C-Labeled methionine was converted to labeled ethylene by the cell suspension cultures, which also could be inhibited from producing ethylene by a rhizobitoxine analog or free radical scavengers. Ethylene production in these cultures, like that in intact fruit tissue slices, could be stimulated by IAA or suppressed by N(6)-(gamma,gamma-dimethylallyl) adenosine and GA(3).


We investigate nonequilibrium excitations and charge transport in charge-neutral graphene driven with DC electric field by using the nonequilibrium Green's function technique. Due to the vanishing Fermi surface, electrons are subject to non-trivial nonequilibrium excitations such as highly anisotropic momentum distribution of electron-hole pairs, an analog of the Schwinger effect. We show that the electron-hole excitations, initiated by the Landau-Zener tunneling with a superlinear IV relation $I \propto E^{3/2}$, reaches a steady-state dominated by the dissipation due to optical phonons, resulting in a marginally sublinear IV with $I \propto E$, in agreement with recent experiments. The linear IV starts to show the sign of current saturation as the graphene is doped away from the Dirac point, and recovers the semi-classical relation for the saturated velocity. We give a detailed discussion on the nonequilibrium charge creation and the relation between the electron-phonon scattering rate and the electric field in the steady-state limit. We explain how the apparent Ohmic IV is recovered near the Dirac point. We propose a mechanism where the peculiar nonequilibrium electron-hole creation can be utilized in a novel infra-red device.


Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is the most common autoimmune subepidermal blistering disease of the skin and mucous membranes. This disease typically affects the elderly and presents with itch and localized or, most frequently, generalized bullous lesions. A subset of patients only develops excoriations, prurigo‐like lesions, and eczematous and/or urticarial erythematous lesions. The disease, which is significantly associated with neurological disorders, has high morbidity and severely impacts the quality of life.


Introduction: Group A rotaviruses are major pathogens in causing severe diarrhea in young children and neonates of many different species of animals worldwide and group A rotavirus sequence data are becoming increasingly available over time. Different methods exist that allow for rotavirus genotyping, but machine learning methods have yet to be explored. Usage of machine learning algorithms such as random forest alongside alignment-based methodology may allow for both efficient and accurate classification of circulating rotavirus genotypes through the dual classification system. Methods: Random forest models were trained on positional features obtained from pairwise and multiple sequence alignment and cross-validated using methods of repeated 10-fold cross-validation thrice and leave one- out cross validation. Models were then validated on unseen data from the testing datasets to observe real-world performance. Results: All models were found to perform strongly in classification of VP7 and VP4 genotypes with high overall accuracy and kappa values during model training (0.975–0.992, 0.970–0.989) and during model testing (0.972–0.996, 0.969–0.996), respectively. Models trained on multiple sequence alignment generally had slightly higher overall accuracy and kappa values than models trained on pairwise sequence alignment method. In contrast, pairwise sequence alignment models were found to be generally faster than multiple sequence alignment models in computational speed when models do not need to be retrained. Models that used repeated 10-fold cross-validation thrice were also found to be much faster in model computational speed than models that used leave-one-out cross validation, with no noticeable difference in overall accuracy and kappa values between the cross-validation methods. Discussion: Overall, random forest models showed strong performance in the classification of both group A rotavirus VP7 and VP4 genotypes. Application of these models as classifiers will allow for rapid and accurate classification of the increasing amounts of rotavirus sequence data that are becoming available.


The Internet of Things connects many articles such as equipments and facilities of various industries. There are many problems about how to manage these nodes effectively and to ensure high clock synchronization precision. The clock synchronization architecture of Internet of Things is the key technology to resolve these problems. In this paper, a new clock synchronization architecture of network for Internet of Things is suggested. In this new clock synchronization architecture, it includes three levels: adaptation level, organization level and region level. The adaptation level architecture is to resolve the problem about the adaptability of Internet of Things; The organization level architecture is to organize and manage of the clock synchronization system; The region level architecture is to ensure clock synchronization accuracy and security. At last the relationship of there level architectures is descript based on graph theory, an experimental system is suggested.


Entrepreneurship is a field that is growing rapidly, in line with the development of the business world. One important aspect that can encourage the development of entrepreneurship is the education sector. Islamic boarding schools, as Islamic educational institutions in various provinces in Indonesia, can be used as incubators and for business development purposes. Entrepreneurship is expected to increase the empowerment of Islamic boarding schools for the benefit of the people. Islamic boarding schools are expected to improve the economy that will prosper all students, teachers, and the entire academic community and the area around the boarding school. This research aimed to identify the potential of Islamic boarding schools (nature potential and human potential). One way to develop entrepreneurship is through mentoring and counseling on entrepreneurship in freshwater fish farming. Mentoring and counseling involving the Garut Regency Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Service as a form of sustainable government support for entrepreneurship development programs at Islamic boarding schools.
Keywords: Islamic boarding school, entrepreneurship, fish cultivation


The authors describe a new technique for extracting the intrinsic laser-diode dynamic properties accurately. This simple technique eliminates the need for accurate microwave calibration of the test equipment and problems of microwave reflections, nonideal frequency response of laser mount, and detector. The effect of the parasitic components of the laser diode are also eliminated from the results so that measurements of important dynamic properties of the laser can be found up to high frequencies (10-20 GHz) on standard laser diodes. The techinque being used to measure variations of resonance peak and damping factor at different bias levels for a standard bulk active region 1.3 mu m laser diode is shown.<<ETX>>


BACKGROUND
Boys with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) demonstrate disruptive behaviour at significantly higher rates compared to girls. Disruptive behaviour often develops as a result of negative interaction patterns within the caregiving relationship. Given the importance of parental cognitions as mediators of parental behaviour, the consideration of parent and child sex in the investigation of causal attributions regarding AD/HD may, at least partially, explain sex differences in the prevalence of disruptive behaviour among children with AD/HD.

AIM
To examine the effect of parent and child sex on parental causal attributions and reactions about AD/HD and to investigate the interrelationships between these variables.

SAMPLE
Three hundred and seventeen mothers and 317 fathers of boys and girls aged 4-6 years and enrolled in kindergartens in Athens.

METHOD
A Greek version of the Parental Account of the Causes of Childhood Problems Questionnaire was used, which followed a vignette about a hypothetical child displaying symptoms of AD/HD. Half of the participants received a male and another half received a female version of the vignette.

RESULTS
The child's sex greatly influenced parents' causal attributions about AD/HD. Higher ratings of intentionality were conferred to boys with AD/HD than girls and these attributions were related to stricter responses towards boys. In contrast, parents who considered biological dysfunction as underlying AD/HD, they mostly did so in the case of girls. Minimal effect of parent sex on causal attributions was found.

CONCLUSIONS
Because causal attributions of intentionality relate to the response of more strictness and such attributions are more prevalent for boys than girls, then these perceptions about the aetiology of AD/HD in boys may be at the basis of negative interaction patterns. The increase of such interaction patterns may place boys at a more vulnerable position towards the development of secondary behaviour problems.


An autologous free skin graft taken from the upper or the lower external ear canal or the auricle was implanted in the otic bulla of 28 guinea pigs. An epidermal cyst simulating middle ear cholesteatoma was successfully produced in 25 (89.3%) animals 8 weeks after grafting. Using this model, the histological reaction of middle ear granulation tissue to the debris was studied. Cysts originated from the auricular skin showed the strongest activity with regard to growth rate, amount of debris produced, and inflammatory reaction to the exposed debris. We conclude that the exposed debris plays an important role in chronic granulomatous inflammation in association with cholesteatoma.


The aim of the article is representing thenational Uzbek costume, that reflects the traditions rooting back to the ethnic history of the people and their ethnic history, social relations, beliefs, esthetic ideals.Methods. The comparative historical method makes it possible to reveal the tendencies in forming the historical process, to penetrate into the essence of phenomena.Results. The author found that the historical development of the national women's costume was closely connected with the natural, economic, aesthetic and moral requirements. Traditional costume determined the woman's ethnic origin, her social and marital status, age.Conclusion. The author established that ethnodesign is a means of the personal aesthetic development. It is necessary for the accumulation of traditional cultural experience. The modern design is a product of a new stage in the civilizational development, the causes and consequences of the development of the industry and commerce in General.Â


Purpose
À la carte restaurants have faced increasing challenges in meeting the needs and desires of new food consumers. The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model for evaluating the consumers' perceived quality of à la carte restaurants and to review the impact on their attitudes and behavioural intentions.

Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted with 508 university students in Brazil, and the data were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM).

Findings
The results showed that global perceived quality (GPQ), which is a multidimensional construct with nine dimensions, directly impacted emotions, the satisfaction and perceived value by consumers. This satisfaction positively affected word-of-mouth (WOM) communication and the propensity for loyalty. Price did not have a statistically significant impact on customer satisfaction.

Originality/value
This paper, based on the structural model herein proposed and tested, is the most complete of all available articles in the literature about à la carte restaurants, as this study contemplates a greater number of perceived quality factors. In addition, both tangible and intangible perceived quality factors were included in this tested model, which goes beyond what is typically contemplated in other such. Moreover, none of the existing articles in the existing literature simultaneously observed the relationship between perceived quality, positive and negative emotions, price, perceived value, satisfaction, WOM communication and propensity to loyalty. Finally, the questionnaire developed in this study could be used both by academics in future studies and by restaurant managers.


Out-of-class experiences provide important learning opportunities for students; however, limited research has explored the value of these experiences to graduate students. The purpose of this study was to evaluate graduate sport management students' professional field trip experiences to determine if they met student expectations and achieved trip learning objectives. Results from preand posttrip surveys, a student focus group, and industry professional interviews suggested the trip exceeded expectations overall. Specifically, it improved students' professional preparation, helped them connect to course content, and increased their connection to the academic program. Students perceived the trip to be a valuable educational and social experience. Sport management faculty should consider coordinating field trips for graduate students, as they perceive them to be beneficial to their learning and graduate student experience. Also, evaluating out-of-class experiences is valuable for improving institutional support and providing evidence of student learning outcomes.


In 2003, maternal health experts met in Bellagio, to consider new and underutilised technologies vital to pregnancy‐related health services in low‐resource settings. Five years later, we examine what progress has been made and what new opportunities may be on the horizon. Based on a review of literature and consultation with experts, we consider technologies addressing the five leading causes of maternal mortality: postpartum haemorrhage, eclampsia, obstructed labour, puerperal sepsis, and unsafe abortion (pregnancy termination and miscarriage). In addition, we consider technologies related to obstetric fistula, which has received more attention in recent years.


This paper proposes a zero-current and zero-voltage switching (ZCZVS) PWM boost full-bridge (FB) converter. The leading switches can realize ZCS under wide load range using the energy of the output capacitor. With the use of the parasitic capacitors of the lagging switches and auxiliary inductance paralleled with primary winding of the transformer, the lagging switches can realize ZVS under any load. Compared with ZCS PWM boost FB converter, the proposed converter has no current duty cycle loss. The operation principle and parameters design are analyzed in detail. Experimental results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed converter.


A dryland critical-zone observatory is planned on a piedmont setting of the Jornada Experimental Range northeast of Las Cruces, New Mexico, near a ∼10-yr eddy flux covariance tower and vegetation monitoring experiment and a 2-yr old water-uptake rainfall infiltration experiment. We carried out several geophysical surveys to help select sites that minimize geologic complexity for follow up hydrologic and biogeochemical studies that will be conducted by other researchers. First, we conducted a review of regional topography, gravity, and magnetics prior to a site visit and then collected reconnaissance magnetic and electromagnetic data to aid in planning more detailed geophysical site characterization surveys. Our initial topographic analysis using 1/3 arc-second digital elevation models (DEMs) showed the proposed area had an out-of-equilibrium curvature pointing to active erosion and possible faulting. Short-wavelength step-like topographic anomalies in the DEMs were confirmed in LiDAR elevations, and are consistent with erosionally resistant soil horizons in the old alluvial fan deposits. Comparison of 2-D density and susceptibility models based on nearby (3-8 km) hydrostratigraphic studies established that the observed regional gravity and magnetic anomalies were larger than could be modeled with the 2-D structural constraints, and established the station spacing our reconnaissance surveys would require to sample shallow soil variations. Our first site visit confirmed the general fault locations and we identified three outcropping caliche horizons distinct to alluvial channel, proximal splay and distal splay deposits in a several hundred-meter traverse that are consistent with the short-wavelength topographic features. In order to plan additional seismic, radar, gravity, and electrical surveys within a region of such high potential variability, we collected magnetic field and magnetic susceptibility measurements along two profiles at 10-50 m spacing. We found anomalies consistent with two projected faults, as well as other bedrock structures, a result significantly more complex than prior regional hydrostratigraphic mapping had suggested. We also conducted a more limited 0.5 km long ground conductivity survey with 5 m spacing that traversed the rainfall infiltration experiment site and found anomalies that aligned with one of the projected faults. The results showed deep (>6 m) 50 mS/m (milliSiemens/meter) values, indicating moister soils, on the footwall side, dropping to 20 mS/m after crossing the fault, consistent with previous observations that normal faults in the Rio Grande Valley asymmetrically influence fluid flow.


The XLVIIth meeting of the European High Pressure Research Group (EHPRG) was held from 6–11 September 2009 in Paris, at the Cordeliers Campus of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie. This special issue of High Pressure Research and the previous one host the proceedings of this meeting. Like most of the EHPRG conferences in recent years, the XLVIIth meeting covered a broad scientific domain from Food Sciences to Biosciences, Chemistry, Geosciences and Materials Sciences, with a special emphasis on technical and theoretical advances. Due to the organization of the 22nd AIRAPT conference in July, we were expecting only a small participation to the meeting. This was an error, as the participation of almost 300 scientists from 24 countries proves the vitality of this field of research in the world, particularly in Europe. Due to this affluence, and in spite of our wishes to avoid as much as possible the conflicting choice between simultaneous presentations, we had to organize parallel sessions: even three on Wednesday morning. Fourteen topics were organized with one, two or three slots of 1 h 30 min, and four plenary lectures were given. The 14 topics were: Magnetic and Electronic Properties; Food Sciences; Semiconductor Properties; Advances in Large Facilities Techniques; Theory; Geosciences;Advances in Laboratory Techniques; Nanosciences; Synthesis; Biosciences; Chemistry; Molecular Systems; Simple Systems; and Metals and Solvothermal Processes. The number of abstracts was not equally distributed, and the highest 'pressure'was on the Advances in Laboratory Techniques, Nanosciences, Synthesis and Magnetic and Electronic Properties topics. The XLVIIth EHPRG Award was awarded this year to Dr Denis Kozlenko, from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, in Dubna, Russia, for his work on Pressure induced phenomena in complex manganese, and cobalt oxides: tuning of magnetic, charge, orbital ordering and spin states. Three poster prizes were also attributed to José Alvès de Lima Jr (Fortaleza, Brazil), Eran Greenberg (Tel Aviv, Israel and Bayreuth, Germany), and Helen Maynard-Casely (Edinburgh, UK). A special session, 'Partnership for Extreme Condition Science at ILL/ESRF in Grenoble', was organized on the last afternoon to discuss the set up of a high-pressure support facility in Grenoble, shared between the Insitut Laue Langevin (ILL) and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). For the first time, the EHPRG meeting was prepared by a free pre-conference European school. Its aim was to help young participants to become acquainted with the multidisciplinary aspects of the meeting. It was supported by the 'Réseau Technologique de Recherches Avancées en Hautes Pressions' of the CNRS and chaired by Y. Le Godec. The answers to the questionnaire distributed


ABSTRACT Robertson, B.; Hall, K.; Nistor, I.; Zytner, R., and Storlazzi, C., 2015. Remote sensing of irregular breaking wave parameters in field conditions. The analysis of wave breaking in shallow water has been ongoing for almost 150 years. Numerous research papers have been published that approximate both the local conditions and geometric characteristics of breaking waves. However, much of this knowledge is based on laboratory results or limited field investigations because traditional methods of extracting breaking wave measurements from the surfzone are expensive, dangerous, and feature low-resolution data. Unfortunately, laboratory studies are prone to scaling and friction effects that introduce unwanted variability in the data. This study presents a novel, safe, and low-cost method of extracting relevant breaking-wave properties from irregular waves in the surfzone, using optical and in situ measurement systems. Published, contradictory breaking-water depth definitions are compared, and the water depth at the wave-trough depth, corrected for optical offsets using a still-water correction of one-third of the wave height, is found to exhibit the least variability. A new, effective seafloor-slope definition, based on individual, breaking wavelength-to-depth ratios, was found to increase predictive ability over previously variable seafloor slope extraction methods. Collected field data are compared against established breaking-wave height formulas with the general exponential form consistently finding the best correlation. Finally, an optimized breaking-wave height-prediction method finds a root mean square relative error of just 1.672% within the ranges of the measured data set. Irregular waves investigated on an individual wave basis are shown to follow regular wave-breaker height and depth prediction methods.


In this paper we propose a formula of recurrent nature for calculating the inverse Laplace transforms of some rational functions. The procedure and formulae enabling to determine the values of coe cients of obtained series are presented. Proposed procedure does not require any partial fraction decomposition. Moreover, it is proved that the radius of convergence of the received series (for the respective objective function) is equal to in nity. The proposed formula can nd applications in wave optics and acoustics.


We investigated the destruction of a two-frequency torus in a 4D volume-preserving map and its influence on the solid-state properties of the related model. The hull functions associated with this solid-state model exhibit a transition from a smooth surface to a devil fragmentation with the increase of the chaos parameter. We also discuss the properties of the phonon spectrum of excitations in this regime.


Jewellery making industry has gone through a rapid transformation in recent years and fine jewellery that so far was only for the economically well placed became affordable by middle class. With the advent pressures of globalisation and changes in technology, medium and small-scale jewellery units have realised that they also need to scientifically understand the subject of jewellery design and manufacturing for gaining competitiveness.

Indian jewellery was seldom studied with a scientific point of view where sound and mathematical interpretation of articles under observation were possible. Studies so, far were limited to documentation of existing pieces, family heirlooms and collection of royalty published in form of photographic documentation.

Based on scientific approach, the present study attempts to explore the subject of Kundan jewellery design. Various jewellery design sources ranging from books and periodicals on one end to visiting trade fairs and exhibitions were explored in initial phases to get an overall view of the scenario. As an outcome, the paper provides a systematic documentation to small and medium jewellery manufacturing units about the process of Kundan jewellery and provides rich implications and research directions in the field of Kundan jewellery.


Background. While it is established that the incidence of cutaneous melanoma has risen over time in the United States, the incidence trend for mucosal melanoma of the head and neck (MMHN) is unknown. Methods. We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to determine incidence trends for MMHN from 1987 to 2009 in the United States. We determined annual percent change (APC) by weighted least squares and joinpoint regression analysis. Results. MMHN incidence increased from 1987 to 2009 (APC 2.4%; P < 0.01). Nasal cavity lesions increased in incidence (APC 2.7%; P < 0.01) over this duration, while the incidence of non-nasal cavity lesions remained stable. The highest rate of increase was in white females ages 55 to 84 (APC 5.1%; P = 0.01). Conclusions. The incidence of MMHN in the United States has been rising since 1987. This trend is driven primarily by increased incidence of nasal cavity melanomas.


Background The cause of enlarged aortic dissection (AD) is associated with increased inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6. Clarithromycin (CAM) has been reported to inhibit inflammatory cytokines via suppressing NF-κB. we investigated whether or not CAM could prevent the enlargement of dissected aortic aneurysm. Methods Male wild type mice (12 weeks of age) were infused with Angiotensin II and 3-aminopropinonitrile for two weeks for AD development. After two weeks, CAM (10 mg/kg/day) or saline was administered orally to the mice every day (CAM group: n=10, SAL group: n=10) with infusing Angiotensin II for more two weeks. After four weeks, the aortic diameter, macrophage infiltration, collagen and elastin quantities, and levels of inflammation related cytokines, were assessed. Results The aortic diameter was significantly suppressed in the CAM group (P < 0.01). No rupture death was observed in the CAM group in contrast to 3 (30%) in the SAL group (P = 0.07). Clarithromycin significantly increased the infiltration of anti-inflammatory macrophages (20.8% vs. 2.8%, P < 0.05). Compared with the controls, the levels of IL-1β (332 pg/mL vs. 800 pg/mL, P < 0.01) and IL-6 (344 pg/mL vs. 727 pg/mL: p < 0.05) were significantly decreased, and the levels of IL-4 (2519 pg/mL vs. 1397 pg/mL, P < 0.05) and TGF-β (1649 pg/mL vs. 1134 pg/mL, P < 0.05) was significantly increased in the CAM group. The collagen area was increased (10.1% vs. 4.2%, P < 0.05) and expression of α-SMA (9.5% vs. 2.8%, P < 0.05) and α-actinin (16.3% vs. 4.0%, P < 0.01) were increased in the CAM group compared with the SAL group. Conclusions CAM suppressed the progression of dissected aortic aneurysm through the anti-inflammatory and the existence of abundant collagen secreted including α-SMA, α-actinin positive cells.


Scientific literature has overlooked how PM 2.5 concentrations vary with varying pedestrian heights near a roadway. Understanding this is important because walking is an essential commuting element of a sustainable transportation system, and pedestrians' height varies widely. Therefore, the focus of the current study is to bridge this gap using results from CALINE 4 model and mobile PM 2.5 measurements. In CALINE 4, a simple pedestrian pathway depicting the selected study site located near the Sardar Patel Road, Chennai, India, was simulated. The PM 2.5 concentrations were estimated on this pathway at varying heights (0.1–1.8 m) in 135 simulated runs. Subsequently, the sensitivity of the PM 2.5 exposure difference across heights was explored with varying ambient PM 2.5 concentrations, wind speed, traffic volume, and traffic compositions. Results indicated that the PM 2.5 concentrations reduced with increasing heights of pedestrians in all the modelled runs. When this PM 2.5 exposure difference was investigated with varying surrounding conditions, it was found that the difference in PM 2.5 exposure across heights was influenced by the wind speed, traffic volume, and traffic composition. Ambient PM 2.5 concentrations had no discernible effect on it. Car-dominated traffic with a higher mode share of heavy commercial vehicles was marked with the highest PM 2.5 exposure difference across heights. For traffic volume, it was observed that for every 100 vehicles hr –1 increase in traffic volume, the PM 2.5 exposure difference increased by 0.13 µ g m –3 m –1 in the range of pedestrian's height. For wind speed, calculations suggested that for every 1 m s –1 increase in wind speed, the PM 2.5 exposure difference was reduced by 0.095 µ g m –3 m –1 in the range of pedestrian's height. Finally, to bolster the modelling results, mobile PM 2.5 measurements (using portable, low-cost optical particle sensors) were conducted near a busy urban roadway at two different heights, 80 cm and 150 cm, during peak and off-peak hours. The results of mobile measurements were found to be consistent with CALINE 4 modelled results.


It has been reported that many system engineers must work hard to produce computer systems, and some of them suffer from health impairment due to their hard work. The purpose of the present cross-sectional study was to investigate the situation of impaired health status of system engineers in projects with high job strain. Countermeasures against health impairment of the subjects in the projects with high job strain in practices of occupational health fields are discussed. The study subjects were five superiors and their 35 subordinates working on computer system projects with high job strain at a large computer systems corporation in the Tokyo area. The control group was comprised of three superiors and their 18 subordinates in the same corporation. From July to November, 2006, the above were interviewed by six occupational health nurses, who evaluated their health and recorded their health evaluation scores. The problems involved in producing the computer systems were sometimes very difficult to solve, even if they spent long hours working on them. The present study detected a tendency showing that healthy superiors' subordinates were unhealthy and unhealthy superiors' subordinates were healthy in the overload projects with high job strain, while this was not detected in the control groups. A few employees whose health deteriorated were faced with very hard jobs in the overload projects. This means that heavy workloads were unevenly distributed in the overload projects among superiors, and their subordinates, and the health of a few members with heavy workloads deteriorated due to the heavy workload. In order to improve such a situation, it may be important not only to commit the necessary number of employees whose working ability is high to the section but also to even the workload in the overload project by informing all members of the project the health impairment of a few members due to heavy workload, from the viewpoint of the practice of occupational health and risk management.


SiC power MOSFETs are expected to be normally-off type fast switching devices. The on-resistance of SiC power MOSFETs is much higher than the value predicted from the physical properties of SiC. This is caused by the low channel mobility due to high interface state density (Dit). We have already reported that 4H-SiC MOSFETs on the C(0001 _ ) face had higher inversion-channel mobility. However, there is the SiO2/SiC interface roughness problem in SiC MOSFETs. There are many steps at the SiO2/SiC interface because a high off-angle is necessary for SiC epitaxial growth. These steps might make SiO2/SiC interfaces rough, which leads to reduction of channel mobility. In this work, we have investigated the effect of the SiO2/SiC interface roughness caused by the off-angle on the inversion channel mobility of 4H-SiC MOSFETs fabricated on the C(0001 _ ) face. The inversion-channel mobility of MOSFETs fabricated on the 4H-SiC C(0001 _ ) face substrate with the vicinal off-angle(0.8°) is higher than that of MOSFETs fabricated on the 4H-SiC C(0001 _ ) face substrate with the 8° off-angle. Reduction of the off-angle is very useful for improvement of channel mobility. A C(0001 _ ) epitaxial substrate with the vicinal off-angle would be suitable for SiC DMOSFETs.


Background: Bonded retainers are widely used to maintain the positions of anterior teeth after orthodontic treatment. Various types of bonded retainer exist however, there is a lack of evidence to indicate which type is superior. Aim: To compare upper and lower CAD/CAM nitinol bonded retainers (Memotain®) with upper and lower chairside rectangular-chain bonded retainers (Ortho-FlexTech™), in terms of stability, retainer failures and patient satisfaction. Trial design: Multi-centre, two-arm, parallel-group, randomised controlled clinical trial with 1:1 allocation. Setting: Three trial centres: University Teaching Hospital; District General Hospital; and Specialist Orthodontic Practice. All treatment was provided free as part of a state-funded healthcare system. Materials and methods: A total of 68 patients were randomly allocated to receive either upper and lower Memotain® bonded retainers or upper and lower Ortho-FlexTech™ bonded retainers. Ten trained operators placed and reviewed the bonded retainers. Measurements were carried out on study models taken at debond and after six months. Patient satisfaction questionnaires were completed at six months following debond. Results: The trial was terminated due to the high number of failures (50%) of the upper Memotain® retainers within six months. Memotain® retainers were three times more likely to fail (unadjusted hazard ratio = 2.82, 95% confidence interval = 1.00-7.99) than Ortho-FlexTech™ retainers at six months in the upper arch. Patients were satisfied with both types of retainer. Limitations: Early termination of the trial means that the a priori sample size was not reached, so outcomes should be interpreted with caution. Conclusion: The trial was terminated early due to the high failure rate of upper Memotain® bonded retainers. They had a higher risk of failure in the maxillary arch when compared to upper Ortho-FlexTech™ bonded retainers after six months.


It is shown experimentally that an ammonia maser employing a ring-type focuser operated with electrode voltages of opposite sign, +V1 and -V2, relative to a grounded maser cavity shows a reduced amplitude of oscillation for a particular combination of the applied voltages determined by the distance between focuser and cavity. The results are contrasted with those of Koshurinov (1969) who obtained a similar local minimum when mod V1 mod approximately= mod V2 mod using a quadrupole focuser. The phenomenon is attributed to spatial reorientation of molecules in the weak electric fringe field between the maser cavity and focuser.


Concern about sexual contacts between children and adults in their homes focuses on the more extreme examples, but cases vary in seriousness, in the family situations in which they occur and in the effects on the children. Discrimination is called for in assessment and management and in balancing the interests of victims against the demands of justice.


Bayesian Optimization algorithm has become a promising approach for nonlinear global optimization problems and many machine learning applications. Over the past few years, improvements and enhancements have been brought forward and they have shown some promising results in solving the complex dynamic problems, systems of ordinary differential equations where the objective functions are computationally expensive to evaluate. Besides, the straightforward implementation of the Bayesian Optimization algorithm performs well merely for optimization problems with 10-20 dimensions. The study presented in this paper proposes a new high dimensional Bayesian Optimization algorithm combining Recurrent neural networks, which is expected to predict the optimal solution for the global optimization problems with high dimensional or time series decision models. The proposed RNN-BO algorithm can solve the optimal control problems in the lower dimension space and then learn from the historical data using the recurrent neural network to learn the historical optimal solution data and predict the optimal control strategy for any new initial system value setting. In addition, accurately and quickly providing the optimal control strategy is essential to effectively and efficiently control the epidemic spread while minimizing the associated financial costs. Therefore, to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, computational experiments are carried out on a deterministic SEIR epidemic model and a stochastic SIS optimal control model. Finally, we also discuss the impacts of different numbers of the RNN layers and training epochs on the trade-off between solution quality and related computational efforts.


NECROPSY studies of shocked patients have increased our understanding of the origin of intractable shock in human beings. Such studies have demonstrated that in man, a major lesion is present in most instances of intractable shock, 1-3 Surgical removal or correction of this lesion can lead to the recovery of the patient. 3 The major lesion may be defined as a major pathologic change in the tissues which is recognizable at necropsy. This lesion underlies the intractable shock state, and frequently, is also the cause of death. Examples of such lesions are massive hemorrhage, peritonitis, renal infection, bronchopneumonia, myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, and massive pulmonary edema. Many major lesions are not amendable to correction or removal by surgical operation. Nevertheless, in a series of 169 patients dying in a state of intractable shock, postmortem examination later showed that 41% had major lesions which might have been removed or corrected by


Adamussium jonkersi sp. nov. is described from the Late Oligocene Destruction Bay Formation, Wrona Buttress area, King George Island (South Shetlands), West Antarctica. The unit, characterized by volcanic sandstone, is a shallow marine succession deposited in a moderate-to high-energy environment. The thin-shelled pectinids, collected from the lower part of the unit, are preserved mostly as complete valves. Shell thickness, sculpture pattern and umbonal angle suggest a free-living, inactive swimming life habit.


The purpose of this study is to assess effects of fibroblasts in the vitro chemosensitivity testing on human lung cancer cells and to remove them. Fourteen lung cancer cell lines and 14 fibroblasts derived from resected specimens of lung cancers were used, whose S.D (succinate dehydrogenase) activities were measured with MTT colorimetric assay. The chemosensitivity of a lung cancer cell alone was compared with that of mixed cancer cell and fibroblast. As results, S.D activities of fibroblasts were less 2-4 fold than those of lung cancer cells. Fibroblasts were as sensitive to CDDP, MMC and 5-FU as lung cancer cells, but more sensitive to ADM and VP-16 than them. When sensitivity testings were performed on mixed cancer cells and fibroblasts, or mixed cancer cells and conditioned media of fibroblasts to CDDP with 3 day's incubation times, the sensitivity was affected in 61%, or 10% of all the pairs, respectively. However, when these tests were done without any incubation times, the sensitivity was not affected. Therefore, it was suggested that anticancer drugs had to be simultaneously added when single cell suspensions were plated if resected specimens were used in a anticancer drug sensitivity test.