ABSTRACT The number of people who are over 60 is growing rapidly. Even though they choose to retire from full-time jobs, many retirees are healthy enough to work and want to remain active. At the same time, retired people often find they would like additional supplemental income without returning to full-time work. One solution is self-employment. This could be especially true in rural areas where it may be more difficult to obtain jobs that suit retirees' needs. This paper examines the proportions of men and women in metropolitan, suburban and rural areas who claim themselves as retired, yet receive income from self-employment. INTRODUCTION The median age of the total population is increasing. Accordingly, once the oldest baby-boomers reach age 65 in 2011, the population will begin to age rapidly. The US Census Bureau predicts that between 2000 and 2040, the numbers of American 65 and older will more than double, to 77 million, while the number of adults in the prime working ages of 25 to 54 will increase by only 12 %. (Johnson, 2004, p. 48). By 2030, the proportion of people in the U.S. who are 65 and older is expected to increase from 13% to over 20% (Purcell, 2000). As the number and proportion of older people is increasing, the traditional practice of completely retiring at age 62 or 65 is also changing. Some companies are encouraging early retirement by offering incentives that entice people to leave their career jobs, even if they would normally have continued to work. If they are active and in good health, many of these people then begin working with another employer or strike out on their own (Quinn & Kozy, 1996; Singh & DeNoble, 2003). This is especially true for retirees who find they need supplemental income. Because they live longer on average than men or do not receive sufficient benefits, women are 70% more likely to spend their retirement in poverty. In the over-50 age group, women make up 60% of the lower-income quartile (Hill, 2002, p. 40). Therefore, adequate income in retirement is more likely to be a an issue for women. This problem may be especially acute in rural areas where fewer jobs are available. This study examines the proportions of people in rural, suburban and urban locations who are self-employed. The following section provides a background on the aging population that is retired or nearing retirement, and special problems and possible advantages associated with starting and conducting business in rural areas. Data from the March Supplement of the 2004 Current Population Survey are then analyzed by age, sex and location. THE GOLDEN YEARS Many people continue to work or return to work after initial retirement simply because they enjoy the activity of work (Sautters, 2005) and/or need supplemental income (Kirchhoff, 2005). Since 2001, the number of employed men over age 55 has increased 20% and the number of employed women over 55 has increased 26.3% (Kirchhoff, 2005). In fact, the proportion of people over age 65 who are employed is the highest in approximately 35 years. Improved health and well-being at older ages combined with increasing prices and an overall drop in the stock market (investments) have encouraged older people to continue working. The proportion of those in the 51-56 age group who say they plan to work after age 65 has increased from 26.3% in 1992 to 39.8% in 2004 (Kirchhoff, 2005), while a survey by AARP found that 80% of the baby boom generation plans to continue working after retirement, primarily because they will need the income (Fetterman, 2005). Working past traditional retirement age is a particularly good strategy for workers who will not receive retirement benefits from an employer (Block, Waggoner & Fetterman, 2005). One reason these numbers have risen so dramatically is that the baby boom generation is reaching retirement age. This group expects that their golden years should provide opportunities to remain active and try new things, which could include starting a business they have thought about for a long time. …


In this article we examine the emerging party systems of the devolved environments, with an eye toward shedding light on the factors that influence the number of parties in a system where parties are already mobilized but the institutional context is new. Our findings demonstrate that electoral rules have an independent effect on the number of parties. More specifically, the use of proportional representation has increased the number of parties. In addition, two social cleavage structure factors appear to affect the design of the party system: class and center– periphery. All of these forces lead to a more complex governing arrangement in the devolved settings than that of the United Kingdom.


Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the most common cancer among head and neck malignancies and causes of cancer death. More than 50 % of patiens have relapses within first 3 years after treatment, with median survival less than 6 months. Cetuximab is the first targeted agent for HNSCC, is considered as alternative regiment in case of intolerance to platinum-based chemotherapy, and also can activate an antigenspecific T-cell immunity in head and neck cancer patients. Nivolumab is a check-point inhibitor, that improves overall survival of patients with advanced recurrent/metastatic HNSCC, due to the CheckMate-141 study results. The results of phase II study сoncurrent cetuximab and nivolumab in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic HNSCC showed a benefit for patients without prior check-point inhibitor exposure and overall well tolerated. Thus, we have 6 cases of HNSCC, treated with combination of nivolumab and cetuximab, resulted in durable (12 months) partial response or stabilization without severe adverse events. In our study, all 6 patients had prior check-point inhibitor exposure with nivolumab. Cetuximab was added to a treatment protocol after evidence-based progression during check-point inhibitor therapy. We demonstrate a case report of recurrent locally advanced HNSCC, treated with combination of nivolumab and cetuximab and resulted in stabilization. Only 1 patient had a progression after concurrent targeted and immune-therapy with nivolumab and cetuximab. New combination was well tolerated without severe adverse events. To our opinion, first results are challenging and we believe in great perspectives of comprehensive molecular profiling and combination of targeted and immune-therapy for better results.


This paper describes 'ethically sourced' animal cadavers and tissue, as defined by the InterNICHE Policy, and addresses the importance of using cadavers and tissue only from these sources when material is needed for the purpose of education and training. The attitudes developed by students and trainees using ethically sourced material and conventional sources are compared and discussed. Examples are given where the use of ethically sourced cadavers and tissue has been successfully implemented in practical classes for anatomy and surgery. Potential use for research and testing purposes is also briefly discussed. The paper outlines the potential practical problems of such cadaver use and offers examples of how they may be overcome. The impact on veterinary colleges and society of 'client donation programs' for sourcing animal cadavers is also addressed.


Poly(A)-binding proteins (PABs) bind to the poly(A) tails of most eukaryotic mRNAs and thereby influence the translational efficiency as well as the stability of the mRNAs thus bound. Compared with the data on yeast PAB, relatively little is known about the functions of PABs in higher plants. The cDNA encoding PAB was cloned by the method of "virtual subtraction" from carrot somatic embryos cultured with different sucrose concentrations. Sequence alignment reveals a significant homology between the deduced amino acid sequence of DcPAB and those of other PAB s. The deduced sequence consists of 658 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 71.9 kDa. The cDNA has been expressed as a recombinant protein in Escherichia coli. The differential expression of DcPAB under different conditions suggests a potently unique role in the development of carrot somatic embryo.


Diverse members of the Bacteroidetes phylum have general protein O-glycosylation systems that are essential for processes such as host colonization and pathogenesis. Here, we analyzed the function of a putative fucosyltransferase (FucT) family that is widely encoded in Bacteroidetes protein O-glycosylation genetic loci. We studied the FucT orthologs of three Bacteroidetes species—Tannerella forsythia, Bacteroides fragilis, and Pedobacter heparinus. To identify the linkage created by the FucT of B. fragilis, we elucidated the full structure of its nine-sugar O-glycan and found that l-fucose is linked β1,4 to glucose. Of the two fucose residues in the T. forsythia O-glycan, the fucose linked to the reducing-end galactose was shown by mutational analysis to be l-fucose. Despite the transfer of l-fucose to distinct hexose sugars in the B. fragilis and T. forsythia O-glycans, the FucT orthologs from B. fragilis, T. forsythia, and P. heparinus each cross-complement the B. fragilis ΔBF4306 and T. forsythia ΔTanf_01305 FucT mutants. In vitro enzymatic analyses showed relaxed acceptor specificity of the three enzymes, transferring l-fucose to various pNP-α-hexoses. Further, glycan structural analysis together with fucosidase assays indicated that the T. forsythia FucT links l-fucose α1,6 to galactose. Given the biological importance of fucosylated carbohydrates, these FucTs are promising candidates for synthetic glycobiology.


Morphological and molecular analyses of three populations of Meloidoderita whittoni (Sledge & Christie, 1962) comb. n. (syn. Sphaeronema whittoni ; Tumiota whittoni ) collected in Florida from sweet gum ( Liquidambar styraciflua L.) indicated that this species is a representative of Meloidoderita rather than Sphaeronema , where it was included in the original description, or Tumiota , to where it was subsequently transferred. However, this species can be considered an atypical representative of the genus, because it differs from the other species of this genus in having females retaining the eggs inside a thin-walled uterus, which remains encased inside their body. After egg deposition inside the uterus, the female dies and its body is transformed into a persistent tanned sac with a thick cuticle, devoid of ornamentations, which protects the eggs like a heteroderid cyst. The female secretes from the vulva a gelatinous matrix, which becomes hardened in time and encases its body for protection against predation and parasitism by biological antagonists as has been suggested for other tylenchuloid nematodes. No egg deposition outside the female body was observed. Second-stage juveniles of this species have a semi-endoparasitic, rather than endoparasitic, habit as in other known Meloidoderita species. This is the first report of a sphaeronematid having a cyst stage fitting the definition of a heteroderid cyst. Phylogenetic relationships between some species of Tylenchuloidea and Criconematina are analysed using the partial 18S rRNA, the D2-D3 of 28S rRNA and the ITS rRNA gene sequences.


Background:The numbers of elderly persons have greatly increased worldwide due to improvement of medical health. Elderly complains of cardiopulmonary diseases and the incidence of emergent gall bladder diseases increase with age. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the usual approach in dealing with cholithiasis that greatly replace open approach even in acute emergency gall bladder diseases.Aim: compare between initial Fundus first cholecystectomy followed by Calot dissection VS Calot first cholecystectomy in Emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy with low pressure pneumo-peritoneum in cardiopulmonary risk patients as regard intraoperative data and postoperative complications.Patients and methods:This prospective randomized controlled study was carried out in the Department of Emergency General Surgery on 470 cases with acute cholecystitis, biliary colic, mucocele and pyocele of gall bladder. The patients were divided into two groups, Group A: fundus-Calot group (235cases) and Group B (235cases): classical Calot first approach.ResultsIn most cases of group A, the operating time was up to 90 minutes, while in group B, most cases were more than 90 minutes. Intraoperative bleeding, visceral injury and biliary injury were higher in group B than in group A and therefore the conversion was higher in group B than in group A (14% vs. 4%). Postoperative sequelae were reported to be greater than in group B in regard to bleeding, biliary leakage and wound infections. Remote complications were more pronounced for biliary restrictions in Group B (14%) than in Group A (2%)Conclusion:Laparoscopic low-pressure pneumoperitoneum cholecystectomy with initial Fundus first method is an excellent and safe approach in treating acute gallbladder diseases in cardiopulmonary risk patients.


SocialRobot is a collaborative European project, which focuses on providing a practical and interactive solution to improve the quality of life of elderly people. Having this in mind, a state of the art robotic mobile platform has been integrated with virtual social care technology to meet the elderly individual needs and requirements, following a human centered approach. In this short paper, we make an overview of SocialRobot, the developed architecture and the human-robot interactive scenarios being prepared and tested in the framework of the project for dissemination and exploitation purposes.


This study is aimed at examining the role of non-hemodynamic factors on the impaired microcirculation in patients with moderate essential hypertension. In a series of 31 patients (mean age, 47.8 +/- 1.1 years) with newly diagnosed untreated moderate essential hypertension (mean systolic blood pressure 161.7 +/- 2.0 mm Hg, mean diastolic blood pressure 102.4 +/- 1.5 mm Hg), parameters of the capillaroscopic examination of the finger microcirculation (mean number of capillaries, NRCAP), length of the capillaries (LECAP, microns), diameter micron) of the efferent (EFDI) and afferent (AFDI) apillaries, and mean red blood cell velocity (RBCV, microns/sec), which was measured by the flying spot technique, were correlated with a number of hormones (sampled after an overnight fast) including: plasma renin activity, aldosterone, and parathyroid hormone (PTH). A significant correlation (P less than .05) could be obtained between several parameters of the microcirculation and PTH:PTH (23.8 +/- 1.4 pg/mL)-NRCAP (14.9 +/- 0.5): r = -0.440, P = .013; PTH-AFDI (4.0 +/- 0.5 microns): r = 0.442, P = .012; PTH-EFDI (2.8 +/- 0.5 microns): r = 0.416, P = .019; PTH-RBCV (711 +/- 69 microns/sec): r = -0.351, P = .05. Furthermore, 24-h urinary norepinephrine (U-NOR) and afferent and efferent diameter of the capillaries intercorrelated significantly: U-NOR (46.0 +/- 6.2 micrograms/24 h)-AFDI: r = 0.439, P = .034; U-NOR-EFDI; r = 0.462, P = .025. This study shows that in patients with moderate essential arterial hypertension nonhemodynamic factors have an influence at the level of the microcirculation.


New Chinese Palpifer species are described from Yunnan and Fujian provinces. The male of Palpifer nielseni sp. n. is described from specimens housed at the Witt Museum Weiden and the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, while a male of P. chui sp. n. and a male and female of Palpifer climoi sp. n., are described from specimens in the latter collection only. Specimens were originally part of the Franz Daniel collection, collected in 1934-1935 from elevations of 2,300 and 3,000 m. The new species are diagnosed primarily by differences in the male genitalia. The female genitalia of P. climoi sp. n. represent the second published description for Palpifer. Four unique features of the forewing supporting monophyly of Palpifer are discussed.


Purpose of the article: There is dearth of empirical studies on the association between information asymmetry, environmental externalities and financial performance, especially in Nigeria. Thus in this paper, we examined the nexus of information asymmetry, environmental externalities and financial performance of listed Nigerian firms. Methodology/methods: In order to attain this, the ex-post facto design was adopted and the simple random sampling technique was used in selecting ten (10) firms in the industrial and consumer goods subsector with data spanning from 2012–2017. The data were obtained from the financial statements of the companiws and the Nigerian Stock Exchange Factbook, while the analysis was carried out via the ordinary least square, fixed and random effects statistical tool. Scientific aim: This paper assessed the nexus of information asymmetry, environmental externalities and financial performance in Nigeria. Findings: The study found a clear indication that the level of financial performance of industrial and consumer goods companies in Nigeria is significantly influenced by the information asymmetry, as well as environmental externalities. Contributions: In view of the findings, it was recommended that there should be collaboration between the government and regulatory framework of accounting in order to advance a robust and clear-cut legislation on disclosure of environmental externalities and information irregularity in the financial statements of companies. Also, this study contributes to knowledge by filling the gap in literature, as well as showing that apart other dynamics that may influence financial performance, information asymmetry and environmental externalities are seemingly fundamental.


The study of the emergence of the Black Lives Matter political and social movement in the U.S. allows us to identify the real goals that drove the organizers of the movement during its creation and understand the reason for the protests in the U.S. in 2020.
The real reasons behind the emergence of the political and social movement «Black Lives Matter» have been found to be far from defending the democratic principles of freedom and responsibility, instead being a covert form of manipulation of the issues of racism by the African American movement's organisers for the purpose of achieving political dividends and power. In summary, most researchers, especially those representing the African American community, have been skeptical of the Black Lives Matter movement's political statements and beliefs. The scholars see in the essence of the protests only speculations on the notion of racism by some representatives of the Black community.
This argument is proved by both forensic data certifying the absence of a biased attitude towards the African Americans on the part of police officers, and the nexus between high mortality among African Americans and other factors, not highlighted by the BLM movement's organisers. The impartiality of the US judiciary while considering and deciding upon the aforementioned cases has been confirmed. Data on African American and White American mortality caused by the use of weapons on the part of police officers have been analysed. Thus, the article has posited that critique of the police measures is biased and does not benefit the African American community.


We consider an initial–boundary value problem that involves a partial differential
equation with a functional term. The problem is motivated by a cell division model
for size structured cell cohorts in which growth and division occur. Although much
is known about the large time asymptotic behaviour of solutions to these problems for
constant growth rates, general solution techniques are rare. We analyse the case where
the growth rate is linear and the division rate is a monomial, and we develop a method
to determine the general solution for a general class of initial data. The large time
dynamics of solutions for this case are significantly different from the constant growth
rate case. We show that solutions approach a time-dependent attracting solution that is
periodic in the time variable.

 doi:10.1017/S1446181117000591


Australia is an interesting enclave of defamation jurisprudence. It is
particularly interesting in respect of the so-called 'Polly Peck' defence. It can
be traced to two landmark English decisions: Lucas-Box v News Group
Newspapers1 and Polly Peck (Holdings) v Trelford.2 Broadly speaking,
'Polly Peck' defends a defamation claim by relying on defamatory meaning
that differs from the meaning pleaded by the plaintiff. Australian appellate
judges have been quite skeptical about it. Following some critical obiter dicta
in Chakravarti v Adelaide Newspapers Ltd,3 the defence has been
substantially modified. In 2000, the Victorian Court of Appeal replaced it with
the more confined 'Hore-Lacy' approach.4 This article argues for the full
restoration of the Polly Peck methodology. In particular, it argues for
Australian courts to once again recognise the now critically endangered
'common sting' plea. It does so by reviving the antipodean debate around the
permissibility of alternative meaning pleas. Our fixations on the plaintiff's
pleaded imputations, as well as our fears of 'roving inquiry' have not been
good reasons for abandoning Polly Peck.


This paper demonstrates that financial transmission rights allow their owners to capture at least a portion, and sometimes all, of the congestion rents. This extends work in this area by Shmuel Oren which was limited to the case in which generators could not purchase financial transmission rights. One form of financial rights, Transmission Congestion Contracts (TCCs), is shown to be so effective in reducing market power that as few as two generators facing a demand curve with zero elasticity may be forced to sell at marginal cost. The extent to which market power is limited depends on the extent to which total generation capacity exceeds export capacity and on the size of individual generators. A relationship is derived that determines when TCCs will eliminate market power. In the case of a three line network, it is shown that the reduction in market power that can be accomplished with "active transmission rights" can also be accomplished with simple contracts for differences. † The work described in this study was funded by the Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs, Office of Electricity Policy of the U.S. Department of Energy, under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098 and by the University of California Energy Institute. ‡ University of California Energy Institute and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. email: email@example.com


We report the systematic comparison of the optical emission intensity of the vibrational band of the Swan system with the absolute concentration in and microwave plasmas used in the deposition of nanocrystalline diamond. The absolute concentration is obtained using white-light absorption spectroscopy. Emission intensity correlates linearly with density for variations of several plasma parameters and across two decades of species concentration. Although optical emission intensity generally is not an accurate quantitative diagnostic for gas phase species concentrations, these results confirm the reliability of the (0,0) Swan band for relative determination of density with high sensitivity under conditions used for hydrogen-deficient plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition of diamond.


This study was designed to explore the relationship between teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and their use of family involvement practices. Bandura's concept of self-efficacy and Epstein's typology of family involvement provided the theoretical framework for examining this relationship. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, justifying a two-phase sequential multi-methods study. In the first phase of the study, self-reporting instruments were used to discover the nature of the relationship between teacher self-efficacy, teacher's family involvement self-efficacy, and the teacher's use of family involvement practices. Teacher self-efficacy and family involvement self-efficacy were measured, respectively, using the Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale and the Family Involvement Teacher Efficacy Scale. Family involvement practices were self-recorded using the Teacher's Family Involvement Practices Survey. In the second phase of the research, qualitative data was collected via interviews with a purposeful sample of teachers to further investigate the relationship between the two constructs.
 Participants in the study included 49 teachers from three different school districts along Mississippi's Gulf Coast region. Of those that participated, eight agreed to provide qualitative data in a follow-up interview. The findings of the research indicate that a moderately strong relationship exists between teaching self-efficacy and the use of parental involvement practices. In other words, higher levels of teaching self-efficacy were associated with more frequent use of parental involvement practices. Teaching self-efficacy in student engagement and instructional strategies were significantly associated to teaching self-efficacy.
 The research findings also revealed that communication is by far the most frequently used parental involvement practice. Other practices were largely neglected, which may be due to a variety of reasons, such as lack of appropriate training in the various methods available for parental involvement; variables within the school atmosphere that make parental involvement difficult, and logistical obstacles that teachers face as they try to involve parents.
Finally, despite having been significantly established in previous studies, the relationship between teacher family involvement self-efficacy and the use of parental involvement practices was not found to be significant with this study. The instrumentation used in this study may play a role in this phenomenon and should be considered carefully before employing it in future research.


In Object-Oriented Paradigm, various cohesion measurements have been studied taking into account reference relation among components - like attributes and methods - that belong to a class. In addition, a number of methods have taken into research utilizing manual analysis, that is performed by developer's intuition and experience, and automatic analysis in refactoring field. The verification of objective criteria is demanded in order to process automatic refactoring. In this paper, we propose a method exploiting logistic regression and neural network for analysis of the relationship between six factors considering reference relation and method location among classes. Experimental results demonstrate that the logistic regression predicts the results up to 97% and the neural network predicts the outcomes up to 90%. Hence, we conclude that the logistic regression based method is more effective to predict the method location. Moreover, more than 90% of experimental results from both methods show that the six factors used in Move Method in refactoring are suitable to be used as an objective criteria.


We are responding to the submission by Oates et al., 'Equids and an "acrobat": closure rituals at Tell Brak' (http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/ant/082/ant0820390.htm). The paper describes the interpretation of a partially preserved skeleton with bone changes that indicate 'habitual energetic activity' (p. 398), or a person who was 'physically active, using jumping and twisting movements in a very disciplined way with the feet pointed downwards during leaps, as can be seen in modern dancers' (p. 396). While we acknowledge that the skeleton was deposited in an unusual way, and that documentary sources at Elba and seals at Tell Brak suggest people were present who were characterised as 'always jumping about' (translation of a Semitic word which can also infer an 'entertainer, juggler or horseman'), we would like to explore further what is described as the main subject of this article, namely the 'occupational' interpretation of an incomplete skeleton as that of an 'acrobat.'


One prominent disadvantage of SVM when implemented in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is the run-time complexity of classifier, which linearly increases with the number of support vectors (SVs). This disadvantage prevents applying SVM in some applications. In this paper, we propose an improved reduced set method to find solutions characterized by few number of vectors and having good generalization properties. The idea behind our improved method is to combine finding patterns with maximum absolute margin and performing gradient-descent to find new patterns in new decision function. Our method can partially overcome the non-convexity difficulty. The application context is that of WSNs, where a general sensor node is equipped with fixed point CPU. The performance of fixed point implementation of our algorithm is also provided.


Abstract: The study examined 137 stray dogs from both sexes and aged 3 months - 3 years old, included 127 stray dogs and 10 dogs clinically normal, served as a control group. Clinical signs were observed, the percentage of infection with intestinal parasites was 49.60%, was diagnosed with worms Toxocara canis 32.28%, Toxascaris leonine 25.19%, and Taenia pisiformis 27.55%, and Moniezia sp. 37.79%, and Dipylidium caninum 19.68%, and Diphyllobothrium sp. 24.40% and oocysts each of Isospora spp. 13.38%, and Cryptosporidium spp. 16.53%. histopathological examination of the intestines showed transformation the columnor epithelial cells to the spherical or semi-spherical shape and also alienation the villi in the intestinal cavity, with the infilteration of large numbers of inflammatory white blood cells inside the core of the villi also appeared in the lamina propria, agreat number of lymphocytes inflammatory cells with appearance of parasitic spherical cystic structures of worm Toxocara canis in the submucosal layer and between fibers of smooth muscle.


TCP is known to have bandwidth fairness problems for flows of different RTT. HighSpeed TCP, which adapts TCP's congestion avoidance to grow faster, and thus be able to scale to high bandwidth environments, aggravates the RTT fairness problem since the congestion window increases at a rate proportional to the RTT and the current window size. We propose a method to eliminate the RTT fairness problem for competing high bandwidth flows. We decouple the rate of window growth in HighSpeed TCP from the current window size, such that competing flows adjust their window size, instead, according to their perceived byte sending rate. We derive condi- tions and a normalisation scheme to ensure that high bandwidth competing flows converge to fair bandwidth allocation regardless of the RTT or segment size used, while maintaining HighSpeed TCP's ability to scale to very high bandwidth environments. We introduce features to preserve TCP friendliness in low bandwidth environments such that, the RTT fairness is no worse than that of standard TCP in scenarios of moderate packet loss. We have conducted simulations to validate the abilities of our proposal to eliminate the RTT bias from HighSpeed TCP. I. INTRODUCTION


Periductal stromal sarcoma (PSS), spindle and epithelioid types, is a rare subtype of malignant fibroepithelial tumor. The morphological characteristics of this neoplasm are different from phyllodes tumor and stromal sarcoma. PSS exhibits biphasic histology with benign ductal elements and a sarcomatous stroma composed of spindle cells and lacking phyllodes tumor architecture. The therapeutic management of PSS is based on wide surgery with free margins, and adjuvant therapies are not required. To the best of our knowledge, the recurrence of PSS in ≤5 months has not been reported in the literature to date. This report describes a 43-year-old woman who presented to our hospital with a recurrence of nodules in the left breast. The patient had undergone lumpectomy at a different hospital 5 months previously, and a diagnosis of phyllodes tumor was pathologically confirmed. On presentation at our hospital, the patient underwent a second lumpectomy. Histological examination revealed PSS and the patient underwent a simple mastectomy of the left breast with no adjuvant treatment (such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy). After 9 months of close follow-up examinations, no recurrence was observed. PSS is an extremely rare disease with low-grade sarcomatous behavior, which may evolve into a phyllodes tumor or an entity of breast cancer. Therefore, frequent follow-up examinations are required.


So-called radiation-induced tumor cases following radiation therapy have been collected for the purpose of elucidation the relationship between ionizing radiation and carcinogenesis. Presented in this paper is a summary of cases obtained from biopsied and surgical materials. Materials were 64,082 cases with tumor or tumor-like lesion registered to the Nagasaki Tumor Tissue Registry during a 12-year period from 1973 to 1984. The criteria used for determination of radiation-induced tumor were 1) the past history of radiation therapy, 2) the evidence of tumor developing at the site of irradiation and 3) the latent period of five years or more. As a result, 6 male cases and 26 female cases, totalling 32 cases, of radiation-induced tumor were detected. These 32 cases were compiled after being classified into four categories of 1) malignant tumor developing after radiation therapy for malignant tumor, 2) malignant tumor after radiation therapy for benign condition, 3) benign tumor after radiation therapy for malignant tumor, and 4) benign tumor after radiation therapy for benign condition.


There are dramatically increasing interests from both academic and industry in the trend of cloud computing. Cloud computing depends on the idea of computing on demand that provide, support and delivery of computing services with stable and large data space. Our research concerns with improving the searching process in the cloud storage via avoiding the bottleneck in central ontology cloud storage system since all data chunks in the cloud must be indexed by a master ontology server.The contribution of this paper proposes new cloud storage architecture based distributed ontology as one of the main semantic technologies. This architecture provides better scalability, fault tolerance and enhanced performance for searching in the cloud storage avoiding the central bottleneck.


Relay selection (RS) is the one of the proposed methods in the literature to utilize cooperative diversity. When the source-relay channel information is not available at the destination, the RS technique does not exploit user diversity efficiently. The proposed solution of this problem in the literature is that the relays monitor all channels "end-to-end" and the mobile unit with the highest channel gain informs the destination and other relays. This is called path selection and is not a practical solution, since, each relay mobile unit consumes additional power for monitoring, synchronization and protocol overhead. In this paper, we propose an alternative solution in that each mobile unit quantizes its partial source-relay channel information and transmits to the destination. Since the destination is usually a base station, power consumption and synchronization is not a problem. Proposed method provides important performance gains with a few feedforward bits. New path selection algorithm does not require relay monitoring of all paths, and eliminates synchronization and protocol overhead.


We describe calculations of the sensitivity of CCD's to soft x rays incident at grazing angles. Soft-x-ray spectrometers based on a Rowland-circle geometry have a focal plane and hence detector surface at grazing incidence to the soft × rays. We model the penetration of the grazing-incidence soft × rays to the sensitive region of the CCD and predict the charge-collection efficiency as a function of wavelength. The results show significant advantages over microchannel plate intensified detection.


Ductility of high purity steels containing niobium was investigated at low strain rates at temperatures ranging from higher ferrite-pearlite region to lower austenite region. Ductility loss is observed at temperature where austenite phase is stable regardless of loading, and it increases with decreasing temperature. Ductility shows minimum at temperature where ferrite phase is induced to form by loading. Hot ductility reduces with increase of niobium content. At the temperature corresponding to minimum ductility, crack and thin film of ferrite are formed along grain boundary, but their location does not always coincide with each other. Grain boundary is easy to move at higher temperature with good ductility, whereas grain boundary keeps straight during deformation at temperature range with poor ductility. Very fine niobium carbide particles are homogeneously precipitated by deformation at austenite temperatures, and then no precipitate free zone can be found. Aluminum deepens and widens the ductility trough by coprecipitating with niobium during deformation, manganese shifts the ductility loss to lower temperature, and nitrogen slightly deteriorates hot ductility. The cause of the ductility loss is proposed on the basis of the role vacancies. Both dynamic recovery and grain boundary migration are depressed by the fine particles, and some amount of dislocation pile up occurs at grain boundaries, to which vacancies diffuse to annihilate the dislocation, and the incompatibility of the strain. Microvoids are nucleated as far as the grain boundary is immobile due to locking by either segregation of impurities or fine precipitation, and microvoids coalesce to form crack along grain boundary. The ferrite formation relaxes the grain boundary incompatibility and recovers the ductility.


Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) is a plant that contains a lot of acid. Tamarind can be used as a substitute for pasta on a battery that is said to be an electrolyte solution. The solution is an acid compound such as citric acid compound, tartrate acid, malic acid is known to be an electrolyte solution. Electrolyte solutions can be used in voltaic cell systems which use copper plates as cathodes and zinc plates as anodes to drain negative ions. The tools and materials used in this study are mature tamarind, measuring cups, copper plates and zinc plates, multimeters, and connecting cables. The method used is a method for making galvani cells, namely connecting a negative cable on a zinc plate and a positive cable on a copper plate, which is inserted into an acidic Java electrolyte solution. The data measured is the magnitude of the electric voltage and the effect of the acidic mass of Java on the concentration of electrolyte solution. The data obtained shows that tamarind can be used as an electrolyte solution because it produces electricity and the effect of the concentration of the solution on the acidic Java electrolyte solution shows a decrease in the voltage caused by being too thick.


The paper describes the RSA arithmetic about cipher,showing the exponential expression of it.Proclamation in writing is encrypted by the unif of grouping,each of them being no more than the value of binary system of a certain number N,explaining that the magnitude of grouping must be less than or equal to that of logn 2,offering the corresponding schema and introducing the security of RSA arithmetic as well.What's more,assuming testing by adopting mathematical and timing attacks of two kinds,with the relevant precautions attached.RSA arithmetic,universally used as security protocol,is one of the key arithmetics about cipher.


The distribution and amount of intramuscular fat, collectively scored as marbling, is an economically important trait in beef cattle. Hanwoo (Bos Taurus coreanae) is the premium beef cattle in Korea.A previous GWAS analysis on Hanwoo had showed that an SNP located in the CALN1 gene had a very strong association with Marbling. This SNP referred to as g.29172875A>G, was genotyped on Hanwoo tissue samples (n = 1103) collected from throughout Korea. The genotype frequencies were 0.152, 0.439 and 0.408 for AA, AG and GG, respectively. The association study confirmed significant association with marbling (P <0.0001) and loin eye muscle area (P = 0.001), with strong additive genetic effects. Significant departure from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was not detected. The findings suggest that the CALN1 SNP polymorphism is strongly associated with marbling and loin eye muscle area and can be used as a robust marker for marker based selective breeding programs in Hanwoo.


The purpose of this study is to gain insights on what evokes consumer trust for
(environmental) sustainability communication and shed light on how this trust impacts
consumers' perception of sustainability. A literature review and qualitative data collection,
combining four focus groups and nine interviews, were the basis for a discussion on this
topic. This study found that what evokes trust in sustainability communication is a rather
complex dynamic which previous research has failed to explore. Preexisting studies have
instead focused on how a few attributes, such as the type of organization behind sustainability
communication, affect trust. This study also concluded that consumers might provide one
answer for what evokes their trust when asked in general, and another when given an example
of sustainability communication to consider. Additionally, it was found that sustainability
communication has a somewhat complex impact on consumer perception of sustainability.
Although identifying high consumption levels in itself as a problem for environmental
sustainability and expressing skepticism for environmental claims made by business, they
were more focused on being sustainable by consuming sustainable products than decreasing
their sustainability. This study concluded that this depended on the notion that changing what
products to consume is easier than stopping to consume and the fact that business is trying to
drive sales through sustainability communication and offers.


BACKGROUND
Free flap surgery in the pediatric population has gained widespread acceptance regarding its technical utility and reliability. Initial concerns as to the feasibility and reliability of the procedure in children were resolved over time.

METHODS
Thirty children (15 boys, 15 girls) were treated in Sisli Etfal Training and Research Hospital, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Clinic. Their mean age was 10.8 years. Defects were located on the lower extremity (n=22), head and neck (n=5) and upper extremity (n=3). The etiologies of the defects included vehicle accident, sequelae of burn, traumatic contractures, crush injury, epulis in the maxilla, and gunshot wound.

RESULTS
The free flaps performed in our series were latissimus dorsi muscle flap, combined latissimus dorsi and serratus muscle flaps, serratus anterior muscle flap, cross latissimus dorsi muscle flap, scapular osteomyocutaneous flap, parascapular fasciocutaneous flap, fibular osteocutaneous flap, anterolateral thigh flap, medial circumflex femoral artery perforator flap, and crista iliaca osteocutaneous flap.

CONCLUSION
The advantages of free flaps in children, which include better adaptation of the flap growth and better learning capacity of the children, provide the surgeon with more satisfactory functional and aesthetic results.


Background and objective: Decision to administer adjuvant chemotherapy to N-/M- invasive breast cancer (IBC) patients remains a clinical challenge. Several patient-related factors, such as age, tumor size and grade, or hormone receptor (HR) and HER2 status are incorporated in treatment guidelines. Recommendations have become more complex with time and availability of additional tests. Using the breast cancer database developed at Institut Paoli Calmettes (IPC) from 1999 onwards, our objective was to analyze the importance of key patient-related factors in chemotherapy decision and their evolution over time.Methods: Using our database containing 5854 N-/M- IBC patients, descriptive statistics and classification tree analysis (CART) examined the following factors: age (cut-off 40y), tumor size (cut-off 20 mm), SBR histologic grade, HR positivity, perivascular infiltration (PVI). At IPC, HER2 became clinical routine from 2000 onwards, and cut-off for tumor size was reduced to 15 mm after 2005.Consequently, a second cohort comprised of patients diagnosed between 2000 and 2005 with homogeneous diagnosis and management practices was analysed.Results: SBR-1 and SBR-2 represented 32% and 46% of all cases (n=5854) resp., and SBR-3 22%. Distribution of patients for the other factors of interest was: tumor size > 20 mm for 27%, HR+ for 80%, age >= 40 yr for 91%, PVI+ for 24%. Adjuvant chemotherapy was administered to 1597 patients (27,3%). The optimal tree model based on pruning and 10-fold cross-validation correctly predicted 83.5% of decision, with 93% sensibility and 61% specificity. SBR was the most important t decision factor, allowing to improve the prediction rate from 72.7% to 76.4%. The next factors were date of diagnosis, then size for SBR 1-2, and age for SBR3. Adjuvant chemotherapy was more frequent after 2000 than before: 34.2% vs 8.9% resp. for SBR1-2, and 83.2% vs 39.3% resp.for SBR3. In the 2000-2005 cohort (n=1658, SBR1=37%, SBR2=40%, SBR3=23%), chemotherapy was chosen for 754 patients (45.5%). The optimal tree model based on pruning and 10-fold cross-validation correctly predicted 79.3% of cases with 82.8% sensibility and 76.4% specificity. SBR was again the primary decision factor, improving the prediction rate from 55.5% to 75.0%. For SBR1-2 chemotherapy was used in 35% of patients, and tumor size, PVI and age were the next decision factors. For the SBR-3, grade was the only relevant decision factor in the algorithm, leading to chemotherapy in 82% of patients.Conclusion: Hierarchy of factors driving chemotherapy decision is remarkably stable over time. Tumor grade, a major indicator of proliferation, remains the most contributive factor for adjuvant chemotherapy in N-/M- IBC, despite the progressive availability of new pathologic indicators over time. Considering the variability of tumor grading by histology across centers, and the limited informative power of intermediate SBR-2 grade, improvement in tumor grading may provide a simple approach to refine currently validated treatment algorithms and allow for a more individualized treatment strategy. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 2089.


This article explores a highly striking phenomenon termed metalepsis. A metalepsis is a fictional and paradoxical transgression of the border between mutually exclusive worlds that cannot be transgressed in our actual world. The hand of the animator reaching into the diegesis of his creations as well as characters communicating with the audience, escaping to the world of their creators, or altering their own worlds are all different types of metaleptic transgressions. Even though this phenomenon appears extensively throughout the history of animation, it has not been theorized in animation studies thus far. This article introduces transmedial narratological conceptualizations of metalepsis as an analytical tool for animation. It discusses a wide range of examples, testing the applicability of the framework to various animated forms.


Variation in speed of seed germination was investigated among ponderosa pine trees representing 225 locations in central Oregon. Results suggested that at least some of the geographic variation is related to the severity of summer drought. In general, germination speed was greater in locations with short, drought-limited growing seasons. Levels of geographic variation were highest in the region having the steepest precipitation gradients. Most of the variation occurred, however, within locations.


Hyperbilirubinemia caused severe hepatobiliary diseases with various causes, especially hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis caused by end-stage hepatitis B and C. Plasma adsorption perfusion (PP) has a tremendous advantage in treating patients with hyperbilirubinemia and liver failure, wherein, a safe and effective adsorbent is the key to filter out bilirubin successfully in PP. In this work, a simple engineering strategy, a new porous polymer adsorption resin ERM-0100 based on the homopolymer predispersion system, is proposed to produce high-performance bilirubin adsorbents. Preliminary experimental results show that ERM-0100 exhibits a large surface area and uniformly porous structure. Experimental results verify that ERM-0100 has high biocompatibility and bilirubin adsorption efficiency (TBIL:35%, direct bilirubin [DBIL]:30%, IBIL:87%) that is significantly higher than most of the reported adsorbents. Animal experiments prove that ERM-0100 has high bilirubin adsorption efficiency and can improve the liver function of animals. The combination of high biocompatibility and high adsorption capacity positions the ERM-0100 as a promising candidate for bilirubin removal.


In this paper, a multi-module electrodynamic exciter based on moving-magnet disk voice coil motor is presented to meet the demands of high torque and high bandwidth in a dynamic torsional stiffness test. A variable pole-arc ratio disk Halbach array (VPAR-DHA) is proposed, so that both high torque density and low rotor inertia can be obtained through enhancing the magnetic field in the working range. The analytical quasi-3-D model of VPAR-DHA was set up by using the harmonic function method, with the consideration of end-effects by a correction function. Electromagnetic structure optimization was carried out with the analytical model, and verified by 3-D finite-element (FEM) results. The proposed design was experimentally tested and verified with a prototype that achieved a peak dynamic torque output of 40 Nm at a frequency of 120 Hz, and a stroke of ±1°. The proposed method can also be easily extended to satisfy various demands of dynamic torsional stiffness test.


Ethnic insurgency, rivalry and conflict have come to the fore in most African states in recent times, with the Rwandan genocide involving the Hutus and Tutsis in 1994 being one of the worst examples of violent conflict in Africa between 1990 and 2013. This article examines the immediate and remote political causes of the genocide to determine whether ethnic division was the real cause of the armed conflict.
The article firstly conceptualises ethnicity and ethnic identity and how they materialise in contemporary African societies. Secondly, it delves into the relationship between armed conflicts and ethnic identities. Finally, it engages the extent to which the Rwandan genocide was a mixture of ethnic identities and political change.


Study of the physico-chemical parameters of Ikere gorge is one of the recently constructed man-made lake in Oyo state, Nigeria. The need to assess the fish diversity, water quality and catch assessment of this new water body was necessary. Data on fish species were collected on monthly basis using multi-stage gillnet sampling techniques for eighteen months. Four sampling stations were randomly selected from the entire gorge. In each sampling station (fishing villages) were randomly selected for the investigation of the fish composition and abundance. A variety of sampling methods were used at each site in order to reach every fish species. At the river channel and the floodplain sites, traps, cast nets (2.55cm mesh), seine nets (25.5x2m, cm mesh), monofilament nylon gillnets (15.55 cm mesh), and hook and line were employed. Effort were made in order to catch fish species in large abundance. Some sampled fish (dead) were collected and placed in cool boxes and examined within 18h of capture, others were preserved in 15% formalin and stored for later examination. Samples of catches from the commercial fishermen was in addition examined and assessed. A total of 5,736 fish specimens were caught during the study period. These were identified and classified into 34 species belonging to 13 families, and arranged according to Greenwood et al (1966). The percentage species composition of the harvest by numbers and weight for all fish species that contributed more than 1% in all the stations combine were computed. Data fish composition and abundance were collected. From field and Laboratory evaluation, Bagridae (25.1%), Cichlidae (37.1%) and Mormyridae (14.5%) were most abundant families contributing 76.7% by number and 75% by weight of the total catch followed by Characidae (9.6%), Cyprinidae (7%) and Centropomidae (3%) constituting (19.6%) by number and 8.7% by weight. Others; Schilbedae (1.1%) Clarridae (0.8%), Hepsetidae (0.7%0, Mochokidae (0.6%), Channidae (0.5%), Icthyoboridae (0.2%) and Malapteruridae (0.1%) were least represented (4% by number and 16.5% by weight of total catch). Study of the physico-chemical parameters such as dissolved oxygen ranged from 2.2 to 9.1mg/l; temperature, 24.2 to 30 0 C; alkalinity, 94 to 118ppm; conductivity, 81 to 86.7ohms/cm; pH, 6.04-8.62; transparency 50cm to 3.9m; nitrate, 258.15-532.6mg/l; total dissolved solids, 0.142-782mg/l; depth, 25-33.60m; pH and water temperature serve as variables since the fluctuation of one affects the values of others. The water quality parameters were favourable for fish production. The gillnet fisheries indicated that different mesh sizes of experimental gillnets were sensitive to different fish species. 78.4mm, 112mm, 67.2mm mesh sizes were efficient in catching C. nigrodigitatus L. niloticus and the cichlids respectively. Other gears used were cast net, traps, bamboo stems, spears and gura net. The study has shown that station iv was the most suitable habitat for fish in Ikere gorge. Water level and temperature were observed to guarantee high fish yield in the gorge.


&NA; Clinical decision units (CDUs) are a relatively new and growing area of medicine in which patients undergo rapid evaluation and treatment. Continuous quality improvement (CQI) is important for the establishment and functioning of CDUs. CQI in CDUs has many advantages: better CDU functioning, fulfillment of Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations mandates, greater efficiency/productivity, increased job satisfaction, better performance improvement, data availability, and benchmarking. Key elements include a database with volume indicators, operational policies, clinical practice protocols (diagnosis specific/condition specific), monitors, benchmarks, and clinical pathways. Examples of these important parameters are given. The CQI process should be individualized for each CDU and hospital.


The aim of the article is to analyze the image of economic emigration from Ukraine to Poland created by pro-Kremlin media after 2014. It shows how Russian propaganda changed during the 20th century, what function it had from the tsarist period, through the years of the Soviet Union, to contemporary times. Its significance in the period after the decomposition of the union state was presented, and in particular the changes that it underwent since Vladimir Putin's first presidency. There were shown ideological changes, which more or less influenced the public discourse, and thus also the media coverage. The functions of the Russian propaganda after the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the way of presenting mass labour migration from Ukraine to Poland are presented, both in the context of creating a specific narrative about the current internal and foreign situation of Ukraine after the Dignity Revolution, as well as against the background of Polish-Ukrainian relations and migration processes taking place in Poland. It was shown which aspects of mass migration were most often presented by pro-Kremlin information platforms, in which context and how a specific propaganda discourse was constructed. An important element is the analysis of changes observed in the message of the state-controlled Russian media concerning the mass migration of Ukrainians to Poland and the analysis of the origins, scale, significance and consequences of this migration. More extensive research leads to the conclusion that the media controlled by the Kremlin authorities can skilfully construct the message by adapting it to the addressee. In Polish language information services, the information addressed to the recipient is much more detailed and prepared in such a way as to build an aversion between the host society and Ukrainian economic immigrants. While preparing the article, we used the analysis of data found with elements of a comparative analysis.


We study the separability problem for automatic relations (i.e., relations on finite words definable by synchronous automata) in terms of recognizable relations (i.e., finite unions of products of regular languages). This problem takes as input two automatic relations $R$ and $R'$, and asks if there exists a recognizable relation $S$ that contains $R$ and does not intersect $R'$. We show this problem to be undecidable when the number of products allowed in the recognizable relation is fixed. In particular, checking if there exists a recognizable relation $S$ with at most $k$ products of regular languages that separates $R$ from $R'$ is undecidable, for each fixed $k \geq 2$. Our proofs reveal tight connections, of independent interest, between the separability problem and the finite coloring problem for automatic graphs, where colors are regular languages.


One of the EC programmes for R&D in the precompetitive and prenormative domain is called "Telematics in Areas of General Interest" It is in the 3rd R&D Framework programme running from 1990 to 1994. The programme is based on a Council Decision of 1991 and covers 7 areas: Telematics for administrations, distant and flexible learning, health care, transport, rural areas, linguistics and libraries. Based on a work plan adopted by experts from Member States a call was launched in 1991 inviting consortia with partners from at least two Member Countries representing users and industries to propose. The conditions are those of cost shared work with the EC funding up to no more than 50% of the cost of the proposal. The number and the financial volume of the ensuing project greatly exceded the budget by 6 to 7 times, and an independent group of evaluators proposed a selection on the basis of which the Commission and Member States finally decided which should be funded, most often with a reduction of the proposed amount. A small amount was left for concerted actions, bringing together nationally funded research activities in specified domains under the assumption of a added value of European collaboration.


Double sided axial field machines are attractive for direct wheel drives in electric vehicles. This is due to the fact that stator/rotor misalignments can be accommodated. In this case the stator of the machine is envisaged mounted on the chassis of the car whilst the rotor directly drives the road wheel. Since the wheel is perturbed by the road surface the rotor will move vertically between the outside stator assemblies and thus give rise to torque pulsations. A vector control scheme has been implemented whereby the torque pulsations are eliminated by (i) calculation of the flux variation due to the rotor perturbation and (ii) using this signal for the modulation of the motor input current.


We consider a fundamental flow maximization problem that arises during the evaluation of multiple overlapping queries defined on a data stream, in a heterogenous parallel environment. Each query is a conjunction of boolean filters, and each filter could be shared across multiple queries. We are required to design an evaluation plan that evaluates filters against stream items in order to determine the set of queries satisfied by each item. The evaluation plan specifies for each item: (i) the subset of filters evaluated for this item and the order of their evaluations, and (ii) the processor on which each filter evaluation occurs. Our goal is to design an evaluation plan which maximizes the total throughput (flow) of the stream handled by the plan, without violating the processor capacities.
 Filter ordering has received extensive attention in single-processor settings, with the objective of minimizing the total cost of filter evaluations: in particular, efficient (approximation) algorithms are known for various important versions of min-cost filter ordering. Min-cost filter ordering problem for a single processor is a special case of our flow maximization for parallel processors. Our main contribution in this work is a generic flow-maximization algorithm, which assumes the availability of a min-cost filter ordering algorithm for a single processor, and uses this to iteratively construct a solution to the flow-maximization problem for heterogenous parallel processors. We show that the approximation ratio of our flow-maximization strategy is essentially the same as that of the underlying min-cost filter ordering algorithm. Our result, along with existing results on min-cost filter ordering, enables the optimization of several important versions of filter ordering in parallel environments.


This study explores the impact of Covid-19 on labor relations and public labor relations policies. Focus is given to the worldwide effects of the pandemic on employment, the impact of Covid-19 on the European labor landscape, the impact of the pandemic on the Greek labor context, and the main labor policies and measures adopted in Greece during Covid-19. The analysis of the effects of the pandemic on employment is based on published research material from ILO, Eurofound and the database of the Greek Ministry of Labor. The section concerning the impact of Covid-19 on the labor relations policies and the measures adopted in the Greek context is based on the analysis of the Greek institutional framework and the related legislative acts. The main employment policy responses to Covid-19 pandemic are ensuring workers' safety, maintaining adequate paid sick leave, upholding support for workers with caring needs, adapting job retention schemes, ensuring adequate income protection, expanding employment services and training and giving the young people the support they need. Planning and implementing effective labor policies is a demanding goal that requires cooperation and synergies among economic, research, innovation and lifelong education policies.


In this paper, we examine how earnings information is diffused to capital markets by investigating the analyst's decision about when to issue a revised earnings forecast following an earnings announcement. At the earnings announcement date, the analyst chooses either to forecast immediately with the opportunity for subsequent revisions, or to wait and revise at any time before the announcement of the subsequent quarter's earnings. This choice sets in motion in the potential paths for information diffusion. We propose that the analyst's choice depends on a trade-off between accuracy and speed, and hypothesize three categories of factors associated with that choice: the ease of the forecasting task, analysts' incentives, and the ability to learn from other analysts ("social learning"). Our findings suggest that the ease of the forecasting task (as proxied by earnings predictability, the informativeness of the press release, and analyst ability) and analysts' incentives (as proxied by brokerage house size, firm size, and the analysts' workload) are significantly associated with the decision to forecast immediately. We find little evidence, however, of analysts' delaying their release of a revised earnings forecast in anticipation of potentially learning from other analysts.


The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial is a large-scale research effort conducted by the National Cancer Institute. PLCO offers an example of coordinated research by both the extramural and intramural communities of the National Institutes of Health. The purpose of this article is to describe the PLCO research resource and how it is managed and to assess the productivity and the costs associated with this resource. Such an in-depth analysis of a single large-scale project can shed light on questions such as how large-scale projects should be managed, what metrics should be used to assess productivity, and how costs can be compared with productivity metrics. A comprehensive publication analysis identified 335 primary research publications resulting from research using PLCO data and biospecimens from 2000 to 2012. By the end of 2012, a total of 9679 citations (excluding self-citations) have resulted from this body of research publications, with an average of 29.7 citations per article, and an h index of 45, which is comparable with other large-scale studies, such as the Nurses' Health Study. In terms of impact on public health, PLCO trial results have been used by the US Preventive Services Task Force in making recommendations concerning prostate and ovarian cancer screening. The overall cost of PLCO was $454 million over 20 years, adjusted to 2011 dollars, with approximately $37 million for the collection, processing, and storage of biospecimens, including blood samples, buccal cells, and pathology tissues.


A direct and theoretically valid method for the measurement of aortic regurgitation involves the recording of indicator concentrations from the left ventricle and a downstream site during aortic root injection. However, this method has yielded erratic results when applied to man in our laboratory when using the sudden injection technique. Moreover, others have found a systematic overestimate of backflow when the sudden injection technique was compared with flowmeter measurements in dogs with experimental aortic regurgitation. If defects in the method are due primarily to a critical dependence of indicator distribution on the timing of injection or to beat-to-beat variations in the forward or regurgitant stroke volumes, these difficulties could conceivably be overcome by substituting continuous infusion of indicator for sudden single injections. Therefore, the upstream sampling method, using continuous infusion of indicator, was evaluated in 18 patients with aortic regurgitation during retrograde aortic and transseptal left ventricular catheterization. The continuous infusion technique was compared withthe technique of sudden injection in 10 patients and with aortic valvulography in 14 patients.Measurements of forward flow obtained with continuous infusions into the aortic root were not significantly different from measurements obtained with sudden injections into the pulmonary artery. Recordings of indicator concentrations from the left ventricle, during continuous infusions into the aortic root, demonstrated readily evident equilibrium plateaus. The resultant measurements of regurgitant flow were highly reproducible and not impaired by nonsimultaneity of upstream and downstream sampling. The percentage error of estimate at 95% confidence limits was 22% of the measurement for regurgitant flow, 13% for total flow, and 9% for the regurgitant fraction of total flow. The corresponding errors of estimate for the sudden injection technique were four times larger.Regurgitant flow by the continuous infusion method ranged from 0.8 to 30.0 L/min, total flow from 3.0 to 36.0 L/min, and the regurgitant fraction of total flow from 12 to 86%. Ranking of patients by the magnitudes of regurgitant and total flow did not correspond to ranking by angiographic criteria of severity. However, an excellent correlation prevailed between angiographic grade and the regurgitant fraction of total flow, demonstrating that this variable is the most meaningful expression of severity. The correlation (0.997) between the angiographic grade and the regurgitant fraction measured by the continuous infusion technique was clearly superior to that obtained with the sudden injection technique (0.894). Mild regurgitation was equivalent to a regurgitant fraction of <25%, moderate regurgitation to a fraction of 25 to 50%, moderately severe regurgitation to a fraction of 50 to 75% and severe regurgitation to a fraction of >75%.It is concluded that the upstream sampling method during continuous infusion of indicator, because of its sensitivity, reliability, applicability to multiple measurements, and validity in the presence of mitral regurgitation, is the most useful method for quantifying aortic regurgitation in man.


ROSASOL Cream is a novel topical formulation of 1% metronidazole in a vehicle containing sunscreens (SPF 15). This product has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of inflammatory lesions, erythema, and telangiectasiae associated with rosacea.


Wide range of applications and numerous other complexities involved in pedestrian detection makes it a continuous and open area of research. Recently pedestrian detection is getting much more interest and researchers are contributing a lot in this field. Selection of a feature extraction method is very important factor for high recognition performance in human detection systems. In this paper, we propose an efficient self-similarity based human identification using modified Independent Component Analysis (MICA). Initially the background modeling is done from a video sequence. Subsequently, the moving foreground objects in the individual image frames are segmented using the background subtraction algorithm. Then, the morphological skeleton operator is used to track the silhouettes. The MICA based on eigen space transformation is then trained using the sequence of silhouette images. Finally, the proposed system recognizes the human features based on multikernel SVM classification. The proposed system is evaluated using gait databases and the experimentation on outdoor video sequences demonstrates that the proposed algorithm achieves a pleasing recognition performance.


Seventeen clones of Rhopalosiphum padi (Linnaeus, 1758), 14 of R. maidis (Fitch, 1856), and two of R. insertum (Walker, 1849), representing a wide range of host plants and geographic distribution, were examined electrophoretically to determine intra and interspecific variation. Twenty-one enzyme systems were tested using starch-gel techniques. The electromorph variation within species was low, as expected for parthenogenetic organisms. Frequency of heterozygotes was also relatively low for most populations. The percentage of polymorphic loci ranged from 0% to 27.3% in R. padi, but it was lower (0% to 18.2%) in the completely an holocyclic R. maidis. No consistent correlation between band patterns and host plant or geographic origin could be established for R. padi and R. maidis. The distinction between R. padi and R. insertum was made by Est-1, Lap-2, Pgm, Got-1,and α-gpdh.The enzymes Est-2, G-3pdh, Sdh, and Got-2 were useful to separate R. maidis from R. padi, while Est-1, Lap-2, Got-1, and α-gpdh, in addition to the first three mentioned above, separated R. maidis from R. insertum. However, many other loci shared only one electromorph and had another that was useful to partially distinguish the species. The utilization of starch-gel electrophoresis as a taxonomic tool in distinguishing populations and species of aphids and its combination with other taxonomic methods are briefly discussed.


Background: Bacterial infection, the most common complication of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia, is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Gram-negative pathogens are prominent causes and account for 30% of microbiologically documented infections in neutropenic patients. The recent years have seen a steady increase in isolation of multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogens, resistant to antibiotics commonly used as first-line therapy for febrile neutropenia. This trend of increasing resistance to a wide range of antibiotics poses a great therapeutic challenge in the treatment of bacterial infections in neutropenic hosts. This may have adverse impact on treatment outcomes due to delay in initiation of adequate antibacterial therapy. Aims: This study aimed to identify risk factors associated with infections caused by MDR gram-negative pathogens, and determine the impact of such infections on treatment outcomes and mortality in patients receiving treatment for hematological malignancies. Methods: A case-control study was conducted in patients treated for hematological malignancies in Singapore General Hospital with positive clinical culture for gram-negative pathogens from January 2005 to May 2008. Multi-drug resistance was defined as complete resistance to penicillins, beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations, cephalosporins, monobactams, co-trimoxazole, and fluoroquinolones. Patients infected with MDR gram-negative pathogens were designated as case patients. Controls were selected from patients with gram-negative pathogens that did not meet criteria for MDR, matched for date of isolation of pathogen and time at risk. Results: Sixty-eight cases of gram-negative infection caused by MDR pathogens were identified, and were compared to 68 controls. Majority of the patients had primary diagnosis of acute leukemia (81.2% of cases, and 75.4% of controls). Most of these patients received chemotherapy for treatment (91.3% of cases, and 95.7% of controls) while the rest underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Multivariate analysis revealed the following independent risk factors associated with MDR gram-negative pathogens: the use of ciprofloxacin as antibacterial prophylaxis (OR, 29.41; 95% CI, 1.32 – 500.0; p = 0.014); presence of central venous catheter (OR, 4.381; 95% CI, 1.128 – 17.022; p = 0.033); and severe neutropenia with absolute neutrophil count less than 100/uL at time of infection (OR, 4.922; 95% CI, 1.448 – 16.735; p = 0.011). Clinical and microbiological outcomes were comparable between the 2 groups. Overall mortality rates were similar with 8 deaths (11.6%) in patients with MDR gram-negative pathogens and 13 deaths (18.8%) in the control group (p = 0.343). More patients with MDR gram-negative pathogens died from infection-related causes, with 7 out of 8 deaths among cases and 6 out of 13 deaths among controls. However, this difference did not reach statistical significance. Patients infected with MDR gram-negative pathogens received significantly longer duration of antibiotic treatment (p = 0.03). In addition, the proportion of patients infected with MDR pathogens requiring admission to intensive care unit after infection was significantly higher as compared to that of the controls (33.3% vs 10.1% respectively, p = 0.009). Conclusion: The increasing prevalence of documented infection caused by MDR pathogens has important implications on future therapy and outcomes. With the identification of these risk factors, effective strategies to curb the rise of MDR pathogens can be developed, such as reviewing use of antibacterial prophylaxis. Patient care can be further optimized with better risk-stratification of patients, together with modification of institution treatment guidelines for patients at higher risk for acquiring MDR pathogens.


In this paper an approach to legal rules modelling based on a semantic model for legislation and oriented to knowledge reusability and sharing is presented. An automatic methodology able to support rules learning is proposed as well: it is based on techniques of knowledge extraction from legislative texts. This combined approach is aimed at giving a contribution to bridge the gap between consensus and authoritativeness in legal knowledge representation.


Homonuclear two-dimensional proton nuclear Overhauser effect (2-D-NOE) spectra have been obtained for asialo-GM2 (4) and gangliosides GM2 (8) and GM1 (9) at 500 MHz and 40 degrees C in Me2SO-d6-D2O (98:2 v/v). The anomeric protons of each oligosaccharide residue of 4, 8, and 9 are observed to NOE couple via intraresidue 1,3- and 1,5-diaxial interactions and interresidue interactions across the glycosidic linkages. The former couplings are used to confirm the H-3 and H-5 assignments for each residue. From the latter couplings the sequence and glycosidic linkage sites of all oligosaccharide residues, except the sialic acid residues, are revealed. Sialic acid attachment sites are determined for the monosialogangliosides (6-9) through consideration of sialylation-induced glycosidation shifts. Combination of the above sequence and linkage-site data with the monosaccharide composition, anomeric configurations, and characterization of the aglycon (information obtained via two-dimensional spin-echo J-correlated spectroscopy or 2-D-SECSY) allows complete assignment of monosialoganglioside primary structure, independent of other methods of structural analysis. Compared to conventional chemical and enzymatic methods, high-resolution two-dimensional proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy has the advantages of speed, sensitivity, and sample preservation.


The American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC), founded in 1993, is a professional medical society whose mission is to foster optimal delivery of nuclear cardiology services through professional education and leadership in the establishment of standards and guidelines for the practice of nuclear cardiology. ASNC will from time to time publish Position, Policy or Consensus Statements, which reflect a body of knowledge and clinical evidence for an application of radionuclide imaging techniques in the clinical care of patients with known or suspected heart disease. Position, Policy or Consensus Statements are approved by the ASNC Board of Directors prior to publication.


Nowadays a mobile device such as a smart phone is becoming one of the major information processing devices for users. On the other hand, a mobile device is still resource constrained, and some applications, generally, demand more resources than a mobile device can pay for. To overcome this, a mobile device should get resources from an external source. One of such sources present is cloud computing platforms. In Mobile Cloud computing generally front-end consists of users who possess mobile devices and back-end cloud servers. This pattern enables users to access a large volume of storage resources with portable devices in a distributed and cooperative manner. In between the time of uploading and downloading files or data, the privacy and integrity of files need to be guaranteed. The important task Mobile data store into the Cloud storage is in the encrypted form. The Data accessibility also be handled authentication and authorization .


The Australian landscape is affected by abandoned mines that pose environmental, public health and safety risks. To promote the beneficial reuse, rehabilitation and/or remediation of these sites and understand their spatial arrangement, we compiled, classified and analysed a country-wide geospatial database of all known inactive hard rock mine sites. Following extensive review and classification of disparate records of such sites that have been terminated, neglected or classified as heritage, plus those under care and maintenance in Australia, we assessed state-by-state reporting and cross-border rehabilitation requirements. This was enabled by the development of the Mining Incidence Documentation & Assessment Scheme (MIDAS) that can be used to catalogue and compare active or inactive mine data regardless of reporting conventions. At a national level, and with four case studies, we performed GIS-based spatial analyses and environmental risk assessments to demonstrate potential uses of our database. Analyses considered the proximity of sites to factors such as infrastructure and sensitive environmental receptors. As Australia struggles to manage the ongoing technical, socioeconomic and environmental challenges of effective mine rehabilitation, the insights enabled by this national-level spatial database may be key to developing coordinated responses that extend beyond state boundaries. Our classification and methodology are easily transferable, thereby encouraging more formalized, systematic and widespread documentation of abandoned mines worldwide.


The municipality image is formed from the priority elements of its structure and a complex of certain factors of territory development and promotion. In the modern sense, a municipality image is an effective result or a consequence of many factors of local development, as well as an active tool for transformations, raising the status and prestige of a given territory, and its investment attractiveness. The purpose of this article is to identify the factors that impede the development of a positive image of a municipality in modern Russian conditions. The main research method was a questionnaire survey of tourists and the residents of the Chekhov urban district of the Moscow region, during which they revealed the attitude of residents and tourists to the image of the Chekhov urban district. Based on the survey results, the key factors were determined that impede the development of a city positive image: the lack of local authority involvement in the city positive image development; low level of public awareness about the territory benefits; low level of tourist attractiveness of the city. The obtained conclusions made it possible to develop recommendations that would improve the image policy of the municipality and increase the city attractiveness.


The behaviour of N equal point masses with an inverse square law of attraction is one of the fundamental problems of statistical physics, because of its numerous applications in astrophysics, and its simplicity. But the simplicity is deceptive. From a theoretical point of view this problem is one of the hardest because it is scale-free, the interaction is long-range, and the interaction exhibits a short-range divergence. Therefore theoretical information is best developed for systems with artificial cutoffs at large and small distances. From the point of view of simulations, the problem is hard because the computational effort grows roughly as N3, and because of fundamental problems in simulating a chaotic system. This talk reviews the relationship between these two approaches, with particular emphasis on simulations of isolated systems (i.e. with no boundary). We emphasise the range of time scales on which different non-equilibrium phenomena operate, and focus on those which are driven by relaxation. We discuss the characteristics of core collapse and gravothermal oscillations, where both basic results of statistical mechanics and phenomenological toy models are particularly instructive. We also review the long-term fate of finite isolated systems.


The purpose of this report is to study variables affecting the value of forest land in general, and the affect from woodland key habitats in particular. To guidance the consultants on NAI Svefa in forest property valuation a study of the affect from woodland key habitats on forest land prices were done.

The survey is based on selling statistics from the forest property market in Sweden. By doing a linear regression analysis and a hypothesis testing the study aimed to see if a woodland key habitat had any effect on the forest property price. The conclusion from these tests is that there is no such impact on the pricing. Property valuation is a complex issue. There are too many affecting variables to get a significant result on the impact of one particular factor.


This paper presents a biographical sketch of Dr. H. R. Clouston, whose eponym is attached to a type of hidrotic ectodermal dystrophy, and a brief account of the mapping of the gene and its identification as the connexin gene, GJB6.


Forts, including in this designation military castles, present high complexity due to their nature. Methodologies followed in the rehabilitation of forts are briefly presented, with the emphasis on characterization of materials and rock masses and on tests and numerical models developed for ancient forts. Studies concerning forts with Portuguese legacy are presented. The first case is related with rehabilitation of foundations and walls of the Guimarães Castle, Portugal. The causes of the appearance of holes or torn threads in the exposed face of the wall and the tower of the extreme southwest of the castle were assessed. The intervention performed was focused on the stabilization of the rock mass and careful sealing of discontinuities in the high strength rock mass and consolidation of the most weathered fractured rock mass. The second case is related to forts existing at Muscat, Oman. The protection of the Jalali Fort is studied in detail. During 2007, cyclone Gonu caused substantial damage to the seawall adjacent to the fort. The study addresses the redesign of the seawall.


The author analyses foreign experience of public-private partnership, models of legal regulation of public-private partnership in foreign countries, principles of interaction between public institutions and business in realization of joint projects, there are outspoken concrete recommendations related with the perspectives of development of public-private partnership.


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Background: Benzene, an important industrial material, causes toxicity to the blood-forming system and leukemia. We have recently reported that benzene caused a significant decrease of white blood cells, especially granulocytes and B lymphocytes, among workers with low level occupational exposure to benzene in China. Benzene can cause oxidative damage and double strand breaks via its quinone metabolites, which are largely repaired by base excision repair (BER) and double strand break repair (DSBR) pathways. Also, TP53 and WRN have recently been found to play a role in both DSBR and BER. We therefore evaluated the impact of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes that play a role in the two repair pathways on peripheral granulocyte and B cell counts in this population. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 250 workers exposed to benzene and 140 frequency-matched unexposed workers were recruited in China. One or more SNPs in 11 genes involved in DNA repair were genotyped including ADPRT, APEX1, LIG3, XRCC1, BRCA1, BRCA2, NBS1, XRCC3, XRCC4, WRN, and TP53 as described ( ). Linear regression was used to analyze the relationship between genetic polymorphisms and granulocyte and B lymphocyte counts, adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, any recent smoking, and alcohol consumption for controls, and plus occupational exposure to benzene and toluene for exposed group. Interaction was estimated by adding a multiplicative term between SNP (variant carriers vs wild genotype carriers) and benzene exposure (yes/no) into a model with all subjects. Results: Genetic polymorphisms in 5 genes [ADPRT also known as PARP1 (Ex17 +8 T>C, rs1136410), BRCA2 (Ex2 +14 G>A, rs1799943; Ex11 +1487 A>G, rs1801406 and Ex14 -194 A>G, rs1799955), XRCC4 (IVS7 -1 G>A, rs1805377 and Ex8 +34 T>G, rs1056503), WRN (Ex4 -16 G>A, rs4987236; Ex6 +9 T>C, rs2725349; Ex20 -88 T>G, rs1800392 and Ex26 -12 T>G, rs2725362), and TP53 (Ex4 +119 G>C, rs1042522)] were significantly associated with decreased granulocyte and/or B lymphocyte counts among benzene-exposed workers. Of these, the TP53 Ex4 +119 G>C polymorphism was associated with a decrease for both granulocytes (p=0.005) and B lymphocytes (p=0.04). In contrast, these SNPs were not significantly associated with these cell counts among controls. Tests for interactions showed that the effect of the WRN Ex26 -12 T>G on granulocytes among benzene exposed workers was significantly different from the effect among controls (p<0.05). Conclusion: These results suggest that genetic variation in DNA repair genes, especially those involved in double strand break repair, may modify the impact of benzene's toxic effects on the hematopoietic system.


Abstract Premature ejaculation (PE; early ejaculation or rapid ejaculation) is a common sexual problem affecting about 20-30% of men in the sexually active age group. PE can be of four types: Primary, secondary, natural variable, and subjective PE. Various non-pharmacological and pharmacological treatment options are available to treat PE including Dapoxetine, which is specifically developed for the treatment of PE. In this review, we discuss the pathophysiology and management aspects of PE.


Blended source acquisition has drawn great attention in industry due to its increased efficiency and reduced overall cost for acquiring seismic data. It eliminates the requirement of a minimum time (usually determined by record length) between adjacent shots and allows multiple sources to be activated simultaneously and independently. Conventional processing simply converts continuous records into fixed-length records using the source excitation time and then applies traditional denoising techniques to the fixed-length records. Source excitation time is used to extract fixed-length records that are the equivalent of traditional synchronous recording. Here, we elaborate on the usage of continuous records for land noise attenuation. Compared to conventional common shot/receiver/midpoint/offset domains, continuous records represent the data in the naturally recorded domain. This domain offers flexible and much longer record lengths to work with and, moreover, enables exploiting the characteristics of noise prior to correlation, shot slicing, or other preprocessing. We limit our discussions to the techniques and methods for attenuating coherent environmental and source-generated noise on vibroseis data. We have found that incoherent noise can be handled effectively by traditional noise suppression methods after deblending. We illustrate the effectiveness of noise attenuation in the continuously recorded domain for three different types of noise using field examples from the North Slope of Alaska and the Permian Basin.


Introduction: CLL treatment has changed considerably over the last several years, with significant improvement in overall survival and more effective treatment for genetically defined high-risk disease. The physical, intellectual, and emotional challenges of treatment, and living with CLL appear to impact patient quality of life (QOL). We aimed to describe patient distress and perceived impact of having a CLL diagnosis on their well-being using patient-reported CLL risk in a cross-sectional survey. Methods: From April 2014 to July 2016, the Cancer Support Community (CSC) registered 284 self-identified CLL patients to the Cancer Experience Registry: CLL, an ongoing, online initiative to study the psychosocial impact of CLL. The analysis was limited to US-based registrants diagnosed with CLL who completed survey questions about cancer-related distress (n=134) and perceived impact of CLL (n=99). Twenty-seven items from a validated distress screening tool (α=0.94) were summed for an overall distress score. Four items were summed for a depression score (α=0.85) that was also used to indicate risk for depression (low 0-4 vs. high 5 or greater). Participants were asked to evaluate the perceived impact of CLL on distinct aspects of well-being (QOL, ability to work, life expectancy, relationships, and finances): (1) retrospectively (When you were first diagnosed, how much did you think CLL would affect your well-being?); and (2) at the time of survey response (These days, how much would you say CLL affects your well-being?). CLL risk level (low, intermediate, or high) was captured through patient recall of the doctor9s explanation of their estimated risk. We combined low and intermediate risk in analysis. Results: The sample was 53% male and 94% white with median age 62 y and time since CLL diagnosis 6 y. Over half (63%) reported low- or intermediate-risk disease, 17% indicated high-risk, and 20% didn9t know their risk. Patients with high-risk CLL (n=20) had significantly higher levels of overall distress (mean=31, SD=23) than patients with low- or intermediate-risk CLL (n=76; mean=21, SD=16, p=0.029). High-risk CLL patients also were more likely to score at high risk for depression (55% vs. 30%; p=0.036). Though overall distress was higher among patients with high-risk CLL, we observed similar top concerns (% moderately to very seriously concerned) for both high- and low- or intermediate-risk groups, respectively: eating and nutrition (56%, 46%); exercising (55%, 34%); worry about the future (50%, 36%); financial worries (50%, 31%); and sleep problems (50%, 30%). Other top concerns among high-risk, but not low- or intermediate-risk patients included ability to think clearly (50%) and feelings of loneliness or isolation (50%). When asked how much CLL currently affects their lives (see Table), high-risk patients (n=15) reported a significantly greater impact on QOL (p Conclusion: These initial data from our CLL registry suggest that most patients understand their estimated risk and that high-risk CLL patients experienced greater overall distress and depression risk at the time of survey response compared to patients with low- or intermediate-risk. Across disease risk categories, CLL patients anticipated considerable distress (see Table) when first diagnosed and reported similar top concerns. These findings can help clinicians shape discussions that are responsive to CLL patient and care partner concerns about diagnosis, treatment and survival. Disclosures Flowers:AbbVie: Research Funding; TG Therapeutics: Research Funding; Gilead: Consultancy, Research Funding; NIH: Research Funding; Mayo Clinic: Research Funding; Roche: Consultancy, Research Funding; Millenium/Takeda: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics, LLC, an AbbVie Company: Research Funding; Infinity: Research Funding; ECOG: Research Funding; Acerta: Research Funding; Genentech: Consultancy, Research Funding.


Abstract. Fostered by and embedded in the general development of information and communications technology (ICT), the evolution of tsunami warning systems (TWS) shows a significant development from seismic-centred to multi-sensor system architectures using additional sensors (e.g. tide gauges and buoys) for the detection of tsunami waves in the ocean. Currently, the beginning implementation of regional tsunami warning infrastructures indicates a new phase in the development of TWS. A new generation of TWS should not only be able to realise multi-sensor monitoring for tsunami detection. Moreover, these systems have to be capable to form a collaborative communication infrastructure of distributed tsunami warning systems in order to implement regional, ocean-wide monitoring and warning strategies. In the context of the development of the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) and in the EU-funded FP6 project Distant Early Warning System (DEWS), a service platform for both sensor integration and warning dissemination has been newly developed and demonstrated. In particular, standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) have been successfully incorporated. In the FP7 project Collaborative, Complex and Critical Decision-Support in Evolving Crises (TRIDEC), new developments in ICT (e.g. complex event processing (CEP) and event-driven architecture (EDA)) are used to extend the existing platform to realise a component-based technology framework for building distributed tsunami warning systems.


Considering second order effects caused by mobility reduction, an MTL-based squarer/divider circuit is designed. Although mobility reduction is a difficult phenomenon to be modelled in a MOS translinear loop, the presented analysis provides a good way to cancel this effect. Our design results in a simpler solution than previous works and since it is not based on the simple square-law behaviour of MOS transistor, we can use transistors with shorter channel length in comparison with conventional MTL-based circuits, so lower silicon area and more accuracy is achieved.


Leachate from sanitary landfills is a strong wastewater in terms of organic matter and ammonia. Both biologi- cal and chemical processes can be used for organic matter but ammonia reduction by nitrification-denitrification often poses problems due to inhibition. In this study, leachate from solid waste landfill in Konya Municipal area was used and organic matter and color removal were examined by using different chemical matters (Alum, FeCl3, FeSO4) in the pH ad- justment with lime, NaOH and H2SO4. For ammonium removal, air stripping and its removal efficiency were investigated. For organic matter removal, the highest efficiencies were achieved as 44% by using 9 g/L alum at pH 11 adjusted with lime and as 45% by using 15 g/L FeCl3 concentration at pH 3. Color removal studies in coagulation experiments indicated that the highest color removal efficiencies could be obtained when pH was adjusted with lime. The lowest coagulant con- centration 1 g/L yielded the similar removal efficiencies as the concentration increased. In ammonium removal with air stripping, the optimum flow rate was 1 L/min and the optimum aeration time was 8 hours.


Background: Telomeres are the ends of a chromosome and play a fundamental role as vanguards contra the chromosomal decay. Due to the inability of DNA polymerase to replicate chromosomal ends, a reduction in telomeres length happens after each cell division. The existence of shorter telomeres in older people is related to diminished immune functions. Viral infections able to stimulate remodeling of cells, stress responses, and telomere shortening. Moreover, telomere shortening can be caused by extrinsic environmental variables which induce oxidative stress under conditions of inflammation. Aim: To identify the correlation between telomere shortening and susceptibility to Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition to clarifying changes in telomere length according to the viral infection, the effect of sex and age differences in telomere length in confirmed positive COVID-19 cases are also reviewed. Conclusion: There is a correlation between telomere length and COVID-19 infection with higher susceptibly of elderly patients and males due to shortening in their telomere length. Approximately 53% of (111,428) infected cases (≥50) years old are males, and 47% of (111,428) infected cases (≥50) years old are females. Citation Format: Manar Ahmed Kamal, Kareem Reda Alamiry, Mahmoud Zaki. Sex and age differences in telomere length and susceptibility to COVID-19 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 704.